Blinded by Lust chapter 51

Wu Bie returned to his apartment, feeling a bit dazed. Just as he sat down on the sofa, he received a message from Huo Zhanyan. They hadn’t chatted on WeChat for a long time, so it took him a moment to register the name “seagull.”

He opened the WeChat message to find Huo Zhanyan had sent a pitiful emoji, followed by a message: “Wu Ge, my sister sent me some potted plants. When no one is home, could you help me change the water?”

Mentioning Huo Zhanting made him angry. Both of them were like this, no wonder they were siblings; their tone was infuriatingly self-righteous.

Without saying a word, Wu Bie called Huo Zhanyan’s through voice call. He must have been waiting for Wu Bie’s reply, as the call connected quickly.

Huo Zhanyan seemed surprised that Wu Bie had called him, and his excitement nearly overflowed through the phone. “Wu Ge!”

Ge! Ge! Ge! What the hell!

Wu Bie’s anger intensified upon hearing Huo Zhanyan’s voice. “I’m I your Ge? What does the house you rented have to do with me? If you’re so capable, tell your sister to come back and take care of your plants!”

Since his identity was exposed, Wu Bie had maintained a rather hostile attitude. Huo Zhanyan was used to Wu Bie’s temper and wasn’t scared; he lowered his stance and started to act coy.

“My sister is a middle school student. It’s already good if she can come over once a week. Hydroponic plants need their water changed frequently; how could she possibly find the time? She bought them for me specially and spent a lot of money. I can’t waste my sister’s kind intentions.”

He was even using emotional blackmail. Wu Bie snorted coldly, “If you’re so rich, just hire someone to change the water for you.”

“I don’t like having strangers in my house.”

With that one sentence, Wu Bie was rendered speechless. Continuing along Huo Zhanyan’s line of thought would lead to ambiguous implications, but he couldn’t accept this mess.

He took a deep breath and said earnestly, “Huo Zhanyan, I know your family is rich, but you’re still in school and spending your parents’ money. You don’t need to spend your parents’ money on a big man like me.”

Wu Bie knew that Huo Zhanyan really liked him, so he rarely took the opportunity to give him a serious talk. He felt that, as a college student, Huo Zhanyan should understand a few things.

There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone before Huo Zhanyan slowly replied, “I understand.”

For some reason, even though Huo Zhanyan had clearly taken his words to heart, Wu Bie didn’t feel relieved; instead, he felt an emptiness inside.

“Uh…” He was at a loss for words for a moment.

It was Huo Zhanyan who spoke again, “Well, since I can’t find someone suitable to help me right now, why don’t you help me change the water?”

Wu Bie’s mind was in a mess, and Huo Zhanyan’s attitude was quite clingy. Thinking about how those plants weren’t cheap and would easily wither without care, he impulsively agreed.

Once he agreed, Wu Bie regretted it. Huo Zhanyan was like a human electronic alarm clock, messaging him at the same time every day.

“Wu Ge, don’t forget to change the water today.”

As soon as Wu Bie got home from work and finished taking a shower, he received a message from Huo Zhanyan. He coldly replied with an “Oh” and put on his coat, but before he even left his house, he received another message from Huo Zhanyan.

“Send me a photo of it.”

This kid really didn’t treat him as an outsider, Wu Bie impatiently grabbed his phone and sneaked into the elevator, and when he reached the ninth floor, he quickly opened the door to Huo Zhanyan’s apartment.

Familiar with the place, he carried the potted plants into the bathroom to change the water. Huo Zhanyan, however, insisted on calling him via video at that moment.

“Do you really have to video call me right now?!” Wu Bie quickly answered the call and set his phone next to the sink.

The best view from that angle was the ceiling, and Wu Bie only showed a frown on camera, but Huo Zhanyan still seemed satisfied.

“Wu Ge, I thought it would be inconvenient for you to take a photo.”

Wu Bie turned his head and glared at the camera, wondering what nonsense this kid was talking about. “Just because it’s inconvenient for me to take a photo, does that mean it’s convenient for me to video call?”

It was merely an excuse, and Huo Zhanyan didn’t argue back. Instead, he gazed eagerly into Wu Bie’s eyes, his gaze so intense that even Wu Bie, who was busy looking down, felt it. When he turned to look at his phone, Huo Zhanyan quickly spoke up.

“My sister told me that the water from the faucet is alkaline and needs to be left to sit overnight to be suitable for flowers.”

Wu Bie paused, his brows furrowing deeper. “So troublesome? Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

Thinking about how precious these plants were, he felt a bit worried about whether he would end up killing them.

“I already said I don’t know anything about this. I told you to hire a professional.”

Huo Zhanyan just continued to chatter, “I was just saying, if they’re so pampered, they won’t live long. If they really die, I can ask my sister to get a few easier-to-raise ones later.”

Wu Bie nodded but then thought something was off. Why should he help Huo Zhanyan take care of the plants?

Before he could speak, Huo Zhanyan suddenly called out to him, “Wu Ge.”

“What?” Wu Bie was quite annoyed with Huo Zhanyan. Huo Zhanyan loved to be clingy, especially when he used a voice changer during video calls, sounding like a girl. Wu Bie found that enjoyable, but having a guy speak to him in such a sticky manner made him uncomfortable all over.

“Are you free this weekend?”

“No.” Wu Bie answered without hesitation. He didn’t even need to guess that Huo Zhanyan probably wanted to see him again. “I told you, stop thinking about me. Even if you come back, I won’t meet you.”

Huo Zhanyan shrugged and explained, “I didn’t say I was coming back. There are many activities at school lately, and I’m quite busy.”

Hmph, Huo Zhanyan better be busy, busy enough not to call him every day to supervise watering the plants.

“I’m participating in a road cycling race this weekend. You should come watch me.”

Wu Bie thought he must have misheard. Did Huo Zhanyan really not understand that they had no relationship? He was trying to avoid him, so why did he have the nerve to ask him to travel to another city to watch him?

When a person reaches a certain level of speechlessness, they laugh. Wu Bie scoffed.

“Have you lost your mind?”

Huo Zhanyan pretended not to understand Wu Bie’s sarcasm. He lowered his eyes, and only shadows remained under his long lashes. “All the other participants have family and friends coming to watch.”

“You can invite your friends and family.”

“You know that my parents didn’t visit me much when I was in the hospital after the accident, and my older brother won’t come either. He’s busy with work. My sister would be willing to come, but she’s swamped with her studies right now.”

So, he was the only one with free time, huh? Even if his job was relatively easy, that didn’t mean he had to go watch the race. Why should he go? It puzzled him.

“Invite your classmates.”

“My roommates are going, but it’s not the same. I just want you to come.”

Wu Bie didn’t want to hear any more from Huo Zhanyan. “Have you lost your mind? You’re renting a place above my house, and I have to help you water the plants, sneaking around like a thief. Now you want me to go to another city to watch you race? I should tell you to give up this place and stop creating trouble for me.”

“Then you should return my elevator card in person.” Huo Zhanyan boldly made demands of Wu Bie, as if he wasn’t afraid of dying too soon, deliberately provoking Wu Bie. “Are you so afraid of me that you can’t even face me? Do you like me already, and that’s why you’re avoiding me?”

Wu Bie laughed in anger. “You really are something, aren’t you? You’re asking for a beating. Just you wait; I’ll shove this elevator card down your throat on Friday.”

As he came down from the ninth floor, Wu Bie was completely dazed. It seemed like he had fallen into Huo Zhanyan’s trap, and he had confusedly agreed to go watch him race this weekend.

“Damn!” Wu Bie cursed under his breath, frustrated with his own temper. Why couldn’t he control it every time? Why did he always fall into the trap set by Huo Zhanyan?

Fine, he would just think of it as returning the elevator card. Once he returned it, he would have fewer problems to deal with.

Just as Wu Bie was about to lift his hand to unlock the fingerprint lock, the door next door was pushed open from the inside. Chen Xian and Shen Jixue appeared in front of him. Wu Bie’s heart raced, and he secretly felt relieved that he had already taken the elevator down.

“Out again?” Chen Xian casually asked. “By the way, do you want to go hiking this weekend…”

Before Chen Xian could finish his sentence, Wu Bie raised his hand to refuse. He had already promised Huo Zhanyan to watch the competition this weekend. Although he was reluctant to meet Huo Zhanyan, he also didn’t want to be a third wheel for Chen Xian and Shen Jixue.

“No, I’m not going.” After saying this, he quickly slipped back into his apartment.

Looking at the closed security door, Chen Xian was astonished. “Was that a flat-out refusal? You didn’t even ask about our destination or who would be attending?”

Shen Jixue looked at the elevator floor indicator showing “↓”. Wu Bie just came down from upstairs. He said lightly, “Maybe those old colleagues from your last job are wasting their time. Wu Bie is currently not interested in blind dates.”

“That can’t be right! Didn’t he always say he wanted to find someone? If there are women around, wouldn’t he want to go?” After Shen Jixue’s reminder, Chen Xian recalled the gossip about Wu Bie at the company. “Wasn’t there someone who sent him flowers last time? He wouldn’t be dating someone behind our backs, would he?”

Shen Jixue pouted, “Who knows?”

Who knows whether it’s a man or a woman? It was hard to say. Wu Bie hated homosexuality. But if Wu Bie really was involved with a man, that would be interesting.

“You know, a few days ago, I ran into Old Qin, and he was asking about Wu Bie’s dating situation. He said Wu Bie’s girlfriend was really pretty, tall, even taller than Wu Bie. I thought he was joking; I hadn’t heard Wu Bie mention anything about it.”

Shen Jixue smirked; where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Could it really be that interesting?

“Maybe Wu Bie wants to give you a surprise?”