AM Chapter 27

27 Bastard

The arduous and difficult Monday was almost over, and as Chen Mo was about to get off work, he received a message from Liang Jingren.

It was just a short line: [I’m going back to rest first, you can eat by yourself today].

His colleagues were all revitalized, with smiles on their faces as they welcomed the end of the workday, but Chen Mo’s heart had to endure the torment from Monday for a little longer.

From leaving his workstation to arriving at the parking lot, Chen Mo was surrounded by an aura of “keep away.”

When he opened the car door, sat in his specially selected leather seat, turned on the air conditioner and the top-of-the-line stereo, as the air inside the car recirculated, Chen Mo felt much more comfortable, and his mood improved a little.

He comforted himself: At least Liang Jingren would send him a message in advance to let him know, which meant that Liang Jingren still valued him, unlike before when he would just ignore him.

In all honesty, he should be secretly laughing that Liang Jingren could often eat with him, after all, if Liang Jingren really hated him, he could completely ignore him, take the elevator straight to the underground garage after work, and then tell the security guard to stop him, so they wouldn’t even have the chance to see each other.

So, Liang Jingren was actually being soft-hearted towards him, right? Perhaps, Liang Jingren liked him a little bit? Otherwise, why would he have accepted the flowers he gave him last Friday?

Thinking this way, Chen Mo’s mood suddenly became cheerful, and he even hummed along with the music happily.

As the car drove out of the parking lot, the view from the front window gradually became rich and broad, Chen Mo thought: I should have the opportunity to see him tomorrow, and I’ll give him flowers then!

Chen Mo originally wanted to go directly to the flower shop to bother Xu Yilin and see what new goods he had this week, so he could prepare for tomorrow, but he was turned away. The flower shop was closed today, not open for business.

Chen Mo blinked as he looked at the “Closed” sign hanging inside the flower shop door, then thought for a while and picked up his phone to call Xu Yilin.

“Cough cough, what?”

This was the first time Chen Mo had called Xu Yilin, and Xu Yilin’s voice sounded particularly turbid on the phone. Chen Mo connected this to the situation with the sign and guessed that the other party might be unwell, so he asked, “Are you sick?”

“Cough! Can’t you hear, uh, cough—can’t you tell?”

“Yeah, I can hear it now.”

“…Brother, cough cough, you’re disturbing my, cough! rest… What’s the matter, hurry up and say it, cough cough cough cough!”

Chen Mo said with concern, “Boss Xu, take care of your health, I hope you get well soon.”

“Oh? Cough, uh, thank you—cough cough!”

Chen Mo asked with slight anxiety, “You must, must get better tomorrow! You must open in the afternoon! And remember to sort out and display all the freshest flowers, I’m coming to buy flowers tomorrow!”

“…” Xu Yilin was silent.

Chen Mo thought that Xu Yilin might be wondering in his heart whether or not he should just not do this business with him, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t care whether Xu Yilin would open his shop as normal tomorrow, because there were plenty of flower shops. If this one didn’t open, there was another one that would. The extra two sentences he said when inquiring about Xu Yilin were purely because his mouth was itching and he wanted to have his say.

—Who told Xu Yilin to always chase him with a broom? So disgusting.

Before the bursts of coughs that seemed to carry germs reached his ears, Chen Mo hung up the phone in time.

At this moment, the sky was slightly dark, but his mood gradually brightened.

Chen Mo tucked his car keys into his pocket and briskly crossed the road, walking into a familiar coffee shop diagonally opposite the flower shop.

The bell rang “clang”, and after Chen Mo came in, he smiled and directly ordered to the owner behind the bar who was frothing milk: “Boss, give me a sandwich set~ the same one as Liang’s!”

As soon as Boss Zhao heard the voice, he knew it was the regular customer who had been buying coffee here frequently for the past two months, so he quickly replied without even raising his head: “Alright! It’ll be about fifteen minutes!”

“OK!”

Chen Mo had spent a lot of money in this shop over the past two months, and even achieved VVIP membership. This was the first time he had ordered food at this coffee shop.

He had heard before that Liang Jingren often came to this shop for breakfast and afternoon tea, but he had never found a chance to try it. Today, he could finally give it a try. Although what he was thinking in his heart was: Anyway, it won’t be better than what I make.

The sky gradually darkened, and the street lights outside the glass doors and windows lit up. He didn’t know when the previously broken one had been repaired, and it was emitting light at the same frequency as its companions.

The coffee shop played soothing classical old songs, and Chen Mo sat quietly by the window looking at his phone. The plate that had been emptied of its sandwich on the table in front of him had been taken away, and the coffee cup that should have been empty was refilled because of Boss Zhao’s special benefits for VVIPs.

In addition to coffee, Boss Zhao’s coffee shop also sold strong tea drinks such as black tea, and the menu lacked refreshing and sweet milk tea and fruit tea products, so there were fewer customers in the evening.

But occasionally, someone would walk into the shop after the street lights came on—

“Clang ding-a-ling”, a person holding a milk tea cup walked in.

At first, Chen Mo’s attention was attracted by the milk tea cup in his hand, because the black pearls inside were very obvious, one by one. As soon as Chen Mo saw pearl milk tea, he would recall the tragic experience of almost choking on pearls when he was a child.

After glancing at the other person a few more times because of the pearls in the milk tea, Chen Mo noticed that the person who walked into the shop holding pearl milk tea from another shop in such a brazen manner was actually a man.

The man had a low ponytail tied at the back of his head, and his long bangs and sideburns were naturally pushed to both sides of his cheeks. He was wearing a very loose dark-toned dark-patterned shirt, but the hem of the shirt was tucked all the way into his pants, perfectly accentuating his superior narrow waist.

The hand holding the pearl milk tea had a bright silver bracelet on its wrist. It was this bracelet that reflected the light from the shop’s lamp when he entered the shop, causing Chen Mo to misjudge the other party’s gender at first.

Now that he judged the other party to be male from his frame and figure, Chen Mo immediately thought of Liang Jingren’s underlings—many of them liked to wear some inexplicable accessories, they couldn’t afford big gold chains, so they wore big silver chains, and they would also hang one or two bodhi beads on their waistbands. The bracelets and chains on their wrists might be mixed with small accessories such as crosses that could swing with their fists, and they would make some noise when they moved.

Once, a flashy-dressed guy took his newly bought chain and gesticulated in front of Chen Mo to show off, and asked him if he wanted to buy one to wear too, saying that he bought too many and couldn’t wear them all, so he could sell it to him cheaply. Chen Mo’s reply to this was: Quite chic. But the school forbids wearing jewelry.

“Sorry boss, I brought my own drink. It’s a bit late now, and coffee will keep me awake, can I order a snack and sit here for a while? I’m waiting for someone at this intersection.” The man slowly walked to the bar, explaining in a very humble manner.

“Sure!” Boss Zhao was very straightforward, “See what you want to eat!”

“Boss, do you have any recommendations?”

“Can you eat fried food? How about an order of French fries?”

“Sure, give me an order, with extra ketchup.”

Chen Mo didn’t want to pay attention to the other customers in the shop, even though the person who had just come in had indeed left him with a special impression. However, the night made the reflection on the glass particularly clear, and when Chen Mo looked up from his phone, it was difficult not to notice the slight upward curve of the corners of the mouth of the person sitting at the bar as he chewed on his fries.

Especially since that man was staring unblinkingly at his side, eating fries and smiling.

Am I being targeted? Chen Mo thought.

He turned his head slightly, and the man with the ponytail actually bent his eyebrows at him and smiled.

Chen Mo was sure in his heart that he was being targeted, perhaps… he was also being fancied.

If that was the case, then tonight would be much more interesting.

Chen Mo didn’t expect that he could have a romantic encounter in such a small coffee shop late at night, and besides, he could tell from the reflection in the glass window in front of him that the other party looked good, with delicate and pretty features. He was quite lucky.

So… now he just had to wait for the lamb to take the initiative to come to his door…

Anyway, the other party was interested in him, so he would definitely come over. There was no need for him to act first. Chen Mo narrowed his eyes, and his eyes met the other man’s “coincidentally” in the reflection in front of him.

Sure enough, before long, after the other party finished his small order of fries, he carefully wiped his hands, then got up and walked towards him with half of his pearl milk tea still remaining.

The man’s figure was not outstanding in Chen Mo’s eyes. Although he was tall, he looked very flat because his shirt was too loose. Chen Mo had always liked his boyfriends and girlfriends to have a good feel. However, the man’s action of wiping his hands clean before coming to find him added a lot of points in Chen Mo’s eyes.

“Hello, may I ask your name?”

“Chen Mo.” Facing the man who had walked to his side but had not taken the initiative to introduce himself, Chen Mo still looked up and answered naturally, adding a smile to his face that gave people a polite feeling. “The Chen as in ‘ear’, Mo as in ‘writing from memory’.”

“What about you?” Chen Mo asked.

“My surname is Yu, you can just call me Little Yu.” As he said this, the man sat down on the chair next to him, using his fingers to brush away the hair that had fallen from behind his ear as he sat down.

Chen Mo looked at him with a smile, thinking: He really knows how to seduce people~

And he soon discovered that the most seductive thing about the man in front of him was not his hairstyle or figure, but his smiling lips that always had a delicate arc.

Those smiling lips parted slightly, and he said with a smile, “But I’m older than you, it might be a little strange if you call me ‘Little Yu’.”

“How much older?” Chen Mo asked with interest, propping his head up and looking at him.

The man asked in return, “How old is Chen Mo this year?”

The other party’s voice felt very soft as it came out of those smiling lips, especially since he actually said his name instead of saying “you”.

Chen Mo replied, “I just had my birthday not long ago, I’m twenty-two now.”

“So young~”

“What about you?”

The man didn’t answer him, but unexpectedly said with a smile, “Happy birthday.”

Chen Mo was stunned for a moment, and then heard the man say, “That sentence was for Chen Mo who just turned twenty-two.”

Oh no… I’ve met a strong opponent… Chen Mo couldn’t help but reveal a sincere smile.

He was unexpectedly a little moved.

In addition to being moved, Chen Mo also felt a trace of sadness in his heart. He remembered that on his birthday last week, he had taken the initiative to call Liang Jingren, coaxing and begging for several minutes, and Liang Jingren only then reacted and slowly said “Happy birthday” to him.

But it was also reasonable that Liang Jingren didn’t want to remember his birthday, after all, that kind of embarrassing thing had happened on the same day four years ago.

The waves of memory stirred, and Chen Mo couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild:

Ah… I really want to sleep with Liang Jingren again…

That night was indeed very beautiful, his first time meeting Liang Jingren’s first time in the back, he also kissed Liang Jingren’s wine-flavored lips…

Chen Mo was a little excited, and his throat rolled slightly unconsciously.

Little Yu, who was sitting next to him, gently pushed the coffee cup in front of him with his milk tea cup, as if reminding him of his existence, while also casually bringing up a topic, “Do you young people all like to drink coffee?”

Chen Mo picked up the coffee cup, took a sip, and put it down, smiling and saying, “Does Little Yu prefer to drink milk tea?”

The man seemed not to have expected him to call him that, and suddenly laughed a few times, saying, “How did you think of calling me ‘brother’?”

Chen Mo asked in a naive tone, “Is it not appropriate to call a same-sex person older than yourself ‘brother’?”

“Appropriate, so appropriate!” Little Yu looked very happy, and his words were filled with laughter. “I really like you calling me ‘Little Yu brother’, I hope I can hear you call me that again next time!”

“Why wait until next time? I can call you that now, Little Yu brother.” Chen Mo said straightforwardly.

Little Yu laughed heartily, his smile very bright.

Chen Mo stared at his face and thought: Is it about time? What else should we talk about? What time is it now? I want to check my phone… If we’re not hooking up tonight, it’s about time to go back, after all, I have to go to work tomorrow.

Before Chen Mo could restrain himself, Little Yu took out his phone first and looked at a message.

Then, he smiled and said to the person next to him, “The person picking me up is almost here, will we have a chance to meet again next time?”

Hearing him say this, Chen Mo knew that he would have to sleep alone again tonight. He “mm”ed very simply, and then continued to wait for the other party to speak and ask for his contact information or something.

As expected, the other party asked him for his phone number and accurately entered the words “Chen Mo” in the notes at one go.

After exchanging contact information, Chen Mo chatted with him about coffee and milk tea, like what little girls would chat about at a gathering. During this time, he accidentally found out the other party’s approximate age—rounded up, he was almost forty.

Chen Mo was a little surprised that the other party was so well-maintained, and even said it directly, without mincing words. Little Yu didn’t mind at all, and said with a smile that his parents had good genes and it was all thanks to heredity.

Before long, a black car drove up to the entrance of the coffee shop and stopped steadily with its turn signal on.

Little Yu finished his milk tea, and he slowly got up from his chair as if he had sat numb, “Okay, I have to go, let’s chat again next time.”

The right taillight continued to flash, and through the glass with its reflection, Chen Mo watched the man walk towards the black car that was almost integrated with the night.

There was a step-up waterproof platform from the sidewalk to the road surface, and Chen Mo noticed that he seemed to stumble accidentally when he stepped over it, and he laughed at the other party in his heart.

But as he watched, slowly, Chen Mo’s brows furrowed.

It wasn’t because the last mouthful of coffee was bitter, but because he found that the car parked at the entrance of the coffee shop looked particularly familiar.

When he picked up his phone and recorded the departing car through the glass, and zoomed in on the car’s license plate number, the all-too-familiar numbers caused Chen Mo’s pupils to suddenly dilate.

—That was Liang Jingren’s car.

—That smiling-lipped braided man got into Liang Jingren’s car.

In just an instant, Chen Mo recalled a phone call that had evoked a similar sense of surprise and anger in him—behind that abruptly hung-up phone call was a man’s voice, a smiling voice.

That male voice called Liang Jingren “dear”.

Huh?

Huh???

Huh????????

Could it be the same person? Little Yu?

Ha! He snatched Liang Jingren’s phone and got into Liang Jingren’s car?!

What did he come to do? Deliberately ran to a small coffee shop near Liang Jingren’s company late at night to seduce me?

—Or to declare his dominance?

His eyes fixed on the direction the black car had driven away in, suddenly, Chen Mo bit his lip hard and smiled.

Hahahaha heh heh heh heh………………

That bastard!!