Chapter 12: Drunk… Who Was It Again?
Shi Qiu lowered his head. Right in front of him was Lu Chengyan’s chest, the shirt stretched slightly taut over firm muscle. The heat radiating from him steamed Shi Qiu’s face, making his cheeks even pinker.
“You’ve been drinking?” Lu Chengyan, seeing his dazed, slow-to-react expression, asked directly.
“…Just a little.” Shi Qiu nodded slowly.
He looked so soft like this that Lu Chengyan couldn’t help but ruffle his hair before asking, “Who’d you come with?”
“Came by myself,” Shi Qiu muttered softly.
That surprised Lu Chengyan. How could Jiang Fengmian have let him come to a place like this alone?
Just then, Shi Qiu’s phone rang. He picked up. “Hello, Teacher Yuan?”
“Shi Qiu, little brother, why are you taking so long? Did you get lost?” Yuan Lingzhu asked while pushing open a private room door.
Shi Qiu turned to see the open door and Yuan Lingzhu standing there with her phone in hand and only then realized, belatedly, that he’d walked into the wrong room. He should have gone to the one opposite.
Yuan Lingzhu and Lu Chengyan locked eyes. For a moment, the air went quiet.
Lu Chengyan’s face was simply too distinctive; impossible not to recognize.
One glance, and he could guess exactly what kind of gathering was going on in the opposite private room. He explained to Yuan Lingzhu, “Shi Qiu’s wrist isn’t in good shape, so he shouldn’t be drinking much. Leave him here for now, I’ll send him home later.”
“Oh… oh, then please.” Yuan Lingzhu saw him holding Shi Qiu by the shoulder and leading him in, the two looking rather familiar with each other, so she didn’t say more.
Once Shi Qiu had been taken into Lu Chengyan’s room, Yuan Lingzhu called Jiang Fengmian.
“Hello, Jiang Fengmian? Shi Qiu just got called over by President Lu Chengyan. He said he’ll send him home later.”
Jiang Fengmian had been expecting to go pick him up, but when he heard Lu Chengyan had taken him, he let it go. “Got it. Then no problem. Thanks for looking after our Shi Qiu, Teacher Yuan.”
The way he said it sounded a bit odd, exactly like a manager thanking someone for looking after their artist. If you didn’t know better, you’d think Jiang Fengmian was Shi Qiu’s agent.
“No problem.” Yuan Lingzhu hung up, but something nagged at her. If Jiang Fengmian knew Lu Chengyan, why didn’t he just ask him for help? With one word from Lu, Jiang wouldn’t need to be running around for gigs paying only 8,000 an episode.
Meanwhile, Lu Chengyan had seated Shi Qiu beside him on the sofa. Surrounded by the stares of a group of rich second-generation kids, Shi Qiu kept his head down, not daring to meet anyone’s gaze, burrowing further into Lu Chengyan’s arms like a shy little animal.
Lu Chengyan was in a good mood. The past two years, he had taken over most of the company affairs, and the old master felt his eldest grandson had lost all the youthful energy of someone in his twenties, working nonstop at studies and business. He kept urging him to relax with people his own age.
But Lu Chengyan never really clicked with them. From a power standpoint, he was on par with their fathers. They didn’t dare cut loose with him, and he found it boring. Now, with Shi Qiu here, he could use taking him home as an excuse to slip out early.
He took a clear, refreshing-looking iced drink from the table and handed it to Shi Qiu. “Have some.”
Shi Qiu, nestled at his side, took the cup and sipped through the straw. The cold sweetness was refreshing against his heat-flushed skin.
…The taste was oddly familiar.
Lu Chengyan looked down at him, drinking obediently, then shaking the cup to rattle the ice…so adorable. He reached for another from the table, but was stopped.
“Lu-ge, too much of that’s bad. The base liquor’s really strong…”
Lu Chengyan paused. “…This is alcohol?”
“Cocktail,” the other said sheepishly. “Lots of lemon and soda water, plus ice covers the taste, but it’s super easy to get drunk on. Famous blackout drink.”
Lu Chengyan glanced at his own half-finished glass. His tolerance was decent, but that explained why he felt overheated after what he thought was just a chilled drink.
He didn’t even realize that he usually wouldn’t be holding someone like this in public. The others in the room kept their expressions polite, but their phones were lighting up under the table with frantic messages.
Since when did Lu Chengyan play with little pretty boys? Wasn’t his nickname “the old stick-in-the-mud”?
Shi Qiu, meanwhile, was now slumped against his chest, ears pink.
“Shi Qiu?” Lu Chengyan lifted his chin.
Shi Qiu blinked slowly, eyes misty and unfocused, lips parted and damp, his warm breath brushing Lu Chengyan’s cheek.
…Great. Properly drunk now.
This was awkward. He’d said he’d send him home, how was he going to explain this to Jiang Fengmian?
“Find a room. I’ll let him rest.”
“Got it, Lu-ge.”
When Lu tried to help him up, Shi Qiu was limp as if boneless. So he bent down, scooping him up like a big cat. Shi Qiu buried his head in his chest, mumbling.
Everyone watched as Lu Chengyan princess-carried the boy out. Within five minutes, the gossip about him picking up a pretty little guy had spread through their whole circle.
Following a waiter to the room, Lu’s sweater was tugged up, exposing a pale, toned waist. The waiter’s eyes flicked down before Lu’s hand covered it, his glance sharp with warning.
“Sorry, President Lu. Here’s the key card.”
Inside, the décor was unmistakably suggestive. Two beds, some sofas, dim lighting. Lu set Shi Qiu on the large bed. The boy’s face was flushed, heat radiating off him.
Lu stepped to the window to call Jiang Fengmian. “Shi Qiu’s had a bit too much. I’ll let him sleep here and take him back in the morning.”
“Alright. Make sure he has some yogurt,” Jiang replied easily.
After hanging up — click, the main light went off, leaving only pink and warm yellow lamps. Shi Qiu was rolling on the bed, tugging his sweater off. Lu hurried over to help.
Once the sweater was off, he was bare-chested. Lu’s hands on his shoulders felt the hot, delicate skin, and his grip unconsciously shifted.
“What are you doing?” Shi Qiu’s voice was thick with grievance. “You’re hurting my shoulders. And my waist…”
“Sorry.” Under the warm lamplight, Lu saw faint red marks where he’d gripped him earlier. He frowned, had he held him that hard in the hallway?
…Maybe he was drunk too. Why else couldn’t he think straight? This wasn’t him. He wouldn’t normally be hugging anyone, let alone touching their waist. But now, looking at those marks, he felt his body reacting.
Something was wrong. He’d just wanted to dodge a boring party and give Shi Qiu a ride home. How had it turned into being alone in a room with him half-naked?
Shi Qiu, even dizzier than him, was uncomfortably hot. He vaguely suspected something had been added to that cocktail.
After staring at Lu Chengyan’s face for a few seconds, his tone suddenly softened. “Ge?”
Lu blinked.
Shi Qiu threw himself into his arms. “Ge, you came to get me!”
Lu caught him, hands inevitably landing on his body. He tried to reason, he was Jiang Fengmian’s cousin, and Shi Qiu was Jiang’s younger brother, so calling him “ge” wasn’t strange…
But then Shi Qiu froze. Jiang Fengmian didn’t have this much muscle. This chest… who was this again?
And that hard thing pressing against his stomach… what the hell was that?
Translator note: 📌
Thank you for reading 💖 see you again in the next chapter, my lovely cherries 😘
📍Note: I’m pretty free lately, so I will be posting 3 to 4 chapters a day. Enjoy 🤭
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