Whenever Xia Shule was in a good mood, he liked to have something sweet.
This time, for instance, he had ordered two desserts.
A good mood, food he loved, and delicious desserts-to him, this moment was pure bliss.
Ahh~ smells so good~
The only annoyance was that he seemed to have spotted someone familiar.
At the sight of that figure, his wrist began to throb.
Xia Shule: You stupid wrist, have you bonded with your master like some divine artifact?!
Xia Shule hurriedly swallowed his last mouthful of soup. He didn't want anyone ruining his meal. Only once he'd finished eating would he have the energy to argue.
Sure enough,
he had barely swallowed that last mouthful of exquisite soup before the appetite-killing bastard stood before him.
Jiang Gechen looked down at Xia Shule. "How many times have I told you not to follow me or bother me? How long are you going to keep being this shameless? You're always like this, with no regard for your dignity."
"I'm on a date with Dimu today. Don't even think about ruining it! Otherwise... I won't go easy on you." An eerie gleam flashed in Jiang Gechen's eyes.
"..." ^_^ Bro, haven't you already come after me? Go easy on me? What the fuck are you pretending for?
Think I don't know? Fucking poser.
With a mocking look, he said, "Oh, oh, oh~ actually, if you hadn't come over, I really wouldn't have noticed you were here too."
Whatever Xia Shule might have owed anyone else in his previous life, he had never wronged Jiang Gechen. Now, Jiang Gechen was the one who owed him.
Sorry, buddy, solo kills are first come, first served. I'm already halfway there. Care to help me land a hit?
Jiang Gechen's malice all but pierced Xia Shule through.
Xia Shule stood and moved a little closer to Jiang Gechen. Just as the other man was about to step back, he spoke.
"Don't think I don't know you were the one who drugged me and hired those people. Disappointed you didn't get to see what you wanted, weren't you? Jiang Gechen..." Xia Shule drew back. "Even now, I can't understand what I did to make you hate me this much."
Suddenly, Xia Shule smiled. "Now I understand. You're just a rat in the gutter that can't stand the light."
"You motherfucker!" In a fit of rage, Jiang Gechen seized Xia Shule by the throat and hauled him up. "Xia Shule, do you think I'm still the boy from high school you could trample all over and twist around your finger?!"
Trample all over and twist around my finger? What? Do you think you've been suffering humiliation for some noble cause?
"Urgh... that's how you see it? Looks like I was right, you piece. Of. Shit! Don't blame other people for your own nasty, narrow mind."
Struggling in discomfort, Xia Shule clutched Jiang Gechen's wrist with both hands. Blood began seeping through his gauze, but he didn't notice.
Xu Wenchuan: I told you...
Only when that flash of red caught Jiang Gechen's eye did he fling Xia Shule away as though he carried the plague.
"You're hurt?" Whether Jiang Gechen sounded pleased at his misfortune or something else was hard to say. Whatever it was, his tone was strangely twisted.
"What. The. Fuck. Do. You. Care?"
"Do you have to be so foul-mouthed?!" Jiang Gechen's temper flared again.
Unable to hold back, Xia Shule grabbed a glass of warm water from the table and hurled its contents at Jiang Gechen, hard enough to amount to a watery slap.
The young master had never lacked a temper, and now he couldn't contain it any longer. "Are you fucking serious? You can insult me, but I can't say anything back? Jiang Gechen, open your fucking eyes and look! You've done this to me-what the fuck do I owe you?!"
Xia Shule raised his arm, the blood-soaked gauze glaringly obvious. That final demand wasn't merely a question; it seemed to carry all the hurt he'd been unable to voice for so long.
Because he didn't understand. He truly didn't. Had taking things too far caused them to swing the other way? The better he treated Jiang Gechen, the more shameless the man became.
"You do owe me! Xia Shule, you'll always owe me!" Jiang Gechen practically roared.
Watching him lose control, Xia Shule genuinely feared the bastard might stab him again without warning. That drowning sensation threatened to surge up, and he took a deep breath.
"I can't talk to someone who's mentally deficient but somehow still capable of looking after himself." Xia Shule shouldered past Jiang Gechen and strode away. "Charge it to my card."
The server said, "Of course."
Scared the shit out of me. Is he insane?
Has this guy gotten so deep into his dark male lead persona that he can't get out?
Left standing alone, Jiang Gechen remained dazed for a long time, until a gentle voice sounded.
"Gechen? Are you all right? I called you so many times, but you didn't respond." Song Dimu gently shook Jiang Gechen's arm.
"It's nothing. I ran into someone I know." Jiang Gechen shook his head, unable to dispel the strange feeling inside him.
"Dimu, stay with me tonight?" In a rare moment, Jiang Gechen's tone softened.
"..." Song Dimu hesitated, but after some thought, said, "All right. I'll stay with you."
Even after leaving, Xia Shule was still a little shaken. Mentally ill people don't get punished for murder... I really can't compete with him on that front.
"Fucking moron!" Xia Shule belatedly felt the pain in his wrist and was about to go to the hospital to have it treated again.
Sorry, Doctor Xu. This time really wasn't my fault...
Before he could get into his car, a figure approached from a distance, calling his name.
"Here comes another dumbass..." Xia Shule was speechless.
He really couldn't escape this shit all day long. Just because he'd once been the malicious second male lead didn't mean he deserved this treatment, did it?
Heaven, stop rigging things against me. PDD, didn't you say I was the luckiest person?
I really can't keep receiving visitors all day like this. Do they think I'm a waiter?
"Shu Le, don't leave!" Seeing that Xia Shule really was about to get into the car as though he couldn't see him, Zhou Anyang hurried over.
Xia Shule had one foot in the car when he was forcibly dragged back out.
"..." It's not that I won't fight back. I'm just out of options...
Xia Shule moved away. "I don't want to see you. Don't you understand? Take your hand off me. Don't touch me."
I'm pissed off right now. Don't push me, bro, or I might send you flying.
Zhou Anyang was wearing the cologne Xia Shule had given him before, but he'd sprayed on too much. The overpowering scent made Xia Shule want to sneeze.
Covering his nose and mouth with one hand and planting the other on his hip, he said, "Did you two line up in advance? One leaves, and the next arrives?"
"What are you talking about, Shu Le? Who?"
"..." Can't be bothered to cuss him out. A pair of animals.
"Shu Le, I've been looking everywhere for you, but I couldn't find you. I called, but you blocked me. I really don't know what I did to upset you. I'll change, okay? This is your favorite restaurant. I remember all of it. Luckily, I found you here." Delight appeared on Zhou Anyang's face.
Whether that delight was genuine was anyone's guess. "How thoughtful. Don't call it lucky. I'm the unlucky one."
"I came to tell you that Chen Jin is coming back tonight, and everyone's coming. You should come too. Xiang Lin will be there. You wouldn't answer my calls, and you're the star of the show tonight, so I had to search all over Jingjiang for you!"
Chen Jin and Xiang Lin were both friends Xia Shule had grown up with since they were little enough to run around bare-bottomed. The three had entered high school together, only going their separate ways for university.
By "everyone," he probably meant their high school friends.
That made sense. After all, right now, only Xia Shule knew Zhou Anyang's true nature. The others knew nothing.
Then let's all enjoy a good show tonight.
Zhou Anyang, you can't stand me so much that you've probably already won a few people over, haven't you? Let me see what you've accomplished.
"Sure. See you tonight. Can you let go now? You stink."
"Mm... okay." Zhou Anyang lowered his eyes meekly.
Xia Shule gave a contemptuous little laugh and drove away.
The instant he left, Zhou Anyang's gaze turned venomous. Xia Shule, you really have always thought you were above everyone else.
Let's see how much longer you can stay so high and mighty. I'll drag you down from heaven myself!