Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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“You’re always inefficient because you spend so much time mingling socially with ineffective people.”
Li Shu sat on the ergonomic chair beside the floor-to-ceiling window, lobbying to Shen Yiyou with a blank expression.
He rested his elbows on the table, with two laptops in front of him, he was wearing a cotton T-shirt with equations printed on it, and a pair of black-rimmed glasses, his thick black hair that was cut short was slightly curling spontaneously at the roots, and his eyes were deep, the bridge of his nose was high, and his lips were parted as he spoke, making him look very soft.
If the scene at the moment was recorded and played on mute, most people would think that Li Shu was kind and harmless, not mean and ruthless – but Shen Yiyou was listening.
So, Shen Yiyou looked at him and repeated dryly: “Ineffective social interaction.”
“You are emotional now, and I understand if you disagree.” Li Shu said, glancing at the laptop screen on the left, then he suddenly stopped talking, and put his hands on the keyboard for a while.
For the next ten minutes, there was only the sound of mechanical, dull typing in the room.
Shen Yiyou didn’t have to go to see, he knew that Li Shu was replying to his subordinates, but this time, not only did Shen Yiyou not feel that he was being ignored, but he breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, since he had casually said at nine o’clock that he would be accompanying a friend to the decoration market next week, Li Shu had been giving him an hour of disciplinary lecture.
Shen Yiyou retorted a few words at first, but then he didn’t want to say anything, and only one sentence played over and over in his mind, “No snowflake is innocent during an avalanche.”
Li Shu’s heart would always have only himself, Shen Yiyou thought, he really couldn’t take it anymore.
The speaker of the laptop emitted a notification tone indicating that an email had been sent. Li Shu’s eyes stayed on the screen for a few more seconds before he raised his head and continued to lecture Shen Yiyou warmly: “Time will prove everything, and you will definitely thank me in the future.”
Shen Yiyou looked into Li Shu’s eyes and couldn’t help but retort: “Why don’t you give a TED talk with so much wisdom, let all mankind thank you together.”
Li Shu didn’t hear the sarcasm in Shen Yiyou’s tone, but just tapped the table with his index finger and told Shen Yiyou truthfully, “I did receive an invitation to speak.”
“I don’t have the time,” he added. “You think I’m this patient with everyone.”
Shen Yiyou looked at him for a while before saying, “Then I thank you.”
“No need.” Li Shu said.
He stood up, walked slowly to Shen Yiyou’s side, lowered his head and kissed Shen Yiyou’s cheek, and told Shen Yiyou, “Listening to me is the best thank you.”
Li Shu put his hand on Shen Yiyou’s waist, and the warmth of his palm passed through the pajamas and touched his skin, giving Shen Yiyou the illusion of warmth and safety that made him want to keep hugging. Then Shen Yiyou looked up at him, and the warmth disappeared again.
Li Shu was still condescending and aloof, but still unwilling to let Shen Yiyou go. With an arrogance and stubbornness that he would never admit, he kept asking, “Do you understand?” As if he couldn’t sleep if the two of them couldn’t reach an agreement,
In Shen Yiyou’s head, Voltaire’s famous words about snowflakes were replaced by simpler short sentences.
He became unable to concentrate or think rationally, as if there was a levitating evil ghost in his ear, softly persuading him to “get out of the room” and “break up and be freed”.
Shen Yiyou’s inner disapproving voice was sometimes loud and sometimes small, he turned his eyes away, trying to calm himself, but Li Shu clasped his chin and didn’t allow him to move even an inch away.
Li Shu bowed his head and kissed him, and said vaguely while kissing, “Is it so hard to admit that I’m right?”
Shen Yiyou pursed his lips, closed his eyes tightly, resisted silently, and pressed Li Shu’s chest again, pushing him away a little.
“Li Shu.” Shen Yiyou said softly but didn’t look at him.
They were still next to each other, and Li Shu’s hand was still on Shen Yiyou’s back. He seemed to think that Shen Yiyou was about to soften and was about to pick up Shen Yiyou and take him back to the room, as he asked Shen Yiyou: “What do you want to say?”.
Li Shu’s tone was anticipatory, mixed with a little smugness. He sounded carefree, like a hot and wet thick towel, covering Shen Yiyou’s face tightly.
Shen Yiyou was silent for a long time, and he finally said to Li Shu in a volume that he couldn’t hear clearly, “I think we should break up.”
“I don’t want to do this anymore,” Shen Yiyou broke free from Li Shu’s embrace and said slowly, “We’re really not suitable for each other.”
At this point, the living room fell into a long silence.
It was windy and rainy outside, but Li Shu’s apartment was soundproofed very well. He could only see the water hitting the glass sliding down in large areas, and the scene of the lights from the ships floating on the river covered in the mist could be seen, but he couldn’t hear the sound of the bad weather at all.
Li Shu lowered his head and thought for a long time before asking Shen Yiyou, “Where is it not suitable?”
Shen Yiyou didn’t look into Li Shu’s eyes at first, but Li Shu lightly pushed his arm, so he raised his head and looked at Li Shu, then he said to Li Shu, “It’s not suitable anywhere.”
Li Shu was quiet for a few more seconds before he said, “I don’t think so.” He lowered his voice a little more, and said to Shen Yiyou, “Don’t be angry, be more mature”, and then stretched out his hand, wanting to hug Shen Yiyou.
Shen Yiyou escaped from his hold.
“I don’t want to.” Shen Yiyou told him.
Shen Yiyou didn’t want to say more, didn’t even have the strength to say more, and walked straight to the cloakroom next to the bedroom to pack his things.
Li Shu followed behind him and stood at the door of the room with his arms crossed to look at him, but he never spoke again.
Shen Yiyou didn’t have too many things in Li Shu’s hotel apartment because he didn’t live here often.
Li Shu’s home and career were not in S City. Since Shen Yiyou got to know him, he had always been flying around the world, adding to his streaming media empire. They met every once in a while, most of the time Li Shu came to find Shen Yiyou, and a few times Shen Yiyou also went to Li Shu.
Shen Yiyou usually lived in his own residence, it was a small two-bedroom house in a neighborhood not far away, which was not as luxurious as Li Shu’s apartment, but it was not bad, and at least it felt like a home.
Shen Yiyou could enjoy what Li Shu called ineffective social interaction inside, or lie down for 24 hours and do nothing, and no one would try to influence him.
Shen Yiyou opened his suitcase, folded his clothes, and put them inside one by one. Li Shu kept guarding the door of the cloakroom, of course he didn’t help, but he didn’t stop him either.
After Shen Yiyou finished sorting things out and closed the suitcase, he asked Shen Yiyou aloud, “Have you figured it out?”
Shen Yiyou made a “um” sound and closed the suitcase. In the dim light of the cloakroom, he heard Li Shu say again: “If you want to break up, I won’t keep you. But do you know that adults are responsible for their own decisions. If you regret it later, I won’t–“
“Then don’t worry,” Shen Yiyou raised his head and stared straight at Li Shu, “I won’t come back to look for you.”
Li Shu was stunned by Shen Yiyou’s stare and fell silent.
Shen Yiyou thought he had accepted it, but when Shen Yiyou stood up and dragged his suitcase past him, he still pulled hard at Shen Yiyou’s arm.
Li Shu might not even know that he was very strong, and it hurt when he pulled Shen Yiyou like this, but Shen Yiyou also couldn’t break free.
“I didn’t say you were a jerk,” Li Shu turned to his side and hugged Shen Yiyou tightly at the door of the cloakroom. The clean scent of shower gel lingered on his body, a scent that could easily make Shen Yiyou soften.
Shen Yiyou asked him, “Can you let go?”
Li Shu didn’t let go but hugged him even tighter. He said, “Shen Yiyou, don’t joke with me.”
Shen Yiyou thought for a while, and when he said it hurt, Li Shu let go.
Shen Yiyou walked towards the door, but Li Shu didn’t stop him, only shouted from behind, “Shen Yiyou!”
Shen Yiyou didn’t stop, he opened the door, passed the corridor, pressed the elevator call button, and didn’t look back.
T/N: I have started from the beginning because it helps with the continuity…. Hope you will support this novel as you have supported my other projects….
Edited…. one done, so much more to go
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Ah its already painful from the very beginning. Thank you so much for the TL!!! So hard to find Ka Bi Qiu-laoshi’s completed novels