Futile Devices Scans

On the small stage, a wooden guitar was gently strummed. A weathered, husky voice softly sang of a shy, moving first love, and lamented the regrets and helplessness brought by the passage of time.

In the booth, Xue Bao Tian covered his face with both hands and rubbed hard, then turned his head and lowered his voice. “Didn’t you ask for a photo before coming?”

Zhang Chi shook his head. “No.”

Xue Bao Tian clicked his tongue. With a pained expression as if his teeth hurt, he covered half his face and leaned back deep into the seat. “You two chat, don’t mind me.”

As his words trailed off, the burly, bearded man sitting beside Zhang Chi put down his phone, looking apologetic. “That was a courier call, confirming my information.”

“It’s fine.” Zhang Chi replied politely, his smile gentle.

The other man’s gaze swept over Zhang Chi’s well-defined muscles through his clothes, clearly satisfied. “With a body like yours, are you a fitness coach?”

“Not really.” Zhang Chi hesitated for a moment, recalling the instructions Xue Bao Tian had given him outside the bar just minutes ago.

“Don’t say you’re a construction worker right away—people might look down on you.”

“If I don’t say it now, it’ll come out later anyway.”

“Just lie and sleep with him a few times first. If the sex is good, even if you’re a trash collector, he’ll still stick with you.”

Zhang Chi took a sip of his drink. Amid Xue Bao Tian’s continuous coughing, he went on, “I work as a construction supervisor.”

Xue Bao Tian stopped his warning cough, frustrated at his lack of flexibility. He could follow instructions, sure—but he didn’t know how to adapt. If this idiot didn’t scare people off with the “construction worker” label, what was the point of hiding it?

Clearly, the bearded man grew even more interested. He shifted closer to Zhang Chi, his rough voice turning softer and slightly affected. “That must be pretty tiring, right? What do you usually do?”

Zhang Chi glanced at Xue Bao Tian—he hadn’t been taught how to spin lies. Xue Bao Tian let out a cold snort and simply closed his eyes, leaving him to deal with it.

Without backup, Zhang Chi thought for a moment and replied haltingly, “I supervise workers carrying bricks and building walls… and watch how technicians install plumbing and heating systems.”

“So you’re responsible for quality control?”

“Yes!” Zhang Chi let out a breath of relief. “Quality control.”

“You look pretty young. Just graduated?”

Zhang Chi swallowed some alcohol and gave a vague “Mm.”

“Which university?”

“Huh?” A flicker of confusion passed through Zhang Chi’s eyes. After draining his glass, he answered weakly, “Peking University.”

“Damn it,” Xue Bao Tian cursed under his breath with his eyes still closed. “You really dare to make up anything.” He pulled a corner of his coat over his face, feeling secondhand embarrassment.

The prestigious name clearly impressed the bearded man even more. His eyes lit up, and his hand quietly slid onto Zhang Chi’s thigh. “With your conditions, you’re really a catch. I almost feel like I’m not good enough for you. What do you think of me? If you’re okay with it, we can start seeing each other.”

The warmth on his leg made Zhang Chi stiffen. He leaned slightly away, trying to avoid the man’s large body pressing closer.

“Is it okay?” the bearded man pressed.

For the first time, panic showed on Zhang Chi’s face. He tugged at Xue Bao Tian’s clothes. “Two Hundred, what do you think?”

The coat he was gripping was forcibly pulled away, and Xue Bao Tian had no choice but to “wake up” from his shallow doze. Looking at Zhang Chi’s helpless expression, the word “okay” just wouldn’t come out.

“Okay my ass. If you take one bite of him, you’ll be dreaming about yaks all night.”

“Hey, who do you think you are?” the bearded man snapped. “You’re just Zhang Chi’s friend—why are you meddling so much? Besides, I already labeled myself as ‘bear’ on the app. You should’ve known what to expect when you accepted the invite. Why start insulting me now that we’ve met?”

Zhang Chi and Xue Bao Tian were both momentarily stunned. Xue Bao Tian tried to keep his composure, glancing around, while Zhang Chi directly asked, “What does ‘bear’ mean?”

“Damn it,” the bearded man cursed. “My bad luck—wasting time on two idiots like you.”

He stood up, grabbed his bag, and before leaving threw out one last remark: “With how clueless you two are, why even bother making friends? You might as well just get together yourselves!”

“Damn you!” Xue Bao Tian’s face darkened instantly. “Stand right there!”

But the door had already swung shut, leaving behind nothing but a gust of cold air.

Xue Bao Tian was full of pent-up anger with nowhere to vent. He pulled a cigarette from the pack, bit it between his lips, and cursed at Zhang Chi: “When has it ever not been your Master Xue putting others down? Today I got shut down by a ‘bear.’” He kicked Zhang Chi. “It’s all your fault—didn’t ask for a photo, don’t even understand what ‘bear’ means, and you still dared to make up that you graduated from Peking University. You’re like a freshwater fish—in someone else’s ocean of knowledge, you’d just drown.”

Zhang Chi’s ears flushed red. He poured a glass of lemon water for Xue Bao Tian and brought it to his lips. “I didn’t know what universities there were… the only ones I could think of at the moment were Tsinghua and Peking University.”

Xue Bao Tian took the cigarette out of his mouth and drank from Zhang Chi’s hand, his eyes dark and brooding. “Damn it, nothing’s going right today. I refuse to believe I can’t find you a partner.”

He crooked a finger and took Zhang Chi’s phone. “Didn’t you say a lot of people contacted you? Your taste is trash—Master Xue will pick for you.”

He scrolled through the messages from beginning to end and, based on his own aesthetic, chose someone fair-skinned and good-looking, with a twisting, curvy waist, and sent a message. Not long after, the other party replied, and within a few exchanges, they set a time and place to meet.

It was already near midnight. The weather had turned colder. Xue Bao Tian directed Zhang Chi to lean against his sports car. “Don’t stand so stiff—one leg straight, one relaxed. Turn your face a little. Your side profile is the only thing worth looking at.”

He stepped back and sized him up. “It’s just your clothes dragging you down. Want to wear my coat?”

Zhang Chi grabbed Xue Bao Tian’s clothes and pulled him closer, speaking gently. “Stop messing around. Are you cold?”

Xue Bao Tian had always been afraid of the cold but unwilling to sacrifice style. Now his fingertips were icy, and they were gathered into Zhang Chi’s warm hands.

“I’ve warned you many times—don’t get all clingy,” Xue Bao Tian said, pulling his hand back. But Zhang Chi wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him into his embrace. “Two Hundred, you’re not happy today.”

“Huh?” Xue Bao Tian paused mid-struggle and looked away. “What nonsense. Your Master Xue only makes other people unhappy.”

Zhang Chi lowered his head and lightly sniffed at Xue Bao Tian’s neck, asking in a soft, gentle tone, “Who made you unhappy? Is it related to the meeting you attended today?”

Xue Bao Tian stopped struggling. Using Zhang Chi as a windbreak, he lit a cigarette. After taking a couple of silent drags, he lowered his eyes and let out a quiet snort. “The proposal I worked so hard on—those people rejected it without even taking a look. I spent over two months staying up late to write it, and they just tossed it straight into the shredder.” The white smoke looked faint in the dim night, dispersing with the wind. “Damn it, how many all-nighters did I pull? Words I didn’t know—I had to look them up in a dictionary. I practically wore the damn dictionary out.”

Zhang Chi gently rubbed his hair. “Why did they reject it without even looking?”

Xue Bao Tian fell silent for a long moment, then let out a faint, self-mocking smile. “Am I really that much of a failure as a person?”

He lifted his eyes to look at Zhang Chi, tilting his chin slightly—clearly waiting for an answer.

Zhang Chi met his gaze for a long time. The cold wind stripped away most of the warmth from their bodies before he finally spoke: “A little… yeah.”

Zhang Chi and Xue Bao Tian stared at each other for a long time. The cold wind carried away most of the warmth from their bodies before Zhang Chi finally spoke: “It is a bit of a failure.”

“Damn it!” Xue Bao Tian raised his brows, biting down on his cigarette with a fierce expression. “Say that again?”

Zhang Chi laughed, pulling Xue Bao Tian into a tight embrace. He bent slightly, pressing their foreheads together. “Two Hundred, no swearing.”

“Your whole family’s been asking for a scolding since the ape era!”

Zhang Chi tightened his arms further, shifting positions to press Xue Bao Tian against the car. Lowering his gaze to the lips of the man in his arms, he said, “If you keep cursing, I’ll kiss you.”

The cursing stopped abruptly. Xue Bao Tian looked at Zhang Chi in shock. Although they had slept together a few times, and Zhang Chi could be rough, they had never properly kissed. At most, when carried away, Zhang Chi would brush lightly against the corner of his lips—just a touch, never anything more.

Now this man, for some unknown reason, was using it as a threat.

Hostility flared up in Xue Bao Tian. “Zhang Chi, that’s pretty damn despicable. You know I wouldn’t agree, so you’re using this to threaten me.” He patted the man’s face. “Not afraid I’ll turn it back on you? Isn’t it just kissing? I’ll teach you, you rookie.”

Before he could finish speaking, a warm, damp breath fell against his face. Zhang Chi leaned in, murmuring near his lips, “Then I’ll have to trouble Master Xue to teach me a lesson.”

The forced fierceness collapsed instantly. Xue Bao Tian’s voice trembled as he leaned back, trying to create distance between them. “Brother Chi, kissing… it’s dirty… I mean—not like that, I’m not swearing.”

His attempt at backing down did nothing to stop the increasingly heated breath between them. Looking at the face drawing closer, Xue Bao Tian felt a surge of genuine panic.

“Excuse me,” a slightly affected voice suddenly cut in, “which one of you is Zhang Chi? We agreed to meet here.”

After a brief silence, Xue Bao Tian forcefully pushed Zhang Chi away and hurriedly introduced him to the newcomer. “He is—he’s Zhang Chi. Take him away, quickly.”

The newcomer looked left at Xue Bao Tian’s tailored luxury clothing, then right at Zhang Chi’s muscular build, and slowly smiled. “What were you two doing just now? Did you invite me here for a threesome?” He brushed his bangs aside. “So, where are we going?”

Xue Bao Tian froze for a moment. Before Zhang Chi could react, he snapped, “Where? Go piss and take a good look at yourself! Forget me—even the idiot beside me wouldn’t look twice at someone like you. Now get the hell out of here!”

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