Lu Ze put away his phone and arrived at the door of the A05 private room, hesitating about whether to push the door open and go in.
If Liang Xiao wasn’t in trouble and was just working as usual, barging in would make things very awkward.
But if Liang Xiao was in trouble… Lu Ze frowned deeply. Even if he went in, it didn’t seem like he could solve anything.
Just then, a waiter walked down the hallway. Lu Ze stopped him. “Excuse me, do you know where Liang Xiao is?”
“Are you looking for Manager Liang?”
“Yes, I’m a friend he brought with him today. I’ve messaged and called him, but he hasn’t replied. I need to find him,” Lu Ze explained.
The waiter hesitated for a moment. “Manager Liang should be in A05. Would you like me to go in and check for you?”
“Thank you, I’d appreciate it,” Lu Ze said quickly.
The waiter opened the door to the private room and went inside. As the door was about to close, Lu Ze stepped forward and held it slightly ajar, leaving a small gap.
This private room wasn’t as noisy as theirs; it was very quiet. Lu Ze could clearly hear the conversation inside.
“Manager Liang’s alcohol tolerance shouldn’t be this bad.”
“Brother Qin,” came a calm voice that Lu Ze instantly recognized as Liang Xiao’s, even though it was just two words. “I’m sorry, but I still have work to do later. I really can’t drink anymore.”
“Isn’t your job just to drink with us?” Brother Qin said lazily.
What the hell is wrong with this guy?
Lu Ze felt his anger rising after hearing just two sentences. The waiter who had gone in likely didn’t dare interrupt this Brother Qin.
Liang Xiao’s voice dropped lower. “Brother Qin, I’ve already explained to you—I’m just an ordinary manager and have no personal relationship with Jiang Heng. You…”
Brother Qin let out a cold laugh. “What kind of relationship could you possibly have with Jiang Heng? I just don’t like you. On one hand, trying to cozy up to Jiang Heng; on the other hand, keeping a college boy as your sugar baby—basically…”
“You’d better watch your mouth,” Liang Xiao interrupted sharply, his tone completely cold now.
Previously, he had only wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble since Jiang Heng wasn’t around. But now that Brother Qin dared to bring up Lu Ze, Liang Xiao didn’t mind creating some trouble of his own.
Previously, Liang Xiao had only thought that since Jiang Heng wasn’t around, it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble. But now that this Qin guy dared to bring up Lu Ze, he didn’t mind adding another problem to the mix.
“Finally lost your temper, huh?” Qin slowly sat up straight, his gaze dark and sinister behind his glasses. “How do you even have the audacity to call yourself Jiang Heng’s man?”
Lu Ze couldn’t take it anymore. He pushed the door open with force, drawing everyone’s attention in the room.
Liang Xiao realized something was wrong and turned around. The moment he saw Lu Ze, he was utterly shocked.
Lu Ze quickly scanned Liang Xiao’s face but didn’t notice anything unusual.
Liang Xiao walked over to him briskly and whispered, “Why are you here? Go back. I’ll handle this…”
“I heard everything,” Lu Ze replied in a low voice, gritting his teeth. “This Qin guy—does he like Jiang Heng and is just taking it out on you?”
Before Liang Xiao could respond, Lu Ze had already stepped around him and approached Qin.
Leaning over the marble table with both hands, Lu Ze glanced at the half-empty whiskey bottle on the table and said calmly, “Who the hell said Liang Xiao belongs to Jiang Heng, huh?”
Qin stared at him without responding.
Lu Ze leaned in closer and lowered his voice. “If you like Jiang Heng, go after him like a man. If you can’t, then go home and stop making things difficult for my boyfriend. You’re so bitter you could pickle cucumbers.”
Qin’s expression turned extremely sour. Just as he was about to speak, Lu Ze straightened up and turned to Liang Xiao. “Liang Xiao, come here.”
Liang Xiao didn’t know what Lu Ze was planning but cooperated and walked over to his side.
Lu Ze scanned the room before pointing at the stunned waiter standing in the corner. “Take out your phone and record this.”
“There are cameras here…” Liang Xiao softly reminded him.
Lu Ze gestured for him to stay quiet and repeated firmly, “Record it.”
The waiter nervously raised his phone and pointed it at them.
In front of everyone’s eyes, Lu Ze grabbed Liang Xiao by the collar and kissed him hard, tasting the whiskey on his lips.
For a few seconds, Liang Xiao froze in surprise before feeling the effects of the whiskey he had drunk earlier hit him all at once. Dizzy, he closed his eyes as Lu Ze kissed him.
He raised a hand to wrap around Lu Ze’s waist and responded passionately to the kiss, even slipping out his tongue.
Lu Ze could feel Liang Xiao’s breathing grow heavier. No matter how good someone’s alcohol tolerance was, drinking whiskey like that would make anyone drunk. Internally cursing Qin’s ancestors—and Jiang Heng for good measure—he finally pushed Liang Xiao away after a while. Gripping Liang Xiao’s arm tightly for support, he turned to the waiter and asked, “Got it?”
The waiter snapped out of his daze and replied with a flushed face, “Y-yeah… Got it.”
Lu Ze pointed at Qin. “Show it to him. Watch it a few times so he remembers who Liang Xiao belongs to.”
Qin’s expression was now indescribable.
Lu Ze looked at him coldly and said casually, “After watching it, feel free to send it to Jiang Heng too. Let’s see if he has any reaction.”
After saying that, Lu Ze grabbed Liang Xiao and walked out without looking back. Before leaving, Liang Xiao cast a quick glance at Zhang Xiao, who was sitting in the corner. After today, that person would never dare have any thoughts about him again.
As soon as they left the private room, the cold expression on Lu Ze’s face disappeared. He looked at Liang Xiao with concern. “How are you? Are you okay? Can you walk?”
Leaning against the wall, Liang Xiao chuckled softly and said, “Baby, how are you so amazing?”
“Amazing my ass! I’m furious!” Lu Ze growled in a low voice, suppressing his anger. “You’re a bar manager! Why the hell did you drink just because that idiot told you to?”
Liang Xiao tilted his head against the wall, smiling silently at him.
Lu Ze sighed and lifted Liang Xiao’s arm, placing it over his shoulder while wrapping an arm around his waist. “Let’s get you to your office. Where is it?”
“Upstairs, take the elevator…” Liang Xiao murmured.
He didn’t put in any effort to walk and simply let all his weight rest on Lu Ze. Half-carrying him, Lu Ze brought him into the elevator and reached into his pocket. “Where’s your card?”
Liang Xiao leaned lazily against him. “Right side.”
Lu Ze stretched his left hand to dig into Liang Xiao’s right pocket. After swiping the card, he exhaled deeply. “Are you really drunk or just pretending?”
Looking at their reflection in the elevator door, Liang Xiao softly said, “I wasn’t drunk at first… but after you kissed me, I got drunk…”
“Damn,” Lu Ze laughed in exasperation. “You’re unbelievable.”
Liang Xiao smirked faintly. “Not as unbelievable as my boyfriend.”
When they exited the elevator, Lu Ze followed Liang Xiao’s directions to find his office. “Wow, a fingerprint lock? Use your finger.”
Liang Xiao extended a finger and pressed it against the scanner but failed. He tried again—still no success.
Lu Ze turned to look at him. “Are you really drunk? Don’t even know which finger to use?”
Liang Xiao withdrew his hand and wrapped his arms tightly around Lu Ze’s neck. “You do it, baby… The password is the day we got together.”
Lu Ze froze for a moment, and the anger in his heart dissipated significantly. He entered a few numbers on the keypad and said softly, “How did you know I’d remember?”
Liang Xiao kissed him lightly on the neck. “Of course you’d remember.”
As soon as they entered the office, Liang Xiao stumbled onto the sofa and tugged at his collar. Lu Ze bent down and said, “Let me help.”
He removed Liang Xiao’s tie and unbuttoned two buttons on his shirt before smoothing his chest gently. “Do you feel uncomfortable? Dizzy? Do you feel like throwing up?”
Liang Xiao squinted at him and grabbed his wrist. “Dizzy… Baby, kiss me…”
Lu Ze sighed helplessly and lightly patted Liang Xiao’s face with his other hand. “Manager Liang, are you really drunk?”
Leaning back on the sofa with his head tilted up, Liang Xiao suddenly pulled hard on Lu Ze’s wrist. Quick to react, Lu Ze braced himself against the sofa’s backrest to avoid falling onto Liang Xiao.
Wrapping an arm around Lu Ze’s waist, Liang Xiao tilted his head up and kissed him. Lu Ze tried to dodge but couldn’t avoid it entirely—so he let him kiss him anyway.
As Liang Xiao kissed him, his hand slipped under Lu Ze’s shirt. In a hoarse voice, he murmured, “Baby, I love you…”
Lu Ze chuckled, lifting Liang Xiao’s chin with a single finger. “Really? How much do you love me?”
After thinking for a moment, Liang Xiao softly replied, “Very much, very much.” Hearing this, Lu Ze leaned down and kissed him deeply.
Liang Xiao’s teasing had ignited a fire in Lu Ze. He thought, since Liang Xiao had mentioned there were no cameras in the office, they might as well take things further here. But just as things were heating up, Liang Xiao suddenly pushed him away and ran to the bathroom with his hand over his mouth.
Lu Ze froze for a second before quickly getting up to follow him.
When he reached the bathroom, he saw Liang Xiao kneeling on the floor, clutching the toilet and vomiting violently. Any thoughts Lu Ze had earlier vanished instantly, replaced by overwhelming regret that he hadn’t punched that Qin guy a few more times before leaving.
Standing behind Liang Xiao, Lu Ze bent down and anxiously patted his back. Liang Xiao was throwing up so intensely that he didn’t even have the chance to tell Lu Ze to step back.
After a while, when the churning in his stomach subsided slightly, Liang Xiao frowned and said weakly, “You should go out…”
Lu Ze immediately snapped, “Go out? Hell no! Just focus on throwing up!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Liang Xiao started vomiting again.
“Damn…” Lu Ze felt like his heart was being squeezed painfully. He couldn’t breathe properly from the ache of seeing Liang Xiao like this.
He kept patting Liang Xiao’s back and said helplessly, “I’m sorry, Xiao-ge. I didn’t mean to yell at you… I just… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
Even though Liang Xiao’s stomach was empty now, he couldn’t stop dry heaving. Lu Ze held him close and comforted him softly. “It’s okay… it’s over now. There’s nothing left to throw up. Let’s stop.”
With his head hanging low in exhaustion, Liang Xiao rasped out a single word: “Tissue…”
Lu Ze looked around but only found toilet paper. He hesitated—there was no way he’d let Liang Xiao use toilet paper to wipe his mouth. In desperation, he used the sleeve of his own shirt to gently wipe the corners of Liang Xiao’s mouth.
Liang Xiao froze for a moment before looking at Lu Ze in shock after realizing what he had done.
“There was only toilet paper… nothing else,” Lu Ze explained.
“That doesn’t mean you should—”
Before Liang Xiao could finish speaking, Lu Ze had already helped him up. “Enough about that. Go rinse your mouth.”
Lu Ze flushed the toilet and supported Liang Xiao as they walked to the sink. Liang Xiao rinsed his mouth thoroughly while Lu Ze urged impatiently, “Is that enough?”
Turning off the faucet and straightening up, Liang Xiao’s face was still wet with water droplets. His voice was hoarse as he reassured Lu Ze softly, “I’m fine now. Don’t worry—it’s just that I drank too quickly earlier. Throwing it up helped.”
Lu Ze didn’t say anything but helped him back to the sofa. As soon as Liang Xiao sat down, he felt completely drained of energy.
Lu Ze picked up a cup from the desk and filled it with warm water from the dispenser before handing it to him. “Does your stomach still hurt? Drink slowly—just a little.”
Liang Xiao still felt dizzy but reached out for the cup anyway. Before he could drink it himself, Lu Ze stopped him and said, “Forget it; I’ll feed you.”
Carefully supporting the back of Liang Xiao’s head with one hand, Lu Ze fed him some water. After drinking it, Liang Xiao immediately leaned back against the sofa again and closed his eyes. “I’ll be fine after resting for a bit…” he murmured weakly.
Lu Ze sighed and had just sat down next to Liang Xiao when his phone rang.
“Hello, Jie-ge.”
“Where are you? Where did you disappear to?” Jiang Yijie asked. “Everyone’s looking for you—you vanished in the blink of an eye.”
Liang Xiao opened his eyes and looked at Lu Ze, speaking softly, “You should go back, baby…”
Lu Ze shot him a glare, and Liang Xiao immediately closed his mouth.
“Xiao-ge drank too much. I’m taking care of him for a bit,” Lu Ze explained honestly to Jiang Yijie. “Can you let everyone know to keep having fun and not worry about me?”
“He drank too much? What happened? Is it serious?”
Lu Ze frowned and glanced at Liang Xiao, whose face was still pale. Despite that, Liang Xiao smiled at him reassuringly.
Lu Ze reached out and gently touched Liang Xiao’s face. “Some idiot forced him to drink. He just threw up. It’s probably nothing serious, but I’m still worried.”
“Alright, I’ll tell them the truth. Everyone’s having a good time, so no need to rush back.”
“Okay, thanks.”
After hanging up the phone, Lu Ze leaned closer to Liang Xiao, intending to kiss his pale lips. However, Liang Xiao turned his head away.
“I just threw up—it’s dirty,” Liang Xiao said.
Without saying a word, Lu Ze firmly turned his head back and planted a loud kiss on his lips. “You rinsed your mouth already—what’s dirty about it? Why didn’t you say it was dirty when we were doing it?”
Liang Xiao chuckled softly and reached up to lightly scratch Lu Ze’s face. “Don’t be mad, baby. I’m really fine now.”
Lu Ze took a deep breath and, after a moment, said, “I’m not mad at you—I’m mad at that idiot Qin. I seriously feel like going down there right now and beating him up.”
Liang Xiao tilted his head and leaned against Lu Ze. Concerned, Lu Ze immediately asked, “What’s wrong? Dizzy?”
“Yeah… my stomach doesn’t feel great either…” Liang Xiao murmured weakly.
Lu Ze placed his hand on Liang Xiao’s stomach and gently massaged it. “Of course your stomach feels bad. That liquor was so strong—why did you drink it just because he told you to?”
“Jiang Heng wasn’t here… I thought it’d be better to avoid trouble,” Liang Xiao explained.
“And when he brought me up, why didn’t you avoid trouble then?” Lu Ze demanded.
Liang Xiao stayed silent but snuggled closer into Lu Ze’s arms.
Unable to stay angry at him, Lu Ze remained quiet for a moment before asking, “Did I cause trouble for you earlier? That video…”
“It’s fine,” Liang Xiao replied calmly. “I wasn’t planning to tolerate him much longer anyway. I just didn’t expect you to come up with such a bold move—it really pissed him off.”
Lu Ze snorted coldly. “What’s his deal with Jiang Heng? Is he some creepy one-sided stalker or something?”
Liang Xiao chuckled lightly. “Pretty much.”
“…You should have the waiter delete that video,” Lu Ze said after a pause. “I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time.”
“Don’t worry,” Liang Xiao reassured him. “When Jiang Heng gets back, I’ll explain everything to him. Nothing will affect you.”
“Damn it! I’m not worried about myself!” Lu Ze snapped, feeling like he was about to explode like Jiang Yijie earlier. “I’m worried your coworkers might see it and that it’ll affect your job!”
Liang Xiao held Lu Ze’s hand, which was resting on his stomach, and gently squeezed it to reassure him. “It won’t affect anything. Everyone knows I’m gay, and they all know I have a boyfriend who I’m very close to.”
Before Lu Ze could say anything, Liang Xiao lifted his head and smiled. “I want to keep a copy of that video for myself.”
Lu Ze turned his head to look at him, and Liang Xiao leaned in to kiss him on the lips. “My boyfriend must’ve looked so handsome when he kissed me like that.”
Lu Ze chuckled. “Handsome, my ass. When I grabbed your collar, I accidentally grabbed your necklace too—it scared me to death! Thank goodness the necklace is good quality.”
Liang Xiao touched the necklace around his neck and laughed for a while. Lu Ze ruffled his hair and said, “Stop laughing—you’re making my heart ache.”
Liang Xiao hugged him, no longer trying to act tough, and weakly murmured, “Baby, I feel awful. Keep rubbing my stomach.”
“Next time someone tries to force you to drink, you absolutely can’t drink like that again,” Lu Ze said as he continued massaging Liang Xiao’s stomach.
“Alright, I won’t,” Liang Xiao promised. Then he glanced at Lu Ze’s sleeve and said, “Baby, your sleeve…”
Lu Ze raised an eyebrow. “What? I haven’t even said anything yet—are you complaining?”
“No, I’m worried you’ll dislike it,” Liang Xiao replied, knowing how picky Lu Ze could be about things like this.
Lu Ze clicked his tongue. “I do find it a little gross. So what should we do?”
Clutching his stomach with a pained expression, Liang Xiao said dramatically, “You dislike me.”
Lu Ze sighed helplessly. “…I dislike the sleeve.”
“You dislike me.”
“I—fine, I dislike you,” Lu Ze said, still refusing to follow the usual script.
Just as Liang Xiao was about to pretend to be hurt, Lu Ze leaned in and kissed him again. In a soft voice, he said, “But I love you.”
