"Hey, guys, what brings you all in such a good mood today?"

"Huai!" free𝑤ebnovel.com

Sao Ji was excited: "Mr. Chu made it through the next round!"

"Oh, that’s great! Why aren’t you out celebrating?"

Xia Yu glanced at Chu Changkuo and gave a signal, so Su Huai noticed that Kuokuo’s mood wasn’t high, he was even somewhat downcast.

"It is a good thing." Chu Changkuo managed a smile and continued, "So how about we go next door tonight, get some skewers, and have a couple of drinks?"

While speaking, Chu Changkuo stared intensely at Su Huai, a surge of unusual emotions swirling in his eyes.

Su Huai smiled and nodded: "Sure, you’re treating, and we’ll help you celebrate your success."

Around 7 o’clock, the group arrived at Wangjing Xiaoyao.

There weren’t any great barbecue places near Capital Normal University, but today’s gathering wasn’t about the food. Chu Changkuo started by ordering four beers.

"Come on, brothers, no going home until we’re drunk!"

Su Huai pretty much knew what was up and didn’t rush to chat, simply keeping him company and slowly drinking.

Midway through drinking, Chu Changkuo’s eyes reddened.

"What does she have against me? I’ve got money, looks, a household registration in the Imperial Capital, I can handle anything in West City. Why the hell can’t she see that?!"

There it was, I knew this was the issue.

Xia Yu and Sao Ji exchanged looks, unsure of how to console him, while Su Huai, unruffled, continued peeling edamame.

Sao Ji thought for a moment and squeezed out a few words of comfort: "Love isn’t about conditions; it’s all about who comes first..."

That sentence gave Chu Changkuo an outlet for his frustration.

"Bullshit! Wu Tianyou beat me by three years, is he some kind of tycoon?! He’s no tycoon at all!"

Xia Yu started to preach his philosophy: "Pursuing a girl can’t be too pragmatic. You have to sincerely have her best interests at heart and make her feel it, not out of jealousy or unwillingness to concede defeat. With a smart girl like Chen Nuanhan, who’s had many suitors, how could superficial words move her?"

The response from Chu Changkuo was a rebuff right there and then.

"If you love being a lapdog, go ahead! I won’t indulge those bad habits!"

Alright, Alright, you’re the boss.

Su Huai casually asked, "So what now? You going to quit pursuing her?"

"Quit!" Chu Changkuo slammed the table hard, "If I send her one more message, I’m a dog!"

"Uh..."

Xia Yu and Sao Ji looked at each other, shaking their heads, not believing a punctuation mark of it.

And there was Su Huai, who always enjoyed watching Mr. Chu’s drama but didn’t push his buttons too hard in a situation like this.

The kid’s had it rough; let him have some respite...

"All right, all right, you’re the boss today. Whatever you want to do, we do; whoever you want to cuss out, I’m with you, OK?"

Su Huai poured Chu Changkuo another drink, watched him down it, and joined him with a drink of his own.

Drinking, peeling edamame, eating skewers, not asking anything else.

Let him drink his fill, get himself drunk, and that’s good enough.

But Sao Ji couldn’t help himself and curiously asked, "What about the singing competition finals? You’re not going to confess anymore?"

"Confess to a tycoon, my foot!"

Chu Changkuo got mad again, punctuating his words with profanity: "After she rejected me like that, what the hell do I have to say to her? That bitch doesn’t deserve it!"

Xia Yu got startled, glancing quickly at Su Huai.

"Hey, hey, don’t talk like that. Chen Nuanhan is a decent person. If she doesn’t like someone, she says it straight. At least she didn’t lead you on, right?"

But Chu Changkuo, under the influence, spoke without a filter: "She is cheap! Didn’t she hang all over Su Huai? Doesn’t she know that Su Huai likes Gu Jiuyue? She throws away my genuine feelings for her, acting all high and mighty, is there any good word fit for her?"

Sao Ji was sweating bullets, quickly pulling at him: "Kuokuo, you’ve had too much! What are you saying?"

The two friends tried to calm him while sneakily glancing at Su Huai, fearing his anger.

But Su Huai really wasn’t angry.

That’s right, that’s the real Chu Changkuo, the true Mr. Chu.

His usual generosity, straightforwardness, and sincerity couldn’t be said to be fake, but they weren’t his core or nature.

Deep down he was always particularly selfish and egocentric, with a high opinion of himself, yet his abilities and schemes never measured up to his pride.

He couldn’t be described as entirely bad, but he was indeed a huge baby.

So Su Huai wasn’t upset at all— he never had high expectations of him, nor did he care about his hostility or approval, so what was there to be angry about?

"Mm-hm, right, Chen Nuanhan’s character is indeed not that great."

Su Huai placated him like one would a child, but it just riled Chu Changkuo up again.

He ignored Su Huai and suddenly turned to the young men: "Huai has someone better and isn’t interested in her. If she had someone better and wasn’t interested in me, I’d fucking accept it. But you two, hand on heart, was Huai better than me when he first got to school? How was he better than me? Huh?!"

Xia Yu was shocked, quickly pulling him back: "Huai’s been good to you, why are you dragging him into this?"

Sao Ji added: "Huai’s given you chances. He’s not competing with you, if you’re upset, go take it up with Chen Nuanhan!"

Sadly, their efforts were in vain.

Fueled by alcohol, Chu Changkuo suddenly raised his head, his eyes red with blood, fixed intently on Su Huai’s face: "Su Huai, did you always know I had no chance with Chen Nuanhan, just sitting there watching me make a fool of myself?"

Well, he couldn’t hold it in anymore, huh?

Su Huai wasn’t surprised that he guessed the truth; even if he was blinded by being in the midst of it, those underlings would remind him sooner or later.

Su Huai was just amused by his cunning. What was there to ask? It shouldn’t have been asked.

"This drinking is neither here nor there."

Su Huai picked up a bottle and poured more for him, while slowly saying: "Either we drink lightly and talk about something interesting, have a good time, and then head home happy, or you drink more steadily, get drunk, pass out, and wake up to a new day."