Chapter 105 - Extra CP (Zuo Zhen x Lu Xiuhe)-See you later! Bro!
Edited by Noks
The banquet hall was full of people toasting each other, and everyone was dressed elegantly and appropriately. Although they weren’t as good-looking as when they used beauty filters on their videos, at a glance, they were still very eye-catching.
Lu Xiuhe was sitting in his seat and holding his cellphone in both hands. He seemed a bit absent-minded.
Today was StarTV’s anchor gala. Yu Yan had received an invitation, so Lu Xiuhe had managed to tag along as well. A few months ago, he would definitely have been jumping up and down with excitement, but today, he just felt extremely uninterested.
He looked down at his cellphone, but the message he had just sent out had still not received a reply.
To say out loud the great event Lu Xiuhe had gotten himself involved in in the year 2018— that would be that he was just dating someone online.
He didn’t think there was anything bad about online dating. Even if it was just fostering a relationship online, wasn’t the person sitting on the other side of this specific Internet connection still a person? Apart from being unable to kiss and hug physically, it was no different from any form of ordinary love. So this online relationship of his was being treated as his first real love by him.
What’s more, his little girlfriend, who was an older domineering Jie, was full of tenderness, consideration, and generosity; he really liked her very much. The reason he had come to Jincheng this time was also so that he could see her. Of course, he didn’t have any dirty thoughts, but just felt that since the other party had very obviously not been in a good mood recently, so he wanted to come and keep her company.
Who would have known that because the other party was too busy, even though he had been here for so many days already, they hadn’t gotten around to meeting even once.
His cellphone vibrated, and he became so excited at this that he quickly snapped out of his meandering thoughts and pinned his eyes on his cellphone screen.
It wasn’t his little girlfriend’s reply, but rather that group of cheap bros who had come to find him.
“Really you, what did you run off to Jincheng for when everything’s all fine? There’s nothing interesting over there. Come and see what we’re doing. [picture]”
“Hahaha, he was just bored. We’re going to go rafting tomorrow, you can just watch ba. We will take photos for you.”
“Dog He, tonight the dorm head is treating us, you’ve really suffered a loss right now.”
Lu Xiuhe opened the picture, and it was of a pub near his school. It was a quiet and cheap pub, very suitable for a gathering of a group of college friends.
His interest peaked, he raised his hand, casually took a video of his surroundings, and sent it.
“Open wide your dog eyes to see where I, this lord, am.”
“??”
“Where is this? Did you go to work part-time as a waiter?”
“Waiter my ass, I’m at the StarTV gala. Xiao Yan brought me in.”
“Wtf? WTF! Is this true or not?”
“Holy crap, I also want to be bros with Yu Yan! You have to arrange a meeting for me when you come back this time!”
“Is Lulu there?”
“Does that even need to be said? All the top male and female anchors are here.”
“Daddy, I’ll pack and bring your breakfast for the next month. Can you help me get Lulu’s contact information?”
“Be a little more promising, if you’re going to go get someone’s contact info, get Tuantuan’s! Is Grandpa Lu there? I’ll help answer the attendance in your stead for a month!”
Watching these people struggling to act like impoverished children, Lu Xiuhe finally felt that the gala was turning out to be a little interesting.
Male college students, besides having to either go to class or skipping it, had nothing else to do, and so their dorm was completely full of Internet addicted teenagers. In their spare time, everyone loved watching livestreams, and so their familiarity with anchors was more than that than with celebrities. Within a short while, he received several private messages, all of which were asking him to help that person get some anchor’s or the other’s contact information. If that was no good, then getting a picture of the real person was also fine.
His friends had already gone to such extents to ask, so of course, he couldn’t refuse their requests. Anyway, he wouldn’t ever meet these anchors again after the gala was over, so having the cheek to ask for their contact information was really nothing.
Lu Xiuhe had dressed up a little today. He wore a suit, and had even spent some time on styling his hair. The normally bubbling-over-with-vitality college student had suddenly changed. He had starry, handsome eyes, but also contained a little bit of the imposing presence of a little wolfhound.
He had always been good at talking, and so half an hour later, he had managed to obtain the WeChat information of the anchors sitting on his left and right.
He sent the WeChat account details over to his friends. “I got them, but it’s still useless even if you guys go and friend them. These girls have a lot of stream followers on their WeChats, so even if you pass the verification, they might not respond to you guys.”
“You don’t understand. Having the contacts of a few female anchors in your WeChat, it’s cool to just say that.”
That was true, the happiness of pure male college students depended on something just that simple.
His little girlfriend still hadn’t replied to his message yet. He was just about to send another emoticon when he heard the female anchor sitting on his left smile and ask him, “Did you add my WeChat yet? Why didn’t I get the friend request ya?”
Lu Xiuhe was stunned and a little embarrassed as he quickly replied, “…I’ll add it now.”
He was just burying himself in WeChat when he suddenly heard a commotion spout up around him.
As soon as he looked up, he was completely entranced by the sight of a head of pink hair by the door.
Pink hair was already very eye-catching, let alone the fact that it was a man who was sporting this hair color.
A black suit paired with pink hair, originally, it wouldn’t have looked quite right, but because of the other party’s deep and delicate facial features, it gave off a slightly different taste. Lu Xiuhe was a man as straight as steel, but even he could tell that the other man had put on some makeup. The color on his mouth was very deep, but he didn’t look feminine at all. He was tall, slim, and with his long straight legs, walked neither too fast nor too slow down the hall.
…… This pink haired guy was a little too handsome ba.
Lu Xiuhe was still lost in such thoughts when he saw that pink haired guy suddenly raise his eyes and meet his gaze. His originally careless eyes instantly seemed to focus, and even his footsteps slowed down a bit.
A sudden sense of familiarity bloomed in his mind. Lu Xiuhe froze, but before he could carefully think deeper into it, the other party shifted their gaze and passed by him bearing a very indifferent attitude, as if their locked gaze just now was just a delusion on Lu Xiuhe’s part.
“Zuo Zhen—he actually really came?!” The female anchor next to him exclaimed, “I thought it was just an online rumor… My God, he’s too handsome in person ba?! I’ll try to find him for an autograph later, do you think it’ll be okay?”
Hearing such heated comments come from the people nearby, Lu Xiuhe became a bit curious and turned his head to ask, “Zuo Zhen? Is he an anchor too?”
Hearing this, the female anchor looked at him in total astonishment. “You don’t even know Zuo Zhen? The group leader of the Pz group ah.”
Only after listening to this female anchor explain for a long time did Lu Xiuhe realize that Pz was a male idol group.
He may know some female celebrities, but male idols were really a complete blind spot in his knowledge. Due to this topic being brought up, he suddenly remembered a late-night dormitory chat from some time ago, that he had had with his upper bunkmate, who had been crazily complaining about some Chinese male idol group, saying that the guys in the group put on even more makeup that female celebrities, and if they wore female clothes, it would become difficult to tell if they were a guy or girl. It had also been because only the group leader looked more attractive, that this bizarre makeup trend had started.
Although he had no real evidence for it, Lu Xiuhe thought that the group his upper bunkmate had been ranting about must have been the Pz group.
At first, he had felt that Zuo Zhen seemed a bit familiar to him, but after spending a long time thinking about it, he couldn’t figure it out, so he just gave up. Just preparing to keep battling for the next female anchor’s WeChat, his cellphone suddenly rang.
Little Baby: Was just busy. What are you doing?
Lu Xiuhe couldn’t care less about getting some trashy WeChat now.
Your Great Lord Lu: ! Baby!
Your Great Lord Lu: I came with Xiao Yan to participate in the StarTV gala.
Little Baby: Is it fun.
Your Great Lord Lu: It’s okay, it’s a bit boring. What about you? Have you eaten yet?
Little Baby: With so many female anchors there, what could you be bored with.
Your Great Lord Lu: How did you know? My table here is full of female anchors, but I don’t know any of them.
When this sentence was sent out, there was no immediate reply.
“Little Didi, what have you been doing stuck to your cellphone this whole time?” The female anchor next to him picked up a glass of wine and asked, “By the way, I even forgot to ask, are you also a StarTV anchor?”
“Oh, I’m not. I’m a family member who was brought along.” Lu Xiuhe looked up from his cellphone.
Anchors who could bring along a family member to the gala weren’t small anchors. Besides, this little Didi was very handsome and sunny. The female anchor raised her eyebrow and clinked her glass against his. “Like that ah. Is your family member male or female ya?”
“Male.” Lu Xiuhe had never experienced stage fright. If someone dared to clink glasses with him, he would dare to drink. After drinking most of the contents of his glass, he said, “In fact, he’s not a family member, he’s a friend. He came to Jincheng alone and had no one to bring, so he brought me with him to even out the numbers.”
Although Lu Xiuhe hadn’t dated anyone seriously before, since he was voluble and easy to talk to, he was always a lively character in his group of friends, and parties without him would seem less interesting. So, within a short time, he managed to greatly amuse the female anchor, and her favorable impression of him was steadily rising. When the other anchors around them heard their conversation, they also drew up closer to chat, and would drink a few mouthfuls of wine from time to time. Their table actually became the most lively table around.
Lu Xiuhe chatted and chatted, and then took another sip of wine. He had a good level of alcohol tolerance and seldom got drunk. This amount of alcohol right now wasn’t even worth mentioning, but once he started drinking, he would become more excited and talkative. A little while later, he had even started chatting and discussing about the afterparty happening after the banquet with the people around him.
Right after he figured out the location of the afterparty, a heavy thud was heard, which came from the female anchor’s bag falling to the ground.
When Lu Xiuhe saw that it had fallen down, he bent without thinking and said, “Let me help you pick it up…”
Yet, as a result, the other party also stooped down at the same time. She was wearing a sleeveless dress with a low neckline, and in this specific position, as long as Lu Xiuhe looked up, he would be able to see a whole lot.
However, Lu Xiuhe didn’t react in time. As soon as he was about to grab the bag, he felt his collar being grabbed harshly, and then he was dragged up——
“Wtf?!” Lu Xiuhe was startled by this strength and didn’t care about looking up and into anything anymore. As soon as he was forced to sit straight, he turned around to see who was so powerful.
The pink haired guy was standing behind him, expressionless, with his eyes even exuding coldness.
The people at the table were shocked when they saw his presence at their table. No one spoke, and Lu Xiuhe became even more confused. Just as he opened his mouth to ask, the other side spoke first—
“You come out with me.”
——
Zuo Zhen’s manner made Lu Xiuhe have the delusion of being in a dream of being back in junior high. Back then, everyone was young and energetic, and if you weren’t happy with someone, you could set up an appointment to fight it out. “Don’t leave after school” and “You come out with me” were all the opening phrases used for setting up a fight.
But this was the first time he and Zuo Zhen had met ah, so setting up a fight… it couldn’t really go as far as that ba?
On the way down the hall, they came across fewer and fewer people the further they walked, and at the end, there were only two possible paths—the emergency exit or the bathroom.
These were all great places to start up a fight in!!
He and Zuo Zhen were complete strangers; whether Zuo Zhen wanted to force him to go run two laps through the emergency exit or whether he wanted to force him to go to the bathroom, none of these options seemed fucking reasonable ah?
Lu Xiuhe finally couldn’t help but say, “Dude, did you come to find me for something? If there’s something, then let’s just talk about it here ba.”
“There’s no way to say it here.” Zuo Zhen raised his eyes and said in a cool voice, “Get in.”
Lu Xiuhe was about to ask what matter there was between the two of them that couldn’t be said out here when he saw two girls passing by. They had recognized Zuo Zhen and were excited, so had headed towards them to get his autograph as soon as they saw him.
He had forgotten, pink-haired guy was a little celebrity.
Although he didn’t pay attention to stars, he also knew that stars were more afraid of facing trouble than ordinary people. Forget about getting into a fight, even if their voices were a bit loud, it could lead to gossip about them being spread around.
Lu Xiuhe’s mind was in a complete mess, and it wasn’t until he heard a “bang—” that he returned to his senses and realized his terrible problem with his surroundings.
He had actually gotten into a bathroom stall with Zuo Zhen.
…… And Zuo Zhen had even locked the stall door?
Even though the bathrooms smelled nice in this upscale hotel, it was still an uncomfortable place to be in. Especially because the space in the stall was narrow, and so the two people were forced to stand very close to each other. Lu Xiuhe could even smell some of the cologne the other side was wearing.
He said, “No… what exactly is going on ah?”
Zuo Zhen stared at him for a long time and then asked, “Was it interesting chatting with female anchors?”
“……”
“?”
Lu Xiuhe’s mouth ran faster than his brain. “It’s very interesting ah…”
Zuo Zhen’s face sank completely, and it took a long while before he spat out two words, “Slag man.”
“???”
Lu Xiuhe nearly looked like he had the word “wronged” engraved at the top of his head. He hadn’t even held a girl’s hand yet, how was he suddenly being linked to the words “slag man”?!
“No, celebrity Dage, how am I a slag?” Lu Xiuhe thought for a moment, and then his eyes suddenly went wide as he asked, “It couldn’t be that you and that female anchor… you guys have that kind of a relationship?”
After having said that aloud, Lu Xiuhe thought that this conjecture of his was looking more and more reasonable. He raised his hands. “I just said a few words to that anchor; I didn’t do anything else. Really, you can ask her if you don’t believe me… I also won’t say anything about you two to anyone. Don’t worry, I am very tight-lipped…”
Before he could finish speaking, the other side directly took action and slammed both of his hands against the wall of the stall.
“Wtf.” Lu Xiuhe was startled by this unforeseen action. He instinctively took a step back, bringing his back closer to the wall of the stall. “I’m trying my best to explain, what are you trying to start a fight for? You really want to fight? If you have the ability, then let me go, and we’ll go out and fight ah!”
Zuo Zhen closed in on him.
Needless to say, but while this little pink haired guy looked handsome from a distance, he was even more fucking handsome closer-up. It was just that he was wearing a lot of cosmetics on his face, and the sparkly bling being given off by the eyeshadow on his eyes was too bright.
You say, as a big man, what are you doing putting on all this garish stuff? He would definitely be a hundred times more masculine than he was now if he took off his makeup.
You had to commend Lu Xiuhe for having a big heart; even in this scenario, he could rant a bit in his heart.
Zuo Zhen said, “You know me.”
Lu Xiuhe replied, “I don’t know you.”
Zuo Zhen affirmed, “You think about it carefully.”
Lu Xiuhe thought about it and understood. “Know you, know you, I know you completely. I’ve seen your performances, and you sing pretty well ah. No wonder you’re the group leader.”
Zuo Zhen was in charge of rapping in the group; he never sang more than two lines.
He frowned and decided to give him a hint. “You have a girlfriend, an online one.”
Lu Xiuhe was stunned. “How do you know…”
In the middle of the conversation, Lu Xiuhe suddenly shut up.
Because he saw a small mole at the top of Zuo Zhen’s forehead.
He had seen that mole before, in a picture. To be exact, in a picture sent by his little girlfriend. At that time, he had thought that the person in the picture was her ex-boyfriend, so he had grabbed the picture and laid waste to it. He had also cursed out that mole, saying that if the other party changed into a costume, he could even go play Guanyin.
Seeing his reaction, Zuo Zhen’s manner of speaking grew a little slower as he said, “Think about it carefully again, what did you say before?”
Lu Xiuhe took a breath and stared at him. “You—”
Zuo Zhen’s eyebrows smoothed out a bit and he was just about to say something when—
“Misunderstanding, misunderstanding ah.” Lu Xiuhe said, “It’s true I said you’re ugly, but I can’t just praise my current girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend in front of her ba, dude.”
Looking at Zuo Zhen’s face gradually turning ghastly pale, Lu Xiuhe immediately added, “Okay, okay, okay, you’re not ugly, you’re much more handsome than me… Wait, you don’t want to chase after Zhenzhen and get her back ba? I’m telling you, it’s impossible. She likes me very much right now… Huh?!”
Lu Xiuhe had been chattering away, but suddenly, he went completely dumb.
His mouth had been blocked by Zuo Zhen.
Using his own mouth.
He felt a heavy weight on his lips, and suddenly Zuo Zhen’s face was magnified infinitely, to the point where… He could clearly make out every individual strand of the other party’s black and dense eyelashes.
“……”
Lu Xiuhe stared at him with wide eyes, forgetting to even breathe, until Zuo Zhen’s cheek moved slightly, and he neither heavily nor lightly sucked a bit at his mouth.
“….”
“?! ???!!”
Lu Xiuhe still remembered the funny gif that he had seen on Weibo some time ago. Two boxers were fighting for quite a while, when one of them suddenly kissed the other one. At that time, he had held onto the picture and laughed and hehe-d happily for a long time. Unexpectedly, at this very moment, he had become one of those figures in that funny gif.
It wasn’t that bad kissing his current girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend.
Lu Xiuhe’s first thought was: I’m dirty.
He soon came back to his senses and fiercely bit at the other party’s mouth. He was full of energy when doing so, and could even taste the coppery scent of blood.
Zuo Zhen groaned, and only then did he raise his head, but his hands continued shackling him in.
The corner of his mouth had been bitten by Lu Xiuhe, and some blood seeped out. For some reason, he looked like a gloomy pervert from a movie… But a hot killer pervert.
“Wtf…” Lu Xiuhe was both anxious and angry. He felt that all the blood in his body was rushing up to his head, and his face felt so hot. He cursed, “Are you sick in the head ah?”
Zuo Zhen had clearly been bitten, but his face was much more relaxed. “You’re right,” he said.
“……”
Just as Lu Xiuhe thought to himself that at least this person possesses self-knowledge, he heard Zuo Zhen say, “I really like you.”
“But you?” Zuo Zhen seemed to have thought of something, so he sneered, gnashed his teeth in anger, and continued, “Hooking up with female anchors, making close physical contact with them, and not even returning my messages?”
“Slag man.”
?
???
Lu Xiuhe fell into a daze. He couldn’t understand what Zuo Zhen was saying at all.
“And you said you felt bored? Why couldn’t I see how you were bored?” Seeing that he wasn’t talking back, Zuo Zhen continued to press him.
Lu Xiuhe was still in a daze. He felt that things were not quite right. He had a not-so-good premonition and a particularly absurd idea pop into his head.
…… Impossible, just impossible.
He quickly calmed down and let out a hollow laugh before saying, “What are you even talking about ah…”
“Still don’t understand?”
Zuo Zhen’s gleaming black eyes stared at him directly, and he said, “I’m not your girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend.”
“I’m your girlfriend.”
“……”
Five minutes later, they were still in the same position as before, only that Lu Xiuhe’s hands had finally been freed.
But he already had no attention to spare for running away from the situation now.
He was holding the cellphone that Zuo Zhen had just crammed into his hand and was scrolling through the chat record on the screen. He was left completely speechless for a while.
“Why are you holding my girlfriend’s cell phone?”
“I said, I’m your girlfriend.”
Lu Xiuhe raised his head and really wanted to refute him, but as soon as he met Zuo Zhen’s eyes, he couldn’t say anything.
A popular idol, who was bored and had nothing to do, would actually come to him and just lay claim to the identity of being his online partner.
But why ah?
He was so handsome, his stature was good, and he could even sing, so then why run online and be a catfish?
And—and even date him online?!
Lu Xiuhe’s mind was completely blank. This situation was so fantastical that he didn’t know what to do.
If it had been someone else who had been cheated by a catfish, then there was an 80% chance that they would fight with the catfisher as soon as they met. It would be a “Either you die or I will, and once it’s done, I wouldn’t even give you 100 yuan” kind of situation.
But Lu Xiuhe couldn’t quite bring himself to do that.
Zuo Zhen was so handsome, and was also a little celebrity, so it wouldn’t be good to beat him up. Besides, Lu Xiuhe thought he couldn’t actually beat him up anyway.
The most, most, most important thing was still that… Lu Xiuhe wasn’t quite willing to beat him up.
Damn it, whether he was a man or a woman, the person in front of him was real, the two of them being sweetly happy together for the past few months was real, and the sincerity he had paid to the person on the other side of the screen was also real.
…… What the fuck was this ah?!
Lu Xiuhe’s mind couldn’t turn over anymore thoughts, so he simply gave up. He returned the cellphone, rubbed his forehead, and took a deep breath.
Then he raised his head, and with a standard fake smile pasted on his face, he exclaimed, “Fate that brings two people together really exists in life! In the future, we can still be bros!”
He patted Zuo Zhen on the shoulder. “See you later! Bro!”
With that, he turned to unlock the bathroom stall door. Who would have known that before he could even turn all the way around, Zuo Zhen would pull him back.
Zuo Zhen seemed to be a person who did not curse much, but he was really frantically angry now. He directly pushed Lu Xiuhe up against the wall of the stall and kissed him recklessly again, and then gnashed his teeth as he asked, “…what kind of fucking bro do you want me to be with you?”
—
Juurensha: ….so on one hand, Zuo Zhen, you really shouldn’t be so pissed off and angrily kissing someone who doesn’t really want to kiss you back right now! On the other, he is a complete jealous mess right now, although that doesn’t excuse anything. And LXH, I don’t think you’re as straight as you claim given how often you describe Zuo Zhen as handsome and also honestly, how well you reacted at first to the whole situation. And I’m guessing the end of this chapter is around when Yanyan enters the bathroom and notices something pink in one of the stalls.
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