DCISBS chapter 11

Lu Nanyang was woken up by a persistently ringing phone.

Without even opening his eyes, he reached around blindly on the nightstand, answered purely by muscle memory, and said in a nasal, sleepy voice, “Hello, who is this?”

A shrill woman’s voice came through the line. “Do you know Liu Qiuyan called the police? She said you assaulted her employee and now she’s threatening to sue me! What the hell did you do?!”

Lu Nanyang jolted awake and sat upright in bed. “Li Jie, it’s not what you think, let me explain—Liu Qiuyan was the one who brought people to—”

“What’s there to explain?” Li Xin snapped, clearly uninterested in hearing anything he had to say. “That b*tch is walking all over me now! Either fix this immediately or get your teacher to deal with it!”

Lu Nanyang rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. “Li Jie, you know Lawyer Meng has been really busy lately…”

“I don’t care who’s busy!” she cut him off again. “I paid good money—if you don’t handle this, expect a formal complaint!”

With that, she hung up.

Lu Nanyang tossed the phone onto the bed and felt his temples throb. He glanced at the time—2:18 AM.

Annoyed, he ran his fingers through his hair.

He’d known this case would be a pain the moment Meng Hezhi handed it to him—but he hadn’t expected it to be this messy.

Both parties involved were headaches. Li Xin was unreasonable and full of twisted logic, and Liu Qiuyan had even gone so far as to hire street thugs to jump him. When that failed, she’d turned around and played the victim.

The alley where he’d been attacked was secluded, with no cameras or foot traffic—she had likely picked the spot precisely for that reason, now insisting he’d struck first.

He had to prove his innocence fast. There was no way he could let the client bring in Meng Hezhi.

If he handed the case back now, it would look like he had completely messed everything up.

Frustrated by the thought, Lu Nanyang got out of bed, shuffled into his slippers, and went to the bathroom to wash his face. The night outside was gloomy and pitch black, eerily quiet—even the summer insects hiding in the grass had gone silent this late.

After splashing water on his face, he didn’t bother with a towel and simply wiped the droplets off with his hands, not caring that some landed on the mirror.

Just as he was about to leave the bathroom, he heard faint moaning sounds.

Lu Nanyang froze, body stiffening.

The apartment he rented was cheap, with thin walls. Especially at night, every sound from next door was painfully clear.

He could even make out a man’s breathy voice: “Is it big? Does it feel good?” followed by a woman’s clearly fake and overly dramatic moaning.

Frowning, Lu Nanyang shut the bathroom door. At least the sound was muffled a bit.

Still, it amazed him how that guy could be so into something that sounded that fake.

Then again, most of the gay guys he knew weren’t all that picky. Back in the dorm, this had come up in late-night chats—Wen Fei only cared about a pretty face, said anything went if the guy was hot; Da Ze liked big chests for cuddling; Jia Rong was into innocent types…

When they’d asked him, he’d just mumbled “I don’t know,” which earned him endless teasing—calling him a virgin or saying he was asexual.

But only he knew the truth: he was just… picky.

Good-looking face. Nice voice. Proportional body—at least no worse than his own. And beyond all that: compatible vibes, chemistry, attraction, physical compatibility…

Lu Nanyang’s Adam’s apple bobbed. The first person to come to mind was Xie Quan.

He didn’t think of himself as a shallow person, so why had he said yes to Xie Quan that night?

Because Xie Quan checked every box—inside and out.

Delicate features without looking effeminate, a gentle yet magnetic voice, and an incredibly well-proportioned build. When Lu Nanyang first arrived at Yuncheng, tons of girls had said he was the perfect clothes hanger. But if Xie Quan had been in his class? He wouldn’t have stood a chance.

But what he liked most were Xie Quan’s eyes. Maybe he was mixed-race—those light gray irises always seemed to sparkle with a subtle charm when he smiled.

He still remembered that night—when he met Xie Quan, he’d been on his third drink.

The bartender that night wasn’t Tony, but a buzz cut guy with English tattoos on his biceps. The bar was dimly lit—good thing too, or half the customers would’ve run off.

But the drinks were good. Just as Lu Nanyang finished his third, a new one—an ombré blue cocktail—was pushed in front of him.

“I didn’t…” Lu Nanyang looked up.

“That gentleman over there asked me to get you a drink,” said the tattooed guy.

Lu Nanyang turned his head and saw Xie Quan sitting on a chair nearby, resting his chin on one hand, watching him with interest. He wore a slim-fitting black shirt, casually unbuttoned at the collar with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing a stretch of fair forearm.

Clean, crisp, and easy on the eyes—he stood out starkly from the flashy crowd in the bar.

“I saw you sitting here alone drinking for a while,” the attractive man in glasses smiled. “What’s up, got dumped?”

Lu Nanyang raised his glass, downed the rest of the liquor in one go, then licked the corner of his lips, drawing the stray drop into his mouth. “Do I really look like the heartbroken type?”

Xie Quan was momentarily stunned, then laughed. “Nine out of ten people drinking alone in bars are dealing with a breakup.”

Lu Nanyang picked up the blue gradient cocktail and looked at him through the translucent liquid and glass. “You’re alone too, aren’t you?”

Xie Quan smiled with pursed lips. “Some people are heartbroken, some are out hunting. Which are you?”

He said that with a slight upward lilt at the end of his sentence, paired with his delicate face and eyes gleaming with light, it felt like being lightly brushed with a feather—tingling and teasing.

“Neither,” Lu Nanyang replied, holding his drink and lazily leaning back against the chair, eyeing Xie Quan leisurely. “I’m just seeing if some sucker will offer me a drink.”

Back then, Lu Nanyang didn’t even know his name was Xie Quan—let alone that they attended the same school.

The drink Xie Quan got him was pretty strong. Lu Nanyang considered himself a decent drinker, but by the time they tumbled through the hotel room door, he was slightly drunk. He couldn’t shake off Xie Quan’s grip, who pressed him against the wall from behind.

His hazy mind thought: Huh, this little bottom’s pretty bold.

But when Xie Quan pulled down his pants and his hand reached around to Lu Nanyang’s backside, he realized something was off.

He grabbed Xie Quan’s hand, stopping his movement, and cleared his throat. “I think… you may have misunderstood something. Did I give you the impression I’m a bottom?”

Unexpectedly, Xie Quan gave a charming smile, then forcefully twisted his grip, pinned him down, and whispered with his pretty red lips near Lu Nanyang’s ear: “No misunderstanding. I just like your type.”

That’s when Lu Nanyang finally realized he’d been played. This guy had deliberately ordered him a strong drink, and deliberately pretended to be a bottom just to lure him in for sex.

But in the end, Xie Quan’s plan didn’t succeed. He underestimated Lu Nanyang’s strong constitution—four drinks still didn’t knock him out.

Their hookup ended badly. Lu Nanyang even landed a punch on him before leaving.

He hated fake, filthy, lying people more than anything in the world.

Thinking of this, Lu Nanyang let out a long sigh and rubbed his face vigorously. To make matters worse, the couple next door was still making noise, keeping him up.

He picked up his phone and found Da Ze in his contacts. He typed out a message:

– Da Ze, do me a favor. Can you ask your cousin if around 6:10 PM yesterday, near the alley between Huaxi Road and Yunshan Road, there was a report about a fight? Who made the report? Thanks, hotpot’s on me Monday.

Of course, Da Ze wasn’t going to reply in the middle of the night. After sending the message, with the noise still going strong next door, Lu Nanyang scrolled his phone out of boredom. His finger paused on one profile picture in his contacts.

He nearly forgot—he had actually added Xie Quan on WeChat that night.

His avatar was a whale, and his WeChat name was: Drowned.

His Moments were limited to the past six months, and only one post was visible. Lu Nanyang figured this was probably a burner account used just for hookups.

He opened the lone post, made two months ago—a photo of a sunset, seemingly taken near campus.

The caption read: “The sunset feels almost identical to death — a fleeting instant to you, yet forever pinned in the heart, becoming frozen in time.”

…What a weird metaphor, Lu Nanyang thought.

He tapped on the whale avatar, hovered his finger over the “Delete Contact” button, but after a long pause, still didn’t press it.

Lu Nanyang clicked his tongue, turned off the screen, and tossed the phone beside his pillow.

Luckily, the noisy couple next door had finally quieted down, so he closed his eyes and snuggled into his blanket.

 

[mfn]

Author’s Note:

Originally, in my first draft, Lu Nanyang and Xie Quan’s hookup at the bar was supposed to involve Xie Quan drugging Lu Nanyang, which explained why Lu Nanyang was so furious and disgusted. But then I remembered my last novel already got a warning that urban story protagonists can’t commit crimes, so I changed it to alcohol instead.

In the end, I lost to the core values of socialism. ???

[/mfn]