Chapter 43 My loyal dog hasn't kissed me for a day...
The next morning, Xing Lan was awakened by a sudden phone call.
He opened his eyes groggily, and Li Baidong's arms were still wrapped around his waist, holding him tightly.
The phone rang for a long time. Xing Lan calmed down, patted the arm of the person behind her, and said in a hoarse voice, "Let go quickly, there's a phone call."
Li Baidong's eyes remained closed, looking as if he were still asleep, but his hand obediently let go.
Xing Lan sat up in bed, picked up his phone and saw that it was a call from his high school class monitor.
"Hello……?"
He slept too late last night, and his head still hurt a little; his voice sounded a bit hoarse at the end.
Before the person on the other end of the phone could speak, Li Baidong suddenly sat up with a start, hugged him from behind, squinted at Xing Lan's phone screen, his expression lazy but his gaze sharp.
Li Baidong has excellent eyesight. Even though he had just woken up, his eyes were still sharp, and he immediately spotted the person who had called early in the morning to disturb his sleep. Xing Lan's contact name for him was: [Pei Zhi (High School Class Monitor)].
The polite yet distant nickname, including his full name and surname, carried no hint of ambiguity, which put his alarm bells to rest.
Li Baidong gradually relaxed, lazily resting his chin on Xing Lan's shoulder, and continued to listen to the phone call with him.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Xing Lan on the phone, Class Monitor Pei quickly got to the point: "Here's the thing, I've discussed it with the other class committee members, and we're planning to hold our class reunion this weekend."
"I know you're very busy with work, but our class reunion only happens once every three years. I remember you didn't come last time, so it would be a bit unreasonable for you to miss it again this time, right?"
Xing Lan hesitated, her long eyelashes drooping, and she did not answer him for the time being.
The other person paused, and seeing that he didn't react, he earnestly advised, "Don't worry, it won't take you much time. It's just a meal together, a chance to catch up. They're all old classmates, it's really nice to get together once in a while."
"Brother Lan, come on over."
Xing Lan pursed her lips, lowered her head and thought for a moment, but still coldly refused, "Forget it, you guys have fun. I'm busy lately and can't find the time."
Xing Lan has always been a loner and doesn't like getting involved in these kinds of social interactions, so her refusal was to be expected.
Back in school, his relationship with his classmates was lukewarm; they barely exchanged a few words throughout the year. If it weren't for spending all day in the same classroom studying, they would practically be strangers.
Now that we've graduated, it's incredibly hypocritical to pretend we were once so close and had such a good relationship with those people in social situations.
Pei Zhi remained silent for a long time before deciding to use his trump card: "Really not coming? I've invited Teacher Sun along this time too."
"Teacher Sun?" Xing Lan frowned, as if she had thought of something.
“Yes. Brother Lan, do you still remember Teacher Sun? That little old man who taught Chinese.” Pei Zhi said, “Back in high school, he really admired you. Every time you wrote an essay, he would praise it highly and even print it out and stick it on the wall for us to study.”
“I heard that the old man will retire after teaching our class. He’s getting old now. If you can come, he will be very happy. You are his favorite student after teaching for so many years.”
This trump card really worked.
Although Xing Lan has a cold personality, he has always respected his teachers.
He was encouraged by Teacher Sun to participate in the National Essay Competition. Teacher Sun knew that his father didn't care much about him, so he personally took him to another province to participate in the competition and treated him to several meals of mutton stew at the competition venue.
Later, Xing Lan won an award in the competition, which added crucial points to his college entrance examination score. Therefore, Teacher Sun can definitely be considered his mentor on his life's journey.
After thinking it over, Xing Lan realized that Teacher Sun was indeed getting old and probably wouldn't have the energy to attend dinners like this in the future, so she changed the subject: "Okay, then send me the address and time later."
Seeing that he had finally relented, Pei Zhi was very happy and quickly agreed, "Okay."
As soon as the call ended, Li Baidong's voice immediately came from behind him, filled with excited anticipation.
"Brother, are you going to a class reunion?"
"Um."
Li Baidong thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled with great interest. He nuzzled the back of his neck like a puppy and said enthusiastically, "I want to go too!"
"Why are you going to join in the fun...?" Xing Lan turned to look at him and said calmly, "When I was in high school, you were still in elementary school, right?"
"Who said that!" Li Baidong widened his eyes, raised his voice, and solemnly declared, "I'm only four years younger than you. When you were in your second year of high school, I was already a middle school student!"
Xing Lan gave an "oh" and said casually, "It's not that big."
A child who has just started junior high school probably can't even solve a linear equation with two variables.
Undeterred, Li Baidong repeatedly asked Xing Lan to go to the class reunion with him, but she refused each time.
"In what capacity will you go?"
“Family members,” Li Baidong said, winking at Xing Lan twice ingratiatingly.
“Only married people are considered family members.” Xing Lan poked his head, pushed him away, and stood up to change her clothes. “You’ll have to wait until same-sex marriage is legal in China.”
Li Baidong pursed his lips, his expression looking dejected for a few seconds, before suddenly brightening up again.
Even if I can't go in for dinner with you, I can at least drive you there, right?
He licked his lips, looked at Xing Lan excitedly, and said with rubbing his hands together, "My motorcycle is so cool, it will definitely amaze everyone."
"Brother, please, just let me be your driver?"
Li Baidong hugged a shark-shaped pillow and whined and fussed on Xing Lan on the bed for ages, until Xing Lan's ears were practically calloused from hearing it.
He sighed helplessly, casually pulled himself into a new white sweater, and turned to Li Baidong, saying, "Fine, if you want to drive me, go ahead. I'm too lazy to drive myself anyway."
-
On Saturday night, Li Baidong escorted Xing Lan to the restaurant entrance, carefully straightening his clothes and smoothing out the wrinkles.
Like a parent sending their child to school, he grabbed Xing Lan's shoulders with both hands and anxiously reminded him, "Brother, eat more and drink less later."
"Don't chat with just anyone. People are treacherous in this society, and it's hard for you to handle things alone."
"Remember to give me a call when it's over."
"I'll wait for you outside."
“…Okay.” Xing Lan glanced at him, and although she felt that this guy was deliberately pretending to be mature, she still reluctantly agreed.
Just as he turned to leave, Li Baidong gently tugged at the corner of his clothes.
The boy's eyes were pure and innocent. He pointed to one side of his cheek and said simply, "Kiss."
There are always people coming and going in front of this restaurant; you never know when someone might see you if you're not careful.
Although it's not a big deal to have seen it, class reunions are the perfect place for gossip to spread. If Xing Lan had openly kissed a man like that, this incident would probably have been dug up and teased like an antique at every class reunion for decades to come.
Xing Lan hesitated, patted his hand, and said perfunctorily, "Let's go home and kiss."
Li Baidong continued to stare at him, his narrow eyes slightly drooping, and his expression looked somewhat sad in the moonlight.
"My brother hasn't kissed me all day..."
"Do you think I'm not presentable enough?"
"No……"
"Then why not kiss?"
"I said, we'll kiss when we get home..."
As the two were arguing and pulling at each other at the restaurant entrance, they were suddenly interrupted by a loud voice.
"Hey, isn't this the top student from the School of Criminal Investigation?"
A man of similar age to Xing Lan parked his luxury car on the side of the road, got out, and glanced at the two of them with an inscrutable expression.
The man was quite large, dressed in a suit. Although he didn't have much hair, he had applied a lethal amount of hair oil to his scalp, giving it a very strong smell. Li Baidong had a very sensitive nose, and upon smelling it, he couldn't help but hold his breath and slightly furrow his brow.
"Where is the top student from the School of Criminal Investigation working these days?"
It was cold outside, but Qi Bo casually rolled up his shirt sleeve, deliberately revealing the shiny gold watch on his wrist, and looked at Xing Lan with a light smile, "I heard you're doing well at work and even got a promotion recently? Congratulations."
Xing Lan had no idea where Qi Bo had gotten this information; it was so outdated. She had no intention of explaining to him and turned away without saying a word.
Unable to get any feedback from Xing Lan, Qi Bo felt somewhat embarrassed. He chuckled to himself, a slight sarcasm playing on his lips, and said, "After all these years, Academic Star Xing is still as aloof as ever, still as indifferent to everyone as he was back then."
"That's true. Your family is so rich, of course you look down on us ordinary classmates who don't have any background or status."
“But as the saying goes, fortune's wheel keeps turning.” Qi Bo said, swaying as he walked step by step to Xing Lan’s side, deliberately lowering his voice to whisper in his ear, “You have to be careful. What if one day the wheel of fate suddenly turns against you? Then you’ll be…”
Qi Bo was about to put his hand on Xing Lan's shoulder when a pair of even longer, more slender hands slapped him away without mercy.
He paused for a moment, then turned his head in confusion, only to see that besides Xing Lan, there was another young man he had never seen before.
The man was tall and handsome, with a touch of wickedness. Although I didn't recognize him, his eyes were fierce, and his expression appeared particularly sinister in the dark of night, like a dog guarding its master.
Qi Bo frowned unhappily, then adopted his boss-like demeanor, waving his hand dismissively and saying, "Who are you? Let me tell you, this restaurant is booked by Class 7 today. You're not a classmate of ours, so go cool off somewhere else."
Before Li Baidong could answer, Xing Lan, who was standing next to him, spoke up for him first.
He stared at Qi Bo, his tone cold: "You know it's just the restaurant that's been booked, but can you book the entire street outside?"
Qi Bo looked at Xing Lan, then at Li Baidong, slapped his forehead, and suddenly realized, "What, you two know each other?"
He pointed at Li Baidong and asked Xing Lan, "Your brother?"
"..."
Xing Lan was still pondering how to answer when Li Baidong raised an eyebrow and spoke first.
"I am him..."
Xing Lan unconsciously looked up at Li Baidong, only to see Li Baidong pause for a moment before naturally changing his words to, "Friend, best friend."
Upon hearing Li Baidong's words, Qi Bo immediately clutched his stomach and burst into laughter, "Hahaha... How old are you? Best friend? If you put it that way, I'm his worst friend, hahaha..."
He mocked mercilessly. Li Baidong stood to the side, his face darkening. He wanted to lash out but had to hold back because of Xing Lan's feelings. The atmosphere was so tense that it was hard to breathe.
Qi Bo has been a sarcastic and foul-mouthed person since high school. He's a typical example of someone who's all brawn and no brains. Even after all these years, he still enjoys bullying kids.
Xing Lan's face turned cold. She glanced at Qi Bo from head to toe and said indifferently, "Qi Bo, your suit is nice. It must be quite expensive."
This suit was specially purchased by Qi Bo for his classmate reunion. He had been waiting for someone to notice and praise his outfit. Upon hearing Xing Lan's words, he said proudly, "Of course, this cost tens of thousands to be custom-made by a foreign master. I didn't expect you to have some taste."
Xing Lan nodded, but then said, "It's so expensive, what a pity."
Qi Bo asked, "What's so regrettable?"
Xing Lan curled her lips into a sarcastic smile, looking down at him with a hint of pity in her superior gaze.
"Such fine fabric, what a waste to wear it on a pig with no manners like you."
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