CH 28

Translator: hoenimochi, Rin    Editor: Su Xinghe

Lu Yong didn’t recognize him at first and only thought that the other party seemed to be familiar.

This man had a slender face, drooping eyes, long and sparse eyelashes straight down, heavy dark circles under the eyes, slightly sunken eyes, a tear mole under the left eye, a high eyebrow bone with an overly-high nose bridge and a hump on his nose. When he was not smiling, the corners of his mouth were turned down and his eyelids were slightly drooping, appearing dishevelled and untamed.

He was wearing non-formal clothes. At first glance, it looked like daily wear which was simply wrapped. There was no overly eye-catching logo but every detail such as buttons and collar pins could be seen to be expensive.

Lu Yong looked at him for a few seconds and felt the man seemed a little familiar but he was still confused.

He frowned tightly, feeling that he should be someone he knew but he couldn’t recognize him at once. Seeing that they were similar in age, he guessed that they were probably high school classmates.

The man didn’t have a good standing posture and he also didn’t straighten up. Even if he saw them, he still didn’t look serious. He took a step closer to Lu Yong, sized him up as if he was looking at a product, using the same cold cynical attitude as when he was young and said softly, “Now you seem to be doing very well. Oh, I should respectfully call you President Lu, shouldn’t I?”

Suddenly many fragmented pieces of memories from the past seemed to be stirred up by these ill-intentioned words which made an abnormal wind fly wildly in his mind——

“Lu Yong, help us run errands to buy drinks. The change will be your errand fee.”

“You still look down on Lu Yong? No matter what you do, there’s always someone who is an expert at it. Is being an expert at recycling not allowed?”

“What are you doing? Lu Yong, you’re here again? Is Shen Wenqiu your wife? Is no one allowed to hug him? Are you two gay?”

“You said you don’t want to go to the movies with me, you said you went to make up classes. Shen Wenqiu, you lied to me just to pick up trash with Lu Yong??”

“Shen Wenqiu, how many times have you put me off?” 

“Shen Wenqiu, why are you at the table with Lu Yong? You’ve been really good to him lately….”

“Shen Wenqiu, why do you always take Lu Yong with you? He can’t even play with us and he’s always so awkward…”

In his mind, this was the young man who always didn’t wear his school uniform properly, often accompanied Shen Wenqiu and criticised his existence. He couldn’t remember his appearance. Finally, at this moment, he became clear, from his blurred face to his detailed facial features.

“…Sheng Xu.” Lu Yong said the name with difficulty but he finally remembered it.

Lu Yong didn’t have much contact with his old classmates. When he was a student, he was only interested in Shen Wenqiu. All his eyes and memories were devoted to Shen Wenqiu alone. He was as if he had amnesia towards other people and only had a vague impression of others. As time passed, he couldn’t even remember their appearances and faces. 

If he had to say it, Lu Yong could still remember the names of the few Shen Wenqiu played well with but their faces had long since been forgotten. There was an impression of “male classmates” in his memories towards them. Anyway, those few people’s words and attitudes towards him were almost the same.

However, if he tried to recall it hard, it seemed that there was one person who was very special. It was the boy who knew Shen Wenqiu the earliest, had the best playtime with him and had a similar family background as him. He was another core character of the small group.

—Sheng Xu.

Sheng Xu smiled but the smile did not reach the bottom of his eyes, “Old classmates meet, won’t you ask me to go up and sit down?”

Lu Yong asked, “What’s the matter?”

Sheng Xu still looked at him with a half-smile which made Lu Yong feel very uncomfortable, “I came here to find you specially, of course I have something to say.”

As he said that, Sheng Xu turned his head slightly and looked at Shen Wenqiu, “Right? Shen Wenqiu.”

“You’re so ungrateful. You didn’t even tell me when you moved and found a job.”

“It was only when I met Old Wu a few days ago that I found out that you actually repaid the debt over there. I wonder where you got so much money and it turned out that Lu Yong gave it ah.”

Shen Wenqiu pursed his lips tightly and said, “It was not given, I borrowed it.”

Sheng Xu said ruthlessly, “Only if you can pay it back is it called borrowing, if you can’t pay it back then it’s giving.”

As soon as Shen Wenqiu opened his mouth, Lu Yong’s attention was taken away and went back to Shen Wenqiu. He found that Shen Wenqiu’s expression didn’t look good, his gaze was a little lax and there was thin cold sweat on his forehead. He looked like he was in a trance and it looked like the Shen Wenqiu he picked up back then was about to reappear.

Lu Yong couldn’t help but get anxious. His body moved ahead out of his unconsciousness. He stepped forward slowly and firmly, cutting off Shen Wenqiu’s dazed line of sight as if he wanted to be caught. He turned to face him and forced Shen Wenqiu to look at him. It was as if he was using his broad and thick shoulders to make a separate space for him to breathe. The shadow draped over Shen Wenqiu, like a loose coat to wrap up Shen Wenqiu and hide him.

Lu Yong handed the bag to Shen Wenqiu. His gentle voice seemed to be caressing Shen Wenqiu’s shivering emotions and said, “Go upstairs first and carry your things up. Don’t you want to cook a new dish? Go and cook it”

“Sheng Xu is looking for me. I’ll have a chat with him and then I’ll go back.”

Lu Yong didn’t say anything like “don’t be afraid”, but with his calm and gentle look, Shen Wenqiu was instantly soothed. He looked up at him slightly, and nodded in a daze, “Okay…”

Lu Yong sent him into the elevator while he blocked the entrance. Not to mention Sheng Xu, another innocent resident who just came home was also affected and couldn’t get on the elevator.

Sheng Xu’s eyes crossed Lu Yong and stared at Shen Wenqiu coldly, even though Shen Wenqiu never looked back.

Until the elevator door closed, he turned to look at the electronic screen that displayed the number of floors the elevator ascended.

Lu Yong interrupted him, “There is a nice coffee shop outside the small area. I’ll invite you to a cup of coffee. You can talk to me slowly about the things you want to talk about.”

Sheng Xu nodded, “Okay.”

The two walked for five minutes without saying a word. It was as if they were not going to talk about peaceful matters but like they were going to fight.

When they got to the coffee shop, they each ordered a cup of coffee. Lu Yong had American black coffee and Sheng Xu asked for the signature latte.

The coffee came quickly.

Lu Yong took a casual sip, recalling about Sheng Xu and slowly remembering something that Shen Wenqiu told him before… He said that they met in the fifth grade of primary school and Sheng Xu was a transfer student. As the class monitor, Shen Wenqiu took good care of the new classmate. Both of them were children from wealthy families and they attended similar interest classes, so naturally they played a lot together. Later, they were in the same class in junior high school and senior high school and so he naturally became Shen Wenqiu’s number one friend.

Sheng Xu was a very rebellious person. At that time, it was a rule for everyone to wear a complete set of school uniforms. Sheng Xu was wearing a sweater inside and the top of the school uniform outside without zipping it. He also wore his own jeans for his trousers. He was caught by the teacher because his hairstyle did not match the standards of middle school students. He shaved his head like a juvenile delinquent, making the dean angry enough and he was a notorious prick.

From time to time, he could see Shen Wenqiu advising him not to be offended, not to violate the school rules and secretly telling Lu Yong, “Xiao Xu’s family doesn’t care about him, his character is very rebellious…”

Sheng Xu glanced complainingly at the latte art of the milk cap on the coffee, shook the cup while holding the handle, took a small sip, licked the milk cap on his lips and said with disgust, “Boiled pan water. Anyway, I think this kind of small shop doesn’t use very good coffee beans. Can’t you know from drinking? Aren’t you rich now?”

What a familiar taste. Lu Yong remained unashamed and said, “I’m not able to know from drinking. I don’t drink coffee much, how can I know?”

Sheng Xu, “Where did you buy your clothes from? I can’t see the brand.”

Lu Yong, “I bought it casually in the mall. I don’t remember the brand, it’s probably made locally.”

Sheng Xu, “Haven’t you already opened three factories now? Why don’t you change to a good watch? You are still carrying this cheap one?”

Lu Yong, “It’s enough to be able to see the time. The timekeeping is very accurate and can be used.”

Sheng Xu was blocked back one sentence after another, unable to tell whether Lu Yong was treacherous or dumb and said with amusement, “You are still the same as before.”

Lu Yong sat upright, like a towering reef and answered unreservedly, “En.”

Sheng Xu fished out a cigarette and a black lacquer lighter. Just after shaking out a cigarette, Lu Yong said, “No smoking in public places.”

Sheng Xu was speechless for a long while but he didn’t insist. He played with the lighter and his mobile phone, lightly bumped the tabletop as he looked at Lu Yong with a slightly dejected gaze and confronted him silently.

“*Tap, tap, tap, tap…*”

He tapped regularly and intermittently.

Then suddenly stopped,

“I really can’t figure it out.” Sheng Xu said, “You were so poor in the past, you finally got money but you would give it to Shen Wenqiu so willingly. Don’t you think it’s like flinging a meat bun at a dog and it won’t be returned?”

Lu Yong said in a deep voice, “Shen Wenqiu is not a dog.”

Sheng Xu laughed, “It’s a metaphor, you’re still so serious, you can’t grasp the point. Talking to you is like this, you always don’t understand what other people say.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

Sheng Xu smiled, leaned against the table and asked, “Do you know how much Shen Wenqiu owes me in total?”

Lu Yong nodded without hesitation, “I know.”

Sheng Xu stopped for a few seconds as if he was choked by a fish bone, “…Then you should know that I lent him 30 million, right?”

Lu Yong recalled the debt list written by Shen Wenqiu, “I know.”

As Lu Yong finished speaking, he took out a chequebook and a pen from his chest. Although he didn’t say it clearly, he was showing that he was ready to pay in advance.

The temperature of Sheng Xu’s eyes dropped sharply. It was already cold and all of a sudden it was so icy that it almost condensed into an ice pick.

He seemed to be extremely angry but laughed, “You want to help Shen Wenqiu pay back the money, right? Pay it back and write the check to me now.”

Lu Yong stopped writing.

This caused a snort of laughter.

Lu Yong called Shen Wenqiu’s phone under his contemptuous gaze and Shen Wenqiu said first, “Are you coming back? I’ve cooked the meal…”

Lu Yong said, “En, I’ll be back.”

Sheng Xu muttered grimly, “When did he know how to cook? Can you eat what he cooked for you?”

Lu Yong ignored him, just sat up straight and moved back as far as possible. He wasn’t sure if Shen Wenqiu on the other end of the phone heard him or not so he asked, “Sheng Xu told me about your debts….I said I don’t mind paying it back for you, do you need me to help pay it back? Can I pay it back?”

Shen Wenqiu, “…”

At this time, Sheng Xu seemed to have a little sharpness. He opened his eyes, no longer had the sleepy dishevelled look and said extremely meanly, “Lu Yong, are you so cheap? After so many years, you are still Shen Wenqiu’s lapdog?”

“You’re going to pay back just because he asked you to?”

“Oh, you liked Shen Wenqiu like a pervert back then and after so many years, you finally got what you wanted, didn’t you?”

“Did you get to sleep with Shen Wenqiu? Is it good? Even if you did, he’s not worth that much money, right?”