“You’re finished, playboy. You actually dared to mess with your boss’s woman.”
“We almost believed you. Nice move. How many women have you fooled with that trick?”
“You can forget about ever getting promoted. Amen.”
Speaking on behalf of womankind, Feng Fei Meng spat out, “Scum.”
Mai Ding’s reputation at the company was probably never going to recover.
Bai Xiao Si did not stay in the office long. She had accomplished the purpose of her visit. She had been bored and came over just to mess with Mai Ding, and the expression on his face would be enough to entertain her for a week. Even after Bai Xiao Si left, Mai Ding still had not completely recovered. His determination to carry out his plan only grew stronger. The reason An Zi Yan, Bai Xiao Si, and even Su Xiao Mi could all bully him was that he was too kind and too upright. He had to turn bad. Then nobody would be able to bully him anymore!
After work, he did not go straight home. Instead, he went to find Li Ming. An Zi Yan’s friends were all unreliable, so he had to rely on his own. Li Ming’s family ran a little shop on the first floor of their house and lived upstairs. Mai Ding had assumed Li Ming’s room would be plastered with posters of adult-video actresses, but he was wrong. The walls were clean, while the room itself was filled with cartoon figures and other things Mai Ding did not really understand. Li Ming was completely absorbed in a game. Mai Ding shook his head. “Young man, are you really planning to live like this forever? Stay in your room and let your parents take care of your life? If my kid turned out like this, I’d definitely smack him.”
“Can you even have a kid? Besides, homebodies have their own ways of making money.” Li Ming was immensely proud of being a homebody. “See those figures? They can sell for a lot online. Maybe I make more in a month than you do.” Mai Ding was stunned. Whenever his coworkers seemed especially capable, he would think of Li Ming to comfort himself. Who would have guessed Li Ming was not the useless person Mai Ding had imagined? What was he supposed to use to restore his confidence now? Fortunately, Li Ming knew nothing about these terrible thoughts.
“I really didn’t expect this. I thought you had adult-video actresses all over your walls and were living some depraved life.” Li Ming paused, his expression changing subtly. “I used to, but now my heart belongs to only one person.”
“You’re dating someone?”
“Not yet. You know her too.”
“Who?” That immediately caught Mai Ding’s interest. After endless questioning, Li Ming finally stammered out the name. “Sister An Su.” Mai Ding’s mouth dropped open so wide he could have swallowed an entire figurine.
“What kind of taste is that? You like that type?!”
“I like older women. What’s wrong with that? Don’t say anything bad about her!”
“I advise you to give up.”
“Why?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to support your love life. I’ve known her this long, and I’ve never seen her date a man. I’ve never even heard her mention a man’s name. I’m starting to wonder…” He lowered his voice as though afraid An Su might somehow hear him. “Could she actually like women?”
“No way. What does An Zi Yan say?”
“I’m the one who’s always suspected it. Besides, she trained in taekwondo or something. You? Aren’t you basically volunteering to die? I’ll introduce you to one of my coworkers instead.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Mai Ding shook his head again. “Love has blinded you. You’re on your own.”
“Didn’t you say you had something to ask me today?” Li Ming said. Only then did Mai Ding remember. He sat cross-legged properly. “Do you know how someone can turn bad?”
“Watch more porn?”
“I said turn bad, not turn into a pervert!”
“What kind of bad?”
Mai Ding rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. “Like An Zi Yan. Nobody dares bully him, and people are willing to listen to him.” The moment the words left his mouth, Li Ming waved both hands. “You’d better go find a fairy and ask her to grant that wish.”
“Then I’ll settle for just becoming bad. I don’t have to be like An Zi Yan.”
“All right. I’ll look online and see if there are any methods, but you have to give me something in return.”
“What?”
“I want Sister An Su’s phone number.”
“Easy, easy. But you can’t tell her I gave it to you. And don’t harass her. Definitely don’t send her obscene pictures either. No matter what, she counts as my sister now.”
“I would never do something like that. I just don’t have the courage to ask her for her number.”
“Fine. Deal. But hurry up.”
The pleasant transaction settled, Mai Ding felt lighter just thinking about how he was going to turn bad. He got on the bus home and watched the scenery outside. Before long, a familiar car parked by the road caught his attention. Wasn’t that An Zi Yan’s car? He had not gone home. Mai Ding searched around, and thanks to his surprisingly sharp eyes, he spotted An Zi Yan through the floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor of a café. He was sitting with a man. The man looked about thirty. Mai Ding could not quite explain the impression he gave off, only that he resembled a European gentleman from a movie. The bus carried Mai Ding past before he could see anything more.
Mai Ding pursed his lips. Meeting a man in secret behind his back? Then again, wasn’t Mai Ding himself secretly meeting Li Ming behind An Zi Yan’s back?
A client. He has to be a client, he repeated inwardly. He could not be so petty. Ignore it. It was nothing important. But deep down, he did not really believe the man was simply a client. An Zi Yan’s face was usually expressionless, yet after being together so long, Mai Ding had learned to read expressions even from that lack of expression.
What expression had An Zi Yan been wearing then? Mai Ding could not describe it. At ease? He did not dare, and did not want, to think beyond that, because the expression was not unfamiliar to him. Sometimes An Zi Yan wore that same expression when he was with Mai Ding.
He focused all his attention on figuring out how to turn bad. He really did manage to fool himself.
When An Zi Yan came home, Mai Ding was happily making dinner. He tasted the soup base, then turned around and asked, “Where did you go?”
“Had something to take care of.” So his guess had been right. It really was a client.
“I’ll be home late tomorrow too. Handle dinner yourself.”
“Oh?” Mai Ding could tell An Zi Yan wanted him to report where he was going, so he did not hide it. “I’m going to see Grandpa. It’s been so long since I saw him. I miss him terribly.”
“I was planning to go back sometime soon too.”
“R-really? Then have a safe trip.”
An Zi Yan narrowed his eyes at Mai Ding’s darting gaze. “From the sound of that, you don’t want to go with me.” Mai Ding gave him a smile that did not reach his eyes. “How could that be?” He absolutely did not want An Zi Yan coming with him. Mai Ding had even prepared two plans just to be safe. Grandpa was the one who had raised An Zi Yan. He must have witnessed the entire process of An Zi Yan turning bad. Mai Ding wanted to absorb some experience from him, and having An Zi Yan there would make everything far too inconvenient.
“What stupid idea is running through your head now?” An Zi Yan understood Mai Ding too well and hit the mark with a casual guess. Mai Ding waved his hands. “N-no such thing. Vegetable prices have really gone up lately.” Unable to think of anything better, he changed the subject with painful awkwardness. That trick did not work on An Zi Yan. “Since there’s nothing, we’ll go together tomorrow.”
“Fine.” Mai Ding had no choice but to agree. He shot An Zi Yan a resentful glance. Always ruining things. He would just have to find a way to send him away and secretly ask Grandpa when they got there.