Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Chen Zhaojun was not a person who would usually stay up late. But at 11.30 pm, he was still standing in front of the television.

“Dad.”

Chen Hansheng knew his father wanted to talk to him so he sat down on the sofa in the living room.

“You don’t usually sleep so late.”

Chen Zhaojun looked at his son. To him, his son was still the mischievous child from many years ago. But in a blink of an eye, his son had already turned into an eighteen-year-old young man who was being fed cotton candy by a girl.

“Dad, I was planning to tell you.”

Chen Hansheng had planned to tell Chen Zhaojun that he had nothing to do with Xiao Rongyu. The two of them were just friends.

“There’s no need to explain anything. I’m not like your mother. As long she has a good character, I’m not concerned.”

“That’s not it, Dad. Xiao Rongyu and I are just-” Chen Hansheng wanted to make things straight but his father interrupted him.

“Hmm? Xiao Rongyu sounds familiar.” Chen Zhaojun frowned and tried to recall his memories.

“Her father’s Mr. Xiao, a second lieutenant criminal investigator of the Public Security Bureau.”

Chen Hansheng decided to remind him first.

“So it’s Xiao Hongwei’s daughter.”

Chen Zhaojun then smiled and said, “Mr. Xiao has always been the most good-looking person in Port City. No wonder his daughter is equally as good-looking. I should have known.”

“Dad, Xiao Rongyu and I are just friends. It’s not what you think.” Chen Hansheng finally found an opportunity to explain himself.

But Chen Zhaojun simply smiled. “Why are young people nowadays so much shyer than we were back then? What era is it now that you still use ‘just friends’ as an excuse? Do you really think we don’t watch TV dramas?”

His father refused to listen to him so Chen Hansheng did not want to explain anymore. In any case, the truth would eventually come out.

“Dad, weren’t you worried before you knew the girl’s identity?” asked Chen Hansheng, trying to change the topic again.

“Why would I?”

Old Chen denied flatly. “I’m not that old-fashioned.”

In the end, the father and son watched TV together. When he was about to go to bed, he patted his father on the back. “I didn’t know you could change the TV channel with the air-conditioner remote control.”

Chen Zhaojun took a closer look and realized that his son was right. He was indeed holding the air-conditioner remote in his hand while pointing it at the TV. No wonder the TV channel had not changed at all.

“I’m going to bed. Don’t worry about anything, Dad. If you get bored, just start a fight with Mom,” said Chen Hansheng as he waved his father goodnight.

Chen Zhaojun did say that he wasn’t worried but he had actually been wondering about the girl the entire time. It wasn’t until his son had told him her name and her father’s identity that he finally felt relieved.

Chen Zhaojun shook his head as he muttered, “Cheeky son.”

…

The National Holiday lasted for quite a while. Even after visiting his grandparents, Chen Hansheng was having a hard time keeping himself occupied.

At some point, he received a call from Xiao Rongyu, inviting him to a cafe for a drink with some of their ex-classmates. But Chen Hansheng came up with an excuse to reject them.

Firstly, Chen Hansheng did not have much to talk about with them. Secondly, he did not want to be misunderstood by people by being in the same space as Xiao Rongyu.

Chen Hansheng called Wang Zibo. “Zibo, wanna play billiards tonight?”

Wang Zibo immediately agreed. He was an otaku with no social life. If Chen Hansheng did not invite him out to play, he would have just stayed at home and accompanied his mother to rewatch ‘My Fair Princess’.

Fortunately, Chen Hansheng was very familiar with Port City’s entertainment spots. He brought Wang Zibo to a billiard room on the second floor of an entertainment venue that had a disco on the first floor.

As such, Wang Zibo could feel the beat of the disco from below as they drank beer and played billiards. It made him feel more excited.

Wang Zibo shouted, trying his best to overpower the deafening music. “Hansheng, I didn’t know Port City had such a fun spot.”

Chen Hansheng chewed on gum and smiled silently. He wanted to focus on aiming at the numbered ball on the table.

Wang Zibo, on the other hand, was distracted. He kept stealing glances at the girls who came up from the first floor. Most wore heavy makeup, fishnet stockings, and clothing that exposed their belly buttons. When they passed by, he could smell a mixture of perfume and alcohol.

Chen Hansheng knew what was happening but did not rush his friend. Instead, he patiently waited for Wang Zibo to shift his gaze back.

When the latter did, he was still a little embarrassed. “It’s already October. Aren’t they cold?”

“Who knows? For some girls, beauty is pain,” said Chen Hansheng with a smile.

A few girls noticed Chen Hansheng and their eyes lit up. The smile on this young man’s face made him look like a bad boy, which they found attractive.

However, Chen Hansheng was not very interested. If he got bored, he would pat on the small of a girl’s back and whisper in her ear. “My friend over there is still a virgin. How about you go keep him company?”

Initially, Wang Zibo looked at Chen Hansheng with envy as he flirted with these sexy girls. However, when he realized that some of them were coming towards him, he started to blush with no idea how to respond.

When it was 10 pm, Chen Hansheng and Wang Zibo left the entertainment venue. But honestly, Wang Zibo did not want to leave yet.

Chen Hansheng lit his cigarette and warned his friend. “Girls who often go to nightclubs can be beautiful, and it’s OK to meet them occasionally. But don’t get too serious with them…”

“And?” Wang Zibo realized that Chen Hansheng didn’t finish his sentence. He followed Chen Hansheng’s line of sight and saw Xiao Rongyu with two female students quietly looking at them from the other side of the road.

They had just left the cafe and were on their way home. Xiao Rongyu was still holding a cup of cold drinks in her hand.

Wang Zibo immediately turned around and pretended not to know her. This was too awkward! Who would have thought that they would bump into each other so coincidentally?

“Good evening. Did the party end so quickly? Xiao Rongyu, your house doesn’t seem to be in that direction.”

Chen Hansheng tried his best to speak normally. He kept reminding himself that he didn’t owe Xiao Rongyu anything so there was nothing wrong with going to the entertainment venue.

But for some reason, he was feeling a sense of guilt that could not be easily erased.

“Didn’t you say that you were going to your grandma’s house tonight?” asked Xiao Rongyu with a voice colder than the fall’s night breeze

Chen Hansheng did not know how to answer. That was the excuse he had given when he didn’t want to join Xiao Rongyu. And now, his lie had been exposed.

Xiao Rongyu’s face started to fill with sadness.

“Chen Hansheng, Rongyu said that she wanted to slowly accept your feelings-” One of the female students wanted to speak up for Xiao Rongyu but she was immediately interrupted by the latter.

“It’s too late!”

She threw her drinks into the bin and started to walk away. “Let’s go.”

There was a soft sniff as she turned around and the fall wind blew on Xiao Rongyu’s soft hair under the street lights.

One of her female friends stayed behind, just to give Chen Hansheng a piece of her mind. “Chen Hansheng, you piece of shit. The cafe had just released a new delicious fruit drink and Xiao Rongyu had bought it especially for you. She wasn’t heading back home earlier because she was about to drop by your place. But of course, you just had to be fooling around in a place like this instead, under the cowardly excuse of ‘visiting grandma’.

“Go to hell, Scum!”

…

Chen Hansheng realized that the girl was right, at least in terms of where Xiao Rongyu had initially intended to go.

“Hansheng, Xiao Rongyu seemed to be infatuated with you.” Wang Zibo looked perturbed. “But now, the feeling is gone and she’s back to her previous self, again.”