Hearing You Say Love

Hearing You Say Love chapter 33

I Actually Like Men

Su Ming thought Zou Beiyuan was just teasing him for being scared, so he refused the offer. Zou Beiyuan then left for real.

Su Ming: …

So cold, so cruel, so heartless…

Couldn’t you have asked me one more time? If you had, I would’ve agreed.

Feeling frustrated, Su Ming took a shower and went to bed early.

…..

On Tuesday morning at 10 a.m., the opening ceremony for Zhao Shengpei’s solo sculpture exhibition took place.

Su Ming saw the news pushed to his phone. Important figures from politics, business, and the art world all attended the event, but strangely, Zhao Shengpei himself didn’t show up.

Su Ming glanced at the news and didn’t think much of it before returning to his desk to continue drawing.

Around noon, he received a message from Chen Muchao: [Big news! Zhao Shengpei got beaten up last night. Someone took a picture of him at the hospital, getting treated in the early hours.]

The message came with a photo. It was enlarged several times, so the image wasn’t very clear, but you could see that Zhao Shengpei’s face was swollen like a pig’s head. His right hand seemed to be dislocated, and he was holding it with his left, hanging weakly.

Su Ming: [Where did you get this?]

Chen Muchao: [In the city art association’s group chat. Everyone’s saying it was probably his ex-wife who hired someone to do it, hahaha.]

Su Ming: [Serves him right.]

He took another look at the photo. Zhao Shengpei had two black eyes, a bloody nose, and a swollen left cheek like a steamed bun. It was quite satisfying to see.

With Zhao Shengpei in such bad shape, there was no way he would bother him again.

Problem solved perfectly.

Shoutout to the ex-wife!

Su Ming happily worked through the afternoon when suddenly, the property manager came knocking.

Su Ming thought he might have forgotten to pay the property fees, but the chubby manager apologized, saying the security team had been negligent, causing him some inconvenience, and as compensation, they gave him a bucket of peanut oil.

Su Ming was completely confused.

The sweet-talking girl who came with the manager explained, “If the owner of unit 1601 hadn’t come to check the surveillance footage yesterday, we wouldn’t have known that someone deliberately messed with your circuit breaker. We’re planning to upgrade the electrical panel now and lock all the meters so this won’t happen again.”

She didn’t fully explain, but they had found out from the surveillance that someone had turned off Su Ming’s circuit breaker and then hid by the fire escape stairs until the owner of 1601 arrived and scared them off.

If Su Ming had gone out to check the electrical panel, who knows what might have happened. The consequences could have been dire.

The property manager, not wanting to alarm the residents, told the girl not to reveal this part.

Su Ming: ?

Zou Beiyuan checked the surveillance footage?

Someone deliberately turned off my circuit breaker?

How come I didn’t know any of this?!

Su Ming stood there, stunned, unsure of what to say.

The property staff seemed to know about his communication difficulties, so after explaining everything, the girl handed him her phone and asked Su Ming to add her on WeChat: “I’m the building manager for your block. If you ever have any issues, feel free to contact me, and I’ll come help you.”

Su Ming had always known they had a building manager, but he had never reached out before. After adding her on WeChat, he typed and asked them: [Who was the person who deliberately turned off my breaker?]

The property manager showed him a photo from the surveillance footage and asked if he recognized the person. Su Ming nodded.

Not only did he recognize him—wasn’t that Zhao Shengpei?

“We reported it to the local police station, but they said since no damage was done, they couldn’t open a case,” the manager explained. “We’ve notified security to keep him out of the building from now on, so you don’t need to worry.”

Su Ming typed on his phone to thank them. The property manager was even more polite, apologizing once more before leaving with the girl.

Closing the door behind him, Su Ming stared at the bucket of peanut oil for two minutes, reaching an unbelievable conclusion—was Zhao Shengpei beaten up by Zou Beiyuan?

Last night, when Zou Beiyuan said he had urgent business, was he going to take care of that?

He snapped a picture of the peanut oil and sent it to Zou Beiyuan: [PeanutOil.jpg]

Zou Beiyuan quickly replied: [What’s up?]

Su Ming: [This oil, the property management gave it to me.]

Zuo Beiyuan: [Hmm, did you go pay the property management fee?]

Su Ming: [They came to apologize to me and compensated, saying their negligence led to not noticing someone deliberately switching off my circuit breaker. Do you want to explain that to me?]

Zuo Beiyuan: [It wasn’t me who switched it off.]

Su Ming asked directly: [Did you beat up Zhao Shengpei?]

Zuo Beiyuan didn’t reply, probably still thinking of an excuse, but Su Ming was already certain it was him.

Su Ming: [Did you really need to do it yourself? Last time at the bar, didn’t you also help me sort it out? Don’t you know it’s illegal to assault someone? Whether it’s minor or serious injury?]

Zuo Beiyuan: [How did you know?]

After a while, Zuo Beiyuan added: [He won’t call the police.]

Su Ming: [Why not?]

Then, until the evening, Zuo Beiyuan didn’t reply anymore.

Actually, strictly speaking, it wasn’t Zuo Beiyuan who beat up Zhao Shengpei.

Because Xu Jiadi and Jiang Zufan thought Zuo Beiyuan might kill someone with one punch, they handled the beating themselves and didn’t let Zuo Beiyuan do it.

Xu Jiadi knew a few friends in Chengdu’s art circle, got Zhao Shengpei’s phone number through them, and then Zuo Beiyuan pretended Su Ming sent a message to Zhao Shengpei, luring him to a dark and unmonitored riverbank. Without saying a word, they beat him up.

After they subdued him, Zuo Beiyuan began interrogating him calmly about why he had been harassing Su Ming.

Zhao Shengpei first claimed he was Su Ming’s ex-boyfriend and they broke up due to misunderstandings. Now he came back because he couldn’t forget the old feelings, not to harass Su Ming.

Zuo Beiyuan got angrier after hearing this and dislocated one of his arms. Zhao Shengpei then changed his story, saying he was pursuing Su Ming and hadn’t succeeded yet.

Although his words were inconsistent, he admitted to concealing his sexual orientation when he married his ex-wife.

Zuo Beiyuan recorded this, saying, “If you dare call the police, your ex-father-in-law will know what you really are.”

Zhao Shengpei was blindfolded the whole time, trembling all over, and only called his assistant after they left.

Then came the photo that Chen Muchao saw in the group.

Su Ming didn’t wait for Zuo Beiyuan’s message, he first told Chen Muchao: [Zhao Shengpei wasn’t beaten up by his ex-wife, it was Little Wolf who did it.]

Chen Muchao: [What the heck! A scene from a movie? So thrilling!]

Su Ming: [There was no movie scene. Does Zhao Shengpei even qualify to have a movie scene with my Little Wolf?]

Chen Muchao: [He doesn’t qualify.]

Su Ming then told Chen Muchao about Zhao Shengpei’s actions, and Chen Muchao commented: [Can you believe it? Back when he was pursuing you, he at least waited outside your dorm every day; now he’s learned to cut off the power. tsk.]

Su Ming: [I can’t even make up such a twisted plot.]

Chen Muchao: [So Little Wolf quietly helped you deal with the bad guy to protect you. He really cares about you.]

Su Ming: …

But I still wish he would stay and accompany me.

Su Ming: [I should thank him. Invite him to dinner at my place tomorrow. Open a bottle of Wuliangye and get him drunk to wrap things up early.]

Chen Muchao: [Tomorrow? You do remember we have a 7 a.m. flight to Dunhuang, right, Su?]

Su Ming: [Crap!]

Four days without seeing Little Wolf.

Really don’t want to go.

Zuo Beiyuan still didn’t reply to his message.

Seeing it was still early, Su Ming changed his clothes and went out to buy fish at the fresh market.

Su Ming: [Coming back for dinner tonight? I’m making fish soup.]

Zuo Beiyuan replied a long time later: [I have something today.]

Su Ming: [Too bad. I’m going on a trip tomorrow. If you want to drink next time, it’ll have to wait four days.]

Zuo Beiyuan: [Where are you going?]

Su Ming: [There’s a project to collect materials in Dunhuang.]

Zuo Beiyuan didn’t respond further.

Su Ming put his phone aside and waited until the soup was ready, then received another message from Zuo Beiyuan.

Zuo Beiyuan: [Just got in the car.]

Zuo Beiyuan: [Save some fish soup for me, I’ll drink it when I get back tonight.]

Su Ming smiled, the fish soup really worked.

Zuo Beiyuan didn’t return until almost ten o’clock.

When he pressed Su Ming’s doorbell, for some reason he hesitated more than usual.

Su Ming seemed ready to sleep, already changed into pajamas, wearing the thin-framed glasses he often wore for bedtime reading, his hair freshly washed and soft, giving off a pleasant citrus fragrance all over.

Zuo Beiyuan couldn’t help but recall Zhao Shengpei’s mention of “ex-boyfriend.”

So did he touch Su Ming?

Did he kiss him?

Did he do more intimate things with him?

These thoughts made Zuo Beiyuan jealous.

Su Ming let Zuo Beiyuan in and brought out the warm soup bowl from the kitchen.

Zuo Beiyuan sat down at the dining table and saw a note stuck on the white bone china soup bowl, written in a round and cute font: Thank you for helping me.

Next to it was a simple drawing of a bowing figure, particularly vivid, wearing a cochlear implant on his ear, and the short ponytail at the back of his head pointed straight up due to the bow. Zuo Beiyuan’s tough guy heart was about to melt.

Su Ming uncovered the soup bowl for him and handed him the spoon. The fragrance of the fish soup touched every corner of Zuo Beiyuan’s internal organs, making him equally jealous of everyone Su Ming had cared for like this.

Suddenly a question flashed in his mind. Su Ming had mentioned having someone he liked. Could that person have been Zhao Shengpei?

Zou Beiyuan felt like his jealousy might have driven him crazy, blurting out, “Is he your ex-boyfriend?”

Su Ming was taken aback, vigorously shaking his head and grabbing his notebook, writing dramatically: How could that be!!!

The three exclamation marks were a strong condemnation of Zou Beiyuan’s unfounded speculation.

Zou Beiyuan breathed a sigh of relief, but there was still something he wanted to clarify.

—If the ex-boyfriend was a misunderstanding, then what about Su Ming’s orientation?

After hesitating for a moment, Zou Beiyuan tried to sound as casual as possible, with a hint of unnoticed anticipation, “Um… I thought you might be gay. Sorry for the misunderstanding.”

He whispered the words “gay” as if speaking louder would offend Su Ming.

Su Ming looked at Zou Beiyuan for a moment, then earnestly wrote on the paper, meticulously crafting each stroke: You didn’t misunderstand. I do like men.

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