GLIHBN Chapter 31
by Volare“Come down, I’m here.”
Su Shi received Xu Chongming’s message, slung his bag over his shoulder, and headed out.
To go on a date with Xu Chongming, Su Shi had specifically turned down a client’s invitation.
Xu Chongming drove a Maserati sports car, its cool and dazzling color obviously a custom-made one.
Seeing Su Shi approaching from afar, Xu Chongming got out of the car to wait. As Su Shi drew closer, he gentlemanly opened the passenger door and said, “Please get in.”
Xu Chongming considered himself a romantic and qualified lover who provided a lot of emotional value.
“Okay, thank you.” Su Shi cooperated with his gentlemanliness and got into the car.
Xu Chongming returned to the driver’s seat, and Su Shi asked, “What’s the plan for today?”
Last night, Xu Chongming had texted Su Shi asking where he wanted to go, but Su Shi couldn’t think of anything. Because of his job, besides work, Su Shi usually preferred to have others make arrangements for him, not wanting to worry about it; he was happy to just follow along.
It was the same now. “I don’t know either. You haven’t been back for so long, is there anywhere you want to go?”
Xu Chongming thought for a moment. “Then let’s go see a movie.”
Xu Chongming was quite casual, used to taking things one step at a time, and didn’t make plans in advance. He felt that this way, there would be more surprises. Actually, this was also a reaction to being strictly controlled by Jiang Hui usually.
Su Shi quite liked watching movies. “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”
“Let’s go.”
Arriving at the cinema, Xu Chongming wanted to see a comedy, but Su Shi wasn’t a fan of comedies and would have preferred to see another disaster film. But Xu Chongming said, “What’s so good about disaster films? Too pessimistic. One should seize the day and enjoy life.”
Xu Chongming had been abroad for so long and had finally returned, so Su Shi decided to accommodate him. “Okay, then let’s watch the comedy.”
The two chose seats at the back and to the side because it was daytime and morning, and the cinema wasn’t crowded. There were only two other couples, like them, sitting far apart.
This comedy was part of a series, and Su Shi felt it was trying too hard to be funny and was very exaggerated. But Xu Chongming watched with great interest, the corners of his mouth constantly turned upward.
Not wanting to spoil his fun, Su Shi watched earnestly. At one point in the plot, he leaned close to Xu Chongming’s ear and complained, “This is so dumbed down.”
Xu Chongming clicked his tongue. “Don’t take it so seriously, it’s just a comedy. The main thing is to make people laugh.”
“True.”
Su Shi sat back up straight.
After a while, the film started to take a sentimental turn, and Su Shi really wanted to complain, *can’t it be less awkward?* This was being sentimental for the sake of being sentimental. But he glanced at Xu Chongming, who was watching intently and didn’t seem to want to talk, so he could only swallow the words back down.
Su Shi knew that talking during a movie wasn’t really good, as it would bother others, but it was a habit of his. That’s why he usually didn’t choose to go to the cinema, but rather watched movies at home.
Suddenly, Xu Chongming pulled Su Shi close, kissed the top of his head, and called his name, “Su Shi.”
Su Shi was momentarily distracted, but in his mind, he recalled how Chi Ye had also kissed the top of his head like that when he’d taken him back last night, acting.
“Hmm?”
“Look.”
Su Shi saw that on the big screen, the male protagonist was kissing the female protagonist in the same way, calling her name, and then saying to her, “Will you be my woman?” So it was a confession.
For a moment, Su Shi felt a sense of guilt rising, and the spot where he’d been kissed tingled.
Su Shi uncomfortably pushed Xu Chongming away and rubbed the hair on top of his head. “There are people here.”
Xu Chongming looked at the other two couples and said dismissively, “They’re already making out.”
After coming out of the cinema, it was exactly lunchtime. Xu Chongming asked Su Shi what he wanted to eat.
Su Shi said, “It’s up to you. What do you want to eat?”
Xu Chongming suggested, “How about French cuisine?”
“Okay.”
There was a French restaurant on the top floor of the mall, perfect; no need to go looking elsewhere.
Su Shi and Xu Chongming went upstairs and entered the restaurant.
Su Shi ordered a duck confit and a French lobster bisque. Xu Chongming ordered escargots à la bourguignonne and pan-fried dory, with floating island for dessert.
“That’s all,” Xu Chongming said to the waiter.
The waiter was a foreigner, speaking accented Mandarin. “Okay, please wait a moment.”
Su Shi said, “This restaurant has been here for so long, but I’ve never eaten here before.”
“Oh, that’s because I wasn’t here,” Xu Chongming said glibly.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Su Shi said in agreement.
Su Shi was very particular about the presentation of food, its color, aroma, and taste. If the color of a food made him uncomfortable, he wouldn’t want to try even a bite.
So things like snails, which were slimy, made Su Shi recoil, unwilling to even try them.
Xu Chongming was the complete opposite of Su Shi, easily accepting new things. He had eaten them with classmates before and found them quite novel, and he could accept the taste.
Escargots à la bourguignonne was a famous French dish. Xu Chongming picked out the biggest snail from the plate and placed it in front of Su Shi. “Here, try it.”
Su Shi refused. “Chongming, I don’t eat this.”
“Just try it, it’s delicious.”
Su Shi’s whole body was a picture of resistance. “You eat it, you like it, eat more.”
“You,” Xu Chongming had no choice but to put the snail back on his own plate. Smiling, he gave Su Shi a demonstration of how to eat it, which only made Su Shi even less willing to eat it. Snails were not river snails.
After the meal, Xu Chongming paid the bill first and put his arm around Su Shi’s shoulders to head to the parking lot. Su Shi made conversation. “Chi Ye seemed to have a strange reaction to the underground parking lot.”
Xu Chongming hadn’t heard about this. “Oh, really?”
“You didn’t know?”
Xu Chongming thought for a moment. “Oh, I remember now. I heard my mom say that when Chi Ye was little, he did something wrong, and his grandfather locked him in the basement for three days and three nights, almost causing him to go into shock.”
Su Shi was shocked. In his mind, he seemed to see a small Chi Ye, locked in the basement, desperately calling for help with no one responding, a tragic sight. “How could his grandfather do that to him?”
“It was pretty ruthless.”
Xu Chongming lightly bumped his head against Su Shi’s. “When you’re with me, don’t think about other people, or I’ll get jealous.”
It was obviously a joke, and Su Shi scoffed lightly. “Not Decent.”
Xu Chongming suddenly pressed Su Shi against the Maserati’s car door, closed his eyes, but kissed the palm of Su Shi’s hand.
Su Shi blocked him in time with his hand, protesting, “You ate snails.”
“Haha,” Xu Chongming laughed at Su Shi. “I rinsed my mouth when I went to the toilet just now.”
Su Shi said vaguely, “That’s still not okay.”
Xu Chongming was a little helpless and pointed to his own face. “Then come here, here.”
Su Shi obediently did as he was told, gently touching his face there.
Xu Chongming was satisfied.
“Where to next?” Su Shi asked.
“To your place, is that okay?”
Xu Chongming’s eyes were burning. How could Su Shi not understand?
Although they had been dating for many years, it had always been platonic, never really getting to that point. After experiencing a long-distance relationship for so long, it was understandable that Xu Chongming wanted to.
Su Shi did some mental preparation in his heart and slowly nodded.