Difficult to Complete chapter 23

At the beginning of April, a friend who ran a chain of hotels had a birthday party at his own hotel, throwing a pool party.

The party was lively, with many beautiful young women invited. The pool was drained and filled with ocean balls, and a group of men and women played around in the balls, giving off a sort of “Sea and Sky Banquet” feeling, quite… luxurious.

Gu Yan sat alone on a lounge chair by the pool, sipping champagne slowly.

He was not interested in those young women and did not want to engage in casual relationships. He knew this friend through Tang Yan and wasn’t close, so he originally didn’t want to attend this birthday party.

But the friend’s father was quite familiar with their boss, so Gu Yan had to give face.

That’s how adult socializing works; personal feelings are often mixed with various interests, unavoidable.

Shen Qi arrived later, accompanied by someone. Gu Yan looked closely and recognized the person as Tan Xiaolei.

Tan Xiaolei was wearing a deep purple shirt, open at the collar, with a stylishly messy haircut—very suitable for the occasion.

Unlike Shen Qi, Gu Yan was a bit better off. At least he had changed out of his work shirt and suit into a dark coat, whereas Shen Qi had come in a three-piece suit. He looked less like he was attending a birthday party and more like he was there for a business negotiation.

Gu Yan knew he had already attended a dinner meeting.

When they took the same elevator down from work, the marketing manager was reminding Shen Qi and another colleague about some matters for the dinner table. Gu Yan had overheard.

So Shen Qi probably didn’t have time to change his outfit and hurried over directly from the dinner.

However, Shen Qi had never been one to enjoy various gatherings. The reason for his presence… Gu Yan didn’t want to be overly presumptuous, but seeing Shen Qi’s gaze scanning the room and finally focusing on him, he couldn’t help but think so.

He really didn’t understand what Shen Qi wanted to do.

Why?

The champagne in his glass was finished, but Gu Yan didn’t want to get up. Instead, he fiddled with the empty glass, idly passing the time.

Soon, a shadow fell in front of him, and Tan Xiaolei’s familiar voice came from above: “Would you like a drink?”

He held two glasses of champagne, already extending one towards him, clearly not expecting him to refuse.

Gu Yan smiled somewhat helplessly and accepted it.

They clinked glasses and drank together. Tan Xiaolei moved a lounge chair closer and sat next to Gu Yan, raising his eyebrows and joking:

“Gu Ge, why are you sitting here alone? Were you waiting for me?”

Gu Yan smiled again. After laughing, his expression became a bit serious. He turned his head to look at Tan Xiaolei and decided to take this opportunity to clear things up.

Dragging this on wasn’t the way to go. He might stop Tan Xiaolei from being impulsive once, but he couldn’t stop him from being impulsive the second or third time…

Don’t delay someone else’s happiness.

“Xiaolei, I’ve thought about it for a long time, and I still want to say—” But Tan Xiaolei placed his index finger on his lips, “Shh—Gu Ge, please don’t say it.”

Gu Yan turned his face away, avoiding the cool touch of Tan Xiaolei’s finger. Tan Xiaolei didn’t seem to mind, shifting to a more comfortable position and calling the waiter for two more drinks.

“Gu Ge, I think I know what you want to say, but please don’t say it. At least… at least give me some face. Maybe after a while, I’ll figure it out myself, and the years of illusion will shatter, and I won’t like you anymore, right?”

Tan Xiaolei and Shen Qi were really different. If the latter was a quiet spring flowing through the forest, the former was undoubtedly a vibrant, thorny red rose blooming among a hundred flowers.

Two completely different types. Reflecting on it, Gu Yan realized that his previous girlfriends were actually more similar to Tan Xiaolei.

But…

“Alright, then I won’t say anything.” He toasted Tan Xiaolei, “Just afraid of disappointing you in the end. After all, I’m… not really great.”

Tan Xiaolei’s laughter was triggered again, laughing uncontrollably. Gu Yan noticed that this person had a really low threshold for laughter. He followed Tan Xiaolei’s gaze and saw Shen Qi sitting with Tang Yan.

“Gu Ge, when I came over just now, I happened to run into Shen Qi at the hotel entrance. He asked me a question. Want to guess what it was?”

His tone and expression were somewhat mysterious. Gu Yan wasn’t very interested in the topic and just smiled noncommittally.

A person good at reading the room seemed oblivious to Gu Yan’s disinterest, deliberately dragging out the tone:

“Shen Gei asked me if you’re… currently dating…”

Although he was reluctant to admit it, Gu Yan’s heart still twisted with a pang of sourness upon hearing this.

Seven years of joy and sorrow controlled by someone else; it was not something you could just let go of by saying so or claim not to care. Such words were just deceiving others.

But does it matter? He didn’t want to continue anymore.

“Is that so?” He responded perfunctorily.

Tan Xiaolei winked at him, and despite the exaggerated expression, he managed to look quite charming:

“Yeah, so Gu Ge, don’t be in a hurry to reject me. If you want to fend off bad suitors, I’m more than willing to be that tool for you, and I won’t charge you anything. Just treat me to a meal when you have time. How about it? Isn’t this deal a good one?”

Meanwhile, Tang Yan was busy gossiping with Shen Qi, talking about Gu Yan and Tan Xiaolei.

“Hey Shen Qi, what’s going on between you and Gu Yan? Why haven’t you reconciled yet? Is this for real?”

Until today, Tang Yan still couldn’t believe that these two had really broken up. There’s a saying: “If so-and-so break up, I’ll never believe in love again.”

In Tang Yan’s view, these so-and-so were Shen Qi and Gu Yan.

He witnessed their transition from friends to lovers, and then to a sticky and sweet romance. Gu Yan was so good to Shen Qi; apart from Shen Qi himself, he might be the one who knew the most.

Back in college, he even joked with Shen Qi, “If one day you and Gu Yan break up, let me know. I’ll go pursue Gu Yan and make him treat me like a god too.”

At that time, it was December, and Shen Qi was knitting a scarf as a Christmas gift for Gu Yan, and he smiled with his head down upon hearing this.

Although he didn’t speak, his gaze was warm and bright, the kind of look someone in love had.

So Tang Yan couldn’t believe that such a pair of people would end up breaking up.

Could it be that even the most beautiful love would fade away in the mundane routine of everyday life?

Shen Qi was drinking champagne like water. “It’s true.”

“I’m telling you, enough is enough. If it goes too far, you won’t be able to take it back.”

Shen Qi smiled helplessly. But it really couldn’t be taken back. Unfortunately, he realized this too late; it was already too late.

“Ah, I’m really anxious for you,” seeing Shen Qi’s listless attitude, Tang Yan was frustrated.

“I really don’t understand what you two are thinking, but as a friend, I have to remind you.”

“Zhang Cheng told me a few days ago that Tan Xiaolei is pursuing Gu Yan. He almost resigned from his stable job at the end of the year to become an assistant designer at Gu Yan’s company. Look at his courageous spirit for love…”

Zhang Cheng was the rich second-generation whose birthday party they had attended. Tan Xiaolei originally entered Tang Yan’s friend circle through him and then met Gu Yan.

Tan Xiaolei’s steps were well-calculated, and then looking at Shen Qi… Tang Yan was almost going frantic.

“He applied for a designer position?” Shen Qi didn’t know about this.

“Yes, yes, but it seems Gu Yan persuaded him not to quit his job. Anyway, he’s pursuing him very actively. I see he’s determined to win over Gu Yan.”

“So you better think it over. Don’t regret it later when he’s already with someone else. By then, it’ll be too late to cry…”

Tang Yan had already told him similar things on his birthday. At that time, Shen Qi was clouded by many meaningless things, fearful and timid. Even though he knew how important Gu Yan was to him, he didn’t dare to think deeply or discern.

He even deluded himself into thinking that life goes on without him, so even if Tang Yan said more, he didn’t dare to take a step.

Now it was different.

Although he could live without Gu Yan, it would be worse than death.

So, even though he was still timid and scared, he wanted to break free from the worldly shackles pressing on his heart, to act recklessly just once, and then… be with Gu Yan.