Don’t Be a Kept Man

Chapter 167: Let’s Watch a Movie

The next day, early in the morning, 6:00 am.

As if Gu Lai was a human clock, when it was time to wake up, he automatically opened his eyes and sat straight up on the bed. There was no haziness in his eyes like when a normal human wakes up and when he got out of bed, he folded his bed sheets like perfectly stacked pieces of tofu before smoothing out the bed cover. Only then did he wash up and head out the door, preparing to go to work.

His cellphone was fully charged after last night and Gu Lai had a habit of checking his notifications. Seeing that Shen You had accepted his friend request, he couldn’t help but smile, a smile that was wide enough to make him crinkle his eyes and cause the dimples on his cheeks to show up. He sent a “Good morning” text before running over to the construction site.

Construction work was indeed the work of the youth. It took a toil on the body and quite a few people at forty years of age would already have pains and aches all over their body, but in comparison, the salary was quite high. As long as you were willing to do some honest, hard work and save up, earning over a thousand per month was not a problem.

Gu Lai was unique amongst all of these workers. His strength was over the top, so much so that none of the construction workers had ever seen someone stronger than him. Climbing up the stairs with bags of cement on this very hot day a few times didn’t make him red in the face or hard of breathing. He was also not one to say when he was tired, being someone who could do the work of three people combined, so his salary was higher than others twice over.

Huhu, but it was a waste of that face.

When it was lunch break, Gu Lai headed over to a nearby fruit stall to buy two portions of ice cold pre-cut watermelon before finding a shady area to sit down and eat. He quietly contemplated whether he should buy bubble tea for tonight.

Not far away, a girl was walking by with her friend. Originally, she was casually taking in her surroundings when she froze in place after spotting Gu Lai. But due to his cold aura, one that warned strangers from approaching, she did not dare to approach. She only discretely raised up her phone to take a picture and quietly said to her best friend, 

“Omona, why is he doing construction work when he’s so handsome. He would definitely go viral if he were to shoot some videos and post them online.”

Her best friend was also covering her mouth as she screamed quietly, 

“Ah ah ah ah ah so handsome! Send me a copy. I’ll definitely get a good amount of likes when I go post this.”

Gu Lai’s head was originally lowered, but his ears twitched when he heard them talking. He lifted his eyes to look up at the girls and a string of binary numbers flashed by his pupils before he continued to eat his watermelon.

“What the heck.” 

Whatever happened then had suddenly made the face of the girl that took the photo change, and she shook her cellphone hard, 

“Why did it suddenly short circuit! I just bought this!”

Her best friend was fanning herself from the blistering heat, and she didn’t have the patience to continue standing here, 

“Ah, is it because the sun’s too hot and shining right above us. Let’s go find a spot with shade. I’m about to dry up from this heat.”

Yet by the time they fixed their phone, there was no sign of Gu Lai in his original spot anymore.

Shen You had lost sleep last night, only able to fall asleep in the morning, so he missed Gu Lai’s message. When he woke up in the afternoon, his forehead was aching from a sudden onslaught of pain, a sign of long nights of drinking.

Shen You closed his eyes, his eyebrows furrowed deeply as he laid in his bed for a long time before regaining some energy. He reached out a hand over to the bedside table and roughly grabbed his phone. Squinting his eyes to take a look, he found that besides Ke Jing and Tang Yi Shan’s useless messages, there was a “Good morning” message from Gu Lai.

Even more useless.

With an emotionless expression on his face, Shen You sat up and grabbed his cigarette pack. He lit one up, his face that always seemed to be in a mocking expression was suddenly obscured within this wispy smoke. He played with his phone for a while with no thought behind it, but even just trying to think about it, he still didn’t understand what Gu Lai was trying to do.

Trying to get back together again? But it didn’t look like he was trying to chase after him.

Wanting to break it off? But why would he suddenly just add him as a friend without rhyme or reason; it can’t be that he’s trying to play that melodramatic trope of breaking up but wanting to be friends right.

With yesterday’s lesson in mind, Shen You did not ask Tang Yi Shan for his dogshit advice. But after thinking about it for a while, he still didn’t know how to respond, so he only threw his phone aside, planning to wait and see.

Humans need to keep a good and healthy schedule to let the body be at peak health and performance. Every time Gu Lai came to work, he would always go above and beyond his work quota, but he was also not in a rush like the others to work overtime to earn more money; instead he got off right at 7 pm everyday.

His boss still maintained a positive attitude towards him despite this, 

“Gu Lai, are you getting off so early everyday to go home and be with your wife?”

Gu Lai shook his head seriously, 

“I don’t have a wife.”

His boss patted his shoulder and laughed out loud, 

“Quite a handsome lad, but why are you so dumb. Even if you don’t now, you’ll have one later. When you get married, make sure to invite us.”

Wife?

Gu Lai thought about it, marriage seemed to be a momentous moment in a human’s life, which means that to be a human, you must get married? He jogged slowly back home, and when he reached his front door, he bumped right into Yu Xi leaving her apartment. He was about to greet her when all his words were caught in his throat the moment he saw her face clearly.

Yu Xi gave herself a western style makeup today and tied her hair up into a high ponytail. Her collarbone was tinted with a shimmering silver, and paired with her hot and gorgeous looking body, she would 100% be a sexy beauty in the eyes of a normal human male. Seeing Gu Lai not able to make a sound, she automatically assumed it was because he was shocked by her extravagant beauty. She smiled and tossed a wink, 

“Look good, do I?”

“…….I guess.”

Gu Lai drew his hands in the air, trying his best to describe her. 

“Like a shimmering century egg.”1

Yu Xi: “……”

Hoh hoh, I must really thank you huh.

Yu Xi scanned him up and down, taking in the cement stains on his clothes, 

“Did you just come back from work?”

Gu Lai nodded his head, 

“Mhmm, you?”

Out of habit, Yu Xi wanted to flip her hair over her shoulder but then she realized that her hair was tied up today and couldn’t do anything. She switched her efforts to say, 

“I’m going to go see a movie with a friend. It’s the first showing of <<ET>>! Don’t forget to go watch it or you’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you miss it!”

Gu Lai was in the state now where everything was a new curiosity to him and upon hearing her reply, he tilted his head a bit, 

“A movie? Can I go with you?”

“Not suitable,” 

Yu Xi used her elbow to lightly nudge him, her eyes displaying the emotions of a female Casanova, 

“I’m going with my boyfriend. Don’t be a third wheel.2 I can invite you out next time, or you could go find someone to go and watch it with you. Oh, but don’t forget to reserve your tickets beforehand.”

Gu Lai blanked out for a moment,

“Didn’t you break up?”

Yu Xi shrugged, 

“Can’t I get another one? Alright, I can’t talk. I have dinner with him soon, and I won’t be able to make it if I stay. I’ll head out now.”

After seeing the shadow of her body disappear around the corner, Gu Lai unlocked his front door and stepped in. Like usual, he took a shower and then changed out of his dirty clothes. He originally had wanted to fall asleep right away, but seeing that it was still early, he searched on his phone for the movie Yu Xi had mentioned. He found that the movie theatre near the city center still had a showing at 9 pm, but not many seats were left.

Gu Lai searched through his contacts and found that his friends only seemed to be Yu Xi, Shen You, and Yang Mian. 

After giving it some thought, he sent Shen You a message: 

[ Do you want to go see a movie together? ]

Inviting someone to a movie, this kind of invitation, no matter who it was, seemed a little bit like asking for something more. When Shen You saw that message, the message from Tang Yi Shan suddenly popped into his head — — he wants to hook up with you.

He wants to hook up with me?

After a minute passed, Shen You finally messaged him back: [ When? ]

Gu Lai instantly replied: [ Tonight at 9:10, Heng Xing Movie Theatre ]

Shen You wanted to see what he was up to so he agreed: [ Sure. ]

They could also get bubble tea and popcorn when they go to the movies, which made Gu Lai smile wide enough to squint his eyes. He was still very gentlemanly in his actions despite this, enough that no one could pick fault with him: 

[ Ok, I will go pick you up at 8:40]

And then he bought two tickets online. Finding that time was a bit tight, especially when they could get caught up in traffic on the way there, he didn’t blow dry his hair, grabbing his keys and exiting out the door.

Gu Lai reached the entrance of Shen You’s residential area right at 8:40. With his hair half wet and still emitting some moisture into the area, he looked very contradictory with his sexiness but solemn and serious aura when paired with his casual black and white blouse buttoned all the way to the top.

The system’s original shape was just a ball of light, without any features or face, so when there were no humans around, out of habit, Gu Lai kept up that emotionless expression on his face, looking very standoffish and cold.

When Shen You saw him, he faintly felt that Gu Lai was very different from before, yet he was not willing to give it another thought. When he pulled open the door and sat in the passenger seat, he brought with him a heavy stench of alcohol.

Gu Lai examined his overly pale face and very abnormal state of mind before saying,

“You drank again.”

And then sniffed him, continuing to add, 

“You even smoked.”

Shen You didn’t look at him and leaned back on the seat, calmly holding a hand against his stomach that was aching a bit in pain. He said with an uncaring tone,  

“Oh, and so?”

Gu Lai reached over to put on his seatbelt and then quietly and calmly said, 

“It’s bad for your body. The status of your health is very bad.”

Shen You could smell the clean scent of soap but it quickly dissipated. When he opened his eyes and saw that the seatbelt was fastened for him, he emotionlessly stared at Gu Lai who unfortunately was completely focused on driving so their eyes never met.

Shen You wanted to smoke out of habit, but when he reached his hand into the pocket of his pants, it was as if Gu Lai had eyes everywhere and without even looking, Gu Lai reached over with a hand and pressed down on his hand as he gently said, 

“Don’t smoke.”

He could see it quite clearly that the person in front of him drank a lot and smoked a lot, to the point where his body was already starting to fail him.

The warm touch to his thigh made Shen You’s eyes suddenly widen. Fuck, trying to harass me? He furrowed his eyebrows and angrily said, 

“Take your hand off of me!”

“Ok.”

Gu Lai obediently retracted his hand, 

“Then you stop smoking. It will shorten your lifespan.”

Shen You slightly closed his eyes, his stomach hurting to the point where he didn’t want to say anything. He thought he must have had his brain kicked by a donkey or otherwise why would he be here, at the movie theatre, with this kind of guy.3

Gu Lai parked by the roadside before the movie theatre and realized then that this entire street was very luxurious and extravagant, with all sorts of colors shining in the city at night, making it even brighter and more boisterous than during the day.

Gu Lai got out and then went around to open the door for Shen You. But when he spotted cold sweat dripping down Shen You’s forehead and his very pale face, he had to ask, 

“Are you feeling unwell?”

Shen You didn’t respond, only coldly saying as he got out of the car, 

“If you keep taking your time, you can watch it by yourself. The movie’s about to start.”

Gu Lai locked the car and walked into the shopping mall with him. As they rode the elevator up, he said, 

“No, that won’t happen as I timed it perfectly.”

They had just gotten in with just about ten minutes to spare. Gu Lai went to buy a tub of popcorn and two hot bubble teas.4 When he returned, he saw Shen You chug down a can of ice cold beer before throwing it into the garbage can.

Beer was ice cold, so why didn’t he drink bubble tea?

Gu Lai didn’t really understand Shen You’s way of thinking and he walked over to the ticket machine to print out his tickets. Suddenly, he felt a pat on his shoulder and a delighted voice quietly reached his ear, 

“Ah-Lai?!”

This time, Gu Lai didn’t even need to turn his head to know who it was. He grabbed his tickets from the machine and turned around to meet up with Yang Mian’s happy and surprised eyes. He walked over to the side to let other people behind him use the ticket machine and politely nodded his head, smiling as he said, 

“Hello.”

Yang Mian had been pulled along by his coworker to watch a movie and didn’t expect to ever bump into Gu Lai. His cheeks were faintly red and he tried his hardest to calm his voice, trying to make himself less anxious, 

“What a coincidence. Are you here to see a movie?”

Gu Lai nodded his head and showed his movie tickets, 

“<< ET >>.”

Yang Mian saw two tickets in his hand and his expression froze slightly. Yet he still held a glimmer of hope and hesitantly asked, 

“You……are you here with a friend?”

“What, you got a problem with that?”

A cold voice rang by both of their ears and they looked over, seeing Shen You standing not far away, fakely smiling at them. Yang Mian backed off a half step from his fear at the other’s lazer sharp eyes and tightly grasped onto Gu Lai’s arm, subconsciously trying to find some protection.

Two exes meeting. To be honest, it was quite disgusting.

Shen You felt so sickened by everything right now. Seeing Yang Mian tightly pressing onto Gu Lai, as intimate as you could get, he chuckled mockingly and without speaking a word, turned around to leave.

Yang Mian knew who Shen You was and bumping into him and Gu Lai right now at the movie theatre, his mind couldn’t help but race at the implications. He lifted his head up and asked, 

“Ah-Lai, you are……”

Before he even finished, his hands were empty once more as he saw Gu Lai chase after Shen You, his shadow quickly disappearing into the crowds.

Below the movie theatre was a shopping centre, and to find someone here was not quite an easy task. When Gu Lai walked down the escalator, his eyes were as sharp as a hawk, scanning across the crowd at a fast pace. He hastened his steps when he found the back of Shen You.

Outside of the mall, a sudden wave of heat washed over him. Gu Lai walked out of the swinging door, his eyes looking around everywhere before finding a person vomiting his guts out by a tree on the roadside; who could it be but Shen You.

Just as Gu Lai had guessed, Shen You’s body had an issue with Shen You’s earlier actions and was making him vomit out as much of the alcohol he had just drank as possible. His stomach ached from the pain and veins were popping up on his neck, making him look like he was in extreme pain.

Seeing this, Gu Lai quickly set aside the bubble tea and popcorn and quickly walked over, 

“Are you not feeling well? I’ll drive you to the hospital.”

Shen You held onto his stomach as he spent all his energy to take a few breaths. He furrowed his eyebrows in anger at Gu Lai’s words and pushed his hands off, his rejection very obviously clear. 

He coldly said, 

“Gu Lai, you are motherfucking disgusting. Are you not done playing with your feet wet on both sides, what, making us all gather together like this, do you feel very proud and accomplished?”5

Trying to have his feet wet on both sides?

Gu Lai subconsciously furrowed his eyebrows, 

“I did not.”

This was the action of a scumbag, which was much worse than being a kept man, and something that he would not do.

Shen You’s stomach was in so much pain that he was unable to stand up and he subconsciously curled up. His face was overly pale, drenched in cold sweat and yet he gritted his teeth and did not make a sound. Seeing this, Gu Lai’s eyebrows furrowed even further, 

“I’m driving you to the hospital.”

His car was parked up front, and he took a look at the crosswalk before starting to head over when Shen You suddenly grabbed onto him, spending all his energy to say, 

“I’m not going to the hospital……”

He was in so much pain that he couldn’t lift up his head, and his shirt was starting to slide forward, revealing a vicious scar behind his neck, all crooked and horrifying, that looked very similar to a burn wound.

Gu Lai subconsciously closed his eyes, feeling that this injury was a bit frightening and yet he stamped that moment into his brain. He couldn’t care about it now and he opened his eyes, leaning over to kneel back down in front of Shen You and asked very seriously, 

“Then what should I do?”

Shen You was so weak, his throat was almost unable to make a noise. With crumpled eyebrows, he stated the name of a medicine and awkwardly said, 

“Help me buy some of that.”

He probably very rarely asked for help, so his tone was very rigid and twisted. The moment the words came out, he turned his head to the side.

“Ok.” 

Gu Lai helped him up from the ground and led him to sit on a bench nearby. He quietly ordered Shen You, 

“Don’t leave on your own. I’ll come back quickly.”

He was never in a rush, yet this time he seemed to be a bit agitated. He quickly ran off and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the crowded streets.

Notes:

*1 A century egg is a type of preserved egg and looks like this:

and to note here, the “western style makeup” here refers more to that makeup look where it’s more tan/darker colours (foundation or otherwise)/contours/bold eyeshadow/liners (versus if you see in cdramas where the main female character is more light/pale/more inclined to a more “natural”/”no makeup”/light makeup look (although natural is debatable…))

*2 The literal translation is a light bulb and the origins came from a Cantonese saying where a light bulb is sealed up tight/letting no air loose, and that latter phrase can refer to mean that someone doesn’t understand the mood/atmosphere (or like having low EQ/no common sense (at least in the state of social affairs)). And it caught on, and basically is synonymous to being the third wheel : )

There’s a pretty good and well known song on this if you are interested: 鄧麗欣 (Stephy Tang) – 電燈膽 (it seems like the official is this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpYgugV5lDo, but the version i’m more familiar with has no electric guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc6s3k2x6wo

*3  Phrases like head/brain kicked by a donkey or brain is drenched in water are taken to mean that something’s wrong with your/my head or brain; the phrase came about because donkeys like to kick people with their back legs and no one would be stupid enough to pull their tails and be kicked by them, so something must be wrong with your brain if you do

*4 I keep saying bubble tea, but the literal translation is “milk tea”. It’s also synonymous pretty much to the varieties of tea drinks such as jasmine/oolong/roasted/etc. tea, different flavours like taro, matcha, etc., with or without cheese or milk foams/pearls/coconut jelly/pudding/etc., hot/warm/cold, so to make it easier to know what it’s referring to, rather than specifically using the literal translation of “milk tea”, I’m using bubble tea (so note that it doesn’t mean they’re only drinking the version with pearls!) 

*5 The literal translation is having two feet on two boats, and like what I used instead, it usually means to cheat/not being faithful/have multiple relationships at the same time, but its phrase means to not be able to decide what/which/who is better and you try to keep both things (and thus has a negative connotation – kind of like the idiom of trying to have a cake and eat it too)