What Home?

At nine o'clock that evening, Haicheng's urban district was ablaze with lights. The bustling streets glittered like a flowing golden ribbon, and the city was at its liveliest.

Su Yang drove the two women to Shangyuan Road, Haicheng's most famous influencer hotspot.

The road was packed with countless shops for eating, drinking, and entertainment. Their trendy decor made the area a gathering place for fashionable young men and women.

After searching for quite a while, Su Yang finally found a parking spot and parked the car.

The three of them then strolled leisurely into the crowd.

Because all three had outstanding looks and bearing, they immediately attracted a swarm of passersby's attention.

"Look over there! There's a handsome guy!" A girl in a white short skirt turned to alert her friend.

"Wow, he really is pretty handsome."

"I want to go ask for his WeChat."

"Go on. What's the problem?"

"But he's with two beautiful girls. One of them might be his girlfriend."

"So what? We're all out having fun. Since he's already with two girls, would he really mind having one or two more?"

"That makes so much sense. Then I'm going, okay?"

"Go on. Give it a try."

"All right!" The girl in the short skirt gathered her courage and jogged toward Su Yang in the distance.

Su Yang was searching for a bar with Zhao Mengrou and Gu Xiaoman when he suddenly felt someone tap his arm.

He turned around and saw a cute, adorable girl standing beside him. She was about 165 centimeters tall, wore twin ponytails, a short black top, and a white skirt.

Su Yang froze for a moment. "You are?"

"Handsome, can we... get to know each other?" the girl asked shyly.

Hearing this, Zhao Mengrou and Gu Xiaoman turned toward the girl at the same time.

Both wore expressions of anticipation, ready to see how Su Yang would handle the situation.

Su Yang smiled calmly and immediately called out in his mind:

--System, scan! Just tell me her looks score.

79

--Okay.

After receiving the answer, Su Yang cleared his throat and politely refused the girl in front of him. "Sorry, beautiful, but my girlfriend keeps a close eye on me. She won't let me add random people on WeChat."

"Uh, all right, then." The pretty girl blushed after being rejected and jogged away.

"Not bad, Su Yang. You actually managed to resist adding such an adorable beauty?"

Zhao Mengrou deliberately teased him from the side.

"I told you, I'm an honest and simple man."

"Cut it out. That's only because the two of us are here, right? Otherwise, I wouldn't believe for a second that you wouldn't add her."

"Whether you're here or not, I wouldn't add her. I'm not that casual a person."

The first half of what Su Yang had said was true. After all, the girl had only scored 79 points, which wasn't enough to meet the system's binding requirement. As for the second half, that was pure nonsense.

Soon, the three of them chose a craft beer bar called Yin Mi.

The bar was dimly lit and decorated in a retro style. A long-haired young man who looked extremely artistic sat on the central circular stage, strumming a guitar and singing.

Accompanied by the slow-paced song, a hazy, intoxicating atmosphere unique to craft beer bars filled the entire room.

There were already quite a few customers inside, all of them young men and women. The sight of all those long legs dazzled Su Yang.

At the server's direction, the three of them casually chose a round table and sat down.

Su Yang took the menu and handed it to the two women with a smile. "You two order first. See what you'd like to drink."

Gu Xiaoman took the menu and began looking through it. Her practiced movements made it obvious that she was a frequent bargoer.

"Bring us one pitcher of your house special IPA first, along with some snacks."

"Certainly. Please wait a moment." The server took the menu and turned to leave.

"Just one pitcher?" Su Yang felt that it might not be enough.

Gu Xiaoman smiled. "We can order more if it isn't enough. This pitcher holds quite a lot—three liters."

"All right. We'll order more if we need it."

Just then, Gu Xiaoman took a pack of women's cigarettes out of her Chanel bag.

Seeing this, Su Yang asked, "You smoke?"

"Not much. I usually only smoke a few when I come out drinking. I don't smoke normally."

"In that case, I'll have one too."

Before long, the beer and snacks were served.

Su Yang poured the beer and pushed the glasses in front of the two women. Then he picked up his own glass with a smile. "Come on! Thank you, ladies, for coming out to celebrate with me. Let's have a toast."

"This is your first time buying a home. Shouldn't you have a drink by yourself first?" Zhao Mengrou said deliberately with a charming smile.

"All right, all right. I'll toast you two sisters first." As he spoke, he downed the beer in his hand.

"Mm, not bad. This beer tastes pretty good."

After saying that, he filled another glass. The three clinked their glasses, and Zhao Mengrou and Gu Xiaoman congratulated him with bright smiles. "Congratulations on accomplishing one of life's major milestones."

"Thank you, ladies." Su Yang replied with an equally broad smile.

The three tilted their heads back and finished their drinks in one go.

"Su Yang, there's something I've been wanting to ask you." As she spoke, Gu Xiaoman refilled the glass she'd just emptied.

"Ask away."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Su Yang smiled faintly. "No. I only dated once in college, and we broke up not long afterward."

"So you haven't dated anyone since? With your looks and circumstances, that doesn't seem right. Look at how a beauty came up to ask for your WeChat while we were walking just now. How am I supposed to believe you when you say you've only dated once?"

Sis, I was broke before, and I didn't take care of myself either. I worked overtime at the company all day. Where would I have found a girlfriend?

Su Yang muttered inwardly, then looked at Gu Xiaoman and explained, "I swear! I've really only dated once. It's not that I don't want to date. First, you have to like the other person, right? That's how love works."

"So you haven't met anyone you've liked all these years?"

"Not yet." Su Yang shook his head.

After drinking another glass, Su Yang deliberately asked the two women, "What about you? Do you have boyfriends?"

"What do you think?" Zhao Mengrou rolled her eyes. "If we had boyfriends, would we still come out to eat and drink with you?"

"Hehe, that's true."

"Are we really just going to drink like this?" Gu Xiaoman asked.

"How about getting a deck of cards or some dice and playing a game while we drink?"

"That's exactly what I meant. Hehe."

"All right, dice it is." Su Yang turned toward a server in the distance and shouted, "Hey, handsome! Bring me three dice cups."

"Coming right up~"

The server soon brought over the dice cups, and the three began playing a classic drinking game.

"Four threes," Su Yang called first.

"Five threes," Gu Xiaoman called next.

When it was Zhao Mengrou's turn, she glanced at her dice, thought for a moment, and said, "Five sixes."

"Open!" Su Yang immediately opened his dice cup without a second thought. "I don't have a single one."

Gu Xiaoman opened hers as well and said with a smile, "I have one."

Zhao Mengrou only had three herself, bringing the total to four sixes.

She pouted and snorted. "Hmph. It's just drinking, right? One glass?"

"That's right. One glass per round. No backing out," Su Yang reminded her.

"Cut it out. Just watch my alcohol tolerance." Zhao Mengrou tipped her head back and finished her drink in one go.

"Now that's more like it!" Su Yang applauded her.

Time flew while they played, and the alcohol disappeared just as quickly. Before they knew it, the three had ordered two more pitchers of craft beer.

By then, Zhao Mengrou and Gu Xiaoman's eyes had grown hazy. Zhao Mengrou in particular had a flushed face, and her body was beginning to sway.

Su Yang had often played this dice game while drinking with his roommates in college, so his skills were decent. He had only drunk a dozen or so glasses so far.

Still, since he hadn't drunk in a long time, his head was beginning to feel hazy too.

He raised his hand and checked the time. It was already half past twelve in the morning.

"Beautiful ladies, are you still drinking? I think you're both about done. How about we call it a night?"

"No! Keep drinking!" Zhao Mengrou shouted, waving her hand grandly.

"Keep drinking? You're drunk already."

"Who says I'm drunk? Xiaoman, are you drunk?" Zhao Mengrou turned her head toward Gu Xiaoman in a daze.

"I'm not drunk! Su Yang is drunk!"

Su Yang rolled his eyes. "You're both drunk, as far as I can tell. Why don't we stop drinking? Otherwise, if you two drink yourselves unconscious, how am I supposed to get you home?"

"Home? What home?"