Seventh Year Of Separation chapter 21

What Are You Up To?

The seagulls circled by the shore for a while before flying off again.

A colleague who had been taking photos nearby ran over, smiling at Gu Jiahe, “Manager Gu, who were you video calling just now? Why didn’t you come over to take photos with us?”

Gu Jiahe waved his hand with a smile, “Give me your phone, I’ll take a group photo for you guys.”

Gu Jiahe took photos for his colleagues, and coincidentally, Li Zhao was standing nearby.

After finishing taking photos, Gu Jiahe returned the phone to his colleague and stepped back, asking him, “What are you doing here?”

“Watching the seagulls.” Li Zhao held some breadcrumbs in his hand, and a large group of seagulls that had just flown away came back to peck at them.

“Okay.” Gu Jiahe couldn’t be bothered to deal with him further and walked away alone.

Li Zhao stayed by the seaside feeding the seagulls for half an hour.

It wasn’t until Gu Jiahe returned to his hotel room to prepare for bed that he heard the sound of Li Zhao opening the door.

Colleagues had made plans to have dinner together later. Having stood by the seaside for a while, Gu Jiahe had broken a sweat, so he decided to wash his hair first. He turned on the tap, bent down, and rinsed his hair with warm water.

However, with his eyes closed, he reached out to the marble countertop and couldn’t find his usual bottle of shampoo.

Could it be that Li Zhao took it?

Coincidentally, Li Zhao’s footsteps sounded at the door.

“Li Zhao!” Gu Jiahe called his name with his eyes closed.

The bathroom door was pushed open, and Li Zhao walked in, seeing him bending over with his eyes closed, “What are you doing?”

“Where’s the shampoo?” Gu Jiahe asked without opening his eyes, still groping on the countertop.

Thud — an object was placed on the countertop.

“It’s right next to you.”

Gu Jiahe reached out and took it. However, the water flowed into his eyes as he did so, and he couldn’t open the bottle cap.

“Tsk.” Li Zhao made a light sound, reaching out to take the bottle of shampoo from his hand, opened the cap, and handed it back to him.

Gu Jiahe took the shampoo, squeezed a bit into his palm, rubbed his hands to create some foam, and started massaging his hair.

He washed for a while but felt the person behind him hadn’t left.

Gu Jiahe rinsed off the foam with water, grabbed a towel, and felt Li Zhao still standing behind him.

“What are you doing?” Gu Jiahe turned his head to ask him, bending over.

Li Zhao, however, asked, “What’s this?”

Gu Jiahe didn’t understand what he was saying, showing a puzzled expression.

“I mean this.” Li Zhao pointed with his finger at the back of his head.

Gu Jiahe’s hair was wet, revealing an irregular scar on the back of his head, about the length of a finger.

Gu Jiahe’s body stiffened suddenly. After a while, he answered, “Accidentally bumped into something.”

“Bumped?”

“Yeah.” Gu Jiahe quickly covered the scar with a towel and pushed Li Zhao away with his elbow. “I need to blow-dry my hair.”

Li Zhao didn’t ask further questions and walked out of the bathroom, making room for him.

In the room, only the sound of the hair dryer rumbling remained.

They were leaving Lingang the next day. Tonight, all the colleagues had made plans to have a meal together. With no leaders around, everyone was in high spirits.

They booked a private room in a restaurant located deep in the residential area of Lingang’s old town. The storefront was small, but inside was another world.

They reserved a private room, and the other three people had already sat down on the inner side, leaving three consecutive seats outside.

Li Zhao sat next to He Xiao. Gu Jiahe walked behind him, paused for a moment, then sat on the chair on the other side.

There was an empty seat between him and Li Zhao.

Li Zhao looked up at him.

Gu Jiahe said, “It’s more convenient for serving dishes.”

All work was wrapped up, and everyone was in a good mood.

“It’s a good thing we didn’t go on the business trip with the securities company; they always have long faces.” The auditor joked while flipping through the menu.

As soon as this was said, others at the table chimed in.

“Yeah, exactly. They’re just employees, why make things difficult for us on the project?”

“They always rush us for things, even though the delivery date is clearly stated in the emails.”

Li Zhao sat silently beside them, not saying a word.

After ordering the main course, the auditor looked up and asked Gu Jiahe, “Manager Gu, would you like to order some soup or other items? Here, I see they have a special green bean soup. Shall we order one to cool down in the summer?”

Gu Jiahe smiled and nodded at her, “Sure, whatever you think.”

He Xiao glanced at the menu, “I hope their green bean soup is good! The ones I’ve had in the northern city were terrible.”

“Indeed. The simpler the soup looks, the harder it is to make.” The auditor checked the menu and handed it to the waiter, then continued, “Green bean soup is difficult to make tasty. If you put the rock sugar in too early, it might turn bitter. And the green beans need to be soaked in advance; otherwise, they’ll still be hard even after stewing for a long time.”

Gu Jiahe sat beside, listening, his hand suddenly paused.

“What’s wrong?” The auditor noticed his expression wasn’t quite right and quickly asked.

“Ah, it’s nothing.” Gu Jiahe grabbed a tissue from the table and gently wiped the plate in front of him.

The dishes were a bit slow to arrive at the private restaurant, and they had to wait for the dishes from the limited menu to be freshly made.

One colleague took out their phone and started discussing the property market with the person next to them, “I’ve been looking at two properties recently. This layout is good, but the orientation isn’t. This location is great, but the price is a bit over budget.”

“Hey, who can afford a house in the northern city just like that?”

As the two were discussing, they saw Gu Jiahe sitting idly beside them and asked, “Manager Gu, have you bought a house?”

“No.” Gu Jiahe shook his head. He hadn’t just bought a house; he was even struggling to afford the rent.

“Is it just Lawyer Li at our table who bought a house?”

He Xiao quickly nodded, her face full of envy, “Lawyer Li lives inside Central Ring Road. When he first brought Wen Qi and me, he took us to his house once. It’s a big— three-bedroom.”

Gu Jiahe chuckled beside them and nodded awkwardly.

Li Zhao looked up at He Xiao, “Have you filed the visiting materials yesterday?”

He Xiao immediately stopped talking.

The auditor colleague joked to break the tension, “What’s the matter, Lawyer Li? We’re out to dinner, relax a bit.”

Their private room window faced a row of old streets outside. Lingang’s old town was completely different from the industrial area. There were many un-demolished old buildings, most of which were rented out to small businesses.

Gu Jiahe sat in a position directly facing the window. Unable to participate in their conversation, he gazed out into the distance.

In one of the small storefronts on the opposite old street, there was a very conspicuous red sign. Gu Jiahe glanced at it and saw two golden characters on it: “Saving Marriage.”

He couldn’t help but smile. It seemed like there was a market for everything. Looking closer, under the sign on the iron gate, there was a piece of black tape with three small characters: “Shop for Rent.”

It seemed that this store couldn’t save others’ marriages, nor could it save its own finances.

Ridiculous. Gu Jiahe chuckled to himself.

“What’s Manager Gu laughing at?” The person beside noticed his expression.

“Nothing. Feeling good after finishing work.” Gu Jiahe turned his gaze back.

The waiter began to serve dishes one by one. Gu Jiahe had been hungry all afternoon, and now he was really looking forward to eating.

But before he could take a few bites, the phone placed on the table lit up.

Gu Jiahe picked it up and saw the caller ID: Pingcheng. His expression changed slightly, then he declined the call.

The phone rang several times before he could finish a dish. Every time he hung up, within two minutes, the caller would call again. Gu Jiahe could only decline the call again.

Until their colleagues at the table noticed.

The auditor joked, “Why does Manger Gu always look at his phone when eating? Is it because he’s in love?”

Gu Jiahe’s face stiffened a bit, and he quickly waved his hand, “No, no.”

“No love? Then it must be an ambiguous relationship.” The colleagues laughed at the idea.

Li Zhao, sitting next to him, looked colder and colder. He didn’t participate in their conversation.

“Do you have any alcoholic beverages?” Li Zhao asked the waiter who came in.

“I’ll bring you the menu.” The waiter hurriedly handed him the drink menu.

“This one, thank you.” Li Zhao pointed to the white wine on the list.

Gu Jiahe glanced at him. Li Zhao had said he took cephalosporin at the dinner with the leaders the other day. Today wasn’t even a dinner, yet he started drinking again. Weird.

But before he could dwell on it, the phone on the table lit up again.

The colleague beside him quickly advised, “If it’s urgent, just answer the phone. We can eat on our own. Don’t mind us.”

Gu Jiahe cleared his throat and nodded, “I’ll go outside and take the call.”

Li Zhao glanced at his departing figure, and the waiter poured the wine into the glass in front of him.

He then lowered his head, raised his glass, and drank it all at once. The white wine felt scorching like magma.

Gu Jiahe stayed outside for almost half an hour before returning.

When he pushed the door open and entered the private room again, Li Zhao’s bottle in front of him was already half empty.

As they drank, several colleagues, including He Xiao, didn’t talk much to Li Zhao, and the atmosphere felt a bit strange.

Li Zhao’s gaze seemed vacant, but when he saw Gu Jiahe come in, his eyes quickly shifted to him.

Most of the main dishes had been eaten. Gu Jiahe had lost his appetite after the phone call and sat aside waiting for the meal to end.

Ten minutes later, Gu Jiahe arranged for several female colleagues to get a taxi and escorted them to their cars.

Leaving him alone with the expressionless Li Zhao, standing at the entrance of the restaurant, waiting for a taxi.

Li Zhao hung his head, leaning against the restaurant’s outer wall, his expression unreadable.

The summer night breeze blew through the alley, and Gu Jiahe finally hailed a taxi.

He hesitated for a moment, glanced at Li Zhao, and then opened the rear door, pushing Li Zhao gently. “Get in.”

“I’m not drunk,” Li Zhao said, looking at him.

“I don’t care if you’re drunk or not,” Gu Jiahe thought to himself, “Your gaze is unfocused, what are you trying to prove?”

Initially, Gu Jiahe intended to sit in the front passenger seat, but considering that Li Zhao might vomit in the car halfway through, he followed him into the back seat.

The ride was quite long, and the old taxi’s suspension was poor. Every bump made Gu Jiahe shudder in the back seat.

Swaying back and forth, it seemed like the alcohol had finally gotten to Li Zhao’s head. He unbuttoned two buttons on his shirt for air.

Gu Jiahe instinctively shifted away, making some room for him.

Unfortunately, the space in the taxi was small, and even though he moved, he could still feel Li Zhao’s breath. It was hot and carried a hint of alcohol.

Gu Jiahe felt himself getting dizzy. He cracked open the window slightly to let in some fresh air, clearing his mind a bit.

On the way, they passed by the purple-lit Ferris wheel again. Gu Jiahe glanced at it briefly, then lowered his head.

After the boss left, the work group chat quieted down a lot, and there were no messages throughout the night. Gu Jiahe scrolled through WeChat but found no new messages. Apart from a group photo just posted by the auditing colleague, there were no new updates in his Moments either.

Gu Jiahe hesitated, then opened the recent call list and looked at the new Pingcheng number. Three seconds later, he decided to block it as well.

After a bumpy ride, they finally arrived back at the hotel after half an hour.

Gu Jiahe checked his phone and found a message from He Xiao saying that they had safely reached their rooms. Only then did he relax, turned around, and lifted the now drowsy Li Zhao out of the car.

Li Zhao was tall, pressing heavily against Gu Jiahe’s shoulders. Gu Jiahe half dragged, half carried him into the elevator.

Once inside, Li Zhao leaned heavily against the back wall of the elevator. Gu Jiahe adjusted his sore shoulders.

“Can you walk by yourself?” Gu Jiahe asked him.

Li Zhao didn’t answer, but his eyes stared straight at Gu Jiahe’s face.

This gaze made Gu Jiahe uncomfortable. He stopped asking questions and turned his head to look at the constantly changing numbers on the elevator screen.

Fortunately, Li Zhao seemed to still have some autonomy. After getting out of the elevator, he followed Gu Jiahe slowly back to their room.

Gu Jiahe inserted the room card into the power slot and saw Li Zhao sitting on the bed. Then, he turned to the bathroom to freshen up.

When he finished showering and came out of the bathroom with a towel, Li Zhao was no longer sitting on the bed.

Gu Jiahe, holding the towel, was about to turn around to look for him when he suddenly felt a force pressing him against the wall.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Gu Jiahe was startled, and the towel in his hand fell to the floor.

Li Zhao used his arm to block Gu Jiahe’s path, his body very close, his movements oppressive.

Their bodies weren’t completely pressed against each other, but Li Zhao’s actions seemed like he was hugging Gu Jiahe from the front.

Gu Jiahe felt a bit short of breath. He reached out and pushed Li Zhao’s shoulder, “Are you out of your mind?”

Li Zhao seemed not to have heard him at all, and there was no trace of the drowsiness he had on the road.

He reached out and firmly gripped Gu Jiahe’s waist, then forcefully pulled him onto his own small bed.