DLRAS Chapter 158 [If Never Missed]

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Chapter 158: If we have together in our previous life.

“Why are you drinking alone today?” 

Chen Wengang put down his glass, the ice cube tapping against the edge of the glass, making a soft sound as he glanced sideways.

“Where’s Zheng Yucheng?”

The bar’s dim and ambiguous lighting casts a shadowy atmosphere. Huo Niansheng leaned against the bar, his arm resting on it, his peach blossom eyes looking at everyone as if with affection.

Further away, a group of Huo Niansheng’s friends whispered among themselves, their faces wearing smiles.

Those young gentlemen always had some boring tricks up their sleeves. In Zheng Yucheng’s social circle, it was inevitable to have such friends. They had once privately bet on sending someone to pursue Chen Wengang to test if he would waver. To some people, it was just for amusement. Someone like Huo Niansheng, a well-known playboy, was even more untrustworthy, not worth a single word of trust.

Chen Wengang remained silent, staring at a stain on the bar as if he didn’t know how the paint splattered there.

Huo Niansheng sat down on a high stool beside him, relentlessly, continuing to pester: “Drinking to drown your sorrows?”

He was tall, with long legs, and even though someone was standing behind him on the stool, his long legs still reached the ground. Despite the dim light, it didn’t hinder others from noticing his meticulously chosen attire and shoes. Wherever this person went, gazes followed, like waves rushing in.

Yet he was relaxed and unconcerned, as if he were naturally the center of attention.

The drink was finished, the glass was empty, and only an ice cube remained.

Chen Wengang placed the glass down. It was Qixi Festival, and couples were coming to the bar one after another to seek joy. Zheng Yucheng had also been invited by He Wanxin to watch a movie. He had originally told Chen Wengang that he had rejected her, but when it came down to it, he had no choice but to accept the invitation.

Many times before, time and time again, he always had reasons and always had compelling excuses.

Huo Niansheng suddenly leaned closer.

Chen Wengang jumped slightly and moved back. Huo Niansheng tilted his head, as if assessing whether he was truly disheartened. The distance exceeded the safety zone, and a woody fragrance wafted over. A smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth as he extended an invitation:

“Don’t be upset, want me to take you out for fun?”

The background music changed to a soft melody, and the sound of those people’s laughter became more pronounced.

And as always, it was the same old story, wherever he went, someone always treated him as a joke, there was never a moment of peace.

Chen Wengang stubbornly didn’t want to leave, he beckoned to the bartender, but Huo Niansheng interrupted: “Stop drinking.”

He stood up, gripping Chen Wengang’s wrist without hesitation, “Let’s go, I’ll take you for a walk.”

As if compelled by some unknown force, Chen Wengang got off the high stool.

He didn’t want to stay in the bar to be laughed at by boring people, nor did he want to go back to Zheng’s house and be stuck in his room feeling frustrated, probably to be bombarded with questions by Zheng Bingyi. Apart from that, he couldn’t think of anywhere else to go at the moment. But what happened afterward, he couldn’t quite remember. 

Drinking in frustration led to drunkenness, and he didn’t remember how many glasses he had ordered throughout the night, until he woke up with fragmented memories.

Chen Wengang’s head was splitting with pain as he sat up in bed, taking a moment to steady himself before the fragmented memories slowly returned to him.

The room was a luxurious hotel suite, with the curtains not fully drawn, allowing a harsh white light to burst in through a crack, jolting him awake suddenly.

Chen Wengang’s heart sank as he realized he was naked, with the feeling and traces of last night’s activities lingering on his body. Someone had cleaned him up, but the space beside him was empty. At that moment, the bathroom door opened, and Huo Niansheng walked out after washing his face.

He was wearing a bathrobe, revealing a portion of his chest, meeting Chen Wengang’s extremely complex gaze.

Huo Niansheng smiled affectionately, approaching to kiss his forehead: “Yesterday was—”

Gritting his teeth, Chen Wengang pushed him away forcefully.

He pulled up the covers silently, picked up his shirt, and started putting it on his arms.

The shirt was wrinkled, looking very messy, but it seemed like he had worn it out himself yesterday rather than it being torn. His clothes and pants were neatly folded and placed meticulously at the foot of the bed.

Huo Niansheng remained composed, watching Chen Wengang dress expressionlessly.

Only his fingertips trembled slightly, revealing his inner turmoil, whether out of shock, anger, or both.

Chen Wengang’s mind was actually in turmoil, with more and more disjointed fragments coming back to him, such as Huo Niansheng inviting him, or the sudden eruption of pent-up resentment—Zheng Yucheng was with someone else, so what?

Rather than hating the playboy in front of him, he hated himself a little more.

Chen Wengang rarely made mistakes, especially not of a principled nature. A situation like this was absolutely not supposed to happen. But alcohol could numb the nerves and lead to irrational choices. He knew this very well; Zheng Bingyi had taught them a long time ago that when going out for drinks with people, whether clients or friends, one must be cautious, or else it would eventually lead to big mistakes. Especially for people like them, who know how many unscrupulous individuals were watching them, trying to scheme, getting heavily drunk was the most dangerous time.

And he fell for it.

Now, rather than worrying about responsibility, Chen Wengang just wanted to leave this place quickly: “Excuse me.”

Huo Niansheng’s attitude was light and airy, not treating last night’s escapade as anything out of the ordinary.

Perhaps Chen Wengang’s complexion was too ugly, even a bit pitiful. He walked over, attempting to wrap his arm around his shoulder, speaking in a somewhat comforting tone: “Just calm down for a moment.”

Chen Wengang fastened the last button of his shirt: “I’m leaving.”

Huo Niansheng sighed in resignation, handing him his phone: “Do you want to call the police?”

Chen Wengang looked up at him.

Huo Niansheng gestured with his eyes towards the phone held up in the air: “You have the right to call the police.”

Chen Wengang lowered his head, passing by Huo Niansheng without wanting to linger for a second, fleeing from the hotel room like a fugitive.

He hailed a taxi and gave the address of Zheng’s house. Along the way, he was lost in thought, and before he knew it, he had reached his destination.

Chen Wengang rang the doorbell, and the security guard let him in.

In the living room, he encountered Uncle Lin, who asked him where he had been all night.

Chen Wengang explained softly, “I drank too much and stayed overnight at a hotel.”

Uncle Lin didn’t ask further, but with a slightly reproachful tone, he told him to go back, change clothes, and get some rest.

Half an hour later, Chen Wengang lay on the bed, his head still throbbing from the hangover, wishing he could split it open with an axe.

His wet hair soaked the pillow, and he had taken a shower as soon as he entered the room, from top to bottom. But what had happened had happened, and regrets couldn’t turn back time or erase everything.

After a while, there was a knock on the door, and Chen Wengang forced himself to get up. The maid had brought him a bowl of hangover soup.

He placed the empty bowl back on the tray left at the door, lay back down, turned over, and felt the coldness beneath his head.

It was then that he recalled Huo Niansheng’s attitude, his expressions, and his actions circling in his mind over and over again. Chen Wengang couldn’t even distinguish if Huo Niansheng was serious when he handed him the phone or if it was a threat or mockery. But no matter what, Chen Wengang knew he couldn’t actually call the police. Huo Niansheng was from a wealthy and influential family; he was the nephew of Huo Meijie and a cousin of Zheng Baoqiu and Zheng Maoxun. With such connections to the Zheng family, as long as Huo Niansheng hadn’t caused him any serious physical harm, it was just a night of revelry, and Chen Wengang would have to swallow his pride.

Furthermore, how would they define their actions from last night?

Huo Niansheng had invited him to go for a walk, and he followed. Huo Niansheng had taken him to the hotel, but it wasn’t like he had forcibly dragged him there.

Was it considered consensual then? With the power of the Huo family, if they intended to be difficult, these details would be impossible to clarify.

Taking a step back, even if Chen Wengang was determined to get to the bottom of things and make a fuss, where would that leave the face of the Zheng family?

So some things could only be painfully terminated—

Zheng Yucheng stared at him incredulously, “Break up? Are you crazy? What’s going on?”

Chen Wengang remained silent.

He seemed a bit annoyed, “Just because I went to see a movie with He Wanxin? Didn’t I explain the reason to you, I didn’t want to offend Mr. He’s face, and I even sought your consent. If you really didn’t want me to go, you could have objected at the time, and I would have tried to find a solution. Wengang, you wouldn’t stoop to the level of those girls, agreeing first and then bringing up past issues later, would you still think it’s some sort of boyfriend test?”

Leaning against the desk, Chen Wengang lowered his eyes, looking at the ground rather than at him. “That’s not the reason.”

Zheng Yucheng questioned him, “Then tell me, what’s the reason?”

When Chen Wengang looked up again, he furrowed his brows, his gaze already calm.

He seized the opportunity to call Zheng Yucheng into the room late at night, with only the two of them facing each other. From childhood to adulthood, they had talked like this many times before, discussing everything from games, homework, teachers, and what they wanted to do in the future.

This time, it was Chen Wengang who suggested breaking up, but he stubbornly refused to give a reason.

Zheng Yucheng was completely baffled by how suddenly he became unreasonable and stubborn, not understanding what nerve he had hit.

He kept pressing for an explanation, even saying things that hurt feelings, but Chen Wengang remained tight-lipped.

In the end, Zheng Yucheng got angry, but there was nothing he could do. The two parted ways on bad terms and entered into a cold war for the next two days.

Chen Wengang didn’t have a better way. He made the decision to break up as if punishing himself. It was a difficult decision, but the process was actually short, taking only a few hours to make up his mind—he couldn’t admit to Zheng Yucheng what he had done, but he also couldn’t continue their relationship as if nothing had happened.

That would go against his bottom line as a person. He had made a mistake and could only bear the cost of losing something.

It was just as well; enduring long pain was worse than short pain. They were already in a difficult situation; perhaps this way everyone could be relieved.

For two consecutive days, Zheng Yucheng didn’t take Chen Wengang with him when he went to the company or school, nor did he speak to him.

Even Zheng Bingyi noticed something was wrong, but no one brought it up openly.

Chen Wengang appeared gentle and easy to compromise with, but when it came to something he had firmly decided on, he was very difficult to deal with, hardly budging. But when facing his family, he was the one who offered explanations, telling Uncle Lin that Zheng Yucheng was just in a bad mood and that he would get over it eventually.

One day after class, Chen Wengang received a call from an unknown number, but the voice on the other end was familiar: “How are you holding up?”

Chen Wengang’s expression was cold: “Mr. Huo.”

Huo Niansheng asked, “Do you have time tonight? I’ll treat you to dinner, or if you want to do something else, that’s fine too.”

Chen Wengang hesitated for a moment, feeling a mixture of emotions, and then asked, “What are you up to?”

Huo Niansheng said, “I am inviting you out on a date. Or if you think it’s too fast, then consider me pursuing you.”

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