Liu Bo was still standing in the same spot. Just because he didn't drink, that didn't mean there was anything abnormal about his sexual orientation. He was perfectly normal.
"Miss, are you an employee at the headquarters of the Yuandan Group?"
"Yes, that's right. What about it?" Xiao Li'er asked.
"So, do you guys get paid pretty well there?" The gentleman next to Xiao Li'er suddenly became curious.
"It's alright, I guess." Xiao Li'er replied nonchalantly, clearly giving an evasive answer.
She felt that these men all had impure intentions, and they were not as decent as the men she usually associated with. In comparison, Xiao Li'er lost interest.
"Miss, why don't we exchange WeChat IDs? I think we'd make a great match." The man extended his phone.
Xiao Li'er didn't know why, but she had a strange feeling about the way this man was looking at her, and she didn't really want to add him. However, considering this was a social event, adding WeChat was normal, so she reached out and scanned the code.
"Miss, what do you do at the Yuandan Group headquarters?" Another person asked.
"I'm an assistant." The man looked a bit dejected, and his expression turned disdainful.
"What's wrong with being an assistant? Isn't our assistant's work just as valuable? Are assistants somehow inferior?" Xiao Li'er's tone became a bit sharp. With that, she turned and left.
"What are you doing here?" Liu Bo asked, sipping his drink.
"What, is this your home? Am I not allowed to sit here just because you're sitting here?" Xiao Li'er was irritated by the comments from those men, and now she was even looking at Liu Bo with distaste.
"No, no, it's fine, you can sit. Please, have a seat." Liu Bo shifted over to make room for Xiao Li'er.
Xiao Li'er sat down, took a couple sips of her drink, and looked at Liu Bo sitting quietly. She said, "Assistant Liu, why don't you go find a girlfriend? You're almost thirty, don't your family members nag you about it?"
Liu Bo didn't say anything. He had never known what it was like to have a family. Ever since he could remember, he had been in an orphanage. In college, he refused to accept financial support, working and studying hard instead. After graduation, he just happened to join Xu Xiuhe's company, and that's how he ended up where he was today. But no one had ever pressured him to get married, except for Xu Xiuhe occasionally dangling that carrot.
"Hmm, what are you thinking about? Don't tell me you're actually...gay? Or are you in love with the CEO?" Xiao Li'er said jokingly.
Liu Bo shot her a look that could kill.
Xiao Li'er, unafraid, continued, "Sister, liking men isn't your fault, but you can't go after a married man. The CEO and his wife have such a great relationship, you can't interfere with that."
Xiao Li'er was getting increasingly ridiculous, and Liu Bo couldn't take it anymore. "Xiao Li, shut up."
Xiao Li'er closed her mouth.
Liu Bo kept drinking, and Xiao Li'er could see that he was in a bad mood, so she apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it earlier. Don't take it too seriously."
Liu Bo didn't say anything, he just kept drinking, downing more and more.
At a amusement park in Rongcheng, Shen Yin was holding Zhengzheng's hand as Xu Xiuhe came over with some yogurt and snacks.
It was Zhengzheng's first time at an amusement park, and coincidentally, it was also Shen Yin's first time. As for Xu Xiuhe, the last time he had been to an amusement park was over a decade ago, when he went with his mother.
"It's so beautiful." Zhengzheng gazed at the Ferris wheel spinning round and round.
Shen Yin agreed, marveling at how clever people nowadays were, inventing all these high-tech things.
Seeing the mother and child's excitement, Xu Xiuhe said, "Do you want to ride the Ferris wheel? Come on, let's all go together."
As they were about to board the Ferris wheel, Xu Xiuhe caught sight of a familiar back. The closer he looked, the more familiar it seemed.
Upon closer inspection, sure enough, it was Xue Jingrui. Xue Jingrui also spotted them and turned to greet them.
Walking in front of him was Qi Ji.
"Pretty sister, little friend." Qi Ji greeted them.
"Qi Ji." Shen Yin was pleasantly surprised, not expecting to run into them in the vast city of Rongcheng.
"Sister, do you have time tomorrow? I've been wanting to have you custom-design a wedding dress for me, but I haven't had a chance to come by yet."
"Sure, just come find me tomorrow."
"Alright, let's go get on the Ferris wheel first."
The Ferris wheel was quite large, with enough room for five or six people in each cabin. It worked out perfectly that they could all ride together.
Halfway through the ride, a fireworks show began at the amusement park. Suspended in the air, they had a front-row view of the fireworks blooming and fading in the sky. The fireworks were beautiful, mesmerizing them. Before they knew it, they had reached the highest point, with the nightscape of Rongcheng spread out below.
The fireworks had ended, and Xu Xiuhe was only concerned about his wife and child. But Shen Yin was different - as a woman, her observations and intuitions were more acute. She could sense that the couple in front of them had a different dynamic, not quite like a newly married pair. In fact, their relationship seemed less intimate than her own with Xu Xiuhe. But with them there, she didn't feel comfortable asking outright.
By the time the Ferris wheel brought them back down, Zhengzheng had fallen asleep. Xu Xiuhe didn't linger, quickly saying goodbye to Xue Jingrui and Qi Ji.
"Goodbye, pretty sister."
"See you tomorrow, Qi Ji."
On the way back, Shen Yin asked Xu Xiuhe about the current relationship between Qi Ji and Xue Jingrui.
Xu Xiuhe replied, "They're married, a husband and wife."
Shen Yin...
She would just have to ask them directly tomorrow.
Outside Qingfeng Mingyue, one car after another was leaving, but Xiao Li'er was still sitting on the sofa, watching Liu Bo drink.
Liu Bo had been drinking all night, one glass after another, not quite drunk, but no longer entirely sober either.
"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to say those things about you. You're a real man, a gentleman. You don't have to be so petty as to drink yourself silly just because I said a few things."
"No one's been pushing me to get married." Liu Bo said listlessly.
Xiao Li'er could hear a hint of sadness in his tone.
"What, your parents don't nag you about it? You're almost thirty."
"I don't have parents. I'm an orphan."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Xiao Li'er apologized. She had never coddled a man before, and if she had known the situation earlier, she wouldn't have sat here. Dealing with something like this was better than facing a bunch of distasteful men.
Xiao Li'er suddenly felt pity for Liu Bo. As a woman, her heart had softened. She helped Liu Bo up. "Let me call you a driver."
"My sexual orientation is normal, I'm not attracted to men. I'm straight. Why does everyone say I'm gay? I'm not gay, I'm straight." Liu Bo's words were slurred.
The manager of Qingfeng Mingyue, of course, recognized Liu Bo. Seeing that Liu Bo was drunk, he went over to arrange for someone to take Liu Bo home, but Liu Bo refused.
