CFHE Chapter 103.2

 

“…I just wanted to find a budget place.” He was speechless, lifting his foot to leave. “Big bro, my family doesn’t own a mine. I’m not staying here.”

 

“Where are you going?” Chen Feifan pulled him back. “I’m the reason you don’t have a place to stay. Let me pay for the room.”

 

Lu Renyu: “…”

 

Fine.

 

Since he’d put it that way, why be polite?

 

“Besides,” Chen Feifan looked over with amusement, “how old are you to be calling me big bro? Do I look that old?”

 

“Twenty-two years old.”

 

“…Oh, then you should call me gege.” He clicked his tongue, seeming not too satisfied. “I thought you were about my age.”

 

“How old are you?”

 

“Thirty-eight.”

 

“…”

 

“Just kidding,” Chen Feifan laughed. “I… turn twenty-five in the second half of the year.”

 

So he was twenty-four.

 

Lu Renyu put his hands in his pockets, pretending to be indifferent: “Then there’s not much difference.”

 

He followed Chen Feifan toward the hotel lobby.

 

This person had a very strange aura. Clearly wearing the same clothes, at the nightclub he blended seamlessly with the surroundings, yet entering this four-star hotel’s magnificent lobby was also unexpectedly appropriate. A night of heavy drinking made his face look particularly pale, with a kind of anemic fragility.

 

Lu Renyu silently watched him book a room, then went upstairs with him.

 

He realized something was off: “Aren’t you going home?”

 

“Suite.” Chen Feifan waved the room card. “Staying together.”

 

“…Huh?”

 

“If you’re not willing, I’ll book you a smaller room?” Chen Feifan said. “But there are rooms in the suite.”

 

“You’re not going home?” Lu Renyu frowned.

 

Chen Feifan shook his head, his gaze somewhat strange: “I have nowhere to go.”

 

Lu Renyu had nowhere to go because the buddy who’d agreed to take him in didn’t want to be a “third wheel” and had bailed early.

 

Chen Feifan had nowhere to go… Why would a local have nowhere to go?

 

Complex thoughts rolled through his mind twice. Lu Renyu didn’t ask. Drinking all evening indeed made him feel hot. When exiting the elevator, he unbuttoned another button.

 

At this moment, Chen Feifan suddenly looked back at him and asked: “Are you a top or bottom?”

 

“…” Lu Renyu didn’t want to say he was a virgin. He pursed his lips and said coldly, “Top, so what?”

 

“Nothing, just asking.” After Chen Feifan finished, he smiled. “Then I guessed right… There are more bottoms than tops in the circle. If I hadn’t sat at your table tonight, you would’ve encountered at least this many drunks coming on to you.”

 

He spread his palm toward him.

 

Probably meaning “5.” Lu Renyu’s attention, however, was on Chen Feifan’s palm.

 

Very fair hands, slender fingers, strong knuckles, clear palm lines.

 

He looked away: “Is that so?”

 

There were indeed rooms in the suite. Chen Feifan politely let Lu Renyu choose first. Lu Renyu chose the left room, went in, took off his clothes, and started showering.

 

He hadn’t drunk much tonight, but the aftereffects were strong. If he didn’t shower, he’d die from the heat.

 

Dress shirts weren’t suitable sleepwear. After washing, he had no clothes to wear, so he grabbed a hotel bathrobe, wrapped it around his waist to cover his lower half, and lay down on the bed.

 

Nothing to do.

 

He stared blankly at the pitch-black sky outside the window for a while, then turned on the TV.

 

After some unknown amount of time, a waiter’s voice suddenly came from outside the door. Chen Feifan seemed to have ordered some service. Lu Renyu was bored to the point of molding, so he opened the door to take a look.

 

This glance stunned him—Chen Feifan had actually ordered more alcohol.

 

The other had probably just showered too. His face was flushed from the hot water, wearing the hotel’s bathrobe. Seeing him come out, he waved the bottle at him: “Join me for a drink?”

 

“You didn’t drink enough at the bar all night?” Lu Renyu asked.

 

“I didn’t drink that much. Several glasses were cocktails, not very strong.” Chen Feifan blinked. “There are bathrobes in the closet. You don’t have to streak like this.”

 

“…”

 

If before opening the door he’d vaguely wanted to find something to cover his bare upper body, after that remark, he didn’t want to put anything on anymore: “What, we’re both men. You don’t dare look?”

 

“What wouldn’t I dare?” Chen Feifan sneered. “Drink or not? You still owe me from the bet.”

 

“Drink.” Lu Renyu pushed open the door and shuffled in hotel slippers to Chen Feifan’s room.

 

…

 

“And then?” Third Brother, whose eyes were shining, pressed for more.

 

“Then what then?” Chen Feifan tapped his wine glass on the long table. “Want to pick on me for fun? Look at your own seniority level first!”

 

“The more embarrassed Da-ge gets, the more I want to hear.” Xiao Liu jumped up. “Lu-ge, what happened after?”

 

“After… I went to his room to drink.” Lu Renyu took the wine glass from Chen Feifan’s hand, sat beside him, and continued: “That alcohol was the same kind I drank at the bar that night. But your Chen-ge had drunk at least five types of alcohol that day. Before long, he was drunk and confused.”

 

Mixing alcohol makes you drunk easily. Lu Renyu had briefly suspected Chen Feifan did it on purpose.

 

Because when he asked again why Chen Feifan ordered more alcohol upstairs, the other sat by the window looking at the night sky for a while and said softly: “I can’t sleep.”

 

Lu Renyu felt bewitched by those four words and that tone, involuntarily walking toward him.

 

Who knew Chen Feifan’s sentimentality lasted only a second. The second half of his sentence changed tone: “Really, I can’t sleep alone. Usually I need to find someone to warm the bed.”

 

Lu Renyu’s eyes darkened, his voice impassive: “Is that so?”

 

Chen Feifan didn’t even turn back. Facing the night sky, he began rambling nonsense about his romantic history of “flitting through the flowers.”

 

As he talked, he realized something was wrong—the room had suddenly lost one person’s voice. He turned back and discovered Lu Renyu had somehow walked to his side, head lowered, gaze calm.

 

But dangerous.

 

The second his instinct sounded the alarm, Chen Feifan heard Lu Renyu ask in a low voice: “If that’s the case, do you need someone to warm your bed tonight?”

 

Chen Feifan’s half-finished boast stuck in his throat.

 

Because Lu Renyu grabbed his chin and kissed him.

 

This kid’s grip was so strong he couldn’t break free. Excessive alcohol intake and this kiss made him dizzy.

 

…

 

“That day really pissed me off.” Lu Renyu narrowed his eyes and smiled at the table full of people listening with great interest. “One second I was just thinking this person seemed pretty decent. The next second he started talking about his romantic history. My heart hardened, and I thought, well, since you’ve already played with so many people, one more won’t make a difference.”

 

Chen Feifan’s face turned red and white in succession. He silently nestled deeper into his chair.

 

“Then I slept with him.” At this point, Lu Renyu seemed unable to hold it in anymore and laughed so hard he nearly pounded the table. “Only after sleeping with him did I discover—your Chen-ge isn’t good at anything else, but his bragging skills are first-rate. He was actually a virgin.”

 

“…Get lost,” Chen Feifan, sitting beside him, cursed. “Can we not bring up old history from over a decade ago to expose my shortcomings?”

 

The whole table collapsed in laughter.

 

Their first meeting carried a kind of destined misalignment and was very absurd.

 

It should have been funny.

 

But later too many things happened—

 

The next day when Lu Renyu woke up, he discovered Chen Feifan had already disappeared. He thought he’d been abandoned after sex, thinking to himself this person, though polite enough, was actually quite awful in this regard. No wonder he was a “legendary” player in the local nightlife scene—legendary with quotation marks.

 

He played in H City for a week. Later, for some reason, he never went back to nightclubs. Thinking about it afterward, maybe it was to avoid Chen Feifan.

 

Who knew fate had its own arrangements? On the night before leaving, he was online with some friends. Late at night, hungry and planning to walk a kilometer to a famous barbecue stall to buy food, he ran into Chen Feifan on the road.

 

He was sitting on a stone bench by the roadside, smoking alone.

 

Lu Renyu had left the internet cafe alone. Seeing this, he couldn’t walk anymore.

 

It took Chen Feifan more than ten minutes to notice him. His expression changed several times before he finally waved at him.

 

Lu Renyu walked over and sat beside him, not taking his cigarette.

 

No particular reason—Lu Renyu didn’t smoke.

 

Chen Feifan was somewhat surprised, then started laughing.

 

Laughing very sadly.

 

Then he started coughing, as if he’d cough his lungs out. Lu Renyu hurriedly patted his back to help him breathe. In his panic, he discovered the other’s eyes were full of bloodshot veins, as if he hadn’t slept.

 

He asked him why.

 

Chen Feifan stared blankly for twenty minutes before finally saying, sorry he didn’t mean to leave early that day. His father had been in a car accident that night and passed away.

 

Chen Feifan was gay and also a wealthy second-generation.

 

His father was very tolerant of him, accepting all his unhealthy hobbies like smoking and drinking—the only thing he couldn’t accept was his son liking men.

 

The old man’s thinking about continuing the family line was deeply rooted. Father and son had been at a standstill for quite a few years.

 

Standstill aside, actually Chen Feifan had never really been economically sanctioned by his father. He never expected to lose the chance to say goodbye so abruptly.

 

And moreover… that very night.

 

Although Lu Renyu had drunk quite a bit that day, he actually wasn’t drunk. During the act, he’d been vaguely confused. Now, while helping Chen Feifan breathe, listening to him talk between coughs, he unconsciously let slip: “Actually, aren’t you…”

 

Chen Feifan looked at him with reddened eyes.

 

“All those romantic histories you mentioned,” Lu Renyu asked. “They were all lies, right?”

 

Chen Feifan couldn’t take it anymore when he heard this.

 

“I used to think you couldn’t tell the truth at drinking venues. Anyway, even if I said I was clean and only drank, no one would believe me. Might as well go along with what everyone thinks.” He said. “Got used to lying, even told the old man I’d never come home again in this life. But…”

 

Tears fell without warning from his wide-open eyes.

 

Lu Renyu lowered his head, looking at the person under the streetlight, thinking he might be done for in this lifetime.

 

“Lu Renyu,” Chen Feifan’s voice was very hoarse. “Now I truly have no place to return to.”

 

If Lu Renyu could be two years older, could control his own life, he really wanted to give the other a hug, then to hell with everything else.

 

Unfortunately, he couldn’t.

 

He’d lied to his parents saying he was on a school project study trip, would return in a week. His return flight ticket was already booked. He couldn’t be willful.

 

No matter tonight, this very moment, how much he was moved, how much momentary surging emotion he had, he had to board the return flight the next day.

 

Instead, it was Chen Feifan who comforted him—after crying his heart out, Chen Feifan quickly recovered to normal. His home was nearby. During the wake, he couldn’t hold it in and ran out for some air. After wailing, he still had to go back, and he also advised Lu Renyu to return early.

 

The two added each other on WeChat and temporarily parted ways.

 

But the seed of rebellion had already been planted.

 

Lu Renyu was determined not to take the graduate entrance exam, but he also lost interest in games. During that period, his greatest pleasure was chatting with Chen Feifan. Chen Feifan wasn’t that old—childish on one side, yet overly smooth and worldly on the other. He was really quite a marvelous person.

 

He felt like he’d fallen for Chen Feifan.

 

And although the other hadn’t said anything, he himself knew that night he hadn’t been particularly “tender and cherishing,” and he’d always felt somewhat guilty.

 

It wasn’t any complex at work—just the knowledge that the first time would be more painful.

 

But the other had never blamed him.

 

Chen Feifan was always reasonable in unexpected places. But this kind of Chen Feifan, aside from deepening his affection and guilt, didn’t seem to give him any relief.

 

The day he received his bachelor’s degree diploma, Lu Renyu’s conflict with his family reached its peak.

 

He wrote a long letter to his parents coming out, and overnight, carrying a few personal clothes, a portable hard drive, a phone, an ID card, and a bit of saved money, he left home and flew directly to H City.

 

When he arrived in the south again, Chen Feifan had already sorted out his father’s belongings and was striving to start a business with the inheritance.

 

Lu Renyu, with nothing to do, stayed to help.

 

…

 

“Amazing.” Second Brother said with a smile. “Chen-ge talks a big game, but actually he’s most into your type—leaving home for him, then working under him peacefully for all those years. Chen-ge was so hard up back then. Having someone by his side made all the difference.”

 

Lu Renyu smiled: “It wasn’t really working for him. He never treated me like an employee. For me, doing business is more interesting than solving problems—I like things without standard answers.”

 

Just like back then, when he played games, he also preferred action games without fixed routines.

 

“Lu-ge, did you ever go back home?” Fu Yuhan asked.

 

“Made one phone call after five years, only went back once in the past couple years.” Lu Renyu smiled. “My dad’s an old stubborn. If he hadn’t gotten older these past few years, he probably still wouldn’t have come around.”

 

“Really not easy.”

 

“Nothing wrong with it, right?” Wen Yu casually raised an eyebrow and poured himself a drink. “Life is your own. You’re not living for your parents.”

 

“Just keep rebelling,” Chen Feifan, whose face had been too embarrassed to speak, finally spoke up, pointing at Wen Yu. “Old Lu is much more filial than you.”

 

“Yes, in your eyes Lu-ge is the best in the world.” Wen Yu shot back at him. “Drink up!”

 

Third Brother led the way, and the table erupted in laughter. More alcohol was brought over. The sounds of laughter were isolated inside by the bar’s glass door.

 

The revelry could continue all night, and they were good together.

 

***

 

Author’s Notes: (The End)

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