The ‘Perfumum’ bar was packed to capacity. Yue Chuan blended into the crowd, taking a seat at the booth closest to Zhu Jingru. Without batting an eye, he paid six thousand yuan and quickly called over Huang Chen, who was delivering drinks, “Hey, handsome, what’s his name?”
“That, I really can’t tell you.” Huang Chen laughed. It was because Yue Chuan looked so honest and upstanding, yet when he opened his mouth, his accent was coquettish and even had a roguish edge to it.
“Why can’t you say? Here, let me transfer you five hundred and twenty. I’m just buying his name.”
…
Zhu Jingru rolled up his sleeves, revealing the circle of tattoos on his wrist. He sat languidly on a high stool, glanced at Huang Chen, and incidentally, coolly sized up Yue Chuan.
Their eyes met. Zhu Jingru gently raised the glass beside him in a toast from across the distance.
Yue Chuan’s heart felt like it was being stampeded by several hundred elk. He walked over and got straight to the point, “Good evening.”
“Hello.”
“My name is Yue Chuan. Yue as in father-in-law, Chuan as in mountains and rivers. I’m thirty-three this year, from Suzhou…”
Zhu Jingru was amused into a laugh, “Do you need me to introduce myself too?”
“No, no, that handsome guy just told me. Your name is very nice, I remembered it as soon as I heard it.”
Zhu Jingru twisted open the bottle of Bacardi rum next to him and poured some ice into a glass. “Is this Mr. Yue’s first time in Nanhai?”
“Yes, my childhood friend opened a coffee shop here, the one right across from you. I’m always so busy, I’ve only just recently had time to come and look around.”
Zhu Jingru didn’t answer, only pushing the glass closer. “Have a taste. It’s more thirst-quenching with ice.”
“Thank you.” Yue Chuan raised his glass and downed it in one go. As a southerner, he wasn’t quite used to the central heating. He was so hot that his face was flushed and the corners of his mouth were chapped.
“You’re welcome. I know Brother Bai, so we can be considered semi-friends.” Zhu Jingru imperceptibly seized control of the conversation and also extracted the information he wanted, closing the distance between them during their chat.
Yue Chuan’s eyes lit up. “You know Old Bai? That’s fantastic! I’ll call him right now and have him come over, the three of us can chat and get to know each other.”
Zhu Jingru thoughtfully caressed the glass. “He likes peace and quiet. It’s too noisy here.”
“That’s true. He wouldn’t come even if I called him. He never drinks. Aside from being a heavy smoker, he doesn’t have any bad habits at all.” Yue Chuan spoke quickly and frankly, completely unaware that he was being led astray by Zhu Jingru.
Perhaps the atmosphere was too good, or perhaps it was the stimulation of the alcohol.
Zhu Jingru clinked glasses with Yue Chuan, controlling the rhythm of the conversation with every move.
“You drink too. Let’s not go home until we’re drunk tonight. It’s rare to get along with you so well,” Yue Chuan said after a few glasses of liquor.
Zhu Jingru said, “I’m not a good drinker.”
When Yue Chuan heard this, he thought, how could this be? He immediately poured a drink for Zhu Jingru as well. “It’s fine. You drink one glass, I’ll drink three. We’re happy, right? A little drink lightens the mood.”
Zhu Jingru feigned refusal for a moment before slowly finishing his drink.
An hour later, Yue Chuan was slumped over the table, dead to the world. Zhu Jingru calmly tilted his head back and drank straight from the bottle, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed the remaining alcohol. It could not be wasted.
Just as he was calculating how to help the man to the coffee shop later, Yue Chuan suddenly sat up. With blurry, intoxicated eyes, he unlocked his phone to make a call. The other person answered quickly.
“Old Bai, I want to show you a treasure.”
Bai Qinglin was silent, wanting to hang up, “…”
Yue Chuan roared, “I’m only showing you because I consider you a brother. You’ll regret it if you don’t look.” Then, he deftly started a WeChat video call with Bai Qinglin.
Zhu Jingru watched calmly to see what would happen, momentarily unable to figure out Yue Chuan’s angle.
Until the video call connected. On the screen, the collar of a shirt was visible. The skin was very fair, like porcelain. In a moment, the camera’s perspective pulled back and settled in one spot. Bai Qinglin was wiping a glass, looking very handsome in a gray shirt.
While Zhu Jingru was still in a daze, Yue Chuan, who was beside him, suddenly slung an arm around his shoulders and aimed the phone at him. “Let me introduce you. This is my tenth first love—”
On the screen, Bai Qinglin casually lifted his eyes. His expression was placid, showing no sign of joy or anger. The only thing was that he accidentally dropped the cleaning cloth on the floor. When he bent to pick it up, the blue veins on the back of his hand protruded. He continued to stare silently at the two of them.
Zhu Jingru had only just discovered that day that he had been blocked on WeChat and his phone calls. Logically, Bai Qinglin should have been the one in the wrong, but at this moment, he felt as if he was the one who had done something wrong. Meeting his gaze across the screen felt inexplicably guilty, like being caught cheating. After he came to his senses, he explained, “Brother Bai, Mr. Yue is drunk.”
“Mm.”
A helpless look appeared on Zhu Jingru’s face. “He’s hugging me really tightly.”
Bai Qinglin placed the glass on the countertop. Before hanging up, he left only one sentence, “I’m coming over now.”
