Su Yan stared at the phone in his hands with furrowed brows. This wasn’t okay. No, not just that, it was an extremely shady practice! You couldn’t just message people, whetting their appetites, and then run off!
He once again looked at the original message he had been sent two hours ago.
Rui Lan: [Hey, brother Su, do you still remember Li Ming?]
Even now, he couldn’t think of who this Li Ming was. He had been trying to figure it out the whole day but the name just didn’t ring a bell. Unfortunately, Rui Lan was now playing dead. It was really maddening! Why was he asking if he didn’t intend to tell him anything afterward?
Su Yan pursed his lips and then scrolled past the long row of messages he had sent to ask for clarification. He just couldn’t understand why Rui Lan wouldn’t tell him. They might not have worked at the same place in a long time but it wasn’t like they were strangers. Did he really need to keep such big secrets from him? And that even after he brought it up himself. This was so unreasonable!
“Simply unbelievable!” He slammed the phone down on the desk and shot to his feet.
The Samoyed that had been happily lying next to him also jumped up with a woof.
Su Yan felt understood in his righteous indignation and went to hug him. “That’s right, Xiao Bai. This Rui Lan is simply too much. I was never mean to him but he’ll actually leave me hanging like this. How am I supposed to find out who that ‘Li Ming’-guy is now? And even if I find out who it is, how would I know what’s the matter with him? It’s not like I could …”
He trailed off, let go of the dog, and picked up his phone again. “Eh, let’s just look him up on Baidu. If Rui Lan asks like this, he might be some almost forgotten celebrity or something. The girls from the service counter probably brought him up.” He blinked at that and turned back to the dog. “That’s right. You haven’t met them yet. I should bring you over one day. You’ll like it there! Even though working at Nie Chang’s place is much better since we can write on our stories, they never treated me badly. And you’re such a beautiful dog. I’m sure they’ll love you!”
Saying that, he hugged him again, burying his face in the fluffy, white fur. Only after a moment did he pull back, raised the phone again, and entered the name into Baidu.
Looking at the search results, he was even more confused than before though. It seemed to be … a character from some game? He didn’t play games. He wasn’t that uncultured. He was reading novels in his free time, alright?!
Well, considering he had always been reading on his breaks at the railroad station, he didn’t believe that Rui Lan wouldn’t know that and figured that this had to be a misunderstanding. Surely, there were actual people with the name ‘Li Ming’ around.
He scrolled further down and finally found some possible people. He wasn’t sure who Rui Lan meant though. In a last attempt, he could only go back to the source and message him on WeChat.
Su Yan: [Do you mean Li Ming, the soccer player?]
Looking at the message that was sent over, he figured that Rui Lan might need a moment to clarify so he used the time to read up on the guy. There didn’t seem to be any recent news that would make this guy worthy of being brought up like that though.
He gave a hum and continued to look, patting Xiao Bai at the side. “Oh, look at that!” Su Yan excitedly showed Xiao Bai the phone screen. “It seems there is more than one player with the name. Are there actually so many people playing soccer now? I’ve always hated it.” Come to think of it, he had always hated anything to do with sports. It was much better to stay at home and read novels or write his own stories. What was so good about running after a ball?
He shook his head and then went back to the general search. If there was more than one soccer player with the name, there might be other people as well. Thus, Rui Lan soon received even more messages asking for clarification.
Su Yan: [Not the soccer player? Then did you mean the wrestler?]
Five minutes and one discussion with a Samoyed later, the next one arrived.
Su Yan: [Ah, it must be that swimmer!]
This one was followed by clarifications that went in another direction.
Su Yan: [Never mind, he’s not a swimmer but a rower.]
On the other end, Su Yan couldn’t help but clarify for Xiao Bai. “You know, rowing is weird. They’re sitting in a boat, rowing themselves to get to the other side fast. Nowadays, isn’t that what we have engines for?
“Ah, well, you wouldn’t understand. You haven’t been on a boat yet either. Well, don’t worry about it! I won’t let my dog be uneducated. Nie Chang and I will take you out next weekend to take a tour with a boat. Maybe we can also take my mom along. Anyway, you haven’t met her yet. You’ll like her though. She’s really nice.”
Speaking until there, he blinked at the dog. “You can’t be willful when we go out! Even if she spoils you, that is still my mother first and foremost. So you have to let her spoil me first. It’s your turn afterward!”
Xiao Bai had no idea what he was talking about but getting his owner’s full attention, he still happily woofed, turned onto his back, and exposed his belly to sell meng and get some pats.
Su Yan happily obliged. Anyway, this dog had been bathed not too long ago so the fur was really nice.
Just then, Nie Chang returned from where he had been putting up some of those decorations Su Yan had insisted on hanging up. Seeing this scene, he couldn’t help but give a wry smile. How come he was working hard while his boyfriend was playing with the dog? Well, not that he should expect anything else. The other person was Su Yan after all.
He cleared his throat when he stopped in the door, his smile turning a bit lighter. “Having fun?”
Su Yan looked up and immediately forgot about the dog. He jumped to his feet, grabbed his phone, and rushed to his boyfriend. “Ah Chang, you’re back!” He threw himself into his arms and then pushed his phone into his boyfriend’s face. “Look at this! Rui Lan messaged me but he hasn’t responded in two hours. Do you remember who Li Ming is?”
Nie Chang stared at the phone screen that was only showing Su Yan’s rambling but he was able to get the gist of the matter from his boyfriend’s words. “Well, if you can’t remember and he can’t even be bothered to reply, then it’s nobody important for sure. After all, if you cared about that person, you’d know for sure, right?”
Su Yan thought for a moment and figured it made sense. “True. Well, let’s not think about it any longer then.” He slipped the phone into his pocket and then remembered the actually important part. “Right! I promised Xiao Bai we’d take him out on a boat next weekend. Mom also has to come.”
Nie Chang had no idea why they were taking their dog out for a boat tour but he still nodded. “Alright, I’ll take care of it.” Anyway, he’d much rather his boyfriend think about this than continue trying to figure out who that Li Ming was. After all, contrary to Su Yan, his memory wasn’t a sieve. He knew very well just who that guy was and he didn’t want his boyfriend to remember something unpleasant. Sometimes, it was also good to be a bit of an airhead.
