After the Young Master’s Death, He was Kissed by His Mortal Enemy! (BL) - Chapter 34

They had kissed—deeply, passionately.

They had even slept in the same room!

Surely, that meant they had pierced through that thin layer of ambiguity between them, right?

Cheng Yi had even said to him, “Instead of overthinking, why don’t you fill your mind with just me?”

That had to count for something… didn’t it?

Shen Ran wasn’t entirely certain, but just thinking back to that long, almost excessive kiss from the night before made him want to leap up and run three laps around the apartment out of sheer excitement.

As he passed by a mirror, Shen Ran finally noticed he was grinning like an idiot.

He was supposed to be heartbroken. There were still so many things he hadn’t come to terms with.

And yet, somehow, as long as Cheng Yi was nearby, he always found unexpected comfort.

Just like last night—his mind had been filled with nothing but Cheng Yi, and he’d slept soundly until morning.

Whatever the case, Shen Ran felt he owed Cheng Yi a proper thank-you.

Seeing that Cheng Yi was still asleep, Shen Ran grabbed his phone and cheerfully slipped out to buy breakfast.

Today, he was determined to make sure Mr. Cheng woke up to the luxury of breakfast served hot and fresh!

At the breakfast stall just outside the apartment complex, Shen Ran stood in line amid a group of grandpas and grandmas buying food for their grandkids, his hair sticking up in all directions and eyes still half-shut from sleep.

Braving the cold of winter to buy breakfast—what a grueling mission!

He couldn’t help but recall his college days.

His dorm was too far from the cafeteria, and in the dead of winter, he’d rather go hungry than step outside.

If he didn’t go, neither would his roommates. So all of them would stubbornly stay in, starving together in solidarity.

—Of course, if there were no early morning classes, none of them ever got up before noon anyway.

And if you’re sleeping till noon, who even needs breakfast?

“Wow… it’s been two years already. Time really waits for no one~~~”

Shen Ran muttered nostalgically as he scrolled through his social feed to wake himself up, completely unaware that he was the youngest person in a line full of elderly folk.

The seniors hadn’t even started lamenting the passage of time—and he had already beaten them to it?

Talk about flipping the heavens upside down!

Back when Shen Ran ran an art gallery, he spent most of his time goofing off on his phone.

Thanks to his love for appointment-only viewings, the gallery was quiet most days—hardly anyone showed up.

As a result, he’d picked up the bad habit of endlessly scrolling through social media. Like now, his hands moved on autopilot.

As he swiped through his feed, a particular post suddenly jumped out at him.

“Woke up at 6, two hours at the gym, a nice shower, a cup of coffee. A brand new day begins.”

That was the caption. The post included two photos:

One was a gym selfie that just happened to show off some abs.

The other was a photo of a well-manicured hand holding a cup of coffee.

And the poster?

Chen Xu.

Well, well, well—if it wasn’t Chen Xu! His so-called boyfriend, the same one who had sold him out for fifty grand!

He’d been so swamped these past few days with one thing after another, he had actually forgotten about that hypocritical, self-righteous bastard!

He’d been back in this second life for several days now. And yet in all that time—not a single message from Chen Xu.

Their last conversation in the chat app was still stuck on the exchange before he was reborn.

No replies to his old texts. But updating his feed? Oh, that Chen Xu didn’t forget!

Curious, Shen Ran tapped into Chen Xu’s profile and saw that the guy had been posting every single day lately. Sometimes more than once a day.

And in every single post, there was a photo of himself, accompanied by captions that were so artificially tranquil they were borderline cringe.

“Took a few tea ceremony classes—learned a lot.”

“Tried flower arrangement. Art is truly fascinating.”

“Musical on Friday—managed to snag a front-row seat.” …

Judging from his feed alone, Chen Xu looked like the poster boy of a carefully curated “aesthetic lifestyle” influencer.

But now, Shen Ran knew the truth about him.

Chen Xu was all polish on the outside, rotten on the inside. Those flower arrangement and tea classes? All dirt-cheap, 9.9 yuan trial sessions from a sketchy group-buying app.

As for the so-called “musical”—well, calling it a niche performance was putting it nicely. More bluntly, it was just cheap.

If every ticket cost over a thousand yuan, would Chen Xu even bother attending? What a joke.

Scrolling through Chen Xu’s meticulously edited social feed, flipping through his photos one by one, Shen Ran suddenly noticed a shocking, fatal flaw.

“He can post selfies all he wants, but does he have to crank the face-slimming filter so high that even the wall behind him’s warped?!”

Staring at a selfie where Chen Xu’s face looked as flat and shiny as a clothing iron, Shen Ran couldn’t hold it in anymore and muttered aloud:

“How many layers of skin-smoothing does it take to turn your face into a steam iron? If you don’t have a sense of aesthetics, please, I’m begging you—don’t do extreme close-ups!”

“…And to think, once upon a time, I actually thought this guy was great? What was wrong with me?”

The corner of Shen Ran’s mouth twitched uncontrollably as his expression shifted through a range of emotions before finally settling into what could only be described as:

Old Man on Subway Looking at Phone.jpg

In truth, Shen Ran still remembered his first impression of Chen Xu.

He was an upperclassman—calm, collected, and the class monitor for his year.

He handled everything neatly and thoroughly, and spoke gently and with clarity.

But what made Shen Ran fall head over heels for him was one specific incident—Chen Xu once covered for him when he skipped class.

That particular general education course had a notoriously strict professor—constantly doing roll calls, checking attendance, and running surprise headcounts.

But Shen Ran, being the restless type, found the class boring and refused to go. If Chen Xu hadn’t stepped in to help, he would’ve been caught red-handed.

At the time, Shen Ran had been overwhelmed with gratitude. He’d approached Chen Xu humbly and reverently, full of admiration and respect for his senior:

“Chen Xu-senior, thank you so much! I swear, I’ll never skip class again. I won’t let you down, and I’ll live up to your expectations!”

Chen Xu’s reply back then had stuck with him ever since.

Looking at him with a warm smile, Chen Xu had said:

“Even if you skip class again, it’s fine.”

Shen Ran: “…Huh?”

“If you want to skip class, I’ll cover for you, Shen Ran. I’m your accomplice.”

Back then, Shen Ran had been young and naïve. He mistook indulgent leniency for affection. That one sentence from Chen Xu had made his heart flutter.

From there, they grew closer, and when Chen Xu eventually confessed to him, Shen Ran truly believed he was a good person.

He had even defended Chen Xu in front of Cheng Yi.

But looking back now—discipline and guidance are the true forms of love.

If Chen Xu had genuinely cared for him, he would’ve corrected his bad habits, helped him grow—not indulged him into becoming someone who lacked self-control and skipped class on a whim.

Thinking back, it had already been a few months since he started dating Chen Xu.

And in all that time, they’d never even shared an intimate moment. In fact, Chen Xu had been far colder to him outside of school.

Long delays in replying to messages were the norm, and whenever they wanted to meet up, it was always Shen Ran doing the asking—practically begging for a date.

What kind of relationship was that?

As Shen Ran exited Chen Xu’s profile, his finger slipped—and accidentally [tapped] Chen Xu.

Well, in that case, why not just cut things off completely?

After all, nothing much had happened between them. It hardly even counted as a real relationship. Breaking up now would be easy.

Shen Ran: [Let’s break up. Don’t contact me again.]

Message sent.
Blocked.
Deleted.

Clean. Swift. Decisive.