Qiu Qiu sat on the toilet, trembling as he called Fu Ruien.
He had originally intended to pull up his pants before discussing this matter, but Little Li was pressing him too urgently. In the time it took him to wipe himself, she had called three times, crying pitifully on the phone, making his little heart feel restless in his chest.
As luck would have it, Fu Ruien had just finished a meeting with several vice presidents and had taken his phone back from his secretary just five seconds earlier. The ringtone was one Qiu Qiu had recorded himself—a clear, clean youthful voice accompanied by a guitar, humming an unknown little tune. It was like a cherry blossom branch growing in the spring breeze, hooking onto the heart of a passerby.
Fu Ruien had been captivated the first time he heard this song and asked who sang it. Qiu Qiu, blushing at the time, said he wrote it himself, but he had only composed the sweetest middle section and hadn't figured out the beginning or the end yet.
Fu Ruien particularly liked this song and always waited for it to finish a small section before answering the call.
"Qiu Qiu, what's wrong?"
Qiu Qiu's voice was on the verge of tears, his timid demeanor like a piece of almond tofu that could be poked apart at any moment: "Godfather... can you lend me a hundred thousand yuan?"
A hundred thousand yuan was a huge sum for Qiu Qiu, but for Fu Ruien, it was insignificant. However, matters of money still needed to be clarified.
Fu Ruien asked him, "What do you need the money for?"
Since Qiu Qiu had been with him, Fu Ruien had directly given him a supplementary card with no spending limit, allowing him to spend freely. Yet in the over three months they had been together, the most expensive thing Qiu Qiu had bought was a fifty-thousand-yuan guitar, and the first song played on that guitar had now become Fu Ruien's ringtone.
Qiu Qiu said cautiously, "...First promise me you won't get angry."
"How can I know if I'll be angry if you don't tell me what it's about?"
Qiu Qiu was stumped, but a hundred thousand yuan was a serious matter. Was pride more important than the actual issue? He could only say plaintively, "Godfather, you remember my ex-girlfriend Little Li, right?... She's studying screenwriting. When she was with me, she took on a script assignment to write an urban romantic comedy."
"And then?"
"And then... after we broke up, she cried every day in her dorm and couldn't write the script anymore. She said since she was heartbroken herself, having to write about the female lead falling in love was especially painful for her. So when the deadline came, she couldn't submit the draft and breached the contract... She, she just called me, saying that since I was the one who initiated the breakup and she's the victim, she's demanding that I pay this hundred-thousand-yuan penalty for breaching the contract."
Qiu Qiu was both troubled and worried, his heart's flower field withering from anxiety: "...But, but I don't have the money. Godfather, can you lend me a hundred thousand? I can earn twenty-five hundred a month from my part-time job now. All the New Year's money I've saved since childhood is with my mom; I'll ask her for it when I go home. There should be quite a bit in there. That way, I can pay back the hundred thousand in three years..."
He was there huffing and puffing, counting on his fingers with all his might, unaware that Fu Ruien had angrily snapped a limited edition gilded fountain pen in half because of him.
But who was Fu Ruien? He was famously a smiling tiger in City A. No matter how much he wanted to throw this damn kid onto the bed and fuck his legs apart in his heart, his face still maintained a calm, composed smile.
Fu Ruien asked him, "Qiu Qiu, do you know who you're talking to?"
Qiu Qiu indeed paused. He first looked at the name on his phone screen—he hadn't dialed the wrong number—then carefully cradled the phone and said, "Is... is this the secretary? Could you please pass the phone to my godfather? I need to talk to him."
"..." Fu Ruien grew even angrier. "You've been with me for three months, and you can't even recognize my voice?"
"But you just said..."
"Qiu Qiu," this man who always spoke gently and softly had never used such a serious tone to call Qiu Qiu by his full name before, "your ex-girlfriend demands money from you, and since you don't have it, you ask to borrow from me? Before you opened your mouth, did it occur to you that I'm your sugar daddy?!"
"...Huh?" Qiu Qiu, sitting on the toilet, was so scared he pissed himself—literally pissed himself. "Godfather, you, you, when did you become my sugar daddy?!!!!"
Fu Ruien suddenly felt his breath catch. His face turned dark, a storm brewing: "Are you playing dumb with me? If I weren't your sugar daddy, why would I give you a supplementary card?"
"Didn't you see that I'm a good student with excellent character and want to sponsor my education?"
"..." Fu Ruien really wanted to knock hard on this kid's head to see if it was filled with water! "If you weren't being kept by me, why would you call me godfather?"
An extremely aggrieved voice came from the other end of the phone: "Isn't it because I saw you're forty and still unmarried, and wanted to let you experience the warmth of a family............"
"..."
"You don't even have a girlfriend, and yet you get a top student, handsome, grown-up son for free. Where else could you find such a good deal?"
"...Qiu Qiu, right now, immediately, get yourself over to Xiangjiang Villa!"
※
Three months earlier, Fu Ruien and Qiu Qiu met at A University's opening ceremony.
Fu Ruien was an "honored alumnus," a man of considerable wealth who had donated a library, a teaching building, a laboratory, and was currently constructing a newly donated student dormitory—all equipped with air conditioning. In this university, you might not know the president's name, but Fu Ruien's name was etched in the hearts of every boarding student.
As for Qiu Qiu, he was an outstanding student representative—smart, with excellent grades, and most importantly, handsome and easy on the eyes with incredibly long legs and a shallow dimple on his right cheek when he smiled, utterly captivating. He took the stage to give a speech on behalf of the scholarship recipients. Sitting in the audience, Fu Ruien noticed him then, thinking this kid was exceptionally good-looking, his eyelashes like little brushes, especially endearing.
After all the dignitaries had finished their speeches, the host stepped onto the stage with a smile, announcing the start of the cultural performance. Fu Ruien was busy with work and had originally planned to leave, but who would have thought Qiu Qiu would take the stage again, holding a guitar.
And so, Fu Ruien's butt settled back into his seat.
Qiu Qiu sang a particularly fresh English song about the pure love between campus sweethearts. His voice was good, clear and bright, carrying a strong sense of youthful spring. Just listening to his song, one could almost see the white-shirted senior biking with a pink-skirted junior on the tree-lined campus paths.
The students in the audience went wild. Qiu Qiu's performance lasted just over five minutes. Except for the first half-minute where everyone was too reserved to go on stage, for the remaining four and a half minutes, senior sisters and junior sisters continuously went on stage to present flowers and give kisses. Later, even the senior and junior brothers went crazy. A quite tall sports scholarship student, urged on by everyone, ran up holding a large bouquet of roses.
Qiu Qiu, holding his guitar with both hands and unable to free them, simply turned his head and smiled at him.
Qiu Qiu was merely expressing his gratitude.
But the old rogue Fu Ruien, sitting in the audience, had his thoughts instantly stirred.
How to describe it? It was as if a white swan had suddenly descended upon a desert, and the desert, for this swan, had strained to squeeze out an oasis.
The secretary's phone rang several times, each call from vice presidents asking when Fu Ruien would be back for the meeting. The secretary was having a hard time too. Despite his repeated urgings, Fu Ruien's backside seemed glued to that plastic stool, refusing to lift. And that face, usually wearing a thin, insincere smile, was now swaying and nodding along to the music's rhythm!
Qiu Qiu finished singing, bowed to the audience, and without even glancing at the flowers placed on the stage, hurried off with his guitar. Those who had given him flowers felt a bit hurt. Although a single flower wasn't expensive, it was still a token of their affection, and to be ignored like that by the school heartthrob...
Who could have guessed that half a minute later, Qiu Qiu would come clattering back on stage, pulling a small cart from who-knows-where. He bowed to everyone again, then swiftly gathered all the flowers from the floor onto the cart. As he blew 360-degree, no-blind-spot kisses to the audience in the stands, he pulled the cart away with another series of clatters.
The entire auditorium fell silent for two seconds, then laughter, whistles, and applause erupted, nearly lifting the roof.
The professors sitting below smiled, leaning in to ask each other which department, year, and class this delightful kid was from.
The several big shots invited to observe the event also found it amusing. They exchanged knowing glances amongst themselves, which ultimately all landed on Fu Ruien.
Fu Ruien's preference was well-known among the crowd—he liked exactly this type of boy: clean, fresh, and handsome.
It was said to be just like his first love, the one who had passed away abroad.
