LWDC Chapter 128

Chapter 128 – Ask Someone Else

Chapter 128 – Ask Someone Else

Chapter 128 – Ask Someone Else

Ning Fei: [I told Jinghui’s people that we had a brief period together. Just letting you know, don’t let it slip.]

Duan Yunhong: [?]

Having not received direct contact from the other party for a long time, Duan Yunhong was puzzled to suddenly receive such an abrupt message. But after he sent a question mark and waited for a while, the message interface still didn’t show a new reply. So the man added another message in an official tone: [Who did you tell?]

Ning Fei still didn’t respond.

Duan Yunhong frowned slightly, staring at the phone screen. Suddenly, he thought of Wang Moye’s Moments.

In fact, he didn’t know Wang Moye, let alone added him as a friend. However, someone from Jinghui Base had gone to Tianyue for a short-term assignment, and the person who went was “someone important.” People at Huichuan would pay attention to it to varying degrees, and Duan Yunhong was far from the only one. Among these people, there were those who knew Wang Moye and had added him as a friend. Everyone obtained information through various channels and then exchanged notes. Naturally, Duan Yunhong would also hear about it.

For example, he knew Wang Moye’s general family background, knew the project he was (ostensibly) there to connect with, knew that this project was closely related to Yu Zhou’s department, and also saw Wang Moye’s ambiguous Moment.

The person who showed Duan Yunhong this status at the time muttered, “Why is he posting ‘tonight’s wind’ for no reason? Did the cold, humid winter wind in the south blow his brains out…”

But Duan Yunhong immediately and inexplicably thought of Ning Fei’s wind-based ability.

Since Ning Fei went to Tianyue Base, his ability had become silent, and he no longer used his superb ability control to stand out. Previously, Duan Yunhong submitted a video of the attack on the mutant monkey group, in which Ning Fei’s outstanding performance occupied a considerable amount of space. The national-level ability management department was quite interested in this mission after seeing it. However, Zheng Liwen responded to every inquiry. Even if Ning Fei was asked questions individually, Ning Fei’s responses were quite evasive, making it clear that he had no interest in training or teaching.

Because of his bad attitude, the management department found it difficult to control him. Because he had transferred to an administrative post, he was no longer going out on missions as an ability user, and he had completely withdrawn from the ability user promotion system. The management department could neither make things difficult for him regarding his pay nor block his upward mobility. It can be said that as long as Tianyue was willing, Ning Fei could bury his ability as he pleased, and no one would care.

Under such circumstances, if Wang Moye’s Moment was really hinting at Ning Fei’s wind-based ability, it meant that Ning Fei had deliberately displayed it in front of him. What was the difference between this and flirting secretly in public when others weren’t paying attention?

—It might even be some kind of code that the two had agreed to send out.

—Although Ning Fei didn’t post a corresponding status, it’s also possible that my Moments are already blocked from him…

Of course, these were all Duan Yunhong’s guesses at the time, without corroboration, and he didn’t send a message to confirm. Sometimes he would even think that he was just assuming that Ning Fei would get to know Wang Moye because of work, and then further guessing that Ning Fei had demonstrated his ability to Wang Moye. What if they didn’t know each other, or if they knew each other but weren’t familiar, just “colleagues with a distant relationship?”

However, the message Ning Fei sent today seemed to be the best corroboration of Duan Yunhong’s guesses.

—He described his emotional state to Jinghui’s people… So, what’s the purpose?

To be honest, it wasn’t Duan Yunhong’s place to interfere with how Ning Fei developed his “friendship.” If someone—like Yu Zhou—asked Duan Yunhong verbally if he cared, he would even answer “it’s none of my business.” But faced with Ning Fei’s message that was both “direct” and “concealing,” Duan Yunhong couldn’t help but set some obstacles for him.

In Ning Fei’s words, it was “insisting on being a jerk.”

This time, the jerk move was that Duan Yunhong sent another message: [What if I don’t say that?]

Ning Fei finally replied this time: [Then I’ll just have to reveal that you have space ability.]

Duan Yunhong’s ability was a secret known to only a few high-level people in Huichuan.

“Tch.” The man scanned the text message and put the phone on the table, expressionless.

—Threatening me for this…

*

Just as Ning Fei had expected, the notice on establishing a joint research mechanism between bases and implementing cross-base cooperation projects was officially announced before the New Year.

At the same time, news began to spread about the “ability user exchange conference” that Wang Moye said Jinghui Base wanted to hold. Although no formal notice had been issued yet, the news was so detailed that it sounded like a done deal. There was also a rumor that some ability users would have to go to Jinghui for face-to-face exchanges and demonstrations, and couldn’t just have an online meeting. When Yu Zhou heard this, his first reaction was “that damn ‘Samoyed’ is going to trick my people away”!

When Yu Zhou personally discussed this matter with Ning Fei, Ning Fei told him about Wang Moye’s previous “threat.”

“Oh—if you don’t go, he’ll try to mess with me? He said that?” Yu Zhou sneered, “You wouldn’t really believe it, would you?”

“Not really, but it should be that the ability management department doesn’t like me, so they’re targeting me. Messing with you is just because they see that you’re important to me, dragging you down to threaten me,” Ning Fei replied, “But he meant that the people behind him would keep me safe. So I was wondering, should I take this opportunity to meet these people and bind Jinghui and Tianyue even more closely?”

“Ha, going around in such a big circle, so you’re still thinking about how to win your stupid bet. I thought I really had some threatening value to you,” Yu Zhou sneered, “Okay, go if you want, anyway, I’m not really stopping you. But once you go, you’ll be in ‘Samoyed’s’ territory. If he gets serious with you, what are you going to do? Really eat a dish you don’t like for the sake of your bet?”

Ning Fei blinked, just about to open his mouth to reply, but Yu Zhou waved his hand: “You don’t need to convince me, you just need to ask yourself. This isn’t your KPI. Whether you win this bet or not has nothing to do with your performance, and it has nothing to do with the salary I pay you. You can’t even get anything from winning the bet, at most you’ll get back something you gave away for no reason. Your return rate… doesn’t seem like your style anymore.”

Ning Fei was speechless. Or rather, he could imagine how Yu Zhou would criticize him after he said something to refute. So Ning Fei simply said, “I know what I’m doing.”

“As long as you know. I’m just reminding you, anyway, you don’t listen to your teacher anymore, so don’t say my name when you fail miserably,” Yu Zhou said, changing the subject, “Speaking of which, what are you planning to do for the New Year? Come to my house for dinner?”

“Can you not mix these words together, it’s disgusting,” Ning Fei raised his eyebrows, “Aren’t you and Yue Fengping going to have a romantic time alone? Impossible, such a good opportunity, and you have the next day off, don’t you have any… ‘programs’?”

Yu Zhou wasn’t embarrassed at all, and smiled playfully: “Yes, but we can wait until after you leave after dinner to ‘perform’.”

“Then I’d rather not be a third wheel,” Ning Fei said, “Zheng Liwen and two ‘widowed and lonely’ people from his team are planning to have a New Year’s Eve dinner together and asked me to join them for a drink. I’m going to join their party.”

Yu Zhou said, “Didn’t you say you didn’t have any chemistry with Zheng Liwen? Are you two good again?”

“Can you have something other than matchmaking in your head,” Ning Fei was speechless, “Can’t we be ordinary friends if we’re not partners? I’m just finding someone to drink with, I don’t need to scrutinize so many conditions, right?”

“Aren’t I afraid that you’ll be sexually frustrated and therefore irritable?” Yu Zhou waved his hand, “Okay, if you have plans, I won’t say anything more. Anyway, if you’re really lonely, just call me, I can always give you a bite to eat.”

Ning Fei: “Get lost.”

*

On New Year’s Eve, Ning Fei really had New Year’s Eve dinner with Zheng Liwen and others.

The location was Zheng Liwen’s single apartment, which was smaller than Ning Fei’s—or rather, Yu Zhou’s—apartment, but it had a kitchen and bathroom, enough for four big men to have a get-together.

The meal was quite sumptuous. Ning Fei brought some cooked food from the cafeteria, Zheng Liwen and his teammates made a hot pot, and also cooked some other dishes. The rest was alcohol. It wasn’t easy to get alcohol at this time, at least not so cheap. Zheng Liwen and the others got three cases of beer, and Ning Fei got a bottle of baijiu from Yu Zhou. Although these liquors would not be considered good wines before the zombie apocalypse, they are definitely considered a fantastic drink now.

While preparing, Ning Fei also received a message from Duan Yunhong: [Happy New Year’s Eve.]

Ning Fei didn’t think much about it. Given Duan Yunhong’s current position, it was normal to send out group blessing messages. After thinking for a few seconds, Ning Fei smiled mischievously, took a photo of the table full of food and wine, and sent it over with the message: [Happy New Year’s Eve.]

Duan Yunhong actually replied quickly: [With Yu Zhou?]

Ning Fei: [No, someone else.]

Duan Yunhong didn’t reply, and Ning Fei didn’t ask back, “What about you?” He sent the photo he had just taken to his Moments, with the caption “Happy New Year’s Eve.”

Later, while eating, Ning Fei occasionally opened his phone to take a look and found that there were quite a few likes and a few comments. Among them was Wang Moye’s comment: [Looks delicious, and there are special dishes, who are you having dinner with?]

Ning Fei simply replied with three words: [With friends].

The rest were exclamations and blessings such as “Happy New Year’s Eve,” and Ning Fei was too lazy to reply. After eating and drinking for a while, Ning Fei opened his phone again and found that Wang Moye had sent him a new message directly.

It was a photo of a more sumptuous table of food and wine. It was a gathering of a large family. Thinking about Wang Moye’s family background, who knows how many dignitaries and nobles were sitting at this table. Ning Fei sent a “thumbs up” emoji, and Wang Moye actually replied quickly: [I made a few dishes, guess which ones?]

Ning Fei sighed that this person actually knew how to cook, and complained that who has time to play guessing games with you on New Year’s Eve. So he directly pressed the phone off and put it aside.

“So busy with work?” Zheng Liwen said, touching Ning Fei’s glass with his own, “Do you have to hold your phone all the time on New Year’s Eve?”

“It’s okay, just replying to some friends’ New Year’s greetings,” Ning Fei smiled, picked up the glass and drank the remaining half glass of beer directly with Zheng Liwen. Zheng Liwen saw him being so straightforward and sighed, “You can really hold your liquor.”

“It’s okay,” Ning Fei smiled, “But you, your eyes are starting to turn red. Your teammates are also getting too excited, can they still stay sober for the New Year? I can’t safely send them all home.”

“It’s okay, if they can’t, I’ll just let them sleep on the sofa and on the floor here,” Zheng Liwen also smiled, “If you want to stay, you’re also completely welcome. I still have a sleeping bag that I just bought and haven’t used. It’s just that these people snore so loudly when they sleep, it’s a great sin to sleep with them.”

Ning Fei poured wine for himself and Zheng Liwen: “No need, I can go back.”

“Really?” Zheng Liwen said, “A master of drunk driving?”

“Don’t talk as if I’m going to go out and kill people during the New Year, okay?” Ning Fei picked up his wine glass and took the initiative to clink glasses with him, “I promise I can get home safely.”

Zheng Liwen: “Then give me a message when you get home?”

Ning Fei: “Team Zheng is mistaken, I’m not a young girl.”

Zheng Liwen: “Speaking of young girls… you know, I don’t like girls, right?”

“…” Ning Fei’s action of holding the glass paused.

Although Zheng Liwen lowered his voice, there were other people at the table. Ning Fei glanced around and found that the other two big men were already talking nonsense with their arms around each other’s shoulders, not paying attention to the movement here at all.

Zheng Liwen saw that Ning Fei wasn’t speaking and said again: “You don’t seem that surprised. So, I shouldn’t be having a delusion? You’re also… right?”

“And I feel like Yu Zhou seems to be trying to matchmake us? Is that right?”

Ning Fei: …Tch, is spring really coming?

——————–

Ning Fei: Aren’t we just brothers? I’m really just here to drink!

PS. Don’t drink and drive, don’t drive when drunk!