“…Prohibited from leaving the post without consultation during working hours; prohibited from private contact with clients…”
Xu Yanghe interrupted, “What about the job description?”
“…I’m almost there… holiday scheduling principles…” Xie Chun said.
Xie Chun: “Job duties: First, ordering servers. Divided into sections based on seating, maintain a smile like a spring breeze, ensure the guests’ consumption experience.”
Yu Dashan handed over another glass of wine. “I didn’t see you smiling that day.”
“The group leader said I look better when I don’t smile.” Xie Chun gulped it down. “Second, liquor promotion. Opening a tab earns a twenty percent commission; third, atmosphere building—which is accompanying guests for drinks—goes along with the drink orders.”
So, like that time in the Blue Sea private room?
There was a lot of room for “unspoken rules” to operate within this, but a legitimately operating bar couldn’t make it so obvious; at most, one would be pressured into drinking by the guests.
As they spoke, the glass in Xie Chun’s hand hit the bottom without anyone noticing.
Yu Dashan saw Xu Yanghe next to him covering his face tightly. He kept pouring wine for Xie Chun. “You’re so good-looking, many people must be opening tabs for you, right?”
“No,” Xie Chun shook his head. “My performance is at the bottom, and my return rate is zero. I don’t know why.”
Thinking about it, it made sense. If the supervisors didn’t explicitly state it during training, Xie Chun likely wouldn’t understand the “unspoken rule” where drinking meant allowing oneself to be touched. He would only ask: “Do the bosses need me to leave so they can discuss business?”
But there was another reason they would soon discover.
Xie Chun could really drink.
An hour later, only half of the alcohol on Yu Dashan’s table remained, and eighty percent of that was thanks to Xie Chun. Yet, this person showed not a single symptom of drunkenness; he was even writing code on his phone.
Yu Dashan, who had only drunk a fraction of that, was already on his knees.
“What’s wrong with you?” Xie Chun asked.
Xu Yanghe was exhausted, sitting on the sofa and scolding Yu Dashan: “Useless.”
Xie Chun drank wine as if it were water. “Should we head back upstairs?”
“No!” Yu Dashan shouted, then retched.
Xu Yanghe kicked him. “Shut up, don’t puke in front of me.”
“No… I’m going to the bathroom to throw up. When I get back, I don’t believe I can’t get you drunk…”
Yu Dashan staggered to his feet. Just as he reached the door, someone happened to knock.
Xu Yanghe looked up; it was the waiter he had sent on an errand earlier.
“I’ll be back in a bit too,” Xu Yanghe said to Xie Chun.
He led the waiter to a more distant restroom. “Where’s the stuff?”
“That…” The waiter hesitated before handing the item over.
“Don’t worry,” Xu Yanghe took it and snapped it in half, handing one half back to the waiter. “Dispose of this for me. I only need this half.”
“Understood.” The waiter complied as he watched Xu Yanghe take out sandpaper and begin to sand down the other half of the object.
Ten minutes later, Xu Yanghe returned to the private room.
Yu Dashan was sitting on the floor in front of the room, looking completely drained from vomiting.
“I’m going to die…” Yu Dashan said weakly.
“If you just say ‘I give up,'” Xu Yanghe pondered for a moment, “I’ll order you some hangover soup, and we’ll pretend today’s plan never happened.”
“No!” Yu Dashan’s stubbornness regarding this matter caught Xu Yanghe off guard.
For a split second, he questioned Yu Dashan’s motives, but he dismissed the thought immediately. He knew exactly what kind of person Yu Dashan was—he just loved to play and stir up trouble.
Yu Dashan fumbled a bottle out of his shirt and gave it to Xu Yanghe.
Xu Yanghe instinctively recoiled, snapping: “What is this!”
“Where is your mind going?” Yu Dashan unscrewed the cap and popped two tablets himself. “Alcohol candy. It’s not that kind of drug; it just makes it easier to get drunk… ugh, I’m even dizzier now.”
Yu Dashan struggled to stand, patting Xu Yanghe. “I really have to go up and sleep. You got this. I’m… waiting for the good news…”
“Tch,” Xu Yanghe walked into the room. “Completely useless.”
Suddenly, the world spun. His left foot tripped over his right, and he fell straight onto his knees.
The alcohol was hitting him…
Xu Yanghe opened his eyes clearly and saw that on the table, Xie Chun had finished off several more bottles.
Xie Chun ran over, trying to pull him up. But Xu Yanghe felt as if he were glued to the floor, sinking further and further down.
Xu Yanghe: “…”
“We should go back,” Xie Chun’s voice was still clear.
Xu Yanghe pulled an alcohol candy from his pocket. “Have some candy.”
“Thank you.” Xie Chun was completely unguarded.
Yu Dashan had already paid the bill, so they could leave directly.
Xie Chun supported Xu Yanghe, who was still insisting: “I’m not that drunk.”
“But your eyes can barely focus,” Xie Chun said.
Xu Yanghe pulled out another candy. “Eat.”
Xie Chun: “Thank you.”
The two huddled together as they entered the elevator.
Xu Yanghe: “Eat candy.”
Xie Chun: “Thank you.”
“Eat candy.”
“Eat candy.”
“Eat candy.”
…
With a crisp chime, the elevator reached the floor and the doors slowly opened—
Xu Yanghe and Xie Chun tumbled out, one on top of the other.
Xu Yanghe brushed aside a lock of Xie Chun’s curly hair and saw his half-lidded eyes.
Finally, he was drunk.
The person was draped over him, their breathing rising and falling in unison. Xu Yanghe thought sluggishly for a while before dragging the man up.
“Can you stand?” He pressed him against the wall.
This time, Xie Chun couldn’t respond. The soles of his shoes slid slowly toward the sides on the polished floor tiles.
Xu Yanghe quickly hauled him back up.
He tried to use his willpower to sober up a bit, first hoisting Xie Chun onto his back and staggering toward the room.
Fortunately, their suite wasn’t far from the elevator.
Entering the suite, he could hear Yu Dashan’s loud snoring coming from the secondary bedroom.
Xu Yanghe sighed. He first pulled the secondary bedroom door shut, then carried Xie Chun into the master bedroom and locked the door.
…
Inside the master bedroom, Xu Yanghe turned on the lights and placed Xie Chun on the bed, tightly drawing the curtains of the floor-to-ceiling window.
Xu Yanghe then found the drinks provided by the hotel and took a few sips. He couldn’t afford to pass out; he still had things to do.
Xie Chun lay sprawled on the large bed, suddenly beginning to mumble, “Where is this… I want to go home.”
Xu Yanghe immediately pressed him down. “Your home is far away. Stay put.”
Xie Chun turned his head to look at him. After a few seconds of confusion, his eyes cleared up, as if recognizing who he was.
“Then I want to go back to my room.”
“Your room is right here,” Xu Yanghe said.
“Then why aren’t you going back to your room?” Xie Chun asked.
Xu Yanghe leaned down, getting closer. “I don’t have a room anymore. I’m sleeping here tonight.”
Xie Chun asked, “Why?”
Xu Yanghe said, “Because you gave the room card to Yu Dashan. My room belongs to him now.”
Xie Chun thought about it slowly; that did happen. So, he wriggled out from between Xu Yanghe’s arms and rolled to the other side of the bed. “Then I’ll share half the bed with you.”
Xu Yanghe also lay back on the bed. After laughing for a while, he realized something was off. Why was this guy answering everything? Could he still be sober?
Turning his head, he found that Xie Chun had already fallen asleep.
Xu Yanghe moved over quietly and observed for a while, confirming he was indeed asleep.
Asleep is good; easier to get things done.
Xu Yanghe looked up, wondering: Could I steal a kiss?
Because of the numbing effect of the alcohol, many redundant inhibitions had vanished. The thought occurred to him, and he pressed his lips against the other’s.
His eyes were fixed on the slit of Xie Chun’s closed eyes and his long eyelashes. Before he could feel anything, Xie Chun’s eyes fluttered open slightly.
Xu Yanghe jerked his head back, his face flushing deep red from the alcohol. His hands trembled, and his heart raced wildly.
Xie Chun’s eyelashes were quivering; he looked like he was about to wake up completely.
Xu Yanghe took a deep breath and, as if throwing caution to the wind, kissed him again!
This time it was a deep kiss. Xu Yanghe used every technique he had ever seen in idol dramas, rubbing his lips against Xie Chun’s.
Still, there wasn’t much feeling; Xu Yanghe’s own lips were numb.
Looking at Xie Chun again, he had likely been kissed into a daze; he was sleeping very soundly now.
Xu Yanghe then began to unbutton Xie Chun’s clothes.
He removed his jacket and sweatshirt; underneath, he was actually still wearing that white shirt.
Starting from the top, Xu Yanghe undid three buttons, revealing half of Xie Chun’s chest and collarbone.
Next, he took out the item he had asked the waiter to buy: half a syringe. He had snapped off the needle end and finely sanded the barrel.
He pressed this half-syringe against the side of Xie Chun’s neck and pulled the plunger, leaving a round red mark.
Xu Yanghe studied the red mark for a moment and rubbed it with his finger.
Very good, looks very real.
He then used this prop to create a dozen identical red marks across Xie Chun’s upper body.
It wasn’t enough for just Xie Chun to have marks; he needed them too.
Xu Yanghe took off his own clothes, braced himself over Xie Chun, grabbed one of his hands, and pressed it toward his own back.
After a few scratches, Xu Yanghe felt nothing. He pulled Xie Chun’s hand back to look at it.
Xie Chun’s palms weren’t delicate; there were calluses on many of his knuckles. They were clean, and the nails were trimmed very round.
Xu Yanghe looked at them, then put one of Xie Chun’s fingers into his mouth, biting a notch into the nail.
Then, using those fingers, he scratched several bloody welts onto his own back.
While Xu Yanghe was busy, Xie Chun suddenly lifted a knee and brushed it against his waist.
Xu Yanghe let out an involuntary muffled groan, his head going cold. Why did he make such a strange sound?
He looked up and saw that Xie Chun seemed about to open his eyes again.
Xu Yanghe pounced forward, pretending to moan in Xie Chun’s ear, muddily calling his name, saying, “I like you,” “Do you know I like you”…
“Are you about to sleep with me?” Xie Chun muttered blearily, his voice sounding a bit embarrassed.
Xu Yanghe locked eyes with Xie Chun; he guessed Xie Chun wasn’t truly awake.
Sure enough, Xie Chun turned his head, his eyelids drooping again, mumbling, “Don’t sleep with me right now… so dizzy… what if I don’t feel anything…”
Xu Yanghe: “?”
Xu Yanghe froze.
Xie Chun seemed to fall asleep again, but Xu Yanghe didn’t dare move anymore.
What did Xie Chun mean?
Xu Yanghe extended a finger, wanting to give a light poke to test him. Just as he was about to touch Xie Chun’s face, Xie Chun made a pained expression with his eyes closed, then heavily turned his head to the other side.
Xu Yanghe bounced back instantly.
As expected, he’s faking it!
Xie Chun woke up again, looking at him mistily.
Xu Yanghe sat upright on the bed, feeling both guilty and humiliated.
Xie Chun didn’t speak to him, though. He weakly raised a hand and pulled something down from the head of the bed.