AD Chapter 20

They had indeed enjoyed themselves tonight, having a few drinks together.

When they came out earlier, Lu Ning’s hair tie broke, and he muttered about bad luck. Before getting into the car, he went over to talk to Shen Du. “Little brother, that’s unethical, tricking us into thinking you’re underage.”

His hair was loose, flowing everywhere. Lu Ning was of mixed Chinese and German descent, and he looked good even with long hair—it gave him an unexpected beauty.

Shen Du, seeing him for the first time, couldn’t help but glance at him a couple of times. “I mainly didn’t expect you guys to actually believe it.”

“What’s so unbelievable about it?” Lu Ning gave him a once-over, his tone full of admiration. “You really do look like it.”

Although Lu Ning had been studying abroad for years, due to his family’s business, he had dealt with many sharp-minded people and rarely encountered students like Shen Du. It felt like the last time he had such an encounter was in a past life.

“If I had known, I would’ve gone out to work on my own with Lao Qin.”

Shen Du didn’t know what had prompted him to say this, so he just smiled and didn’t respond.

“Hey, little brother, there’s something I’ve been thinking about and I feel like I should tell you,” Lu Ning said.

Shen Du asked, “What?”

Lu Ning hesitated. “It’s about that high school junior…”

But as soon as he started to speak, he didn’t know how to continue.

Earlier that afternoon, when he arrived in Yunshan and reunited with his four friends, Qin Yi mentioned that he had recently met a boy he was interested in. However, it seemed like the boy hadn’t been into men before, so he was a bit hesitant.

This was the first time Qin Yi had actively brought up such a topic.

Fang Zhaoyi and the others had been in relationships since their student days, and even someone as busy as him had had a few passionate romances.

But Qin Yi was different.

Qin Yi had never been in a relationship.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t met someone he liked, but for some reason, nothing ever came of it.

Zheng Qing guessed that Qin Yi just didn’t want to settle, so when they heard about this new person, everyone was quite happy.

As Cheng Qi had said, it seemed like Lao Qin had finally found someone.

If Qin Yi didn’t have genuine feelings, he wouldn’t have brought the person in front of them.

Lu Ning paused, then smiled and said, “Forget it, it’s not a big deal. I’ll head off now, we’ll hang out again sometime.”

Shen Du smiled slightly, not responding to the “sometime” part.

He wouldn’t be working at the tattoo shop forever. Once this month and a half passed, he and Qin Yi would return to being landlord and tenant. He’d go to school, and Qin Yi would go to the shop. Their schedules wouldn’t align, and it would be hard to even run into each other.

Relationships between people need to be maintained. Once contact is broken, even lovers can become strangers.

Since Lu Ning was Qin Yi’s friend, Shen Du figured he probably wouldn’t see Lu Ning and the others again.

“They’re all gone, and you’re still staring,” Qin Yi said as he walked up beside him, his suit jacket draped over his arm. “Is it really that interesting?”

“No, just thinking about something,” Shen Du snapped out of his thoughts, not noticing the change in Qin Yi’s expression, and casually asked, “How are we getting home?”

Qin Yi’s gaze lingered on his face for a few seconds before he replied, “Ride with me.”

Shen Du had never been in his car or seen him drive, so he was quite curious.

Qin Yi was driving a Jeep today. The car was sleek and black, looking very cool. As they approached, a few people were standing by the car taking pictures.

“Beep.”

When the people taking photos saw the owner approach, they smiled awkwardly and quickly turned to leave.

Qin Yi strode over. “Get in.”

Shen Du followed behind him, hesitated for a moment, and then got into the passenger seat. Qin Yi tossed his jacket into the back seat, fastened his seatbelt, and said, “It’ll take about half an hour to get back. If you’re tired, you can lie down and rest. The seat adjusts automatically.”

“No need,” Shen Du said, fastening his seatbelt. “Right now is the time when young people are the most energetic.”

So, was that a roundabout way of calling him old?

Qin Yi smiled. “Suit yourself.”

The car’s air freshener smelled nice, though Shen Du couldn’t tell the brand. His leg was pressed against something in his pocket—Qin Yi’s cigarette pack. Shen Du fiddled with his phone for a while, feeling a bit dizzy. He didn’t dare keep playing, so he put the phone down and looked out the window.

What about that cigarette from earlier… Did Qin Yi smoke it?

He didn’t know what had gotten into him earlier, but when Qin Yi looked at him like that, something snapped in his mind, and he ended up doing it.

And after doing it, he felt pretty damn proud of himself.

Qin Yi must have been stunned.

Yunshan had a lively nightlife, and it was already past 9 PM, but there were still plenty of people on the streets. Qin Yi drove, and out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Shen Du was smiling while looking out the window.

…He was even smiling a little foolishly.

Qin Yi couldn’t help but laugh at him.

The air conditioning was on, the windows were tightly shut, and the interior of the car was dark. Outside, the neon lights illuminated the streets. Qin Yi’s shadow was cast across the center console, his white shirt and long fingers, his hand expertly steering the wheel. He looked incredibly handsome.

Shen Du leaned against the window, lost in thought, and before he realized it, he had been watching him the entire way.

When he snapped out of it, Qin Yi had already driven into the underground parking garage.

“So soon?” he turned his head.

Qin Yi seemed surprised to hear him. “I thought you were asleep.”

Shen Du rubbed his sore neck. “No.”

“What were you thinking about earlier?” Qin Yi asked. “You looked so happy.”

“Huh?”

He had smiled?

“You must have seen it wrong. I wasn’t smiling at all!” Shen Du glared at him, feeling like Qin Yi was teasing him.

Qin Yi started to unbuckle his seatbelt and casually said, “Just asked a question. Why are you blushing?”

“Who’s blushing? Who’s blushing?” Shen Du raised his voice, agitated, as if the louder he got, the more right he was, repeating himself over and over.

Whoosh—

The seatbelt retracted.

“Is that so?”

Qin Yi turned on the car’s interior light, “There’s a mirror in front of you. You can check for yourself if I’m lying.”

Even though Shen Du knew it was impossible, his face instantly turned bright red, and it was so hot he didn’t even need to check to know what he looked like.

A low chuckle came from beside him, and Shen Du froze, then turned his head to meet Qin Yi’s mocking gaze. He immediately broke down and shouted, “Qin Yi, are you crazy?!”

As expected, it started raining heavily that night, with thunder and lightning.

Shen Du remembered that he still had clothes on the balcony, so he got up and ran outside. The rain was falling in a fine mist, and a long flash of lightning cut across the night sky, followed by a deafening clap of thunder, so loud it felt like the sky was about to shatter.

Shen Du finished collecting the clothes in the rain and noticed that the light in the neighbor’s living room was still on.

He hung the clothes back up in the bathroom, grabbed his phone from the bedside to check the time—it was already 1 AM.

How was this guy still not asleep?

Shen Du went back to the balcony and glanced over again—the light was still on, so it wasn’t because he had just stepped out to use the bathroom.

Remembering what had happened in the garage earlier, Shen Du slammed the balcony door shut. If he wasn’t sleeping, that was his business!

Shen Du turned off the light, lay back in bed, and closed his eyes, but he couldn’t sleep at all.

He hugged his Patrick Star pillow and tossed and turned, his mind buzzing like there was a fly buzzing around.

On the nightstand lay today’s “spoils of war.”

“…”

The study was dimly lit.

Sketches were scattered all over the floor.

Qin Yi sat in the middle of the sketches, his bathrobe loosely tied, exposing his chest, and his abdominal muscles were faintly visible. The record player was playing “Golden Hour,” and as it reached its climax, the room suddenly lit up. The cello’s sound blended perfectly with the thunder outside, and the rain pattered against the window. Qin Yi’s strokes quickened as a silhouette leaped onto the paper.

Ding—

The WeChat notification broke the silence of the room and disrupted Qin Yi’s rhythm.

He snapped out of his daze, realizing it was already 1 AM.

【°: Are you asleep yet?】

Qin Yi put down his pen, and after the lightning, the room returned to darkness. His gaze was as dark as the night itself.

It was the dead of night, and his prey had come to him.

A good omen.

Shen Du lay on his bed, his legs unconsciously tangled together, raised up, as he cleared the red dots on every app.

【Blame: No, just thinking about something.】

【°: What are you thinking about?】

You.

He typed “You,” but halfway through, Qin Yi got his fix, and after thinking for a moment, he deleted it and changed it to: 【Are you concerned about me again?】

【°: ?】

【Blame: Didn’t you just say this afternoon that you didn’t want to be friends with me anymore?】

Shen Du: “…”

So this guy was the one acting like a child, holding onto a single sentence for so long.

Was it really necessary?

【°: So what? That gay let me into his car today.】

He felt like he had won a small victory and leaned back, chin resting on his hand, his legs swinging in the air.

Before long, Qin Yi’s reply came.

【Blame: Yes, he let you into his car.】

【Blame: Can you guess why?】

“…”

Shen Du immediately stopped smiling.

His face burned, and his heart raced.

After waiting too long for a reply, Qin Yi put his phone down because he knew he wouldn’t get a response tonight. He knew the little one he was interested in was good at playing these games.

When Lu Ning called in the afternoon, Qin Yi was actually happy, at least Shen Du wasn’t completely indifferent. But despite his happiness, he was also irritated by the way Lu Ning’s words had annoyed him.

However, in the end, he did get a little reward, so it wasn’t entirely hopeless.

He had originally thought he was the one in control, but now, it didn’t seem so.

Sometimes, he really wanted to ask Shen Du where he had learned all these teasing skills.

___

The next morning, Shen Du woke up late.

It seemed like he had fully adjusted to the existence of the flying disc alarm clock, as after retrieving it, he could still return to bed and continue sleeping.

Luckily, it was Sunday, so there was no work.

Shen Du lay in bed, feeling a bit tired, thinking that being a corporate drone was really exhausting.

Quitting seemed like a good idea.

It was already eleven o’clock, and it seemed like Qin Yi knew he had woken up late, so he didn’t message him to go have breakfast. Shen Du felt inexplicably guilty.

But this way, Qin Yi’s message from last night, “Guess why?” kept lingering outside the chat window. If no one sent him a message, Qin Yi’s chat bubble would stay at the top.

Wait! Where’s the group chat? Where are the people?

Didn’t they usually bother him every day? Why was there no one today?

So Shen Du flipped over and messaged all the friends he could contact, greeting them, and everyone thought his account had been hacked.

After a while, Xu Qingluo called.

“Did your WeChat get hacked? Did they transfer money out?”

Shen Du frowned. “Your account got hacked.”

“You’re the one who sent a ‘Good afternoon’ to our classmates? You haven’t contacted anyone in ages, and suddenly you send that—it’s weird, right?” Xu Qingluo was confused by his tone. “Did you just wake up? Why are you so grumpy?”

Shen Du felt like he might have a case of irritability, as even a casual comment could ignite his anger.

“You’re a gay, why do you care so much about me?”

Xu Qingluo: “?”

The rain had been falling for three days straight, and there was no sign of it letting up, making it even hotter than before. Shen Du had gotten used to taking a taxi to work, but after a while, he felt it wasn’t sustainable.

After a recommendation from a live-stream viewer, he ordered a scooter online, and it was delivered the same day from a nearby city.

It had been more than a week since he last met with Lu Ning and the others, and as expected, they hadn’t contacted him again.

Even though he had expected it, Shen Du still felt a bit sad.

This was especially evident when he was having breakfast that morning.

“Not happy?” Qin Yi came out of the study, holding a cardboard box.

Shen Du was looking down, spreading salad dressing, and didn’t answer.

It wasn’t until Qin Yi placed the box next to him that Shen Du looked up, confused.

Qin Yi nodded towards the box. “It’s from Lu Ning and the others. Want to open it?”

Shen Du froze, thinking he had heard wrong. Why would they send him something?

“Stop stalling, open it and see.”

Shen Du silently put down his fork, watching Qin Yi take out his phone and point it at him. He was puzzled. “What are you doing?”

“I promised them I’d film you opening the box,” Qin Yi said, focusing on the phone screen, tapping it to focus.

Shen Du stared at him, expressionless. “Did you get my permission?”

“Do you agree?”

“…”

Shen Du took a deep breath, exasperated. “Make sure you film it well!”

Qin Yi smirked. “No problem.”

“By the way, Lu Ning and the others said they want to add you on WeChat and hang out together,” Qin Yi seemed a bit pleased, his eyes full of smiles. “They’re planning to come to Yunshan to develop. What do you think, will you agree?”

Shen Du paused for a moment before replying, “But aren’t they your friends?”

He put extra emphasis on the word “you.”

“Are you being so distant?”

Qin Yi, through the lens, caught every subtle expression from Shen Du, then chuckled softly. “Don’t overthink it.”

“They’re also your friends.”