GDRG CH44

Overseas clients never held meetings early; they always insisted on holding them at eleven o’clock at night. Xing Jun returned to the office to organize materials. He heard Alex’s voice in his ear: “Jensen, did you originally have a date after work?”

What date? There is only a Shi Xueqing at home. Seeing Xing Jun’s puzzled look, Alex explained: “Just now, after hearing there was a meeting, your face looked terrible as hell, and you kept checking your phone.”

“…”

Did I?

Xing Jun didn’t expect himself to show such behavior. Alex added: “A date with a beautiful person is more important. If it’s a dinner date, you can go out to eat midway and then come back to the company.”

Xing Jun smiled: “No need.”

Running out midway just to eat dinner together? He and Shi Xueqing were not in the kind of relationship Alex imagined.

With this spare time, might as well stay in the company for a few more hours to organize the meeting materials.

Acting swiftly and decisively without any sloppiness had always been Xing Jun’s style. Since there was going to be a meeting, he would do everything best before the meeting. In the evening, he stayed at the company and held a temporary online meeting with several subordinates in the Bay Area.

Meetings like this tended to drag on. Three groups passed the buck to each other, giving Xing Jun a headache with their noise. He listened carefully to their conversation. During this time, he felt his phone vibrate several times.

If there were urgent matters, people would mostly call Xing Jun instead of sending messages. He only treated these as promotional emails. Until the meeting came to a pause and Xing Jun went to the washroom, he saw that what popped up on the screen were actually green message boxes.

“Brother Xing, are you busy?”

“Then I’ll eat dinner by myself first.”

“Brother Xing, are you working overtime? Be careful driving home at night. Drivers in LA drive very wildly. I’m waiting for you at home.”

No advertising emails; Shi Xueqing’s three messages were bright and clear. Xing Jun looked at them and paused for no reason.

He suddenly realized that in Los Angeles, Shi Xueqing was probably the only one who would ask him what time he would work overtime until.

Not even just in Los Angeles.

In Silicon Valley, in Princeton, in New York known for its dense population, walking into any Whole Foods to buy things would have enthusiastic clerks saying “Good morning, Sir,” “Good evening, Sir,” and wishing him a happy day.

But no one ever cared what time he went home at night.

In just this moment of distraction, the eleven o’clock meeting started. Xing Jun was one minute late joining the meeting, which made him, who always prided himself on professional ability, somewhat embarrassed.

It’s all Shi Xueqing’s fault.

He quickly threw away these fragmented thoughts and regained focus.

Xing Jun, ignoring life’s trivialities, was always calm, professional, and adept at social interactions.

By the time urgent matters were handled, it was already eleven-thirty. Driving back to the villa would take until about twelve. Xing Jun turned on his phone again. The meeting started too suddenly; he hadn’t had time to read other messages besides the three WeChat messages.

Then he was speechless.

…The remaining dozen messages were all supplementary card transaction notifications.

Some were cheap, some expensive; mostly just a few hundred dollars, but there were also two for several thousand dollars, probably the jewelry Shi Xueqing had been longing for. A few days ago when buying condoms and household items, Shi Xueqing wasn’t familiar with his supplementary card and spent rather shyly. Now, it seemed he was quite familiar.

There were even several transactions made after Shi Xueqing sent the messages—including a few Uber charges. Shi Xueqing even used his card for this little money. And the key point was, what the hell did Shi Xueqing mean by “I’m waiting for you at home”?

Clearly, seeing Xing Jun not coming home, he happily ran out to spend money again.

…The faint melancholy disappeared again. Xing Jun met Alex again on the way to the parking lot. Alex said with a smile: “Hard work.”

Xing Jun heard Alex setting the navigation and laughed: “I thought you would be in a hurry to go home.”

“Of course, I have to go somewhere first to buy something to bring home to my wife, like her favorite midnight snack. Speaking of which—Jensen, I know a nice flower shop nearby; only it stays open until twelve at night.”

“Hmm?” Xing Jun didn’t understand Alex’s meaning.

“Didn’t you originally have a date tonight? Working overtime until now, the other party must be very angry. You’d better buy a bouquet of flowers for her.” Alex raised his eyebrows and laughed loudly, “If she is still awake late at night.”

Xing Jun froze for a moment, then understood—Alex probably thought he stood up his girlfriend. He said: “It’s okay, he won’t be angry.”

“He? So it’s a boyfriend.” Alex teased, “But Jensen, being stood up, whether man or woman, they will be angry. It’s just that some people have good personalities and self-restraint, so you can’t tell.”

“Haha.” Xing Jun shook his head. “See you later.”

This old American attaches quite some importance to family and intimate relationships. Xing Jun thought, casually swiping away those dozen transaction notifications from the notification bar.

But he and Shi Xueqing weren’t in that kind of intimate relationship. He wasn’t home, and Shi Xueqing went out to swipe the card; wasn’t he quite happy too?

He didn’t need to report to Shi Xueqing, or think about whether Shi Xueqing would be angry about his late return.

—That’s why he felt at ease.

Another notification popped up on the phone. A text message. Xing Jun glanced at it; another card transaction.

Bought online. What, starting to buy things crazily again?

Completely retracting his thoughts. Xing Jun now thought of buying something for Shi Xueqing—he drove to a late-night store, preparing to go in and buy a few boxes of condoms. For someone like Shi Xueqing who was greedy for money and luxury, he would be more honest after being f*cked into submission.

Isn’t that what he’s after in raising Shi Xueqing? Going home at twelve at night isn’t too late.

This is the thing he should bring home to Shi Xueqing.

Xing Jun also saw a round ball in the display cabinet that looked very friendly. The description said this round ball looked friendly but could actually expand into a “spiky” shape with the press of a button and could vibrate.

He stared at that round ball for a while, but his phone popped up another message: “Brother Xing, are you still coming back tonight? I want to sleep.”

Another message from Shi Xueqing.

His heart moved strangely. Xing Jun didn’t buy that round ball, but after checking out, checked Google Maps navigation.

It only took five minutes to get to the flower shop Alex mentioned. When he got there, the flower shop hadn’t closed yet.

“You sleep first. I might not come back tonight.” Xing Jun said deliberately.

“Oh.” Shi Xueqing’s reply was obedient, “Hard work on overtime.”

Xing Jun glanced at the message and laughed involuntarily. Is Shi Xueqing doing this on purpose or pretending? Didn’t he consider the possibility that I might be partying outside all night?

Probably pretending.

But before that flower shop closed, he bought a bouquet of cornflowers. The flowers were deep blue, suitable for Shi Xueqing’s silver-gray pajamas.

…

Shi Xueqing was naturally pretending.

Partying outside all night? The rich guy probably had some gathering, maybe even some other casual flings.

Shi Xueqing was happy to be idle. Anyway, the money kept coming; whatever Xing Jun did was none of his business.

Besides, he swiped nearly ten thousand of Xing Jun’s money during the day. Furthermore, who likes going to work (servicing him)?

Since Xing Jun wasn’t coming back, he ran back to the bedroom, took off the newly bought sexy pajamas, and changed into a set of soft ones. Sitting on the second-floor balcony, still wanting more, he started browsing online apps.

What is this? Tom Ford shirt? Buy.

What is this? Saint Laurent suit pants? Buy.

When he couldn’t see Xing Jun, spending his money seemed even more reassuring. Shi Xueqing bought this and that, then went downstairs to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. Since Xing Jun hadn’t come home for a long time, looking at the miscellaneous things in the living room, he felt this villa seemed like his own.

If Xing Jun isn’t here, isn’t this place his own!

With a change of thought, he secretly posted an Instagram story. The content was the floor-to-ceiling windows of the villa and the pile of paper bags with logos he bought during the day. Once the story was posted, a bunch of people liked it.

Someone even commented: “Brother Shi, turns out you are the hidden rich guy.”

Not only rich but also trendy. Unlike those big brothers who ran to private wineries in Napa to drink and blow hot air about the international situation. Drinking is drinking; it’s about the refined style of a scholar. One can drink at home; on the balcony of a villa worth tens of millions of dollars, one can drink even more. What’s the point of checking in at wineries to taste wine? Not a bit of the relaxed vibe a literary youth should have.

What is that relaxed vibe called? This is called “chill.”

Shi Xueqing patrolled the comments reservedly, very at ease, very chill.

By the way, he glanced at the Petrus he bought.

What Napa or not Napa? The Petrus he bought while shopping was serious French goods, produced in Bordeaux, two or three times more expensive than Lafite. All bumpkin Americans; how could they compare to the noble and refined style of the old French white flag (royalist/traditional)?

He took that bottle of red wine upstairs, opened it in the moonlight, poured himself a glass, and continued taking photos. Looking out from the balcony, luxurious villas were all around. Shi Xueqing had searched the nearby housing prices before and knew each one cost tens of millions of dollars. Surrounded by villas, he felt very happy.

He posted a story for the red wine as usual, with the caption:
“Sipping my loneliness in the moonlit night.”

Saying loneliness, but he focused on photographing the iconic St. Peter on the Petrus label and the Riedel wine glass he dug out from the rich guy’s home.

A loneliness with a gold content of 5000 dollars. Shi Xueqing felt his literary melancholy was top-tier.

Moreover, going out shopping today, he posted quite a few stories. Mia liked every one of them, very actively, as if living on Instagram. But Mia didn’t like this late-night one, probably working, fooling Ni Youwen.

Shi Xueqing, however, was on vacation; he was even happier.

Even Balenciaga Bro sent him a DM: “Did you decant before drinking?”

Decanted or not? I look much richer than you. Shi Xueqing smiled lightly. The disparate wealth gap could already make up for the embarrassment of his pretension to culture while forgetting to decant.

Xing Jun wasn’t home. He drank the red wine sip by sip, occupying the room in a tipsy state, feeling supreme happiness. Just at this moment when he was swaying on the balcony, Xing Jun sent him a text message.

“Asleep?”

“Not yet.” Shi Xueqing replied subconsciously. Then, amidst the alcohol, he remembered the canary’s professional spirit.

The next text message was pitiful and lovely: “Thinking of you, lying in bed alone, can’t sleep.”

Sky so dark, bed so big.

Still had to do business. What if Xing Jun really went out to hold an orgy (impart)? Rich people played quite wild.

“Oh.” Xing Jun’s reply tone was flat. “Come downstairs to the door. Five minutes.”

??

“I’m almost home.”

The cold wind blew, and Shi Xueqing sobered up instantly. Looking at the red wine on the balcony and smelling the alcohol all over himself, he was instantly dumbfounded.

He ran halfway downstairs, then stopped. Opening the door directly at this time would definitely be the end of him.

After weighing it for a moment, Shi Xueqing turned off the lights on the stairs.

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