Seeing that Li Sheng had drunk almost enough and the matter had been properly discussed, Du Yu began to say words to break up the gathering. “Ge Li, drinking with you is really a lot of fun. How about we go for a second round? Let’s go sit at a bar?”
Li Sheng waved his hands repeatedly. “No, no, another day. Another day I’ll treat you to a restaurant with a great taste, and we can chat more. We both still have work to do tomorrow, let’s stop here for today.”
Du Yu stood up, looked at Li Sheng’s slightly flushed face, and said with a smile, “All right, then let’s make it another day. I’ll see you off.”
Li Mengying had only drank a little. Seeing that Li Sheng was somewhat drunk, she hurriedly clutched her backpack and went to support Li Sheng. Once outside, Du Yu wanted to call a driver to send them back, but saw a Mercedes-Benz business van parked on the side of the road. As soon as Li Sheng showed his face, a man got out of the car. He was about the same height as Yuan Ye, with a sturdy body wrapped in a black suit. Du Yu was terrified that if he bent over, his buttons would pop open.
Li Sheng also saw the man walking over and greeted him with a smile, “Here.” Then he turned to Du Yu and said, “Thank you for the hospitality of you and President Yuan today. Tomorrow, after we finish discussing work, I’ll play host and treat you all to a meal.”
Du Yu responded with a smile, his face returning to the smile of the work mode. “Okay, see you tomorrow.”
Li Sheng followed the man onto the car, taking Li Mengying with him to sit in the back row. The man remained completely silent throughout, treating himself simply as a driver. However, Du Yu could tell at a glance that such an extraordinary-looking person did not look like someone who would casually be a driver for others.
Seeing that the man got into the car without saying a word and wore a cold expression, Li Mengying felt somewhat timid. Li Sheng, still retaining some awareness, spoke to her. “You performed well today, but next time don’t forget the materials. Whatever needs to be prepared must be prepared. Fortunately, it wasn’t Yuan Ye today, otherwise this matter would have been hard to negotiate.”
“Got it. I was so scared just now, really afraid of messing up the job. I won’t do it again next time, I’ll definitely pay attention.”
Li Sheng nodded slightly. Because of the drunkenness, he had a headache and furrowed his brows. The man driving saw Li Sheng’s furrowed brows in the rearview mirror, so he accelerated and drove toward Li Mengying’s home without a word.
Li Mengying didn’t ask who the man was, even though she was very curious until she got out of the car. But since Li Sheng didn’t introduce him, it wasn’t easy to ask. After getting out of the car, she looked back for a while—he was really handsome!
As soon as the man’s car started moving, he couldn’t help scolding Li Sheng a bit. “Why didn’t you drink less? Next time, bring someone who can drink to negotiate matters; as an assistant, she actually let you block the drinks.”
Li Sheng tilted his body to look at the person in the front seat. Because of the drunkenness, his eyes could only be half-closed, and the smiling look was very different from usual, carrying a full sense of temptation. The man couldn’t help looking at Li Sheng in the rearview mirror, and then roared at Li Sheng as if firing up, “I really don’t want to let you walk around everywhere with these eyes.”
Li Sheng shifted into a comfortable posture and said, “Drive faster, I’m going to throw up.”
Du Jiang made a phone call to Yuan Ye, speaking in a full gossip tone. “Do you know who came to pick up Li Sheng? It was a man!”
Yuan Ye had just finished taking a shower, wiping his wet hair. The muscles on his body were tense as he stood in front of the window overlooking everything outside. “Female drivers cause too much gossip.”
Du Jiang leaned back in the sofa, enjoying the comfort brought by the electric massager. “He doesn’t look simple at all. No matter how famous Li Sheng is, he doesn’t look like someone who would hire a bodyguard to drive a Mercedes business van. How much is his annual salary? How many years would he have to save to buy a business van? He doesn’t look like someone who cares that much about face either. With that money, it’d be better to go back to his hometown to marry a wife and buy a house and a car.”
Hearing this, Yuan Ye laughed out loud. “Are you getting old now, starting to worry about the lifelong affairs of someone you just met?”
Du Jiang shook his head with a sigh. “Monks like you don’t understand. I can tell at a glance that Li Sheng and that man must have a bed relationship. Nowadays, I see this kind of homosexuality all the time; bars are full of them, and there are even stakeouts. It’s trendy these years, you know? You’re out of touch with the trend.”
“Listening to you, in order to keep up with the trend, I have to go with the flow once?”
“That’s right. If your mother knew I persuaded you to go bend the knee [gay], she wouldn’t hit me until I couldn’t pee; she’d make me burst from holding it in.”
“Tsk, how disgusting you are. Tomorrow you go to the urban district first; there’s a batch of tables and chairs to arrange. I’ll go to the advertising company first to listen to the proposal.”
“No way, you? The moment I said they were gay, you started latching on.”
“Shall I record this and play it for my mother?”
“Don’t, I’m scared of you. But you, who usually never want to show your face, are so proactive today. I really look at you with new eyes. Yuan Ye, you make it very easy for me to overthink. However, Li Sheng—despite being a bit older, that look in his eyes when he’s drunk is still somewhat interesting…”
“Beep, beep, beep…”
“Hey, this kid actually hung up on me.”