PTS Chapter 11

tl: hua

Chapter 11

Qin Guanyu was utterly done with these two immature guys. The moment they stepped into the private dining room, Sun Guanqing grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it down, using a technique usually reserved for inspecting swine, and began poking and prodding at the cat scratches hidden underneath.

“All right, spill. What happened to your neck?”

“Damn it, you’re such a pervert!” Qin Guanyu cursed as he pulled his collar back up and buttoned it up. “Open your dog eyes and look closely; these are cat claw marks!”

Lu Tiangong chuckled. “Is it that little white cat from yesterday’s video conference? Or is it a ‘wild little cat’ who very schemingly flashed a pair of hands?”

Qin Guanyu tried mentally applying the label “wild little cat” to Shen Qianci. The sheer mismatch sent a wave of goosebumps down his arms.

“I told you, that’s my friend, and the little white cat belongs to him. Besides, it was an accident! An accident, do you understand? What do you mean ‘schemingly flashed a pair of hands’?”

In Qin Guanyu’s mind, Shen Qianci was clearly a refined, elegant, and upright gentleman. How could words like “wild little cat” and “schemingly” ever be used to describe someone like him?

“Oh~~~” Sun Guanqing and Lu Tiangong chimed in unison. “We don’t believe you.”

“You two have mental problems.”

Qin Guanyu couldn’t be bothered to deal with them. Seeing that all the food had been served, he buried his face in his food and dug in, completely missing the look the two trolls exchanged.

Sun Guanqing transitioned the topic with supreme smoothness. He began tracing their conversation from funny high school stories to their days studying abroad and eventually to the latest gossip in the entertainment industry.

Being in a circle of close friends, Qin Guanyu relaxed his guard. Chatting and listening like this, cup after cup of wine went down along with the gossip.

An hour later, Qin Guanyu’s eyes were already growing a bit dazed.

All three of them had a decent tolerance for alcohol, but Qin Guanyu was the weakest among them. However, President Qin had a miraculous trait: alcohol never showed on his face. Whether he was tipsy or completely wasted, as long as he was in a public space, especially one with strangers around, he could always maintain his cool, dominant CEO persona. It was highly deceptive.

As Qin Guanyu’s old friends, Sun Guanqing and Lu Tiangong could tell at a single glance that he was already tipsy. In a circle of close friends, prying information out of Little President Qin was a walk in the park.

Sun Guanqing suddenly asked, “Old Qin, I noticed you haven’t gone to Hengcheng at all this week. Have you finally let go of Shu Yi?”

Qin Guanyu shook his head.

Lu Tiangong feigned a sigh. “Not seeing him for a week, you must be missing him to death, right?”

Qin Guanyu knit his brows tightly, seemingly lost in thought. After a long pause, he shook his head again. “Not really.”

“Hiiyah! So the one at home is a new flame?” Sun Guanqing grinned from ear to ear, stabbing a slice of watermelon with a fork and handing it to him.

It wasn’t that Sun Guanqing and Lu Tiangong were ruthless in their pursuit of gossip. It was just that they knew Qin Guanyu too well. He had been single since birth and was hopelessly naive when it came to romance. Yet, he happened to be a wealthy CEO. If he ever got caught in a honey trap, he’d probably still think he’d found true love, holding a wine glass while singing praises of his beautiful love story.

Left with no choice, they resorted to this lesser tactic: using a few drinks to loosen his tongue and see if the foolish boy was being played.

“No.” The tipsy Qin Guanyu recalled that slender silhouette and smiled with a hint of bashfulness. “He’s a substitute for Shu Yi that I hired.”

The entire private room fell dead silent…

Sun Guanqing could not comprehend how he managed to use such a pure, romantic expression to utter such a melodramatic phrase.

“A substitute for Shu Yi?” Sun Guanqing repeated in disbelief. “You? Hired a substitute?”

Qin Guanyu hated rhetorical questions. “Didn’t you tell me before to think about it? You said if I couldn’t get the sugar daddy script, I should just take the substitute script?!”

A massive blame pot was dumped right over his head. Sun Guanqing found himself entirely defenseless.

“No… I just said that in passing. I thought you’d just listen to it in passing too. Who knew that while you’d drag your feet when it came to ‘pursuing Shu Yi,’ your execution speed for ‘finding a substitute’ would be this terrifyingly high?”

“It had to be high!” President Qin argued righteously. “You could comb through the entire country and you wouldn’t find someone so beautiful and excellent. Of course I had to make my move quickly!”

Lu Tiangong sighed heavily, patting Qin Guanyu’s shoulder with a solemn expression. “Old Qin, there is something I don’t know if I should say.”

Qin Guanyu: “Then don’t say it.”

But Lu Tiangong insisted on saying it anyway: “You’re a CEO. Once you taint yourself with a substitute, your life is over!”

President Qin’s heart skipped a beat. “Why?”

Sun Guanqing explained with absolute conviction: “Because whenever a CEO gets involved with a substitute, they either end up an outlaw or get locked down by the substitute for life. As your brother, I really don’t want to see you heartbroken and weeping in a metaphorical crematorium of your own making.”

“…” Qin Guanyu used every ounce of his strength to hold back a roll of his eyes. “Watch fewer short dramas, President Sun.”

Seeing the night growing late and knowing they had work tomorrow, it was about time to wrap up dinner.

Sun Guanqing had finally been waiting for this moment. He looked at Qin Guanyu. “Why don’t you have that substitute of yours come pick you up? Let Old Lu and me have a look too.”

Qin Guanyu instinctively glanced at his watch and refused decisively. “It’s almost 11:00 PM. He must be asleep.”

Sun Guanqing and Lu Tiangong choked on their words, sensing that something was fundamentally wrong.

“Wow! What a submissive CEO…” Lu Tiangong’s lips twitched as he threw out a piece of reverse psychology.

The tipsy Little President Qin slammed his hand on the table and stood up. Unwilling to admit defeat in front of his childhood friends, he fell right into the trap and immediately placed a WeChat call to Shen Qianci.

—

This was exactly how Shen Qianci received a phone call from his “sugar daddy.”

In fact, he was already on the verge of falling asleep when the phone rang. When he answered, his voice carried a thick drowsiness. “What is it?”

Then he noticed that Qin Guanyu’s alcohol-laced voice softened significantly: “Are you already asleep?”

“Mm.” Shen Qianci rubbed his eyes. “Just fell asleep.”

“How is Steam Bun?”

Shen Qianci glanced at the cat bed beside his own. “He’s doing well. Just now I read him The 20 Benefits of Neutering a Young Male Cat. I ended up nagging both the cat and myself to sleep.”

The person on the other end of the line chuckled. The breathy sound traveled through the receiver to his ear, making a slight itch run down his spine.

“Teacher Shen…” Qin Guanyu called out to him, then suddenly paused.

Shen Qianci waited patiently.

“Come… pick me up and take me home, okay?”

Shen Qianci smiled; it seemed that his sugar daddy was really drunk. Even his punctuation and ending sounds were so cute and adorable, unlike a cold and overbearing CEO.

“Okay, send me the address.” He intentionally spoke in his gentlest tone. “Did you drink? Does your head hurt? Do you need me to bring painkillers?”

“N-No need.”

A drunk person couldn’t hide their emotions. Even though he couldn’t see that face right now, hearing this tone, Shen Qianci could be certain that Qin Guanyu was feeling embarrassed.

What a truly pure-hearted CEO.

“Th-That…” Qin Guanyu stammered, “When you come over, you have to dress and act like Shu Yi.”

As he spoke, as if feeling guilty, his voice dropped lower: “And… Shu Yi is always very gentle during fan livestreams and interviews.”

Shen Qianci: “Am I not usually gentle?”

“No, your mouth is just as sharp as mine.”

“Then President Qin is quite self-aware.”

“Hmph!” President Qin threw a small tantrum. “Just come over quickly.”

Just as Shen Qianci was about to hang up, the other side added another line: “Be careful on the road. If you take a taxi, send me the license plate number.”

Shen Qianci agreed. Looking at the icon named “Fish” at the top of the WeChat chat box, he let out a soft laugh.

—

Qin Guanyu hung up the phone with smug satisfaction, only to look up and see his two friends sporting highly complex expressions.

Lu Tiangong looked thoroughly annoyed, punishing himself by drinking three, four, five, six, seven, and eight cups in a row. Meanwhile, Sun Guanqing sat with his legs crossed, leaning against the back of his chair and staring at Qin Guanyu’s face. The mixture of confusion, shock, and sheer bafflement on his expression made it look as though a university student’s graduation thesis were plastered across Qin Guanyu’s forehead.

“A substitute?” Sun Guanqing extended his index finger, pointing into the empty air toward Qin Guanyu’s phone.

Qin Guanyu nodded. “A substitute.”

“Wow!”

Sun Guanqing was entirely at a loss, his hands fluttering nervously. Finally, he brushed back his hair and smiled bitterly, saying, “I suddenly don’t know what to say. It feels like whenever I open my mouth, the only thing that comes out is ‘wow’!”

Qin Guanyu didn’t know what to say either. He felt as though his friend had suffered a sudden, acute mental breakdown.

After a long pause, Sun Guanqing suddenly began clapping like a seal. “Congratulations to our great President Qin for achieving a brand-new deconstruction and a refreshing interpretation of traditional substitute literature on this momentous night!”

Wow! What a long sentence, Qin Guanyu thought. If there were a postgraduate exam candidate here, they’d already be looking for the predicate verb to parse your complex sentence structure.

Lu Tiangong was still drinking. For some reason, Qin Guanyu felt like he was drinking with the tragic grandeur of a broken heart.

“Let me tell you,” Lu Tiangong’s eyes were filled with loneliness, “since breaking up with my ex, I haven’t had a romantic life for eight months. And yet you, Old Qin, you lured me in just to slaughter me like a dog, ooh…”

Qin Guanyu scratched his head in frustration. He had been a bit tipsy, but the antics of these two trolls had sobered him up considerably.

“What do you guys even mean? Weren’t you the ones who insisted I call Teacher Shen over? The call has been made, so what exactly are you two muttering about?”

Sun Guanqing stared into his eyes for a long time, and Qin Guanyu stared back with a face full of sincerity.

In the end, Sun Guanqing patted Lu Tiangong’s shoulder, looking rather pleased by his friend’s misfortune. “It’s fine. His case is typical: the wife has arrived, but his romantic brain cells haven’t even begun to sprout yet.”

—

Shen Qianci didn’t make a deliberate effort to dress up in Shu Yi’s style, because the bizarre thing about this situation was that Shu Yi’s style was already remarkably similar to his own everyday look.

He felt that playing this “substitute” was a walk in the park, largely because he didn’t need to do much homework or put in much effort; he was naturally similar to Shu Yi.

Shen Qianci changed into the cotton shirt he most preferred wearing for lectures. Seeing that the night outside was cold and damp with heavy dew, he added a thin jacket. He gave Steam Bun’s head a quick pat and was about to head out when, at the entryway, his eyes fell upon a pair of gold-rimmed glasses he usually wore just to look stylish.

Gold-rimmed glasses were one of the essential props male celebrities used to harvest their fans’ screams. Shu Yi had also sported a look with gold-rimmed glasses during a red carpet appearance.

But Shen Qianci’s pair was different; his came with an eyewear chain, a styling element Shu Yi had never attempted.

He thought about it for less than two seconds before decisively putting them on and heading out for his appointment.

The place where Qin Guanyu was having dinner tonight was actually quite close to the faculty apartments; it took Shen Qianci less than half an hour to reach his destination.

Following the guidance of the hotel waiter, he arrived at the door of Qin Guanyu’s private dining room and raised his hand to knock gently.

The sound of chairs scraping came from inside, and very quickly, the door was opened from within.

The person who opened the door wasn’t Qin Guanyu, but another man wearing a high-end, custom-tailored shirt. Shen Qianci guessed that this was also one of Qin Guanyu’s good friends. If he remembered correctly, he was the very friend who often accompanied Qin Guanyu to Hengcheng to visit Shu Yi.

His eyes curved into a smile, and he said softly, “I’m here to pick up Guanyu.”

Inside, Qin Guanyu happened to have his back to the door. Hearing the voice, he jolted and whipped around instantly.

Shen Qianci didn’t miss the exact moment Qin Guanyu’s breath hitched and his eyes lit up upon seeing him.

It looked like the glasses chain was working quite well today.

The man who opened the door stared at him with wide eyes. “I’ve seen this big brother before!”

Qin Guanyu instantly flared up. “Sun Guanqing, what is wrong with you?!”

“No… I really have seen him!” Sun Guanqing invited Shen Qianci into the room. “Aren’t you an employee from that ‘Qing Nong’ store in Hengcheng?”

As he spoke, he nudged Qin Guanyu with his elbow. “You moved fast, didn’t you?”

Shen Qianci curled his lips into a smile and walked straight toward Qin Guanyu.

Meanwhile, Qin Guanyu watched him approach without blinking. When Shen Qianci came to a stop, the 187 cm tall man sat there in his seat, looking up with his head tilted back, exactly like a big dog waiting for its owner to take it home.

Shen Qianci patted the head of this “big doggy” and felt a wave of amusement inside when he saw how obediently the man rubbed his head against his palm. It seemed that while Little President Qin looked sober on the surface, his brain was already about to pass out from the alcohol.

Pressing Qin Guanyu’s forehead against his own waist and abdomen, he asked softly, “Does your head hurt?”

Qin Guanyu looked up at him, suddenly breaking into a silly, joyous smile, and shook his head. “Nope.”

Shen Qianci lowered his eyes with a smile and gently patted the back of the man’s head.

Having successfully smoothed down the “big dog’s” fur, Shen Qianci politely greeted the other two and introduced himself.

He looked at Sun Guanqing. “Before, I was just accompanying a friend to Hengcheng to try out shaking milk tea. My actual job is a lecturer in the Department of Theater and Literature at Z University.”

Hearing that he was a teacher, Sun Guanqing and Lu Tiangong instantly straightened their backs.

Sun Guanqing hurriedly said, “Hello, hello, Teacher Shen. The two of us are Old Qin’s classmates. My name is Sun Guanqing, and that’s Lu Tiangong.”

As he spoke, he immediately tried to score some brownie points for Qin Guanyu: “Old Qin has been terrible at language arts since he was a kid, but he has a heart that discovers beauty. He has always deeply admired literature and arts workers.”

Reciting the memory of those few books at Yunjing Villa, Shen Qianci almost burst out laughing.

“I know. Guanyu actually quite likes reading in his daily life.”

Sun Guanqing and Lu Tiangong certainly hadn’t expected this. A look of mutual shock appeared on both their faces. “For real?”

Shen Qianci stroked Little President Qin’s hair. “Yeah. These past few days, he’s even been reading the birthday gift you gave him before. That book called Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”

“Holy crap, you actually read it?” Sun Guanqing punched Qin Guanyu’s arm. “You’re secretly making progress behind Old Lu’s and my backs!”

Qin Guanyu, who had been hugging Shen Qianci’s waist without letting go, moved discontentedly after being punched.

But with that movement, he caught a whiff of a faint mint-and-lime scent coming from Shen Qianci.

But Shu Yi said in an interview that his favorite perfume is sandalwood.

The substitute didn’t do his homework! Points deducted!

The tipsy Little President Qin looked up, wanting to catch Teacher Shen red-handed. Unexpectedly, the moment he raised his eyes, Shen Qianci happened to look down at him. The moment their eyes locked, he was utterly captivated by Shen Qianci’s glasses chain. The words he wanted to say were instantly wiped clean from his mind. The alcohol that had just cleared up a bit made him drunk all over again under the refreshing mint-and-lime scent, and he even felt a bit warm all over.

“I’m not talking to you guys anymore. Teacher Shen and I are going home.” Qin Guanyu grabbed Shen Qianci’s wrist and stood up, moving around restlessly. “Teacher Shen, the two of them are ganging up on me. Deduct their participation points!”

Sun Guanqing and Lu Tiangong looked completely choked up, as if they had just swallowed flies…

“Alright, alright.” Caught between tears and laughter, Shen Qianci pressed Qin Guanyu’s head into the crook of his shoulder, and the man finally quieted down a bit.

“Then Guanyu and I will head back first.” Shen Qianci looked at the other two. “Do you need me to call a designated driver for you?”

Looking at Qin Guanyu’s state, the corners of those two men’s mouths twitched.

“No need…” Lu Tiangong said weakly. “We called a driver.”

Shen Qianci nodded, bid them goodbye, and supported Qin Guanyu as they prepared to leave.

“Teacher Shen!” Lu Tiangong suddenly called out to him.

Shen Qianci turned his head in confusion.

Lu Tiangong coughed awkwardly. “When Old Qin is drunk, he can pretend to be perfectly fine on the outside… but when he gets home, he might become really weird…”