Chapter 7#
On his way to work in the evening, Yan Heqing saw that the trees along the road were all decorated with intertwined white and blue light strips.
Christmas was coming.
Yan Heqing still took the subway. He wore a thick black scarf, his palm-sized face was tightly covered, revealing only a pair of calm, emotionless eyes.
Yan Heqing was afraid of the cold. He had been dressing warmly this past month and had somewhat forgotten the taste of cold.
Exiting the subway, Yan Heqing suddenly untied his scarf. The bone-chilling wind blew on his face, rushing to pour into his neck. His slender eyelashes drooped slightly. Yan Heqing raised his hands, cupped them together, and blew a breath of warm air into them.
Half a month had passed.
He thought, if it gets any colder, the reservoir will freeze over. He would have to learn ice fishing.
At this moment, a Maybach drove past on the street, passing Yan Heqing.
As Christmas approached, Oxygen became even more lively. When Yan Heqing arrived at the bar, the order list was already full.
The manager ran over to him and said, “Little Yan, mix three drinks for room 202 first.”
His expression was obviously nervous.
Yan Heqing lowered his eyes and glanced at the order.
All three were Negronis.
—
“I really don’t understand why you all love Negronis.” Chu Ziyu took a sip and showed a look of disgust. “I’d rather drink orange juice.”
Xie Yunjie ignored him and looked at Lu Lin. “How is it?”
The lighting in the private room was dim, and Lu Lin’s expression couldn’t be seen clearly. “Not bad.”
Xie Yunjie clapped. “It’s not easy to get a ’not bad’ from President Lu!”
Chu Ziyu forked a piece of melon and chewed it with a crunch. “This little bartender is quite something. The manager just told me he’s only 18! I was still playing with mud at 18.”
Xie Yunjie retorted, “You were squandering money at 18, thank you.”
Lu Lin silently put down his glass and suddenly called the manager. “A glass of Old Fashioned.”
The manager’s mouth opened slightly. He wanted to explain but dared not. Xie Yunjie and Chu Ziyu were fine, but Lu Lin… he really didn’t have the courage to say only one glass.
Xie Yunjie and Chu Ziyu enjoyed the drama and didn’t say anything.
The manager really didn’t dare to meet Lu Lin’s gaze. His suit jacket was soaked in cold sweat. He braced himself and nodded, “Just a moment.”
He fled the private room as if escaping.
As soon as the manager left, Xie Yunjie immediately started a bet. “Let’s make a bet on whether this Old Fashioned can be delivered.”
Chu Ziyu leaned over to place his bet. “What’s the bet?”
“That piece of land in Xidan.”
“Okay!” Chu Ziyu forked another piece of melon. “I bet it can’t!”
Xie Yunjie raised an eyebrow. “I have no choice but to bet it can.”
“Don’t be like that.” Chu Ziyu waved his hand. “It’s like I’m taking advantage of you. You can choose whatever you want, just for fun.”
Xie Yunjie turned to ask Lu Lin, “President Lu, do you think he’ll change the rule?”
Lu Lin’s brow furrowed slightly. “What do you mean?”
Only then did Chu Ziyu explain with a grin, “This little bartender has quite a personality. He has a rule of one drink per person per night, no matter how much you tip.”
On the other side, the manager ran all the way to the bar on the first floor. He had made up his mind. Today, even if he had to kneel to Yan Heqing, he had to get this Old Fashioned!
What kind of person was Lu Lin? A single glance from him could make the ground in the capital tremble. He could offend anyone but him!
To his surprise, Yan Heqing didn’t refuse immediately. “Is he a very powerful person?”
“More than powerful.” The manager seized the opportunity to say, “This whole street, including this bar, is his property. Little Yan, for the sake of our bar’s survival, you really have to mix this drink.”
The first half of the manager’s words was the truth, the second half was his exaggeration.
Although facing Lu Lin, the pressure was doubled.
This was the authority of a superior who had taken over the Lu Group at the age of 22 and accumulated it over many years, not comparable to other second or third-generation heirs.
But among these rich and famous people who came to play, Lu Lin was the most low-key and also the most elegant.
It was just a drink. If the manager explained it, Lu Lin wouldn’t make things difficult.
If he didn’t explain and couldn’t deliver, Lu Lin wouldn’t make a fuss over a drink either.
The manager was purely too scared to speak up himself.
Yan Heqing didn’t expose the manager. Things were going according to his plan.
In Lu Lin’s Negroni, he had added an extra ingredient.
He had calculated that Lu Lin would order a second drink because of the taste.
But while things could be calculated accurately, Lu Lin could not.
Just as Yan Heqing was about to mix, the manager received a call. After answering with a few “yes, yes, yes,” he hung up respectfully.
The manager turned around, one hand on the bar, the other wiping sweat frantically. “Little Yan, no need to mix it, it’s canceled.”
Yan Heqing’s fingers paused slightly. He looked up. In the private room on the second floor, a silhouette lifted the gauze curtain, turned, and left.
Lu Lin returned to his seat. Chu Ziyu was chewing melon with a crunch again. “No wonder our President Lu makes money. He even follows the rules at a bar. I can’t even hope to catch up in this lifetime.”
Xie Yunjie asked another question. “Old Lu, don’t you think the little bartender looks like him?”
Lu Lin didn’t even move his eyelids. “Who.”
Xie Yunjie sighed in his heart. Lu Lin was really not interested in the little young master of the Lin family. With his unforgettable memory, he didn’t even have an impression of the person’s face.
“No one.” Xie Yunjie complained, “I don’t want to chat with you two old men who don’t understand romance.”
Chu Ziyu was cued for doing nothing and tapped the table in dissatisfaction. “Hey, hey, hey, who are you calling an old man? I just turned 30 and matured, okay? And who doesn’t understand romance? I called several beautiful fairies today!”
As soon as he finished speaking, someone knocked on the door.
“Little President Chu.”
Chu Ziyu’s family owned an entertainment and media company with many big-name celebrity models under it.
Today, Chu Ziyu had called two female models and the female leads of two recent hit idol dramas, as well as three male celebrities, to play.
Firstly, it was pleasing to the eye to drink with handsome men and beautiful women. Secondly, he wanted to set Lu Lin up.
It wasn’t that he wanted to find a wife for Lu Lin through a blind date. For people of their background, marriage was a resource for business negotiations.
It was just that his old friend was still a 30-year-old virgin who had never been in a relationship. He was really afraid he would become a pervert from holding it in.
Chu Ziyu winked at the most beautiful starlet. “Chengcheng, talk to President Lu about your new movie. He loves watching suspense films the most.”
Qin Chengcheng was attracted to Lu Lin at first sight. That mature charm that had been precipitated by time couldn’t be hidden even in the dim light.
Just as she was happily about to go over, Lu Lin finished the rest of his drink, put down the glass, and stood up. “You guys have fun, I’m leaving.”
Chu Ziyu stood up. “Old Lu, you—”
The response was the sound of the door closing.
Xie Yunjie looked accustomed and didn’t even move. “Don’t bother. The old man is allergic to beauty!”
Qin Chengcheng’s disappointment was clearly displayed on her face. Chu Ziyu shuffled the poker cards and greeted her, “Come, come, melancholy doesn’t belong to beauties. Come to my table and play. We’re one short for Niu-Niu.”
Qin Chengcheng showed a smile and went to sit down.
—
Lu Lin went down to the first floor. On the performance stage, several singers were playing and singing.
Dim seats, a bizarre dance floor, the atmosphere was noisy and enthusiastic.
Only at the bar in the corner, a thin and slender figure was quietly mixing drinks.
The flickering neon lights brushed across his thin profile, cold and out of place with the surroundings.
A pure white shirt, a black vest, the uniform was worn by him with a unique beauty.
After a brief pause of a few seconds, Lu Lin withdrew his gaze, his leather shoes stepping on the floor, and left steadily.
When Yan Heqing got home, he was extremely hungry and cooked himself a bowl of small wontons.
He made the wonton wrappers himself, filled with fresh meat, shrimp, and vegetables. The freezer was full of them.
He had to go fishing during the day, review his lessons at night, and work part-time at the bar for two nights. He had no time to cook, so frozen wontons were the most convenient.
A light bowl of seaweed and dried shrimp soup, holding 20 crystal clear, plump little wontons.
Yan Heqing ate quietly.
His mind was reviewing the events of the night.
His original plan was to mix a second drink to attract Lu Lin’s attention.
But Lu Lin was unexpectedly well-mannered, disrupting his plan.
Yan Heqing was not disappointed.
He finished the last wonton, picked up the bowl, and drank the soup clean.
Patiently waiting for the next opportunity.
——
The next day, before dawn, Yan Heqing set out to fish as usual.
Still at Tianshan Reservoir.
The temperature had dropped sharply. It hadn’t snowed yet, but the lake surface was already covered with a thick layer of ice. When Yan Heqing arrived, people were already drilling ice holes on the ice.
Ice fishing was dangerous, but also more exciting and interesting. There were even more people than usual.
Yan Heqing hadn’t bought an ice auger yet, so he stood quietly watching others choose fishing spots on the ice, silently learning from their experience.
The old man came a bit late today. Old people were afraid of the cold. It wasn’t the coldest time yet, but he was already fully armed.
He greeted Yan Heqing and asked him to join him. After finding a satisfactory fishing spot, he directed Yan Heqing to set up the tent and lay the ground mat.
“The ground mat insulates, so the cold air from the ice won’t come up. Even if the temperature in the tent is high, it won’t fog up the ice surface.” The old man came over with a heater and said with a smile, “If there’s enough liquefied gas, we can even fish at night.”
The old man had a reminiscent look on his face. “Night fishing is really a different kind of experience. In the dead of night, if it snows, listening to the falling snow while waiting for the fish to bite, it’s incredibly atmospheric.”
Yan Heqing laid the ground mat. The old man came in with the heater and a small gas tank, fiddled with it for a bit, and turned on the heater.
The small tent quickly warmed up. Yan Heqing’s cold and numb fingertips gradually regained feeling. He didn’t sit down, just squatted and watched the old man bait the hook.
The old man’s bait today was red worms, about the thickness of a matchstick, with a relatively thick skin, easy to hook. The head was black and shiny, the body dark red. After entering the water, the color was bright red, easy to attract prey.
The old man had also added his own formula. He whispered to Yan Heqing, “I added lard and osmanthus honey to the bait. The fish love it.”
Yan Heqing took careful note. To attract prey, one must add more ingredients.
The day passed quickly. Although the old man still wanted to fish at night as before, his body couldn’t take it. He went home with an empty bucket.
The choice of ice fishing spot was very important. The spot the old man chose today was not very good. He muttered all the way, saying he would come at 3 AM tomorrow to grab a spot.
The old man had a car. Yan Heqing helped him put away his tools and declined the old man’s offer to drive him, walking to the subway station by himself.
He was still carrying a plastic bag in his left hand, which contained a cleaned fish.
Today, he had caught his first crucian carp.
Taking the subway back to the city, he came out of the subway entrance. There was a small convenience supermarket at the entrance of the community. Yan Heqing went in and bought a piece of tofu and a small handful of tender green onions. He was going to stew crucian carp soup tonight.
In the old corridor, the automatic sensor light seemed to be broken. Yan Heqing went upstairs in the dark. Turning the corner, he was almost home. In the darkness ahead, a red dot flickered.
The sensor light also came back on at this moment.
At the door of his home, Lu Muchi leaned against the wall with his long legs casually propped up. A nearly burnt-out cigarette was held between his slender fingers.
A pile of cigarette butts had accumulated at Lu Muchi’s feet. His dark eyes, like a deep pool, looked Yan Heqing up and down.
It had been almost a month since they last met. He seemed to have become more beautiful.
He slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.
“Found you, little toy.”