LWDC Chapter 181

“So, you just ate some gossip up close?”

By his own fireplace, Duan Yunhong placed a cup of hangover tea in Ning Fei’s hand: “So, you have precognitive abilities? You can know in advance that if you smoke and drink with that Qiao Li, you’ll get gossip?”

“Is there any need to be jealous, Boss Duan?” Ning Fei wasn’t really drunk, but the hot tea was nice on a winter night. “Am I not even allowed to chat with a beautiful woman?”

“You threw those boring business matters to me to deal with, and you ran off to enjoy yourself. Does that sound right to you?” Duan Yunhong sat down next to him, also taking a cup of hangover tea. “So, what results did you get from your chat? Like, was she sent by some organization to drug Liang Zhiming?”

“Doesn’t seem like it.” Ning Fei watched the firelight in the fireplace, unconsciously swaying his cup. “Qiao Li is beautiful and quite smart. Although she’s a prostitute, I estimate that she’s the one in control in her relationship with Liang Zhiming. But she probably doesn’t want any future with Liang Zhiming. That guy thinks he’s doing her a favor by finding her a drawing job that pays thirty a month. Thirty? Can that buy a cotton coat for Qiao Li’s daughter? He even has the nerve to laugh at Qiao Li for drinking fifteen-yuan-a-cup wine.”

“I told you, he doesn’t have any backing now, and he’s already basically marginalized in the organization. How much energy can you expect him to have to find a good job?” Duan Yunhong slowly took a sip of tea, commenting, “Besides, that ‘drawing job’ was probably found with his fake reputation as a ‘big reporter.’ What era is this? Is a drawing job more stable than being a prostitute? I don’t think so. By the way, can that Qiao Li even draw? To introduce her to such a job.”

“Maybe she can. She even went to high school, although she didn’t graduate, but I estimate that’s more education than most women in this country. Although it’s a bit of a pity for her to be a prostitute, she’s already doing enough to support herself and her daughter in this world. By the way—” Ning Fei turned his head to ask, “Speaking of which, you’ve become a big shot with a lot of luck. Have you ever thought about helping your former side win completely?”

“Why are you asking me this?”

“Didn’t you used to ask me?” Ning Fei replied, “What you’re doing here can be considered saving the country and the world. And what you’re doing is much simpler than what I’m doing. As long as you lift a finger, it’ll be a piece of cake. It shouldn’t bankrupt you either.”

“It certainly won’t, but I don’t want to use this external force to quickly resolve everything.” Duan Yunhong replied calmly, “You said before that people won’t cherish the good days that come easily, nor will they truly awaken. I think so too. Everyone has their own destiny. If they’re destined to suffer, then let them continue to experience the tempering. If they can’t take it and give up, then that proves they can’t bear the mission of breaking through the darkness.”

“That’s what you say, but your tone shows that you’re actually very optimistic about your organization, right? You think they’ll eventually win?” Ning Fei thought for a moment, “But from the few people I’ve come into contact with, Shen Zejun, Cheng Mengxiao, and Liang Zhiming are all the kind of people who, although a bit naive and brainless, can at least maintain their sincerity.”

Duan Yunhong: “…It’s just a coincidence. The proportion of ideologically naive people in this camp is actually not high.”

“Hahahaha… Why are you getting so worked up? I didn’t say that everyone in your organization is like that, let alone that you’re like that.” Ning Fei laughed. “Liang Zhiming was screwed over by you behind his back, and he’s still living like this. That’s considered okay. As for Shen Zejun and Cheng Mengxiao, two idealistic young people, isn’t it normal for them to be ideologically naive?”

Duan Yunhong said, “They’re already much older than you were back then.”

“Compared to me? Does that even sound funny to you, Boss Duan?” Ning Fei finished his hangover tea and put the empty cup in Duan Yunhong’s hand. “Almost forgot, I borrowed a cigarette from Qiao Li. Send a thank-you gift to ‘Night Pearl’ for her tomorrow.”

Duan Yunhong raised an eyebrow at his words: “You borrowed a cigarette, and you want me to return the favor?”

Ning Fei looked at him: “You don’t want to?”

Duan Yunhong met his gaze for two seconds, then suddenly hooked his lips into a smile, leaned in close and said meaningfully: “Is that what I think it means?”

“…How would I know what you’re thinking? I’m not a Ascaris in your stomach.” Ning Fei pushed his face away. “Go if you want, don’t go if you don’t want to.”

“How could I not go on an errand that Mr. Ning gave me? Otherwise, you’ll make a scene about going back to Yucheng, and I won’t be able to catch you.” Duan Yunhong lowered his eyes and smiled, giving way to his strength, stood up and went to put down the cup. “But since you want me to do it for you, then I’ll decide what to give back.”

“Whatever.” Ning Fei leaned against the back of the sofa, casually said, “It’s your choice whether you want to be a good person or a sugar daddy. It’s up to you whether you send it in my name or in your own name… What are you doing?”

Before his words could fall, a lingering and melodious music had already sounded.

This was very different from the style played in “Night Pearl.” “Night Pearl” used a small orchestra, and most of the songs they played were adapted from foreign pop songs, mostly in a relatively light style. And what Duan Yunhong was playing mainly featured the saxophone, paired with a very magnetic female voice, singing a foreign song with unpredictable melodies. It had to be said that in a quiet environment, the effect of this record was much more lingering and ambiguous than the music in the dance hall.

“Nothing. I just found that the record player I left behind can still be used, and there are still some records left, so I’m playing them to listen to. This record player probably hasn’t been maintained, it’s a bit hissy, just bear with it.” Duan Yunhong walked back and held out a hand to Ning Fei, “Would I have the honor of asking you to dance, Mr. Ning?”

Ning Fei raised an eyebrow, glanced at the clock on the narrow cabinet by the wall: “Now? Do you know it’s after eleven o’clock at night now?”

“So what, you and I don’t have to go to work tomorrow.” Duan Yunhong lowered his eyes and stared at him, “And didn’t you say that you can dance and stick better than those people?”

Ning Fei “ha”ed: “Boss Duan, you really don’t suffer any losses at all. I ask you to return a gift, and you insist that I ‘entertain you in colorful clothes’ in exchange, right?”

“One thing is one thing. I agreed to your request, now it’s my invitation to you.” Duan Yunhong didn’t fall for this verbal trick, and said directly, “I want to see your close dance, so I invited you, so, do you agree?”

Ning Fei snorted softly, ambiguously.

“Are you watching? You want to feel it.” He put his hand into the man’s palm, stood up following the other’s strength, “I’m wearing slippers now, you really know how to pick a time.”

Duan Yunhong said he wanted to watch him dance, but in reality, he took the initiative to pull the person into his arms, swaying slowly together: “If you want, you can also take off your shoes and dance, I can take the blanket from the sofa for you to step on.”

“You’re so good at coaxing people, Boss Duan.” Ning Fei was in his arms, raised his head and laughed softly, “No wonder you, with this stinky temper, can still have ‘countless people’ in bed. Looks like besides this appearance, you can still coax people to be happy, a big stick and a date, huh?”

“If you didn’t like to provoke me, I wouldn’t have nothing better to do than to bicker with you.” Although their bodies were already so close, Duan Yunhong’s tone maintained a deliberate coldness, “I wouldn’t have nothing better to do than to casually coax others either.”

“Oh, really?” Ning Fei smiled dismissively, “Then I’ll return those words to you, if you didn’t always annoy me, I wouldn’t always have nothing better to do than to hate you.”

“I usually have reasons and evidence when I speak.” Duan Yunhong lowered his gaze, his voice low and his tone intimate, but the content of what he said was instead accusatory, “For example, is this a ballroom dancing posture right now?”

Yes, at this moment, let alone a standard dance posture, their hands didn’t even bother to raise slightly. Duan Yunhong’s hands were clasped around Ning Fei’s lower back, while Ning Fei’s hands were lightly pressed against the other’s chest on one side, and casually draped over the man’s shoulder on the other. To say that they were dancing, it would be better to say that they were just casually hugging each other and swaying.

“You want a posture? Okay, then let’s have a ballroom dancing posture.” Ning Fei grabbed Duan Yunhong’s left hand, put his right hand on it, and put his left hand on Duan Yunhong’s right arm. He wasn’t very familiar with ballroom dancing in this world, this was also what he saw in the dance hall before. But anyway, he didn’t have to dance ballroom dancing very well, just make a show for Duan Yunhong.

Sure enough, Duan Yunhong didn’t care whether his posture was standard or not, only said: “Are you going to dance the female steps?”

“I don’t know any male steps or female steps.” Ning Fei smiled, “But I can still turn around.”

As he said that, he led Duan Yunhong to turn around lightly. But turning was just “seasoning,” Ning Fei was sometimes close and sometimes far away in the dance, sometimes bumping into Duan Yunhong’s arms, and sometimes lightly twisting with his face against his and his body against his. This was obviously not any kind of ballroom dance, but everything was done at a very close distance, Ning Fei did it very naturally, not flamboyant at all. He lightly bumped and rubbed, lightly and heavily, with clear goals, following the rhythm of the melodious song. Sometimes, he would even follow the words that popped out of the lyrics, corresponding to lightly undo the buttons on the man’s shirt.

Duan Yunhong felt like he was striking matches one after another, the black match head quickly rubbed against the side of the matchbox, sparks flew almost every time, but it just wouldn’t light. It made people couldn’t help but think in their hearts, light up quickly, light up quickly.

Of course, Ning Fei noticed his movements, no longer doing those flashy tricks, and directly stuck back to his front. He put his hands through the man’s lower arms, clasped them around the other’s lower back, Ning Fei slightly raised his chin to look at Duan Yunhong, laughing lightly: “Boss Duan, are you satisfied?”

Duan Yunhong needed a bit of willpower to stabilize the rhythm of his breathing, lowered his head and pulled him into his arms: “It’s only been a few minutes, great dancer, you’re just perfunctorily dismissing me?”

“Are you sure you want to continue?” Ning Fei stuck to him, laughing, “Boss Duan’s ‘power switch’ has already been turned on, I’m afraid that if I continue to ‘consume power’ like this, you’ll ‘trip the breaker’ later, what should I do?”

As he spoke, he also jumped lightly, pretending to be lively, rubbing against Duan Yunhong so directly that he clasped his lower back, fixed him in place, and then directly sealed his babbling mouth.

Ning Fei tilted his head back to cooperate, as hot as in the dance.

After the kiss, Duan Yunhong’s breathing was completely out of control, both low and eager, and his voice suddenly became hoarse: “Then… back to the room?”

Ning Fei laughed: “Otherwise? Unless Boss Duan wants to perform here, and then all your helpers and doormen come to eavesdrop, that would be lively…”

Before he could finish speaking, he was directly picked up by Duan Yunhong and left.

——————–

Duan is happy again.