Chapter 62: The Cannon Fodder in a Dogblood Novel (62)
Zhou Geng watched this farce with cold eyes.
He didn’t know why,
But hearing Lin Mu say he liked Shen Tangqing, his heart felt like it was stuffed with water-soaked cotton, stuffy and heavy, even breathing carried astringency.
After a few seconds,
He looked up at Lin Mu, his voice two degrees lower than usual, carrying a chill he didn’t even notice himself.
“Tang Tang said he doesn’t like you. Pestering like this isn’t appropriate.”
Before Lin Mu could reply, Shen Tangqing spoke first, his tone devoid of warmth.
“Brother Geng, I won’t go eat this dinner tonight. I have things to do, leaving first.”
“Hey… Shen Tangqing…”
Lin Mu spoke up wanting to make him stay. Just taking a step out,
Shen Tangqing, with a cold face, gestured a fist at him.
Lin Mu: “…”
Wuwu, wife is so fierce—
He really beats with deadly force!
He couldn’t help shrinking his neck, swallowing back the words on the tip of his tongue, looking at Shen Tangqing with a face full of grievance.
Zhou Geng also rarely didn’t speak up to keep him.
He stood in place, his heart a mess of tangled hemp.
Until after Shen Tangqing left,
Only he and Lin Mu were left in the stairwell looking at each other.
Lin Mu stepped forward to pick up the documents and card fallen on the ground. After stuffing them into the bag, he fished out a cigarette case and held one in his mouth.
He looked up at Zhou Geng.
“Want one?”
Zhou Geng was silent for a moment.
He took a cigarette from the case.
Lin Mu plopped down on the stairs, lit the cigarette, and took a deep drag.
His face returned to his usual arrogance. Where was the aggrieved and pitiful appearance from just now?
The two smoked silently like this.
Smoke slowly permeated the quiet stairwell.
Halfway through the cigarette, Zhou Geng spoke first.
“Ah Mu, how… how come you like Tang Tang?”
He had never thought Lin Mu would be gay.
After all, knowing each other for so many years, they would often discuss their ideal types.
Lin Mu used to like women…
Lin Mu took another deep drag, slowly exhaling smoke rings, his tone carrying a bit of melancholy.
“Don’t know. Who can explain feelings clearly! He stood there, didn’t need to do anything, and I just fell in.”
Zhou Geng’s mood was complicated to the extreme.
After two seconds of silence, he asked again, “How are you sure you like him?”
“Want to kiss him, want to hug him, heart rate is faster than usual when seeing him. If this isn’t called liking, what is?” Lin Mu laughed at himself after speaking.
Pulling the wound at the corner of his mouth, he couldn’t help frowning again.
Didn’t need to look to know his face must be swollen.
That slap from Shen Tangqing had slapped him silly.
But fortunately, he beat his body later. If he had really aimed for the face, his face would definitely be tragic.
Lin Mu’s words were like a thunderclap, striking Zhou Geng dumb in place.
Want to kiss him?
Want to hug him?
…
I seem to… want to as well.
He just didn’t dare to think it.
Lin Mu didn’t notice Zhou Geng’s abnormality. He continued speaking.
“Ah Geng, help me!”
“Help you?” Zhou Geng came back to his senses, his voice somewhat drifting.
“Yes, help me chase Shen Tangqing. I like him, I want to be with him. You and he are good friends; put in a good word for me.”
Zhou Geng’s fingers holding the cigarette suddenly tightened. Ash fell down rustlingly.
He lowered his eyes, looking at the ash on the ground. His Adam’s apple rolled for a long time before squeezing out a sentence.
“Tang Tang doesn’t like men…”
“Doesn’t like now doesn’t mean won’t like in the future?” Lin Mu frowned, tone carrying stubbornness.
“Before meeting Shen Tangqing, I didn’t like men either. Fearless women fear pestering men. I just need you to help create some opportunities to meet him…”
Zhou Geng only felt his heart was tightly gripped by a hand.
Painfully uncomfortable.
Until the cigarette butt burned his fingertip did he suddenly come back to his senses.
He looked up at Lin Mu, whose eyes were full of expectation.
Zhou Geng stepped on the cigarette butt on the ground to extinguish it and took a deep breath.
“I can’t help. Tang Tang already said he doesn’t like men.”
Zhou Geng was silent for a moment, then added two sentences. “Ah Mu, bending a straight man is immoral. Pestering like this will only make him hate you more.”
Lin Mu’s expression solidified for a moment. He threw the cigarette on the ground and stepped it out, his tone sinking.
“Ah Geng, morality means fck all to me. I only want a wife, I only want Shen Tangqing. This fate, I’ll force it, I’ll push for it, I’ll fcking beg for it every day. As long as he isn’t married…”
Lin Mu paused for a moment, then spat,
“Even married people get divorced, let alone he doesn’t even have a girlfriend now? Why shouldn’t I fight for it?”
This sentence exploded in Zhou Geng’s ear like a thunderclap.
Why shouldn’t I fight for it?
His Adam’s apple rolled. Then I… can also fight for it?
But the next second,
Zhou Geng denied himself again.
If he really confessed to Tang Tang, and got rejected, they couldn’t even be friends.
Like this now,
At least he could stay by his side in the name of a friend…
He avoided Lin Mu’s gaze, staring at the crushed cigarette butt on the ground, his voice somewhat hoarse.
“No, you can’t do that.”
Lin Mu’s expression turned cold. His fingertips unconsciously rubbed the lighter in his hand.
“Ah Geng, we’ve known each other for over ten years. I’m chasing someone and just asking you to help create a meeting opportunity. Do you have to be so unwilling?”
He scrutinized Zhou Geng with a wandering gaze, paused for a few seconds, then spoke as if joking.
“Or could it be… you also like Shen Tangqing?”
If I can be attracted to Shen Tangqing, then Zhou Geng being attracted to him doesn’t seem impossible…
Zhou Geng suddenly looked up, panic he didn’t even notice himself in his eyes.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to refute, but found his throat seemed blocked, unable to say a single word.
He was truly not good at lying—
Seeing Zhou Geng like this, what else could Lin Mu not understand?
He stared at Zhou Geng for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed. Only, there was no warmth in the smile.
“Didn’t expect us brothers to actually fall for the same person…”
Zhou Geng pursed his lips, his voice carrying a bit of dazed helplessness—
“I don’t know either…”
“Want another one?” Lin Mu handed over the cigarette case.
Zhou Geng silently took one, lit it, and smoked slowly leaning against the wall.
Lin Mu also lit one and held it in his mouth.
The two fell into silence again. Only smoke wound silently in the air.
After finishing the cigarette, Lin Mu stood up.
After slinging the bag onto his shoulder, he bent down and picked up the two long-extinguished cigarette butts.
“Ah Geng, regardless of whether you like Shen Tangqing or not, I won’t give up…”
With that, he turned and left.
When he reached the top of the stairs, he looked back at Zhou Geng.
His expression was complicated.
“Ah Geng, some things need to be fought for by oneself. Even if it fails, when thinking back one day in the future, one won’t regret it.”
—
Zhou Geng stood in place.
Watching Lin Mu’s back slowly disappear.
His heart felt blocked by something, stuffy and painful.
He squatted down, buried his face in his knees, and clenched his fingers tightly into fists.
Will I regret it in the future?
Perhaps!
But—
Shen Tangqing is straight.
He likes Shen Tangqing, but doesn’t want this liking of his to become his burden.
As long as he is happy and blissful, that’s enough.
Even if—
This happiness isn’t given by me.
But what does that matter?
Being able to accompany him by his side in the name of a friend is already satisfying enough.
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