After Seducing and Abandoning the Untouchable Beauty - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: A Strange Perspective

On the red-and-white checkered tablecloth lay a scattered mess of poker chips. A stack of overlapping bank cards and several luxury car keys were piled in the center of the table.

“He really said that?”

“Yeah.”

Yu Weinian sat languidly amidst the velvet sofas, his body stretched out, the heel of his palm supporting his chin, partially obscuring his face.

Slender knuckles held thin playing cards. He knitted his brows slightly and let out a “tch.”

He looked a bit irritable.

To leave a good impression on Bai Yinqing, he had specifically picked out a more “well-behaved” outfit. Long sleeves, micro-turtleneck. He was dying of heat.

After glancing at his cards, Yu Weinian casually played them out. “But overall, it went quite smoothly.”

Chu Xiangyi couldn’t help but laugh. “He’s already talking tough to you, and you call that smooth?”

Chu Xiangyi still couldn’t believe that someone would actually treat Yu Weinian like that. In the past, it wasn’t that Yu Weinian hadn’t encountered people who were hard to chase, but none had been as indifferent—verging on cold-blooded—as Bai Yinqing.

“I think you’re really out of luck this time.”

The surrounding light was dim. Yu Weinian tilted his head slightly, set down the cards in his hand, and suddenly leaned toward Chu Xiangyi.

Before Chu Xiangyi could figure out what Yu Weinian was doing, a warm, slender hand slowly cupped his face.

Linen-colored hair fell over deep eyes. Yu Weinian looked at Chu Xiangyi with a permissive, doting gaze, his tone carrying a hint of heartache: “Xiangyi.”

“Actually, I’ve always known. Although you’re always cavalier, have everything, and seem not to care about anything, you aren’t as happy as you look on the surface. You also crave to be understood, to be firmly chosen.”

“Sometimes, I really feel sorry for you.”

Chu Xiangyi’s heart skipped a beat; his whole body froze. After that brief pause, his heart began to throb at an alarming frequency. It felt as if a string deep within his heart had been plucked. His voice turned hoarse: “You…”

At that moment, Yu Weinian arched an eyebrow and let out a laugh. The people around them were laughing too. Only then did Chu Xiangyi realize he had been played: “Holy shit?”

Chu Xiangyi reacted immediately. “Don’t say it, Weinian. When you said that just now, I felt like you really understood me, like a soulmate. I actually felt like I am like that.”

“It’s not that you’re like that,” Yu Weinian said lazily. “It’s that everyone is like that.”

Under specific circumstances, the vast majority of people will have similar reactions. With just a bit of summary and generalization, one finds that most people are the same. Nothing special.

Chu Xiangyi shook off the goosebumps on his arms. Seeing Yu Weinian’s confident expression, he realized his worries were misplaced. He couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathy for Bai Yinqing for having provoked Yu Weinian. On the other hand, he leaned in curiously: “Tell me, does this work on him? He doesn’t look like an emotional person.”

“Doesn’t work?” Yu Weinian didn’t think so. “Everyone is lonely. Everyone craves to be understood, no matter the age group.”

“For a little brother who just became an adult, it works every single time.”

No matter how mature and cold Bai Yinqing acted, to put it bluntly, he was just a little brother who had just reached adulthood. Eighteen years old—the age when one holds simple, naive views of many things. The most beautiful age. It was also the easiest age to deceive, the age where one is most likely to have their heart flutter over trivial things.

Yu Weinian played Texas Hold’em with boredom. Hang Yue noticed he was losing interest and mixed a drink for him. Since he didn’t have a spare hand to take the glass, he simply tilted his head, and Hang Yue held the glass forward.

Pale lips closed around the offered glass. As the glass was tilted slightly, the liquor flowed into his mouth.

Chu Xiangyi let out a “tch.” “Don’t just drink anything someone hands you.”

Yu Weinian glanced at him. “You guys aren’t just ‘someone.'”

He naturally knew better than to drink what a stranger handed him, but they had grown up together; that level of trust existed. Yu Weinian’s eyes were exceptionally beautiful—the narrow shape seemed to hold a pool of autumn water, giving a sincere and affectionate illusion.

Chu Xiangyi thought that it was no wonder so many people were fooled by his sweet words and believed them wholeheartedly.

Yu Weinian’s luck with cards was average today, but overall he was winning.

Chu Xiangyi, on the other hand, had lost a Panamera and a racing team sponsorship. Although he was idle and unlearned, he especially loved racing culture and maintained a racing team in China. As racing culture rose in recent years, the team’s commercial value had skyrocketed. Money was a small matter; what annoyed him was: why did he always lose?

Chu Xiangyi draped an arm over Yu Weinian’s shoulder and leaned over to look at his cards, but ended up seeing a section of snow-white collarbone first. He gave a low laugh. “Seriously, with these cards, how are we supposed to play?”

Today they were just playing casually, their style was loose, and they were having a few drinks. Yu Weinian had drunk a bit, and it was starting to show on his face. “Get lost, you reek of alcohol.”

“Where?” Chu Xiangyi couldn’t smell it. “Smell it again.”

Yu Weinian didn’t want to smell it, so Chu Xiangyi grabbed Yu Weinian’s wrist and leaned in with a grin. Yu Weinian couldn’t be bothered to play this game with him—it was childish—so he didn’t resist and was pushed directly back into the dark red velvet sofa.

A few shirt buttons came undone, revealing a chest and collarbones flushed with crimson. Hang Yue and several friends looked over. Before they could help, Yu Weinian braced his elbow to push Chu Xiangyi away. With just a bit of force, he pinned Chu Xiangyi back onto the sofa.

A gold card appeared in his hand.

It turned out Yu Weinian’s “lack of resistance” just now was merely to swipe the card. He flicked the bank card against Chu Xiangyi’s face lightheartedly, leaving a faint red mark.

“Since you admit defeat, I’ll take this with pleasure.”

Yu Weinian had won a lot today. He was in a good mood. He stood up, ignored his messy clothes, and walked out.

Chu Xiangyi sat up. “Leaving just like that?”

“Otherwise?”

“Play a bit longer.”

“No.”

Under the flickering lights, Yu Weinian stopped. His index and middle fingers were pressed together, holding the gold card. He turned his body, his face stained with a hint of lazy intoxication. The corners of his eyes were a thin red, his lips curved into a smile—both affectionate and cold.

“Busy buying a gift for my future boyfriend.”

Yu Weinian left without mercy. He had always been like this—doing as he pleased, leaving when he was happy, and leaving when he wasn’t. It all depended on his mood.

Chu Xiangyi was incredulous. “Using the money he won from me to buy a gift for his boyfriend?”

“Am I some kind of giant sucker?”

Hang Yue picked up the half-empty glass and took a sip. He corrected: “Future boyfriend.”

“True,” Chu Xiangyi said. “It’s not certain it’ll happen yet.”

During the military training lunch break, Bai Yinqing went to the hospital.

Bai Yinqing’s maternal grandfather had just finished surgery and wasn’t very conscious. When he arrived at the hospital, his grandfather was sleeping. He didn’t disturb him, instead giving the printed materials and photos to the nurse to pass on.

On the way back to school, Bai Yinqing received a call. He lowered his straight eyelashes and stared silently at the caller ID on the screen. One second before the call would have hung up, he tapped to answer.

“Did you see your grandfather?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” the middle-aged man said. “Your mother and I are very busy and can’t be there in person. Remember to offer our regards.”

Bai Yinqing didn’t speak.

There was silence on both ends of the line. It was the middle-aged man who broke the stagnant atmosphere first: “How is university life?”

“Fine.”

“Fine? What do you mean ‘fine’? The original plan was to study abroad, but you just had to… Fine. I let you stay in the country, told you to apply for Finance at Peking University, and you secretly changed your preference. You think because you went to City A, I can’t control you anymore? I’m telling you, don’t embarrass our family in City A.”

Bai Yinqing said flatly, “If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”

“Is that the attitude you use to speak to your father? Where did your upbringing go—”

The wrathful words were cut off instantly. Bai Yinqing hung up and returned to the dormitory building.

Military training could quickly boost friendships between classmates; many people had already successfully bonded. The dorm was empty. Ke Ya and the others had likely gone to visit other rooms. This was good; there was still some time before the afternoon training, and Bai Yinqing prepared to catch a nap.

Bai Yinqing often suffered from insomnia. He was always in a state of physical and mental hyperexcitation that even medication couldn’t alleviate. Last night, he had barely slept at all. Perhaps because of that, sleepiness was finally creeping in now. Thirty minutes would be enough.

Bai Yinqing put on his blackout eye mask and earplugs and was courting sleep. Not long after, light footsteps came from outside. The slight noise was magnified in his ears, and then magnified again.

The door was pushed open. As soon as Yuan Heyi entered, he checked a message on his phone and let out a heavy sigh.

Ke Ya: “Why the long face?”

Yuan Heyi looked troubled. He looked at his two roommates and, after holding it in for a long time, finally couldn’t resist: “Have you guys noticed that the Senior is especially good to me?”

Ke Ya thought for a moment. “He’s pretty good to all of us.”

“Not ‘us,’ me,” Yuan Heyi said. “Just now he asked me if I wanted to play games together tonight. Was it just because I posted a game screenshot on my Moments? And he gives me special attention…”

Yuan Heyi had read the forums and the summaries of Yu Weinian’s tactics for chasing people. Most of the content in those posts was being recreated on him. He was shocked, had an epiphany, and then fell into a state of entanglement and confusion. “The Senior couldn’t possibly like me, could he?”

The earplugs couldn’t block out all sound. Bai Yinqing, who was courting sleep, opened his eyes and suddenly felt a wave of revulsion. His sleepiness was gone completely.

Ke Ya’s eyes widened slightly, his expression a bit strange. He said, “Huh? No way.”

Yao Zhou also said, “Are you overthinking it?”

“Why ‘no way’?” Yuan Heyi was very excited. “The Senior is so good to me, checking in on me, knowing I wanted to eat crab roe bibimbap so he sent a portion to the whole major… and before training he asked if I had sunscreen and insoles.”

“Every time he looks at me, his eyes are like they’re sparking. I didn’t think much of it before…” The more Yuan Heyi thought, the more convinced he became. “And when he comes to our dorm, he always sits in my chair! He never sits in yours!”

Yao Zhou thought for a bit. “It’s probably because your seat and Bai Yinqing’s are closer to the door. If Bai Yinqing weren’t there, the Senior might sit in his, too…”

Ke Ya said tactfully, “Are you sure you aren’t overthinking?”

Yuan Heyi: “Fine, forget it. You guys don’t understand.”

Ke Ya hesitated but ultimately said nothing.

Time passed minute by minute. Logically, since Bai Yinqing hadn’t rested well yesterday, he should have been able to get some decent rest today—at the very least, it shouldn’t have been too hard to fall asleep. But Bai Yinqing was wide awake, lying calmly on the bed.

He had an indescribable discomfort all over his body, as if from an allergy. It felt like needle pricks, like ants crawling; a restless anxiety was crushing him.

Expressionlessly, Bai Yinqing took a pack of medicine from beside his pillow and took one. The effect wouldn’t kick in that fast. He took off his eye mask and picked up his phone, intending to distract himself.

There were many new WeChat messages on the screen.

Half an hour ago, Yu Weinian had sent him a photo. It was a hand, wearing two rings. The fingers were long and distinct, the skin covering perfect bone structure with a luster like polished jade.

—— Which one looks better?

A few minutes passed.

—— Sorry, I meant to send that to my friend to help me choose, I didn’t expect to send it to you.

—— Are we friends now?

—— If we are, then it doesn’t count as sending it to the wrong person.

—— Student Bai, can you give me some advice for reference?

Clumsy tricks. Only a fool would fall for them.

Bai Yinqing was about to lock his screen when he saw the other person’s chat box showing “Typing…”.

Yu Weinian sent another photo.

Previously it was a partial photo of a hand; this time it was a half-body shot. Yu Weinian was standing by a transparent glass display case, with expensive high-jewelry behind him.

Around his neck was a Paspaley sapphire Lavalier necklace; the exquisite netting wrapped around a natural pearl like a fishing net. One slender, white, well-proportioned hand was placed on his collarbone, showing off the rings on his fingers; the other hand pulled the collar aside slightly, as if to reveal the complete necklace.

A layer of brilliant red floated on his snow-white skin. The corners of Yu Weinian’s lips were slightly upturned as he smiled directly into the camera.

A very strange camera perspective.

A top-down shot. One could tell there was a certain height difference between the photographer and Yu Weinian. The subtle angle was very similar to his usual perspective when looking at Yu Weinian.

A new message popped up.

—— Student Bai, which one do you think looks better?

Bai Yinqing frowned. Was Yu Weinian that free? Why did he keep sending him messages? He wouldn’t waste time on idle chatter, much less answer these meaningless questions.

Bai Yinqing exited WeChat and locked his phone. He took another pill and lay back down, courting sleep.

Ten minutes later, Bai Yinqing opened his eyes.

Bai Yinqing: Who took that photo for you?

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