WP Chapter 42

The bar was as lively tonight as always. Dim lights pulsed over a sea of moving bodies, glasses clinked in midair, and decadence draped the room in a seductive haze.

Li Xun leaned against the bar, chatting and laughing with a few old friends. On stage, Zheng Youli was singing into the mic. The young man had just rushed over from the auto shop, still carrying a faint scent of motor oil. He wore a loose denim jacket over a black tank top, his long, lean legs tightly wrapped in jeans that outlined the lines of his muscles. One leg was bent, foot braced against the bar of the stool, while the other stretched down to the floor. His blank expression gave off a calm, prematurely mature air that drew the eye.

Li Xun sat facing the stage, drinking and talking while occasionally locking eyes with Zheng Youli.

Through the press of heads between them, their gazes touched and sparked as if unseen tendrils were curling through the air, groping and tangling greedily against each other’s skin. A slow smile tugged at Li Xun’s lips. Someone leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “Not bad, your little boyfriend. How long’s it been?”

Li Xun raised a brow. Decked out in a full suit and tie, he looked every bit the suave, high-class bastard, refined on the surface, dangerous underneath. His tone, however, was teasing and suggestive. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re hinting at. Don’t even try.”

Still watching the boy on stage, he swirled the golden liquid in his glass. “That kid is mine.”

The man whose little scheme had just been exposed didn’t seem offended. He laughed and casually laid a hand on Li Xun’s shoulder.

“How do you know it’s the kid I’m after, and not you?”

Zheng Youli’s eyes darkened the moment he saw that strange man touch Li Xun’s shoulder. Li Xun, of course, loved seeing his boy jealous, so he didn’t brush the hand off. Instead, he turned his head and leaned in a little closer.

“You’re not picky,” Li Xun said, voice flirtatious but laced with bite. “You want everyone.”

The other man clinked glasses with him and leaned in, but Li Xun smoothly shifted away before he could get too close.

Then he blew a kiss toward the stage, straight at the glaring young man, brushed the man’s hand off his shoulder, and turned to walk away.

Zheng Youli finished the song, shot a quick hand signal to the audio tech to take over, and hopped down from the stage.

As if he knew exactly what his little boyfriend would do, Li Xun deliberately headed upstairs. Zheng Youli followed in a few long strides and shoved him up against the iron railing at the stairwell corner.

The noise from downstairs faded a little. This spot was closer to the back door and kitchen. Guests usually didn’t come this way.

Zheng Youli grabbed Li Xun and kissed him hard, then frowned as he reached up to wipe at Li Xun’s shoulder like he was cleaning something dirty.

Li Xun laughed into the kiss and gave his boyfriend’s shoulder a push, but Zheng Youli grabbed him and pulled him back, then thrust his lower body against him.

“Why so easy to rile up?” Li Xun said, still grinning.

Zheng Youli was just about to retort when a cough sounded from upstairs. Li Xun froze, and his expression darkened.

“Jiang Yibai!” he barked, pushing Zheng Youli aside and storming up the stairs. “The fuck are you doing in my private space? Get your ass down here and die!”

The second floor of the bar was Li Xun’s personal territory. Though it was really just a bedroom with a living area, it mainly served bedroom purposes most of the time.

But it was still a private area. Customers weren’t supposed to come upstairs.

The only person shameless enough to barge up like he owned the place… could only be that thick-skinned bastard.

Sure enough, there was Jiang Yibai, sitting cross-legged on the floor with nothing but a cushion under him. Si Shaorong had taken the only chair by the window.

Both of them had wine glasses in hand, with several empty bottles rolling around on the floor. It looked like they were getting ready to drink themselves senseless.

Jiang Yibai’s face was already flushed from alcohol. When he saw Li Xun come up, he even had the nerve to tease, “See how decent I am? I heard you two coming and gave a heads-up, just in case you started stripping before you made it upstairs. That would’ve been awkward.”

Li Xun: “…”

Zheng Youli: “…”

Si Shaorong hadn’t had much yet. He gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry for intruding.”

But despite the apology, neither of them looked like they planned to leave.

Li Xun glanced between them, sensed something off in the air, and raised a brow. “You two came up here for a heart-to-heart? Gotta say, you picked the perfect spot.”

“It was too noisy downstairs,” Jiang Yibai said, already tipsy and sluggish.

It wasn’t even eleven yet, and he was already drunk.

Li Xun looked surprised, not sure if something had happened. He walked over and sat down at the edge of the bed, pulled a soda from the mini fridge, cracked it open, and took a sip.

“So? What were you talking about?”

That was when he noticed something drawn on the screen of Jiang Yibai’s phone near his feet. He leaned in to take a look and immediately rolled his eyes. Written on it was: Mon-Wed-Fri: Bai, Tue-Thu-Sat: Si, Sunday: off.

Li Xun let out a few low clicks of his tongue and sat back down on the bed. “So I’m the referee in your sex life now? Rock-paper-scissors for who’s on top? Jiang Yibai, did you lose or something? Is that why you’re this wasted?”

“Who the fuck lost?” Jiang Yibai scoffed and reached for the wine again, only to be stopped by Si Shaorong.

“Drink any more and you won’t be able to talk.”

Jiang Yibai blinked slowly, then snapped his fingers. “Right. Back to the story.”

Seeing that Li Xun wasn’t leaving, Zheng Youli sat down beside him.

Jiang Yibai said, “Where was I? Oh right. When I was about to graduate from college… mm, I thought I was hot shit back then.”

The moment Li Xun heard that, he realized Jiang Yibai was finally ready to talk.

He was a little surprised that Jiang Yibai was willing to open up this soon. He thought it would take at least a few more rounds of pushing.

He glanced at Si Shaorong again and thought, Huh. This guy’s got some skill after all.

Zheng Youli wasn’t sure if it was okay for him to be here for something so personal. He looked to Li Xun for a cue, and Li Xun waved it off to say it was fine.

To be honest, anyone who had been close to Jiang Yibai back then already knew what happened. It was just that, since it didn’t concern them directly, they had never truly felt it the way Jiang Yibai had. Everyone had felt regret, even gotten angry on his behalf, but it had never been taboo.

In the end, it was just something people saw as fate.

Li Xun had always believed that when something was weighing on your chest, you needed to say it. Getting it out made it half better. As for the other half, that was time’s job.

Jiang Yibai, unfortunately, was the kind of person who never talked. He would rather keep everything bottled up inside, which usually did more harm than good.

So if tonight he could use a bit of alcohol to loosen his tongue, then maybe that was a good thing.

He had probably drunk this much just to give himself the nerve. He and Si Shaorong had come in through the back door. The plan had been to sit and talk for a bit, have a quiet heart-to-heart, lay everything out, and be done with it.

But he had held it in for so long that, when it finally came time to speak, it turned out to be much harder than he’d imagined. Jiang Yibai had rambled on about everything else, drinking until he was halfway to blackout, before finally getting to the heart of it.

“Li Xun knows about this,” he said, pointing at him. “We met here, actually. The very first time.”

Back then, Li Xun’s bar had just opened and was still in the middle of hiring.

Jiang Yibai had been young, full of impulsive dreams. He had formed a band with a few like-minded friends, and they came to perform here.

“Three nights a week, paid at the end of each shift,” Jiang Yibai said. “At first, it was great.”

Zheng Youli had been around back then too, so he listened closely, curious to hear more.

“But we were inexperienced, and eventually something went wrong,” Jiang Yibai went on. “It started when our drummer got a boyfriend. That guy then introduced me to someone else…”

He glanced at Si Shaorong. “That someone ended up being my ex. His name was Zheng Yu.”

Si Shaorong tightened his grip around his glass, eyes fixed steadily on Jiang Yibai, expression unreadable.

“Zheng Yu treated me really well at first. Always checking in, always looking after me.” Jiang Yibai’s voice was a little slurred, but steady. “He never missed a single performance, and every time I finished, he’d drive me back to school. He was two years older than me, working as a sales rep at some insurance company. Just an ordinary guy, but very thoughtful.”

Jiang Yibai paused for a long moment. It looked like he was trying to sober up a bit. He rubbed his face and said, “At first I didn’t plan on saying yes. He was a good person, but I didn’t think we were right for each other. I wanted to focus on my career… Even if it was just three nights a week, performing at a tiny no-name bar, I took it seriously. I treated it like it was a career.”

Li Xun let out a huff. “Excuse me—tiny no-name bar?”

Zheng Youli reached over and patted his back in reassurance. Li Xun clicked his tongue but let it go.

Jiang Yibai gave a foolish little grin, waving his hand as if greeting someone, swaying slightly as he said, “He was relentless. Said he didn’t expect me to like him back, just wanted to be good to me. Said watching me work hard at what I loved moved him. Said just seeing me on stage made him happy. And that if I ever made it one day, he’d be proud of me.”

It was probably the alcohol finally hitting him. Jiang Yibai completely lost focus, sitting cross-legged on the cushion with a vacant stare. He hiccuped from the booze, then gave a mocking laugh.

“Fucker was just a con artist.”

Li Xun frowned and let out a sigh.

Si Shaorong glanced at him in confusion, then pulled out a bottle of soda from the mini fridge and poured a glass for Jiang Yibai.

But Jiang Yibai didn’t drink it. He just leaned against Si Shaorong’s chest, stretched out his legs, and mumbled, “Ge, you’ve probably never met anyone like Zheng Yu.”

“Someone like that?” Si Shaorong asked, puzzled. Until now, he’d thought it was just a case of heartbreak. But from the sound of it, there was more to the story.

Maybe things were more complicated than he’d expected.

“He was straight,” Jiang Yibai said, suddenly laughing again. The more he laughed, the louder it got, until he was breathless.

Si Shaorong froze. “What do you mean?”

Li Xun got up to find a towel and handed it to Zheng Youli to wet downstairs so they could help Jiang Yibai sober up before he started acting out.

Jiang Yibai just kept laughing, refusing to explain. Li Xun had no choice but to jump in. “I don’t even know how to describe that guy. You’d say he’s straight, but he could sleep with men. It’s just that he didn’t like them. Last I heard, he switched companies and married some woman he met through a blind date.”

Si Shaorong looked completely lost. None of it made sense to him.

Li Xun tossed a pillow over. “Put this under his head.” Then he added, “Zheng Yu did it all for fun. For the thrill. He thought Jiang Yibai was arrogant and flashy, an out-and-proud gay guy running around with fans and attention…”

Jiang Yibai suddenly shot upright. “The fuck are you calling a monkey? Flashy and jumping around?!”

Then the dizziness hit and he collapsed back down again.

Li Xun snorted. Zheng Youli came back with the damp towel. Si Shaorong thanked him, folded it neatly, and gently wiped Jiang Yibai’s face.

His skin was burning hot. He let out a satisfied little groan from the coolness.

Si Shaorong still couldn’t believe someone could be so pointlessly cruel. After a long pause, he asked, “Just for that… he chased after Jiang Yibai?”

“He wanted Jiang Yibai to like him. To fall head over heels, to love him down to the bone,” Li Xun said coldly. “He would’ve done anything to make that happen. Whenever he found the chance, he was circling around Jiang Yibai’s ass. He didn’t even earn much money himself, but still used it to buy him stuff.”

“I didn’t want any of it! He forced it on me!” Jiang Yibai shouted.

Li Xun sighed. “You were just a dumbass.”

Jiang Yibai went quiet.