Qi Le watched them walk off and headed back into the private lounge. At the time, the ice bucket and plates had been placed back on the coffee table and the rest of the cleaning had been handed over to the bar attendant. It was already evening so the bar was busy. The group of little zeros were fl.u.s.tered and deeply embarra.s.sed. They didn"t want to go outside and end up embarra.s.sing themselves even more. Although they didn’t say anything, their expressions were twisted.
Gu Bai glanced at Qi Le and Ye Shuichuan, asking faintly, “Do you want to wash up? There"s a bathroom upstairs, right?”
Ye Shuichuan nodded, “There is one but they"ll still have to wear dirty clothes after washing up. It"s better for them to go home and take a shower.”
The group clearly heard their conversation so they came forward, one after another, to persuade them that it didn’t matter if they didn’t have clean clothes to change into. At the very least, they could wash the cream off their faces and necks. Although they had brought this onto themselves, they were familiar with each other. Since this was a joke and Ye Shuichuan’s side had won, there was no need to be angry with them.
Ye Shuichuan worked here and had a good relationship with the boss. Naturally, he agreed to take them to the second floor. Shen Shu wasn"t interested in waiting for them to take a shower and didn"t follow them up. Seeing that Gu Bai had gone along, Ning Xiao narrowed his eyes slightly and followed him. Baby Face followed behind them with a deadpan expression on his face.
Qi Le walked over to Gu Bai and asked, “Why are you here?”
“I was bored at home so I came here to have a drink, but then I saw Yi Hang,” Gu Bai explained briefly and looked at him. “Go take a shower. I"ll buy you some clothes.”
Qi Le had been pampered since he was young. Of course, he didn’t want to wear such sticky, dirty clothes. But he looked at him and raised his eyebrows, “Why are you so kind to me all of a sudden?”
“I said I would take care of you according to his wishes,” Gu Bai"s voice was very soft. “And I"m very grateful that you"re helping me raise his cat.”
Qi Le thought that it sounded reasonable. He paused before asking tentatively, “Can you get clothes for my older brother as well?”
“Sure.”
Soon, he arrived at the other lounge, which was divided into the inner and outer room. The inner room was actually a small bathroom. Qi Le went to Ye Shuichuan, told him that Gu Bai would buy them clothes and asked him to take a shower too. Hearing that, Ye Shuichuan was very happy and was about to grab his wallet when Gu Bai shook his head and told him to pay him later. The group of zeros stood by, silently looking at Gu Bai. They looked up with an aggrieved expression but didn"t dare to come forward. They had to go up to Ye Shuichuan and ask him to intercede for his help.
Ye Shuichuan raised his chin and arrogantly said, “Ask Xiaoyuan. Gu Bai"s only buying me clothes because of him.”
Qi Le saw them all looking at himself and felt that since he had already vented his displeasure, there was no need to dispute with them anymore. Anyways, Gu Bai was willing to make a trip to get him clothes. It shouldn"t be a problem for him to buy a few more pieces. He looked at Gu Bai, who nodded, and turned to leave at once.
Ye Shuichuan watched him leave and began to educate his little brother. “Look, what a good man he is. You should find one like this.”
Ning Xiao overheard him, his face suddenly sinking. Baby Face looked at him and said expressionlessly, “Xiaoyuan gē, you"re made for each other."
Ning Xiao’s face turned green while Baby Face looked pleased with himself.
Qi Le’s mouth twitched. He wanted to say that things weren"t what they thought but he felt that they wouldn"t believe him anyways, so he kept quiet.
“Oh, yeah,” Ye Shuichuan suddenly said. “School"s about to begin. Shouldn"t you be studying?”
Qi Le was surprised, “What should I be studying?”
Ye Shuichuan was silent for a moment. “Xiaoyuan, you failed five subjects so you"ll have to sit for the make-up examination at the beginning of the semester.”
“…” Qi Le burst out, “What?!"
f.u.c.k?! Are you mistaken? He was a student in a first-rate university, and now that he transmigrated, not only did he have to have to settle for a diploma from a second-rate university, he still failed? d.a.m.n it, what was he studying ah? What subjects did he fail? What should he revise?
Ye Shuichuan wanted to say something, only to hear the phone suddenly ring. He walked aside to answer the call. Ning Xiao stiffly glanced over and was happy that he finally had a topic to talk about. He reminded, “We"re in the same cla.s.s. You can ask me if you have any questions.”
Qi Le was particularly upset at the moment. He side-eyed Ning Xiao, “If you know which subjects I failed, just say so. But I"m guessing you didn’t care about this before.”
Ning Xiao choked, he really didn’t know!
“Shut up, thank you very much!”
Ning Xiao, “…”
Ye Shuichuan soon hung up the call. He got a few plastic bags for them to put their dirty clothes. After rummaging through the boxes, he found only two big bath towels, so he handed one to Qi Le. He told him to go to the other lounge to shower lest they have any more friction. Qi Le nodded and said yes, immediately leaving to take a shower.
When Gu Bai came back, they were done showering. He pa.s.sed the two their clothes. Qi Le stretched out his hand, pa.s.sed him the bath towel and took the clothes. Looking at the simple T-shirt and jeans, he felt rather sad. The original owner’s clothes were gaudy and he didn’t like them at all. But since he didn’t want to waste money on new ones, he had to make do with them. Now, he could finally wear normal clothes.
Ning Xiao had just stepped aside to make a phone call. Ye Shuichuan could only recall two of the subjects Qi Le failed so Ning Xiao was speaking to someone about study materials. When he came back, Qi Le had just finished changing. The white T-shirt and light-colored jeans were clean and simple. He couldn’t help but feel shocked and thought that these clothes suited him much better than his previous ones.
Gu Bai saw that they were done changing so he went out, carrying the rest of the clothes to the next room. He closed the door and looked at them silently. The group of zeros had just finished washing up and got up, one after another, when he came in. They were only wearing underwear at the moment and felt embarra.s.sed being looked at by him.
Gu Bai stood still, not moving at all, as he swept his eyes across the room, his gaze landing on the two who had started the whole incident, “I’ve seen you before, haven’t I?”
The two men"s faces changed instantly. The birthday boy was quick to refute, “…No ah.”
“I remember some of you wanted to come to my door and tell Xiao Le to let go of me, but I stopped you guys halfway last time. The both of you were among those people, right?"
Their faces changed again. They kept their heads bowed and said nothing. The others quieted down and looked on in silence. Back then, the whole incident had blown up, so naturally, they heard about it.
Gu Bai looked at them and reminded, “It"s good that you still remember.” He added lightly, “Get changed now. Don’t let me find out that you"re still giving Xiaoyuan trouble. Do you hear me?”
The two bit their lips and nodded reluctantly. Naturally, they didn"t dare to offend him.
“Very well,” Gu Bai threw the clothes on the sofa. “There are both cla.s.sy and flashy clothes inside. Choose for yourself.”
They rushed forward to look at the clothes, but when they opened the bag, they were dumbstruck. It took them a long time before they finally stammered, “Children… children’s clothing?”
One of them cried out in agitation, “Baby clothes… Plus they’re girl"s clothing…”
Gu Bai had already left so they had no choice but to put on their dirty clothes again. Turning around, they noticed that the bag beside the sofa had disappeared without a trace.
Everyone, “……”
Ye Shuichuan had already led Qi Le downstairs. Gu Bai went down with the bag, threw it straight into the trash can at the corner of the stairs and calmly walked on.
Ye Shuichuan still had work so Qi Le decided he would get a lift from Gu Bai. Ning Xiao folded his arms as he looked at him, “Don’t you want those study materials?”
Qi Le paused and turn back immediately. Ning Xiao raised his eyebrows slightly and appeared to be in a good mood. Gu Bai glanced at him and asked in a low voice, “Why?”
Qi Le looked at him and said pitifully, “They said I failed five subjects…"
Gu Bai was silent for a moment. “I know the student body president of your school. He should know someone from your cla.s.s. I"ll help you ask him.”
Happy with his suggestion, Qi Le turned around, got into Gu Bai"s car and quickly left.
Ning Xiao, “…”
They returned to the apartment to check on the cat. Gu Bai stroked the kitty as he said, “I think it"s better if I take it back. If it gets used to the environment here, it won"t be able to adapt after going back.”
“But it"ll wither away if it goes back…” said Qi Le. He paused, thinking to himself that his older brother and brother-in-law really knew how to make him suffer. If he didn"t sleep well, he could’t revise, could he? He definitely couldn’t live here. He looked at Gu Bai expectantly, “Um… I"m worried about it. Can I go over and stay for a few days? I"ll sleep on the sofa.”
It actually worked… Gu Bai was happy inside but on the surface, it looked like he was thinking for a moment in silence before nodding reluctantly, “Alright then.”
~~~
P.S. We reached the goal on ko-fi, so there’ll be extra chapters tomorrow and wednesday! ❤