“Doesn’t he… like women?” Lu Chengfeng asked, wiping the blood from his hand as if he couldn’t even feel the pain.
He Jingan pinched his wine glass between two fingers and rolled his eyes around. “Who knows about that? You don’t often come out drinking with us. In the past, I’ve introduced quite a few women to Mu Ran. At our age, who would turn down an invitation from a beauty when they’re single? Yet Mu Ran never seemed to care for any of them. In my opinion, either Mu Ran already has someone he likes, or there’s a real possibility he likes men.”
Seeing that Lu Chengfeng didn’t reply, He Jingan continued on of his own accord: “I’m telling you, it’s your fault too. Ever since you were kids, you’ve always controlled Mu Ran too much. Everything had to be done together, to the point where even the rest of us got that misconception. Chances are, our Ah Ran got messed up by you like this, which made him mistakenly think he was a gay guy.”
Lu Chengfeng hadn’t paid close attention to what He Jingan was saying at all; his mind was entirely occupied by a single question.
Mu Ran liked men, and he was getting very close to He Yuncheng.
Disregarding his injured hand, Lu Chengfeng strode straight toward the restroom, ignoring He Jingan’s repeated calls from behind.
Inside the bathroom stall, Mu Ran kept vomiting until his stomach cramped into spasms before finally stopping. Right now, he lacked strength in every limb; not only did his stomach hurt, but his head ached as well. Having not eaten dinner yet, he was starting to feel a bit lightheaded from low blood sugar.
“Mu Ran.” Lu Chengfeng forcefully shoved the stall door open, intending to pull Mu Ran up from where he was squatting on the ground.
“Don’t touch Brother Ran.” He Yuncheng used his body to block Lu Chengfeng within the cramped space.
Suppressing his rising fury, Lu Chengfeng bit out every single word: “Get out of the way.”
“I won’t.” He Yuncheng stubbornly stood his ground; he had no intention of letting this opportunity slip by.
“What are you two arguing about? Ugh…” Mu Ran felt a buzzing sensation ringing inside his brain. The moment he braced himself against the wall to stand up, his vision blurred completely, and his body instinctively began to topple backward.
Both men grabbed Mu Ran at the exact same time, each taking hold of one of his arms.
Mu Ran felt as though he was currently a guinea pig, sandwiched right in the middle of a barbecue grill while being brushed with oil and roasted evenly on all four sides until he was charred and crispy.
His body felt entirely too awful. Mu Ran blinked hard, trying to make out the scene before him, but with his blood pressure failing to keep up, everything was pitch black. In the darkness, Mu Ran could only rely on his instincts to lean toward the most familiar presence.
That warm, sturdy embrace which carried a comforting sense of safety.
A triumphant curve touched the corners of Lu Chengfeng’s lips as he pulled Mu Ran into his arms with the territorial possessiveness of a fierce beast: “Even if you like Mu Ran, he’s never going to choose you.”
“You’re holding him back.” Although He Yuncheng had lost the previous round, the words he spat out hit right at the bullseye. “By clinging to Brother Ran like this and not letting him interact with the people he likes, yet refusing to like Brother Ran yourself—what on earth are you trying to do?”
“That’s none of your business.” With one arm supporting Mu Ran’s back and his other hand hooking under Mu Ran’s knee bends, Lu Chengfeng scooped him right up into his arms and strode outward.
Standing outside, He Jingan sensed that the situation had gone wrong and stood up with his hands on his hips. As he carefully mulled it over, something about the whole thing felt inexplicably bizarre.
He hadn’t said anything wrong, yet Lu Chengfeng’s reaction was simply too extreme. Could it really be that that brat He Yuncheng had somehow defiled Mu Ran?
Holy crap, no way, right? Absolutely not, right?!
From far away, He Jingan spotted Lu Chengfeng carrying Mu Ran, followed closely behind by a black-faced He Yuncheng.
“Put it on my tab. Stop asking Mu Ran out for drinks so much from now on,” Lu Chengfeng dropped those words before striding out of the bar.
He Jingan looked left and right, finally turning his gaze toward He Yuncheng. “Punk, what on earth did you do?”
Staring fixedly in the direction of the entrance, He Yuncheng said with unconcealed unwillingness, “I’m not going to give up.”
“No wait, are you actually crushing on Mu Ran?” He Jingan said, exasperated and disappointed. “I sent you out to study, not to go stirring up trouble for me! Do you think Mu Ran is that easy to chase? Do you really think Lu Chengfeng would allow it?”
He Yuncheng lifted his chin with a disdainful tilt. “Why wouldn’t he allow it? People have freedom in dating nowadays what reason does Lu Chengfeng have to stop it? Is he Mu Ran’s boyfriend?”
The Lu Family Villa.
Mu Ran felt as though he had been laid down upon a soft bed. It seemed someone was even wiping his forehead for him.
“Drink some sobering soup.” Lu Chengfeng supported Mu Ran’s arm, trying his best to avoid touching his shoulders.
“I’m not drinking it.” Without even thinking, Mu Ran turned over and pulled the blanket completely over his head.
Right now, all he wanted to do was sleep.
Once he woke up, perhaps certain matters would just be forgotten.
The person beside him kept offering persistent persuasion without a trace of annoyance. Unable to bear it any longer, Mu Ran finally struggled to prop himself up slightly, stretching his neck forward to drink the sobering soup from the spoon Lu Chengfeng was holding out.
Lu Chengfeng lowered his gaze. Mu Ran’s face was even paler than it had been the day he was discharged from the hospital, forming a striking contrast against his ink-black hair. The bluish veins beneath his skin were almost visible, and beneath that sickly appearance lay a fragile sense of aesthetic beauty.
He couldn’t help leaning in a little closer.
Sensing the warmth, Mu Ran lifted his head slightly and found Lu Chengfeng’s face mere inches away.
If he tilted his head up just a fraction more, he could kiss the corners of those lips he had secretly yearned for over the span of many years, and those thin lips seemed to be drawing closer to him as well.
Was he just that drunk?
Mu Ran swallowed the soup in his mouth, a bitter taste spreading and lingering across his palate.
His scattered thoughts gradually returned to him. Not daring to meet Lu Chengfeng’s gaze, Mu Ran turned his face away instead. “This tastes awful.”
The night was like water, with only a few scattered patches of moonlight spilling downward. Lu Chengfeng sat with his back to the window, making it impossible to read the expression on his face.
His lips moved slightly, and after a long silence, he asked in a soft voice, “Mu Ran, do you know how a person should go about… chasing someone they like?”
Mu Ran burst into a violent fit of coughing. A pain like a knife blade cutting through his heart flared up inside his chest, and every breath felt as though it carried sharp shards of ice piercing directly into his heart. A suffocating sensation tore open his heart like a curved hook, leaving it utterly shattered into pieces in the end.
Lu Chengfeng was asking him how to chase someone.
Mu Ran suddenly burst into laughter.
What they said wasn’t fake, and neither was the dream.
It seemed Lu Chengfeng really had found someone he liked, yet because he didn’t know how to pursue them, he had come to ask him instead.
How did it go in the dream again?
It seemed it was when he eventually confessed his own feelings, only for Lu Chengfeng to be thoroughly disgusted and begin distancing himself from him.
That was the very beginning of his tragic fate.
So what should he do now? If he helped Lu Chengfeng successfully win over the person he liked, would they perhaps still be able to remain friends?
He didn’t want to be a cannon fodder character anymore, even if being just friends was all that was left.
Anyway, he didn’t have much time left to live.
Hopefully, Lu Chengfeng could find happiness.
“Do you already… have someone you like?” Mu Ran’s eyelashes fluttered lightly. He didn’t even dare raise his eyes, terrified that his tears would fall down the very next second.
“Mn,” Lu Chengfeng looked down upon the soft crown of Mu Ran’s head. “I do.”
Mu Ran closed his eyes. His body still trembled uncontrollably, but at this exact moment, his consciousness was uncommonly clear.
“Then I’ll teach you. Make sure you study hard—if you fail to win them over, don’t come back and give me a hard time about it.” Mu Ran used a joking tone to mask the agonizing pain in his heart.
Even if any complications arose during the process, he didn’t want Lu Chengfeng to ultimately pin the blame on him, claiming that his idea was what caused the twists and turns.
Emotions churned endlessly in the depths of Lu Chengfeng’s eyes as he spoke with a firmness he had never displayed before:
“I won’t.”