Chapter 29

Chapter 29 - 29 028 Kiss Chapter 29: 028: Kiss! Chapter 29: 028: Kiss! Half an hour ago—

Jiahui was a few minutes late because she was looking for parking. As the group headed to the reserved private room, Jiahui looked around but didn’t see Wen Changling.

She asked a colleague, “Where’s Changling?”

“Don’t know.”

Jiahui was a bit annoyed.

Wen Changling had a poor sense of direction, and the corridors of this private room were like a labyrinth. She might have taken a wrong turn and failed to keep up. These people lacked any sense of camaraderie; they didn’t even notice someone was missing.

Jiahui went to look for her herself.

About a dozen people came to this dinner, all staff from the oncology surgery department, except for Qiao Yi.

Before being transferred to the VIP building, Qiao Yi was also part of the oncology surgery team. Since the organizer of the dinner got along well with Qiao Yi, she was invited too. The room was booked in advance and was quite secluded.

The place underfoot was called Ninety-three City, a well-known entertainment and money-burning hotspot in the capital.

At the very front of the hallway, there was an intersection. Before catching sight of anyone, voices were heard.

“Fourth Brother.”

It was a young man, wheedling unabashedly.

“I’m begging you.”

When nobody paid attention to him, he continued to pester, “Come on, help me get on stage one more time. I’ve been around for so long, and the total number of my fans doesn’t even come close to the crowd you draw with one turn at the DJ booth. Look, look—someone has even created a super topic for you, and I still don’t have one.”

The tone was both envious and jealous.

“Fourth Brother, please, will you? If you accompany me on the music, I could sing and surely attract more fans.”

The only one who had the audacity to shamelessly pester Xie Shang like this was Gu Yihuan, whose skin was thick enough to be used as drum leather.

“You haven’t given up singing?” He Dongzhou spoke with a voice dripping with sarcasm.

Gu Yihuan declared with his flawed teenage reasoning, “It’s my dream.”

“That’s a delusory pipe dream.”

Among their group of close friends, He Dongzhou was the least harmful on the outside, with dimples and a love of laughter, witty and sociable, able to talk to people or ghosts alike.

But Gu Yihuan knew He Dongzhou was a smiling tiger on the outside and dark of heart on the inside, the best at playing dirty tricks.

“You can mock me, but I won’t let you disparage my dream.”

Unapologetically, He Dongzhou mocked, “If you keep singing, the bar will go bankrupt.”

Enraged, Gu Yihuan exploded, “Old Dog He, drop dead!”

He Dongzhou laughed even louder.

As Gu Yihuan rushed to kick him, he reached the corner, kicked at air, and lurched forward, accidentally bumping into someone.

“I’m sorry.”

Gu Yihuan immediately apologized.

“It’s okay,” Qiao Yi noticed Xie Shang, who was walking behind Gu Yihuan.

The first time Qiao Yi saw Xie Shang was at Fang Jiyin’s house; she stood at a second-floor window while Xie Shang played with a cat by the poolside on the ground floor. She watched, transfixed, until Fang Jiyin came over and forcefully closed the curtains.

With just that one action, Qiao Yi understood that Xie Shang was someone she couldn’t even dream of.

Xie Shang and the others went to the private room at the end, which was in Area A. It was hard to book a room there; one would need connections or to queue up at least two months in advance.

“No wonder they say a lot of wealthy people come and go here. Those four guys just now, you can tell they’re rich young masters,” said the intern from the oncology surgery department, Zhu Minglu.

Her male colleague Liao Zhigang sneered, “What era are we in, still talking about young masters?”

“Don’t be so quick to dismiss it. Some people are just born lucky and different from ordinary folks,” Zhu Minglu replied, glancing at him from the corner of her eye, “And, just to mention, that face is different from yours.”

Liao Zhigang snorted, “Crazy about pretty boys.”

Zhu Minglu’s friend immediately jumped in, “Who was the one drooling over a beauty at the doorway, unable to move?”

Come on, let’s hurt each other.

Liao Zhigang conceded with a raise of his hands, putting his raised argument back down.

Her friend was named Ho Ye, a nurse in the oncology surgery department, who went by the nickname “I’m the flower of the hospital, who do I fear?” in the main nurses’ chat group.

The fearless “flower of the hospital”, as she made a bold statement in the dimly lit corridor, said, “Especially the one in the trench coat, he was totally stepping on my ‘XP’.”

The woman behind wasn’t sure, “Isn’t he the one who visited our hospital last time? His ‘battle damage’ photo was even shared in the chat group.”

Ho Ye remembered, she had bragged about trying to seduce him in the chat group, but it was all talk; she didn’t have the guts.

“Yes, it was him.” Qiao Yi, walking at the front, said, “His name is Xie Shang.”

She sounded like she was quite familiar with him.

“You know him?”

“Know him? Yeah, pretty well.”

It had a tinge of showing off.

Ho Ye shrugged her shoulders, unconvinced, “You say you’re familiar just like that.”

Everyone knew about Qiao Yi; she liked to package herself, make friends with the posh circles, and showcase cars and wines in her social media daily, but one could never tell if it was real or fake.

“He is my bestie’s childhood sweetheart.”

Ho Ye: “Oh.”

Qiao Yi had a rich and famous best friend whom she often mentioned.

*****

Wen Changling hadn’t intended to come to the dinner, and neither the head nurse nor Jhiang Youyou had shown up. Jiahui had dragged her to come, saying she needed to fit in more, or else she would be seen as an outcast in others’ eyes. Outcasts are usually ostracized and slandered.

She had gotten a bit lost until Jiahui came and led her out of the “maze.” By the time she and Jiahui arrived at the private room, the place had already warmed up; loud music was playing and multi-colored laser lights were spinning and flashing.

The spinning bottle gradually came to a stop, the opening pointing at Qiao Yi.

Ho Ye was the one spinning the bottle, “Truth or dare?”

Such a cheesy game.

Jiahui squeezed into the crowded sofa with Wen Changling. Wen Changling tried her best to shrink her body, trying to make herself as thin as a sheet of paper, taking up as little space as possible.

Qiao Yi chose, “Dare.”

Men and women together tapped on the table, the bottle got knocked around, rolling here and there, instantly ratcheting up the atmosphere.

Wen Changling’s gaze settled on the grapes in the fruit plate.

Ho Ye was someone who knew how to seize the opportunity to undercut someone, “That childhood sweetheart of your bestie, go bring him here. You said you know him well, shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

Actually, there was some bad blood between Ho Ye and Qiao Yi. When Ho Ye first arrived at the hospital, a male doctor was courting her, and just when she was about to give in, that doctor ran off to become Qiao Yi’s backup option.

“I will go.”

Less than fifteen minutes later, Qiao Yi returned empty-handed.

Ho Ye pretended to look at the door a few times, feigning ignorance, “Where is he?”

She knew Qiao Yi wouldn’t be able to bring someone; how much face did she think she had? That battle-scarred male god didn’t look like someone who was casual, how could he possibly join a dare game just like that.

Qiao Yi kept a straight face, “He was busy, I didn’t want to disturb him.”

“Whatever you say,” Ho Ye pushed a drink towards her, “Have a drink, you failed your task.”

Without a word, Qiao Yi downed it in one gulp.

The next round began, and the bottle started spinning again. This time, it pointed at Wen Changling. She had two grapes in her mouth, and her puffed-up cheeks hadn’t even had time to deflate, her clumsy glasses made her look very stiff.

Wen Changling didn’t want to play; her whole body language screamed: I don’t want to play.

Jiahui immediately stepped in to smooth things over, “Changling rarely comes out, go easy on her, please.”

The spin-master of this round was still Ho Ye, “Dare or truth?”

Wen Changling didn’t even want to choose, “Dare.”

She was someone with secrets, and those with secrets can’t tell the truth.

Originally, Ho Ye had the idea of asking her opponent to call a professor to confess love, but seeing Wen Changling’s honest and simple look, she went easy, “Then let’s do the same as the round before last, go to the private room at the end of the corridor and bring back a person of the opposite sex.”

Wen Changling, due to her lateness, didn’t know who was in the private room at the end of the corridor.

Jiahui comforted her, “Don’t be scared, it’s okay if you can’t bring someone back, I’ll drink for you.”

*****

“Did you also lose at the game?”

“Yeah.”

“What did they ask you to do?”

“Bring someone back,” Wen Changling said, “Of the opposite sex.”

Xie Shang stood up, “Let’s go.”

Everyone, including Qiao Yi, was stunned. The usually low-profile Wen Changling had actually brought Xie Shang back; it only took her three minutes from the time she went out to the time she returned.

What was once a noisy private room fell silent at Xie Shang’s arrival. The music had been turned off earlier, and in the enclosed space, Xie Shang’s voice gently resonated.

“Do I need to drink?”

Wen Changling replied, “No need.”

Her task was to bring the person over.

The spherical laser light wasn’t turned off, and blue specks scattered, hitting the corners of Xie Shang’s eyes and the slightly open collar of his neck. He didn’t seem to notice the petal of a red rose caught on the button of his jacket.

“Then what should I do?”

His patient inquiry gave the illusion that he would comply with all of Wen Changling’s reasonable and unreasonable game demands, as if he was at her beck and call.

So, before Wen Changling could speak up, Jiahui, emboldened by mischief, blurted out, “Kiss!”