When Zhang Yuze came home at night, he felt terrible pain everywhere, as if he had been beaten…
…Oh, no, he really was beaten.
While he was rubbing his neck and preparing to make some dinner, his mobile phone rang. Zhang Yuze pressed the answer button, only to hear Li Chenghong’s excited words: “Second, come out for dinner in the evening. Today, Little Fourth will come to Yanjing for a meeting. Let’s have a drink!”
Zhang Yuze accepted the invitation since he was in a bad mood anyway. Having a drink seemed reasonable in his situation. “Where?” He asked.
Li Chenghong answered just as excited as before: “The Xinghua Bar in Houhai. The one with kebabs, beer, and entertainment programs. I’ll send you the location later.”
However, Zhang Yuze cared about something else: “Is it clean?”
Li Chenghong knew about his terminal case of OCD that came with a cleanliness problem, so he said with a smile: “I promise it’s clean. Just come with us.”
And so, Zhang Yuze took a taxi and arrived at the bar on time. Li Chenghong’s Little Fourth was their youngest roommate in college, Han Jinhang. After graduation, he returned to his hometown to work, leaving Yanjing. As soon as the agreed-upon time arrived, Li Chenghong and Han Jinhang came in one after another.
“I haven’t seen you for many years, Brother Yuze!” Han Jinhang sat down, looked at Zhang Yuze, and smiled.
Li Chenghong mischievously intervened: “Our second brother is more handsome now than when he was in college… Look at him, he has a mature man’s temperament. It’s so charming!”
Zhang Yuze took a sip of water and bit back: “Don’t be gay.”
After Han Jinhang finished ordering the dishes, the ring on his hand flashed under the light of the bar. Zhang Yuze saw it and asked curiously: “What is that, a wedding ring?”
“Yes.” Han Jinhang’s face was full of happiness. “I’m getting married after the Spring Festival. This time, I came to invite both of you to the wedding.”
“Getting married?!” Zhang Yuze was a bit shocked. “We have only graduated for a few years…”
Li Chenghong weirdly looked at him, feeling speechless: “Dr. Zhang, we’re about to turn thirty… Look, even our youngest is getting married. What about you? Why are you still single?!”
The waiter served the skewers and beer.
Zhang Yuze didn’t enjoy that kind of greasy food. He just reached his hand out, picked up a glass of beer, and said casually: “I’m not in a hurry. Don’t you all know I like men? I can’t get married even if I find a good one, so what’s the point of stressing about it?”
“Is not about being in a hurry or not…” Li Chenghong swallowed a sip of beer, narrowed his eyes with pleasure, and said after a long time: “It’s just that you’ve been single since graduation. Do you know what they say about you outside?”
Zhang Yuze was stunned: “What?”
Han Jinhang answered quietly: “They say you’re unable to forget Shen Mo, so you’re now guarding your body like jade for him, in the hopes that he’ll come back to you someday.”
“Puff!!” Zhang Yuze spewed out a sip of beer. Fortunately, his body was not facing the table, so the barbecue on it survived. He quickly said in horror” “What?! This is simply alarmist!”
Li Chenghong shrugged his shoulders, handed him a tissue paper, and then said: “It’s normal to think like that. After you broke up with Shen Mo, he couldn’t wait to change more than a dozen boyfriends. But you, you stayed single until now. No matter how you look at it, you’re still infatuated with him.”
“Crap!” Zhang Yuze was about to explode in despair: “So I’m disappointed with love now?! What… I don’t want to talk about it anymore since I can’t let him go?! That’s why I didn’t attend any class reunions these years?! Is this how people see me?!”
Han Jinhang took a bite of mutton and answered naturally. “Well, yes. Let me tell you, all of our classmates will come to my wedding after the Spring Festival. If you still can’t find a partner before that, just wait for everyone to gossip.”
Zhang Yuze wanted to die, but not before weakly asking him: “You’re getting married so you invited the whole class. Are you that enthusiastic?”
Of course, Han Jinhang had a good reason. “You don’t understand. The more people come, the more gifts we get.”
Zhang Yuze went silent for a moment, and then continued to beg for mercy: “Then I won’t come, okay?”
However, Han Jinhang was resolute: “No, you can’t avoid the crusade of the gossip army.”
Zhang Yuze: “I’ll give you three times the gift…”
Han Jinhang: “Sure, we’ll just say you can’t come since you’re busy with work. I’m sure everyone will understand.”
Zhang Yuze: …
Li Chenghong looked at his sad face and smiled: “Don’t worry. There are still two months left to prepare. Just go and pick someone up.”
Zhang Yuze hissed: “But I don’t want to have a relationship with someone at all!”
Han Jinhang bluntly answered him: “That’s because you don’t have any attractive men around you. You just need to expand your social circle.”
This time, there was no need for Zhang Yuze to open his mouth. Li Chenghong replied for him: “Let Zhang Yuze expand his social circle? Are you crazy or am I crazy?”
Zhang Yuze: …
At this point, he could only go and hide in the bathroom for a while, so he stood up and walked to the back of the bar. Walking through a group of music that broke his eardrums, Zhang Yuze frowned slightly, unable to get used to the noise. If it wasn’t for accompanying Li Chenghong and Han Jinhang, he would have never stepped foot in such a place. However, since he was already out and about, he might as well go and pay the bill first. It was a routine for the four of them to take turns to treat every time they hung out, so let’s just say it was his turn today. With his back to the bar, while waiting for the cashier to scan his code, he felt that his shoulder was gently tapped.
Looking back, a short boy was standing behind him. He smiled and said: “Does this handsome gentleman have time? I’m from the booth over there. I want to invite you to have a drink.”
“No.” Zhang Yuze didn’t even think about it before refusing.
“Really not?” The boy’s eyes flashed with disappointment while asking again.
“Really.” Zhang Yuze said earnestly. “You don’t know, but my house is on fire. I need to go back and put it out. Goodbye.”
The boy stared at him, amused by his words. He turned around and shouted at his companions behind him: “No, this handsome gentleman won’t give me any face!”
The others in his booth replied: “That’s because you can’t do it! Wait and let our Brother Xu go.” After saying that, he pushed the thin shoulder of a tall man standing in the center of the booth, dressed in a coquettish but completely professional motorcycle suit. He even dared to say confidently: “You go get him!”
Zhang Yuze’s eyelids began to jump wildly, just like his mother’s would when faced with her favorite brand of candy. Looking up again, the neon lights of the bar flashed across the dance floor. With that moment of divine lightning, Zhang Yuze saw the face of the person opposite…
… And he also happened to look at him.
As the saying went, the road was narrow for that pair of god-forsaken enemies.
Xu Li.
“Why the hell are you here?!” Zhang Yuze’s eyebrows were tightly twisted into Sichuan characters1Sichuanese characters are Chinese characters used only in written Sichuanese. Sichuanese characters are often created as ideogrammatic compound characters (会意字) or phono-semantic compound characters (形声字).
Xu Li’s eyes were also shocked and full of disgust. He gritted his teeth and answered: “I still want to ask you! How did you know I’ll be here?!”
Zhang Yuze promptly rolled his eyes, knowing that Xu Li misunderstood him again. He said lightly: “I’m here to have dinner with my friends. Did you open a bar at your house?!”
In addition to the awkward people who were sharing the same booth as Xu Li, there was also a completely blind man who dared to laugh at Zhang Yuze and say: “Handsome guy, just give us some face! Just now, our Brother Xu praised you and said that you’re very good-looking! He even said that he could get hard just by looking at the back of your head alone!”
Zhang Yuze lifted his eyes, raised the corners of his mouth, looked at Xu Li, and said: “Oh, really? I didn’t expect the back of my head to be so charming in Assistant Xu’s eyes.”
As for Assistant Xu’s eyes, they looked like they could kill people. He stared at his friend who was stupid enough to speak without being called, saying with annoyance: “Damn! I was blind, okay?!”
“Such a pity. I wish you a speedy recovery!” Zhang Yuze folded the receipt neatly, turned around, and left, unilaterally ending the scolding war. However, when he returned to his seat, Li Chenghong was the only one. “Where’s Han Jinhang?” He asked.
“He also went to the bathroom.” Li Chenghong replied.
After sitting for a while, Han Jinhang came back from the bar with a person behind him. Before he got to their table, he shouted from afar: “Look who I met!”
Zhang Yuze raised his eyes again and directly ascended to Heaven, hearing the calming music of the gods.
Han Jinhang enthusiastically led Xu Li and introduced: “This is our alumnus, Xu Li from the Department of Nursing!”
Xu Li smiled enthusiastically and was about to say hello: “Hello, I… Fuck Zhang Yuze!”
Zhang Yuze rolled his eyes and said: “Don’t fuck me.”
“Damn, did I stab your nest or something?! Why are you everywhere?!”
Xu Li became more and more angry, even forgetting to maintain his cheerful and sunny personality in front of his alumni. He couldn’t wait to tear Zhang Yuze to pieces on the spot.
“Get out of here.” Zhang Yuze took a sip of beer. “Don’t talk like I want to see you either.”
Xu Li could only clench his teeth…
… And Li Chenghong and Han Jinhang could only look at each other until Xu Li left.
Han Jinhang asked tentatively: “Brother Yuze, do you have beef with Xu Li?”
Zhang Yuze didn’t answer him, instead asked strangely: “How do you know him?”
“Alumnus.” Han Jinhang replied. “We met when I joined a club. You don’t like socializing, so of course, you don’t know people from other departments.”
Zhang Yuze frowned and fell into meditation. This book was a little too damn tight! It looked like his fate with Xu Li was completely sealed, without any control over their life path. Even the identity of being a fellow alumni was simulated.
Awesome. Really awesome!
Coming out of the bar, Zhang Yuze stood by the roadside to call a taxi. And of course, he met Xu Li for the third time.
His former Assistant Xu hugged a little boy with long legs, placing him on his valuable bright red Harley.
“Brother Xu, take me for a ride!” The little boy wrapped his hands around his waist.
“No problem.” Xu Li smiled, started the motorcycle, passed Zhang Yuze slowly, and then looked at him up and down. That particular look seemed to be asking: Are you jealous?
Zhang Yuze said lightly: “Wear a helmet, there’s traffic police in front.”
Xu Li: “…”
…………
The next day, the new assistant reported to the Cardiac Surgery Department on time. His name was Xiao Jie, a senior in college with a face that was still full of greenness and tenderness. When he saw someone, he could only nod and slide away, for fear of offending anyone if he did something wrong.
However, Zhang Yuze was still not good at communicating with people. Except for Zhao Xiaole, who was a fearless soldier of the motherland, ordinary people were not at all willing to talk to him.
“Zhang Yuze.” He only said those two words to introduce himself.
Poor Little Xiao looked at his leader and got goosebumps. He was way too fierce!
And as for Xu Li… He was the true master of communication, his mouth as sweet as nectar, able to always make a good impression on people at first sight. He smiled like a spring breeze and stretched out his hand, saying: “Hello, Xiao Jie, welcome to the Cardiac Surgery Department internship. We’ll be colleagues in the future. If you have any questions, you can come to me.”
Xiao Jie also stretched out his hand and said hello with a sweet smile.
Xu Li came up again, looked at Zhang Yuze who had a cold face next to him, and said: “Why are you so fierce? Do you want to show off your official power?”
Zhang Yuze glanced at him and answered: “Why are you so attentive? Do you want to sleep with him?”
“Get out of here!”
“Stupid!”
And so, Little Comrade Xiao experienced the wonders of the Cardiac Surgery Department on the first day of his internship. It was truly… Like a wonderful scolding battle at the entrance of the vegetable market, making him hurriedly say with guilt: “Seniors, please don’t argue! It was my fault!”
“Don’t blame yourself, handsome boy.” Xu Li smiled, glanced at Zhang Yuze, and continued: “We’re old enemies, is not because of you.”
Zhang Yuze was angry to see his annoying playboy appearance, so he scolded back: “Idiot!”
Xu Li: “Damn, you’re the stupid one!”
Soon enough, Zhang Yuze remembered what happened in the bar yesterday and satirized him: “Seeing that you can still walk after fooling around all night long, why aren’t you already rotting with sickness?!”
Xu Li smiled angrily: “As soon as I get sick, you’ll be the first one I infect!”
Zhang Yuze: “Fool!”
Xu Li: “No, you’re the fool!”
Seeing that the level of dialogue was dangerously approaching the fifth grade of primary school, Zhao Xiaole finally couldn’t stand it anymore, promptly separating the two mentally impaired chickens.
