Chapter 9

Tong Lin was acting crazy tonight, sometimes pretending to be melancholic, sometimes extremely cheerful. In the second half of the evening, he kept dragging Mo Chengchuan to drink, trying to get him drunk and squeeze some gossip out of him.
"I can't believe I didn't know you liked guys!"
"How did you meet him? Why did you break up?"
"Why did he come to give you clothes?"
Mo Chengchuan was extremely wary, and no matter how much Tang Lin tried to get information out of him, he still held onto his bottom line, at most getting a little tipsy and not revealing a single word about his so-called "ex."
方则心只问了一句：“大学谈的那个？”
莫呈川望了方则心一眼，没作声。
方则心便又低下头玩手机，只听佟临在那里做无谓的威逼利诱，好似在唱独角戏。
Finally, Tong Lin got drunk himself and stopped bothering Mo Chengchuan. Instead, he pulled on Fang Zexin to recall the past. He and Fang Zexin had known each other since they were young, and they started from more than ten years ago.
"I remember when we were kids, you took me to your house to play...when was that, like middle school? Right, it was middle school?"
"That was my first time at your house, and it was quite an experience. A three-story villa! Even though it's old now, back then it was really impressive. Even to this day, my dream is to have a three-story villa, just like yours."
"Hahaha, do you know that when I was waiting for you in your room, Momo ran in and called me brother, and then jumped into my arms before realizing it was wrong. We just stared at each other."
"At that time... At that time, I was really envious of you having such a lovely little sister, like a little princess."
Actually, Fang Zeming knew all of these things. When Tong Lin first entered the Fang family's door, he expressed admiration and said that he would work hard to earn money to buy such a villa in the future. From childhood until now, Tong Lin has treated Fang Zemo like his own little sister, spoiling her even more than her real brother. Fang Zeming even suspects that, in Fang Zemo's heart, Tong Lin has already replaced her position."
Fang Zexin listened absent-mindedly and said casually, "So you became my brother just to be a big brother to my sister?"
Tong Lin was taken aback and suddenly said loudly, "No!"
Fang Zhexin was startled by his words, "I know you're not." He glared at Tong Lin, regretfully realizing that Tong Lin couldn't understand his joke now.
MocChengchuan said: "He's drunk."
FangZhexin nodded: "We can go back now." TongLin's game could end once TongLin was down.
MocChengchuan did not object to FangZhexin's logic, he stood up with his phone and used only one hand to hold down TongLin, who wanted to stand up and object. He said: "I'll stay here with him, you go pay the bill."
Fang Zhexin nodded again, "Okay."
After Fang Zhexin left, Tong Lin still persistently pulled Mo Chengchuan's sleeve, "You haven't told me about your ex yet."
Mo Chengchuan's tone was a little cold, "Why should I tell you about him."
“他长得挺好看的吧。”佟临的确有些不清醒了，说话时看着懵头懵脑的，“暮暮说他长得挺好看的。”
莫呈川的脊背挺得愈发地直，垂眼盯着佟临，显出了一种高高在上的意味。酒吧里灯光昏暗，其实看不太清，他盯着佟临看了片刻，才问：“你喜欢长得好看的男人？”
Tong Lin shook his head and then said, "Mu Mu likes it."
Mo Chengchuan seemed to smile, but there was no hint of joy in that smile, "He likes it too."
"What?" Tong Lin didn't quite understand, "Who? Likes what?"
Mo Chengchuan said with extreme patience, "I mean, that man who looks pretty good, he also likes men who look good." There was even a hint of terrible kindness.
Tong Lin slumped on the sofa and didn't speak, as if he had temporarily frozen because of digesting the sentence.
Mo Chengchuan saw Fang Zexin walking towards him, so he grabbed Tong Lin with one hand and pushed him into Fang Zexin's arms: "Take him back."
"What about you?" Fang Zexin asked.
"I'll take a walk," Mo Chengchuan said, "and then take a taxi back."
There was still some lingering heat in the evening, but luckily the wind was cool. After walking for about fifteen minutes, Mo Chengchuan's phone, which had been held in his hand the whole time, rang. He quickly raised his hand and glanced at the incoming call notification.
It's Professor Mo.
After about two seconds, Mo Chengchuan answered the phone and said, "Mom."
Professor Mo said, "It's the weekend tomorrow and I plan to bring your grandmother back. Are you free?" Mo Chengchuan's grandmother is a bit senile and cannot be left alone. She has been living in a nursing home.
Moh Chengchuan said, "Yes, I will drive over there directly tomorrow."
"Okay," Professor Moh said, then asked, "How's work been lately?"
Moh Chengchuan said, "It's been good."
Professor Mo responded with an "Hmm" and said, "See you tomorrow."
Mo Chengchuan also replied with an "Hmm" and then both hung up the phone.
At this moment, Mo Chengchuan felt like his alcohol had finally worn off. He actually didn't drink too much, but ever since Tong Lin poured him a drink, there was a hidden sense of restlessness that seemed to linger. Only now, with the phone call ending, did this restlessness finally subside.
He stood at the street corner, seemingly recognized by passersby, who cast their curious gazes upon him. Just then, a taxi slowed down and two young passengers alighted from the vehicle, appearing to be college students out for some fun.
Mo Chengchuan raised his hand and gestured to the driver, waiting for the driver to slowly pull the car up to him. Then he bent down and got into the taxi, shutting out the prying eyes from the outside world.
But he couldn't shut out the inquisitive eyes inside the car. The taxi driver kept glancing at him from the rearview mirror and after a while said, "You look a lot like a certain celebrity, seems familiar."
Mo Chengchuan didn't say a word, he wasn't used to talking to strangers.
The taxi driver, however, seemed accustomed to chatting with passengers. Seeing him holding his phone, he asked, "Waiting for your girlfriend's call? Did you have a fight with your girlfriend?"
Mo Chengchuan just realized that he was still holding his phone, so he put it away. It was not polite to ignore the person now, so he politely pursed his lips, with a rather awkward smile.
With such a weak response, the driver immediately picked up on it and said, "You look like a celebrity. Judging from your attire, your other qualities must be impressive too. Don't worry, girls like guys like you. That 'husband' guy online... he's just handsome and rich, right?"
Mo Chengchuan finally gave the driver a glance. He suspected that the driver was doing it on purpose, but then he felt like he was overthinking and took back his gaze.
But the driver thought more and more that it really looked like that. He laughed to himself, "Hahaha, with your looks, there must be plenty of girls waiting to hug you home as their husband. Don't worry, cheer up!"
Mò Chéng Chuān didn't know where the word "worried" was written on his face, and was annoyed and wrinkled his brows, saying, "There's no girl, I'm gay."
The driver was caught off guard and stuttered, "Uh... uh... gay, likes men, I know that." Then he muttered, "Why do they all like men?"
Mochengchuan did not pay attention to the driver's murmurs and simply closed his eyes, looking like he wanted to keep people at a distance.
When they arrived at their destination, the quiet driver couldn't resist anymore and stuck his head out to say, "There are quite a few good-looking young guys out there, and it's okay to like men. Last time, I drove a really handsome one. Ha, he was so handsome and had two dimples when he smiled..."
Meng Chuan Mo interrupted him in a cold voice: "Thank you."
The driver replied, "You're welcome..."
Meng Chuan Mo even didn't let the taxi drive to the entrance of the residential area, but stopped at the intersection and walked a short distance himself. The security guards in the residential area were surprised to see him. They saw him driving out in the morning. Why did he come back on foot in the evening?
It seemed that there was a rare fatigue on Mo Chengchuan's face today. He walked in and the security guard greeted him with more concern than usual: "Welcome back, Mr. Mo."
Mo Chengchuan was stunned for a moment, and when he heard "Mr. Mo", he quickly regained his composure: "Hmm."
"I'm back" - he had heard this phrase countless times from Guan Tang, to the point that whenever he heard it, he always felt that a bright smile should immediately appear, with two dimples showing. When she got closer, she carried a sweet scent...
Mou Chengchuan rarely reminisces about the past, but today he may have been influenced by Tong Lin. At the bar, Tong Lin seemed to be stimulated by the words "partner" and "ex", and he kept grinding him with questions. Although he showed a very indifferent expression on his face, the answers had already emerged in his heart piece by piece. Later, Tong Lin pulled a space for Fang Zexin to drink, and he didn't say a word or touch a sip of wine.
It was probably just a summer day like any other, with crowds of people surging and the heat unbearable. There was a person standing high up, stretching to grab at something, frustratingly falling just short each time. They strained to rise up on their tiptoes, occasionally showing a bit of their waist, blindingly white...
This person's waist is just wide enough for his palm, but not thin. On the contrary, it is covered by a layer that cannot be touched easily. Otherwise, he will sensibly cry out...
Finally, it was a summer when he said, "Don't come back when you leave."
He asked, "Why?"
The person wrinkled their nose, looking a bit playful and cute, and repeated his question: "Why? It's all because of love."
He made a joke.
Ke Mochengchuan didn't find it funny at all.
In the end, he wanted to hug this person, but he hugged nothing.
Mo Chengchuan woke up from his dream, it was only 4 o'clock in the morning and the sky outside was already turning pale.
He has always been fond of peace and quiet, living in a small high-rise building with one apartment per floor in the community, which is quite spacious. He enjoys three bedrooms and two living rooms alone, making it even more eerily quiet, as if even footsteps could echo.
He doesn't have the habit of bringing his phone to bed. Getting out of bed now, he poured a glass of cold water first, and then picked up his phone and took a glance at it.
But it is empty.
Mo Chengchuan stood by the French window, drinking the glass of cold water sip by sip. He looked at the gradually brightening sky outside the glass window, the bustling noise gradually rising, yet the room remained as quiet as yesterday.