Reverse Approach

Xu Yuanming, Su Beimo’s colleague had been happy to help Su Beimo recently, mainly because since Su Beimo and he were transferred to the department under Mr. Li, there were more young female colleagues.

Xu Yuanming took a good look at Su Beimo in his suit and tsk-ed, “You’re already seeing someone with this condition, it’s a pity, the girls in our department are going to be sad.”

Su Beimo did not want to carry on this kind of topic: “I have no house and no car, they don’t want that.”

“According to your work progress, you have a bright future, still afraid of not having a house or a car?” Xu Yuanming handed Su Beimo a document, “Here, Qiu Lu from the next department brought it to me and asked me to pass it to you.”

The two departments were going to cooperate on a project in the near future. Su Beimo opened the document and skimmed through it first: “Qiu Lu’s information is not comprehensive, I’ll ask her for a detailed one.”

“Hey, hey!” Xu Yuanming stopped him, “The person is deliberately avoiding you, you need to find someone to go for you.”

“Work is work.” Su Beimo was serious, but immediately realized Xu Yuanming’s intentions and toned down his tone. “However, if Xu ge wants to help me, I would be very happy.”

Xu Yuanming coughed twice, a little embarrassed to be exposed. He took the file: “Dinner after work, ah. We have been working overtime during this time. Everyone is going to have a good meal. You can’t be absent, ah. You have been absent many times. Could it be that your partner moved to City B to live with you? Every day you are in hurry to get off work and rush home….”

He was muttering and whining, but he was not used to seeing Su Beimo’s present face, sending a message every day with a smile on the corner of his mouth. Poor Xu Yuanming, an old single dog, chased after Qiu Lu and ran into walls everywhere.

“Xiao Su, ah, what kind of a peerless beauty is your partner, who is so obsessed with you?”

Su Beimo listened and raised his eyebrows, “Brother Xu, why don’t I go ask Qiu Lu for the document myself?”

Xu Yuanming immediately shut up and went to work.

Su Beimo shook his head and continued to move his eyes back to the computer screen. But after looking at the work data for a long time, it would be a headache. He wanted to laugh when he recalled Xu Yuanming’s ‘peerless beauty’ just now. ‘Great beauty’ was generous, but ‘innocent little beauty’ was somewhat close to it.

Thinking of this, Liao Nanqing, who was cleaning the cookie molds, sneezed.

Lin Quan poked her head out from behind the door frame and yelled, “Nanqing, do you have a cold?”

“Lin jie, I don’t have a cold.” Liao Nanqing thought for a moment, “It’s just an itchy nose.”

Lin Quan: “Someone is thinking about you?”

When Liao Nanqing heard this, he quickly dried his hands and sent a message to Su Beimo: [Did you just miss me?]

Su Beimo: [Yes.] I was wondering if it was ‘innocent little beauty’ and other unhealthy thoughts.

Liao Nanqing: [No wonder I sneezed. But I’m busy, don’t think about me for now, Lin jie and Zheng ge will be worried if I always sneeze. ]

Su Beimo: […]

Su Beimo: [So when can I think? Give a time, otherwise what should I do if I am suffocated to death?]

Liao Nanqing blushed: [When I get off work, but by then we’ll all meet, so it seems like there’s no need to think about it]

Su Beimo hadn’t told him about dinner tonight, so he rubbed his chin and decided to attend the dinner after thinking for a while. He briefly told Liao Nanqing about the situation and promised to come back earlier. Liao Nanqing thought Su Beimo was working overtime normally, after all, as long as Su Beimo worked overtime, he could go to the stall and serve food as an hourly worker.

If Su Beimo didn’t work overtime, he would usually come to pick up Liao Nanqing on time.

Lin Quan bumped into him several times, but didn’t ask deeply.

However, Liao Nanqing occasionally found out many things about Su Beimo when he chatted with Lin Quan in the store. One of the things that Lin Quan remembered most about Su Beimo was probably when Su Beimo fell in love in his freshman year. It was as if a thousand-year-old iron tree had finally blossomed, and people who knew Su Beimo were stunned.

They always thought Su Beimo was gay.

When Liao Nanqing heard this, he swallowed and thought, he really is.

Lin Quan lit a cigarette and spit out a smoke ring: “You know, when your brother was in high school, there was a rumored girlfriend named Xu Ying. That’s really a beautiful girl, and her bright eyes can have flower blossoms. But your brother just didn’t move, ah, can be called the living Buddha!”

“…” Of course he knew, and they ran into it when they went to travel.

Liao Nanqing was silent, and seemed to care too much about Su Beimo’s false relationship gossip.

Zhang Xu passed by and helped Lin Quan put out his cigarette, as smoking was not allowed in the store. Lin Quan was not angry, but she seemed to be pleased and wink at Zhang Xu, and then continued to talk with Liao Nanqing: “He doesn’t like such a beauty like Xu Ying. Instead, he found an ordinary girl at university. You really can’t just look at the skin when you fall in love.”

Liao Nanqing nodded approvingly, “Su… my brother is really good, so many people like him.”

“Hey, most of them are fickle. Well, handsome boy, who doesn’t like it, don’t you feel tempted by the school flower?”

“Not tempted.”

“What does a kid know.” Lin Quan flicked his forehead, “There are some cupcakes leftover today, you can pack them up and take them away.”

Liao Nanqing’s eyes lit up: “Thank you Sister Lin!”

Working in a bakery had many benefits. Liao Nanqing solved the dinner problem with cupcakes, and after a short rest, he got up and went to the stall to help.

Compared to the cleanliness of the bakery, the stall was a noisy place with all kinds of life. Liao Nanqing was assigned to serve the food today, and brought out several large plates of red-roasted crayfish in a row. The long-lost summer was filled with the bubbling sound of beer being opened, and the sound of gulping and drinking like a tidal wave burst. Liao Nanqing was dazzled by the light bulb at the food stall, rubbed his eyes and worked hard in the shed built of plastic rain cloth.

Thirty dollars an hour, he could help for three hours a day.

From 7:30 to 10:30, the crowd slowly decreased, with a continuous stream of overtime workers and a second wave of young people gathering to blow off bottles.

Among them was Su Beimo who came to pick him up.

Liao Nanqing wiped his hands with a tissue and looked up to see Su Beimo and some colleagues walking slowly towards this place.

One colleague yelled, “Boss, two orders of crayfish, slightly spicy, and five bottles of beer!” They were drunk and red-faced, not yet done with their fun, obviously coming to the stall to continue the second round after the dinner.

Several people approached together, and there was Xu Yuanming, whom Liao Nanqing had met last time, so he subconsciously hid behind.

The group picked a clean table and sat down, only Su Beimo was still standing. He went over and caught Liao Nanqing who was trying to hide: “You’re still hiding when you see me?” When he opened his mouth, he smelled of alcohol and raised his eyebrows wearily, not very happy. Su Beimo rarely behaved like this in front of his colleagues, he must have had too much drink today.

Liao Nanqing, who smelled of tobacco, wine and hot food, didn’t smell very good. He whispered, “Didn’t hide.”

Su Beimo stared at him as if to say, you didn’t hide but you went to the back?

However, before he could say anything, the colleague sitting behind him suddenly shouted at him, “Su Beimo! Did you find your brother? Why don’t you sit down and have a drink together?”

Su Beimo raised his hand and refused, with the smell of alcohol, he continued to ask Liao Nanqing, “You are obviously hiding from me.”

“I’m too sloppy today, you’ll lose face in front of your colleagues.” Liao Nanqing lowered his head and was a little cramped.

Today, his clothes even had the soup spilled on the plate, not to say that he was in a mess but definitely not decent.

Su Beimo paused, looked at the small quail-like Liao Nanqing, and then looked at the menu on the table, and asked without thinking, “Want to eat crayfish?”

Liao Nanqing nodded honestly: “I ate two cupcakes for dinner, I was a little hungry. The beef fried rice here is also very good. Do you want to eat together? I can get a discount if I buy it. The owner is quite nice.”

“Then order two plates of beef fried rice, and one order of crayfish, slightly spicy.”

“Shall we pack it and eat it?”

“Eat here.”

“Let’s go back and eat, okay?”

“Just sit here and eat.”

Su Beimo picked a table a little farther away from Xu Yuanming and the others, and said with a smile, “My brother is introverted, so I won’t sit with you guys.” He took Liao Nanqing’s hand and sat down, and gently squeezed his fisted hand under the table, “Don’t be ashamed, don’t think about it. You don’t read any online novels, so many messy dog blood plots can be imagined. “

Being dumbfounded, Liao Nanqing had to let him hold his hands.

In the company, it was well known that Su Beimo had a younger brother, and everyone knew that Su Beimo was a 24-year-old filial brother. He cared about his younger brother’s study, his younger brother’s life, and his younger brother’s mood, and he could praise him every time people mention it, praising him even more than his legendary “partner”.

Especially Xu Yuanming, said with relish, his cheeks slightly red from the wine: “Xiao Su treats his brother as a treasure, spoiled beyond belief.”

Another colleague picked up. “Su Beimo has a good temper, every time I see my asshole brother, I can’t wait to beat him up!”

“Bah, your brother is as good as the other brother? Look, this is a work-study program before school starts…”

“Fuck, is this diligence inherited? Isn’t that how Su Beimo is at the company? Hahahaha.”

…

They chatted happily with each other, and invariably praised Liao Nanqing a few times. Liao Nanqing was embarrassed and blushed, peeling the lobster and putting it into Su Beimo’s bowl when it was done.

Su Beimo took two bites of beef fried rice and was full. Most of the time during dinner, he was drinking and there was not much padding in his stomach. When he was full, he had the strength to talk. Now it was his turn to peel lobster for Liao Nanqing. While peeling, he said, “It’s too stuffy in this big stall on a hot day, don’t come to work from tomorrow, school will start soon anyway.”

“Hmm.” Liao Nanqing with his mouth chewing crayfish, said vaguely, “Then I will talk to the boss later.”

“Also, I’ve talked to Lin Quan. You can come and help out after school during the weekdays, she’ll pay you by the hour.”

“Well, Sister Lin is especially good to me.” Liao Nanqing puffed out his cheeks.

Su Beimo pinched his cheek: “Finish eating before you talk.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Xu Yuanming came over to gossip with a glass of wine, sat down on the plastic stool between them, and forked his legs, sighing twice. Liao Nanqing pinched his chopsticks and moved to the side, trying to keep a little distance from Xu Yuanming. He remembered it in his heart, last time it was Xu Yuanming’s nonsense talk that caused him to go around in circles before harvesting love.

“Hey, don’t run away.” Xu Yuanming encircled Liao Nanqing’s shoulders.

Su Beimo was not happy and straightened Xu Yuanming out: “He is still young, don’t be gaudy, Xu ge.”

Liao Nanqing pushed away Xu Yuanming’s hand again: “I’m still young, and I don’t want to be gaudy, Xu ge.”

Xu Yuanming pointed to Su Beimo with a mouthful of blood in his heart, saying in his heart, I don’t care about you. But the face turned to Liao Nanqing, asking with a smile, “Have you seen your brother’s partner?”

Was this not Liao Nanqing himself? He nodded his head.

Xu Yuanming felt relieved: “Your brother’s partner is mysterious; no photos and never shows affection. Come, you tell me, is Xiao Su’s partner extremely cold, and does not treat Xiao Su well?” He was so drunk that he came to Su Beimo to have fun.

Who wanted Liao Nanqing to be honest; since he had asked himself, he should answer honestly.

“Brother Xu, he’s not cold.” Liao Nanqing looked at Su Beimo, there were countless cosmic stars under his eyes, it was deep but he didn’t even know it, “He likes Su Beimo very, very much.”