Chapter 6

It was rumored in the circle that Chi Yan’s wine was easy to invite recently. Through seven or eight layers of relationships, one would ask for a favor. Although he was too lazy to reply, he was often seen entering without a greeting in the evening. So, with wine and laughter, they hoped that in this rare gathering, benefits could slip into their pockets within a few words.

However, most of the time, people couldn’t even hope to “have a few words with him”. He would sit in a corner as if no one else was there, too lazy to respond or give a glance, as if all he needed was a room full of people providing a noisy atmosphere mixed with light and wine.

Pillow talk is a great tool for opening a bottle of sulky wine, which is an unspoken idea of many people. Although the silent and sudden lover had been in office for less than a month, everything that needed to be known had been found out, and the contact information was not hard to find, so some people understood and enthusiastically invited him over the main guest.

After hanging up the phone, Nian Zhenyan got up again from the middle of the night, got dressed, took his phone and wallet, asked his roommate to leave the door, and then left the school to take a taxi to the address.

When he arrived at the entrance of the club, he only realized it was a bit cold after the wind blew. A text message lit up on his phone, from his sister: [Chi Yan went to the North Star today, where are you? Are you with him? Are you by his side?]

Nian Zhenyan swiped away the message and was led to the private room by the waiter.

He could imagine the expression and tone of his sister when she sent the message, just like a month ago when she held his hand, looking desperate and struggling:

“You go beg Chi Yan, you go beg Chi Yan! I can’t be ruined like this, I’ve suffered so much to get where I am today! Chi Cong didn’t hold it against me, Chi Yan has no reason to ruin me! I can’t find anyone else who can talk to him, Ah Yan, you guys have had several meals together in Panama, your personality and appearance are so good! He likes men! Help me, help me, Ah Yan.”

It seems that people who are used to the shortcuts in the circle of fame and fortune think that every high platform will have that shortcut.

It seems that people who are used to using themselves as bargaining chips for interest exchange will take out the same type of chips as the first move to save the unfortunate when they encounter things.

She was once very lucky, successfully deceiving a big fool who couldn’t understand her ambition and disguise, and with his momentum, she had a smooth journey on the road she wanted to take. But she was also very greedy, seeing that she had almost got what she wanted, she began to miss the love that was forced to die young, and the old feelings were caught red-handed.

She might still be very smart, calculating that the big fool she deceived was too proud and lazy to care, so she let go and did it, but she didn’t expect that there would be other people who would interfere when they had nothing to do.

She had no other chips, except for a younger brother.

Relatives are sometimes a bewildering existence, what binds them together is not the match of character, the fit of personality, the attraction of soul, but the arbitrary and solid blood relationship.

You don’t like her, but you seem to love her.

Nian Zhenyan couldn’t refuse.

Upon entering the private room, the noise was deafening. Amidst the chaos, he found his target. A man who had monopolized a sofa was sitting in the dim light, playing with his wine glass, showing no reaction to the approaching figure.

Nian Zhenyan glanced at the table and was surprised by the number of empty wine bottles. He carefully observed Chi Yan’s expression, unable to determine whether he was drunk or not. He hesitated on the spot for a while, then sat down in the corner of the opposite sofa.

His pocket vibrated again with a text message, a silent urge. He began to feel restless, wondering how to start and what to say about his sister.

Perhaps he should have brought it up that inexplicable night at the bar, Nian Zhenyan thought regretfully. At least then, Chi Yan had said that he was the object of his infidelity. Although he didn’t understand why people like them had to use such a dignified term as “infidelity”, when it was clearly just “changing playthings”.

Love and affection, clearly there’s none in his heart, so why can he say it so rashly? He shouldn’t have been so preoccupied with this question that night. He should have taken the opportunity to mention his sister’s situation. He was able to sit on the same sofa with him and stay for three hours. Now he might have missed the best opportunity.

Nian Zhenyan filled all the empty glasses on the table with wine, watching as the man across from him downed his third glass of wine without blinking.

Would he be easier to talk to if he was drunk? He looked at his face and hesitated to speak: “Mr. Chi, I’ve been watching my sister’s news recently………”

He tentatively continued: “She has already lost enough opportunities, could you, could you………. give her a temporary break?”

He was nervously clutching his wine bottle, but the person he was asking seemed not to hear him. It was only after another glass of wine that he seemed to suddenly feel like talking.

“Your sister—” Nian Zhenyan’s heart tightened at his scoff, “Ah, found me here.”

He held his breath as he listened to Chi Yan speak: “What makes each of you think that I’m like Chi Cong? Eyebrows, nose, eyes? Ah, they are quite similar, so similar that it’s unbearable, so what?”

“Should the personality be similar too?”

“Before you came to find me for your sister, didn’t you ask her about my temper—do I have the same good nature as Chi Cong?”

Nian Zhenyan didn’t speak again. He judged that Chi Yan was really a bit drunk, otherwise, he wouldn’t have so much to say to him, and he was also frustrated that he wouldn’t be more talkative when he was drunk.

“What about you? When you found me, did you know I had a lover, were you aware of being the third party?”

Nian Zhenyan lowered his head, biting his lip.

“No, but what does that matter.” He held his wine glass, clinking it lightly against the empty bottle on the table, “Just as I was unfaithful, it was a perfect match.”

He might really be drunk, not even holding his wine glass steady. Nian Zhenyan, listening to his dismissive words, felt that he needed to repeat his confession. “Mr. Chi, I know my words that day might have been a bit abrupt, but I was sincere. I don’t know if you believe in love at first sight, but when I first saw you…”

His words were interrupted by a sarcastic remark: “Hmph—clumsy.”

Nian Zhenyan closed his mouth, accepting this evaluation. For a moment, he didn’t know what else he could say to salvage the situation.

Unexpectedly, it was Chi Yan who took the initiative to speak.

“Do you know the most touching confession I’ve ever heard?” He asked with interest.

Nian Zhenyan shook his head, seeing his unusually calm expression, opening his mouth as if he would utter a touching love phrase in the next second.

But he just continued to ask: “Do you know who said it to whom?”

He seemed not to need his answer as he laughing at his own reflection in the wine glass: “It was Mr. Ji to Mr. Chi.”

Nian Zhenyan let out a sound in his heart, immediately thinking of the man who had given him a smile when he was uneasy in the bar that day.

He spoke hesitantly: “Mr. Chi……..”

“Who allowed you to call me Mr. Chi?” Chi Yan raised his head.

Nian Zhenyan was taken aback.

Like a thunderbolt in a dark cloud, “Who the hell told you I’m Mr. Chi!”

The wine bottle in his hand was startled and fell to the ground, shattering with a crisp sound. Everyone in the room stopped their actions and looked over. At this moment, Nian Zhenyan realized that not only would Chi Yan not speak better when he was drunk, but he would also be more capricious.

“Get out.”

It wasn’t a very loud voice, but everyone saw the man’s face in the light and left one after another.

At two o’clock in the morning, Ji Heyi thought that the people at the club would not neglect Chi Yan. After the secretary left, he continued to complete the work arrangements for the next day before going to the North Star. After all, at this point in time, if he sent a drunkard home and then went to sleep, his work efficiency would be greatly reduced when he woke up the next morning.

As soon as he entered the room, the smell of alcohol hit his nose. The drunkard on the sofa was quietly lying on his side. Ji Heyi pulled him up by his shoulders.

“Chi Yan.” He called out in his ear, “Wake up – can you walk?”

The drunkard was completely unconscious, but this call seemed to give a sliver of space for his tightly closed consciousness to penetrate. He grunted, his hands wrapped around his shoulders, rubbing his shoulder blades, and held on tightly.

This was not a posture that could easily take a person away. It took Ji Heyi a while to tear him off, and with the help of a sweaty waiter, he put him in his own car.

He put the man in the back seat and opened the car window to disperse the smell of alcohol in the car.

Chi Cong’s reply on his phone showed that it was two hours ago, leaving the address of Chi Yan’s Tianhai Residence, and also asked: [How is he?]

Ji Heyi didn’t reply immediately, guessing that Chi Cong was already asleep, and the WeChat notification sound was enough to wake up a performer who always had a chaotic sleep schedule.

He entered the address into the navigation and drove towards Tianhai Residence.

The wide-open car window let the cold night wind pour in. Ji Heyi heard a faint hum from the back seat, and in the rearview mirror, the drunkard’s head lifted slightly, then immediately fell back down.

He raised the car window halfway, knowing that Chi Yan might have the strength to open his eyes.

Sure enough, the next second, the person in the back seat kicked his car seat: “Where are you driving? You took the wrong way, idiot! My home is in Xiyuan! Xiyuan, Building 8, Floor 3!”

The crisp voice of the navigation system automatically reported, “Turn right in 200 meters,” but no one paid attention to it.

After a long silence, the drunkard belched, his words were unclear: “Forget it, there’s a stingy ghost living there… he won’t take care of me… he will only call Chi Cong.”

“You don’t know how stingy my ex was… belch, he was dumped.”

He mumbled and emphasized again: “Dumped.”

Suddenly, he kicked the car door: “Who’s there yelling that I was dumped!”

Ji Heyi turned off the navigation, he had already memorized the rest of the route. When Chi Yan kicked, he slowed down the car.

If a drunk person really falls into a deep sleep, it’s fine, but it’s scary if they are half-drunk and half-awake. He had just seen the number of empty bottles on the table, and he was afraid that he would vomit in his car halfway.

Probably the kick just now had exhausted all his strength, the drunkard lay in the back seat, his breathing quietly rising and falling for a while.

“Stingy ghost… not even a little bit… belch, not even a little bit of affection for me.”

He was really drunk, Ji Heyi thought, even drunk to the point of memory confusion.

He might have turned his memory back to several years ago. Does a two-year pursuit process count as long? Perhaps it does, similar complaints seem to have been heard by Ji Heyi a few times, but at that time, the same words seemed to be always relaxed and joking when he said them.

Not like now, with a heavy tone and a strong smell of alcohol.

“Why can’t you like me a little more… not even a little bit?”

“Just… belch, just a little more than you like Little Blue and Little Purple!”

He even compared himself to the peacock fish he raised.

“More than that wilted green vegetable!”

That pot of pothos has already been drowned by you watering it too much.

“More than those twin little devils!”

He never forgets to be at odds with his cousin’s children.

The gate of the residential area is not far away, Ji Heyi leaned on the car, holding the steering wheel and listened carefully, surprisingly hearing the genuine grievances and anger inside.

“More than the silly dog, Mao Mao.”

In the end, his voice completely lowered. Ji Heyi glanced in the rearview mirror and saw him curled up in the back seat, his face buried in his arm, even the tips of his hair had quieted down.

It was like sleep talking.

“More than Chi Cong.”