Blue Cocktail chapter 16
The alley was just a few steps away from the Mo Blue Bar. Cheng Shuo walked ahead with his head lowered, taking small, quick steps, as if fleeing. Perhaps he wanted to put some distance between himself and Lu Huaiqian to avoid being seen with reddened eyes.
However, Lu Huaiqian, taking advantage of his long legs, could cover three of Cheng Shuo’s steps in just two. He appeared relaxed but followed very closely.
The rotten orange was still in his palm. Lu Huaiqian, idle as he was, balanced the orange in his palm, turning and rotating it like playing with a walnut. His fingers were always restless.
Back at the bar, Cheng Shuo leaned on the counter.
Thinking Cheng Shuo might want to order something, Aru enthusiastically approached, “Hey, handsome guy, what would you like to drink? We have mocha, macchiato, cappuccino…”
However, Cheng Shuo remained indifferent.
Suddenly, his pocket vibrated. Cheng Shuo hesitated and sluggishly pulled out his phone, unlocking the screen.
The message he sent to Teacher Chu at 8 p.m. the previous night received a response after more than ten hours.
Teacher Chu directly made a WeChat call.
Cheng Shuo’s hand trembled as he answered the call.
In the earpiece, faint voices and hoarse winds came through, followed by Teacher Chu’s clear voice, overriding the background noise, “Where did you hear this? It’s all rumors. I don’t plan on leaving Huafeng. I am still working in the studio.”
Cheng Shuo typed and asked Teacher Chu when they could meet.
“Want to meet up?” Teacher Chu chuckled, “I appreciate your kindness, but I’m quite busy lately, especially during the summer vacation. When I have time, I’ll let you know.”
Cheng Shuo typed a line in the chat—
Okay, I’ll treat you to a meal.
And sent it.
Teacher Chu then added, “By the way, we are short of staff this summer. Have you thought of coming to the studio to help in July or August?”
She said, “You’re probably the best student I’ve ever taught in the past few years. Pei Jiang Art Academy, ah, one of the top four art colleges in the country. With your title, it’s entirely okay for you to assist in my studio.”
Cheng Shuo silently smiled, typed in response—
Sure, teacher.
“Hey, why do you always text and not talk?”
Cheng Shuo didn’t want the other party to hear he had been crying, so he lowered his voice, “It’s not convenient for me to talk right now.”
But the other party was as sharp as ever, “Xiao Cheng, why do I feel… your voice sounds a bit off?”
Cheng Shuo was momentarily stunned, then lowered his gaze, “Just a slight cold, it’s nothing.”
“Early spring is indeed prone to catching a cold…”
Teacher Chu continued talking non-stop.
Cheng Shuo patiently listened to every word she said, occasionally responding, and finally, Teacher Chu mentioned that she had a class and said goodbye to Cheng Shuo.
Once Teacher Chu hung up, the screen displayed the call duration in a bright white bubble, poking at Cheng Shuo’s heart, much like Song Wenyuan’s lies.
Silently, Cheng Shuo put his phone back in his pocket. His gaze wandered aimlessly.
“Cheng Shuo.”
Someone called him, and he turned around.
It was Lu Huaiqian.
Lu Huaiqian leaned on the counter, one hand resting on it, and in the other hand, between his thumb and forefinger, he held a tube of ointment, which he then handed to Cheng Shuo, “I figured you’d need this.”
Cheng Shuo glanced down, “Thank you.”
There was a small cut in the palm of his right hand, but not much. He wasn’t the fragile type. After unscrewing the plastic cap, he placed the tube over the wound and applied the ointment with a twist of his eyebrows, pressing the contents out, then finished it off carelessly with his fingertips.
After replacing the cap, Cheng Shuo tossed the ointment to Lu Huaiqian, who effortlessly caught it.
Looking at Cheng Shuo’s face, Lu Huaiqian raised his eyebrows, “You’re done already?”
Cheng Shuo: “Yeah.”
Lu Huaiqian pointed at his cheek with his fingertip, “You’ve cut your face; didn’t you notice?”
Cheng Shuo paused, then casually replied, “I didn’t notice.”
Lu Huaiqian let the tube dangle from his fingers and chuckled, “You’d better put some on your face; it’ll heal faster. I won’t even charge you for it. To apply or not, what do you say?”
Cheng Shuo thought about it and reached for the tube, but right before his fingertips touched the ointment, Lu Huaiqian pulled his hand back out of his reach.
“…”
Cheng Shuo looked up wordlessly, “Are you this childish?”
“I want to help you apply it,” Lu Huaiqian innocently explained, “you just said you can’t see your face.”
“Oh.”
“Stand still here.”
His words sounded like a command, but his tone was almost coaxing. In a daze, before Cheng Shuo could react, he found himself following the instruction.
Lu Huaiqian slightly bent forward, applied the ointment to his fingertips, lowered his head, pressed it against the wound on Cheng Shuo’s face, and gently spread it.
The soft touch was like a wisp of willow fluff floating on a spring brook, rippling from his cheek, leaving Cheng Shuo feeling strangely stiff, neither moving nor still.
As he lifted his gaze, he saw Lu Huaiqian’s exquisite features, entirely focused on the wound on his cheek, devoid of any hint of a smile, an unusual seriousness.
Cheng Shuo thought the cut on his face was not that big and could be ignored for pain, but Lu Huaiqian seemed to take a long time. It was supposed to be a simple thing.
Baffled, he raised his eyes again.
Unexpectedly, Lu Huaiqian turned his gaze at that precise moment. Their sights met in mid-air, and Cheng Shuo’s eyes fell into the depths of Lu Huaiqian’s eyes, unfathomable and impenetrable.
The next moment, his lips were touched by the other person’s fingertip, a barely perceptible stroke.
“You—” Cheng Shuo hurriedly turned his head, pushed the person away, his eyelashes trembling intensely.
“Sorry,” Lu Huaiqian immediately pulled back his hand, took a leisurely half-step backward, opened his five fingers, and gestured in front of Cheng Shuo, “Look, your face is really too small, not much bigger than my hand. That’s why I accidentally touched it.”
Cheng Shuo was half-believing, took a glance at Lu Huaiqian, who looked back candidly, as he always did, showing his apologetic stance.
Then both of them fell silent. Lu Huaiqian idly accompanied Cheng Shuo by the bar, his gaze wandering around, observing the customers, looking outside the window, and occasionally at Cheng Shuo.
Suddenly, his gaze stopped, and he squinted as if he found something, taking large steps towards the exit.
A few minutes later, Lu Huaiqian returned, encircling a bouquet of flowers with his left hand. The bouquet was wrapped in light orange and goose-yellow Moka paper and glass paper, enclosing sunflowers, daisies, gypsophilas, and roses. With his right hand, he adjusted the slightly deformed bouquet and raised it, asking, “Cheng Shuo, are these yours?”
Cheng Shuo looked up, “Yeah.”
Lu Huaiqian presented the flowers to Cheng Shuo.
Cheng Shuo wasn’t fond of flowers. While he could pick up oranges and bring them home to eat, flowers merely occupied space everywhere, serving no real purpose. They only reminded him of being deceived by Song Wenyuan, making him feel terrible every time. He pursed his lips, “I don’t want them; you can have them.”
Lu Huaiqian was surprised, “Why don’t you want them?”
Cheng Shuo frowned, choosing his words carefully, “The person I was going to give them to isn’t coming.”
Lu Huaiqian asked, “What if the person you’re giving them to arrives later?”
Cheng Shuo furrowed his brow, “She won’t come.”
Lu Huaiqian continued, “Why?”
“Do you want them or not?” Cheng Shuo dodged the question, “If you don’t, just throw them away.”
Lu Huaiqian chuckled at this response.
Then, carrying the flowers, he walked away happily and headed to the second floor.
Leaving Cheng Shuo and Aru at the bar, they were speechless.
Cheng Shuo wasn’t intending to talk, and after a long silence, suddenly asked, “Do you have ‘breakup drinks’ here?”
“We do,” Aru felt his chance had come, promptly replied enthusiastically, “We have more than one type of breakup drink here. I’ll bring you the menu, and you can take your time to choose. If you have any doubts, you can ask me.”
After saying that, he was about to bend down to fetch the menu.
“Wait,” Cheng Shuo looked puzzled, “Don’t you only sell coffee during the day?”
“Right,” Aru suddenly realized, realizing his mistake, “Sorry, handsome guy, we only start selling cocktails after 5 PM—”
“Who said that?”
Suddenly, Lu Huaiqian’s voice drifted in from the side.
Cheng Shuo looked towards the distant Lu Huaiqian, who was stepping down the last few steps of the second-floor staircase, then onto the first-floor ground, “We sell cocktails during the day, too.”
The next moment, their eyes met. Lu Huaiqian had a smile, “If you want breakup drinks, you should ask me. I’m the bartender. Aru doesn’t know anything.”
Aru was dumbfounded, thinking, “Boss, how can you blatantly lie with your eyes wide open? I know a bit, and we don’t sell drinks during the day!”
But for the sake of his salary, Aru could only swallow his frustration and was soon sent away by the boss to clean glasses.
Lu Huaiqian stood behind the bar, with a confident smile. He turned the menu to a certain page and presented it to Cheng Shuo.
The definition of a breakup drink was too narrow, Cheng Shuo sneered to himself. He just casually asked while Lu Huaiqian wasn’t around, yet somehow the latter heard. It was one of the few times in his life when he felt embarrassed, and he took the menu from Lu Huaiqian and started to read it.
Lu Huaiqian patiently waited by the side. He appeared relaxed but his eyes hinted at keenness. “Why a breakup drink? So among those four people earlier, was there someone you like?”
Pretending not to hear, Cheng Shuo pretended to read the menu but paused for a moment.
Lu Huaiqian noticed and slightly squinted his eyes, “Do you like Song Wenyuan?”
“How could that be?” Cheng Shuo immediately denied.
But his fingers clenched involuntarily. Cheng Shuo quickly glanced up at Lu Huaiqian. The other’s smile clearly said, ‘I don’t believe you.’
“What are you smiling about,” Cheng Shuo lowered his head, feeling a bit uncertain. He almost forgot that Lu Huaiqian was not just a bartender but also the bar owner. He stopped talking; otherwise, Lu Huaiqian would keep chatting.
Resting his chin in his hand, Cheng Shuo boredly waited. Amidst the sound of Lu Huaiqian mixing drinks, he didn’t find it noisy. Instead, he felt a bit tired and suddenly longed for a deep sleep, as if nothing had happened when he woke up.
Suddenly, a glass appeared in front of his eyes, shaped like a flying saucer, filled with light blue liquid, resembling the color of the sky outside.
“Your breakup drink is ready.”
Cheng Shuo raised his head and met Lu Huaiqian’s usual smile. He noticed some fine laugh lines around the edges of Lu Huaiqian’s eyes, barely visible unless one looked closely.
“At first, it might be a bit bitter, but if you continue drinking, it’ll get sweeter.”