A Good-for-Nothing

199. Friends with Benefits? (I)

Translator: Dragon Rider

When Zhao Fei finished speaking, the man had halted in front of him.

Slightly taller than Zhao Fei, he didn’t need to lower his head to look at him, but curiously enough, Zhao Fei actually discerned a faintly aggrieved expression in the man’s eyes.

The man said, “Are you mad at me?”

Zhao Fei pushed the man’s face aside and said in an amused tone of voice, “Why should I be mad?”

The man’s lips clamped tightly together, his piteous mouth almost a thin line. He paused briefly, his breathing somewhat unsteady. “Because I left without saying goodbye, for instance.”

In the ordinary course of events, before shooting a scene, Zhao Fei would put on some light make-up, but when he was not on set, he never bothered to do that. Besides, he always did some adjustments to his features with his powers before going to the set, so when he was not on set, people who saw him would only feel that he and the big celebrity named Zhao Fei looked very much alike but wouldn’t think he was actually Zhao Fei in the flesh.

He gave a smile, his eyes narrowing and curving. “That’s your own business. I have no say in it.”

The man was a trifle unhappy to hear this reply. “You still think that’s my business? After we slept together?”

Feeling this was funny, Zhao Fei twisted his head aside to look at him. “Is this what you want to see me about?”

He glanced around. Although it was very unlikely that anybody would be able to recognize him, appearances of the two of them were a little conspicuous compared with that of the next man. On top of that, Fanghuali was a densely populated, bustling area, and Zhao Fei didn’t want any trouble.

“Let’s go to a cafe.”

The man raised no objections and followed Zhao Fei into a cafe.

Zhao Fei ordered a mug of cocoa, and the man an Americano.

Though a pretty nice place, this cafe charged high prices, so there weren’t many customers. Soon, a waiter proffered them their coffee.

Zhao Fei dropped several sugars into his cocoa. The man stared squarely at his hands, doing nothing.

Zhao Fei gave a sudden chuckle. “It surprises me that you’re a lovesick man.”

The man looked at him, the expression in his gray eyes suggesting that he only had eyes for Zhao Fei. Whenever he was with Zhao Fei, he always felt exceptionally comfortable, which was something he’d never experienced before he met Zhao Fei. He believed that Zhao Fei enjoyed his company just as much.

“You’re the only one I’ve ever been so besotted with.”

Zhao Fei made no comment, languidly stirring the dark brown liquid in his mug with a little silver spoon.

“You have twenty minutes left. I really don’t have much time for this.”

As though not having heard it, the man was still gazing at Zhao Fei that way. “Are you mad?”

“Are you sure you want to spend the twenty minutes asking this kind of meaningless questions?”

“To me, it’s not meaningless.” The man seemed to be quite anxious to know the answer to his question.

His eyes were so piercing that beneath his gaze, Zhao Fei actually had a feeling that the man was seeing straight into his soul. For the first time in his life, Zhao Fei felt somewhat powerless to do anything about a persistent man. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Okay, you succeeded.”

He raised his hand to hold the man’s chin between his fingers, stroked it and continued, “A fan screwed me and I don’t even know his name, so I think I SHOULD be mad.”

As a matter of fact, what he was angrier about was that this man had left without saying goodbye, which was very rude.

“I apologize to you.” Surprisingly, the man’s face creased into a smile.

Zhao Fei had finished half of his cocoa.

The man paused for a few seconds, his countenance rather upset. Then he lowered his eyes. “Are you really so unwilling to talk with me?”

“I’m just very busy.”

“Okay. I’m Zeyi. You may call me by this name.”

“Zeyi?”

“Yeah.” Zeyi nodded.

Zhao Fei had finished two thirds of his cocoa and obviously had no intention of continuing this conversation.

“I’ve memorized your name. Maybe we’ll meet again, but I really need to go now, sweetie.” Zhao Fei rose from his chair. It had already been over ten minutes since his team had departed.

In other words, this conversation between he and Zeyi which had no substance whatsoever had lasted over ten minutes.

“Wait. Can you keep me company for a while longer? I want another cup. They serve really good coffee here.” Zeyi held Zhao Fei’s hand.

Zhao Fei turned to look at him, a spurious smile on his face. It had never occurred to him that this taciturn man had a side like this, but Zhao Fei felt that Zeyi was lying to him, and if anybody was to ask him why he felt this way, he would tell them it was like an instinct.

“Are you doing this on purpose?”

The man’s lips tightened.

Zhao Fei’s eyes suddenly went cold. He couldn’t find any signs of a demon on this man in front of him, but he still lightly moved his body to free his hand from the man’s grip and gave another smile, but this time, his smile was rather dry.

“Don’t try to stop me, Zeyi, no matter who you are.”

Eyes on Zhao Fei, the man withdrew his still raised hand.

He watched as Zhao Fei left with a natural and graceful gait. Through a transparent glass pane, he saw Zhao Fei push the door open, cross an intersection with traffic lights and gradually walk out of his sight. He was still sitting where he’d always been.

Before leaving, Zhao Fei had paid the bill and ordered him another Americano the same as the one he’d just finished.

Sitting in his chair, Zhou Yize kept silent for a long time before taking his cellphone out of his pocket.

His call was answered and he said to the one on the other end of the phone, “Don’t kill Zhao Fei yet.”

Even the rare hint of gentleness that he’d shown in front of Zhao Fei was now gone. In his dark gray eyes was an apathetic expression that had never been there before, as though he were a lifeless statue.

“This is not a discussion.”

Zhou Yize ignored the flustered and exasperated voice from the other end, hung up the phone, hailed a cab outside the cafe and headed in the direction of the Millenary Islands Lake.

Dense black veins were standing out on the backs of Zhou Yize’s hands. He covered them with his sleeves. On the surface, there was nothing out of the ordinary about him except for the layer of cold sweat on his forehead.