Don’t panic, stay calm. Chen Luzhou tried to reassure himself. He couldn’t believe that Xu Zhi had no feelings for him. This could be a sophisticated form of flirting that he didn’t quite understand.
Perhaps sensing the awkward atmosphere, the last few patrons in the bar’s corner stood up and left in dribs and drabs. Only their group remained, frozen in an uncomfortable silence, like a viscous liquid that couldn’t be stirred, lifeless and stagnant.
Chen Luzhou leaned back, picking up a peanut. He lowered his head to shell it, his eyelids drooping indifferently as he asked casually, “So why did you break up with your boyfriend?”
Don’t make such high-sounding excuses for yourself. Do you dare say you don’t have any thoughts about me at all?
Xu Zhi, unaware that Chen Luzhou was trying to regain his composure and that she had almost become a “sea king” in the past few days, was changing a contact name. She looked up at him in surprise: “Break up?”
Zhu Yangqi, his mind in a muddle, hadn’t sorted things out yet. He hastily chimed in: “Yeah, why did you suddenly break up with him?”
Xu Zhi had no idea that they had already nearly maxed out their progress bar. She looked at them suspiciously, “Break up? I just cleared things up with him. He wasn’t even my boyfriend. That night, Yingying only said we had boyfriends to make you feel more at ease about coming out.”
“Damn.” Zhu Yangqi cursed, turning to look at Chen Luzhou. The young master didn’t say anything. He raised his head, showing no intention of settling scores. He brushed off the peanut shells from his hands and looked coldly at the person opposite him. The culprit behind this incident was still Cai Yingying, but he stared solely at Xu Zhi. “You lied to me?”
Those deep black eyes were like the sea water brimming with light during the day, seemingly calm on the surface, but hiding the spectacular scenery of coral reefs beneath.
Xu Zhi’s heart trembled slightly.
Oh no, it seemed she had upset him.
Xu Zhi thought to herself, the focus has shifted, shifted, these things aren’t important, don’t you want to hear about my mother?
But before Xu Zhi could speak, Cai Yingying suddenly started acting drunk.
She had downed several mojitos in one go. As the alcohol took effect, her entire face turned the color of a pig’s liver, even her neck mottled with a crimson flush. Cai Yingying somehow produced a microphone from somewhere. Xu Zhi instinctively glanced at the stage, and sure enough, the standing microphone stood there bare, like a lone flag pole.
She held two empty glasses in her hand, gently tapping them against the microphone. After two clear, sharp “dings,” Cai Yingying began to rant into the microphone, “So what if we lied to you?”
The microphone’s volume was loud, and the sound was rich and clear. Chen Luzhou felt the entire mountain resort could hear it, suddenly understanding why Fu Yuqing refused to hire singers for live performances – it was indeed disruptive.
Chen Luzhou’s feelings were quite complex. That tangled feeling was gone. But more than anything, he felt disappointed. It was as if there had been a little fish darting back and forth at the door of his heart, making it flutter and leaving him restless. Just as he was about to open the door, the little fish swam away, and that pond harboring a young man’s emotions instantly returned to calm waters.
“You stinking men are all the same! Falling for every girl you see!” Cai Yingying was visibly drunk. Zhai Xiao gave her a metaphorical “slap.” She seized the opportunity to vent her grievances at Chen Luzhou, “All the boys from First High are no good! Zhai Xiao is like this, Tan Xu is like this! Don’t think I don’t know, Chen Luzhou! You just want to chase our Xu Zhi! Otherwise, why did you two go play whack-a-mole alone that night—”
Xu Zhi immediately snatched the microphone from Cai Yingying, holding her down despite her flailing and struggling. She tried to explain to Chen Luzhou, “You should ask Zhu Yangqi about this. His ears seem to be just for decoration. I’ve already explained to Yingying, but she’s probably drunk now. Let me explain first—”
Chen Luzhou: “Explain your mother.”
Xu Zhi was taken aback, “Why are you cursing?”
Chen Luzhou sighed, taking off his hat to let her see his expression and eyes. His look couldn’t be called heartfelt, but it was genuinely sincere. “Weren’t you going to tell me about your mother?”
…
For about twenty minutes, Xu Zhi spoke in great detail, talking about Lin Qiudie’s past experiences, and language habits, even mentioning the yellow sundress. Zhu Yangqi listened in confusion, but Chen Luzhou understood. She wanted to meet his mother but was afraid of alerting her. The Indian movie she mentioned, Chen Luzhou had seen it too. The female protagonist didn’t get the so-called spiritual redemption in the end but instead fell into the trap of the capitalists, the implications were not good.
“So you just want to confirm if she’s your mother?” Chen Luzhou asked.
“There’s no need to confirm anymore. I know it’s probably not her,” Xu Zhi said. “As you just said, my mother passed away a few years ago, and you’ve been with her for over a decade. The possibility is extremely slim. If you don’t mind, maybe I could meet her sometime in the future. I still want to know why they look so alike. Just one meeting would be enough.”
Chen Luzhou was the only one who hadn’t been drinking. A glass of lemon water sat in front of him. He leaned forward slightly, one elbow resting loosely on his leg, one shoulder drooping. He lowered his head to finish the water with a straw. He thought to himself, alright, that’s enough for today. However, as he reached out to grab his hat, he looked at Xu Zhi and casually asked, “So you wouldn’t mind being my girlfriend?”
“Ah, as long as you don’t mind,” Xu Zhi pondered his expression, trying to figure out what he meant. She emphasized again, “You mean that day when we pretended, right?”
Chen Luzhou coughed, looking away coldly as he retorted, “As if I have nothing better to do than to pretend to be in a real relationship with you.”
Xu Zhi wore an expression that said “Comrade, your level of awareness is truly high” as she finished her Long Island Iced Tea. She said, “That’s perfect. I don’t want to be in a relationship either. I’ve had enough.”
As she finished speaking, Xu Zhi turned around to see Cai Yingying already passed out drunk, her neck red, and even her arms and legs flushed with an abnormal redness. Xu Zhi sensed something was wrong and quickly asked Chen Luzhou, “Is this an alcohol allergy?”
Chen Luzhou pushed his chair back to take a look. Because the bar was so dim and Cai Yingying’s skin was yellowish, it was a bit hard to tell. Chen Luzhou turned on his phone’s flashlight and shone it on her. Although Cai Yingying wasn’t fully conscious, she generally understood what they were saying. In that instant, she felt like she was no different from a piece of pork in Chen Luzhou’s eyes, suffering another blow.
“Has she never drunk before?” Chen Luzhou asked.
“No, this is her first time.”
Chen Luzhou said, “Ask her if she’s itchy. If she’s itchy and having trouble breathing, we need to get her to a hospital. If it’s just redness, it’s fine. It’ll fade soon.”
Cai Yingying said she wasn’t itchy, just a bit uncomfortable in her chest.
Chen Luzhou asked her where it was uncomfortable.
Cai Yingying: “It’s a dull pain.”
Chen Luzhou glanced at Xu Zhi before saying, “A dull pain? Heart disease?”
Cai Yingying shook her head: “No, it’s time for my depression to kick in.”
Zhu Yangqi: “…”
Chen Luzhou: “…”
Xu Zhi wasted no time in dragging her away, “I’m sorry, I’ll take her back first. It’s time, she needs to take her medicine.”
…
As soon as Zhu Yangqi entered the room, he started laughing. He laughed so hard he could barely stand up straight. Finally, he crawled to the edge of the bed. Chen Luzhou followed him in, ignoring him and going straight to take a shower. When he came out after his shower, Zhu Yangqi was still laughing. Chen Luzhou, unable to bear it any longer, balled up his just-changed clothes and threw them at him, his voice cold: “Are you done yet?”
Zhu Yangqi, clutching his stomach and convulsing on the bed, finally finished laughing. He sat up and gave a serious summary, “So, people shouldn’t rely on inertial thinking. Not all girls will fall for you. Chen Luzhou, you’ve met your match this time. And you can’t even reject her. It’s hilarious. She rejected you fair and square.”
Chen Luzhou also felt he had been quite foolish, probably brainwashed by Gu Yan recently. Gu Yan would send him WeChat messages every few days about how much she liked him, and how many girls around her liked him. From childhood to now, there were indeed quite a few girls who expressed their fondness for him, but when it came to actual pursuit, there weren’t many. Maybe it was because he had always been in rather competitive schools, where everyone was more focused on studying. Then, as soon as the college entrance exam was over, these girls seemed to sprout like chives, batch after batch. These past few days, he had indeed received many lengthy messages on WeChat, from middle school, and high school, those he kept in touch with, those he didn’t, all kinds.
So…
He had been foolish.
Zhu Yangqi, lying on the bed with his legs crossed, said leisurely, “Young Master Chen, now that all misunderstandings have been cleared up, do you still have that tingly, irresistible feeling for her?”
Chen Luzhou’s hair was still wet, dripping water. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, just a towel wrapped around his waist. Water still clung to his shoulders and chest, sliding down his clean, lean muscles. He wiped his hair a couple of times, then unplugged his phone from the charger on the desk, intending to send Chen Xingqi a WeChat message to come down early for breakfast tomorrow.
As soon as he opened WeChat, apart from several group chats frantically popping up messages, at the top was the newly added contact with Xu Zhi, her profile picture was a whole garden of gardenia flowers. So he casually opened her Moments, remembering how Xu Zhi had scrolled through his Moments from top to bottom earlier to prove she had no interest in him. He also adopted an attitude of “what’s wrong with looking, I’ll look if I want to,” scrolling through while leaning casually against the computer desk edge. He said to Zhu Yangqi, “Mm, I admit defeat, okay?”
Xu Zhi’s Moments had only about a dozen posts in total, either “Happy New Year” or “Happy Birthday, Dad,” extremely simple, without any emotions. You couldn’t tell what she liked or disliked. If someone wanted to pursue her, where the hell would they start?
Alright, this thing between you two ends here. She has no feelings for you. She approached you to add you on WeChat, added you on WeChat to talk to your mom, and the power bank was left at the store. Chen Luzhou thought, his mind ringing like morning and evening bells, as he exited her Moments back to the chat box. But then he saw at the top of the chat box, in the name position, it displayed—
The other party is typing…
Chen Luzhou stared at the phone expressionlessly. Alright, what else do you have to say?
Everything just now was a lie.
But after waiting for a long time, no message came through.
Finally, Chen Luzhou sent a “?” over.
Xu Zhi replied quite quickly.
Cr:?
Xu Zhi:?
Cr: ???
Xu Zhi: ????
Chen Luzhou sent over a screenshot of her “typing” from earlier.
Cr: Something to say?
Xu Zhi: No, Yingying just said she left her bag at the bar. I was going to send a message asking if you guys had picked it up for her, but before I could send it, she found it. Turns out she didn’t take it out.