“What nonsense are you talking about? When did I like Wen Yuan?” Zhang Huaite subconsciously denied it.
“That day, when the store was being renovated, Wen Yuan walked in. You were afraid that he would hit the steel bar, so you covered his head with your hands. I could see your eyes clearly.” Chen Xingyu said calmly.
Wen Yuan hid behind the door, feeling a little empty in his heart.
“I just treat him as a friend, don’t slander our relationship.” Zhang Huaite was in a mess, he couldn’t tell whether it was Chen Xingyu’s confession that disturbed him, or Chen Xingyu exposuring that he liked Wen Yuan. thing.
“I know that Wen Yuan is already married, so you only look at him from a distance, and you won’t let go of your feelings for him, will you?”
Zhang Huaite sighed with a tangled expression, and suddenly he returned the green turquoise earrings to Chen Xingyu.
“This gift is too expensive, I can’t bear it. You can take it back.”
Chen Xingyu didn’t accept it, and still looked at Zhang Huaite with a stubborn and firm gaze.
“Huaite, if you want to forget about Wen Yuan, can you try it with me?”
“Is there anything to try, I don’t like anyone! All I like is baking. If you keep on like this, we won’t even be friends. Don’t force me!”
Seeing the distress and confusion in Zhang Huaite’s eyes, although Chen Xingyu had already guessed the result, his chest still hurt.
Maybe he was too rushed. He had only returned to China for a few months, and he was too hasty to confess. He should’ve planned longer, and wait until Zhang Huaite trusts him before confessing.
However, everything has already been ruined in his hands.
Chen Xingyu took back the box with a wry smile, his long black eyelashes hanging down.
“Okay, then pretend I didn’t say anything today.” Chen Xingyu’s mouth twitched as he turned around unsteadily, and walked towards the entrance.
Wen Yuan didn’t expect Chen Xingyu’s confession to have such a result, and felt sorry for him.
Suddenly the bedroom door was pushed open, and he took a step back reflexively, just in time to see Zhang Huaite outside the door.
Wen Yuan was instantly embarrassed.
“That… I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.” He wanted to say that he didn’t hear anything, but it it would all be excuses.
Zhang Huaite looked at him with a complicated look.
Wen Yuan’s guilty heart was pounding loudly, and he didn’t know what to do to break this weird silence.
“Wen Yuan, don’t worry, I only have a master-disciple relationship with you.”
Zhang Huaite didn’t know whether he said this to Wen Yuan or himself.
Wen Yuan nodded quickly and followed, “Yes, you are my best senior brother and the teacher who led me on the path of baking. I respect you very much in my heart. Chen Xingyu must have misunderstood something, I will explain it to him later.”
“Wen Yuan, do you think I was too cruel to reject Chen Xingyu just now?”
Wen Yuan was stunned, obviously not expecting Zhang Huaite to ask him this question. Could it be that after rejecting Chen Xingyu, Zhang Huaite regretted it a little?
“I can’t say, everyone thinks differently. Sometimes fate can’t be forced. However, Chen Xingyu choosing this path should have something to do with you. It can be seen that he likes you very much. “
“But I just regard him as a good friend.” Zhang Huaite blinked helplessly. “I never thought he would confess to me. How could someone like him confess to me?”
That little brat who always pressed him down when he was young and bragged triumphantly in front of him, was suddenly affectionate today. Acting humble, and giving him such expensive turquoise ear studs… the contrast was too great, and he couldn’t adapt.
“Huaite, I think you may need to think about it. Don’t make a decision in such a hurry.”
Seeing that Wen Yuan was about to leave, Zhang Huaite suddenly thought that Chen Xingyu was still drunk, and said worriedly, “If you go out, help me pay attention to Chen Xingyu.”
Seeing Wen Yuan’s eyes looking over, he felt a little uncomfortable.
“If something happens to him as a drunk, I can’t explain it to the Chen family.”
“Okay, I will help you send him home.”
Wen Yuan smiled and waved at him. After the door was closed, he walked forward quickly and found that Chen Xingyu hadn’t gone far.
The young man sat under the stone bench of the camphor tree, his body hunched, his eyes staring blankly at the fragmented night sky above his head, not knowing what he was thinking.
Wen Yuan walked over and shouted softly, “Chen Xingyu.”
For a second, Chen Xingyu thought it was Zhang Huaite who chased him. Joy flashed in his eyes, but when his eyes moved and he met Wen Yuan’s gaze, the light in his eyes went out.
Wen Yuan walked over and sat beside him.
“Sorry, I heard everything you said to Huaite in the living room just now.”
Chen Xingyu smiled bitterly. “If you heard, you heard. It’s nothing.”
He remembered something and explained, “I said that Zhang Huaite likes you, but I made a blunder. Don’t take it to heart.”
“It’s fine, Huaite explained it to me, we are fellow students and teachers, nothing else.”
Chen Xingyu hummed softly, curling up and nestling on the stone bench.
“I’ll take you home, it’s cold at night, it’s not good for you to lie here.” Wen Yuan said.
“Do you think I’m pitiful?” Chen Xingyu looked up at him.
Wen Yuan looked into his eyes, not knowing what to say. He wanted to comfort Chen Xingyu, but thinking of his embarrassing position, he couldn’t find anything comforting.
“Xingyu, go back and have a good sleep.”
Chen Xingyu lowered his eyelashes and laughed softly. “Yes, it’s time for me to go back to sleep. Looking like I’m living and dying, when Huaite sees, he will only be more disgusted.”
He hoped that he was still the proud and confident little boy in Zhang Huaite’s memory.
Wen Yuan sighed and asked the question that had been pressing in his heart, “Actually, I don’t understand. If you liked Huaite before, why did you go abroad? Why didn’t you tell him earlier?”
Chen Xingyu held his forehead, and sat up slowly.
“My parents are very traditional people. Even if same-sex marriage is legal now, they can’t accept it. At that time, Huaite and I were both studying in the UK, and it was also at that time that I discovered that I had a strange feeling for Huaite. But Huaite was very popular, and many people were pursuing him. He didn’t look at any of them, and didn’t seem to have any interest in love, so I don’t dare to test him rashly.”
“I wasn’t in the same place with him at the time, and I didn’t have much contact with him. By the time I wanted to do something, Huaite had dropped out of school, and I learned later that he went to France to learn baking.”
“I had a lot of opportunities, But because I was timid, I missed it all.”
Those secret crushes when he was young and ignorant. Like a green plum that has just emerged from the branches, it is sour and astringent after a bite. Only after tasting slowly will one be able to taste a hint of sweetness.
Chen Xingyu grew up in a restrained and repressed family environment. Compared with his happiness or interests, his parents valued his grades and whether he would give them face when he was brought out. That’s why he worked so hard when he was a child and wanted to win Zhang Huaite. But it wasn’t until after work that he worked overtime in the cubicle day and night, calling clients, and staying up to finish reports, that he realized this kind of bright and rotten life on the outside was not what he wanted.
He knew that Zhang Huaite went to learn baking, and he also knew that he had participated in many competitions. He secretly recorded the videos of those competitions on the Internet, and watched him glow on the field on the screen. It was the only consolation in his dull and depressing life.
Abandoning a high-paying job on Wall Street, he changed careers in his own way, arguing with his parents. He struggled to catch up to Zhang Huaite’s footsteps, but when they met on the field, he still had to pretend to be fine.
Wen Yuan listened to his story quietly, with a touch of emotion on his face.
The summer night was still a little hot, and cicadas chirped quietly from the tree trunks.
Chen Xingyu breathed a sigh of relief after telling his story.
“Sorry, was I being too long-winded?”
Wen Yuan helped him up and patted his shoulder. “Xingyu, everything will be fine.”
Wen Yuan had a hunch that it wasn’t that Zhang Huaite had no feelings for Chen Xingyu, but that Zhang Huaite hadn’t figured out his mind yet.
Wen Yuan supported Chen Xingyu and was about to holler a taxi by the side of the road, when suddenly a black Maybach stopped in front of them.
The car window was lowered, and Wen Yuan’s eyes filled with joy when he saw Qi Jinran’s familiar face.
“Jinran, when did you come back? How did you know I was here?”
“You didn’t answer your phone, so I had to call Zhang Huaite.” Seeing Wen Yuan put his hand on Chen Xingyu, half hugging his shoulders, Qi Jinran was a little unhappy.
“Get in the car, bring this drunkard home first.”
Wen Yuan nodded and got into the car. After sending Chen Xingyu home, he found that Qi Jinran still had a gloomy face, and didn’t seem very happy.
“Jinran, my cell phone ran out of battery, so I didn’t answer your call. Let me tell you, you can’t imagine what happened today. Chen Xingyu confessed to Huaite, but Huaite didn’t accept him.”
Wen Yuan couldn’t wait to tell what happened. He spilled everything, but who knew, Qi Jinran didn’t look very surprised after hearing the story.
“I guessed there would be such a day.”
“Apart from confessing, Chen Xingyu didn’t say anything else?” Qi Jinran looked at Wen Yuan with straight and sharp eyes.
Wen Yuan felt guilty and hesitated. “No, he didn’t say anything.”
“Why Zhang Huaite rejected Chen Xingyu, don’t you know the reason?” Qi Jinran’s hand clenched, gnashing his teeth.
Wen Yuan didn’t expect that the fire would still reach his head. A thin layer of sweat broke out on his back as he carefully studied the gloomy man in front of him.
“That… Me and Huaite are just ordinary friends.”
“You treat him as an ordinary friend, but he doesn’t think so.” Qi Jinran’s tone was cold.
“Then… you saw it long ago?”
Qi Jinran snorted coldly, but didn’t speak.
The more Wen Yuan thought about it, the more he regretted it. He felt that he shouldn’t have partnered with Zhang Huaite to open this shop. If he became an obstacle between Zhang Huaite and Chen Xingyu, what face would he have to go to the dessert shop in the future?
Seeing the guilt and regret on Wen Yuan’s face, Qi Jinran immediately guessed what he was thinking. “What, want to retreat?”
“No, I think I should avoid them in the future.”
“Zhang Huaite didn’t confess to you, what are you afraid of?”
Wen Yuan always felt that Qi Jinran’s words were simply forced through his clenched jaws. The air in the car seemed stained with a sour stench.
“Since you have chosen this path, then go ahead. This is a matter between Chen Xingyu and Zhang Huaite, and we don’t need to interfere.”
“Anyway, you will start school soon, and you won’t have many opportunities to go to the dessert shop.”
Wen Yuan nodded. Recalling that he will be a senior soon, and has to prepare his graduation thesis next semester, his expression was a little melancholic.
Afraid of the embarrassment of seeing Chen Xingyu and Zhang Huaite, Wen Yuan didn’t go to the dessert shop for the next few days, and only learned things from Xiao Hui.
“God, Wen Yuan, you don’t know, I’ve been suffocated to death when I go to the back chef these days. The chef doesn’t speak, and the store manager doesn’t speak. Once the two of them are in the same room, the atmosphere will freeze. It’s really hard for us human beings to survive in the middle.”
“By the way, there’s one more thing, wasn’t the opposite side being renovated? It’s finished today. I saw a truck carrying cabinets inside, and it seems like it’s going to open a bakery or something.”
“These people are too disgusting. Seeing our dessert shop is doing well, so they want to open one and grab business?”
“No way, maybe they didn’t open a dessert shop, and are selling snacks.”
“Anyway, I don’t think it’s right. I think the decoration style is quite similar to our home.”
“En, pay attention to it and let me know if there is any situation.”
This chapter is split into 3. It’s over 5.5k words translated…
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