Chapter 55: Jiang Liannan
“Go with the flow…” described people like Li Dong perfectly.
After sending off Gu Xiujue, he dazed out for a while, then remembered to flip open his little diary.
It had been so long that he’d forgotten much of what happened in the previous stories.
What never changed, however, was that every time he reread one of those trashy dog-blood novels, his mood was like… well, like life itself had bitten him.
Sometimes Li Dong really felt like a nosy dog with nothing better to do, the kind that meddled in other people’s business. How bored did he have to be to care about whether fictional protagonists were living happily or not?
After all, in the real world he was just an average middle-class young man, while every single one of those protagonists was some second-generation rich kid, political heir, or even mafia heir.
The one with the “worst” background among them was their poor darling Lingling, a pitiful small-time designer.
As his thoughts drifted, Li Dong began to feel sleepy. Even his toes could tell what would happen next. Tomorrow he’d wake up in another world again.
Sure enough, when his consciousness returned, Li Dong found himself sitting in first class on an airplane, surrounded by unfamiliar passengers.
He couldn’t immediately recall which novel this was.
But he knew that soon, the original host’s memories would flood in, revealing which world he had landed in this time.
“Sir, hello.” A flight attendant with a sweet face came over and asked, “Is there anything you need?” Her eyes were full of admiration. After all, the passenger was not only handsome but also dressed head to toe in luxury brands, practically a walking ATM.
“A cup of hot water, please. Thank you,” Li Dong said groggily.
“Of course. Please wait a moment.” The flight attendant soon returned with a steaming cup and handed it to him.
“Thanks.” Li Dong accepted it, took a few distracted sips and suddenly his hand trembled. His head throbbed sharply as the original host’s memories poured in, tearing open the veil of this world.
He set the cup down and checked his watch. It was currently 2:20 p.m. Beijing time. In less than 30 minutes, the plane would land at the Capital Airport.
This time, his identity was that of a super-rich heir named Chen Can, from a long line of wealth and power.
Chen Can was 20 years old and the well-known illegitimate son of the scummy gong, Chen Wuhou.
Li Dong grimaced. The male lead shou in this world was named Jiang Liannan, thirty-five years old, graduate of a top-twenty global university, born into a wealthy family whose fortune dated back to the Republic era.
The Jiang family and the Chen family had been family friends for generations, and their relationship was very close.
Which meant the male lead shou and the scummy gong were childhood friends who grew up together.
They also had two other buddies in their group: one was Feng Mantang, the heir to a pharmaceutical conglomerate, and the other was Fu Changyin, a red-third-generation who now owned a law firm.
The four of them were all of similar age and elite background, and since their twenties, they’d been known throughout Beijing as the famous “Four Young Masters.”
The story’s setup: Jiang Liannan had openly loved Chen Wuhou since he was twenty. After confessing, he was cruelly rejected.
Then rumors broke out that Chen Wuhou had a five-year-old illegitimate son. Furious and heartbroken, Jiang Liannan went abroad for his studies. Gritting his teeth, he earned a degree from a top university and returned home, only to continue pining for his still-single childhood friend.
Everyone in their circle and frankly, the entire gay scene in Beijing, knew that Jiang Liannan had been yearning for his best friend for over a decade.
Chen Wuhou’s half-hearted teasing made things worse. He had even said, “If I’m still single by forty, I’ll be with you.”
That line became a curse that bound Jiang Liannan for ten long years.
The novel began when Chen Wuhou turned thirty-nine.
With the promised age just around the corner, Jiang Liannan was ecstatic, counting down the days until he could finally be with the man he loved.
However, reality slapped him in the face. Three months before Chen Wuhou’s fortieth birthday, he received a wedding invitation.
“Lao Si, I’m getting married.”
And to add insult to injury, it was a shotgun wedding.
The side character Chen Can had returned from abroad precisely to attend his father’s wedding and to enroll in university.
Among the four friends, Jiang Liannan was the youngest, and everyone affectionately called him “Lao Si” aka the Fourth. But this time, the blow from Chen Wuhou nearly drove him insane.
For over ten years, Jiang Liannan had loved Chen Wuhou with absolute devotion. When Chen Wuhou’s business once failed, it was Jiang Liannan who poured all his assets into helping him rise again.
Of the four, Jiang Liannan had the best family background but ended up in the worst shape.
Now in his thirties, he was merely the owner of a small lounge bar.
He claimed he opened the bar just to keep a place for their friendship, somewhere they could always come back to.
Anyway, on the night of Chen Wuhou’s wedding, Jiang Liannan showed up at the ceremony with a gun and made a scene.
The 35-year-old man who had never been loved finally snapped. He coldly confronted Chen Wuhou, demanding to know whether all those years of ambiguous affection had just been a f*cking misunderstanding.
When Chen Wuhou said yes, Jiang Liannan shot him in the shoulder without blinking, a move so ruthless it almost made readers cheer.
Unfortunately, the satisfying part ended there. What followed was endless torment and suffering.
Because his rampage caused the bride to miscarry, Chen Wuhou came to hate Jiang Liannan to the core.
Later, they still got together but the tall, muscular scummy gong tortured the thirty-something shou nearly to death every night, claiming it was “what he wanted.”
He kept cheating, partying, and even drugged Jiang Liannan.
Eventually, the shou became addicted to drugs. One day, when he watched the man he loved playing with women right in front of him, he snapped and committed suicide.
When Li Dong had first read that scene, he’d honestly wished that were the ending!
With such an insane, abusive plot and such a masochistic protagonist, what kind of experience was the author even trying to give readers?
Was it that “oh my god just die already” kind of frustration?
But no, Jiang Liannan didn’t die. The scummy gong rushed him to the hospital in time to save him.
Then the story took an even wilder turn: by some twist of fate, Chen Wuhou was diagnosed with HIV.
Serves him right. After all that reckless sleeping around, getting HIV was basically divine justice!
Before the diagnosis, he hadn’t touched Jiang Liannan for three months.
After learning of his condition, Chen Wuhou finally repented. He hid his illness and began treating Jiang Liannan better.
And our foolishly devoted shou, of course, forgave him unconditionally.
Even after discovering Chen Wuhou had HIV, he still chose to stay, touching hearts across all of China.
Li Dong’s reaction when he finished the book had been: “Oh wow, look at you go huh? Why didn’t you just sleep with him one last time while you were at it?”
In fact, after Chen Wuhou’s diagnosis, the shou never slept with him again. So much for “risking everything for love,” huh?
Chen Can, the son, was a character who absolutely despised Jiang Liannan, even helping his father torment him later on.
Analyzing this father-son pair, Li Dong concluded they were two peas in a pod, outwardly charismatic and masculine, but inwardly full of toxic energy: violent, selfish, and cold-hearted.
Jiang Liannan was their opposite. The author described him as casual and flirtatious yet portrayed him as seven parts delicate and three parts submissive, a textbook example of a giving personality.
Li Dong could understand why Jiang Liannan had loved Chen Wuhou so obsessively. It was simply in his nature, he was the kind of pitiful, tragic person destined to be hurt.
One detail the author wrote quite well: later, Jiang Liannan began donating half of his income to the woman who had miscarried because of him.
That was basically the whole story. Li Dong still didn’t know whether the author had wanted to celebrate love or promote awareness that HIV patients could still live normal lives. Either way, she failed spectacularly.
If anything, readers probably finished the book believing in love even less.
Back on the plane, Li Dong sat quietly for half an hour, slowly getting used to his new body.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the plane is now descending. Please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts. Put up your tray tables and adjust your seat backs to the normal position. All electronic devices must be turned off. Please ensure your carry-on luggage is properly secured. We will be dimming the cabin lights shortly. Thank you.”
Twenty minutes later, Li Dong appeared at the airport exit.
As soon as he stepped off the plane, he called Chen Wuhou. “Dad, I’ve landed. Do you have time to pick me up?”
As expected, Chen Wuhou replied, “I’m busy preparing for the wedding. I’ll have the driver come get you.” After a few brief words, he hung up, sounded genuinely busy.
So Li Dong waited. When the driver arrived, he was driven home to a stranger’s house.
Before this, Chen Can had lived abroad with his grandparents through middle and high school. He had grown tall and handsome, like a Western boy.
“Is my dad home?” Li Dong asked, looking out the window at the luxury mansion. He doubted it. The wedding was only days away.
“Doesn’t seem like it…” The driver knew exactly who Chen Can was, the illegitimate son who’d be in an awkward position once the marriage happened.
“Oh.” Li Dong said no more. He got out and grabbed his own luggage.
“Let me take that, Young Master Chen,” the driver offered quickly.
“It’s fine,” Li Dong said. “It’s not heavy.” He carried the suitcase himself and entered the mansion.
As expected, this wasn’t a place he’d be staying long.
There were dorms at school, and besides, with the pregnant bride moving in, it’d be inconvenient anyway.
He chose a guest room on the second floor, unpacked, and was just getting settled when his phone rang again.
It was Chen Wuhou.
“Dad,” Li Dong answered.
“Can-can, you’ve arrived, right?”
Li Dong winced. Can-can sounded way too much like “miserable-miserable.” Forcing a smile, he said, “Yeah. Where are you?”
“Oh, I’m swamped these days,” Chen Wuhou replied. “Having dinner at my future father-in-law’s tonight. You can have the chef cook for you or eat out. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
Well, weddings were busy affairs. To be fair, at least he called. “Alright,” Li Dong said. “We’ll talk about school after the wedding.”
And that was that.
After hanging up, Li Dong took a shower, changed into pajamas, and lay down with an eye mask on, planning to nap.
At that hour, over at the Cat Ear Lounge, Jiang Liannan, Feng Mantang, and Fu Changyin were all there.
Three good-looking, successful men sat on the couch drinking in silence.
They had already said everything there was to say, but it was useless.
When your own brother-in-arms screws you over for over a decade, the pain just numbs you. Jiang Liannan now looked like the walking dead.
Feng Mantang sighed. “Lao Si, we all know how Wu-ge treated you. He really crossed the line.” His tone was heavy. Back then, Chen Wuhou’s teasing had led everyone to believe the two would end up together.
“Yeah.” Fu Changyin leaned back, smoking gloomily. “There’s not much we can do. Both of you are our brothers. We still have to show up at the wedding, right…”
Feng Mantang glared at him. Seriously, bringing up the wedding now? Did he want to rub salt in the wound?
Ever since getting the invitation, Jiang Liannan had gone off the rails, sleep-deprived, pale, and kept alive only by alcohol.
“I’m fine,” Jiang Liannan said. He lit a cigarette, took a slow drag, and smiled faintly. “I’m numb now.”
Then he toppled sideways like a corpse.
“Lao Si?” Feng Mantang called. No response, only the faint wisp of smoke curling from the cigarette between his fingers. “Sigh.” Fine? He was clearly dying inside.
“Old Wu’s a real bastard,” Fu Changyin muttered. “If he hadn’t toyed with him back then, Lao Si wouldn’t have gone down this path.”
Feng Mantang nodded grimly. Chen Wuhou had always been too proud for his own good.
Back in the day, when Lao Si came back from abroad, the entire capital was buzzing with his name, Jiang Liannan.
Meanwhile, Chen Wuhou’s business had collapsed, losing half the Chen family’s fortune. If not for Jiang Liannan and the others propping him up, the Chens might not have survived.
That was their most ambiguous period. But before anything could be made clear, Chen Wuhou’s business rebounded, and he threw himself into work, leaving Jiang Liannan behind.
To wait for him, Jiang Liannan opened this bar named Cat Ear Lounge.
Then his username on gay forums was “If You Come Back.”
That ID carried a long story, one that had been updated for years.
Readers who followed it would always ask in the comments, “Has the person you’re waiting for come back yet?”
And every year, without fail, the answer was no. Still waiting.
Tonight, Feng Mantang and Fu Changyin had cleared their schedules just to keep him company.
They snacked and drank in silence. Three men nearing middle age, not hungry, just sick at heart.
“Welcome,” chimed a crisp voice as the doorbell jingled. A waitress stood up to greet the new guest but froze when she saw him.
“Thank you.” Li Dong walked in alone and sat at the bar. Then ordered a glass of the house special. He even added that it was something he usually drinks.
“Ah, sorry,” the waitress stammered. “That particular drink can only be mixed by our boss…” She hadn’t expected anyone to order such a niche cocktail. “But our boss right now…”
“Isn’t here?” Li Dong prompted. He’d ordered it on purpose, after all.
“No, no, he’s here!” she said quickly. “Please wait a moment, I’ll go call him.”
She hurried toward the back lounge area where the boss and his friends were seated. That area wasn’t open to guests, a private corner where one could observe the entire bar without being disturbed.
“Boss,” she said timidly, “there’s a customer who ordered a drink only you know how to make…”
The half-dead Jiang Liannan blinked at that, his expression dazed. “…” A drink only he could make. Barely anyone knew that recipe. One of the few who did was Chen Wuhou.
“I’ll be right there,” he said, scrambling to his feet, suddenly anxious to see who it was.
Could it possibly be him?
Even knowing it was unlikely, Jiang Liannan still straightened his clothes before going out.
He was a gorgeous man. Elegant posture and sensual features. Every year, he effortlessly kept his title as “Capital’s No. 1 Gay.”
If Jiang Liannan had been a woman, he would’ve been exactly Chen Wuhou’s type, and this story would’ve been happily ever after long ago.
But he wasn’t. He didn’t have the large chest Chen Wuhou liked, only smooth, graceful lines that women envied.
As Jiang Liannan stepped out, he spotted a figure from afar.
The youthful energy and clean outfit instantly told him it couldn’t be Chen Wuhou. Thus, disappointment washed over him.
He almost turned back, but at that very moment, the guest looked up.
“…”
That face… so similar to Chen Wuhou’s… made Jiang Liannan’s heart twist violently. That person was…
Chen Wuhou’s illegitimate son. He’d met him once, about ten years ago, before the boy went overseas.
He recognized him immediately, because Chen Wuhou used to flood his social media with pictures of Chen Can.
Jiang Liannan had always been obsessed with him, so of course he’d studied every photo, over and over.
Even if Chen Can turned to ashes, he would still recognize him. And now, sitting right here before him, how could he not?
At that instant, a dark thought took root in Jiang Liannan’s heart. Revenge, destruction, taking everything down with him.
He knew it was wrong, but his feet carried him forward anyway.
“Hello,” the guest said. “Are you the owner?”
Jiang Liannan froze. So, he really didn’t remember him. His feelings tangled inside, but he smiled faintly.
“Mm-hmm, that’s me.”
His soft, sultry voice matched his striking looks and long legs. Li Dong couldn’t help but think, this male lead truly lived up to the title of Capital’s No. 1 Gay.
“Alright,” Li Dong said calmly. “I heard only you can make the drink I ordered. Then I’ll trouble you.”
He looked tidy and proper, speaking in a polite, serious tone that carried a clean, youthful air, utterly like a student.
Author’s Note:
Uncle: Thirty-five years old and flirting with a young stud… I’m scared readers will scold me… (Still single at this age, please show some love and mercy!)
Readers: If you have the skills to hook a young stud, why should anyone scold you?
IsitRo: Ngl, I think the author really mean it when they said they will write this arc seriously. Lol. I didn’t even edit much here. Wadaya think?
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