GBT Chapter 86

That night, Jiao Bai left Qi Yi Liao’s place, not even bothering to pick up his phone that he’d left behind. He returned to his room, rubbed his palms together, and drifted off to sleep.

He was greeted by a dream within a dream.

First, he dreamt that his chest was incredibly heavy. He reached out and touched something furry, and after a bit of petting, he realized it was quite fluffy.

Then, he woke up.

He woke up to find himself lying in Qi Yi Liao’s bed, with a golden-eyed white cat perched on his chest, one of its fleshy paws resting on his face.

Jiao Bai was stunned. How did a profile picture become real, oh crap? He called out to Qi Yi Liao, desperately, but no sound came out.

The cat, meanwhile, had stood up and was extending its two paws.

And it could talk.

It said, “You lowly peasants, hurry and dress me.”

Jiao Bai refused.

The cat hissed and bit at his neck, and just as he was struggling to breathe, he suddenly sat up, and his vision landed on a picture frame with a painting of a semi-ripe vineyard.

This was his room. He wasn’t at Qi Yi Liao’s, and there was no cat on him.

And his hands were clutching… Qi Yi Liao’s Buddha amulet, so tightly that he couldn’t breathe.

Because of that dream, Jiao Bai’s face was sour for several days, until the acceptance letter arrived. Qi Yi Liao had someone throw him a small banquet to celebrate his admission to university.

The banquet was purely celebratory, with none of Qi’s business partners invited.

Those who came included Uncle Zhao, who had helped Jiao Bai on the cargo ship, Zhou Lanlan representing the students from their high school, and Jiao Bai’s female deskmate from Three Middle School last year and her best friend Zhao Lian, as well as the mixed-race uncle from the clinic.

Yu Xiang didn’t come, but he transferred a good amount of money to Jiao Bai, telling him to buy delicious food.

Shen Er An didn’t contact Jiao Bai.

Jiao Bai didn’t actively seek him out either. When it was his time to appear, he would naturally appear.

The banquet was held at Jiahe Manor in West City, which had a large lotus pond covered in emerald green and bright red, and a bamboo garden with dragonflies flitting about. The environment was excellent. Jiao Bai sat on the observation deck, listening to the gift Jiang Yan had given him.

It was a song, both the lyrics and music created by Jiang Yan himself, and passionately performed by him and his band.

The song was called, “Please Dance Earnestly in the Hands of Fate.”

The lyrics were grand and filled with innocence and wildness. It was the passionate blood and pure heart of someone fighting for their dreams and their life.

Jiang Yan said the inspiration came from the scene he saw that night on the balcony, watching Jiao Bai leave the old neighborhood.

——Striding into the darkness, knowing the sky will always brighten.

Those involved in the arts give everything they see, hear, and smell a second creation.

Jiao Bai listened to the song earnestly, and then listened again, not even noticing when one of his earphones fell out.

“Bai Bai, who’s singing this? It’s so good,” his female deskmate Lin Xibei said, holding the earphone to her ear.

Jiao Bai said, “A friend.”

“Is he a singer? A fresh face from which group? What’s his name?” Lin Xibei gave him back the earphone, humming and saying, “My wall collapsed, and I’m looking for the next idol to feed, so annoying.”

Jiao Bai’s mouth twitched slightly. “He plays in a band at a bar.”

“Wow, a band, how cool!” Lin Xibei looked excited, as if she’d discovered a treasure. “His voice is so good, if he entered the music scene, even if he didn’t become a huge star, he’d definitely make a splash.”

She asked a practical question: “What does he look like?”

Jiao Bai thought for a moment. “Handsome and beautiful, and very skilled.”

Lin Xibei wiped the nonexistent drool from her mouth and shouted, “Then what are we waiting for? Let him participate in a talent show and debut!!!”

Luckily, only she and Jiao Bai were on the observation deck, otherwise someone would have been scared.

Jiao Bai was speechless. “Calm down, sister.”

Lin Xibei glared at him resentfully, complaining about how her last idol had been courting death.

Jiao Bai wound up the earphone cord and put it in his pocket. He didn’t think Jiang Yan would rise to fame in the entertainment industry.

The entertainment industry was a sieve, and many talented people were submerged.

Besides, Jiang Yan was a band, not a solo act. He cared about his teammates, otherwise he wouldn’t keep the band going without disbanding.

Even if Jiang Yan took the band to debut and became famous, his black history would fall from the sky and fly everywhere. His life as a sugar baby, his parents, his younger brother, any of them could cause him to suffer from cyberbullying.

So Jiao Bai felt that Jiang Yan had already chosen the best path for himself. Even if it was still very rugged.

Someone came up. The sound of footsteps on the wooden stairs was cheerful. It was Zhao Lian, with a large lotus leaf on her head, wearing a floral dress, with a bit of mud on the hem and her white shoes. Her face was flushed from the sun, and her eyes were sparkling.

Lin Xibei went over. “Lian Lian, how did you pick that lotus leaf?”

“Uncle Zhao helped me pick it. He’s feeling for lotus roots,” Zhao Lian said, taking the lotus leaf off her head and giving it to Lin Xibei to take a picture.

The two of them opened a window on the observation deck and looked towards the lotus pond, whispering in each other’s ears.

The lively laughter of the girls flew out, flying towards the sun and the blue sky, and also spreading inside the observation deck, falling into Jiao Bai’s ears. Infected, he temporarily put down his calculating and tired tool-man self and returned to being a graduating senior whose only joy in life at this stage was being admitted to college.

Jiao Bai sat in the rocking chair with his legs crossed. This banquet was very down-to-earth, with no sign of a wealthy family.

His eyes glanced at the window where Lin Xibei and Zhao Lian were, and a sky view came into his eyes. He clicked his tongue. There was still a bit of the wealthy family vibe.

Renting out this manor must cost a lot of money.

“Bai Bai, is your butt better? Do you want to come down and dig up lotus roots with us?” Lin Xibei asked with great interest.

“I won’t go, you guys go,” Jiao Bai raised his eyes from under his fisherman’s hat. “Be careful, don’t go to the deep water.”

Lin Xibei said, “So considerate and so cute, how come you don’t have a boyfriend?”

Zhao Lian wasn’t familiar enough with Jiao Bai to tease him, so she covered her mouth and smiled.

Jiao Bai moved the finger on his phone. He secretly took a picture of Zhao Lian and sent it to Shen Er An.

There was no movement in the chat box. Jiao Bai wouldn’t send another one.

Before Zhao Lian went down, Jiao Bai stopped her and asked about Li Jue’s grades.

“The top twenty in our class have all been announced. The teacher is sending out good news one by one in the group, but he’s not in there,” Zhao Lian said.

Jiao Bai’s expression was a little strange.

In “Broken Wings,” Li Jue and Shen Er An went to the same university, a famous university in the country. This part of the plot had also changed.

“It’s normal that Li Jue didn’t do well,” Lin Xibei said. “His condition was so bad before the college entrance examination. Even Zhao Lian’s tutoring didn’t help.”

“I haven’t been able to contact him since the college entrance examination,” Zhao Lian said, a little regretfully. She had rushed up from the bottom of the class, all the way forward. Everyone had agreed to go to the same university, but someone stopped halfway and didn’t keep up.

Jiao Bai could see the girl’s thoughts and couldn’t help but sigh at the wonder of this dog-blood world.

——You treat others as friends, but he wants to sleep with the person you like.

“Then he should be able to get into a second-tier university, right?” Jiao Bai said. “I remember his grades were pretty good before he came to Three Middle School.” In the original owner’s memory, Li Jue was perfect.

“It’s hard to say.” Zhao Lian brushed the hair on both sides of her cheeks. “I’ll ask when I get in touch with him.”

“Don’t ask.” Lin Xibei snorted. “There’s no such thing as an eternal banquet. Some people are just meant to leave as they go, making room for the people behind them. Otherwise, it’s too crowded.”

After saying that, she noticed that her best friend and friend were looking at her, and couldn’t help but wonder, “What’s wrong?”

Jiao Bai gave her a thumbs up. “Lin classmate, master of contemporary famous quotes.”

He pointed to a spot he had already chosen and said with a smile, “Come on, stand still, take a picture.”

Lin Xibei brightly made a V sign.

“Zhao Lian, you too,” Jiao Bai called out to Zhao Lian, who wanted to join but was a little embarrassed to speak up.

Zhao Lian immediately ran over and stood there.

Jiao Bai sent those photos to Lin Xibei. There was a lot of friendship in dog-blood comics, but it was all overturned by dog-blood. He hoped those two classmates could hold on.

Zhao Lian added Jiao Bai, but didn’t try to find out about Shen Er An. It seemed she just wanted to expand her social circle.

Jiao Bai fell asleep on the observation deck, and the mixed-race uncle from the clinic came up to find him.

He had shaved his beard, looking many years younger, with high cheekbones, deep eye sockets, and long eyelashes. His features were sharp, his body tall and upright, and he had a mature sexiness, like a grand slam award-winning movie star.

Jiao Bai couldn’t even call him uncle anymore.

The person in question introduced himself very consciously: “Cullen.”

Jiao Bai followed his lead: “Okay, Mr. Cullen, what are you doing here?”

“Reminding you to fulfill your promise,” Cullen said, crossing his arms and biting on a light green popsicle.

Jiao Bai didn’t move.

“Don’t play dumb with me, little brother,” Cullen squatted down to look at him, the popsicle caught between his white teeth, with a bit of feigned childishness of a big bad wolf. “You can offend anyone, but you can’t offend a doctor, especially a small clinic doctor.”

“…” Jiao Bai called Qi Yi Liao.

Cullen was quite surprised by his actions. “You’re not going to talk to the person at Lanmo Mansion in private? Are you going to do it in front of an outsider like me? If he rejects you, you’ll lose face. The happiness of getting into college will decrease.”

“I’m OK, shut up,” Jiao Bai said in a sarcastic tone.

Cullen made a “be my guest” gesture.

Jiao Bai sat in the rocking chair and waited for Qi Yi Liao to answer the phone. Qi Yi Liao hadn’t come to the manor, he was very busy. Zhang Zhen hadn’t come either. Just Qi Er and his group were in charge of security matters.

The phone was answered a few seconds later, and Jiao Bai spoke first: “Third Brother, back in June, when Shen Er An had an accident, I sent him to the clinic you told me about for emergency treatment. Do you remember that?”

Qi Yi Liao was at the company, just having heard the work report from his subordinates. His mind was still on business, but he took the time to search for the relevant memories. “Yeah, I remember.”

As soon as Jiao Bai heard Qi Yi Liao say he remembered, he went straight to the point: “Cullen wants a few bottles of wine from your cellar. That’s what he agreed to as a condition for saving Shen Er An.”

Cullen held up four fingers.

“Four bottles,” Jiao Bai added the information. “Do you want to ask about the names and years?”

Cullen quickly typed on his phone and showed it to Jiao Bai.

Jiao Bai followed along and read it out.

That was it. He suspected the four bottles of wine were more expensive than he thought, beyond what a middle-class person with a net worth of two million dollars (now six million dollars) could imagine.

Cullen smiled without saying a word.

Jiao Bai was just about to hang up and figure out how to deal with Cullen himself, when he heard Qi Yi Liao say, “Okay, let him go get them himself.”

“Then you get busy,” Jiao Bai said, but didn’t hang up.

Neither did he.

Jiao Bai scratched his face. The windows of the observation deck were closed and the air conditioning was on, but why was it still so hot? “Are you coming over?”

“Later,” Qi Yi Liao said. “Friends came to see you, are you happy?”

Jiao Bai cleared his throat. “Thank you, Third Brother.”

A laugh came from the other end.

“Good boy.”

The phone hung up. Jiao Bai put the phone on the small table next to him, reached for a bottle of soda, opened it, and drank a few gulps. Bubbles rose in his stomach.

Cullen had taken the popsicle out of his mouth at some point, and was looking at him with his bright eyes. “Impressive.”

Jiao Bai’s mind hadn’t caught up yet, when he heard his next sentence: “The minimum price for those four bottles of wine is four villas in Haiting.”

“…”

Crap.

Each bottle must be worth several hundred million???

“Wait, uncle, let’s talk about it, can we just take one bottle?” Jiao Bai grabbed Cullen’s V-neck black T-shirt. “Wine is just something you drink when you’re lonely.”

Cullen pried open his fingers one by one. “It’s not your money.”

Jiao Bai stood up.

“Your friend’s life, four bottles of wine, not worth it?” Cullen stuck the popsicle back between his teeth.

Jiao Bai’s face darkened. Wasn’t that how it was calculated?

“To wine lovers, money doesn’t matter, and villas are even less desirable. Those four bottles of wine are priceless,” Cullen patted the young man’s shoulders, which had beautiful lines, and said something very meaningful. “Maybe the next time we meet, I’ll be carrying a medical kit.”

“Go to bed early and wake up early, develop good living habits, exercise more, and be diligent. Good health is good for everything,” Cullen added before leaving.

Jiao Bai listened to the English song he was humming, and his temples twitched. Damn it, it hurt.

The front yard that was smashed in June, this time the four bottles of wine, Qi Yi Liao was losing money.

Uncle Zhao was still honest.

As Jiao Bai’s savior, Qi Yi Liao gave him a check and told him to fill in any amount he wanted. He only filled in five million, and his hands were shaking the whole time.

After filling it in, he slapped himself, tears streaming down his face, feeling like he was dreaming.

Jiao Bai kept a ledger in his mind. Qi Yi Liao’s money was all lost because of him. He definitely… couldn’t pay it back.

He still couldn’t pay it back, not in his whole life. He’d write it down first and talk about it later.

Jiao Bai sat back in the rocking chair and rocked back and forth. In every BL comic, there was a doctor who was positioned as the gong’s friend, patching up the shou who was abused by him for three years.

Cullen should go to Shen Ji.

Qi Yi Liao wasn’t an early, abusive, violent scum gong, he was just an old pervert.

Just…

Zhou Lanlan didn’t do well on the test, so she could only go abroad.

Jiao Bai was eating chopped pepper fish head at the manor, watching the lotus pond by moonlight, when he heard her say this, and was choked on the spot.

“Cousin-in-law, why are you reacting so strongly? I’m not bragging,” Zhou Lanlan said, gnawing on a chicken claw. “There are a lot of second-rate schools abroad. I’m going to participate in a competition where the weak eat the weak.”

She grinned, and the small white stud on her lower lip shone brightly. “I’ll try to get in the top three.”

“You’re talking nonsense again,” Jiao Bai said, drinking some vegetable soup to calm down, and pretending to send a voice message to Qi Yi Liao.

Zhou Lanlan had been panicked last time, but this time she wasn’t afraid anymore.

Jiao Bai didn’t know whether to send it or not, he was in a dilemma.

Zhou Lanlan sighed like an old woman, and stretched her foot, wearing bright yellow shorts, towards him, wiggling her toes as if she was writing something.

Jiao Bai could only see that the tattoo on her toes was nice.

Zhou Lanlan sighed again. It was too difficult to help. Uncle, go get him yourself.

So she said something else: “Dean Qi has been so busy these past few months, he’s forgotten who I am.”

“Busy with what?” Jiao Bai asked, knowing the answer.

“Research,” Zhou Lanlan said, spitting the chicken claw bones into the plate.

Jiao Bai picked out a large fish bone with his chopsticks, sucked on it and spat it out. That elf was closely related to Qi Yi Liao’s lifespan, and he didn’t know how that line would unfold, or whether it would unfold at all.

“Dean Qi stays in the lab, and even in middle age, he has more hair than me. Don’t you think I’m miserable? I didn’t inherit her hair, I inherited it all from my dad, and I’m balding at a young age,” Zhou Lanlan brushed her hair, and her hairline felt chilly.

Jiao Bai glanced at Zhou Lanlan. The Qi family’s offspring were rare.

Was Dean Qi’s lack of concern for Zhou Lanlan’s growth a form of protection? Hoping she would be an ordinary person.

Zhou Lanlan used her father’s surname, and her cheerful and unrestrained personality was something the Qi family didn’t have. Their styles were different.

“Does your mom care about you having a boyfriend?” Jiao Bai asked.

“Of course not,” Zhou Lanlan said before going to Lin Xibei and Zhao Lian, three sisters who were sworn to be sisters.

Jiao Bai got up to get an egg yolk pastry from not far away. Dean Qi didn’t care, which meant she had confirmed that Zhou Lanlan hadn’t inherited the Qi family’s genetic disease.

Dean Qi had only had one child, and she had given birth at an advanced age.

Before that, she must have gone through a long period of hesitation and entanglement, and even data analysis.

She might have even experimented on herself, and only with various attempts and luck did she have a healthy Zhou Lanlan.

The scene at the graveyard appeared in Jiao Bai’s mind. He had no right to comment. He took half an egg yolk pastry and left the table, going to the wooden bridge by himself and sitting casually on the railing.

Except for Qi Yi Liao, the remaining five friends had all entered the level 50+ stage.

Each friend’s activity level was their level of interest, and some things could be born out of it, each different.

Shen Ji’s was desire, possessiveness, control, and a desire to conquer.

Qi Zi Zhi’s was first appreciation, then hatred, and regret.

Li Jue’s was envy and resentment.

Shen Er An’s was acceptance, guilt, possessiveness, and anticipation.

Yu Ling’s was good feelings and a desire to protect.

Zhang Zhen’s was responsibility and concern.

Cen Jingmo hadn’t developed anything yet, just interest.

As for Qi Yi Liao,

Judging from the white cat’s series of performances this year, in addition to interest, what Qi Yi Liao had developed was recognition, a desire to survive, and…

Jiao Bai frowned at this thought.

He was sitting in the largest exam in life. He had finished all the questions and written out the answers,

But he wanted to add something to the answers he had already written.

Jiao Bai looked at the answer for a long time, until the egg yolk pastry was cold, but in the end he didn’t add it.

Perhaps he was waiting for something.

When the fireworks were set off, Qi Yi Liao came. He had a dinner party tonight. He sat for a while and left, with no smell of alcohol on his shirt.

As soon as Qi Yi Liao appeared, the relaxed and playful atmosphere was much more subdued.

Lin Xibei grabbed Zhao Lian’s hand and silently opened her mouth wide, Ahhh, so handsome, so handsome, so handsome!

Zhao Lian dragged her away.

“Uncle! Here! We’re here!” Zhou Lanlan waved her hands wildly, her voice was very loud, and her eyes kept darting to the side.

Next to her was Jiao Bai, who was posting on WeChat Moments. He took the time to look at Qi Yi Liao and Zhang Zhen, and continued to edit the text.

The smell of smoke filled his nostrils, and Jiao Bai turned his head. The top button of the old pervert’s shirt was unbuttoned.

Jiao Bai first saw this phenomenon in a small noodle restaurant in North City selling cold noodles, and the frequency with which he saw it after that was slightly higher.

——The mysterious and ascetic priest took off his heavy robe, and he was stepping down from the altar step by step, walking into the secular world, towards the human world of desire.

“What are you looking at?” Qi Yi Liao’s lips parted slightly, and a wisp of smoke escaped.

Jiao Bai reached out to him.

Qi Yi Liao pointed to his trouser pocket.

The corner of Jiao Bai’s eyes twitched. “Which side?”

“Find it yourself, hmm?” Qi Yi Liao raised the hand holding the cigarette and rubbed his hair.

Jiao Bai rolled his eyes and stood opposite Qi Yi Liao, reaching into his pockets with both hands and taking out the cigarette case and lighter.

Seeing this, Zhang Zhen, who was on the other side, couldn’t care less about talking to his brothers and immediately strode over: “Bai Bai, do you smoke?”

The parents were holding back their anger and were about to explode.

Jiao Bai answered with a skilled smoking action.

Zhang Zhen wasn’t someone who easily cursed, but at this moment he blurted out a word, “Crap.” He couldn’t bear to directly attack his brother, so he turned the spearhead disobediently: “Third Brother, Bai Bai is still young, smoking is bad, right?”

Qi Yi Liao didn’t care. “A Zhen, relax. He’s an adult, it’s okay.”

Zhang Zhen was about to spit out a mouthful of old blood.

“Bai Bai, when did you learn to smoke?” he asked his brother, who was already exhaling smoke.

Jiao Bai narrowed his eyes and took a puff of smoke. “A long time ago.” It was a matter of his previous life.

Zhang Zhen mistakenly thought he had learned it when he was a minor, and his head suddenly ached. “Are you addicted? How many cigarettes do you smoke a day? What brand do you smoke?”

The parents were afraid that the adolescent child’s self-esteem would be hurt, so they tried to keep their tone calm when asking questions.

Jiao Bai “pfft” laughed. He leaned on Zhang Zhen’s shoulder and laughed, “Brother Zhen, beauty Zhen, why are you so funny?”

Zhang Zhen: “…” The majesty of being an older brother was gone.

Seeing that Father Zhang was still about to say something, Jiao Bai took out a piece of rainbow candy from his pocket, peeled it open in a few strokes, and fed it into his mouth: “Calm down, I’m not addicted to smoking, I’m just trying the taste.”

“Right, Third Brother?” Jiao Bai dragged Qi Yi Liao into the water. He had only smoked twice in this world, and both times it was this guy who gave it to him.

Qi Yi Liao tilted his head down. Jiao Bai just happened to look up.

At that moment, the burning ends of the two cigarettes touched.

Qi Yi Liao made a swallowing motion in his throat, and the cigarette butt held between his lips moved up and down. The spark of the young man was rubbed, and his soft, harmless eyes widened.

He didn’t dodge, but instead,

He unwillingly rubbed up against it.

The young man’s black head tilted back, and his fair neck stretched out in a fragile curve, revealing a bit of gray-black at the neckline of his white short sleeves.

The thin rope went down from his collarbone and landed on his heart.

Qi Yi Liao didn’t avoid it, letting him “retaliate.”

Two clusters of sparks rubbed out some sparks and ashes, which fell rustling down, and the air where they passed made a sizzling sound.

It was lingering and hot.

Qi Yi Liao bent down slightly, and his dark gaze stared at the young man: “Fun?”

Jiao Bai raised his chin. “It’s fun.”

“Heh,” Qi Yi Liao laughed vaguely. He straightened up and said to Zhang Zhen, who was pretending to be blind, “The fireworks are good. Let’s set them off during the New Year this year.”

Zhang Zhen didn’t respond, he was still looking at the sky.

I shouldn’t be here.