How should I put this? Even though old Comrade You Qian gave me a slap that day, the matter just ended like that.
Neither of us convinced the other.
The relationship between father and son was on a dangerous edge, becoming more and more tense.
Originally, he brought me back with the intention of grooming me, but he probably didn’t expect that I could be such “rotten wood that cannot be carved” to such an extent.
Actually, at the very beginning, I didn’t have much of a rebellious psychology toward inheriting his mantle.
Even though I knew I still had a younger brother, I was prepared for the day I would take over the company.
But I truly did not expect that shortly after returning, I would meet such a special person.
And then have such a wonderful experience.
After that, I couldn’t get into the spirit of doing anything.
After old Comrade You Qian felt he had finally locked me up long enough and let me out.
He placed me in the General Manager’s Office of the group company for an internship.
It was already a feat if I could show up on time for one day, and the work I produced was so unsightly.
During that period of time, whether I was speaking or doing things, I was full of thorns.
Like a little dog that had been abandoned, full of malice toward anyone I met.
Less than a month in, when the manager who was leading me reported his work to old Comrade You Qian.
At first, he wanted to praise me in name only, likely still caring about my title as the Eldest Young Master of the You family.
My brother was too young; for him to truly grow up and take over the company, that would be something ten years down the road.
If I actually “straightened out” one day, then he, having reported small complaints about me, wouldn’t be able to stay.
So that rat-eyed Manager Pang, squinting those eyes that were like a single line, smiled and spoke the praise he had racked his brain to come up with.
Comrade You Qian was not blinded by his kind words.
“You’re talking about that rascal of mine?”
The old man had been meeting everyone with a smiling face these past two years, but among the veterans who knew his temperament, few dared to fool him.
Everyone knew that a coal boss who fought his way out of the chaos of those years did not have a weak or easily bullied character.
Thus, Manager Pang, adhering to the principle of “The second boss is in the future, but I must serve the one who calls me the current boss,” told the truth.
He chose his words carefully, without adding any oil or vinegar (exaggeration), and even tried to beautify a few things for me when he noticed the old man’s brow furrowed in displeasure.
Clearly, my father’s meager patience with me had vanished completely.
The next day, he wanted to banish me to the frontier.
Based on my principle of “better to miss each other than to see each other,” even though I wasn’t quite satisfied with my father transferring me away from the place where I was born and raised.
I hesitated.
Because I truly needed to go out for a walk and clear my head.
Staying here at this time, looking at the harmonious scenes at home and thinking about the splendor of that night, was too painful.
My father and I had a relatively friendly talk before I left.
Actually, it was just me personally feeling it was friendly, because in order to strive for a year’s “suspended sentence,” I didn’t hit back when struck or talk back when scolded.
I even acted a bit pitiful in front of my father.
Later, the old man was also intimidated by the “pitifulness” I intentionally displayed.
Finally, he relented and gave me half a year to adjust my state of mind, while threatening that if I acted like before again, he would settle scores with me ruthlessly.
Then I seized that half-year to go out and clear my head. During that time, I never actually gave up on trying to find Mo An.
Until I was finally about to set off several thousand kilometers away to report to the branch office, there was still no news of him.
When I heard the results reported to me, I surprisingly wasn’t as sad as before; after all, I had been disappointed too many times.
But searching for him seemed like something that simply had to be done.
By the time I was a hundred times unwilling but forced to take up my post, it was already the height of summer.
Arriving in a strange city with no close friends, I couldn’t even call out a few “fox and dog” friends (frivolous buddies) to drown my sorrows in wine.
The day before I left, Da Peng was quite a stand-up guy and threw me a grand farewell party.
At the party, something ridiculous still happened.
He and I had been friends for many years, so we didn’t bottle things up.
He was clear about that business between me and Mo An, but he always felt I had been overly triggered by Su Xiaoxiao’s sudden marriage.
And then I met a decent enough man and, having tasted “meat” for the first time, became addicted to the flavor.
I didn’t explain much; when it comes to matters of the heart, if he didn’t even know why it happened, how could he explain it to others?
That night, when we were singing our hearts out at the KTV, he sat over lewdly.
At that time, I was doing okay in that “tipsy” state, enjoying the feeling where the alcohol is just hitting your head but hasn’t made you miserable yet.
He paused in the middle of reaching out his hand to put it around my neck. I didn’t say anything.
Ever since he found out I had a sexual encounter with a man, he had become inadvertently awkward with these common intimate gestures.
In fact, I really wanted to say: Please, buddy, even if I turned gay for a man, I still look at faces, okay?
From another perspective, I could understand his transformation; that incident was indeed like a bolt from the blue for a straight man.
I didn’t speak, just smiled, and seemingly nonchalantly picked up the goblet on the table, preparing to taste a bit more of the wine in the glass.
Da Peng was also annoyed at his own hesitating attitude. Seeing that I had no reaction.
He leaned in affectionately and then wrapped his arm around my neck with such force, as if I would run away if he used even a little less strength.
I knew he was just expressing an apology for his behavior just now, even if he said nothing, I knew.
Between the two of us over all these years, that tacit understanding was there.
I took a sip of wine and said nothing.
If it were me more than a year ago, if someone told me that in the near future I would roll in the sheets with a man.
If I didn’t beat him until his teeth were all over the floor, it wouldn’t fit my positioning as the “Little Rogue of the You Family.”
Da Peng wasn’t one to dwell. Seeing I wasn’t acting strangely, he immediately spoke up grinningly.
“Buddy, it’s just a man, right? Why keep brooding over it? To see you off today, your buddy has prepared a great gift.”
After saying that, he clapped his hands.
Only then did I notice that the scene, which had been bustling just a moment ago, had quieted down following the sound of the clapping.
The men and women present all stopped and looked at us.
Subsequently, the door was opened from the outside.
Men of all sorts, wearing different outfits, walked in.
Truly all sorts there were muscular hunks, handsome “fresh meat” (young boys)…
The styling was also a “hundred flowers blooming” (diverse); to use a line from Song Dandan’s skit: “banners and drums shaking, firecrackers going off everywhere.”
Uniforms, bunny girl outfits, Hanfu…
The wine I hadn’t had time to swallow got stuck in my throat, neither going up nor down.
In my heart, I gave Da Peng’s behavior countless “downvotes.”
Someone was bored and twitchy, and of the particularly annoying variety.
Thinking that my silence gave Da Peng some kind of courage, he continued.
“Brother, I spent a fortune for you. This gift is sincere enough, right?”
As soon as these words came out, whistles and jeers immediately erupted from the people around us.
Looking at the grand sight of these twelve beautiful men appearing before me, I jabbed my elbow hard into Da Peng’s chest.
“What are you making a fuss for? You!”
My tone carried a sense of closeness; after all, regardless of how inappropriate Da Peng’s “great gift” was, I accepted the good intention.
Da Peng saw that my attention wasn’t really on the twelve beautiful men in front of me and felt a bit unsatisfied.
He pulled my arm, trying to get me to stand up. I wasn’t paying attention and almost failed to hold onto my glass.
“What are you doing? The wine spilled.”
Da Peng snatched the wine glass from my hand and set it on the table.
“With beauty before you, what are you still drinking for? Later, take the beauties and have a good drink together…”
He then changed his tone, leaning in closer to say, “Or, don’t drink you can have a multi-P (group sex) too.”
I gave him a brief reply: “Screw off.”
Da Peng didn’t care about my current attitude. He pulled me in front of the twelve beauties and then stood to the side to introduce them to me.
He pulled me over to a muscular hunk who was only wearing square trunks and making a Popeye “strongman” pose.
“Quanquan, look, check out these beautiful muscle lines, feel this sense of power…”
I followed Da Peng’s words and glanced at where he was standing. How should I put it? The man in front of me.
He indeed fit the physique of a muscular hunk standard inverted triangle, with very obvious chest and abdominal lines.
His face was also good, belonging to a very “masculine” man.
But, I don’t like men either.
Before meeting Mo An, I didn’t feel I had any feelings toward men.
Even with Mo An, it was after a series of accidental encounters that a certain curiosity was piqued in his heart.
I shook my head at Da Peng, and was just about to tell him to call out his self-styled twelve beauties.
So the two of us could have a good talk; after all, once I left, I didn’t know when I’d be back.
Da Peng was also at the age where he had to go home and help out. After graduation, neither of us could be as carefree as before.
As a result, Da Peng immediately stood next to a little brother wearing Hanfu.
That sense of excitement and the way he was introducing them made him look like an old pruress from ancient times.
His two eyes sparkled as he looked at me. “Quanquan, look at this one. Still in school. How about it? Distinguished temperament, right?”
The eye-roll I had been holding back for half the night finally manifested itself unintentionally.
Da Peng caught it immediately and rushed over to the beautiful man dressed as a bunny girl.
“Or, Quanquan, do you like this type? I hand-picked this one. Look at these legs, this butt…”
That person even turned a circle following Da Peng’s words, followed by a shy gesture, pulling at the bunny ears he was wearing and looking at me with a “wanting to speak but stopping” expression.
How should I put it? I was startled by that effeminate look and gesture.
I didn’t even have time to look at the “beauty’s” movements before I quickly pulled Da Peng over.
Then I quickly turned my head and said to the twelve beauties, “You guys go out first…”
A chorus of sighs and jeers came from the surroundings. I even heard some people heckling, “Young Master You, are you still ‘capable’ or not?”
I didn’t want to create an unpleasant scene, so I didn’t bite. I pulled Da Peng onto the sofa.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Da Peng was still immersed in the tragic sorrow of his prepared “great gift” remaining unopened, muttering “tsk tsk tsk” under his breath.
Seeing he wasn’t “with it,” I reached out and patted his face. “Snap out of it.”
Da Peng immediately turned to look at me, then peered at a certain part of me.
After a long while, he spoke. “Brother, you’re really not ‘capable’?”
“Get the hell out of here, what are you thinking?”
I didn’t want to deal with someone’s drunken madness, so I prepared to pick up my wine glass to drink.
At the time of parting, there is always sadness. Even though Da Peng was unreliable most of the time, he was truly good to me.
Da Peng immediately realized there wasn’t much wine left in my glass and raised his voice to yell.
“Someone, bring wine!”
Not long after, someone came to pour wine. When I unintentionally looked up and saw the lowered eyes of the person leaning down to pour, the glass in my hand fell onto the floor.
With a “crash”…