“What exactly is our relationship now… I’m really glad you asked me that,” said Li Que, “but also a bit troubled. Does this mean I haven’t made myself clear enough? Is that why you’re asking something like this?”
“Our relationship is…”
His fingertips gently tilted up the delicate chin, and his striking face moved in close. Jiang Cenglan obediently closed his eyes, allowing those soft lips to press against his and letting the hot, wet tongue slip into his mouth.
Li Que was incredibly good at kissing. When Jiang Cenglan tried to chase after his movements, he would give him a warning nip with his teeth, just light enough to tease, then soothe it with a lick, firmly controlling the kiss he had initiated.
When they pulled apart, a lewd string of saliva still clung to the edges of their lips. Before it could break, Jiang Cenglan leaned in again and gave a quick peck to Li Que’s glistening red lips.
The puppy-like cuteness of the gesture made the man laugh out loud in delight.
“I’m obviously pursuing you,” Li Que said.
Jiang Cenglan blinked in confusion. But they had already… “Then, what about last night?” he asked tentatively.
“I’m a traditional person,” Li Que answered. “Once I’m sure you’re happy with me, the next step is naturally, marriage. You can think of last night as a trial run before the official start of our relationship.”
Hearing his words, Jiang Cenglan blushed furiously. Those words, “trial run“… Inevitably brought to mind Li Que’s drawer full of colorful toys, together with their extremely detailed usage instructions. Indeed, if he put it that way, it truly qualified as a ‘trial”.
“I…” Jiang Cenglan immediately looked like a student eager to give the right answer. However, Li Que shook his head, playfully tapping his hand with the unlit cigarette he’d been holding the whole time. “No need to give me an answer so soon. Just enjoy the process,” he said.
Still dazed and confused by the full-force charm of a top supermodel, Jiang Cenglan followed Li Que to his studio without ever really regaining his clarity. The whole way through, he was completely led by the nose.
So it was no surprise he ended up signing a contract that offered an even more generous amount than the previous transfer.
………………
Summer in New York ended suddenly, as the streets of downtown Manhattan were drowned by the metallic smell of last night’s heavy rain. And just like that, summer was over.
But Jiang Cenglan’s life felt like it had entered a never-ending stretch of Vietnamese literature: a permanent state of sticky and sour humidity, slowly fermenting an existence too awkward to describe aloud.
At twenty-three, like every outstanding (or outrageous) international student, Jiang Cenglan finally found himself as the proud protagonist of his very first internet gossip.
If he could turn back time, he swore he’d never have gone to bed so early on that damned rainy night! As a result, by the time he woke up the next day, his old classmates, scattered between three continents, had already seen the news before he had. And of course, the “concerning” messages on his phone were endless.
Jiang Cenglan: “?!”
Jiang Cenglan: “…”
From that day forward, he vowed to hate the world for having such fast internet speeds, and for humanity’s refusal to respect time zones and just go to sleep!
…Also, he would like to thank the Great Firewall of China for keeping that high-speed piece of gossip from entering the motherland and reaching his parents before he even got the chance to wake up!
Looking at the 40 to 50 concerned friends who contacted him on WeChat, most of them with that little red “99+” sign next to their names, Jiang Cenglan hesitated, unsure who to respond to first.
But in the end, recalling the strange superstition that skipping breakfast inevitably leads to gallstones, he decided he should eat something first to calm his nerves… So Jiang Cenglan temporarily set aside the online chaos. After getting out of bed, he quickly washed up, then went to the living room and made himself a cup of coffee and a sandwich.
Just then, his roommate emerged from his bedroom, still half-asleep and rubbing his eyes. “What are you doing…?”
“I’m taking some traditional medicine to regulate my Qi,” Jiang Cenglan replied.
With a calm expression, he then watched his still-groggy roommate head into the bathroom. Back when they’d agreed to rent the apartment together, Jiang Cenglan had paid a larger share, so he got to live in the master bedroom with an en suite. Therefore, his poor roommate had to use the shared bathroom in the living room…
…And less than five minutes later, Jiang Cenglan heard a loud “What the f*ck!” from the bathroom.
Then came the sound of the toilet flushing.
His roommate bolted out like a gust of wind rushing to the dining table, only to see Jiang Cenglan sitting there with a calm, almost saintly expression on his resigned face. After sputtering a few “you-you-yous,” the man finally managed to compose himself.
Pulling out a chair and sitting down, his roommate hesitantly asked: “Uh… Is there any of that traditional medicine left? Maybe I should regulate my Qi too…”
Ten minutes later, with his roommate’s emotional support, Jiang Cenglan finally read his online piece of gossip.
Hit with a shock first thing in the morning, Jiang Cenglan had only vaguely realized that the thing between him and Li Que had been exposed, but he hadn’t yet looked into the extent of the leak.
Truth be told, he hadn’t dared to look… So he’d pretended to be concerned about “taking care of his stomach while living abroad” as an excuse to avoid reality.
After all, he needed someone else to scout ahead for him. And he knew his friend wouldn’t let him down.
Seeing that his roommate looked at him only with envy and not much concern, Jiang Cenglan finally felt a little more at ease. While eating breakfast, he carefully went through the morning news. Fortunately, it was just that one piece of gossip that went viral, and not a compilation of his entire life, so it didn’t take long to finish.
After reading it, Jiang Cenglan let out a long breath of relief.
Thank goodness. Fortunately, the thing he was most worried about had not been exposed. The secret that Li Que was already married was safe and sound, a detail that had been well-protected for years.
“It’s a lot better than I imagined,” Jiang Cenglan said. “Thank heavens there were no nudes.”
“Of course there weren’t,” his roommate replied. “Because you’re still a vir… Wait a second!” He suddenly caught on. “What do you mean by that!?”
Jiang Cenglan: “Hee hee.”
He brushed the fringe from his forehead a little awkwardly, and his roommate picked up on some signals from his expression that sent his imagination racing. Sucking in a breath of cold air, he asked: “So the news is… Real?”
“It is,” Jiang Cenglan confirmed. “Disaster strikes the international student circle once again… The news first came from our circle, so when was that even fake? Of course it’s real.”
The gossip was simple. Jiang Cenglan usually kept a low profile, so there wasn’t much information to dig up. Plus, he wasn’t the kind of person to do anything scandalous.
The post started with a brief overview of his educational background and then launched into a series of shockingly clear photos taken the night of last week’s fashion expo. Li Que had planned to take him out for Japanese food, but after being unexpectedly triggered, Jiang Cenglan had an asthma attack in the car. Li Que gave him emergency treatment and held him in his arms to comfort him, a moment faithfully caught by paparazzi.
In the pictures, both of them were wearing matching outfits, with the exact same shirt, jacket, and jeans. Having both of them next to each other, it obviously looked like intentionally coordinated couplewear.
Because of the sudden asthma attack, Jiang Cenglan’s face mask had been removed. And for a better look, Li Que had also taken off his sunglasses, so both of their faces were captured almost fully. However, Jiang Cenglan’s face was still slightly obscured with a thin mosaic filter, for privacy reasons.
Last night, when the news erupted on the internet, Jiang Cenglan was already asleep. The leak first began circulating on Instagram, and in just ten minutes, it went viral. After all, supermodel Richard’s new relationship had been exposed. According to the source, the partner was an Asian boy, news that shattered countless fanboy and fangirl dreams.
Shortly after, a few days-old posts from the fashion expo resurfaced, back when someone had taken rushed, blurry shots of Richard onstage. Back then, no one had expected it was really him, so the photos weren’t very clear. But multiple users had posted excitedly claiming they’d seen Richard there.
Now, those images were confirmed, and they matched the clothes in the high-definition leak.
From there on, someone traced it back to the brand that one of their mutual acquaintances had just launched.
Before Jiang Cenglan’s personal info got widely exposed, it seemed Li Que’s studio had already acted to suppress the heat.
As a result, in the beginning, Jiang Cenglan’s identity hadn’t been fully revealed.
But soon enough, someone from the New York School of Visual Arts recognized him, and from then on, everything was out in the open.
The news then travelled via WeChat throughout the Chinese international student community, even making its way to the Southern Hemisphere. Earlier, when Jiang Cenglan opened Instagram, even though Li Que had already made moves to block it, it was still too late to stop netizens from learning his name.
Pinned at the top of his WeChat messages was one from Li Que, sent ten minutes ago, right when Jiang Cenglan was busy sipping his hot Americano “to regulate his Qi.”
[Toy Story]: Don’t be scared. Wait for me at home. I’m on my way to the airport right now, I’ll come as soon as possible.
