DABGBTF 3

Xie Zheng was rarely so kindhearted, but Song Qingyuan desperately stopped him from continuing to speak.

Xie Zheng raised his eyebrows, said no more, and just amidst the students’ blank expressions, smirked and downed the beer in his glass in one gulp.

Song Qingyuan was taking medicine and couldn’t drink alcohol, but there were two other students who ordered fruit beer.

Lu Lu ordered apple juice, but didn’t drink much of it. He was busy distributing the grilled meat to everyone, even in Xie Zheng’s plate, there were quite a few pieces of meat that Lu Lu had portioned out to him.

When they were almost done eating, the students weren’t too afraid of Xie Zheng anymore, opening their chatterboxes to chat, from who in the department forgot to bring suppressants¹A classic piece of ABO worldbuilding. They are medications Omegas (and sometimes Alphas) take to suppress their pheromones and physical urges during their heats/susceptible periods. during their susceptible period and almost caused an incident, to who in a long-distance relationship was cheated of both their heart and their money.

What everyone was most interested in was still other people’s relationship gossip.

A girl nudged the person next to her with her elbow. “Cui Songbai, how is that person you are dating online? Is there any progress?”

Cui Songbai pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, with an expression like still water. “It’s over. He is just a scammer.”

“How so?”

“The voice was disguised with a voice changer, the birth date was forged with photoshop.” Cui Songbai said this while pouncing onto Lu Lu, “Xiao Lu, let’s be single together for the rest of our lives, and never suffer the bitterness of love again.”

Lu Lu held his apple juice, smiling brightly, didn’t answer Cui Songbai, but instead looked at Xie Zheng. “What about Uncle Xie? I saw online that many people are curious about Uncle Xie’s relationship status.”

Xie Zheng asked meaningfully, “What do you think?”

The students’ gazes then looked over toward him.

Xie Zheng’s suit jacket had long been taken off, thrown onto the chair behind him. He hadn’t worn a tie when going out either, he was only wearing a shirt right now with two buttons open at the collar, his wheat-colored skin under the illumination of the barbecue restaurant’s dim yellow lighting turning into a sweet color.

He held his wine glass in his left hand, resting his right elbow on the back of the chair. His collar thereby being pulled further open, revealing a bit of the blue-black tattoo underneath. His long legs were crossed together, his face with a half-smiling expression.

—Xie Zheng must have had many lovers.

Such a thought popped up in the students’ minds by coincidence.

—

When Xie Zheng woke up the next day, it was already noon.

The phone ringtone blared loudly. It was Xie Zheng’s cousin, Xie Li.

Xie Zheng picked it up, lazily giving a “hello,” his voice hadn’t woken up yet, carrying a raspy sleepiness.

The young man on the other side gritted his teeth. “Xie Zheng! Where on earth did you go? Uncle and Aunt came to my house early in the morning demanding the person, thinking my dad hid you away.”

Xie Zheng’s parents were famously difficult to deal with. Xie Zheng could almost imagine what kind of devastation this cousin of his had endured early in the morning.

Xie Zheng laughed without any sympathy.

“You’re still laughing?” Xie Li sounded like he was going to faint from anger. “Where on earth are you?”

“I tell you, and then you tell my parents, right? Xie Li, I don’t remember when our relationship got this close.”

The opposite side of the phone suddenly fell silent.

Then with a “click,” Xie Li hung up the call.

Unlike Xie Zheng who started from scratch²A four-character idiom that translates literally to “starting a family/business with empty hands.” It means to be completely self-made without inheriting wealth., Xie Li inherited his father’s company. However, the two were now both doing the smart hardware direction. Although it couldn’t be said they hoped the other would go bankrupt, both also hoped to cause a bit of trouble for each other.

Xie Zheng let out a scoffing laugh, rolled over, and got out of bed.

Song Qingyuan had already gone to school, but left a meal for Xie Zheng; on the dining table sat a takeout bag of steamed dumplings.

Xie Zheng casually took a couple of bites, and got up to take a shower.

Taking off his clothes, Xie Zheng scrutinized himself in the mirror for a moment.

He worked out year-round. His figure could be called perfect—with long lines and smooth muscles, broad shoulders, and a narrow waist.

Below his collarbone was tattooed a winding poisonous snake, and from his right arm spreading all the way to the position of his shoulder blade was tattooed a dog’s skeleton.

That thing under his body was very energetic. Xie Zheng ducked into the shower stall, washed his hair first, and then, using the lubrication of the foam, grasped himself.

Xie Zheng, panting low, propped himself against the glass wall. The shower stall’s glass door seemed a bit unable to close tightly, letting out “clack-clack” sounds along with Xie Zheng’s movements.

Xie Zheng’s fingers dragged out streaks of scratch marks on the steam-filled glass wall, the smell of pepper and smoke in the water vapor becoming increasingly rich. At the critical moment, a face suddenly barged into Xie Zheng’s mind.

Soft hair, uptilted eye corners, fair skin.

D*mn it, f*ck.

Xie Zheng’s lean waist suddenly arched downward, and the bathroom was filled with his messy breathing sounds.

Coming out of the bathroom feeling refreshed and clear-headed, Xie Zheng’s hair was still wet. With his collar wide open, he dangled a cigarette in his mouth and had a video meeting with the management level.

Waiting until the meeting ended, the second assistant reminded him, “Xie-ge, tonight’s itinerary is a meeting with President Hu of Jinxiang and a few others.”

“Didn’t forget.” Xie Zheng smoothed his fragmented front bangs to the back of his head. He didn’t come here entirely just to hide and seek leisure; he happened to want to use this opportunity to open up the Linyuan market.

Hu Qizhi was in his early fifties this year. He was not a decent person, liking liveliness and young, pretty little Os the most. Xie Zheng catered to his preferences, setting the meeting location at a club with hot dance performances.

Some brothers who had stayed in Linyuan previously prepared a welcoming banquet for Xie Zheng. Xie Zheng played and joked around with them for a while, and seeing it was about time, set off and hurried toward “One Cup.”

His several cars were all left in Chen’an. It wasn’t easy to sneak them out under Father Xie and Mother Xie’s surveillance, so he could only call a car on an app first tonight.

It was over half an hour’s car ride, unimpeded all the way. Xie Zheng was the earliest to arrive. He ordered a glass of whiskey, sat in the reserved booth, and briefly checked out the environment.

There were many young people here, mostly As, and also a small number of boldly dressed Omegas; floating in the air was the smell of overflowing pheromones mixed together.

Xie Zheng sipped his liquor, watching the Omegas on the stage dancing softly, when suddenly his shoulder was patted by someone.

He turned his head. It was two young, pretty boys, wearing sparkling collars on their necks. “Gege, drink a glass of wine together?”

Xie Zheng smiled and sized the two up from head to toe.

His gaze carried a scalding temperature, as if it could burn other people’s skin. Only when both boys became uncomfortable did Xie Zheng finally retract his gaze.

“I have an appointment with someone else.”

“Then, add WeChat?”

Xie Zheng’s phone twirled in his slender fingers, the corners of his mouth curling in a wicked smile, but the words he spoke had a very obvious meaning of rejection. “I don’t casually add people.”

The two boys looked at each other, didn’t say anything, and left.

However, they weren’t disappointed. Being able to say a few words to someone as handsome as Xie Zheng, even if rejected, they were quite happy.

Hu Qizhi arrived exactly at this time. He had reached middle age, but his figure was maintained fairly well. The other three people who came with him were relatively unkempt, with large potbellies. The people who were just hovering around Xie Zheng restless for action were like being pushed by the tide, quietly becoming much further away.

Accompanying this kind of boss to talk business was actually very simple—it was nothing more than the three topics of “liquor,” “lust,” and “power.”³This refers to the traditional, sometimes unsavory networking culture (yingchou – 应酬) in Chinese business, where deals are often smoothed over at banquets, clubs, and KTVs through heavy drinking and entertainment. As long as he accompanied the few of them to drink satisfactorily and chat satisfactorily, it could almost turn into a relationship of calling each other brothers.

Drinking wasn’t a difficult task for Xie Zheng. Back when he first started his business, he truly accompanied drinking to the death⁴A hyperbole describing the grueling Chinese corporate drinking culture. Junior businesspeople often have to drink massive amounts of alcohol with clients to prove their “sincerity” and secure contracts.. Now, others could at least look at the face of him being “Xingren’s Xie Zheng” and force-feed him a couple of glasses less.

At 2:09 in the middle of the night, the several bosses had drunk happily. They watched the dancing happily, and tipsily got into the cars to go home.

Hu Qizhi hugged a petite Omega, reached out, and patted vigorously on Xie Zheng’s shoulder. “Have your assistant contact my assistant, remember ah!”

Waiting until the few people had all left, Xie Zheng leaned against the chair to catch his breath, and unbuttoned his collar button down one more.

He had drunk quite a lot. Although his head was clear, his four limbs had already started to become a bit disobedient.

He opened the app to hail a car. The app prompted him that there were few cars at night, and he needed to wait at least ten minutes.

Xie Zheng threw his phone on the tabletop, tapped a cigarette out of the cigarette case, and dangled it in his mouth.

His thumb flicked open the lighter lid. The flame was brought to his eyes twice, but neither time did it aim accurately at the cigarette.

Xie Zheng cursed “f*ck,” and was just preparing to make a third attempt, when a hand took the lighter from his hand, aiming the flame at the cigarette.

Xie Zheng took a deep drag relying on that hand, slowly exhaled a mouthful of white mist, and finally narrowed his eyes in satisfaction.

The cigarette butt twirled a circle in his teeth before Xie Zheng raised his eyes to look at the person who helped him light the cigarette, only to see a familiar face. Xie Zheng raised his eyebrows somewhat surprised. “You?”

The boy smilingly curved his eyes. “Uncle Xie.”

The boy wasn’t here to play. He was wearing the same Western-style uniform as the other waiters in the club—a black vest and a white shirt, wearing a delicate bowtie around his neck, and pinned to his chest was a metal name tag, with two laser-printed characters on it: Lu Lu.

Xie Zheng reached out his hand, palm facing up, and Lu Lu put the lighter back into Xie Zheng’s hand.

During the movement, Lu Lu saw Xie Zheng’s phone placed on the table. The ride-hailing app was currently spinning its animation circle by circle. Lu Lu blinked his eyes. “Uncle Xie, it’s very hard to hail a car at this hour. Let me take you back.”

“You have a car?”

“My colleague has one, I can ask to borrow it from him.”

Xie Zheng lifted his eyelids and took a look at Lu Lu. Last night after finishing dinner with Song Qingyuan, two students had drunk a bit too much and were walking dizzily. It was also Lu Lu taking care of them by their side.

Careful, clever, endearing.

Yet still very stupid.

This kind of personality was only fine in a university. If out in society, if encountering a person like him, he would probably be eaten until not even bones were left.

Sometimes, kindness could only become a tool for others to bully and oppress you.

Lu Lu was still bending his waist slightly waiting for his answer. Xie Zheng: “Alright.”

Lu Lu then said, “Then Uncle Xie, wait for me a moment.” Saying this, he turned around, his steps very brisk as he walked toward the bar counter.

Xie Zheng saw Lu Lu draping his whole person over the bar counter, propping his cheek with one hand, talking to a bartender wearing a hat. Even though what Lu Lu left him was a back view, Xie Zheng could still imagine his smiling expression and tone. There shouldn’t be anyone who would refuse such a boy.

Sure enough, when Lu Lu came back again, there was an extra bunch of keys in his hand. The key ring twirled two circles on Lu Lu’s hand. “Let’s go, Uncle Xie.”

The car was the most ordinary little Volkswagen Beetle. The roof was low, the seat space was very small, and Xie Zheng’s legs were a bit unable to fit.

Lu Lu saw this; after fastening his seatbelt, he reached out to help Xie Zheng adjust the seat a bit, and then raised his arm high to pull the seatbelt on Xie Zheng’s side.

The fuzzy top of his head was right in front of Xie Zheng’s eyes, and Xie Zheng smelled a very clean citrus scent.

Xie Zheng reached out and pushed briefly on Lu Lu’s shoulder. “I’m not so drunk yet that I can’t even fasten a seatbelt.”

Lu Lu immediately sat his body up straight.

Like performing a magic trick, he took out a bottle of ice water from behind him and handed it to Xie Zheng, and started the car.

Xie Zheng took a sip of the ice water, suddenly asking Lu Lu, “Pomelo?”

Lu Lu curved his eyes. “Mm-ha.”

–

Lu Lu’s Weibo

[Posted 2 hours ago]

@Deer: ^^

• 1
  A classic piece of ABO worldbuilding. They are medications Omegas (and sometimes Alphas) take to suppress their pheromones and physical urges during their heats/susceptible periods.
• 2
  A four-character idiom that translates literally to “starting a family/business with empty hands.” It means to be completely self-made without inheriting wealth.
• 3
  This refers to the traditional, sometimes unsavory networking culture (yingchou – 应酬) in Chinese business, where deals are often smoothed over at banquets, clubs, and KTVs through heavy drinking and entertainment.
• 4
  A hyperbole describing the grueling Chinese corporate drinking culture. Junior businesspeople often have to drink massive amounts of alcohol with clients to prove their “sincerity” and secure contracts.