Chapter 10: Who Dares Call Me a Scoundrel?

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Chapter 10: Who Dares Call Me a Scumbag?

By the time everyone had finished eating and walked out of the restaurant, it was already eleven o’clock at night.

Since Li Jianchen and Guo Kun had been drinking, they said their goodbyes and hailed taxis home.

Of the remaining four, only Gao Yun had not been drinking.

Du Yuan was driving a red Audi A5 convertible. Hu Yue had saved up some money over the years working as a coach and had bought herself a secondhand white Polo.

“I’ll take Gao Yun home. You two should head back as well,” Du Yuan said.

“Mm.”

“Alright, see you next time.”

Wei Ya waved at them and climbed into the white Polo with Hu Yue. Before leaving, Hu Yue glanced at Gao Yun, her face expressionless.

Gao Yun pretended not to notice and got into the Audi A5 with Du Yuan.

“How are you feeling? You alright?” Gao Yun yawned. “It was only two bottles of beer. I’m fine.”

Du Yuan started the car and smiled. “Since you’re fine, have another drink with me. You all were talking business just now, and I couldn’t get a word in.”

Gao Yun was getting sleepy, but they had not seen each other in quite some time. His old classmate clearly wanted to catch up, and refusing outright seemed rather heartless.

“Alright. Where are we going?”

“I saw on my feed yesterday that a new lounge opened in the new district. The atmosphere looks pretty nice. Let’s go there.”

The lounge stood on the outskirts of the city’s new district, in a remote location. Its name was Little Town Story.

The interior had a slightly retro design, with soft piano music playing in the background. Guitars, drums, and other instruments were arranged at the center of the stage, but there was no band performing and no other customers in sight. The place was deserted.

A young married couple ran the establishment, and the moment they saw customers arrive, they greeted them warmly.

Gao Yun ordered some nuts for a snack, while Du Yuan ordered two cocktails made with Baileys and vodka. She looked delighted.

“This drink is amazing. Have you ever tried it?”

Gao Yun shook his head. Since alcohol affected muscle synthesis and his workout condition the next day, he rarely drank. He drank fewer than five times a year, and only when refusing was impossible. This was his second time that year.

“Isn’t that drink really strong?”

Although he seldom drank and did not know much about different kinds of alcohol, he vaguely remembered that vodka usually had an alcohol content of around forty to sixty percent. Mixed with Baileys, it was probably quite potent.

Du Yuan smiled. “A little won’t hurt.”

Before long, their snacks and drinks arrived.

“Please move back a little.”

The male owner placed the drinks in front of them, struck a match, and ignited the layer of vodka floating on top of the glasses before inserting straws.

What Du Yuan did next took Gao Yun completely by surprise. She pulled out the straw, lifted the glass, and downed the still-flaming drink in one gulp.

“Ha! You should try it too. It tastes wonderful when you drink it all at once.”

After finishing her drink, Du Yuan urged him on with eager anticipation.

The corner of Gao Yun’s mouth twitched. He had a feeling he was in for trouble again tonight.

The two of them drank quite a bit and talked about all sorts of things.

They reminisced about their school days, discussed the romantic entanglements of people around them, and talked about love and life. Du Yuan did most of the talking, while Gao Yun listened.

“Honestly, I really admire you, Gao Yun.”

Her eyes hazy with drunkenness, Du Yuan took out her phone and opened Gao Yun’s social-media feed. She found an old photograph of him and began looking through it.

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It had been six years ago, before Gao Yun had ever taken up fitness. Back then, he had been a two-hundred-pound-plus man, so fat that he looked like an entirely different person from the man he was now. His feed documented the entire process of his transformation.

As she scrolled through photographs of his gradually changing physique, Du Yuan muttered, “You lost all that weight through sheer determination, built up muscle, and ended up with an eight-pack. You casually took the coaching certification exam and came first in the province.”

“You’re talented in so many ways. You play guitar, do street dance, write, and make videos.”

Du Yuan continued scrolling through the videos and photos Gao Yun had shared: him playing guitar, dancing, practicing martial arts, explaining fitness, working as a model, receiving various honors, and signing a contract for an online novel.

Gao Yun had never deliberately bragged to Du Yuan about any of these things. She had learned about them by browsing through his social-media feed and had gradually developed a favorable impression of him.

That was the importance of cultivating one’s online presence.

In relationships between people, first impressions accounted for seventy percent of the overall impression. In the modern world, social interaction usually began with exchanging contact details, and the first thing people did afterward was browse each other’s social-media feeds to learn what kind of person they were dealing with.

That was why one’s feed made up sixty percent of one’s first impression. In other words, your social-media feed was your second face.

If your feed was filled with advertisements, sentimental platitudes, games, and other pointless, boring content, people naturally would not feel any special fondness for you. Some might even lower their opinion of you.

But if your feed consisted of attractive everyday selfies, beautiful travel scenery, the honors you had received, demonstrations of your dancing and singing talents, or even photos of you dining at upscale restaurants or sitting beside the Ferrari emblem in your car, people would naturally feel more favorably toward you, raising your score in their eyes.

“And you’re so ambitious. Even after passing the civil-service examination and securing a position in the public sector, you still work part-time as a coach and model.”

Du Yuan paused before continuing, “And now you’ve made a huge fortune trading futures and achieved true financial freedom.”

Gao Yun joked, “You’re exaggerating. And this so-called financial freedom is a little overstated. It might count in a small county like ours, but in a first- or second-tier city, it would only be enough to buy a few homes in good school districts.”

“Don’t interrupt me!” Du Yuan snapped.

Gao Yun sensed that the atmosphere had shifted. “Alright, alright. Go on.”

Du Yuan took a sip of her drink, set down the glass, and stared seriously into his eyes.

“In your career and daily life, you’ve always known exactly what you wanted, and you’ve worked toward it one step at a time.”

“What about relationships?”

Du Yuan pressed him. “Do you know what kind of girl you like? And do you know which girl around you likes you?”

Gao Yun suddenly felt like smoking, but he suppressed the urge. He picked up his glass, took a sip, and said nothing.

As for the second question, Gao Yun could more or less guess who was interested in him. But regarding the first, he did not have the slightest clue.

Through systematic study and five failed relationships, Gao Yun had honed his romantic skills to a professional level. He could handle all kinds of women with ease. He understood what girls thought and knew what they wanted in a relationship.

But as for himself, he was becoming less and less certain about what kind of relationship he wanted—or what kind of woman he wanted to share it with.

A beautiful woman? A wealthy woman? Someone obedient? Someone with a good personality? Someone compatible?

None of those.

There was one thing Gao Yun could be fairly certain of.

He did not like Du Yuan enough.

Between adults, sometimes silence was the best answer.

Du Yuan exhaled a long breath heavy with alcohol and unsteadily rose to her feet.

“Check, please.”

The moment they stepped out of the lounge, the night wind struck Du Yuan. She pressed a hand to her forehead and crouched down on the steps outside.

Gao Yun hurried over. “What’s wrong?”

Du Yuan clutched her head, her face pale. “I feel like throwing up. Looking at your face makes me want to puke. Get away from me!”

Gao Yun smiled and crouched down beside her, bringing his face even closer.

“Then hurry up and throw up. Once you get the alcohol out, you’ll sober up.”

Du Yuan stared at him expressionlessly for several seconds. Then she suddenly reached out, wrapped one arm around his neck, hugged his body with the other, and pressed her lips against his in a forceful kiss.

Caught completely off guard, Gao Yun was successfully ambushed. A stampede of imaginary alpacas thundered through his mind.

“I, a handsome man, actually fell for the same trick twice!”

“I never should have come here!”

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“That damned woman is unexpectedly sweet!”

“Wahhh, it’s not that I’m incompetent—the enemy is just too cunning!”

A notification chime interrupted their exchange. Gao Yun discreetly pulled out his phone and glanced at it.

Hu Yue: Where are you?

He cursed inwardly and quickly pressed the screen-lock button.

“Who was that?” Du Yuan asked.

Gao Yun answered with an innocent expression, “WeChat Sports.”

“Hmph.”

Du Yuan rolled her eyes and did not question him further. Struggling to stand, she said, “Take me home!”

After starting work, Du Yuan had always lived alone. Her residence was called Seaview International, a villa community near the coast, quite a distance from there.

They hailed a taxi and arrived outside her home fifteen minutes later.

By then, Du Yuan was completely incapable of looking after herself. She babbled incoherently and talked utter nonsense.

“You’re good in every way. There’s just one thing wrong with you!”

“Gao Yun, you’re a bastard! Everything about you is wrong! You’re nothing but flaws from head to toe!”

“Scumbag! You filthy scumbag!”

Swallowing his embarrassment, Gao Yun paid the fare under the driver’s lecherous grin. He carried Du Yuan out of the taxi, took the key from her pocket, and tried several of them before finally opening the door.

“Wake up. Wake up. Which room is the bedroom?”

Gao Yun gently patted Du Yuan on the back. Without lifting her head, she pointed toward one of the rooms.

“Alright, got it.”

Gao Yun carried her into the bedroom and placed her on the bed. He had just pulled the blanket over her when she kicked it away several times and shouted, “Don’t cover me! I’m thirsty! I want water!”

“Alright, alright. I’ll get you some water.”

Gao Yun went to the kitchen, filled a glass, and held it to her lips. Du Yuan took a couple of sips, then began rolling around on the bed.

“I feel awful! I’m cold! So cold!”

Gao Yun let out a cold laugh.

Right. As if I’d believe that. Did you think I’d fall for the same trick a third time?

Without hesitation, he turned and left the bedroom. As he closed the villa’s front door, he vaguely heard Du Yuan shouting behind him.

“Gao Yun! You bastard! You’re not even a man!”

“We’re done! Get lost!”

Gao Yun wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a long breath. Then he pulled out his phone and began typing furiously in the group chat called the Alliance of Losers.

“🙂 Brothers, if any of you dare call me a scumbag again, I’ll tear him apart with my bare hands!”

End of Chapter