Returning to Infancy with my Nemesis - Chapter 86
After that day, Fu Shizhao noticed a clear change in Tang Mian’s attitude towards him. It seemed like the “bullying” got even worse and more obvious compared to before. After all, they were enemies from a past life, so Tang Mian found it easy to give orders. Here’s how it went:
Every morning, Tang Mian would arrive at school early, and Fu Shizhao would have to bring breakfast upstairs for him, along with making him a cup of tea or doing some chores.
During break time, Tang Mian would ask Fu Shizhao to buy snacks for him. It could be chips one day, bubble tea the next, or gummy bears the day after. It happened every single day. Also, at lunchtime, Fu Shizhao was tasked with fetching soup for Tang Mian, along with his friends Mu Zichen and Fu Jiacao.
After classes, Fu Shizhao was expected to carry Tang Mian’s backpack, and Tang Mian would deliberately give him a heavy book to carry back home each day.
But that weight wasn’t much for Fu Shizhao to handle, even if Tang Mian added a couple of bricks inside. It didn’t bother him much.
Before bedtime, Fu Shizhao had to sing to Tang Mian, going through every song he had ever sung since childhood.
On Saturdays, Fu Shizhao had to move all the drawing tools to the studio.
As the weather warmed up, Tang Mian would often buy an ice cream and act as a “supervisor.”
But Fu Shizhao had a weak stomach and couldn’t eat cold things, they would cause him stomachaches, so he lost the right to enjoy ice cream and could only have some plain cold water after completing his tasks.
Fu Shizhao cooperated very well, never resisting, and was quite content with it. He just liked Tang Mian to “bully” him. If Tang Mian didn’t “bully” him one day, then he would really start to worry.
Regarding these changes between the two—Mu Zichen and Fu Jiacao had discussed it many times, but they never came to a precise conclusion.
They only knew that Tang Mian, who performed these actions, was like a childish kid who liked someone but deliberately teased them.
As for why Tang Mian suddenly reacted like this, they couldn’t figure it out.
It didn’t seem like Tang Mian had found Fu Shizhao interesting; rather, he seemed annoyed by Fu Shizhao. The relationship between these two was already quite complicated, and they were increasingly unable to understand it. But having free labor to help with soup during lunch was still pretty good.
After all, brothers were meant to be “bossed around.”
Fu Shizhao had been “bossing them around” for a while, and now it was their turn to “boss him around.” Apart from this, Tang Mian continued to search for any clues about Fu Shizhao’s “rebirth.”
Although this matter was almost settled in his mind, he still wanted to see what Fu Shizhao had been up to relying on information asymmetry all these years.
He thoroughly searched through Fu Shizhao’s phone. Anyway, Fu Shizhao gave him this right. It wasn’t deliberately invading someone else’s privacy.
If he didn’t check his phone, he wouldn’t have discovered the clues Fu Shizhao left for him. What he could see was definitely what Fu Shizhao wanted him to see. If he didn’t check, he would worry about Fu Shizhao.
In the previous life, Fu Shizhao… was already a sly old fox.
Tang Mian saw the chat records of Fu Shizhao and the girl who was harassed by Wei Haifan that night.
The situation progressed quite smoothly; that girl was being comforted by him very well, not as desperate as she was at the beginning, and she was already planning to actively face and fight for her rights.
In a while, Wei Haifan should be in for some trouble.
However, before Wei Haifan disappeared, Tang Mian planned to confirm one thing with him. He needed to find a time during evening self-study to go out with him.
Tang Mian also saw the three-person group chat named “Wei Haifan Get Lost” on his phone. The three of them secretly formed a group chat behind his back… quite interesting.
Tang Mian read through the chat records in it completely, feeling both angry and amused. The sticky note with the contact information that Wei Haifan wrote down was indeed torn off by Fu Jiacao on purpose. These people were really… childish.
Eventually, Tang Mian’s attention turned to Fu Shizhao’s locked diary. He remembered that Fu Shizhao started writing diaries when he was very young, and he kept writing until now.
He found it somewhat curious at the time. The Fu Shizhao of this life actually had the habit of writing diaries, like a little girl, and he was curious about what he wrote every day.
However, diaries were very private things, and even though he was curious, he wouldn’t pry.
After finishing writing each diary entry, Fu Shizhao would immediately lock the diary. He never let anyone see when he unlocked it, and Tang Mian didn’t know what the password to his diary was.
He only remembered that once, out of boredom, he tried a few of Fu Shizhao’s commonly used passwords in front of him, but none of them worked. It wasn’t that he wanted to see what was inside, he just felt that if he could crack the password, it would bring some amusement. Fu Shizhao had smiled and urged him to try a few more. Tang Mian gave up directly.
If the password had only been four digits, he could have tried them one by one, but with six digits, there were a million possibilities according to permutations and combinations. Even if he tried for a lifetime, he might not be able to unlock it.
Fu Shizhao probably chose this type of password book deliberately when he bought it, one with many digits, so it wouldn’t be easily cracked. Tang Mian had tried all the birthdays of Fu Shizhao and everyone around him, including his own, but none of them worked.
Was there any other significant date…
Perhaps it was a day between him and Fu Shizhao, a day that left a deep impression, in this life or the last.
Tang Mian racked his brains but couldn’t think of a correct answer.
Coincidentally, because of Wei Haifan’s recent incident, he kept recalling the series of events that happened after meeting Fu Shizhao at the hospital that day.
At that time, Fu Shizhao took off his hearing aid from his right ear and whispered something.
What exactly did he say?
He originally thought it was some dirty words mocking him, but now it seems… the possibility isn’t very high.
Which day was that again?
Tang Mian couldn’t remember the exact date of the day at the hospital, but he remembered the year and the month.
Taking advantage of the gap when Fu Shizhao went to the bathroom to shower, Tang Mian stealthily approached his position, picked up his diary. The inner pages of the diary were already thick, and the contents had been written for many years. He wasn’t interested in reading the content inside; he just needed that password.
If the password really had something to do with him…
Tang Mian pursed his lips.
If the password really had something to do with him, then Fu Dog’s thoughts were buried too deep.
Listening to the sound of water that had just started in the bathroom, Tang Mian quickly adjusted the first four digits of the password lock to correspond to the year and month. Then he began to try out the dates one by one.
01, 02, 03… 10, 11, 12… 20, 21, 22, click. The lock opened.
Tang Mian’s heart trembled along with the unlocking sound.
It really… opened.
Tang Mian stood stunned for a few seconds, his mind a mess. Instead of opening the diary, he quickly locked it again, scrambled the password, placed the diary back where it was, his mind in chaos. He picked up the snowball obediently lying at his feet and went downstairs. After Fu Shizhao finished showering, he found the bedroom suddenly empty, no one around, and the dog missing too.
The soundproofing of the bathroom was quite good; he could only faintly hear some sounds. He was showering with the showerhead on, and the water drowned out most of the outside noise. It was normal not to hear any movement inside the bedroom.
Fu Shizhao pushed open the door of the bedroom, walked downstairs in confusion, and asked the maid he saw on the way, “Where’s Ge and Snowball?”
The maid replied, “They’re walking the dog in the yard. They said not to disturb them.”
Fu Shizhao: ?
Tang Mian walked Snowball around the spacious yard three times, but his emotions still couldn’t be calmed. Fu Dog… seems to really be interested in him.
His thoughts were still hidden so deeply.
Although on the night he learned that Fu Shizhao had also been reborn, he vaguely sensed something, there was still no concrete evidence.
But today— he found the evidence.
Tang Mian’s ears turned completely red. He nervously untied the small hair tie, letting his hair cover his ears, hiding his emotions.
Although it wasn’t yet the scorching heat of July or August, the night breeze was already warm. Suddenly, Tang Mian felt a strong resistance coming from the leash, stopping him in his tracks.
“Arf… Woof…” Snowball directly lay down on the ground, unwilling to continue walking, its fluffy tail drooping pitifully, looking at him.
Initially, Tang Mian thought it might be feeling unwell or perhaps its paws were irritated by something like they were a while ago. But after carefully examining its body, he didn’t find anything wrong. Tang Mian finally realized— it was tired from walking and couldn’t move anymore.
Recently, as the weather got warmer, he wasn’t very willing to go out for walks, and if he didn’t go out, Fu Shizhao rarely walked the dog alone.
The dog-walking duties were usually left to the bodyguards, after all, Snowball was a medium-sized dog and needed enough exercise every day.
By the time the bodyguards had already brought Snowball back after its evening walk. It had already met the daily exercise requirement, and after being walked for so long tonight, its body was probably unable to take it anymore.
But Snowball was already an adult Samoyed, and its size was still quite large. If it didn’t want to walk, there was no way he could carry it back.
He didn’t have that much strength, maybe Fu Shizhao could do it. But… he didn’t want others to know about this.
He walked the dog in the courtyard until the dog couldn’t walk anymore. Posting this online would definitely make many people laugh. Especially since he went out to walk the dog tonight because he needed to vent something, he felt even more embarrassed.
Tang Mian helplessly squatted down, patted Snowball’s head, coaxing, “Can we walk a few more steps? We’ll be back at the house soon, and I’ll give you some freeze-dried treats when we get back.”
Snowball remained motionless.
If it was an actual snowball, it would probably melt here.
Tang Mian: “…”
It looks like he’s definitely going to lose face tonight.