What Are Your Tastes? chapter 28

So Ordinary, So Confident

Hearing the noise, Lu Yunchu turned his head, his expression quickly turning frosty.

“What are you doing here?” If looks could kill, he wouldn’t mind carving a few more cuts into Meng Xiao.

“I came to see you, of course,” Meng Xiao said, one hand resting on the back of the sofa. “I only returned to the country in early October and have been wanting to see you.”

“Do you need something custom-made?” Lu Yunchu didn’t extinguish the cigarette in his hand, just flicked off the long ash. He never smoked in front of others, but for Meng Xiao, not blowing smoke in his face was already polite enough.

“Yunchu, I’m not here to commission a sculpture.”

“So you’re here to waste my time?” Lu Yunchu said harshly. “Forgive me for not accompanying you.”

“Can you listen to me for a couple of minutes?” Meng Xiao moved closer and unceremoniously sat on the sofa beside him. “What happened back then was a misunderstanding. You’ve been angry, and I couldn’t explain. Isn’t it time to let it go?”

Lu Yunchu had certainly let it go, though perhaps not in the way Meng Xiao meant.

“What misunderstanding?” Lu Yunchu exhaled a series of smoke rings, creating a hazy screen between them. “Were you drugged? Or do you have a twin brother?”

Meng Xiao’s face darkened, and he remained silent. His temper was hard to gauge, rarely truly angry but sometimes showing an inexplicable gloominess.

They had never openly argued when they were together, but Lu Yunchu was familiar with this expression, as if it were caused by trivial matters.

Lu Yunchu had been more straightforward then and wasn’t one to placate others. Unlike Meng Xiao, he didn’t hold grudges; his negative emotions would dissipate after a while, and he’d naturally strike up a conversation as if nothing had happened.

Provided there were no fundamental conflicts.

This time, Meng Xiao’s dark expression didn’t last long. He adjusted his mood and forced a smile. “Yunchu, you’re an artist too. You should understand that people like us are too emotional, easily moved.”

“Do you mean easily moved or easily aroused?”

Meng Xiao tightly pressed his lips together before speaking again. “I admit I was momentarily confused. The boy you saw—I don’t even remember what he looks like now. You weren’t around, and I was stressed with a design, unable to find inspiration. But his presence… it sparked something in me, creatively.”

For the first time, Meng Xiao confessed his past state of mind to Lu Yunchu, only to be met with Lu Yunchu’s uproarious laughter.

Suddenly, Lu Yunchu found his past anger or sadness utterly pointless. It was unbelievable that he had truly and deeply liked such a person. They had shared pure, carefree times, but everything had changed without them realizing it.

“Meng Xiao,” he began mockingly, “so you gain inspiration by experiencing different bodies? Was he your muse?”

“He wasn’t; you were,” Meng Xiao ignored his biting words. “I believe you also need a soulmate.”

“Sorry,” Lu Yunchu glanced at him with disdain, “I never needed anyone else to complete my soul. I can’t relate to your troubles.”

Meng Xiao, of course, understood Lu Yunchu’s personality. It was this personality that he loved and hated back then.

Because of his extraordinary talent, Lu Yunchu could easily disdain everything Meng Xiao valued. He could effortlessly resolve bottlenecks that Meng Xiao had struggled with for weeks and then casually say, “Isn’t this it?” They weren’t even in the same field, which made Meng Xiao’s efforts seem like a joke.

The boy who had led Meng Xiao astray back then was different. He didn’t have Lu Yunchu’s superiority or indifference. He admired Meng Xiao, looked at him with shining eyes, and in him, Meng Xiao found an unprecedented passion.

But he quickly grew tired of it and often thought of Lu Yunchu, who had never looked up to him.

“Is that so?” Meng Xiao suppressed his anger. “Then why did you grow your hair long?”

Lu Yunchu gave him a puzzled look. A few years ago, a hairdresser mentioned his naturally wavy hair might look better long, so he tried it. What did that have to do with Meng Xiao?

“You always had short hair before,” Meng Xiao added. “Isn’t the change because you can’t forget the past?”

“Meng Xiao,” Lu Yunchu almost laughed again, “where do you get your confidence from?”

“You—”

“What are you here for?” Lu Yunchu spread his hands impatiently. “Forget about getting back together. I’m not into eating my words.”

“Fine, no reunion talk,” Meng Xiao took a deep breath. “How about we make a more straightforward deal?”

“What?”

“Mutual benefits.” As soon as he said it, a playful glint appeared in his eyes.

He had just talked about soulmates and was now discussing mutual benefits.

Lu Yunchu finally realized that this guy was back in the country, lonely and desperate, unable to find a suitable partner, and now remembered his old flame.

“Why would I make a mutual benefit deal with you? What do I get?” Lu Yunchu put down his crossed leg, snuffed out the nearly burnt-out cigarette, and lit another. “Do I get early satisfaction or a mushroom-shaped reward?”

Meng Xiao’s face turned pale. Meanwhile, there was a light click on the handle of the meeting room door. The sound was faint, but Lu Yunchu noticed it.

“Who’s there?”

In all honesty, Zhou Yanchuan didn’t mean to eavesdrop. He had come to see Lu Yunchu for something and found his suspected ex inside, with the door open.

He initially thought it had nothing to do with him but stayed by the door, hearing the man’s oily tone and fearing he was troubling Lu Yunchu. He stood guard until Lu Yunchu’s bold words made him lose control and bump the handle.

“It’s me.” Since he had been discovered, hiding would be petty. Zhou Yanchuan strode into the room and shut the door behind him.

Realizing their earlier conversation might have been overheard, Lu Yunchu’s back stiffened. Meng Xiao stood up first, met his gaze, then turned to Lu Yunchu. “Who is he to you?”

The self-righteous tone of interrogating made Lu Yunchu’s anger surge. He hesitated for a moment about signaling Zhou Yanchuan to pretend to be his boyfriend but quickly dismissed the idea.

It was just swatting a fly, did it really have to escalate into mixed doubles?

Little did they know, Zhou Yanchuan took matters into his own hands and confronted him. He faced Meng Xiao head-on and said, “Who are you to question?”

Pressured by his aura, Meng Xiao took a shallow breath, his face turning pale. “I just wanted to check who Yunchu is with now, whether… he’s suitable.”

“Thanks for your concern,” Zhou Yanchuan played along, “at least I’m not as small-minded as you.”

Lu Yunchu was shocked and almost exposed, catching Zhou Yanchuan’s subtle eye signal. Meng Xiao’s eyes were full of disdain, redirecting his question to Lu Yunchu: “You’re with someone so crude?”

“Are you not crude yourself, are you here to talk about art history with me?” Zhou Yanchuan had set up the stage, and Lu Yunchu couldn’t mess up the performance. So he smiled brightly at Zhou Yanchuan and said, “You’re here so early? What do you want for dinner tonight?”

“You decide.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Lu Yunchu saw Meng Xiao slam the door and leave, and he slowly softened his deliberate smile and said to Zhou Yanchuan, “Thank you.”

Zhou Yanchuan couldn’t hide his delight at the man’s misfortune, “I acted pretty well, didn’t I?”

Lu Yunchu stared at him in silence.

“Ah, um…” Calming down, he realized he had gone a bit too far, sounding frivolous. Zhou Yanchuan quickly patched up, “I didn’t mean any disrespect. I just wanted to get a rise out of… that guy.”

Initially, he genuinely questioned as a friend. But seeing the other’s arrogant attitude, he knew if he didn’t put him in his place, he might come looking for trouble later.

“I know,” Lu Yunchu smiled, “I just didn’t expect you to say such things.”

“Talk to people in the way they understand,” Zhou Yanchuan said, “when dealing with someone who’s leaking oil from head to toe—of course, you need to use oil.”

“Makes sense,” Lu Yunchu found he still had a cigarette in his hand and quickly put it out, “hey, did you need something from me?”

“Oh, right, I sent you a message on WeChat earlier and you didn’t reply. My friend needs an urgent portrait. Can you do it?”

Lu Yunchu pulled out his phone, indeed Zhou Yanchuan had sent him a message during class.

“You specifically came over for this?”

“I was just discussing business over there,” Zhou Yanchuan explained, “he said he wanted to find someone today, and I figured you might be in class and hadn’t gone home, so I came to ask first.”

Zhou Yanchuan also sent over the basic requirements. After Lu Yunchu looked them over, he found no issues, and while the time was tight, the difficulty was low. “Sure, you can tell him I’ll do it.”

“Great, I’ll let him know.”

Lu Yunchu assumed Zhou Yanchuan would leave after the call, so he lit another cigarette.

When Zhou Yanchuan returned to the room, the smoke was even thicker than when he left, causing him to cough.

“You haven’t left yet?” Lu Yunchu put out his cigarette and quickly opened the window.

“Why would I leave so soon?” Zhou Yanchuan joked, “didn’t you ask me what I wanted for dinner tonight?”

“Wasn’t that just acting?”

“Lu Yunchu,” he asked, “are you not feeling well?”

“Huh?” Meng Xiao’s arrival just made Lu Yunchu a little annoyed, “what’s there to feel bad about?”

“Why are you smoking one after another like this?”

With the window wide open, the swirling white mist gradually dissipated, but the pungent smell still lingered in the room.

Lu Yunchu sighed deeply, “just thinking that I’ve been with such a person for more than half a year… it’s simply an insult to my taste in men.”

Zhou Yanchuan sensed his bad mood but couldn’t quite grasp how it related to his taste. “Is this really about taste?”

“It is,” said Lu Yunchu firmly, “it’s like pairing a broken pot with a bad lid.”

Zhou Yanchuan was taken aback. “You don’t have to be so sarcastic about yourself.”

Lu Yunchu squinted his eyes and said bitterly, “I wouldn’t throw away that bad lid if I was a broken pot, right?”

“That’s right, we can’t lower our value,” Zhou Yanchuan shifted the conversation, “Are you free tonight? I’ll take you somewhere nice.”

“What kind of place?”

“It’s not fancy,” he said mysteriously, “but it fits my usual taste. It depends on whether you’re willing to give it a chance.”

Thinking of Zhou Yanchuan’s usual taste, Lu Yunchu’s lips curled slightly. “Let’s go, then!”