“Boss, what do you mean?”
In a corner of the VANNY bar, Fan Xia looked displeased as he grabbed Ning Xiaobei’s arm and pointed toward a nearby table, where two girls and a boy were already seated.
“You know them?”
“I don’t.”
“If you don’t know them, why are you talking to them? Who even are they?”
He’d originally thought the boss wanted to have a drink with him to celebrate his 19th birthday and get a taste of adult nightlife. But before he’d even had time to warm his seat, a few people had already shown up on their own.
The guy was fine; at least he introduced himself when he sat down. But the two girls were completely oblivious to everyone else. Not only did they keep chatting nonstop, they even pulled out a digital camera and started taking selfies. With their lips all puckered, they looked like they could hang a soy sauce bottle off them.
“Friends all start as strangers. You chat a bit, and then you get to know each other.”
Ning Xiaobei glanced at his watch; there were still ten minutes until the agreed time. Tang Xin was nowhere to be seen. Wasn’t she supposed to be the host? She wasn’t answering calls or replying to messages either. Could she have run off with his registration fee?
“Xiaobei, let’s go drink somewhere else. This place is kind of boring.”
The more Fan Xia thought about it, the more something felt off. The boss didn’t look like he was here to celebrate his birthday at all. Who was he waiting for?
“Hey, handsome!”
Suddenly, someone smacked him hard on the back of the neck. The force was like a thunderbolt, making Fan Xia wince. He turned around and saw a beautiful woman he didn’t recognize.
She had long hair draped over her shoulders and wore a blue-and-white sailor cap with two ribbons trailing behind. She was dressed in a dark blue dress, with exaggerated large earrings, striking, sharp-featured beauty, and bold reddish-brown lipstick. She had the vibe of a glamorous Hong Kong beauty from the 1990s.
Standing beside this bold, dashing beauty was another girl who looked familiar—it was Zhou Yunjun, the one Fan Xia had rescued that day. She still had that gentle, delicate appearance, wearing a white lace dress and small pearl earrings; the very picture of a proper lady.
“Tang Xin?”
Ning Xiaobei recognized her purely from her towering height. This girl was already a head above others to begin with, and today she was even wearing high-heeled sandals; she was practically shoulder-to-shoulder with Ning Xiaobei.
Fan Xia finally matched this striking beauty with the messy-haired, glasses-wearing heroine he’d seen that day, and his face filled with disbelief.
“All the girls are here. Just one guy left… oh, phone call.”
They returned to the table. Tang Xin stepped out to take a call, then came back shortly after with a grin. “Almost here, he’s on his way. I’ll go meet him at the entrance. You guys order some drinks first.”
As she spoke, she opened the drink menu on the table.
Boys on one side, girls on the other.
Fan Xia sat close beside Ning Xiaobei. By coincidence, Zhou Yunjun, who sat across from him, smiled gently; soft and shy. Beneath her long eyelashes, her eyes carried a hint of quiet delight.
Even a fool like Fan Xia could tell what was going on today—Ning Xiaobei had actually brought him here on a blind date!
On his birthday, no less!
A surge of anger built up in Fan Xia’s chest. He bit down on the inside of his cheek, his expression darkening instantly. The plain water in the glass he held trembled slightly, just like the fury he was trying hard to suppress.
The two girls across from him, who had been chattering nonstop, happened to notice this. Thinking they had annoyed him, they quickly fell silent and started exchanging glances instead; seemingly complaining that this man had no sense of gentlemanly manners, sitting there with a gloomy face at night as if trying to scare people.
“Fan Xia, what do you want to drink?”
Ning Xiaobei asked, holding the menu.
“AD calcium milk1A popular Chinese yogurt drink often associated with children.”
Fan Xia replied coldly.
“Huh?”
The waiter beside them rubbed his ears, thinking he had misheard.
“Just kidding, just kidding… beer is fine.”
At this point, Ning Xiaobei still had no idea how serious things were. After ordering the drinks, Fan Xia couldn’t wait to pull him aside to talk; but just then, Ning Xiaobei received a text message and hurried out again.
His already dark expression was now practically as black as coal.
“Uh… hi…”
Zhou Yunjun gathered her courage and waved at him. “Do you still remember me? Thank you so much for that day.”
Facing the pretty girl, Fan Xia finally softened his expression a little. “No need to thank me. I didn’t really do much that day.”
Otherwise, he and Xiaobei wouldn’t have been able to leave so early; the two guys who had beaten the pervert the hardest were said to have been kept there until quite late.
“Oh right, what happened afterward?”
“The school couldn’t really cover it up anymore… it seems like they’re planning to give him a major demerit, or maybe even expel him.”
“Really? That’s great!”
Seeing how the two of them were chatting so enthusiastically, the pair of girls nearby immediately showed looks of realization; so these two already knew each other. Hearing their topic, which happened to be the Normal University pervert incident that had been spreading wildly around campus these past few days, they eagerly joined the discussion as well.
The most pitiful one was the first guy who had arrived. The moment Zhou Yunjun sat down earlier, his eyes had lit up; he’d been waiting for the mixer to officially start so he could show himself off properly.
And now…
He looked at himself, then at Fan Xia, sighed, and began studying the drink menu; well, he’d already paid the entry fee, so if he didn’t eat or drink something, wouldn’t that be a loss?
“What’s wrong? You sent an SOS, what is it exactly?”
Ning Xiaobei walked to the entrance of the bar. Outside, the city lights had just come on, and the place was growing lively. Some people were carrying guitars, singing outside one shop after another. Yellow fairy lights hanging from the trees flickered on and off. More than 90% of the customers were students from nearby. In a little while, once the live houses started their performances, it would get even more crowded.
“Can you go across the street and pick someone up?”
Tang Xin spread her hands helplessly. “That genius from the Finance University got lost. I told him clearly, VANNY, VANNY, and he ran into VENDY across the street instead. What kind of eyesight is that…”
Ning Xiaobei squinted and looked up. The bar sign across the street, decorated almost like a café, had its capital “E” tilted at a bizarre 75-degree angle; it looked like the letter “A” had tripped and fallen, while the “D” was half-covered by a nearby tree branch. Under this lighting, if you weren’t paying attention, it really was easy to mistake it.
“Why do I have to go get him? He can just come out himself. Besides, you could go too.”
Ning Xiaobei turned as if to head back.
“Hey, if I could go, would I be asking you?”
As she spoke, Tang Xin naturally slipped her arm into the crook of his elbow. Caught off guard, Ning Xiaobei was entangled by her, his body tilting slightly downward without thinking.
Fan Xia was burning with anxiety, yet he had no choice but to keep chatting with the girls in front of him, making polite small talk.
Since he was young, he had always been especially patient with girls. Whether it was Chang Leyun or his younger sister Fan Nuxia, he had always been humble and accommodating. On top of that, he had inherited a bit of a natural playboy flair from his father Fan Jian, along with the slick, silver-tongued way of speaking he’d picked up from Zhao Jingwen. Without even trying, he could easily make girls laugh.
He smiled on the outside, but inside, he felt no better than that first guy. From time to time, he glanced toward the entrance; afraid that Ning Xiaobei might just leave him behind.
His eyesight was excellent, with 5.3 uncorrected vision, good enough to go straight into an Air Force physical exam.
Through the gaps in the bar’s deliberately designed partitions, his line of sight passed over the men and women; some seated, some standing. He saw Ning Xiaobei outside the glass door, lowering his head. The woman beside him, the one whose makeup skills were practically better than Painted Skin2Reference to classic Chinese tale Painted Skin, about a demon disguising itself as a beautiful young maiden, was leaning in, her bright red lips moving closer to Ning Xiaobei’s face.
Smack!
Fan Xia slammed the table and shot to his feet.
Just then, the waiter came over with the drinks they had ordered. As he set down a glass of cola, his hand bumped into Fan Xia’s elbow. The cola tipped over, spilling more than half its contents with a splash; straight onto Zhou Yunjun’s dress.
From neckline to hem, the white delicate lace was instantly stained with brown cola marks. The three girls cried out in alarm. Zhou Yunjun raised both hands instinctively, looking at Fan Xia in confusion, while he stood there filled with regret.
“If I could go in myself, would I be begging you?”
Her lips, painted in MAC’s classic Ruby Woo shade, were practically pressed against Ning Xiaobei’s face. His ears turned slightly red as he tried to lean back and create some distance. But she didn’t seem to get the hint and stepped half a step closer instead.
“The place across the street is a gay bar, and it doesn’t admit women. So I have no choice but to trouble you to go.”
“Huh?”
Ning Xiaobei froze.
“Oh come on, don’t discriminate. Just walk in openly and bring him out openly.”
Tang Xin thought this straight-laced guy had been scared off.
“What did he even do to get stuck inside like that?”
“He went in and… ordered the boss.”
Tang Xin sighed.
“What?”
So this wasn’t exactly a proper gay bar after all?
“They’ve got a boss named Vendy. He didn’t know the rules, just went in and casually ordered the signature Vendy drink, and got himself tangled up because of it. It’s nothing serious. Just bring him out.”
Watching the VENDY sign flicker in the night, Ning Xiaobei frowned and hurried over.
Halfway there, he turned back and asked, “What’s his name again? What’s he wearing?”
You can’t exactly pick someone up if you don’t even know who they are.
“His surname’s Zhuo, his full name is Zhuo Yuhang.”
Tang Xin said excitedly, “He’s easy to spot. He’s wearing a suit, glasses, and pretty handsome.”
When that Finance University guy had sent her his photo, she’d nearly laughed herself into the ground at the internet café. What kind of college student still wears a full three-piece suit these days? Did he think he was some rich young master from The Bund?
Ning Xiaobei stumbled slightly, almost bumping into a restaurant staff member in a mascot costume handing out flyers.
Boss? In a gay bar?
Ning Xiaobei was speechless.
He was already starting to regret setting all this up today.
In the real world, Ning Xiaobei hadn’t realized his sexual orientation until many years after graduating from university; around twenty-six or twenty-seven. Before that, he had never dated a girlfriend.
It wasn’t that girls didn’t like him; there were plenty of beauties at X University. But during his college years, he had been obsessed with working part-time jobs, focused solely on earning money to save up for tuition. Back then, his father was already getting older, and the only work he could find was things like guarding gates or collecting parking fees. He wasn’t old enough to retire yet, so he couldn’t receive the minimum social security pension either. Ning Xiaobei was too busy making money. How could he have had the time or energy to think about dating?
Besides, his circumstances weren’t good. His clothes and shoes were all the cheapest discounted items from the wet market. Even if girls didn’t mind, he himself did.
After he started working, his living conditions improved, but he realized he still had no real interest in women. Meanwhile, his classmates and colleagues began getting married one after another. He kept serving as the best man at weddings, earning himself the nickname Yaohan3Yaohan: A famous Japanese department store chain;implying he’s been a best man so many times he’s like a chain store of best men.
He simply thought he hadn’t met the right woman yet, and that fate hadn’t arrived.
Until one time, when he was working overtime late into the night with a German colleague, a man with blue-gray eyes and a sharp jawline. Suddenly, the man pulled him into the office pantry and, in broken Chinese, asked: “Ning, has anyone ever told you your eyes are beautiful?”
Even though Ning Xiaobei beat him up, the very next day, he still followed him to a well-known gay bar in Shanghai; one that even foreigners often visited.
It was only then that he realized; he was attracted to men…same sex.
That was his first, and so far only, visit to a gay bar.
And Boss Zhuo Yuhang was the only man in the real world who had ever made his heart skip a beat.
And now, here he was, about to step into a gay bar for the second time, not for himself, but to rescue Zhuo Yuhang so he could go on a date with girls.
He couldn’t decide if the heavens were playing a prank or had lost their minds entirely.
………………
Author’s Note:
Yesterday I kept writing and writing… then fell asleep. Woke up feeling wrong, and somehow had a fever…
Maybe only one update tomorrow, depends on how I feel. If I can write, I’ll write more.
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