Gentlemen's Friends

Chapter 14 Part 1: Wu ([-])
The microwave made a slight but crisp "ding" sound, and the aroma of the soup gradually became stronger, and even the expressionless face of the handsome boy in the photo became somewhat blurred.Qu Tongqiu sighed, wiped the corners of his eyes, wiped the half-read photo album with his sleeve, and put it back on the bookshelf.

More than ten years, I don't know whether it is short or long. Looking back, everything in the past is still as clear as yesterday, but looking back, the boy in the past has become a man in his thirties.There are already fine lines in the corners of his eyes from the hard work of life.

The main course is ready, Qu Tongqiu is heating up the pot, and only needs to cook one more side dish, Ren Ningyuan should be back.

He himself is a small person who has been tempered to the point of losing his ambition. The romantic ideals he had when he was young have all been shattered or faded away, leaving the peace and triviality of daily necessities.Happiness is nothing more than watching your daughter grow up healthy day by day, or reuniting with friends and drinking a pot of tea together.

Thinking of being able to sit and eat with Ren Ningyuan again, he felt endless relief and joy, so happy that he almost hummed an old song.

As soon as the dishes were served, the phone rang. Qu Tongqiu saw that the number displayed was Ren Ningyuan's number, and he quickly connected it before it rang a second time.

"Ren Ningyuan?"

"Are you still at my house?"

"That's right," Qu Tongqiu eagerly said, "The dishes are still hot after they're done. Are you going home soon?"

Ren Ningyuan gave a "hmm" and said, "A friend will come over later. You don't need to clean up, go back first. It's hard work, I'm sorry."

It took a few seconds for Qu Tongqiu to react: "Ah... yes, yes."

After hanging up the phone, Qu Tongqiu untied the apron and hung it back to the original place, arranged the prepared meals for Ren Ningyuan and the guests, then closed the door and left, not forgetting to put the key back under the flower pot.

He thought that he was invited to stay and eat together when he came to cook, and Ren Ningyuan just asked him to be the cook. This misunderstanding was a bit embarrassing.

On the way back, I bought a piece of bread and swayed on the bus to fill my stomach. I felt a little empty, wiped my hands clean, closed my eyes and fell asleep.Although very tired, but still want to see Ren Ningyuan mood.Ren Ningyuan is still indifferent and indifferent in the past, and his wishful attachment to Ren Ningyuan has not faded at this age.Somehow, just can't sleep.

The next day was the weekend, which coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Qu Ke also came home from school. Qu Tongqiu planned to take her daughter to a good restaurant for a Mid-Autumn reunion dinner instead of cooking at home.

The father and daughter discussed the advertisement in the magazine for a long time, and Qu Ke said, "Shall we invite Uncle Ren to dinner?"

Qu Tongqiu thought for a while: "Your Uncle Ren may not be free. He has many things and friends."

"Dad, why are you so shy? How do you know if you don't make appointments?"

Being pushed by his daughter, Qu Tongqiu smiled and took out his mobile phone to dial a number.It took a while for the phone to connect, and after a rustling, the man over there said "Hello".

Qu Tongqiu hurriedly said, "Hi, it's me, Qu Tongqiu."

"Ah."

"I want to ask you, do you have time tonight? It's just a holiday, so let's go out and have a meal together."

The other party paused: "Sorry, I have something to do tonight."

"Ah, do you have an appointment with someone else?"

"Ah."

"Oh, that's good..."

Turning around and seeing his daughter looking up at him expectantly, Qu Tongqiu could only say, "Your Uncle Ren doesn't have time, he has other friends who want to have dinner with him."

Qu Ke was a little disappointed: "Ah, why is this happening. Isn't he Dad's best friend?"

Qu Tongqiu stroked her head soothingly.Ren Ningyuan is his best friend, but it does not mean that he is also Ren Ningyuan's best friend.Children don't understand this truth.

When the father and daughter went out at night, they were taken aback by the grand occasion.Even though it was still early for dinner, there were so many decent-sized restaurants in the bustling area closer to home, but there was not even a single vacant table to be found, and there was always a "reserved" sign on the table.

The restaurants in the small county town of my hometown are rarely so full. Even during the holidays, as long as you go early, you will definitely have a seat.They don't know that in T city, it is impossible not to reserve a seat early on this kind of day.

And you can't do without your own car.I wanted to find a restaurant in another place, but the bus was already jammed to the point that the doors couldn’t even close, and there were still a bunch of people on the side of the road stretching their necks, waiting to grab a taxi.

The whole city seems to be overcrowded.

Qu Tongqiu took his daughter to ride a few times with difficulty, but he also saw that there were not so many customers in a few small shops on the street.But I also realized that if you want to have a normal dinner, you should definitely not go to a restaurant that is still empty at this time.

Asking Qu Ke to squeeze the bus with her for a long time and go around for a long time, there is still no place to eat. It turned out that she wanted to go to a higher-end restaurant to make her daughter happy, but she would suffer instead. Qu Tongqiu felt distressed: " Let's go home first, Dad will cook for you, let's make up for it, and make it up to you tomorrow, okay?"

Qu Ke obediently agreed.Qu Tongqiu was still guilty and patted her head.

Waiting for the car by the side of the road, the phone in his trouser pocket suddenly started to vibrate. Qu Tongqiu took it out and saw that the caller was Ren Ningyuan.

"Ah, hello."

"where are you?"

"On XX Road, we're going home soon."

"Didn't find a place to eat?"

"Well, yes, there are too many people."

Ren Ningyuan was silent for a while: "It's too inconvenient to go back at this time. I'm not far from you, and there's space here. You can bring Qu Ke over here."

The restaurant that Ren Ningyuan said was within walking distance. Qu Tongqiu took the joyful Qu Ke up the hotel elevator, and sure enough, he saw a man in a dark shirt sitting by the window, slowly drinking from a glass. Drinking tea, casually looking at the night city view downstairs.

The father and daughter greeted each other and sat down opposite him. The table space for six people was very comfortable, and the distance between people was just right. three servings.

Qu Tongqiu did not expect that Ren Ningyuan would prepare so carefully for him, and he was immediately grateful, with a warm current in his chest.

"By the way, didn't you invite friends to dinner?"

Ren Ningyuan motioned him to look at the menu, then smiled and said, "The two of them have something to do, so we won't be coming."

Qu Tongqiu let out an "ah" before realizing that the bowls, chopsticks and snacks belonged to those two friends, and he and his daughter were just filling in the missing appointment.Thinking of the self-indulgent sentimentality just now, I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, and hurriedly put back the moon cake I was holding carefully.

The ordered dishes were delivered quickly, Qu Ke was already starving, and she ate her head happily. Qu Tongqiu concentrated on picking up vegetables for her daughter, removing the crab shells, and was busy with her hands. For some reason, she felt very clumsy.

A man who has been married and became a father can no longer shout "boss and boss" like he did when he was young, chasing after Ren Ningyuan shamelessly... I don't know how to get close to middle-aged people.

When I was nervous, I wanted to shake my feet, but it was impolite, so while peeling the crabs, I mechanically rubbed the legs of the table with my calf back and forth under the table.

Peeling more than half of it, I found that Ren Ningyuan was looking up at him, frowning slightly, with a complicated look on his face, and suddenly realized that it was Ren Ningyuan's leg that he was rubbing repeatedly, and his whole body stiffened.

"Uh……"

Before he could think of a word to resolve the embarrassment, he heard someone behind him say: "Ning Yuan, let's eat here. What a ghostly boat, I can't stand the shaking."

Ren Ningyuan seemed a little surprised, raised his head and put down his chopsticks.

Before Qu Tongqiu had time to react, he heard another voice say:

"Have you already made an appointment with other friends? You guys move fast."

Qu Tongqiu turned his head and saw that there were two tall men, both of whom could be called handsome, one was smiling, even if he was in a good mood, his eyebrows were faintly violent; the other raised his eyebrows slightly , the overly straight bridge of the nose is impressive, and even the corners of the mouth are full of arrogance.

Qu Tongqiu felt familiar, so he could only smile to show his politeness.The cold and arrogant man suddenly narrowed his eyes, staring at him fiercely as if in a bad mood.

The two looked at each other for a while, and when Qu Tongqiu finally remembered something, the man also said in a strange tone: "Are you Qu Tongqiu?"

"...Zhuang Wei!"

Qu Tongqiu hurriedly pushed aside his chair and stood up, standing face to face with his former classmate who had been separated for more than ten years, feeling overwhelmed with excitement.

"When did you come back?"

"I've just been back for two days." After all, we haven't seen each other for many years. Everyone has become a relatively stable middle-aged person. Chu Mo is also much more friendly to him than when he was a boy. "And you, when did you come to T City?"

"About a month ago," Qu Tongqiu rubbed his hands together, looking at the two men in front of him, "Hey, you guys... are not the same as before..."

Chu Mo laughed and patted him on the shoulder: "You too. You lost a whole body. How much do you have now? 120 pounds?"

Zhuang Wei was not very happy: "It's been so long? Ning Yuan, why didn't you tell us about the meeting of old classmates."

Ren Ningyuan wiped his hands with a napkin, called the waiter to add two more sets of bowls and chopsticks, and said with a smile, "It's as if you haven't seen your alumni in so many years. If you see them, you will inevitably do something. Don't you all feel bored? Next week I will receive a junior and recommend him for an interview. Are you interested in having dinner together?"

Qu Tongqiu suddenly blushed a little. He was also a poor alumnus who was able to temporarily settle down in T City with the help of Ren Ningyuan.

Although Ren Ningyuan may have helped too many people, as long as the guests came from afar, he would definitely entertain them, and he didn't care about one more person, but the sense of burden suddenly made his chest feel uncomfortable.

"Let's sit down and eat first," Ren Ningyuan said with a smile, "There is a little lady we haven't introduced yet."

Qu Ke, who had been obediently keeping her mouth shut, blinked, and Zhuang and Chu also looked at her.

"This is……"

Qu Tongqiu hurriedly said: "This is my daughter, Qu Ke, who is 14 years old this year and is studying in T City. Xiao Ke, this is Uncle Chu Mochu, and this is Uncle Zhuang Weizhuang."

Both "uncles" stared at him.

Chu Mo said, "Scared? Do you have a daughter? Is it your own?"

Qu Tongqiu was greatly embarrassed, and even Ren Ningyuan smiled wryly: "Even if you really have doubts, you can't be in front of others."

Chu Mo shrugged: "What's the matter? You don't have to be polite. To be honest, when I was in college, I once suspected that you were secretly in love with Ning Yuan."

Ren Ningyuan choked, Qu Tongqiu was already stiff: "What..."

"Aren't you still carrying Ning Yuan's photo in your wallet? You still hold on to it at night..."

Qu Tongqiu hurriedly covered his daughter's ears with both hands, feeling ashamed and anxious: "There are children here, can you stop telling such jokes?"

Qu Ke's ears were covered, her eyes were wide open and her eyes were rolling around, she was very cute.

Chu Mo sighed again: "It doesn't look like you at all."

Qu Tongqiu almost became angry from embarrassment, and said urgently: "She looks like her mother, but her chin looks like mine."

(End of this chapter)