CH 12

Shen Boyan wasn’t born rich. He started from the bottom and had friends from all walks of life, not all of whom were upper-class people. At night, in a certain bar, several people were gathering together.

It’s still early, and only the shop owner and the friends he invited are in the private seating on the second floor. Zhang Mingpei and his girlfriend snuggle up together, playing with each other’s hands, disregarding the presence of single young people without significant others.

“I didn’t expect Shen Boyan to have a boyfriend; I thought he was doomed to be alone.”

His girlfriend elbowed him and said, “Watch your mouth. Isn’t it a good thing that he has a boyfriend?”

“It’s a good thing; it’s a good thing. With his temperament, I can’t imagine how they get along.”

“Hey, I know, I know.”

As the only person here who has had contact with Xia Shu’an, Lu Cai has the right to say, “The way the boss gets along with his sister-in-law is to let me follow him and protect him!”

Others: “…”

Uh, it’s not clear whether to advise him not to break the law or to be touched by his thoughtfulness.

Zhang Shencang started another topic: “I heard that his boyfriend is very beautiful?”

“Yes, yes!” It was Lu Cai again who proactively spoke up: “Let me tell you, my sister-in-law is super beautiful, and not in a girlish kind of way. He’s very temperamental!”

Zhang Shencang: “I heard that he’s the son of a rich family. Later, when something happened at home…”

Zhang Mingpei said softly, “Did Old Shen take advantage of his misfortune?”

His girlfriend gave him another elbow.

Several people were gossiping when suddenly Lu Cai’s gaze was fixed, and he raised his arm and said loudly, “Boss, sister-in-law!”

Sheng Manzhu immediately rushed up and leaned over the railing to look: “Where? Where are they?”

Her eyes lit up suddenly. “So beautiful!”

Xia Shu’an raised his head when he heard the shout and saw a few people sitting upstairs next to the railing. He was very familiar with these people. They were Shen Boyan’s friends in his previous life.

Shen Boyan took off his suit jacket when he entered the bar, and his tie was loose. When he approached them with Xia Shu’an, several people stood up and looked at the two with a smile. One of them appeared to be the oldest and the most experienced. He said, “Old Shen, you’ve got a lot of good luck; your boyfriend is very good-looking.”

Shen Boyan smiled slightly and said, “They are all my friends. This is Zhang Shencang, the owner of this bar; this is Zhang Mingpei and his girlfriend Sheng Manzhu; and this is…”

“I’m Lu Cai; do you still remember me?”

Seeing the boy with a somewhat youthful look on his face, Xia Shu’an couldn’t help but smile.

“I remember. You were the one who saved me that day.”

“Actually, I didn’t save you. My boss asked me to save you.”

Xia Shu’an pursed his lips and smiled lightly. He knew who the leading boy was when he saw him that day. In his previous life, he was clueless when people came to smash up the store. Because his father was hospitalized, he didn’t care about the origins of these people at all. In this life, he watched the boy lead people into the store, thought that Shen Boyan must have called them over, and somehow had a few laughs.

“Although you all know each other, let me introduce you.” Shen Boyan turned his head to look at Xia Shu’an and said with a smile in his eyes, “This is Xia Shu’an, my boyfriend.”

Xia Shu’an said generously, “Hi everyone, I’m Xia Shu’an.”

“Hi Shu’an, I’m Sheng Manzhu; you can call me Manman or Zhuzhu.” Sheng Manzhu jumped out playfully.

Zhang Shencang waved his hands and said, “Alright, don’t stand there; let’s sit down and talk.”

After sitting down, Sheng Manzhu couldn’t wait to say, “Shu’an, how did you and Shen Boyan know each other?”

Xia Shu’an: “…Uh, the Art Museum…”

Shen Boyan put his arm on Xia Shu’an’s shoulder and said frankly, “I saw Xiao Shu, who came to the art gallery with his friend, and fell in love with him at first sight.”

Sheng Manzhu: “Ah!”

Xia Shu’an: The matter of talking still needs to be handled by President Shen, who is the master of language processing.

“So Shu’an, what are you doing now? Are you going to school or working?”

“I work in the school research lab.”

“Wow, that’s pretty impressive ……”

“And what about you?”

Sheng Manzhu: “Me? I’m an ordinary civil servant. Mingpei is the company’s salesperson; Brother Zhang, you know, the owner of the bar; and Lu Cai…”

Lu Cai raised his hand and said, “I do everything; I am mainly responsible for the things the boss entrusts to me.”

Xia Shu’an: This sounds a lot like cultivating dark forces to help people solve things that can’t be handled on the surface.

In fact, even in his previous life, Xia Shu’an often heard rumors of Shen Boyan’s influence, and in addition, Shen Boyan himself had a face of extortion, which made Xia Shu’an deeply believe this rumor and increasingly dislike Shen Boyan. In his new life, he wanted to get to know Shen Boyan again.

He looked at several people and said, “How did you get to know Boyan?”

Zhang Mingpei said, “Old Shen and I were junior high school classmates. Shencang and he were high school classmates.”

Xia Shu’an pointed at Shen Boyan’s face and said seriously, “Was he also like this when he was in school?”

Several people present couldn’t help laughing. Zhang Mingpei said: “It’s similar, but he didn’t have the momentum he has now when he was in junior high school. He was just cold and ruthless. We lived in a small county town, and there were many gangsters in the school at that time. You can’t protect yourself without being ruthless.”

“But at that time, the teacher always said that he would definitely be a gangster in the future. Who could have imagined that he would become a big boss?”

Zhang Shencang interjected: “The high school teacher said the same thing. Old Shen was late for class every day and always got into a fight. He had been reprimanded countless times. He was a prick back then, and good students like me didn’t dare to talk to him at all….”

Shen Boyan: “Forget about the rest, but you’re going too far with that one. You were a good student? The second-to-last good student?”

Zhang Shencang: “Go away. At least I can make it into the bottom ten.”

“Hahahahaha…”

Xia Shu’an was very interested in Shen Boyan’s student days. He was mainly curious about how Shen Boyan developed his current character, and he asked Zhang Mingpei and Zhang Shencang a lot of questions. Shen Boyan watched as he opened his eyes wide and listened attentively to the story. As the tea in his hand slowly approached the bottom, he took his cup and refilled it several times.

As mentioned before, Shen Boyan never treated Xia Shu’an harshly in terms of material possessions. Xia Shu’an also became accustomed to this. Shen Boyan pushed the cup over with his finger, and he picked it up and took a sip.

Shen Boyan put the teapot back in place and saw Zhang Shencang looking at him with a faint smile.

“…”

As night fell, the bar gradually became more crowded. Sheng Manzhu thought it was too noisy outside, so she moved the stools inside, leaving only Zhang Shencang and Shen Boyan looking downstairs, chatting aimlessly.

Among these people, Xia Shu’an was most curious about Lu Cai, but his mouth was very tight despite his careless appearance. He only said that he had received help from Shen Boyan, so he wholeheartedly became his little brother.

Xia Shu’an isn’t an overbearing person. Seeing that he didn’t want to say more, he didn’t continue to ask. His figure was hidden in the dim light of the bar, watching the man leaning leisurely on the sofa seat a few steps away. The cuffs of his shirt rolled up to his elbows, and the forearm muscles exposed to the air were tight, which reminded Xia Shu’an of the bulging muscles almost as thick as his thighs when he pressed his arms against his knees…

“There is a creek behind our school. Once, Old Shen and I… what’s the matter?”

Xia Shu’an suddenly stood up and walked straight towards the man at the stairway. With a slight squeeze of his fingers, he pulled out the cigarette that was burning a third of the way out of the man’s mouth.

“Stop smoking.” He whispered. “Not good for your health.”

The two men who were chatting just now were taken aback at the same time. Zhang Shencang leaned back with an expression of “I’ll just watch you show your affection quietly”. Shen Boyan laughed out loud after being slightly startled. With indulgence in his eyes, he let Xia Shu’an extinguish the spark and looked at the cup in his hand.

“What are you drinking? Long Island Iced Tea?”

“This one is too high in alcohol; drink something lower.”

He took the cup in Xia Shu’an’s hand, drank it in one gulp, and said to Zhang Shencang, “Give him a glass of gin and tonic.”

Zhang Shencang: “Okay, okay.” Your young couples are the most troublesome.

Xia Shu’an also quietly let Shen Boyan make decisions for him. One of the two was “unhealthy” and the other “can’t drink”. They were so affectionate, which made others envious.

Xia Shu’an’s face became somewhat colorful because of the wine. His skin was too fair, and a little red made him look extraordinarily beautiful. Shen Boyan’s heart moved, and he grabbed his hand and pulled it in his direction. Xia Shu’an was caught off guard and subconsciously sat on his lap.

It was as if a match was suddenly struck in the air, and the atmosphere suddenly became ambiguous.

Xia Shu’an actually doesn’t like kissing in public, but since he decided to accept Shen Boyan, he’s willing to try something he wouldn’t do. His eyelashes fluttered quickly, and he was ready to kiss. Then he watched as Shen Boyan’s gaze slipped and slid to the side of his neck.

The man ruffled the hair behind his ear with his fingers, as if teasing him. Although the atmosphere was still ambiguous, the atmosphere of kissing had already disappeared.

Xia Shu’an: ?

Is he thinking too much?

“…”

Shen Boyan was obviously very satisfied with Xia Shu’an’s “docileness”. He behaved normally all night, playing the role of a normal person in a passionate relationship. It was almost ten o’clock before the two of them returned home.

The steady driving of the car made people feel drowsy. Both of them drank alcohol and didn’t speak all the way because of drowsiness. It wasn’t until they got out of the car and the cool autumn wind was blowing past that Xia Shu’an woke up.

He slowly stepped into the house. In the depths of the night, the presence of the person around him became more and more prominent. Xia Shu’an hesitated for a while in the silent living room, then raised his head and asked, “Do you want to do it?”