CH 5

Merchie9-11 minutes 23.04.2023

That night, Li Yangxiao faced the mismatched pieces of clothing in his closet, unable to choose between them: Should I wear something formal, or something more leisurely? Something trendy, or something more low-key?

In order to avoid an awkward situation from happening, Li Yangxiao chose his words carefully and sent a text message to Chi Mingyao: “Young Master Chi, what kind of style is tomorrow’s party? Do I need to wear a suit?” After he sent the text, he sat down on the bed and waited for Chi Mingyao’s reply.

Chi Mingyao was at a dinner, discussing business relations. After he received the text, he replied carelessly: “Dress casually.” Then, he stopped bothering with Li Yangxiao.

Once the dinner was over, Chi Mingyao went home and laid down on his bed, when he suddenly thought of a problem: If I bring him to the party tomorrow and he’s dressed too casually, what if no one’s in the market for him? So, he sent a voice message to Li Yangxiao: “Don’t dress too casually. Just wear something tight-fitting. It would be best if you made yourself look younger.”

After Li Yangxiao received this voice message, he did not think much of it. Youthful-looking males were all the rage nowadays, and young age had become an overwhelming advantage. He had even thought self-deprecatingly that, if he could actually become famous in the future, he would probably be classified as a late bloomer.

Chi Mingyao laid in bed, smoking. He thought for a moment before he sent another text: “What’s your address? I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”

–Xu Yan, oh, Xu Yan. I’ve returned this favor tenfold.

***

On the evening of the next day, Li Yangxiao had tidied himself up and stood at the side of the road, waiting for Chi Mingyao.

Li Yangxiao had come out 20 minutes early. After waiting for a while, he felt a bit bored. He was feeling the urge to smoke, but out of fear that it would downgrade his image if he reeked of cigarettes, he resisted it.

Since he was dying of boredom, Li Yangxiao began to act out scenes in his mind again: he imagined that after he became famous, he would also drive a luxury car. When that time came, he would be the same as that Chi Mingyao from the other night, showered in rays of sunlight, leaning against his car and smoking in a leisurely manner.

As he thought of this, he could not restrain his curiosity; what kind of car would Chi Mingyao drive over here? Judging by how much Xu Yan was sucking up to him at the dinner table, it would probably be a little more high-end than a Cayenne, right?

A Ferrari? A Land Rover? A Bentley? A Rolls-Royce Phantom? … It couldn’t be a Bugatti, right?

Li Yangxiao could not help but imagine the future, as he waited for a luxury car bathed in an emerald-green glow to pierce through the dusk and drive toward him– so as his mind wandered, he did not even notice that a car had parked in front of him.

When Chi Mingyao parked the car at the side of the road, he saw Li Yangxiao, who appeared to be eagerly awaiting something, so he could not help but call out rudely: “Hey, what are you looking at? Are you waiting for your beloved to pick you up in a luxury car that’s riding on sunlit clouds?”

“Ah?” Only then did Li Yangxiao come back to his senses. He saw Chi Mingyao staring at him with a frown, impatience written all over his face. He hurriedly apologized, “My mind was wandering earlier, sorry…”

“Hurry up and get in.” Chi Mingyao jerked his head to the side, signaling for him to sit in the passenger seat.

When Li Yangxiao walked around the front of the car to door on the other side, he could not help but glance at the car logo–it was not some high-end luxury car brand, but rather a Volkswagen. It has to be a more high-end brand of Volkswagen, right? This thought crossed Li Yangxiao’s mind.

This glance was noticed by Chi Mingyao, so just as Li Yangxiao closed the car door, he spoke up again: “Are you going to take pictures? Hurry up.”

“Huh?” Li Yangxiao turned his head to look at him, confused.

“Don’t people like you enjoy sitting in luxury cars and taking pictures?” Chi Mingyao gave him the side-eye, “What? Does this car not meet the standards of being photographed?”

Li Yangxiao immediately understood what he meant. So Chi Mingyao had already stuck a label on him, and had sorted him into a certain group of people. He looked down, put on his seat belt, and smiled as he said: “I’ve already taken so many, I can make do without this one.”

Chi Mingyao chuckled, before he twisted the key and started the car.

The pair did not exchange a single word along the way.

The party was being held at the top floor of an upscale nightclub.

When Li Yangxiao followed Chi Mingyao inside, there were already a few dozen people standing in the banquet hall, clustered in groups of twos and threes, drinking wine together and joking around.

Chi Mingyao walked straight toward the large, ring-shaped bar in the center of the hall. There was a shelf displaying a neat row of expensive bottles of red wine, of which there were at least a hundred.

A waiter carrying several glasses of wine walked over. Chi Mingyao took one and passed it to Li Yangxiao: “Drink as much as you want.” After Li Yangxiao took the glass, he retrieved a glass for himself, before he leaned against the bar counter, and looked around to see what kind of people had come to attend tonight’s party.

“In a bit, I’m going to introduce a few people to you,” Chi Mingyao tilted his head toward Li Yangxiao, and said in a low voice, “They all have an abundance of funds. If you’re interested in any of them, just keep chatting with them by yourself, don’t worry about me.”

“By myself?” Li Yangxiao’s eyes widened, and he pointed at himself.

“It’ll be fine,” Chi Mingyao gave him a rare smile, “Relax.”

As Li Yangxiao held his glass, he noticed that there was something wrong.

Not far away was a cluster of people. They glanced back at Li Yangxiao, before they all huddled back together, whispering amongst themselves. Right after that, another group of people looked toward Li Yangxiao as well.

Li Yangxiao felt a bit uneasy, so he turned his back to them, turning a red wine bottle in his hands and reciting the English words.

Chi Mingyao was looking around, trying to find some acquaintances. Truthfully, he did not attend these sorts of parties often, so most people were merely familiar faces to him. As for who had assets, and who would take a liking to Li Yangxiao, he really had no way of knowing, so he first planned on finding an acquaintance who could serve as a go-between.

However, Chi Mingyao also quickly noticed that something was not right. More and more people were looking toward Li Yangxiao. Some people were merely casting him a casual glance, while others were frequently turning their heads to him; it was as though they were trying to confirm something.

No way.

He was this popular? Chi Mingyao could not help but glance at Li Yangxiao, who was standing with his back to him: his appearance was quite eye-catching. His waist was slim and his legs were long, but he never thought that Li Yangxiao actually had the charm to enchant the whole crowd!

At this moment, someone walked toward Chi Mingyao. It was one of his friends, Cao Ye. In an instant, he grabbed Chi Mingyao’s shoulder, leaned into his ear, and said in a low voice: “Mingyao, what are you doing? Are you trying to pick a fight1 with that grandson2, Chen Rui?”

A puzzled expression appeared on Chi Mingyao’s face.

Cao Ye took out his phone and swiped down to a WeChat group. He tapped on the chat history, scrolled down, and found a photo, before he held the phone out to Chi Mingyao and pointed at Li Yangxiao, whose back was turned to them. He mouthed: “Is it him?”

Chi Mingyao finally realized why Li Yangxiao looked so familiar to him at first glance. He had seen this picture before!

He quickly pulled Cao Ye to the side: “Fuck me, what is going on here? Chen Rui’s slept with him before?”

“Li Yangxiao, is that his name?” Cao Ye narrowed his eyes and took a puff of his cigarette, “Isn’t he the one that Chen Rui threatened to blacklist before? What are you saying? You don’t know about that?”

“Bullshit. If I had known, I wouldn’t have brought him here.” Chi Mingyao took the cigarette Cao Ye handed to him, “When did this happen? How could I not have known about something like this?”

“Half a year ago? My memory’s a little fuzzy.” Cao Ye looked in Li Yangxiao’s direction and laughed, “This kid was pretty ballsy though. Back then, they had already come to an agreement. Chen Rui had washed himself inside and out. The moment he got out of the shower, shit, where is he?!”

“You know about all these details? Chen Rui said it himself?”

“Miao Yu told me in private afterward. That night,” Cao Ye leaned into Chi Mingyao’s ear, and said in a low voice, “Chen Rui was planning on asking him to have a threesome with them.”

Chi Mingyao frowned. He instinctively felt a bit sick to his stomach.

Notes

NOOOO HE SAID IT WAS FINE

Thanks for reading~