The cocktail was sweet and sour, easy to drink. Jiang Nanze went to chat with a Nordic man at the booth, and there were already three empty glasses in front of Wen Di.
“Take it easy,” Jiang Nanze pulled the glass out of his hand, “This drink has a high alcohol content. Don’t let yourself be unable to speak a complete sentence when you see a handsome guy.”
“I’m perfectly sober, I can even recite the sonnet backward for you.” Wen Di’s loud voice and coherent sentences formed a sharp contrast with his shaky legs and feet.
“You’d better be. I’m about to leave. If you collapse on the floor, no one’s going to pick you up.” Jiang Nanze threw a glance toward the booth, and the man at the end of his sight responded with a whistle.
Wen Di waved his hand, signaling for him to hurry back to his decadent, flashy world.
“No way,” Jiang Nanze said, “I have to find a man for you before I leave. Don’t keep your eyes glued to the glass, look at people.”
Wen Di snatched the glass back and downed it in one gulp, coughing for a long while before squeezing out, “Not looking, men in this world are all ugly, disgusting, vulgar, and lewd.”
“That one too?” Jiang Nanze pointed toward the door.
As if his movements were in response to some secret signal, the music in the bar shifted to the next song. In a daze, Wen Di heard a deep male voice singing: You had me at hello.
The man at the door walked in with the rhythm of the melody and sat down by the bar. Wen Di’s gaze followed him, as if being pulled by some invisible thread.
It was a twist of fate.
“You didn’t even react to this?” Jiang Nanze said, “My god, are you planning to become a monk?”
Wen Di stared blankly, eyes lifeless like a dead fish, unmoving. So Jiang Nanze pulled out his phone, scrolled to He Wenxuan’s engagement photos on WeChat Moments, and shoved them in front of Wen Di’s face.
Wen Di immediately propped himself up on the bar and stood: “Who said I’m not going?” The alcohol buzzed in his head, and he took a staggering step, then suddenly stopped again.
“What am I supposed to say there?” Wen Di’s temples were throbbing with pain, “My boyfriend is getting married, so please strip down and hold me for a photo?”
“What kind of nonsense is that? Let me teach you a trick,” Jiang Nanze stretched out his hand to straighten Wen Di up, looked into his eyes, and curved into an ambiguous smile, “Your eyes are truly a miracle created by HERC2 and OCA2.”
Wen Di groaned softly and held his head. The first time he met Jiang Nanze, the latter was in a classroom reading a book. Seeing Wen Di, he lifted his head and very seriously said: “Did you know that the average mating duration of a tsetse fly is 77 minutes?” Five years had passed, and while the pickup lines hadn’t strayed from biology, at least it didn’t feel like harassment anymore.
“Will that actually work?” Wen Di asked skeptically.
“Works every time,” Jiang Nanze said, “You think I got 20 boyfriends for nothing?”
“You’ve had twenty boyfriends, and you’re still with Thomas now.”
“You talk too much nonsense. Go quickly,” Jiang Nanze gave him a push from behind, “Remember to pull your collar down a bit.”
Wen Di stumbled, feeling the alcohol rising back up, and turned to glare at Jiang Nanze, only to find he had already disappeared. He glanced once more at the man by the bar, stiffly pushed his way through the crowd of people coming to order drinks, walking toward the man while meeting his gaze.
A deep male voice floated through the air.
I know you’ve been hurt before
But I can reassure you now
Up close, the man’s eyes were light in color under the bar’s lights, almost gray. Wen Di suddenly felt that Jiang Nanze’s words made sense. After all, the eyes in front of him were indeed a beautiful mutation.
Wen Di opened his mouth. And then… completely botched it.
He held his head in his hands and confessed, as if he had just committed an unforgivable sin. The man, as if the awkwardness wasn’t enough, asked, “Where did you learn that fact? Marketing account?”
Wen Di took a deep breath. He was so embarrassed, and if the other party had any sense, he should have changed the topic. “My friend studies biology,” Wen Di said. “You too?”
“I study mathematics,” the man replied, “but I happened to come across a popular science article on eye color genes a few days ago, so it left an impression.”
“I think he was trying to sabotage me,” Wen Di said, “Who had heard of HEAC2…”
“HERC2.”
“…Who would be happy to hear about HERC2? Wouldn’t they think the person approaching them is crazy?”
“They’d be curious, I guess,” the man said, “If they asked more questions, it could lead to a deeper conversation. Aren’t we talking right now?”
Wen Di thought about it and admitted, “Alright ba, that makes some sense.”
“Besides, biology is quite interesting.”
“En…” Wen Di conceded, “It’s better than math. Math is too boring to use for flirting.”
The man’s expression suddenly turned serious, as if he were offended. He put down his glass, his gaze wandering around the bar before finally settling on the ceiling. “Look up there.”
Wen Di looked up and saw the crystal ornaments hanging in the air.
“Koch snowflake,” the man said. “You divide a line segment into three equal parts, use the middle section as the base, and draw an equilateral triangle outward. Then you repeat this process on every side of the triangle and each side below it.. After a few iterations, you get the Koch curve. Combine three Koch curves, and you have the shape of a snowflake.”
Wen Di imagined it in his mind and understood: “Didn’t we learn this in middle school math?”
“The dimension of the Koch snowflake is 1.26,” the man said.
And now he didn’t understand again.
“There’s a formula to calculate the dimension,” the man continued. “A square has a dimension of 2, a cube has 3, but the Koch snowflake has 1.26. It’s too detailed for one dimension and too simple for two dimensions. Snowflakes are 1.26-dimensional shapes that we see in the three-dimensional world.”
Wen Di said ‘Oh’ in a confused manner, and then noticed the man staring at him with an inquiring look. Wen Di bathed in that gaze for half a song before realizing that the other party was seeking approval. He asked in horror: “You didn’t just hit on me, did you?”
The man answered calmly: “Yes.”
Wen Di frowned. It was hard to judge.
This man, and this flirting technique—both were hard to evaluate.
As if sensing that Wen Di wasn’t quite appreciative, the man asked, “What’s your major?”
“English and American Literature.”
The man’s expression shifted from ‘doesn’t get it’ to ‘disappointed’. “You’re a literature major, and you’re asking a biology student for flirting tips?”
What’s that supposed to mean? Did he embarrass his peers? “But…” Wen Di pointed out, “Opening your mouth and starting with love poems is a bit too much ba?”
The other person quietly looked at him, and the distance between them was very close, with the soft music and dim lighting creating the perfect atmosphere. But Wen Di waited for a long time, and the next move—the one laced with ambiguity—never came. Then he suddenly realized that the man was waiting for him to reciprocate, to show off his own professional expertise. After all, the guy had just flirted with math.
Wen Di thought for a moment and his expression was awkward, as if what he was about to say would make him want to dig three feet into the ground and bury himself alive. “Alright ba,” he cleared his throat and tried to add some emotion, “Shall I compare you to Midsummer…”
He was interrupted by the man before he could finish his sentence. “Shakespeare?” The man looked disgusted, “You’re hitting on me with his poems?”
This rude and tasteless guy! Wen Di felt the alcohol surge to his head with a buzz: “You actually look down on Shakespeare’s love poems?”
“You call what he wrote love?” the man said. “The night before, Romeo was still madly in love with Rosaline, saying something like, ‘The sun that lights up everything has never seen anyone who could compare with her since the beginning of the world,’[footnote]I translated this literally but the line from the original work is ‘The all-seeing sun ne’er saw her match since first the world begun.‘ This is from Romeo and Juliet Act 1, Scene 2[/footnote] but after seeing Juliet the next day, he instantly shifted his affections and even belittled his former lover, saying, ‘My past love was false, today I’ve finally met the most beautiful woman.’[footnote]Again, I translated this literally, and the line from the original work is ‘I ne’er saw true beauty till this night’, Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5. Anyway, it only took three 3 scenes for Romeo to change his love from Rosaline to Juliet lol[/footnote] The world must be crazy to call Romeo and Juliet’s love a tragedy. A love that changes faster than a bullet leaving the barrel is actually being praised as an eternal masterpiece—that’s the real tragedy.”
Wen Di’s face turned red from the alcohol and anger, and he almost felt like delivering a 30,000-word speech to teach him a lesson. Just as he opened his mouth, the phone rang.
He glanced at the screen and saw that it was a familiar number. His anger instantly shifted from the man in front of him to the man from before. He cursed, ‘Idiot,’ in annoyance.
He was about to decline the call, but when he turned around and saw the man’s meaningful look, his fingers paused.
Wasn’t his purpose for coming to the bar was to make his ex-boyfriend jealous? And now his partner was right next to him, what was he waiting for?
Even though his ‘partner’ also irritated him enough, at least the face and body were decent. He swiped the icon to answer.
As if he hadn’t expected him to answer the phone, there was a moment of silence on the other side. In that brief pause, He Wenxuan heard the noise from Wen Di’s side: “You’re at a bar?”
“Yes ah,” Wen Di said, “What’s the matter? I’ve got a date waiting for me.”
“You…” He Wenxuan sighed. “Can you stop messing with me? Can we talk…”
Wen Di almost laughed in anger. “I’m out here having fun, how does that turn into messing with you? Do I have anything to do with you?”
Perhaps realizing that Wen Di was serious about breaking up, He Wenxuan’s tone became urgent: “The bar is very chaotic, there are all kinds of people, don’t be fooled…”
Can’t this person hear what he’s saying? Can’t he sense the irony in all this? “You’re the one who lied to me the longest. I didn’t even know you still liked women,” Wen Di said. “If I hadn’t come early, would you have waited until the day of cremation to tell me?”
He Wenxuan said, “Just because I’m marrying her doesn’t mean I don’t love you anymore.”
Wen Di held his breath. “What did you just say? Say that again?”
“I’m marrying her only for profit. The person I truly love is you…”
Wen Di couldn’t believe it: “Does your wife know you’re saying this?”
“I will communicate with her,” He Wenxuan said. “Let’s talk, we can definitely find a solution that works for both of us.”
What…the hell is this?! Is this how the upper class plays?! “Don’t call me again,” Wen Di said, “I feel sick just hearing your voice.”
It felt like there was magma boiling inside his chest. Wen Di turned off his phone. The fruity aroma of alcohol, mixed with the scent of perfume, suddenly made him feel nauseous. Wen Di covered his mouth, pushed through the crowd, and struggled to squeeze his way out of the bar.
Walking through the streets, he found a secluded alley. He leaned against the wall and covered his stomach, vomiting for a long time, but nothing came up. The burning sensation of stomach acid reflux still weighed heavily in his chest. He leaned against the wall, panting, waiting for it to settle down on its own.
In the distance, faint footsteps were heard. Wen Di kept his head down and saw a tall shadow slowly appearing at the alley entrance—the man had chased him out.
“Are you okay?”
Wen Di shook his head and was about to speak when suddenly footsteps echoed from deeper in the alley. He looked toward the sound and his eyes widened in shock.
A handgun was pointed at them.
The author has something to say:
You had me at hello. This phrase originally comes from the movie Jerry Maguire. The male lead, who falls in love with the female lead at first sight, says a lot of words to confess his love, and the female lead interrupts him with “You had me at hello,” meaning: “You don’t need to say so much; from the moment you said hello, I was already captivated.”
Later, this line became a lyric in many songs.
T/N: hello you all, I didn’t get to update yesterday so today will be double update! There is another chapter update today!
