The main gate didn’t open directly, but Mei Yuchen’s voice came from the long-unused video doorbell: “What are you here for?”
Bai Sijun vaguely felt something was wrong, but he still raised the pastry box and said to the camera, “I brought some delicious food for you.”
“Not needed.”
With a click, the call ended. Bai Sijun stood there holding the box, unsure why Mei Yuchen was upset again.
After some thought, he was sure the problem wasn’t with him. Mei Yuchen was fine the last time he left. So, he pressed the doorbell again.
Mei Yuchen’s voice came quickly, “I said it’s not needed.”
Bai Sijun frowned and patiently said, “Open the door.”
The intermittent sound of the video doorbell, charged with electricity, continued, but Mei Yuchen neither hung up nor spoke.
Bai Sijun’s tone softened, “These are new, specially bought for you.”
After a while, the door finally opened. As Bai Sijun walked toward the entrance, he thought Mei Yuchen might be facing writer’s block, and sweets seemed timely.
The first floor was dark, and Bai Sijun turned on the lights in the living room. There, he saw Mei Yuchen leaning on the sofa, expressionless, looking at him.
“What’s wrong? Are you in a bad mood?” Bai Sijun placed the pastries on the coffee table and sat down next to him.
Mei Yuchen didn’t answer, and his expression revealed nothing.
Bai Sijun opened the pink pastry box, then took out a plastic spoon and handed it to Mei Yuchen, saying, “Try this, it’s cherry blossom-flavored.”
Mei Yuchen tightened his lips, unmoving.
Sighing internally, Bai Sijun thought he probably owed Mei Yuchen something from a past life, or why else would he always find it challenging to deal with him? He scooped a spoonful and fed it to Mei Yuchen’s lips. Mei Yuchen’s eyes showed signs of softening, but the next moment, he turned his head coldly.
Bai Sijun’s shoulders slumped, and he put the spoon in his own mouth, asking, “What’s wrong with you?”
The scent of cherry blossoms filled his mouth instantly, but Mei Yuchen still didn’t respond.
“This is really delicious. Are you sure you don’t want any?” Bai Sijun dug another spoonful, but Mei Yuchen remained unresponsive.
Although he had eaten something at Qi Yun’s house in the afternoon, Bai Sijun’s stomach was already growling. Half of the flower-shaped pastry disappeared in an instant, and he thought he should save some for Mei Yuchen. So, he prepared to go for another pastry. Finally, Mei Yuchen spoke, “Why are you eating the pastries you brought me?”
Bai Sijun froze, speechless. “If you won’t eat, why can’t I?”
Considering that he took two hours off work and endured a two-hour subway ride to deliver pastries, the gentlemanly act wasn’t being appreciated, and Bai Sijun suddenly felt he was unnecessarily seeking trouble.
Putting down the spoon, leaning back on the sofa, he began to think of ways to get Mei Yuchen to tell him why he was upset. However, he self-mockingly realized that making Mei Yuchen open up was perhaps more challenging than writing for him.
In silence, Bai Sijun’s gaze drifted to the window, where there was nothing on the drying rack. He subconsciously asked, “Did you put away my underwear?”
“No,” Mei Yuchen replied, “it blew away.”
“Blew away?” Bai Sijun was somewhat incredulous. “Was the wind that strong?”
“Yes,” Mei Yuchen answered tersely.
In this situation, Bai Sijun didn’t want to dwell on unimportant matters. He tentatively asked, “Are you facing writer’s block?”
Mei Yuchen tightened his lips without answering. Judging by his reaction, Bai Sijun guessed he was on the right track. He said, “Where are you in the story? Let me take a look.”
“Haven’t written,” Mei Yuchen said expressionlessly, “no need for you to check.”
The statement was somewhat sharp, but Bai Sijun, thinking that Mei Yuchen wasn’t targeting him but was merely in a bad mood, wasn’t angered. He kindly advised, “I am your editor. When you face difficulties…”
Mei Yuchen suddenly frowned, interrupting Bai Sijun, “I said I haven’t written. What’s there to check?”
There was clear impatience in Mei Yuchen’s tone. Even though Bai Sijun had a good temper, he couldn’t help but feel a vein pulsing on his forehead. Taking a deep breath to calm the rising anger, he asked, “Didn’t you already outline the romance game?”
Mei Yuchen sneered, “You’re an editor, and you can stomach that rubbish? I deleted it already.”
Bai Sijun tightened his grip on his knee, clenching his teeth to suppress the urge to explode. He inquired, “So, what have you been writing lately?”
“Erotica,” Mei Yuchen chuckled, “Do you want to read it?”
Bai Sijun’s expression darkened completely. Two months ago, he might have continued to patiently advise, but since becoming familiar with Mei Yuchen, he no longer treated him as delicately.
“Suit yourself,” Bai Sijun said expressionlessly, standing up from the sofa, and Mei Yuchen’s gaze followed him.
“Where are you going?” Mei Yuchen asked, frowning.
“Back home,” Bai Sijun paused, “Can’t be bothered with you.”
Mei Yuchen remained silent, his face blackened. Bai Sijun glanced at him one last time and left the villa.
His empty stomach kept protesting, but he had no appetite for food. He remembered reading an article online that said the closer the relationship, the more unscrupulous one could become because you knew each other’s boundaries. Mei Yuchen had always been unreserved, but Bai Sijun clearly felt himself becoming reckless.
In the past, he would never have left Mei Yuchen’s villa like that.
Thinking carefully, he did have some leverage now. He was responsible for authors like Qi Yun, and he didn’t need to rely on Mei Yuchen alone. Moreover, he knew Mei Yuchen only had him, and they were in a mutually dependent relationship.
So, since both sides were equal, why should he let Mei Yuchen throw a tantrum?
It should have been a straightforward decision, but Bai Sijun couldn’t shake off the unpleasant feeling that he had turned into a bad person.
“Baï ge.” The next day, Liang Ru patted Baï Sijun’s shoulder. “Aren’t you going to have lunch?”
Baï Sijun snapped back to reality and glanced at the time, realizing he had been lost in thought all morning. He forced a smile and said, “You guys go ahead, I’ll order takeout.”
He took out his phone, hesitated for a moment, but didn’t open the food delivery app. He checked his messages and WeChat; Mei Yuchen had not contacted him.
Frowning, he sighed lightly. Suddenly, he felt that not even his previous girlfriends demanded as much attention as Mei Yuchen.
He didn’t want to admit he was being soft-hearted again, but the truth was he not only felt soft but also a sense of self-blame. Mei Yuchen only had him by his side, and yet he had told him that he couldn’t be bothered. If he didn’t care, who else would?
Baï Sijun irritably opened Mei Yuchen’s Moments on social media, thinking that even if he just posted something, giving a hint about his mood, it would be better. However, the most recent Moments were from two years ago, featuring a few travel photos.
Probably posted for the sake of fooling the editors, Baï Sijun thought boredly. He clicked on that post and suddenly noticed a familiar profile picture in the likes.
It was Qi Yun.
Baï Sijun was stunned, belatedly realizing that Mei Yuchen and Qi Yun were WeChat friends.
It wasn’t surprising; both of them were suspense writers, and they both collaborated with Hongtu. It made sense for them to know each other.
At that moment, a flash of realization crossed Baï Sijun’s mind—could it be that…
Mei Yuchen was upset because he saw Qi Yun’s Moments?
In his Moments, Qi Yun thanked him for being his editor, but initially, he had told Mei Yuchen that he only had one author under him—Mei Yuchen. Moreover, if Mei Yuchen didn’t submit manuscripts soon, he would be dismissed.
This was, of course, not a lie, but who could predict what would happen later?
No wonder every time he mentioned the editor or manuscripts last night, Mei Yuchen seemed so upset. It seemed like he was genuinely angry about this matter.
Baï Sijun returned to the chat interface, and a thought crossed his mind—to ask if Mei Yuchen was jealous. However, as soon as these words were typed, he woke up abruptly and quickly deleted them.
That was close; he almost sent it.
He wasn’t Mei Yuchen’s boyfriend; there was no reason to ask this.
And this probably wasn’t jealousy; it was just a sense of imbalance. Baï Sijun had experienced such feelings before.
In his first year of college, he used to play basketball with a roommate. However, in the second semester, the roommate chose volleyball as an elective course. Since then, their basketball sessions became less frequent.
Whenever the roommate wanted to play basketball, Baï Sijun was available, but when Baï Sijun wanted to play, the roommate was sometimes busy playing volleyball with other classmates.
It wasn’t jealousy; it was just that, for Baï Sijun, the roommate was his only basketball buddy, while for the roommate, Baï Sijun was just one of many buddies.
As he got to know more basketball friends, this feeling of imbalance disappeared.
So, this definitely wasn’t jealousy.
Baï Sijun guessed he was right this time; Mei Yuchen probably just felt emotionally unbalanced.
Having figured out why the big boss was upset, he suddenly felt relieved.
Honestly, if it were him, he would also find it hard to express this kind of imbalance to the roommate. Of course, he wouldn’t throw a tantrum like Mei Yuchen, so it was ultimately due to Mei Yuchen’s difficult personality.
That day happened to be Friday, and Baï Sijun had originally planned to go to Mei Yuchen’s place on Saturday.
However, now that he knew the big cat Mei was angry with him, he had to hurry over and smooth things out.
After work, Baï Sijun went home, had dinner, took a shower, and then picked up a book. He also brought a charger and a laptop, making sure everything was foolproof before heading out.
As the subway moved away from the city center, the number of people in the carriage dwindled. Baï Sijun got tired of reading, checked the time on his phone, and realized he should arrive at Mei Yuchen’s place before 10 PM.
However, at that moment, his phone vibrated, and an unexpected person called him.
He pressed the answer button with some surprise and said, “Xiao Ai?”
