Chapter 75
A piece of cookie
This restaurant was reservation-only. New guests had to book at least three months in advance, and even VIP customers like Bai Sheng, who spends seven figures annually, needed to call ahead. But the reception for a chief supervisor was entirely different.
Upon receiving a call from the Secretariat of the Supervision Office, the restaurant had to immediately confirm the menu and ingredients. After ensuring safety and non-toxicity, the supervision office dispatched a bulletproof car for escort. The restaurant manager welcomed them at the back entrance, leading them through a special passage to avoid any security risks for Shen Zhuo and Yue Yang. Strictly speaking, guards should monitor the kitchen to prevent poisoning, meeting the necessary conditions for a Chief Supervisor to dine out.
But this process was too cumbersome, and only a supervisor with a screw loose would be willing to follow such rules daily for meals.
Shen Zhuo did not let anyone go to the back kitchen to cause trouble for the staff. Instead, he set up a two-person table in the corner of the restaurant, near the floor-to-ceiling window. The stream gurgled, creating a quiet and private atmosphere. Apart from the intense gaze of a certain handsome guy named Bai nearby, who seemed as if he caught someone in the act, they were almost undisturbed.
“Sheng, what’s wrong?” Joseph asked, trembling, “Who is that person?”
Bai Sheng, like a burning lion, turned to Shen Zhuo and spat out two words viciously from between his teeth, “My wife!”
Joseph: “?!”
According to the melodramatic soap operas Joseph usually watched, at this point, he should be shocked and hypocritically exclaim, “Oh—how could your wife secretly come out to have a tryst with another man behind your back? Poor Sheng, come to my arms and pour out your anger and grievances; my embrace is always open to you!”
—But in reality, the moment Shen Zhuo appeared, Joseph was already somewhat dumbfounded.
Although everyone within the Supervision Office was used to it, for a first-time outsider, the impact of Shen Zhuo’s face was very stunning and vivid, so much so that Joseph’s next question blurted out foolishly:
“Ah, really, what’s his name?”
Bai Sheng once again spat out two words from between his teeth, “Shen Zhuo!”
Joseph said in daze, “Ah, his name is Shen Zhuo… what’s his name?!”
Bai Sheng stood up and walked straight over. Yue Yang, with his back to him, calmly spread butter on bread, his expression serene and detached as if he had seen through everything:
“I thought I would die of poisoning today, but I didn’t expect to die from the law of causality. Indeed, knowing the answer makes one much more at ease…” Saying this, he finally took a big bite of bread with peace of mind.
Bai Sheng patted Yue Yang’s shoulder from behind, brushed past him without stopping, and walked to the other side of the table, looking down at Shen Zhuo.
Not far away, Joseph was almost twisting his whole body around, straining his neck to watch their every move. Bai Sheng smiled, showing teeth that looked as menacing as a great white shark’s, and from between those teeth, he spat out a word with a do-or-die determination:
“Wife.”
Shen Zhuo ignored this threatening term, smiling, “Did I and Chief Yue disturb you?”
Chief Yue finished his bread in three bites, waved to a waiter, and said calmly, “Serve the main course immediately, or I’m afraid I won’t live long enough to fill my stomach.”
Waiter: “…”
Bai Sheng sinisterly said, “Didn’t you say you had to work overtime tonight and had no time to go out for dinner?”
Shen Zhuo replied calmly, “Chief Yue generously donated a large number of precious A-class blood bags to the Shenhai City Supervision Office. To express our gratitude, the supervision office decided to show our highest respect and reciprocate Chief Yue’s efforts.”
Yue Yang devoured a large piece of steak and then whispered to the waiter, “Serve the dessert immediately and bring out the most expensive post-dinner wine you have.”
Waiter: “…”
Ten meters away, Joseph was almost leaning over the table, staring at them with half-open mouth. Bai Sheng’s idol-worthy face looked less like a smile and more like he was about to open his bloody shark mouth and swallow Yue Yang whole:
“Wife, you came here to see me specifically, and it’s not because this is the only high-end restaurant near the Shenhai City Supervision Office, right?”
He asked ‘right,’ but his face clearly said, ‘You dare deny our relationship in front of Yue Yang, just try it. I swear, I’ll go crazy and unleash the tyrant right here. I’ll force poor Chief Yue to write an 800-word essay praising our great love on this table…’
Shen Zhuo withdrew his gaze from Joseph’s. Looking at Bai Sheng’s extraordinarily handsome, fierce face, he finally couldn’t help but let a hint of a smile escape from the corner of his mouth. He quickly restrained it and just beckoned with his finger.
“……”
Bai Sheng squinted his eyes dangerously, leaning slightly forward.
At this moment, there was no one else around, and it happened to be when the waiter turned away. In the hidden corner, no one noticed; Shen Zhuo grabbed Bai Sheng’s collar with one hand, forcing him to bend down, and planted a quick, fleeting kiss on his cheek.
“I just wanted you to pay for this reception fee on behalf of the Shenhai City Supervision Office,” Shen Zhuo teased.
“!!” Joseph nearly cried out inside. Sheng hadn’t deliberately deceived him; he really was married!
“……” Yue Yang drank the post-meal wine that cost 188,000 yuan per bottle, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and calmly concluded, “I’d rather die due to causality.”
***
Half an hour later, at the back door of the restaurant.
Shen Zhuo politely shook hands with Joseph to say goodbye, once again rejecting his humble wish to be a test subject, and once again rejecting his strong request to hug him. He called a car from the Supervision Office to send this little British gay man away.
“Hey, buddy, there’s no need to be so polite, why be embarrassed?”
Bai Sheng had paid the bill, his face radiant with sunshine, crossing off a grudge from his list. He forcefully put his arm around Yue Yang’s shoulders, insisting on stuffing the half bottle of wine they brought from the restaurant into his arms: “Take it back and drink it slowly tonight. What do you mean it’s too expensive? What is money? How can money measure the life-and-death friendship between me and Chief Yue that’s higher than the mountains and deeper than the seas?”
Yue Yang: “No, no, really, I won’t drink it. You almost knocked me out at the table just now… No, really, just because you didn’t kill me doesn’t mean we have a life-and-death friendship…”
Unfortunately, no one in this world can withstand Bai Sheng’s fierce onslaught, and Yue Yang was no exception. After a bit of pushing back and forth, he had no choice but to take the half bottle of wine and get into the car. Shen Zhuo had his own driver personally take him to the airport, and from afar, he could see Bai Sheng standing there happily waving in the rearview mirror.
As soon as the car turned the corner and disappeared at the end of the road, Bai Sheng’s expression changed. He grabbed Shen Zhuo’s chin and leaned in with a mischievous look in his eyes:
“Well, Supervisor Shen, you came out specifically to supervise me and had dinner with another man, and then made sure to leave the bill for me to pay?”
Shen Zhuo chuckled helplessly, “Supervise you for what? Wasn’t it voluntary on your part?”
Bai Sheng pressed on relentlessly: “If you want me to pay the bill, what should you call me, hmm?”
Shen Zhuo pretended to back away while feigning ignorance: “I thank Mr. Bai for his great contribution to Shenhai City’s catering industry. On behalf of the supervision office, I present a significant commendation…”
“Try calling me Mr. Bai again.” Bai Sheng, emboldened by the alcohol, pursued aggressively: “I paid a six-figure bill, isn’t the next step to pay the betrothal gift? Do you want to freeload off my beauty and not take responsibility?”
The restaurant manager, separated by the glass door, timidly wanted to peek but didn’t dare to look. Shen Zhuo hurriedly pushed Bai Sheng away, forcibly shoving him into the car despite his struggles, laughingly scolding: “What madness are you doing in broad daylight? Get in the car, quickly!”
With Bai Sheng’s alcohol tolerance, he definitely couldn’t drive, so Shen Zhuo drove them home himself, enduring Bai Sheng’s sticky advances and drunken sweet talk along the way. His three parts of intoxication could be acted out as eight or nine parts by this supreme actor.
Fortunately, they didn’t run into anyone on the way from the basement to the elevator. Bai Sheng, with his long arms, was almost hanging onto Shen Zhuo, unable to resist kissing Shen Zhuo’s burning earlobe every two words: “I told that little gay guy you’re my wife, and he didn’t believe it. We’re like this, and he still wouldn’t believe it. If some bad guy with an undying heart comes to steal me away someday, what will we do…”
“Alright, alright,” Shen Zhuo, his cheeks burning from the kisses, pressed the elevator button while pushing Bai Sheng away with some effort, soothing him: “Tonight you can turn into a wolf for ten minutes, just ten minutes.”
“No way; I want to reset the safe word.” Bai Sheng pretended to be drunk and unreasonable, pinning Shen Zhuo against the elevator wall and kissing him. With their lips and tongues entwined, he bit down and said fiercely, “You have to call me that term, the one that matches ‘wife.’ Otherwise, I’ll stay a wolf, continuously, not turning back until tomorrow morning…”
In the past, Shen Zhuo would have slapped him, but Bai Sheng kept rubbing against him, his handsome face flushed and intimately close. Even his whining tone carried a hint of alcohol, like that of a large, beautiful wolf. Shen Zhuo was kissed to the point of panting, unable to push him away or bring himself to hit him, struggling and whispering harshly while pinned in the elevator corner: “…Don’t undress yet, be careful, the two kids are still at home…”
“They’re not.” Bai Sheng’s mind was particularly clear at this moment, “I watched them move downstairs last night; don’t worry.”
His tie loosened, shirt buttons scattered, and the belt half undone, hanging around his waist. With a ding, the elevator stopped at the top floor. The air was so hot, it felt unbearable. Bai Sheng used one hand to scoop Shen Zhuo up; their kisses were intermittent mid-air. Meanwhile, with his other hand, Bai Sheng swiped his fingerprint, and with a click, the door opened.
In the living room, Chu Yan took the milk tea brewed by Yang Xiaodao and sighed:
“—Ah, actually, we overreacted. Don’t all adults roll around like that every day? Though turning into a wolf is a bit hard to accept, it’s something they both agreed to…”
“Mmm.” Yang Xiaodao nodded deeply, “Out of sight, out of mind.”
Chu Yan placed the cake they had just baked together on the table, clapped her hands contentedly: “So later, we’ll apologize to Bai-ge and Supervisor Shen. As long as they’re safe, we’ll respect and bless any of their…kinks…”
With a click, the door opened.
All Chu Yan’s words stuck in her throat.
At the entrance, two adults were disheveled. Shen Zhuo’s belt was undone, Bai Sheng’s shirt was half-off, and the former was being held in the latter’s arms, both with blank expressions on their faces.
In the living room, Yang Xiaodao and Chu Yan had their mouths half-open, their young faces bewildered and terrified. On the table were the cake and milk tea they had made as an apology, with a big heart drawn in pink strawberry jam on the cake.
“………………”
After a deathly silence.
“Ahhh—”
Chu Yan covered her eyes with both hands. Yang Xiaodao covered his own eyes with one hand and Chu Yan’s eyes with the other, screaming desperately: “Sorry! We’re leaving! We’re leaving now!!”
Shen Zhuo buried his face deeply in Bai Sheng’s neck, judging by the force of his action, it seemed he intended to suffocate himself on the spot. Bai Sheng’s face was beet red. He turned in circles, grabbed the car keys, and ran off frantically with Shen Zhuo, nearly smashing the door into two with a loud bang.
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