Stalemate

Wei Zelin picked up his glasses from the kitchen counter and put them on. "Why have you gone quiet again?"

Shi Yuan really wanted to look up and get a good look at that shameless face. He had just kissed him, and now he was asking why he wasn't talking? Don't you know perfectly well why I'm not talking?

He was full of complaints, but he kept his eyes lowered and murmured like a bashful bride, "Why are you heating up the chicken soup? Did you... did you not have dinner?"

Wei Zelin took two bowls from the cupboard, then used a white porcelain ladle to scoop chicken soup from the pot. "You were ignoring me. How was I supposed to have any appetite?"

"I..." Shi Yuan had no defense. He had indeed been the one to start avoiding Wei Zelin.

Wei Zelin walked over and took his hand, and Shi Yuan followed him into the dining room.

"Have some soup with me."

Shi Yuan had no idea where this was going. He answered, "Oh," and tried to sit down opposite Wei Zelin.

He took one step, then tried to take another, but couldn't move. Wei Zelin held his hand firmly, with no intention of letting go.

Shi Yuan's face flushed instantly. During the kiss, he had mostly been shocked and confused. Now, with the atmosphere so intimate, he felt even shyer than he had while they were kissing.

With his hand still held, Shi Yuan stood beside Wei Zelin and watched him drink two bowls of soup. Then he was led into the kitchen to watch Wei Zelin wash the bowls one-handed. Finally, Wei Zelin took the leftover grapes from the night before out of the fridge, washed them, and put them in a bowl.

Even after he was pressed down onto the sofa, their hands were still clasped.

"Tell me. Why were you avoiding me?"

Shi Yuan thought, Here it comes. But how am I supposed to answer? Because I've fallen for you, but don't want to date you, so I decided on a tactical retreat?

He still held Wei Zelin in a certain amount of respect and fear.

Their palms gradually grew clammy where they touched. Wei Zelin finally let go of his hand, pulled two wet wipes from the coffee table, and carefully wiped Shi Yuan's hand clean.

As he wiped, he asked, "Have you started hating me? You don't want to see me?"

Shi Yuan let Wei Zelin toy with his hand and shook his head. "No."

Wei Zelin looked up at him. "Then you like me?"

Shi Yuan immediately ducked his head and pulled his hand out of Wei Zelin's grasp.

His feelings were far too obvious. He hadn't resisted the kiss, and had obediently let Wei Zelin hold his hand.

"Then you like me," Wei Zelin said with certainty.

"We're already married. It's only natural for us to be together. What are you still worried about?" Wei Zelin's deep, resonant voice sounded beside his ear.

What was he worried about? Mostly, the example set by You Gui and Shen Duo, the novel's tormented couple, had frightened Shi Yuan. He had never been in love, and had suddenly transmigrated into a book labeled as a tale of agonizing romance. The word "agonizing" had left a deep impression on him. Combined with the tragic fate of the original Shi Yuan, who shared his name, and the descriptions of Wei Zelin's ruthless methods in the book, it made him instinctively afraid of Wei Zelin. That feeling even outweighed his desire. Although Wei Zelin had always treated him gently afterward and his fear had lessened, he still regarded him with apprehensive respect.

After transmigrating into this world, his greatest dream had been to find a stable job and safely leave the Wei Family. So when he realized his feelings for Wei Zelin, his instinct was to run away, because they went against his original intentions. He was afraid of ending up like You Gui in the novel.

No matter how calculating Wei Zelin was, or how many theories he had about Shi Yuan's identity, it had never occurred to him that You Gui and Shen Duo's troubled romance, along with his own future schemes, had affected the way Shi Yuan saw him.

Back then, he had deliberately allowed Wei Zexuan to target You Gui, even fanning the flames, all to make Shen Duo increasingly dissatisfied with the Wei Family and determined to join him in bringing them down.

He had countless ways of dealing with the Wei Family. He had never expected the one that required the least effort to become an obstacle to his relationship with Shi Yuan.

Shi Yuan's thoughts were a tangled mess. When his parents were alive, he had been innocent and cheerful too. Only after they suddenly passed away, and the once-kind friends and relatives showed their true colors, had he witnessed the ugliness in people's hearts.

He had always valued himself, and that sudden tragedy had only made him more cautious. His strong sense of responsibility kept him from acting recklessly. He needed to take responsibility for his own feelings.

"Let me think it through properly, okay?" With that, he ran back to his room.

Watching his reddened eyes, Wei Zelin ultimately refrained from pushing him any further.

He sat alone on the sofa, his expression shifting darkly. His heart, which had been soaring ever since Shi Yuan hadn't rejected his kiss, cooled in an instant. There was no doubt that Shi Yuan liked him, so what obstacle still stood between them?

Kuang Yuebin and Fang Yuan had both returned to S City. After all, that was their home base. Unless there was a major development in Capital City and Wei Zelin summoned them, they usually remained stationed in S City.

Bao Lili was the one who stayed. Their recent surveillance of Wei Wanwan had made progress, and they had all but identified the powerful backer behind the Wei Family. With her assignment complete, she had spent the past two days hanging around Huang Shiren at Free Heaven. Her work was somewhat shady, so it wasn't convenient for her to show her face too often. She ate and slept at the Clubhouse.

She was sleeping groggily when Huang Shiren called. "Li Li, Brother Lin's here. Are you coming down?" She mumbled something, then looked at her lit phone screen. It was three in the morning.

Bao Lili took the elevator down to the first basement level, then continued down the stairs around the corner.

Naturally, there were no boxers left in the Boxing Arena at this hour. When she arrived, Wei Zelin was pounding a punching bag outside the ring, each strike landing with a thud.

Bare-faced and still half asleep, Bao Lili looked even more ordinary. Rubbing her eyes, she questioned Huang Shiren, who had clearly just gotten out of bed too.

"What's going on with the boss?" She had assumed there was something urgent to discuss, but from the look of things, this was clearly personal.

Huang Shiren looked eager for gossip but afraid to pry. "I don't know either. Why don't you ask?"

Bao Lili looked horrified. "Are you kidding me?" How many lives would she need to dare ask about the boss's private affairs?

"Li Li." Wei Zelin's voice came from behind her, making Bao Lili jump.

Wei Zelin's expression was gloomy. He took off his boxing gloves and draped a towel over his bare upper body. With his long arms and narrow waist, his firm abdominal muscles shifted as he wiped away his sweat, drawing the eye.

But neither of the two people present had any interest in admiring him. They had worked under Wei Zelin for years, and could both tell that he seemed to be in an exceptionally foul mood.

"Yes, boss?" Bao Lili answered apprehensively.

"Has Shi Guohua contacted Yuanyuan since going abroad?"

Bao Lili answered confidently, "No."

She exchanged a furtive glance with Huang Shiren. Both thought, Yuanyuan?????

Without his glasses, Wei Zelin narrowed his eyes slightly. He murmured, "I collected the test report myself. They're biological father and son. But Yuanyuan doesn't have much affection for him, so he wouldn't take his anger over the Shi Family out on me."

"Then it's the Wei Family? Did what happened with Wei Zexuan scare him? But I'm still a little short of being able to deal with them..."

Wei Zelin considered it. The right opportunity was still just out of reach. If he acted early, he had little confidence in succeeding. He might even undo all the planning he had done over the years.

But Shi Yuan refused to give in and face his feelings, so he had to think of something.

Hearing him, Huang Shiren asked cautiously, "Is this about Shi Yuan?"

Wei Zelin touched the corner of his mouth and said thoughtfully, "He likes me, but he won't be with me."

Having stumbled upon an earth-shattering piece of gossip, Bao Lili covered her mouth and screamed silently. Every trace of sleepiness vanished.

Huang Shiren was in frequent contact with Wei Zelin and had noticed a few signs before. Besides, he was an old hand at romance, with one girlfriend after another under his belt. He had at least some emotional intelligence.

"Brother Lin, never mind what he's thinking. As long as you're sure he likes you, he's bound to be possessive of you. Find someone to make him jealous. Once he gets worried about losing you, he'll agree right away."

Wei Zelin remained silent, giving no indication whether he agreed.

Listening beside them, Bao Lili's mouth twitched. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, she thought it made a little sense.

The next day, Shi Yuan slept in for once. He had stayed up too late thinking about everything the night before. By the time he opened his eyes, the sun was already high in the sky. He left his room to wash up, then went to the kitchen to cook.

The bowls washed the night before were still in the drying rack instead of the cupboard, and the remaining half-pot of chicken soup had been forgotten too. There was no sign that the stove had been used. He had no idea when Wei Zelin had left, without even eating breakfast.

Shi Yuan did his best to block out the ache in his heart. He scrubbed the clay pot that had held the chicken soup, then took a frozen steamed bun and a raw egg from the fridge and put them in the steamer.

He didn't even prepare any side dishes for breakfast, just ate a plain steamed bun and a boiled egg. Both were tasteless. Tasteless... tasteless?

Shi Yuan stared blankly at the bun in his hand. He remembered now. Yesterday evening, he had left in a hurry, afraid of running into Wei Zelin coming home from work. He seemed to have forgotten to salt the chicken soup.

And Brother Lin had still drunk two bowls?

He had only just started learning to cook. His food was nothing special, merely edible. What must unsalted chicken soup have tasted like?

Shi Yuan absentmindedly tore at his bun. So after their kiss, Wei Zelin hadn't been as composed as he had appeared either.

After that, it was hard to say which of them was avoiding the other. By the time Shi Yuan got up in the morning, Wei Zelin had already left for work. When Shi Yuan came home from work, Wei Zelin had already gone to bed. Despite living under the same roof, they actually went half a month without seeing each other.

During that time, Zhang Xiushuo, whom he had happened to meet at the night market, frequently messaged him on WeChat, inviting him out or offering to bring him specialties from his hometown. Shi Yuan turned him down every time. The situation with Wei Zelin had made him a little sensitive, so he picked a rose from the Wei Family's garden and posted it on Moments, hiding the post from Wei Zelin. "Flowers from my husband!" He added a heart emoji at the end.

Sure enough, Zhang Xiushuo stopped contacting him after that.

When You Gui saw his Moments post, she messaged him to ask, "You and Wei Zelin..."

Shi Yuan had told her the inside story of their marriage, and that they were simply roommates.

That was why You Gui had asked out of curiosity when she saw his seemingly lovey-dovey Moments post.

Shi Yuan replied, "Um... it's complicated. I'll tell you when I come to see you in S City next month."