Boxing gym.
The sandbag was punched into midair, returned to its original position, and was punched away again. The sound of collision rang out one after another in the empty venue.
Jin Yi was covered in sweat, and his entire undershirt was soaked. He hit the sandbag two more times before hugging it, turning his head to look at Lu Jian, who was sitting beside the ring.
He bit open the straps of his boxing gloves as he walked over, tossed the gloves aside casually, and sat down next to Lu Jian. “Does the busy man have time to see me today?”
At this time, the boxing gym had not yet opened for business, and there was no one around. Lu Jian said, “Can I not come if there is nothing wrong?”
“Did the company go bankrupt or did you break up?” Jin Yi gulped down a bottle of water before taking out a cigarette and tossing one to Lu Jian. Lu Jian pushed it away. “I quit.”
Jin Yi glanced at him. “You started smoking when you were a teenager, and now you are quitting? How are you quitting?” He stretched his legs out, pressing them against the floor, and nudged Lu Jian’s shoulder with his own. “Is it because of Cheng Shixu? You could have already returned that necklace to him hundreds of times over.”
“It does not have much to do with that.” Lu Jian stood up. “Let us go. We have not had a drink together in a long time. Shixu went on a business trip today, so it is a good time to have a drink.” He pulled Jin Yi up and hooked his arm around his neck, successfully earning an eye-roll from Jin Yi. “What is wrong? You cannot even accompany me for a drink? We have been brothers for over thirty years.”
Jin Yi pulled his hand away. “You also know we have been brothers for over thirty years?” He stepped off the ring on his own. “You tell me, how long has it been since we had a drink together since that Cheng Shixu appeared? Now that he is not here, you remember me?”
Lu Jian strode along beside him, gripping his shoulders with both hands. “I will massage you, old man. It is indeed my fault. There has been a lot going on in the company lately, and I neglected your feelings. Please, be the bigger person and accompany me for a drink.” His technique was as skilled as could be, applying just the right amount of pressure to help Jin Yi relax his muscles.
“Forget it. I cannot afford to be called ‘sir’ by President Lu.” Jin Yi was not used to his behavior, and he simply was not happy to drink with him.
Ever since Lu Jian fell in love more than a year ago, their already rare opportunities to meet had become even fewer. He could not sit still and often flew abroad. In the past, Lu Jian would occasionally go out with him, but for the past year or so, he had been alone.
They had only had one drinking session, during the Lunar New Year when Cheng Shixu went home for dinner, and he and Lu Jian drank until dawn.
“Wait until your Cheng Shixu comes back and have a drink with him.” Jin Yi walked into the counter and opened his computer to check the bills. He had bought this boxing gym himself.
When the original owner was about to close down because they could not keep it running, he could not bear to part with it. It was the starting point from where he went from a young boxer to the world stage. He had not managed it very well, after all, he was very busy, running back and forth between domestic and international locations, only hiring a few people to barely maintain it.
Not only was the account not profitable, but it also lost quite a bit of money. If it were not for Lu Jian buying the highest-level membership card here every year and attracting many other executives to buy cards, it would have lost even more.
“Tsk.” Lu Jian followed him in. “What exactly are you dissatisfied with regarding him?” He really could not understand it; Cheng Shixu had no shortcomings and was full of advantages from head to toe.
Jin Yi finished checking the accounts, straightened up, and looked at Lu Jian. “Do you still not understand? I am not dissatisfied with him; I am dissatisfied with you. Drinking and smoking are indeed not good things, but are you, Lu Jian, that kind of person? When you were starting out, which order was not negotiated after drinking like a dog at the dinner table? Did you smoke any less? Do you still remember how you spent so much effort inquiring everywhere just to buy a nearly extinct brand of cigarettes to win over your company’s biggest partner?”
He saw Lu Jian wanted to refute.
Jin Yi interrupted him, “Where is it wrong?” He pushed Lu Jian’s shoulder away, grabbed his car keys, and walked out. “Why can you not learn from me? Have I never dated someone with a large gap between us? I still cut things off when it is time to do so; I do not want to wrong myself.”
The first ten years were already painful enough, so why wrong himself when he has the ability to make himself comfortable? Nothing is more important than being happy yourself.
Lu Jian turned to walk side-by-side with him. “It is different. Yours was an online relationship. And I do not feel wronged.”
“Is an online relationship not a relationship?” Jin Yi gave him an eye-roll, pressed the unlock button on his key, and the Yuchi car parked at the entrance flashed.
The logo of the Yuchi car is a rainbow horse. It is a new energy vehicle launched by the He family in recent years. It optimized the problem where many electric cars would cause dizziness if driven for too long, and it had the strongest shock absorption effect. If driving over speed bumps, the vehicle would not float; only the tires would, and there was no feeling inside the car.
Lu Jian saw the car and thought of a good idea. “Old Jin, I have inquired about it. An owner of a Porsche 911 Turbo 50th Anniversary Edition is selling it. I have already asked someone to grab it for you, so I will get you a supercar.”
Jin Yi got in the car and lowered his head to fasten his seat belt. After a person sat in the passenger seat, he said, “I do not care for it. I think this rainbow pony is quite good. I am comfortable sitting in it.” The seat design also fit his body well, especially the waist part. Some car seats were designed very inhumanely, but this one was just right; his back could stick to it without feeling awkward.
Lu Jian fastened his seat belt. “Where are we going to drink?”
“Whatever.” Jin Yi started the vehicle, backed up while holding the steering wheel, and after thinking for a long time, he still could not help but say, “With your current net worth, there are plenty of people lining up to cater to your preferences, yet you go out of your way to cater to others’ preferences. It is really interesting. Stop pretending.”
“That is not how you put it. Without Shixu, there would be no me.”
“You can pay him back the money. Can you distinguish between gratitude and love?” Jin Yi turned the steering wheel and drove into the main road.
Indeed, that necklace solved the urgent need for both of them over a decade ago. He was also very grateful to Cheng Shixu, but it was different.
Assuming Cheng Shixu needed his help, he would not hesitate and would definitely stand like a fortress in front of Cheng Shixu.
He would repay the money a thousand times over if he had the ability. But it cannot be this way of repaying the favor.
“Why do you always think I cannot distinguish them?” Lu Jian tugged at the buttons on his collar, feeling a little breathless, and turned on the car air conditioner before unbuttoning his coat and rolling up his sleeves. He felt a little itch in his throat and habitually reached for the cigarette in the box in front of him. Just as he was about to put it to his mouth, he put it down and threw it into the compartment.
Jin Yi was watching the road and did not see his actions. He leaned back very loosely, his biceps almost as big as an adult’s fist. “I do not feel like you have a clear head at all.” He had long decided on the location, which was the food stall they often went to when they were in vocational school.
Going to those clubs or private night rooms was not fun at all; food stalls were comfortable. Plus, it was cold now, so having a sip of white liquor with barbecue—just thinking about it was cool!
It was just right to reminisce with a group of old friends. “Old Tie and the others have been mentioning that they have not seen you for a long time. And Old Guang, do you remember him?”
Lu Jian sneered slightly. “I remember.”
When he was still setting up a stall outside West University, Old Guang went to find him to collect debts. Coincidentally, Cheng Shixu came to buy milk tea. The whole stall was flipped, and Cheng Shixu was splashed with milk tea. He argued with Old Guang, and during the pushing and shoving, Old Guang fell and ate dirt before leaving after making some harsh threats.
Old Guang was a vindictive person. Ever since the underground boxing days, he had been a rogue who always played dirty, robbing elementary school students, pushing over old people crossing the street, and so on. He had done everything. He was really worried that Cheng Shixu would be retaliated against, so he often went to wander around West University.
That day, the lights in the lab were still on. He originally did not want to go up; every time Cheng Shixu did experiments, it was with He Yu. After waiting for a long time, he could not help but want to go up and see. Unexpectedly, just as he arrived at the door, he heard the sound of collision inside. He hurriedly pushed the door open and entered. Sure enough, he saw Cheng Shixu lying in a pile of chemical reagents, and the air was full of strange smells.
Later, he actually did not need to go to West University to set up a stall anymore, but he was uneasy as long as Old Guang was not inside, fearing what Old Guang might do to Cheng Shixu. He would still go to West University to walk around a bit.
Finally, he caught Old Guang taking people to block the intersection near the bar street after leaving the old campus of West University. He successfully dealt with Old Guang, and he felt much more at ease. He did not go to West University for a long time.
“It seems he is about to come out.”
In the beginning, Old Guang was jailed for intentional injury. He stayed inside for a while and then had his prison time extended because he fought with other inmates and caused minor injuries. Later, he committed several small things one after another, and his sentence was extended from 2 years to 7 years.
“Hmm.” Lu Jian had no interest in his affairs. Now that Old Guang was out, he would find it hard to even find a job. What waves could he make?
The vehicle drove very slowly. Lu Jian joked, “What is this, did our young Master Jin change his name to ‘washing his hands of the past’? Are you not racing F1 anymore?” He glanced at the steering wheel display. “45 speed?” Seeing more and more electric scooters passing them outside the car window, Lu Jian was really speechless.
“Do you think I want to? The car is broken!” Jin Yi discovered something was wrong as soon as he drove out. No matter how much he stepped on the accelerator, the speed would not go up. He was moving at a snail’s pace. He was about to drive to a repair shop, figuring he had broken something when he was tinkering with the decorations in the car yesterday.
Lu Jian was helpless. “I told you to get a new car. This is still the Rainbow Pony 1st Generation. How many years have you been driving it? Isn’t the Yuchi reaching the 5th generation already? Have your dividends been reduced each year? Why treat yourself so poorly.” Jin Yi was a miser who would hide any money he had. He would use things as long as they were not completely broken.
Shijian’s dividends for Jin Yi were at least a few million each year. He did not know where he hid them. “With your behavior, I think it will be hard for you to find a wife in the future. Who would marry you without keeping their finances separate?”
After he finished speaking and saw Jin Yi blushing, he continued with a chuckle, “No, keeping finances separate is giving you too much credit; perhaps they will have to support you?”
“Go to hell, you dog Lu Jian!” If he were not driving, Jin Yi would probably have pinned Lu Jian to the passenger seat and beaten him up. At this moment, he had already slapped the steering wheel in a rage.
“Hahahaha. Did your online dating partner find out you are a miser and break up with you?”
Jin Yi’s anger rose from his heart, and evil arose from his heart. He parked the car on the side of the road. He really could not endure it anymore and started fighting with Lu Jian. The cramped compartment was chaotic. In the end, Lu Jian ended up with a bruised eye, and Jin Yi sat back in the driver’s seat comfortably. “I will repeat it to you one more time! I was the one who dumped him!”
“Sss~” Lu Jian gently touched the corner of his eye and cursed, “Screw your grandfather, you really beat me to death.” He hurriedly pulled down the car ceiling mirror and found his eye looked like a panda’s. He smashed his fist onto Jin Yi’s thigh. “Go to hell, you disfigured me! What if Shixu loses interest in me? If he does not like me and runs away with other handsome guys, I will never let you go in this lifetime.”
“Hehehe, I hope he dumps you soon.” Jin Yi scolded him, but still found a bottle of essential oil from the small compartment between the seats. “Apply it. The swelling will go down in a while. You are not allowed to say I was dumped again. I really was the one who dumped him.”
Lu Jian opened the essential oil and sniffed it. “The smell is okay.” He applied some to his palm and gently rubbed it on his elbow. Just now, he used his hand to block, and it pulled at an old injury, which was really a bit painful. “By the way, did you not like the little girl quite a bit? How did you dump her?”
Before, when he saw Jin Yi so sad, he thought he was dumped, so he decided not to mention the sad matter. After so many years, suddenly learning that Jin Yi was the one who dumped her, he was quite surprised.
Mentioning this, Jin Yi’s expression became much more serious. He sighed deeply. “Did I not tell you? The gap between us was too big.” He touched his watch intentionally or unintentionally, and the rainbow horse logo on the watch was very eye-catching. “She is a wealthy person, talking about business and laboratories every day. As for me, I am ‘killing and fighting’ every day. My education cannot compare at all. People say a few more idioms, and I get confused. Better a short pain than a long pain.”
Lu Jian noticed his habit of touching the watch. It was a gift Cheng Shixu gave to Jin Yi when he introduced them. He did not expect Jin Yi to like it so much and wear it all the time. If he and Jin Yi were not so close, he would have been jealous. Jin Yi was a person who saved money whenever he could, yet he also liked luxury goods (when they were free).
“You like this watch so much? Shixu got it from He Yu. Next time, just swipe your card and buy one if you like it. Do not be so stingy; people might think I am mistreating you.”
Jin Yi looked up. “Does Cheng Shixu know He Yu?”
Lu Jian took a sip of wine and said, “He does. Childhood friends, pure steel. He is just like you, a heavy drinker. I used to tell you to go to the chamber of commerce with me, but you never went. Now you know He Yu, not bad, not bad, there is progress. When you do not want to box anymore, come to the company and be a President Jin.” Shijian and the He family had projects together; he thought Jin Yi knew He Yu from looking at the projects.
“Childhood friends…” Jin Yi chewed on these two words repeatedly. What a coincidence. After a long while, he raised a smile that did not reach his eyes. “A heavy drinker? Then I will have to meet him when I have the chance.” How could he not know He Yu was a heavy drinker?
“You never came when I called you to hang out with Shixu and the others. They know how to have fun, and you would definitely like it.” Lu Jian drank until he was a little dizzy. “I listened to what you told me last time.”
He had been looking for a chance to confess to Cheng Shixu, but no matter how he pondered his language, he did not know what he should “confess.” He only said some ambiguous words, which could not be considered lying.
Plus, if Cheng Shixu discovered that after taking off his suit, he was actually a rogue gangster, and he stopped liking him, what should he do?
What Jin Yi said was all for his own good; he knew that, but he just wanted to be the most perfect existence in Cheng Shixu’s eyes. Not the poor student who had to beg for mercy after knocking over a glass of wine, not the “bad guy” who hung around various gray areas, not the “rogue” full of dirty words. He wanted to become someone who could stand beside Cheng Shixu without being inferior.
“Listened to a fart, are you not still pretending? Take a brother’s advice: a person who truly likes you will like you no matter what you are like. Do not do these fake things. Love yourself before loving others. Who taught you to pretend to be lifeless?”
Lu Jian shook his head. “It is my own business. I actually like how I am in Shixu’s eyes; like a successful person.”