EWH 31

Xu Wanhe shot up from the chair like he had been electrocuted.

“Fuck your mother! What the hell did you get on my pants?”

He grabbed Yang Moshou by the collar. “Do you even know how much these pants cost? I just bought them yesterday!”

Yang Moshou instinctively tried to pry his hand off. “It was just a popsicle, can’t you tell?”

The others barely reacted. They stayed seated, chatting among themselves like nothing happened. Everyone was used to Xu Wanhe’s bad temper. He exploded on someone practically every day, so nobody found it strange.

“I’ll wash it for you, alright?” Yang Moshou’s face flushed a little. “Gentlemen talk things out, not fight.”

Xu Wanhe, burning with rage, actually froze for a second when he heard that. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” It took him a moment to process it.

“Fuck you. I like using my fists, so what?”

One of the younger guys knelt at Xu Wanhe’s feet, trying to wipe down his pants with tissues. After a while, seeing that the fabric soaked up everything and there was no saving it, he looked up awkwardly.

“Xu-ge… it’s all soaked in. Maybe you should change?”

Xu Wanhe lifted his foot and kicked him aside. “Get the fuck out of here!”

The guys on the sofa saw that he was really pissed, so they jumped up right away.

“Xu-ge, I’ll go buy you a new pair from the mall. What size do you wear..”

“No need.”

Xu Wanhe grabbed Yang Moshou and dragged him out.

“Let’s go.”

Everyone in the room scrambled after them, bowing and nodding as they followed to the door.

Yang Moshou reached out toward the table, but there was nothing to grab. He couldn’t catch hold of the flatbread he hadn’t finished. His throat tightened, and he couldn’t get a word out as Xu Wanhe hauled him all the way to the door.

Once he was shoved into the car, he finally managed to breathe.

“My flatbread’s still on your table… I hadn’t finished it…”

Xu Wanhe, face like stone, ignored him completely and told the driver where to go, as if he hadn’t heard a thing.

About ten minutes later, the car pulled into a villa district on the outskirts of the city.

Xu Wanhe owned plenty of properties around the city, but none of them could really be called his home. Like a rabbit with three burrows, he switched sleeping places often. In this line of work, life was lived on the edge of a blade. No one knew where he stayed until the next morning when his men came to pick him up.

But this villa was different from the others. It had a massive walk-in closet where he kept all his clothes.

Yang Moshou recognized it from a distance. He knew this was the place Xu Wanhe called home.

The whole neighborhood was built in a modern architectural style, except for one house that had its outer walls completely redone. Several imitation marble columns had been installed, making the place look like a miniature Great Hall of the People at first glance.

The car stopped at the front entrance. Xu Wanhe tossed the keys to the guy who came up to open the door and only got out once it was unlocked.

Yang Moshou followed him into the house, glancing around with curiosity.

The interior was a standard European-style design. Clearly done by a professional, so it wasn’t bad.

Xu Wanhe turned into a hallway and waved him over.

“Come here.”

Yang Moshou followed. The moment he stopped at the walk-in closet entrance, he froze for a full minute.

A closet with hundreds of outfits wasn’t all that surprising. What was surprising was that every single piece in there was unbelievably ugly.

Xu Wanhe had his back to him, so his expression wasn’t visible, but his tone carried a hint of smugness.

“Pick something out for me.”

Yang Moshou pushed aside a flashy gold tank top hanging near the edge, his fingers trembled a little. He couldn’t help wondering if the sales clerk who sold all these clothes to Xu Wanhe was his enemy, because they had really done him dirty.

While quietly marveling at everything, Yang Moshou casually opened a nearby cabinet. Inside were rows and rows of neatly stored hats. He couldn’t help but speak up.

“Why do you even need this many hats…”

He picked up a wide-brimmed sunhat.

“You even bought women’s styles… what were you planning to do…”

“You don’t know shit. That’s a men’s hat,” Xu Wanhe snorted. “The shop assistant recommended it while I was buying clothes, so I picked it up too. I wore it once, but it looked awful. Been sitting there ever since.”

Yang Moshou let out a long sigh. “Can’t believe you actually wore it…”

Xu Wanhe didn’t seem that angry anymore. “If there’s anything in here you like, feel free to take it.”

Yang Moshou didn’t respond. His mood sank.

He started wondering if he had been blind back then, falling for someone like this just because he was hot.

He turned to look at Xu Wanhe, determined to snap out of it once and for all. But the moment he looked, he still thought the man looked cool.

Tacky cool. So tacky it made his chest feel tight.

Yang Moshou ran through the entire rack, pushing each hanger aside as he tried to find something solid-colored. In the end, he managed to put together a pale yellow shirt with dark blue pants. It was barely acceptable, but at least it looked somewhat normal.

Just as they were about to head out, Xu Wanhe took a phone call.

At first, Yang Moshou didn’t pay attention. But the tone of Xu Wanhe’s voice was different from usual, more polite.

He perked up and listened closer.

“Hey, Xiao Tang, wait, don’t hang up yet. There’s one more thing…”

That was all he needed to hear.

So he was about to meet Tang Ziyan. No wonder he was dressing up.

Yang Moshou immediately tossed on a wide-brim hat for him. Still not satisfied, he swapped out Xu Wanhe’s shoes for a pair of shiny leather sandals with sequins.

Xu Wanhe didn’t object. He checked himself in the mirror and looked quite pleased. He gave Yang Moshou a thumbs-up, then hurried out the door, still talking on the phone.

Once outside and off the call, Xu Wanhe told one of his guys to drive Yang Moshou back to work.

Yang Moshou felt a bit unwilling. “I want to come too.”

Xu Wanhe shot him a look. “Fuck off with that. Go back to work. I’ll come pick you up tonight.”

Yang Moshou pulled a long face, crouched down, and resentfully rolled up his pants into capris. “There, looks even better now. Go on.”

“There. Looks even better now. Off you go.”

He watched the “fisherman” get into the car. Before it drove off, Xu Wanhe even waved at him.

Honestly, not carrying a fishing rod felt like a complete waste of that outfit.

The midday sun was so bright it made Yang Moshou’s eyes sting.

He stood outside the neighborhood entrance waiting for the driver for quite a while. But instead of the driver, a wide-bodied Volkswagen coupe pulled up.

Mo Mo rolled down the window, eyes fixed on him. “What are you doing here?”

Yang Moshou glanced at the car. “You switched to a sports car already?”

Mo Mo grinned, showing a row of white teeth. “It’s not a sports car. It’s a Sagitar Champion, just a regular family car. Not expensive. I just lowered the chassis and changed the wheels. Makes it look a bit like a CC.”

Yang Moshou examined it for a moment. “Looks more like a four-wheel-drive toy car to me.”

Mo Mo laughed cheerfully. “Where are you headed? I’ll give you a ride.”

Just then, the driver pulled up beside them. “Xiao Yang-ge, come on, hop in.”

Yang Moshou thought about it for a second, then turned him down and got into Mo Mo’s car out of spite.

Mo Mo hit the gas and took off. “Why’d you leave all of a sudden just now?”

Yang Moshou sighed. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have.”

Mo Mo glanced sideways at him. “Don’t tell me you haven’t eaten yet?” Before Yang Moshou could answer, he continued, “I haven’t either. Want to grab something together?”

Yang Moshou checked his phone. He still had an hour before work. “Is that okay? Let’s find a quick place, though. I gotta head back soon.”

Mo Mo thought for a moment. “Oh, I know a great rice noodle place near your hospital. Super good.”

Yang Moshou’s eyes lit up. “Yes, let’s go.”

“Their best dish is the shredded pork and pickled mustard noodle.

“So true.”

“You have to add a quail egg.”

“Exactly.”

“Luncheon meat works too.”

“Couldn’t agree more.”

“And you’ve got to wash it down with their iced herbal tea.”

“You’re a food god.”