CFHE Chapter 103.1

That day was another customary group dinner. As soon as everyone sat down, they habitually teased Wen Yu.

No particular reason—this kid had been cynical back then, incurably chuunibyou. Once he started dating, all his hostility disappeared. The six older brothers watching felt both gratified and amused. Moreover, when he first came, Fu Yuhan was shy with strangers and thin-skinned—interesting to tease. They teased and teased until it became habit.

Who knew that after being bashful for a while, Wen Yu learned at this gathering to redirect trouble. Before three sentences had passed, he started teasing others. After three rounds of drinks, as the alcohol surged, everyone followed the conversation thread and began telling their own lingering, touching love stories from back in the day.

When Lu Renyu came downstairs, this group had already drunk too much. Chen Feifan held a glass and looked at the group of younger brothers, laughing: “What are you listening to? Planning to tease me?”

“Da-ge isn’t forthcoming, not straightforward at all.” Third Brother was extraordinarily bold. With a face flushed red from alcohol, he waved at Lu Renyu. “Lu-ge! We’ve all shared. Come tell us how you and Da-ge met?”

“Us?” Lu Renyu was stunned, his thoughts involuntarily pulled back to those years.

Come to think of it, he and Chen Feifan had known each other for over ten years.

Time really flew.

That year he was close to graduating with his bachelor’s degree. His family urged him to take the graduate entrance exam, but Lu Renyu, though born into a scholarly family and himself a top student, didn’t like studying at all.

His hobbies were the same as all ordinary young people—drinking, eating skewers, gaming, online chatting. Of course, he also had some differences. For instance, he was gay.

Young people were especially self-important. Minority attributes could bring some people together to become close friends who talked about everything.

He had those too—a group of gay male friends from the south online. That summer of his junior year, Lu Renyu was pressured by his family to study for graduate entrance exams. Once his resistance rose, everything looked wrong, even gaming was off. When friends asked, he naturally told them his troubles.

A friend said: “In theory, taking the grad exam is a good thing. Plus your parents are both highly educated—you can understand their thinking. I don’t know how to help with this either. How about since it’s vacation anyway, you come south to play for a while and clear your head? Maybe when you go back you’ll have new ideas.”

Lu Renyu thought that made sense. He’d known these friends for many years—they’d exchanged photos, phone numbers, home addresses, just never met in person.

But flying south wasn’t cheap. Though he had saved living expenses, it wasn’t quite enough. He couldn’t ask his highly educated parents for money for something like meeting online friends. But as the saying goes, “At home rely on parents, away from home rely on friends.” Hearing he wanted to come, several buddies pooled together—those with money contributed money, those with ability contributed ability—and crowdfunded a plane ticket for him.

Lu Renyu made up an excuse about research and study to slip away. Halfway to the train station, he had the driver change directions and headed straight for the airport.

A three-hour flight landed. Brothers who were free came to pick him up. Although everyone was gay, no one was a “photo fraud”—the real people didn’t differ much from photos, and feelings seemed unaffected.

Simply put, meeting online friends didn’t result in “seeing the light of death.”

By the time work ended, brothers who weren’t free also came. A group of men together with nothing to do found the internet boring, so someone suggested drinking.

Lu Renyu said okay—he’d come to relax anyway, so naturally he’d play however made him feel most empty. Smoky, chaotic places like bars were most suitable for releasing baseless restlessness.

So they went.

The neon-lit establishments stretched in a strip. The locals who knew their way found their usual spot. Upon entering, they saw all familiar faces and made a round of greetings. Lu Renyu was the only one in the group out of the loop. He tugged at his shirt collar and sat quietly on the booth, his gaze indifferent.

Everyone greeted a lean man with a callously smiling face at the adjacent booth before taking their seats, as if he were some big star. Lu Renyu instinctively looked over and discovered the man unexpectedly suited his taste.

He couldn’t remember when he’d realized his orientation—seemed like from childhood he’d focus more on male roles than female roles when watching TV. That face with a layer of drunken smile looked over. The instant their eyes met, Lu Renyu very clearly felt his heart “thump.”

His brothers finished greeting the acquaintances they’d run into and all came back. No one neglected him, but Lu Renyu was a bit curious himself, so he grabbed the friend beside him and asked who that was.

“Oh, him? That’s our one and only Chen Feifan.”

Lu Renyu had heard this name mentioned during their idle chats before. They said the local nightlife scene had a legendary player—among the bunch who regularly went clubbing, almost no one didn’t know him. For people like them who occasionally went to bars once in a while, they could see him drinking almost every time they went.

This person was probably nurtured by alcohol. His body was quite promiscuous—he could collapse on a sofa and sleep till dawn, stretch out an arm and casually pull some young hottie to spend the night. He was a spiritual supporter of “drink today’s wine today, a moment of spring night is worth a thousand gold.”

Oh, I see.

Lu Renyu withdrew his gaze.

Although he wasn’t satisfied with his parents’ excessive control over him, through exposure and influence, he really did look down on players with overly chaotic private lives.

Even though that face really suited his taste… Forget it, it was just a face.

Lowering his eyelids, he picked up the wine glass on the table and started drinking with friends. Drinking, chatting, dancing—three hours passed in a flash. Feeling stuffy, he tugged at his collar, loosened the top button of his shirt, and got up to go to the restroom.

The bar’s restrooms weren’t gender-separated. One person per stall, the rest queued outside. When Lu Renyu walked over, he unexpectedly discovered Chen Feifan leaning against the corridor wall waiting for the restroom while making a phone call.

He didn’t have a hobby of eavesdropping on others’ calls, but the structure of this place made him unable to avoid hearing a few sentences—vaguely something about “the old man could never agree,” “opening a bar,” and other repetitive talk.

The conversation content sounded like a proper person preparing to start a business. This surprised him somewhat, because at first glance, he felt Chen Feifan seemed about the same age as himself.

He was troubled about not wanting graduate school, while this person was already pondering how to make money.

If a promiscuous playboy seriously considered career issues, then all the “seemingly unreliable” aspects would become disguise. Lu Renyu couldn’t help but revise his impression of this person somewhat, thinking rumors probably couldn’t be entirely trusted.

However, the next second, Chen Feifan hung up the phone, pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. His callous, smiling gaze swept over, and he lightly “hummed” through his nose.

“Dressed like that, who are you trying to seduce?”

Lu Renyu’s brow furrowed as he looked back, his fingertip pointing at himself: “You talking about me?”

“Is there anyone else here besides you?” Chen Feifan smiled with narrowed eyes.

Lu Renyu’s gaze swept over the black tight T-shirt on his body that had been pushed askew, mocking: “Dressed like that yourself, you have the nerve to talk about me?”

At least he’d been drinking all evening and his shirt was still neat and proper—only the top button was undone.

“Let me tell you, friend,” Chen Feifan removed the cigarette from his mouth and used it like a pointer to tap at his chest. “In a place like a bar, dressing a bit ‘provocatively’ is normal. Dressing like an old scholar is what’s seductive—do you know how many people in the venue noticed you tonight?”

“…”

Lu Renyu really didn’t know this.

He hadn’t been to bars much. He’d been to internet cafes more.

But inexplicably, he didn’t want to show weakness in front of Chen Feifan. He immediately snorted coldly and said: “But no one hit on me, did they?”

“You sat among your friends all evening. Those people never dispersed, kept chatting, showing you all didn’t come to ‘pick up people.'” Chen Feifan took a drag on his cigarette. His slightly arrogant face appeared and disappeared in the smoke rings. “No opportunity, hard to make a move. But you came out to use the restroom. On your way back, someone will definitely hit on you—how about a bet?”

“Bet what?”

“Whatever.” Chen Feifan narrowed his eyes, lips curving upward. “Want drinks or want a person—I can do either.”

That last sentence was spoken low and lingering, the voice mellow as if just fished out of a pile of alcohol.

The expression and tone were indescribably flirtatious.

Lu Renyu’s heart pounded, his Adam’s apple rolled, but his brow furrowed: “Tch.”

Someone came out of the restroom. Lu Renyu noticed Chen Feifan had answered another phone call and didn’t intend to go in, so he walked past him into the restroom first. The bar was noisy, the restroom door had good soundproofing, so he didn’t hear what Chen Feifan said on the phone.

“…Hm? No, how could that be? Pursue what person? When have I ever pursued anyone… No, don’t talk about your bed partners like they’re true love, okay… Nonsense, I just happened to run into someone whose looks really suit my taste and wanted to help him.”

“Help with what? Help him not get eaten alive by this bunch in the venue… Right, I’m just that kind-hearted, okay?”

By the time Lu Renyu came out of the restroom again, Chen Feifan had already disappeared. He didn’t know where this restless irritation came from. Frowning, he barely suppressed his impatience and walked back.

Leaving the restroom area, the surroundings suddenly darkened. Colorful little lights formed a bizarre world where everyone could release their truest desires. Lu Renyu hadn’t walked more than a few steps when a drunk man came over holding a wine glass, looking at him with unfocused eyes and smiling: “Buddy, have a drink?”

He didn’t know if it was the embarrassment of “being predicted by Chen Feifan” that ignited the restlessness in his heart. Lu Renyu didn’t even want to pretend to be polite. Frowning, he shook his head in refusal: “No need, I have plans.”

Generally, if someone hitting on you was sensible and tactful, saying this should make them leave. Unexpectedly, this drunk was particularly persistent, grabbing his forearm: “Don’t be like that. I know more than half the people in this venue. Whoever you’re meeting, we can all sit down and drink together.”

“He’s meeting me.”

A frivolous voice came from behind. Lu Renyu looked back and saw the missing Chen Feifan had emerged from some corner, standing behind him with hands casually in pockets, looking roguish.

Seeing everyone had turned around, he took two steps forward, his index finger lightly tapping the back of the drunk’s hand that was grabbing Lu Renyu, and lifted his chin: “Let go.”

“Chen, Chen-ge, I didn’t know…” The drunk was somewhat embarrassed at having hit on someone Chen Feifan had claimed.

“It’s fine, no blame for those who don’t know.” Chen Feifan smiled, then narrowed his eyes. “But if you don’t leave now, I’m going to get angry.”

Lu Renyu watched helplessly as the drunk disappeared in a flash.

Lu Renyu: “…”

Running that fast—he must have been faking being drunk.

“See, what did I tell you?” Chen Feifan turned back and raised an eyebrow at him.

Just then, a beam of blue light turned toward them, shining on his face. It was hard to say what Lu Renyu felt in that instant, but he suddenly found that his belly full of nameless restlessness had just dissipated.

“Yes, I lost.” Lu Renyu nodded. “So what do you want?”

“I…” Chen Feifan’s gaze swept around the bar. Coming back to himself, he smiled again. “Let’s go, back to your booth.”

He didn’t answer the question, instead accompanying Lu Renyu back to his seat.

With him there, others didn’t dare come hit on him, but this obviously caused a new misunderstanding—whether it was Lu Renyu’s group of friends or strangers in the venue, everyone thought this new, unfamiliar handsome guy belonged to Chen Feifan tonight.

So much so that after leaving the bar, Lu Renyu discovered only Chen Feifan remained beside him.

“Where to?” After leaving that smoky place, Chen Feifan’s attitude was much more natural. “I’ll hail a cab and drop you off on the way.”

“Nowhere to go.” Lu Renyu was somewhat annoyed at this group of friends who’d run off so quickly.

Chen Feifan raised an eyebrow.

“I just arrived today, didn’t even book a hotel.” Lu Renyu pursed his lips. “How about you just drop me at some budget hotel.”

“You’re from out of town?”

“Yes,” Lu Renyu looked over. “So what?”

“Nothing,” Chen Feifan shook his head, his eyes somewhat dazed. “If I’d known earlier, I wouldn’t have told your friends I was meeting you… Tsk, come on, get in the car.”

A taxi stopped in front of them. Chen Feifan got in first. Lu Renyu hesitated for a second, then followed.

He was unfamiliar with the area and had nowhere else to go without following Chen Feifan—that group of friends all assumed the two of them were definitely going to “spend the spring night together” tonight. If he called for help on WeChat now, they’d only respond with “don’t chicken out,” “treat it as relaxation,” “have fun,” and so on. In short, no one would come rescue him.

Admittedly, based on external conditions, Chen Feifan was indeed a very good date prospect.

Good-looking, a local, familiar with all the places to go out and play.

It was just Lu Renyu himself who felt awkward inside.

Moreover, they actually hadn’t discussed the topic of hooking up in private.

Chen Feifan just seemed to inexplicably strike up conversation with him, inexplicably went the same way, until now getting in the car—they still hadn’t talked about what this was all about. Lu Renyu didn’t have a clear plan for running out to play this time. In any case, doing anything was fine, which was why he hadn’t parted ways with Chen Feifan.

Just as his thoughts were wandering, the taxi stopped. Chen Feifan pushed Lu Renyu out of the car. Only after the car drove away did Lu Renyu realize the other had brought him to a hotel that obviously looked very expensive.