The Empress’s Gigolo

Guo Kai wasn’t in a good mood to begin with today. Now that he had consumed too much alcohol, he was drunk as a skunk. Even after the waiter had explained the situation to him, he still made those offensive comments. Tears welled up in the eyes of the girl that was called An Fei. Even though she could not hear what Guo Kai was saying, she could still read his lips. A deaf person could still understand what those words meant.

“I am… not a… mute!” An Fei said one word at a time. It seemed like she seldom spoke. Her voice was dry and unclear.

“If you talk like that, you might as well keep your mouth shut.” Guo Kai’s body was swaying. Obviously, he was drunk.

Many regular diners of this restaurant knew the counter girl had a hearing problem. She always wore a red-colored hearing aid on one of her ears. They sympathized with this girl very much.

Therefore, when they heard what Guo Kai said, they looked at him angrily.

On one side, Ren Baqian could no longer take it. He pulled Guo Kai to one side and told An Fei, “I’m sorry, he’s drunk.”

“Ren Baqian, what’s the meaning of this? I just asking her a question. What? Did I offend you or something? Are you trying to play the hero now?” Guo Kai raged when he realized it was Ren Baqian that dragged him and caused him to stumble.

“Xu Li, get him out of here,” Ren Baqian said to Xu Li. He was really disgusted by Guo Kai and pushed him away with one arm.

Behind them, when Dong Haiqing and Chen Bing saw this scene, they quickly pulled Guo Kai out of the restaurant to get him some fresh air.

“Hey, don’t pull me out. Let go of me, I want to speak with him. Ren Baqian, what’s the matter with you? Have you become a c*nt after you graduated? Did I offend you? Why do you pull away?”

Ren Baqian did not care about him and turned around to look at An Fei. Right now, she was wiping off the tears on her face. Her eyes had turned red as well.

“I’m really sorry. He is drunk, please ignore him,” Ren Baqian said. Then, when he recalled that the girl was deaf, he took a piece of paper from the counter and wrote “I’m really sorry, he is drunk.” on it and passed it to her.

With a pair of reddish eyes, she wrote back “It’s okay, thank you.”.

Ren Baqian smiled at her. Following which, he asked the waiter beside him, “How much is the bill?”

“632 yuan,” the waiter replied after taking a look at the bill on the counter.

Ren Baqian paid the bill and wrote on the paper “Don’t care about what other people say about you. There are indeed malicious people in this world, but there are kind souls as well. You have already done your very best.”.

When An Fei saw these words, even though her eyes still brimmed with tears, she still gave Ren Baqian a smile. Then, she wrote on the paper “Thank you!”

When Ren Baqian saw the girl’s pure smile, he felt something touch the soft spot in his heart.

Ren Baqian waved his hand at her and left the restaurant. When he walked out of the restaurant, he heard the waiter mumble, “Scum.” Of course, he reffered to Guo Kai.

After he left the restaurant, he saw everyone was still outside. Guo Kai was seated on the flight of stairs in a daze, puking all over the floor.

“A breeze blew and he started puking,” Chen Bing turned around and said to Ren Baqian.

“Does anyone know where he’s living? Get a cab and send him back.”

“I roughly know where he stays,” Qi Kai replied.

“Feifei, are you sending Zhang Xiaotong back?” Dong Haiqing asked Miao Feifei.

Following which, after they sent Qi Kai and Guo Kai off on a taxi, Xu Li, Miao Feifei, and Zhang Xiaotong got onto another taxi and left.

Only Dong Haiqing, Chen Bing and Ren Baqian were left.

After seeing the two taxis had departed, Dong Haiqing turned around and said, “I really can’t tell you can drink that well.”

“So-so.” Ren Baqian smiled. His superb alcohol tolerance was a direct result of drinking too often with Chen Qing.

“Guo Kai usually seems like a decent dude, I can’t believe that he will act like this when he is drunk.”

“I know right.”

“Oh, by the way, have you contacted your friend Chen Qing recently?” Dong Haiqing asked.

“I’ve just come back to Shencheng. After I picked up your call, I came here straight away. I didn’t manage to get in touch with him,” Ren Baqian replied. Even if he had contacted Chen Qing, he could not tell her. God knows what happened between her and Chen Qing.

Furthermore, Chen Qing was an assh*le. He dated a new girl almost every day.

Ren Baqian did not want to get swept into the maelstrom.

“Alright, I shall leave first then. Bingbing lives quite far away, you should send her back. You should leave your car here or get a designated driver. Don’t drive after you have consumed alcohol,” Dong Haiqing reminded Ren Baqian after giving Chen Bing a hug.

(Bingbing – Nickname for Chen Bing)

Even though Dong Haiqing was somewhat of a scheming girl, Ren Baqian still found her to be rather pleasant after hanging out with her.

“Alright, goodbye.”

Finally, only Ren Baqian and Chen Bing were left.

Ren Baqian made a phone call and booked a designated driver. He was then informed that the designated driver would arrive in half an hour’s time.

“Let’s wait for a while,” Ren Baqian turned around and told Chen Bing.

Chen Bing tucked her hair behind her ears and looked at Ren Baqian and said, “You have changed a lot.”

“Huh?” Ren Baqian touched his face and said, “We haven’t seen each other for only a year, I did not really change much.”

“Your appearance doesn’t change much, but your personality has changed a lot.” Chen Bing looked into Ren Baqian’s eyes and said, “In the past, if I was to look at you like this, you would already have broken eye contact with me a long time ago.”

Ren Baqian rubbed his nose. He was indeed like that in the past. He did not like to keep eye contact with other people and would subconsciously shift his gaze away.

“Furthermore, I did not know you are this manly in the past.” Chen Bing pursed her lips and smiled. “It’s really beyond my expectation.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just now, I saw how you pulled Guo Kai aside, and asked Qi Kai to get him out. Such proactive actions from you are beyond my expectation. If my memory serves me right, you have never taken the initiative to do anything in the past. Now, I have to see you in a completely different light. You are a rather reliable man in a critical junction.”

After Chen Bing finished saying these words, she turned silent for a while. Then, she raised her head and continued, “If you were this reliable when we were still students, I might have really chased after you.”

Ren Baqian lowered his head. Subsequently, he looked at Chen Qing’s clear and beautiful eyes and subconsciously shifted his gaze away again. Then he said, “It seems like I was really unreliable in the past.”

When Chen Bing saw Ren Baqian shifting his gaze away, she also shifted her gaze into the distance and said, “It’s true. Think about it. If a person who is always quiet doesn’t participate in anything and doesn’t express himself, will people find him reliable?”

Thinking about it, Ren Baqian had no choice but to admit what Chen Bing said was true.

He had always behaved like that.

It seemed like he only took the initiative to do things in that world.

It was mainly because he could see the actual reward for everything he did in that world.

Furthermore, he was a unique individual in that world. Nobody in that world possessed whatever he could offer.

And maybe because of these reasons, he could express what he really wanted to and take the initiative to do things.

Both of them idly chatted with each other. After half an hour, the designated driver finally arrived.

The designated driver sent Chen Bing to her home first. When Chen Bing alighted from the car, she turned around to look at Ren Baqian and bit her lower lip. After a slight hesitation, she said, “Goodbye.”

After Chen Bing left, the designated driver chuckled and commented, “You should have followed her just now. She wanted to invite you to her place, but she was too shy to tell you. You are the same as well.”

“In the past, I was like you and I always waited for other people to take the initiative.”
The designated driver sighed as he said these words.

The designated driver looked older than fifty years old and more than half of his hair had fallen out. Ren Baqian cast a glance at him and almost burst out laughing. He did not expect him to be someone who would tell a story.

After Ren Baqian reached home, he laid on his bed and thought about the class reunion. He really did not have thoughts towards Chen Bing.

Then he thought about the things he had to prepare before going back to that world. Should he find a chef and learn some culinary skills?

Even though he could cook a few dishes, their appearances did not really look good. The dishes he made were novelties at best.

After thinking about it, he abandoned this thought. After all, his goal wasn’t becoming an outstanding chef.