Chapter 42 Published
Gu Xiuyi glanced at his phone and saw a lonely little cherry icon among a string of incoming call displays.
The small green leaves on the cherry stems are just like the few strands of hair on Ji Ruan’s head that can’t be pressed down no matter what.
Ji Ruan did call him, just after nine o'clock, when he should have been drinking milk.
Gu Xiuyi felt a strange sensation in his heart, as if a soap bubble suddenly burst at the exact moment, making him suddenly realize something.
Ji Ruan seldom calls him on his own initiative, at most he would send him a message occasionally. But today he called at this time. Does it mean that he has unconsciously associated nine o'clock and milk with himself?
From now on, whenever Ji Ruan sees nine o'clock and milk, he will think of him.
Gu Xiuyi felt his heart warming up, and he had a sense of satisfaction as if the seeds he had carefully cared for had finally sprouted.
"Sorry," he said calmly, holding Ji Ruan's shoulders calmly, "My phone is basically on silent mode, and I didn't receive any calls tonight."
Ji Ruan let him hold her and walked forward, twisting the zipper of her coat with her fingers, and said loosely: "I also called Special Assistant Song, but he didn't answer. Later, Doctor Li called and said you were drunk, so I came here."
The implication was that it wasn't that he was easy to fool, but that Gu Xiuyi didn't answer the phone first and gave him wrong information, which made him easily believe Li Suian's words.
Of course Gu Xiuyi could tell what he wanted to say. The kid was very vindictive and took it very seriously when he was called "stupid". He tried to show in both explicit and implicit ways that he was not a little fool.
Gu Xiuyi wanted to pinch his face again.
He suppressed the smile on his lips and used his fingertips to play with Ji Ruan's hair with restrained force: "Well, I won't ignore your calls in the future."
"Really?" Ji Ruan laughed, and suddenly covered his lips and coughed twice. The wind was a bit cold at night, and he took a few breaths of cold air when he went out. Now his throat, chest and abdomen were all cold.
"Then you promise."
He covered his mouth and nose to slow down before completing the rest of the words.
Gu Xiuyi's palm slowly slid down his back, "I promise, I will answer every call from you in the future... Why are you coughing again?"
Ji Ruan shook his head and moved his hand away: "It's okay, this is what spring is like."
He went to the hospital many times for his throat, but they couldn't find anything serious wrong with it. They just said that his respiratory tract was sensitive and easily irritated.
It's spring now, the temperature is fluctuating, and all kinds of dust and catkins are floating in the air. He hasn't been having a very comfortable time during this period.
Gu Xiuyi was worried but helpless. He couldn't lock Ji Ruan at home and not let him go out.
He looked at Ji Ruan's eyes, which were red and wet due to coughing, and even felt that he had lost weight recently and his chin had become more pointed.
This bar has three floors in total. The first floor is open for normal business, the second floor provides private rooms for guests to reserve, and the third floor is an exclusive area for a few specific VIP customers.
Gu Xiuyi swiped his card, pushed open a heavy door and led Ji Ruan in. There was a large space inside without any messy decorations. There were a few staggered ambient lights hanging from the ceiling, a whole wall of wine cabinets in the corner, and thick carpets on the floor, so you could hardly hear any sound when you stepped on it.
A few steps away at the bar, Li Suian raised his hand and greeted them.
Next to him was Duan Zeping, who was drunk and muttering to himself, and Song Ling, who was holding the bottle tightly and asking Duan Zeping to stop drinking. His tie was crooked and he looked quite anxious.
Gu Xiuyi didn't walk towards them, but took Ji Ruan to sit on the sofa in the opposite direction.
He checked the time, pressed on Ji Ruan's head, and said, "Wait for me here, I'll be back soon."
Ji Ruan noticed that he was looking at his watch, and thought he had something important to say, so he nodded obediently: "Okay."
Gu Xiuyi smiled with satisfaction and withdrew his hand. The hair on Ji Ruan's head trembled, and then "slid" back to its original curve.
“…”
Gu Xiuyi paused, he shouldn't have tried to compete with Ji Ruan's hair.
He turned to Li Suian and said, "Please take care of him for me."
Li Suian raised his hand and nodded in understanding.
"Hey, Old Gu! Mr. Gu! Boss Gu!" Seeing Gu Xiuyi was about to leave, Song Ling quickly stood up and said, "Wait for me, I'll go with you, I really can't stand this anymore!"
While he was speaking, his sleeve was pulled again. Song Ling staggered and almost fell to the ground. Duan Zeping's eyes were distracted: "Where are you going, Old Song? Keep drinking. Come on! Fill it up!"
"Oh, go to hell." Song Ling cursed. Duan Zeping was still quite drunk, and Song Ling pried his fingers apart one by one before he broke free.
He pushed Duan Zeping's head back onto the bar: "Go to sleep for a while, and stop nagging."
Duan Zeping wanted to rush up to pull Song Ling, but Li Suian stopped him by stretching out his arm.
Song Ling breathed a sigh of relief, clasped his hands together as a gesture of thanks to Li Suian, then turned around and followed Gu Xiuyi out the door.
Duan Zeping drank a lot that night, and Song Ling was also reeking of alcohol. He washed his face first, then rubbed every finger clean with hand sanitizer before going to find Gu Xiuyi to get some fresh air.
Gu Xiuyi leaned against the service counter, his elbows resting on the marble table, as if waiting for something. He lowered his head and flipped through his phone intermittently. The dim light made his fingers look particularly slender.
Song Ling walked over and asked the front desk for a glass of water and some paper to wipe his face. He sighed, "It's terrible. Losing love is terrible."
Especially people like Duan Zeping, who still look for people to drink with after a breakup, are the most terrifying.
According to Lao Duan, he was the first to figure it out and to break up with Lin Qing.
But Song Ling didn't understand why he was still crying so sadly since he had figured it all out.
Gu Xiuyi said calmly: "So what I told you, dating is not as interesting as work, take this as a warning."
When he said this, he smiled, but it was fleeting, as if he was just casually pulling the corner of his mouth, but Song Ling's alarm bells suddenly rang, and he felt the oppression of the capitalists.
They say love is not as good as work, but aren’t you also immersed in love?
So this is their routine, they trick their employees into believing that being single is precious and that they can get rich by working overtime, and then they find themselves with beautiful women.
Song Ling was angry but dared not speak out.
The key point is that in his opinion, Gu Xiuyi's relationship is not even platonic, and is even worse than Duan Zeping's.
Although Lao Duan was in a tragic relationship and his true love was wasted, at least he confessed his feelings more than once and tried his best. He just didn't meet a good person and ended up getting drunk late at night.
But what is Gu Xiuyi doing?
It's been several months and the frog is still being boiled in warm water.
Song Ling thought that Ji Ruan didn't seem like the kind of person who would wait for him to slowly cook him. That was swan meat that many people were queuing up to eat, so he wasn't afraid of it flying away.
Song Ling looked at Gu Xiuyi's leisurely appearance, pondered for a while, and finally said: "From what I saw tonight, Ji Ruan should like you."
Gu Xiuyi paused, and finally raised his eyes: "What happened tonight?"
"......?" Song Ling opened his eyes wide and opened and closed his lips a few times, "You didn't feel anything?"
Of course he felt it. Ji Ruan missed his milk and became dependent on it.
Gu Xiuyi felt it clearly.
But Song Ling was not aware of these things, so there were obviously other things he had not noticed.
He frowned: "What do you mean?"
"Oh my God." Song Ling looked very disappointed with his boss, thinking that his boss only used his brain at work.
"He is worried about you." Song Ling said.
Gu Xiuyi looked a little more serious.
Song Ling spread out his hands and counted on his fingers: "Look, I just found out that he called me. It was almost time for him to go to bed at night. Why did he call me? It must be because he couldn't contact you, so he wanted to get news from me. Isn't this because he missed you?"
Gu Xiuyi tapped the tabletop lightly with his index finger, thinking: "Continue."
"As soon as Lao Li said you were drunk, he rushed over without saying a word, even though his health wasn't very good to begin with. If he didn't care about you and worry about you, who would be willing to toss around so late at night, don't you think?"
"So you two, it's like this," he put his two index fingers together and winked, "Running in both directions!"
Song Ling thought he had said everything he wanted to say, but Gu Xiuyi's expression didn't change much. He just pursed his lips lightly and leaned his head back, not knowing what he was thinking.
Tsk, you still can’t figure it out?
Song Ling was very anxious, rubbing his fingers as he pondered how to say a few more words, but the corner of Gu Xiuyi's mouth twitched.
Mr. Gu was silent for a while, and finally an expression appeared on his face, but it was only for a very subtle moment and was immediately covered up.
He covered his lips and coughed, looking away: "Don't talk nonsense."
This was the first time Song Ling heard words that could barely be considered swear words from Gu Xiuyi.
The light and shadow were intermittent. Song Ling vaguely saw Gu Xiuyi's men, and the corners of his half-covered mouth seemed to be rising.
He looked more closely and found that Gu Xiuyi's ears...his ears seemed to be a little red as well.
boom--
There was a loud noise in Song Ling's mind, and his pupils trembled as if he saw something terrifying.
Gu Xiuyi, seems shy?
Is Gu Xiuyi going to be fucking shy?
He was having too much fun. Does he know what embarrassment means?
Song Ling almost choked on his own saliva, and quickly picked up the cup to drink water to calm himself.
The waiter added a lot of ice to his water, and he almost froze his teeth off after taking a big sip.
Song Ling cursed inwardly, doesn't ice cubes in this bar cost money?
Gu Xiuyi tilted his head slightly, with no big expression on his face, but he looked like he was immersed in some emotion, savoring something carefully.
There was a slight smile in the corner of his eyes.
It's so weird. So weird.
Anyone could do this, but when Gu Xiuyi made this expression it was particularly weird.
Song Ling couldn't stand it any longer. He rubbed his neck and looked around. Then he realized that they had been staying in front of the front desk for a long time.
He was stunned: "What are you doing here?"
"I asked for something."
Gu Xiuyi didn't look at him. He spoke very naturally while touching the wedding ring on his ring finger.
Song Ling smiled in confusion: "What a big deal..."
Isn't the purpose of coming to the bar to drink?
For them, no matter what kind of wine you want, no matter how expensive it is, you just make a phone call and they will push a cart to you the next second. There is no need for you to come to the front desk to ask for it yourself.
"——Mr. Gu, your milk is ready."
The manager's professional and respectful voice sounded, and Song Ling turned his head to see the decent smile on his face and - the cup of steaming milk on the table.
The corners of Song Ling's mouth, which were curved just now, froze.
What's the meaning?
Gu Xiuyi went to the bar to drink milk?
It's hot fucking milk?!
"Thank you, you've worked hard." Gu Xiuyi said with a smile. His words indicated that the manager would receive a considerable tip.
The manager smiled even more deeply and bent down towards Gu Xiuyi's back: "It's an honor to serve you."
Song Ling turned back stiffly and saw Gu Xiuyi walking back leisurely with the milk.
His voice was very soft in the empty hall, but Song Ling could hear a hint of boasting in it:
"Ji Ruan only drinks this brand of milk."
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