Chapter 6

Jiang Chen had to admit something on the way back.

It was that he always became unlike himself in front of Ling Sheng. The rationality he was so proud of seemed to vanish when facing this man.

Yet Ling Sheng didn’t seem to do anything.

There was a vague answer in his heart, one he wasn’t sure of, nor dared to be sure of. If he thought about it carefully, from the first time he met Ling Sheng until now, it had only been two weeks. They had only met a few times, and hadn’t even had any in-depth conversations.

But undeniably, he was attracted to this man, even easily influenced by him.

Jiang Chen was never one to avoid things. He took out his phone and searched for a long time before finding the right person.

JC: 【Yan Huan, do you have time to grab a meal?】

Yan Huan: 【OK, you pick the place.】

Yan Huan was his junior, now a sophomore. He was the younger brother of his good friend Fang Xing. Their friendship could be traced back to when Yan Huan first entered the university. He had even accidentally gotten involved in some of their love-hate drama, and for a long time, he was considered Yan Huan’s boyfriend’s biggest imaginary rival in love.

They arrived at the agreed-upon place, and Yan Huan had just arrived as well. He sat down and slowly ordered food. Jiang Chen, seeing his unhurried manner, asked, “Lu Sheng went back to Jing City?”

Usually, they rarely ate out alone because Lu Sheng was very jealous of Jiang Chen. If it was someone else, it wouldn’t matter, but if it was Jiang Chen, he would urge Yan Huan to go back in half an hour at most, unless he was there too, then the three of them would eat together.

Yan Huan said it several times, but it didn’t work. Later, whenever they got together, they would bring Fang Xing along. With a third person, Lu Sheng would feel more at ease.

But the thing he wanted to ask today wasn’t suitable for a third person to be present, not even Fang Xing.

Yan Huan ordered his food and said with a smile, “Something came up, so he took three days off. He just left today, otherwise, how could I be so free?”

While waiting for the food to be served, Jiang Chen couldn’t hold it in any longer. He rarely felt so anxious, but he couldn’t care less: “There’s something I want to ask you.”

Yan Huan gave an “hmm” and looked at him.

Jiang Chen held the words back and went around in a circle, before finally saying, “How did you and Lu Sheng… confirm your relationship?”

“Confirm our relationship?” Yan Huan was a little confused: “Confession, I confessed to him, and then we confirmed our relationship.”

Jiang Chen was silent for a moment after hearing his answer, it didn’t seem to be the answer he wanted. Yan Huan looked at him and tentatively asked, “Chen-ge, are you… going to confess? Asking me for advice?”

Jiang Chen sighed, thinking that it wasn’t a big deal, so he bluntly asked, “I want to know, how did you know your sexual orientation, how did you confirm that you liked boys?”

This surprised Yan Huan, not because of the question itself, but because of Jiang Chen’s “going all out” expression.

“Chen-ge…” Yan Huan couldn’t help his curiosity: “You wouldn’t…”

…be gay, would you?

Jiang Chen looked at the boy in front of him, fair face, handsome features, soft hair. No one wouldn’t like this kind of sunny and handsome boy. When he was stuck between him and Lu Sheng, people misunderstood whether he liked Yan Huan, but he knew very well that he treated Yan Huan as a friend, at most like a younger brother.

But what about Ling Sheng?

That feeling of being irresistibly drawn.

Yan Huan looked at his complicated expression, guessing most of it, but still said, “Actually, this is a bit mysterious. Sexual orientation is fluid, isn’t it? Before I was with Lu Sheng, I never thought about it, nor had I met someone like him… hmm, someone who would make my heart race, who I would involuntarily pay attention to, care about his evaluation, miss him when I didn’t see him, and just be happy even if I just sat with him and did nothing. I wanted to be special in his heart, and then, I would crave some physical contact. If he touched me, I would, umm, have feelings.”

No need to say what kind of feelings.

“There would also be some not-so-good emotions, ah, you can think of Lu Sheng for this, although I also think his jealousy of you is a bit much, but it can be considered a more extreme example. But I think, whether the target is male or female, love seems to be like this. My roommate, Zhang Zhizhu, is in a long-distance online relationship and hasn’t even met the other person, but he’s willing to die for them.”

Seeing Jiang Chen listening attentively, Yan Huan couldn’t help but dig deeper: “Who is that person? Are they from our school?”

Jiang Chen was listening very seriously, constantly comparing and measuring in his heart, but the more he thought about it, the clearer the answer that was about to come out became. He sighed: “No.”

That could be considered confirmation that he was gay.

But it’s not someone from our school? Yan Huan was especially curious: “Then have you confessed?”

Jiang Chen had actually been holding it in all the time, wanting to find someone to confide in and share with, but Xu Peiya wouldn’t do, and although he had many other friends he was close to, they didn’t share the same orientation, so he couldn’t talk about this. Among those who shared the same orientation, there wasn’t anyone he was close enough to talk about this with. After thinking about it, he could only find Yan Huan: “No, I’m actually not sure, because before, I always thought I was straight.”

“Me too.” Yan Huan deeply agreed with this point: “When I was in the second year of high school, I had a crush on our class monitor, who was also the class beauty, long hair, fair skin, very beautiful. Don’t tell Lu Sheng this.”

Such hazy fantasies of adolescence, whether male or female, everyone should have had them. Jiang Chen was no exception, but at that time, he felt he was still young and didn’t have the ability to take responsibility for someone, so he never thought deeply about it. After a while, that hazy feeling passed, but he had never fantasized about any boys, so he always thought he was straight.

“So you became gay for Lu Sheng?” Jiang Chen asked.

Yan Huan thought about it, wanting to nod and shake his head: “Sort of, actually, whether you’re straight or gay, male or female, the most important thing is the person, isn’t it? The person I fell in love with just happened to be a boy, so I’m gay. If I fell in love with a girl, then I would be straight. This kind of definition is actually made by others, it’s just a way of saying things. For me, I just fell in love with a person.”

Just fell in love with a person.

At this time, the waiter came with the dishes, one after another, dishes with beautiful colors, aromas, and tastes were placed on the table, but Jiang Chen had no appetite. He just leaned back there, slowly and deeply exhaling a breath.

After returning home, Jiang Chen sat on the sofa without turning on the lights. He hadn’t eaten much just now, and his mind was full of Ling Sheng. While driving back, he had almost been distracted and ran a red light.

Fell in love with a person.

From the first time he saw him, he was attracted to this person.

Those peach blossom eyes that always seemed to hold three parts affection when looking at people, that slightly frivolous sexiness under the colorful lights of the dance floor, the warm breath that brushed past his ear when he spoke, that faint scent of shampoo in his hair, it was mint.

Those slightly thin, light red lips looked very soft, and that translucent shirt that was clinging to his body after being dampened by wine, revealing a glimpse of thin pectoral muscles.

The scene from that day flashed before his eyes again, and a surge of heat instantly burned up from his body, gathering downwards.

Jiang Chen’s muscles tensed, and he glanced downwards in disbelief, seeing the slightly bulging area of his workout shorts. His face flushed, he stared at it for several seconds, and finally gritted his teeth and ran into the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face for a long time. After finally calming down, he looked up and saw his face in the mirror, covered in water but still flushed. Everything was obvious.

He had always been a very organized person. At most, he had argued with his family about whether or not to enter the system when he was a freshman. He was determined to take the path he had chosen, study law, study for a master’s degree, become a lawyer, and have his own law firm in the future.

He never doubted that he would meet someone he would fall in love with in the future, although he had never had many specific requirements for his future partner, everyone must have had some fantasies.

But he had never thought that the gender would be male.

He thought he probably liked Ling Sheng, maybe because of physical attraction, or because of reasons he wasn’t sure of. He wasn’t even sure how long this feeling would last, but now, at this moment, he was sure that he liked him.

After splashing himself with several more handfuls of cold water, Jiang Chen finally calmed down from that feverish feeling.

He was never one to act impulsively. For him, liking someone was a very serious thing. Once he said it, he had to take responsibility. But he had never had this kind of experience in his twenty years. Except for the ignorant feelings of childhood, this was the first time he was so sure that he liked someone, and it was a man who was completely unexpected.

He needed time to calm down and think carefully, and during this time, he couldn’t see Ling Sheng anymore, otherwise he could imagine his own state.

He had to sort out his feelings, whether it was just a temporary impulse, before he could decide what to do next.

The next day, Tonio sent him a message asking him to urgently reshoot several sets of clothes, asking if he had time. Jiang Chen was still stuck in that mood, and didn’t really want to reply, but Tonio seemed really anxious and just gave him a call.

As soon as Jiang Chen answered the phone, he heard Tonio’s anxious voice on the other end: “Xiao Chen, do you have time today? These sets are all limited edition series, it’s quite urgent, they have to be released next week, so they must be shot today and also taken for review. If you don’t have time, I’ll have to think of another way.”

Limited edition series, generally speaking, these films should have been shot long ago, how could they only be shot when it was almost time?

Tonio couldn’t possibly make this kind of mistake.

“What’s going on?” Jiang Chen asked.

They all knew about Jiang Chen and Xu Peiya’s relationship now, and Xu Peiya also played an important role in Ling Sheng’s business. Tonio didn’t treat him as an outsider, and said resentfully, “There was a bit of a problem with the new product design drafts this time. I can’t really tell you the details, but luckily Ling-zong had a backup plan, and we now have new sample clothes that have come out, so we need to quickly shoot the film. Many models in the company can’t be used. Ling-zong was here just now, and I almost pulled Ling-zong to shoot as well. If you have time, just come over and help out.”

Ling Sheng was there too.

Was he in trouble?

But he had just resolved to not see Ling Sheng for the time being last night.

But it was really not good to refuse at this time.

Jiang Chen tightened his grip on his phone, and when Tonio asked again, he pressed his forehead: “…I’ll go over now.”