Chapter 58 Is Mojito delicious?
Chen Luan has never been in love and has never liked anyone.
In his short 28 years of life, apart from the endless battles, he had constant encounters and losses.
Family, friends, teammates, and students I personally brought up...
At the very end,
It's him.
He has also seen many people in love,
Young lovers, long-term couples, and even lovers who grow old together, but in that era, separation and death were too common, so Chen Luan once believed that once this deeper bond was formed, the moment the red thread broke would be more heartbreaking than any other relationship.
Therefore, Chen Luan used to subconsciously avoid having this kind of close relationship with anyone.
Because maybe today they are still cuddling together, hugging and kissing, imagining what the world will be like in the future without wild beasts, and tomorrow one of them will die in an unknown corner of the battlefield and never come back.
When Jiang Mingming was 20 years old, she fell in love. When they were about to get married, the man died.
During that period, Chen Luan felt that Jiang Mingming had turned gray, and he couldn't get over it for a long time.
It was then that Chen Luan realized that pain could actually be tangible.
He doesn't want this kind of pain, nor does he want others to experience it.
So, it’s better to be alone.
Clean and tidy.
Now he has a new life and new concerns.
Of course he knew that he cared about his two younger brothers, but he didn't think that was love.
——Even he himself doesn't know what love is.
He felt that it was just the concern of an older brother for his younger brother, just like Jiang Mingming's concern for him.
They are family, and only family.
So when Chen Luan realized that his brothers' dependence on him seemed to have exceeded a certain limit, his first reaction was:
This is not right.
This is not right.
He is my brother,
They are all men,
This is not right.
Is it because he usually gets too close to his younger brothers that their dependence on him gradually blurs the boundaries between brothers?
Does he need to step back a little? Stay away?
Can this bring their relationship back on track?
Zhou Pei did not give him an answer, because Chen Luan knew without saying that Zhou Pei would never bite his brother, that would be a disaster movie combined with a horror movie.
Wu Ning didn't give him an answer either, because Wu Ning had never been in love, and her wives were like the guns in the warehouse.
The alley was bustling with people.
Chen Luan saw some people holding hands, some hugging each other, and some secretly kissing in the corner.
Then those images gradually melted into the two pairs of eyes filled with emotions as the two younger brothers looked at him under the dim light last night.
Chen Luan's fingers gripping the soda bottle suddenly tightened.
He raised the bottle and drank it all in one gulp. The cold liquid with some sharp bubbles poured into his throat, as if this could extinguish the images that were scorching his heart like fire.
Wu Ning glanced at the sky, which was gradually burning red, and his eyes fell on Chen Luan, who was somewhat silent: "Do you want to go home?"
“…”
Chen Luan came back to his senses and frowned.
"No."
"Not now."
He certainly knew that this was an escapist ostrich mentality and that things would not get any better because of his current avoidance.
But let's do this first, let him escape for a while and calm down.
Even if it's only temporary.
So the Jiang family's twins waited at home for the entire afternoon.
Until the sun gradually set in the west, it hung swaying in the gaps between the high-rise buildings, splashing a large area of turbid orange light on the glass facade.
Then the sky darkened, and the glass curtain walls between the buildings gradually changed from the golden orange of the sunset glow to the gray-blue of dusk.
When the moon slowly rose, Chen Luan still hadn't returned.
Jiang Ling threw away the game console in her hand, which had turned gray again, in annoyance. She kicked Jiang Xun's calf beside her and said, "Hey, where's Chen Luan?"
Jiang Xun, who was holding a tablet, adjusted his glasses and raised his eyelids to look at him: "Aren't you afraid that he'll get angry if he finds out?"
Jiang Ling leaned back on the sofa with her arms outstretched, crossed her legs arrogantly, and looked at Jiang Xun with a raised lip: "You're the one who installed the things, what should I be afraid of?"
Then he kicked the sofa leg next to Jiang Xun's leg: "Hurry up, don't tell me you don't want to know. Do you think I believe it?"
"See for yourself."
Jiang Xun calmly turned the tablet in his hand and threw it over.
Jiang Ling raised her hand to take it, only to find that Jiang Xun had been looking at it for a long time.
The red dot on the screen was flashing and not moving. It was located in a bar called Night Boat in the Aurora District.
There is also a reduced window in the corner, and the view seems to be from the ceiling in the corner of a bar's hall.
Jiang Ling's eyes froze for a moment, and she immediately looked up at Jiang Xun.
The latter picked up the half-empty glass of ice water on the table and drank it slowly, looking down at him: "Zoom in, don't you want to know what he's doing?"
"Bar surveillance?"
Jiang Ling dragged the small window over and enlarged it: "Where are you from? There's no way my uncle would agree to help you use his permissions to access the bar's surveillance. It would leave traces."
"No need. This bar's surveillance system uses an Internet-connected cloud platform system, so it's not difficult to crack."
His tone was calm, relaxed, and as matter-of-fact as if he had just gone to the convenience store downstairs to buy a bottle of mineral water.
In the enlarged surveillance footage, Jiang Ling quickly found Chen Luan sitting in the corner.
Night Boat is not a folk music bar for chatting and drinking, it is now a lively place.
On the stage, a street dance troupe was dancing under the dazzling lights, and below the stage, the crowded crowd was surging and rejoicing to the rhythm of the music under the bizarre and colorful lights.
Like a pot of boiling water, human figures are spinning, colliding and flying in it.
Waiters carrying trays swam among the coral reef-like booths like fish.
Chen Luan in the picture is wearing a baseball cap, which covers most of his face and his expression cannot be seen clearly.
When the waiter passed by, he took a glass from the tray and drank it slowly and intermittently.
Sitting opposite him were Wu Ning and Zhou Pei.
Jiang Ling recalled how Chen Luan had drunk half a bottle of pre-mixed cocktail and was completely delirious. He curled his lips in a smile, revealing half of his sharp canine teeth. "Alright, not only did we end up playing basketball in a bar, but we also started drinking."
What does he want to do next?
Go to the dance floor and dance?
"Half past ten."
Jiang Xun put down the glass in his hand. He had finished drinking the ice water. He lowered his eyes and watched the remaining ice cubes hit the wall of the glass with a light sound.
He glanced at the clock on the wall: "If he's not home by half past ten—"
"I'll go pick him up myself."
At this time, Chen Luan was curled up on the sofa, biting the straw and slowly sipping a glass of iced mojito.
The wine was recommended by Wu Ning and is said to be very suitable for beginners.
Chen Luan didn't feel anything while drinking.
It just tastes sour, sweet and refreshing, with some bubbles and almost no taste of alcohol, like drinking lemon mint soda.
The music was so loud that it was deafening. When the drum beats vibrated, Chen Luan almost felt his chest trembling slightly. He could even feel the faint vibrations coming from the floor beneath his feet, caused by the low-frequency drum beats in the music and the rhythm of the crowd.
The entire space seemed to have transformed into a huge, living creature, breathing and expanding with the jubilant crowd, continuously releasing a restless and excited energy that was almost tangible.
The bartender at the bar was shaking the shaker in his hand, making a rattling sound of ice cubes colliding.
The air was filled with a chaotic mixture of pheromones, perfume, alcohol and other scents.
Wu Ning, who likes the lively atmosphere, ordered another Long Island iced tea and went back to the dance floor with his glass in hand.
Chen Luan didn't hate this kind of excitement, but he couldn't say he liked it either.
He just sat there quietly, his eyes blank as he slowly and aimlessly wandered around the dance floor.
Some were laughing, some were making noise, and some were hugging and kissing as if no one was around in the crowded dance floor.
Two young boys squeezed out of the dance floor holding hands, returned to the next table and sat down, snuggling on the sofa.
One of them had a clear bite mark on the back of its neck.
Chen Luan's eyes immediately shifted away as if burned by the bite mark. He lowered his eyes and subconsciously reached out to touch the back of his neck, but his fingers touched the rough edge of the Band-Aid.
Then he saw the boy with the bite mark on the back of his neck drink half a glass of wine with a smile, and then hold the other boy's face and kiss him.
The noisy music and voices, the flickering lights and swaying figures now became their background, and the two people kissed each other in a dim corner at the edge of the dance floor.
Then they hugged, whispering in each other's ears with smiles on their faces. He held her from behind, rubbed his chin affectionately on his shoulder, and kissed the side of his face.
His heart began to beat heavily and Chen Luan's breathing stopped uncontrollably.
He looked away almost as if fleeing, trying to use the cold wine to suppress the familiar images that were churning in his mind, which were almost identical to what he had just seen.
The difference is just a kiss.
But it's no use.
The more he tried to suppress those images, the clearer they emerged, flashing back before his eyes.
Impossible...
Impossible.
This is not right.
This can't go on any longer.
The mojito in my hand was drunk up at some point.
Wu Ning ran back again.
Wu Ning seemed to be a little drunk, with a bright blush on her face. She smiled and said to Chen Luan, "It's boring to just sit there. Let's go to the dance floor and interact with the performers."
Chen Luan looked at the crowded crowd and hesitated.
"Let's go."
Wu Ning pulled Chen Luan up and said, "Since you're here, just forget about anything and let your mind wander."
The moment he stood up, Chen Luan felt a little dizzy and subconsciously reached out to support the back of the sofa.
My thoughts stagnated for a moment, and my brain floated lightly.
"Huh? No way, you're drunk?"
Wu Ning was a little surprised: "It's just an entry-level mojito."
"No, it's fine."
Chen Luan shook his head.
The dance troupe on the stage left and was replaced by a rock band.
The lead singer's hoarse voice was amplified by the microphone, entangled with the bass, guitar and restless drum beats. Hands were raised from the audience and stretched to the edge of the stage. The lead singer leaned over and high-fived everyone while singing.
Wu Ning and the lead singer shook hands. The female lead singer with colorful dreadlocks handed over the microphone. A voice with a tune that sounded like entering a savage's nest but was extremely happy came from the speakers.
Then everyone laughed, and the boiling bubble pool turned into a sea of joy.
Chen Luan leaned against the edge of the stage, and was infected by the atmosphere, and finally a relaxed smile appeared in his eyes.
"That's right, cheer up~"
Wu Ning smiled ostentatiously, cupping his hands into trumpet shapes and shouting at Chen Luan, who was standing right next to him, amidst the deafening music: "Don't overthink it. Don't worry about whether he's what you think he is. Just do what you want—"
Chen Luan was stunned for a moment, not quite hearing what he said, so he yelled back:
"What did you say--?"
"I said—"
"If you feel—"
"Too close to make you uncomfortable—"
"Then—back—off!!"
"It's okay."
"you want--"
"Everything is based on your own feelings—"
Wu Ning looked at Chen Luan's stunned eyes and raised the corner of his mouth:
"Love yourself more, Chen Luan."
"Instead of wasting time on yourself, it's better to waste time on others!"
The music on the stage reached its climax and the crowd was boiling again.
The night deepens.
The lively atmosphere in the bar did not diminish, but became more and more exciting as time went by.
Wu Ning was also tired of laughing and playing, so he returned to the sofa, asked for a fruit plate, and ate while chatting with Zhou Pei.
Chen Luan drank another half glass of mojito and walked towards the bathroom with his steps becoming a little light.
Away from the noisy dance floor, the drum beats and voices outside were gradually filtered through the walls into muffled reverberations.
It finally quieted down.
My thinking started to slow down, but my emotions felt like I was floating on clouds, and I felt much more relaxed.
Chen Luan washed his face, and the cool touch made his head a little clearer, which had been made a little confused by the noise and the slight drunkenness.
The loud drumbeats of the speakers drowned out the ringing of the cell phone, and Chen Luan then realized that there were two missed calls on his phone, from Jiang Xun.
The time is now eleven o'clock at night.
It’s already so late.
When I left, I said I would be home tonight, so I must be waiting anxiously.
Chen Luan wiped the water droplets from his hands and prepared to say goodbye to Wu Ning and Zhou Pei and leave.
Just after turning around the corridor, Chen Luan saw a familiar figure at the entrance of the hall.
The young alpha stood by the soundproof door, looking at him calmly: "Brother."
Chen Luan was stunned for a moment, and before he could say anything, a warm chest came over him from behind, and a pair of arms wrapped around his waist and tightened back.
Warm breath fell on his ear, and the boy's lips and teeth almost touched his earlobe: "Chen Luan, is the mojito delicious?"
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The author has something to say: Come on, come on, come on
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