Grange

The restaurant manager stood respectfully beside the table. Behind him, a waiter in a waistcoat held a bottle of red wine in both hands.

The three men at the table exchanged looks. Cheng Yue was the first to pick up on the key detail. "Mr... Ji? Which Ji?"

Was it the Ji he knew?

Before the restaurant manager could answer, Cheng Yue's phone rang on the table.

Everyone's attention turned to it.

Cheng Yue had a vague inkling of what was happening. Before he even reached for his phone, his gaze swept the room, but of course he found nothing.

[Champagne packs too much of a punch afterward. This bottle of Grange tastes pretty good, and you won't have a headache tomorrow after drinking it. Try it with your friends.]

"What's going on, Cheng?"

Qi Su leaned over to ask quietly.

Cheng Yue put down his phone and shook his head calmly. "Nothing."

He turned to the restaurant manager, who was still waiting. His gaze lingered on the bottle for a few seconds before he slowly said, "Please open it. Thank you."

"You're very welcome. It's our pleasure."

The restaurant manager smiled, stepped back, and left. As the waiter expertly opened the wine and let it breathe, Cheng Yue casually glanced upward.

Grange was a renowned Australian wine. A gentle swirl left its vivid color clinging to the glass in jagged streaks. Red wine needed to be drunk in generous mouthfuls; it needed air to awaken its flavors.

The distinctive fruitiness of Shiraz mingled with leather and the rich aroma of roasted walnuts, its full-bodied flavor layered with complex yet delicate tannins.

Qi Su made a surprised sound. "It's unusual, but actually pretty good."

What he was really more curious about was when Cheng Yue had made this new friend without even him knowing.

Cheng Yuxuan had, of course, tried this wine before. He looked up at Cheng Yue with an unreadable glint in his eyes. "This friend of yours seems to know his wine, Mr. Cheng."

Cheng Yue nodded distractedly. "Maybe."

From that point on, the addition of a bottle of red wine cast a strange atmosphere over the latter half of the dinner, sweeping away its earlier ease.

With Qi Su there, at least they could still say their goodbyes gracefully. The three men filed out of the restaurant, where Cheng Yuxuan's family driver had come to pick him up.

Before leaving, he suddenly turned and gave Cheng Yue a radiant smile, seemingly back to his original self. "Cheng Yue."

"Hm?"

Cheng Yue's mind was still somewhere in outer space, and he responded blankly.

Cheng Yuxuan paused for a few seconds, then smiled helplessly. "Nothing. I just wanted to say goodbye."

Cheng Yue forced himself back to the present. "Oh, okay. Goodbye."

As the black sedan slowly pulled away and merged into traffic, Qi Su could no longer contain his frustration. "Dude, are you drunk? Couldn't you tell he was waiting for you to respond?"

Cheng Yue looked innocent. "I said goodbye."

Qi Su was about ready to explode. "Not that kind of response! You were supposed to exchange contact details!"

"You've got some nerve bringing that up!" Cheng Yue was even more annoyed than he was. "I thought you were having some kind of problem, but you actually tricked me into coming to a blind date!"

"And who do you think I'm doing all this for?"

Qi Su simply felt a little guilty toward him. After all, he had been the one to discover Fang Zhiyou's cheating and tell Cheng Yue. As someone who had interfered in their relationship and helped bring about their breakup, he hadn't felt good about it.

On one hand, he had feared his friend would resent him for meddling; on the other, he couldn't bear to let him remain in the dark. Caught between the two, he had ultimately chosen to make his friend face reality.

Although he had tried to make it up to him afterward, judging by how things had turned out, that attempt hadn't been particularly successful.

That was what had led to this blind date.

"And when did you make this friend? Where did you meet him? How long have you known him?"

Qi Su believed he was firmly on the side of righteousness and failed to notice the increasingly strange look Cheng Yue was giving him.

"W-what? Am I not allowed to ask?"

Cheng Yue gave a cold chuckle, his eyes dark and menacing. "I think you should know better than I do."

If it hadn't been for him, would he have lost his defenses twice in a row?

Qi Su had no idea what he meant, but this wasn't the time to dwell on it. "And that friend of yours, too. Of all the times to send wine, he had to butt in right when things were going so well."

Cheng Yue rolled his eyes at him and walked away.

Qi Su hurried after him, full of resentment. "Great. Now this one's probably fallen through too."

Honestly, this was a top-quality prospect he had painstakingly selected: perfect looks, a gentle personality, and a good family background. The two of them would absolutely have been a match made in heaven.

(Ji Huaijin: Did you ask me?)

Cheng Yue didn't have a car, so he caught a ride with Qi Su. The other man kept talking the whole way, saying he would arrange another dinner in a couple of days and make sure the two of them connected.

But Cheng Yue ignored him throughout, leaning against the back seat and gazing thoughtfully out the window.

"Did you hear what I said?"

Cheng Yue suddenly sat upright, startling Qi Su just as he was about to launch into another lecture.

"Sir, sorry for the trouble, but could you turn around and take us to Blue Sky No. 1?"

Qi Su asked blankly, "What? You're going back to work?"

The hired driver reset the destination and steered the car onto the new route.

Cheng Yue lowered the window a crack and said lazily, "No."

Qi Su pressed him on why he was going there if he wasn't working, but Cheng Yue couldn't be bothered to answer and kept his mouth shut.

At nine that evening, cars trickled through the residential complex's entrance, while the occasional dog owner passed by with a dog on a leash.

As soon as the car stopped, Cheng Yue briskly pushed open the door. His steady steps made him look as though he hadn't been drinking at all.

Let alone mixing champagne with red wine.

Qi Su glanced back at the shopping bag on the rear seat and called out, "Don't you want your stuff?"

Cheng Yue didn't even turn around. "Hold on to it for me. Bring it over tomorrow after work."

Qi Su: "..."

I really must owe you!

Before him stood the apartment building he had entered and left three times. He remembered coming to this building plenty of times before that, too, but none of those visits had left as deep an impression as those three.

Cheng Yue looked up. The tower rose straight into the night, making it impossible to tell whether the lights on the nineteenth floor were on.

Still, the other man didn't seem particularly fond of bright lighting.

Tilting his head back sent blood rushing to his head. With the alcohol kicking in as well, Cheng Yue lost his balance and staggered backward a few steps, hurriedly steadying himself.

Someone happened to return from walking a dog, and Cheng Yue slipped in behind her. She gave him several sidelong looks.

Cheng Yue pretended not to notice any of them. He leaned against the elevator wall, his eyes lowered, staring fixedly at the floor beneath his feet.

The woman walking her dog got off on the fifteenth floor, leaving Cheng Yue to ride the remaining four floors alone.

The nineteenth floor was still utterly devoid of any sign of life.

Cheng Yue walked up to the door, let out a deep breath, and raised his hand to ring the doorbell.

After he counted thirty-six heartbeats, the door opened.

Ji Huaijin seemed to have known who would be there, his handsome face showing not the slightest surprise.

Cheng Yue's eyes were hazy. "You knew it was me?"

As always, Ji Huaijin refused to play by the usual rules. "No one but you knows this address."

Lin Shuyang (nonhuman edition): ?

We agreed to be human together, but you went behind my back and made me a dog?