Gong Ze pressed his lips together and wiped it away. Just as the cowlick on his head was starting to look as dejected as he felt, he finally saw the end of the asphalt road.
This was a private hill.
Several abrupt ancient Greek-style structures had been built on the lush green hilltop — temple-like buildings with white stone columns, and some odd, half-Chinese, half-Western pavilions.
Next to the pavilion was a small cylindrical robot on wheels, the kind used for delivering snacks, like the ones hotels use for room service.
And incredibly, a row of electrical outlets had been embedded into the pillars of the pavilion.
Gong Ze: “…”
What kind of monster design was this?
Next to it was an artificial lake, its surface glittering as it reflected the sunlight. A row of fishing rods was stuck into the ground, but the people had all run to the pavilion.
Several blurry figures sat in the pavilion, gathered around an empty pot, eating fruit while charging their phones. Gong Ze spotted Feng Yuan among them.
That handsome face — handsome, yet clearly belonging to someone with a bad temper — was dark and gloomy. Jiang Lin’an and two others were talking to him, but he ignored them entirely, his hand restlessly spinning his phone.
Jiang Lin’an said something.
Feng Yuan looked up with a cold smile, ready to retort, but his gaze swept over and caught sight of the dazed-looking Alpha standing in the distance, looking around.
In that instant, Feng Yuan’s expression changed quickly and vividly.
It was the look of someone who had been brooding with no outlet and had finally found a target for his frustrations.
Gong Ze: “…”
Not good.
He squeezed the strap of his bag, hesitating. Maybe I should turn around and run?
But Feng Yuan had already let out a menacing laugh and stood up, shouting his name: “GONG ZE!”
Shua!
Everyone’s eyes immediately followed the sound and looked over.
“…”
Well, too late to run now.
The dispirited Alpha trudged over, glumly clutching his bag strap. The man who was grinding his teeth and thirsting for blood stood up with a shua and stormed toward him, shrouded in a dark aura. Gong Ze flinched, tucking in his neck.
Jiang Lin’an hurriedly tried to hold him back.
“Hey, hey, hey, don’t be impulsive, A-Yuan. Gong Ze came late, but he still came. Maybe something delayed him. You should at least hear him out, right?”
Jiang Lin’an smiled and signaled to Gong Ze with his eyes. “Right?”
Gong Ze understood that he was being given an out. He lowered his head and said, “After I left the gym, the hospital called and asked me to come over.”
Feng Yuan’s terrifying, murderous expression paused for a moment.
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and asked coldly, “Weren’t you there this morning?”
“I was, but he wasn’t awake.”
Gong Ze answered honestly. “He just woke up this afternoon. They asked me to come and talk. He’s in the ICU right now.”
Feng Yuan: “…”
Gong Ze’s family member being sick had been mentioned from the very beginning; they both knew about it.
After hearing this, Jiang Lin’an pushed Feng Yuan’s shoulder. “See? I told you. You got so angry for nothing. I said Gong Ze probably had a reason. Is his family member still in the ICU? Is it serious?”
The last question was directed at Gong Ze.
Gong Ze shook his head, then cautiously and timidly looked up at Feng Yuan from below.
Feng Yuan: “…”
His anger immediately dissipated by more than half.
Tch. So I wrongly accused him. But how could a sugar daddy ever be wrong? Unwilling to lose face, Feng Yuan stepped forward, stared up at the Alpha who was half a head taller than him, and said in a hard, stiff tone.
“Then couldn’t you have just said that?”
“I tried to say it.” The Alpha answered meekly. “On the phone, you hung up…”
Feng Yuan: “…”
Fuck. So this is completely my fault now?
Jiang Lin’an, who was standing nearby, let out a stifled, snorting laugh. Feng Yuan turned around and kicked him, then turned back to look at Gong Ze, hesitating as if he wanted to say something. Finally, he took the man’s arm and led him back to the pavilion.
“Alright. Who are you putting on that pitiful act for?”
Always playing the victim to make me feel sorry for him.
The Alpha behind him glanced at him again and again, as if he knew he was in the right and Feng Yuan was in the wrong.
His cowlick stubbornly twitched. He muttered unwillingly, “But it’s obvious… You weren’t like this yesterday. You were way too fierce today. Not gentle at all…”
Yesterday, he had coaxed him with a gentle voice. Today, before the day was even over, he had been shouting and cursing.
Gong Ze was unhappy.
He wanted to return the goods, wanted to back out.
Sure enough, money was hard to earn and shit was hard to eat. There wasn’t a single boss with a good temper.
Feng Yuan was choked speechless. Beside him, Jiang Lin’an was slapping his thigh and shaking with laughter. The two other people sitting in the pavilion who had been watching the show also burst out laughing.
Feng Yuan’s face was covered in black lines.
Who didn’t use a gentle voice when they were tricking someone? Now that he had successfully tricked the man, why would he hide his true nature?
He looked at Gong Ze with a dangerous, sardonic smile. “Having regrets?”
Gong Ze looked at his expression and said timidly, “A little.”
Feng Yuan immediately dropped his face with a thud.
Then Gong Ze quickly changed his tune and said, “No.”
“Hahaha, holy shit, Gong Ze, you’re hilarious.” Jiang Lin’an held his stomach and pounded the table. The other two were laughing uncontrollably, looking at Gong Ze like he was a rare and precious specimen.
“Feng Yuan, where did you find this treasure? He’s so much fun. This is great.”
Feng Yuan was also laughing, amused by Gong Ze’s immediate capitulation. He lazily put his arm around Gong Ze’s shoulders, kissed Gong Ze’s captivating face, and raised an eyebrow at them proudly. “What can I say? I’m lucky. You guys don’t have the touch.”
“Oho, listen to him brag.”
“Hahaha.”
Everyone laughed heartily. Then Feng Yuan casually introduced the two people to Gong Ze. “You already know Jiang Lin’an. The guy with the blonde hair on the left opposite us is Ji Huai. Alpha.”
Blond-haired Ji Huai laughed and cursed, “Hey! Watch your mouth!”
Feng Yuan pointed to the one on the right. “This one with the black hair, kinda handsome, is Gao Chun. Beta.”
Gao Chun smiled and nodded at Gong Ze. Gong Ze nodded back cautiously.
This Beta was wearing a soft silk shirt with a sailor collar, its V-neck slightly open, paired with high-waisted wide-leg jeans. His short hair, which reached just below his chin, was permed into lazy, wide waves.
He gave off an ethereal, artistic vibe.
He looked like someone with very good taste.
Unfortunately, Feng Yuan mercilessly exposed him in the next second. “Don’t let his appearance fool you. He looks like a great artist, but the truth is, this guy doesn’t have an artistic bone in his body. He studied painting for four years, and it was always abstract — in a bad way. His self-portrait was so ugly that when it was hung in his house, people thought it was haunted. Finally, he gave up and switched to architecture.”
“But you see those buildings on this hilltop?”
Feng Yuan pointed to the Chinese-style red-tiled pavilion with Greek-style stone columns.
“He designed that.”
Gong Ze: “…”
Gao Chun: “…”
Gong Ze moved his lips and looked at the elegant, artsy Gao Chun with complicated eyes.
Hey buddy, maybe you should just give up?
Gao Chun: “…”
His smile gradually stiffened. He tried to salvage his dignity with feigned calmness. “Art doesn’t need definition. What do they know? This design of mine even won an award.”
Feng Yuan smiled sarcastically from the side. “That’s right. But the competition organizer was himself.”
Jiang Lin’an: “Hahahahaha oh my god hahaha.”
Ji Huai: “Pfft, pfft, pfft.”
Gao Chun: “…You motherfucking Ji Huai. If you want to laugh, just laugh. Don’t sit next to me making farting sounds.”
Seeing Gao Chun drop his act, his face darkening as he cursed at them, the corner of Gong Ze’s mouth curled up into a small smile.
None of Feng Yuan’s friends were putting on airs of being rich young masters yet. They were fun to listen to.
Today’s gathering was organized by Gao Chun. Gao Chun particularly loved his mountaintop cabin, a mishmash of Chinese and Western, ancient and modern. He had bought this hill specifically for the natural river that ran through it.
This lake used to be a pond, but later Gao Chun hired people to expand it into a lake. The lake connected to the river, so the water was flowing.
There were already fish in it. Gao Chun had also had people stock it with more fish fry and aquatic plants, letting it grow for a few years. Finally, he opened a fishing spot.
But the only customers were the few of them, who came occasionally.
“Catch them now, kill them now, eat them now.”
Blond-haired Ji Huai walked over to his fishing rod and said proudly, “That’s the whole charm of it.”
“Well said.”
Jiang Lin’an put his arm around Ji Huai’s shoulders and grinned. “Fishing’s all about that, isn’t it? What else would you want?”
Gao Chun gave a faint smile, standing in front of his spot, and said, “Activities like fishing are a great test of a person’s patience. And in the process of fishing, gazing at the calm water, you can experience the freedom of tranquility and solitude.”
“One lake, one person, one old fisherman. Mm. The feeling of ‘a straw cloak in the misty rain, living a life as it comes’ is not something outsiders can understand.”
Feng Yuan stood expressionless in a line with them, gazing gravely at the rippleless lake. “Mm,” he said.
Gong Ze was silent for a moment. He gazed at the four backs from a distance, then at the fishing rods in front of them that cost tens of thousands of yuan each.
Feng Yuan’s rod was even made of python skin — the kind that was no longer allowed to be used. It should have been an old rod he’d collected, the kind called a ‘divine instrument.’
Finally, Gong Ze slowly spoke up…
“So, how many have you caught?”
The four: “…”
The four: “…………”
The atmosphere was silent for a few seconds. The four looked at each other and suddenly smiled, then their faces instantly twisted into ferocious expressions as they stared at the lake.
Ji Huai: “Let’s drain the water.”
Gao Chun sighed: “Let’s drain the water.”
Jiang Lin’an gritted his teeth: “Let’s drain the water!”
Feng Yuan said expressionlessly: “Mm.”
Gong Ze: “…………”
So you four fishing enthusiasts spent half a day using heirloom-quality fishing rods worth tens of thousands of yuan and didn’t catch a single fish?!
You can get skunked like that??
Gong Ze suddenly understood why the four of them had been gathered around the empty pot on the stone table in the pavilion. They had been waiting to catch fish to eat. But after an entire morning, they hadn’t eaten a damn thing, and the snack wrappers had piled up into a mountain.
The four were also blaming each other.
“Gao Chun, are you sure there are even fish in your fishing pond? Maybe the fish saw your ugly pavilion and ran away from home!”
“Go to hell! I suspect your bait is the problem. The fish won’t even touch it!”
“Hey, you—”
“Shut up! Hmph, my fish is about to bite. If you scare it away, I’ll throw you in the water to chum.”
“Feng Yuan, your float hasn’t even moved, and you have the nerve to talk. Besides, isn’t that rod your old man’s collection? A divine instrument used for deep-sea fishing? You’re really losing face.”
“Get lost! Anyway, whoever doesn’t catch a fish doesn’t get to eat.”
“Sigh. Might as well all starve then.”
While the four were tearing each other’s hair out, Gong Ze picked up a piece of fishing line from the ground — probably an old piece that had been discarded when they were rigging their rods. He rummaged through the open box at his feet and found a fishing hook. He quickly tied it on. Gong Ze dug his fingers into the mud by the lake, found an earthworm, threaded it onto the hook, tied a stick with leaves to the line as a float, and cast it directly into the water.
No rod. Pure handlining.
This method required more skill.
He tugged the fishing line with his fingers, like flying a kite, needing to mimic the slow movement of a swimming shrimp or insect.
Soon, an unusual vibration came through his fingers. Gong Ze immediately jerked the line. The fish in the water, thinking its prey was trying to escape, instinctively bit down on the bait.
Once hooked, the fish would naturally try to run. This required knowing when to let it run and when to pull back.
An experienced angler could tell what kind of fish it was by its struggle.
Gong Ze let out line, let out line, let it tire itself out, then reeled it in and let it out again.
“It should be a grass carp…”
He muttered to himself.
The four people beside him had stopped arguing at some point and were quietly gathered around him, watching his movements.
Hearing his words, Feng Yuan asked quietly, “How can you tell?”
Not knowing why Feng Yuan was being so quiet, Gong Ze answered, “Grass carp are active. This is how they bite. They love to chase after moving prey. Once hooked, they run hard.”
Feng Yuan said, “Oh.”
The four continued to stare intently at the line in his hand.
When the fishing line started to squeal with tension, Ji Huai swallowed hard. “Is that line going to break?”
“Tch! Don’t jinx it!”
Jiang Lin’an elbowed him from the side.
Feng Yuan also tensed up and scowled at them. “Keep your voices down.”
You’d think they were trying to catch a water monkey.
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