LIAH 33. Meeting

Song Shengyang locked himself in his room and didn’t come out for two full days.

At first, Lou Wanqing didn’t say anything. But by the second morning, she went straight to get the spare key and unlocked his door.

“All you know is sleep, sleep, sleep! You come home and sleep for two days straight. What, trying to resurrect the dead?”

She pulled the blanket off him, then picked up a pillow and started swatting his back with it while yelling and pulling him to get up.

Song Shengyang lay on his stomach. When she hit him, he rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling in daze. “I don’t want to go out.”

“I didn’t say you had to go out. I told you to get up,” Lou Wanqing said sharply, her anger barely contained. She stomped over to the curtains and flung them open. But when she turned to look at him again, her heart skipped a beat.

His eyes were bloodshot, with faint shadows under them. He looked worn out.
The sunlight pouring into the room was far too harsh, and he lifted one arm to shield his face. Still lying there, he spoke with a hoarse voice. “Mom, go out first. I’ll come down later.”

She paused, then let out a quiet sigh and started to leave.

“Mom,” Song Shengyang suddenly called after her.

She stopped at the door and turned. “What is it?”

He slowly sat up in bed. His lips moved as if he were searching for the right words, but in the end he met her gaze with a calm, steady look and said, “I’ve fallen for a man.”

Saying that to his mother didn’t lead to any dramatic fallout. Lou Wanqing simply rested her hand on the doorknob, gave him a glance, and said coolly, “And you locked yourself up for two days over that? Useless.”

She closed the door behind her.

Song Shengyang rubbed a hand over his face, feeling most of the weight on his chest finally lift.

Maybe she had known all along. Maybe she had just been waiting for him to say it himself.

Ever since he got back, those last words with Pei Siyin had been playing over and over in his head. He dragged a hand through his hair, brow furrowed, only now starting to realize how badly he had messed up.

Pei Siyin had only been stating the truth.

Song Shengyang still didn’t know what had gotten into him that day. It wasn’t just his tone. He had walked out, left without a message, and offered no explanation. He didn’t even know how Pei Siyin had ended up afterward.

He remembered the look on his face, like he was about to cry.

Cried…

Just the thought of Pei Siyin crying in secret made Song Shengyang’s chest twist with guilt. He must have been out of his mind to make him feel that awful.

He shoved everything off the bed, stepped into the bathroom to wash up and throw on fresh clothes, then grabbed his phone and headed downstairs.

In the living room, Song Cangyuan and Lou Wanqing were having tea. Song Shengyang hurried past them, tossed out a quick greeting, and didn’t look back as he left.

Song Cangyuan gave him a glance and commented mildly to his wife, “Out again.”

“Off to see his partner,” Lou Wanqing said as she took a sip of floral tea. “What else would he do? Sit around here staring at us?”

Song Cangyuan chuckled. The open file on the table fluttered at the corners from the wind. He reached out to close it, then pulled his wife into a side hug and said, “Aren’t you the one who always says every child has their own fate?”

“That’s true,” Lou Wanqing replied. “As long as he’s healthy, I don’t ask for anything else.”

By May, the weather was starting to heat up. Pei Siyin spent most of his days on break holed up at home, barely stepping outside. All he did was hold his phone and keep it constantly plugged into the charger.

Ever since Song Shengyang had walked out of the hotel, Pei Siyin had regretted saying what he said. He kept wondering why he had been so stupid, why he had to ruin things and upset him. Song Shengyang had clearly been looking forward to meeting his family, and he just had to throw cold water on it.

He kept scrolling down the chat thread. The last two messages were still the ones he had sent from home that night. Neither of them had said anything since.

He wanted to send a message, but was afraid Song Shengyang was still angry and wouldn’t reply. He thought about calling, but was terrified the call might be declined.

After debating with himself endlessly, he told his parents yesterday that he needed to return to school early for something urgent. But instead, he got scolded. How could he skip Haha’s birthday? What kind of uncle would do that?

In the end, he gave up the idea and told himself to wait until after the birthday. As soon as it was over, he’d take the first flight back and explain everything to Song Shengyang properly.

He had been in low spirits, and his eyes were swollen from crying on and off for the past two days. To keep anyone from noticing, he would stay in the bathroom icing his eyes with a cold towel for a long time before daring to come downstairs for meals.

Pei Zhile got off work late that day, and by the time she brought Haha back for dinner, it was nearly seven. Pei Siyin was still sitting on his bed in a daze, staring out the window at the last sliver of fading light.

“Uncle.” Haha’s voice broke into his thoughts. It took him a few seconds to respond. He forced a smile and lifted the little girl onto the bed.

“You’re coming late today,” he said, playfully pinching her nose. He rubbed her round belly and added, “There’s going to be a lot of yummy food tonight. If you don’t eat slow, you won’t digest any of it.”

Haha sat upright on the bed with a still-unopened bag of chips in her hand, legs swinging. “It’s because we ran into a super handsome uncle on the way here.”

Pei Siyin chuckled. “You’re not even old enough to know what handsome means.”

“He really was handsome!” Haha rolled off the bed, hands on her hips as she declared seriously, “His phone died, so he asked to borrow Mom’s. But after he took it, he didn’t make a call. It was weird.”

“That is weird,” Pei Siyin said with a smile.

At dinner, their brother-in-law didn’t make it due to work, so Pei Zhile was free to talk about handsome men without holding back.

She clicked her tongue at Pei Siyin a few times and sighed in admiration. “You really should’ve seen him. If I didn’t have Haha with me, I would’ve asked for his number.”

Pei Siyin swallowed a bite of rice. “Why, are you planning to remarry?”

Pei Zhile flung her chopsticks at him, hitting him square on the head. “I was thinking of introducing him to you, okay? Just one look and I knew he’s your type.”

Their parents tried to hold in their laughter at the table, while Haha giggled behind her little pink pig bowl. Pei Zhile made a motion with her hands over her own modest chest and sighed enviously. “His chest was seriously well-defined. From his face to his body, there was nothing to complain about.”

The more she talked, the more regret she felt. She should have asked for his number when he borrowed her phone.

Pei Siyin laughed when he heard her. Talk of chest muscles reminded him of Song Shengyang—and of the first time they met. People always said the face was the key that opened the door to love. He didn’t disagree one bit. If anything, he’d add that a good body helped too.

“Oh, right. When he spoke to me, I think I saw a tongue piercing,” Pei Zhile went on. “So cool. Why didn’t I meet someone like that back in the day?”

His heart sank.

Pei Siyin slowly looked up, the hand holding his chopsticks starting to tremble. A thought that should have been impossible took shape in his mind.

Could it have been Song Shengyang?

The description was so similar. And it just so happened to be right outside their complex. Could it really be him?

His throat tightened, and his eyes began to sting with a slow, growing heat. He asked quietly, “Sis, that man… where was he?”

Night had fully fallen. A cool breeze stirred the air as Pei Siyin ran out of the house and followed the route Pei Zhile had described. The trees overhead swayed gently, their leaves whispering in the dark. The street was quiet. Not a soul in sight.

A wave of discouragement washed over him. He stepped on a patch of fallen leaves at the roadside and rubbed his tired, aching eyes.

“He’s still angry. Why would he come looking for me?”

He was the one who told Song Shengyang to take time to think, and now, after just two days of silence, he couldn’t take it anymore.

His steps felt heavier than ever. He turned around, and the moment he looked up, he froze in place.

Song Shengyang was standing under a streetlamp not far away.

He wore a plain white cotton tee, completely different from his usual flashy style. Simple as it was, it outlined the solid curve of his chest and the tight lines of his waist. His black casual pants were loose but fitted just enough to show off his long, straight legs.

Just like Pei Zhile had said, he was so good-looking it was hard to look away.

He stood rooted to the spot, staring as Song Shengyang walked toward him. When he finally stopped, those arms came around him, and a soft voice brushed his ear: “I’m sorry.”