Chapter 4: Follow-up at the Bar

By the railing on the second floor, someone stepped forward and placed a hand on Lin Tong’s shoulder, their gaze falling on the retreating figure of Lin Hexi. “Isn’t that your brother? The rumors about his promiscuity at school are indeed true.”

“I don’t have a brother,” Lin Tong said coldly as he turned around. “My mother only gave birth to me. Where would a brother come from?”

The person immediately agreed with a cheerful tone, “That’s right, a son born to some unknown woman doesn’t deserve to be called our Young Master Lin’s brother.”

Lin Hexi pulled the young girl to a stop at the corner of the corridor. The heavy make-up girl seemed to have been drinking. She leaned into his embrace along his arm, with her warm breath carrying a faint scent of alcohol.

He took a step back, putting a safe distance between them. “I’m not interested in you.”

Hearing this, the girl stopped her actions. She raised her hand to brush aside her bangs and touched her face, and said with a puzzled tone, “Am I not attractive to you?”

Lin Hexi, with his hands in his pockets, shook his head at her, “I have other things to do.”

The girl looked disappointed but decided not to continue pestering him.

Lin Hexi didn’t say anything more to her and turned to walk into the branching corridor.

The girl stood still for a moment, watching his back, then, almost as if compelled, she started to follow him again.

Lin Hexi exited through a side door of the bar, crossed the street, and entered a 24-hour convenience store.

The girl stopped, decided not to follow him into the store, and instead squatted on the sidewalk across the street to wait for him.

A staggering middle-aged drunk man with a bottle in hand approached her and tried to strike up a conversation. The girl stood up warily and retreated to the bright streetlamp. Lin Hexi, who was carrying a small bag of snacks, came over from across the street and chased away the drunk man. “Why are you following me?”

“I don’t want to go back to the bar,” the girl said, with lowered eyes and kicked at the toe of her shoe. “Where are you going?”

Lin Hexi opened the convenience store bag in his hand, pulled out a carton of yogurt, and tossed it to her. “To feed the cat.”

The girl looked at him with a half-doubtful expression.

Five minutes later, she and Lin Hexi were squatting side by side in a dark alley next to the bar. She licked a spoonful of yogurt while watching him using the light from the alley entrance poured milk into the yogurt lid and pushed it towards the stray cat.

After a long while, she pulled out her phone from her pocket, tilted her head, and said to Lin Hexi, “Thanks for the yogurt. Can you add me on WeChat?”

Lin Hexi opened the QR code on WeChat and handed it to her.

“I’m Fang Qingning, a freshman in the Performing Arts department,” she said as she typed in her name and handed the phone back to him. “You’re not quite what I imagined.”

Lin Hexi took the phone back, and asked calmly, “You know me?”

“If I didn’t know you, I wouldn’t have followed you,” Fang Qingning said lightly, and pulled out a cigarette and lighter from her pocket.

She pulled out a slender lady’s cigarette and lit it but didn’t bring it to her lips. Instead, she placed the lit cigarette in the empty yogurt cup, and focused her eyes on the burning tip in the darkness.

A faint minty smell mixed with the smoke spread in the air. Amid this scent, Lin Hexi opened a sausage, broke off a small piece, and placed it in the now-empty yogurt lid.

The small orange cat beside him twitched its whiskers and lowered its head to nibble at the sausage piece in the lid, swallowing it down.

When the cigarette burned to the end, the sausage was almost gone as well. Then Fang Qingning’s phone rang. Her friends called her to meet in front of the bar to return to school together.

Fang Qingning ended the call, put away her relaxed smile, stood up to bid him goodbye, and left the alley.

Not long after she left, Ning Nan also called looking for him. Lin Hexi turned off his phone screen without answering.

The phone didn’t ring again. Lin Hexi picked up the trash on the ground, watched the small, thin orange cat gradually disappear into the depths of the alley, and then turned to leave as well.

At the alley entrance, a black car was parked. Lin Hexi walked towards the trash can by the car, and as his gaze swept across the car’s windshield, he saw You Chong sitting inside.

After recalling the very brief eye contact they had inside the bar, Lin Hexi’s steps momentarily paused, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly.

As he returned from the trash can, Lin Hexi bent down and knocked on the car window of the passenger seat.

You Chong was on the phone and didn’t pay much attention to who was outside the car. He leaned over from the driver’s seat to lower the window and, still speaking into the phone, said, “I have to go now.”

Lin Hexi’s smiling face suddenly came into view. You Chong’s tone faltered slightly, and he curtly ended the call, asking with a restrained and distant expression, “What do you want?”

Lin Hexi dropped the smile and assumed a sincere demeanor. “I have something to ask.”

Unwilling to see him, You Chong frowned and asked, “What is it?”

Lin Hexi’s gaze fell on the phone still in You Chong’s hand. “What time is it?”

A trace of impatience appeared in You Chong’s eyes. “Don’t you have a phone?”

Without blinking, Lin Hexi lied, “Mine is out of battery and shut down.”

You Chong lit up his phone screen and said, “It’s ten fifty.”

Lin Hexi timely showed a hint of worry. “Can you give me a ride back to the school?”

As expected, You Chong immediately refused, and said with a faint mockery in his expression. “Go back the way you came. Do I need to teach you this?”

Lin Hexi said, “My phone is out of battery, so I can’t call for a ride.”

You Chong replied, “Just hail one from the roadside.”

Lin Hexi looked distressed. “There’s only ten minutes left before the dormitory curfew.”

You Chong finally raised his eyes to scrutinize him. “I’m not going to the school, I’m heading to the Chengnan community.”

Lin Hexi showed a hint of surprise upon hearing this.

Chengnan Community is right next to the south gate of A University. It’s not surprising that someone from You Chong’s affluent background wouldn’t live on campus, but it is unusual that he would choose to live in a relatively ordinary apartment complex like Chengnan Community.

Lin Hexi quickly came back to his senses, and smiled warmly at him. “It’s closer for me to go back to the dorm from the south gate.”

You Chong glanced at him, as if assessing the truth of his words.

Lin Hexi looked at him with genuine sincerity in his beautifully shaped eyes.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable under his gaze, You Chong averted his eyes. “Get in the car.”

Lin Hexi smiled and opened the passenger door to get in.

You Chong’s tone turned stern, “Sit in the back.”

Lin Hexi paused, turned around and got out of the car without minding You Chong’s attitude, and still opened the back door with a smile .

As You Chong started the car and drove off, Lin Hexi sat quietly in the back without speaking.

He wasn’t actually trying to hitch a ride from You Chong; he just wanted to banter with him a bit. He hadn’t expected that despite You Chong’s initial dislike of him, he would agree to let him in the car after some persistent persuasion.

This was the second time that night You Chong had surprised him.

The first was the surprise that You Chong lived in the Chengnan Community.

In these two aspects, You Chong was different from Lin Tong, who had also grown up in luxury. Lin Hexi absentmindedly thought about this, slowly closing his eyes and resting his head against the car window.

You Chong’s voice came from the front, “If you feel like throwing up, get out of the car. Don’t vomit in my car.”

Lin Hexi opened his eyes upon hearing this, leaned forward, and quite naturally rested his chin on the edge of the driver’s seat, his eyes slightly curved as he said, “I haven’t been drinking.”

You Chong’s expression remained indifferent as he looked ahead at the road, and it was unclear whether he believed him or not.

It was only now, after their conversation outside the bar, that Lin Hexi finally decided to tell the truth.

Not caring whether You Chong believed him or not, Lin Hexi openly studied You Chong’s handsome and deep-set features through the rearview mirror.

Noticing his gaze, You Chong tilted the rearview mirror upward and frowned, “Don’t even think about trying anything with me.”

Lin Hexi feigned ignorance, “Trying what?”

You Chong replied, “You know exactly what.”

Lin Hexi suppressed a laugh and nodded, then proactively changed the subject, “What year were you born?”

You Chong ignored him.

Lin Hexi wasn’t annoyed. He leaned closer to You Chong, and persistently asked the question again.

You Chong tilted his neck slightly, avoiding the warm and moist breath from Lin Hexi’s lips, and his eyes showed a hint of irritation as he said, “Stay away from me.”

Lin Hexi sensibly moved back a bit, his tone wrapped in a smile as he asked, “Then tell me.”

You Chong suppressed the irritation in his eyes with great restraint and coldly stated the exact year he was born.

“Then we are the same age,” Lin Hexi murmured while holding onto the back of the driver’s seat. He continued, with interest, “What month were you born?”

You Chong spat out a number.

“So you’re several months older than me,” Lin Hexi said, one hand still on the seatback, the other loosely supporting his chin. From the rear, he looked at You Chong’s profile with casual curiosity and asked, “So should I call you—”

His words abruptly stopped. When he spoke again, his voice was low, and his soft tongue lightly touched his teeth as he slowly and deliberately uttered two syllables: “Gege” (older brother).

The car suddenly swerved sharply, turning towards a temporary parking spot on the side of the road, and came to an abrupt halt.

You Chong turned his head, his face as dark as a storm cloud, with clear anger brewing in his eyes, looking as if he was barely restraining himself, “Lin Hexi, if you want me to punch you right here in the car, just say so.”

In that instant, Lin Hexi was utterly convinced that the person before him was a completely straight man.