CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 57: SLOW HEALING ISN’T ANY BETTER

The dishes on the table slowly increased, as did the number of empty beer bottles beneath our feet. Sun Wen had not eaten much but kept drinking glass after glass.

Xiao Yu began to get a bit overwhelmed, "Eat some food, eat some food, take it slow with the drinking, the beer is filling."

Qin Guanglin took over Xiao Yu’s responsibility and clinked glasses with Sun Wen, "Come on, spill it, what was the argument about? Why are you looking so worried?"

"It’s a long story, too long," Sun Wen shook his head, "It’s too complicated to explain. Let’s just drink."

"Three cobblers can equal Zhuge Liang; maybe if we put our heads together, we’ll find a solution," Xiao Yu said.

"Right, it has to be sorted out one way or another." Qin Guanglin was also a bit curious.

Sun Wen was usually a cheerful guy, rarely troubled, so it must have been something serious for him to look like this.

"Sigh, worried about a house, a car, getting married, worried about everything, and there’s no solution."

Sun Wen tilted his head back and downed another drink, shoved a couple of bites of food into his mouth, and mumbled, "I’ve been working for two years, all my money has gone on clothes, bags, makeup for her, and now she complains I don’t have a car or a house. She says her coworkers have boyfriends to drive them around; screw that..."

"Is that all?"

Xiao Yu lit a cigarette, casually tossed the lighter onto the table, leaned back in his chair, and blew a smoke ring before saying, "What’s the hurry? Just get everything ready when it’s time to get married."

"If it keeps going like this, I’ll still be broke when it’s time to get married. What will I use to buy a car or a house?" Sun Wen frowned in irritation, unable to see any hope for the future, "My salary disappears every month, and now I’m close to living on steamed buns and pickles."

"Why not cut back on the miscellaneous stuff? Can’t you save?" Qin Guanglin, holding his drink, offered what barely passed for advice.

"Save?" Sun Wen grew even more annoyed, "She’s always nagging me for this and that. If I don’t buy it, she gets angry, we argue, then cold war, and she’s not happy until I buy it. What’s there to save?"

"You should get a new girlfriend," Xiao Yu concluded with certainty.

"..."

Sun Wen deflated, slumping as if all his bones had been pulled out of him.

He sighed and, after a moment’s thought, picked up the lighter from the table and turned to Xiao Yu, extending his hand, "Give me one."

He didn’t want to break up; after dating for three years and living together for two, he had grown accustomed to their shared life. Now, he was just venting his complaints.

With a life that fluctuated between the rental apartment and the company, he rarely went out with friends to save money. These bottled-up frustrations had nowhere to go; he was exhausted and needed some relief.

"Wasting tobacco," Xiao Yu snorted, pulled out a cigarette, tossed one to him, and then nudged Qin Guanglin, "You want one?"

"What do I want with that?" Qin Guanglin didn’t even look, "Wages will increase, just hang on; don’t worry too much. Come on, let’s drink."

They couldn’t really help with these kinds of issues; all they could do was listen to Sun Wen’s grievances and act as garbage cans to prevent him from stewing over them until he broke.

"Tsk, it’s better to be single. Look at how free and easy I am, no such crappy problems."

Xiao Yu joyfully popped another peanut into his mouth, theatrically sighing, "Look at you two, sigh––even if a woman chased after me now, I’d kick her to the curb. Isn’t it better to be on your own?"

"True, being single is too comfortable." Sun Wen couldn’t help but agree; he had been much more relaxed when he was single than he was now.

He had no other interests or hobbies besides working out. Others used protein powder, he ate chicken breasts, which didn’t cost much. If he were single, not only would he live comfortably, but he’d also save a good amount of money.

"This weekend my girlfriend is having a dorm party; several singles will be there. Do you want to join us?" Qin Guanglin casually mentioned to Xiao Yu.

"That works!" Xiao Yu’s eyes lit up.

"Scram, go live your single life."

"..."

"Hahahaha." Sun Wen couldn’t help laughing, "Come on, let’s have another drink."

"I wonder who will get married first," Qin Guanglin looked around at the two of them, "Xiao Yu will definitely be the last one, just not sure which of us two will be first."

If He Fang agreed, he’d zip through the arrangements and definitely be the first one, but unfortunately, she always says she doesn’t want to marry too soon.

"I guess you’ll be first, I’m not even sure if I can get through this time," Sun Wen shook his head.

"Yeah, you two figure it out, I’m not in the competition," Xiao Yu had enough self-awareness, "when the time comes, I’ll be both your best men, then pick one of the bridesmaids as my date, perfect."

Getting married or something isn’t a rush for him, it’s just that seeing others paired up can sometimes make him feel lonely, that’s why he thinks about having a girlfriend to keep him company. If he really had to get married right now, he’d be more miserable than anyone, not to mention the car, house, and all that, just having someone nagging him every day would be unbearable.

"Hey, you got a nice plan there," Qin Guanglin pointed at him, then quickly turned his cup upside down when he saw Sun Wen about to pour more drinks, "I can’t drink anymore, you two continue."

"Boring," Sun Wen clicked his tongue but didn’t insist any further, and turned to fill Xiao Yu’s glass.

The two continued drinking, and Qin Guanglin looked outside the bar, pondering whether or not to go see He Fang for a bit since they were so close. It seemed a pity not to see her, but showing up reeking of alcohol didn’t seem appropriate either, a bit of a dilemma.

"What’s up, missing your girlfriend?" Xiao Yu casually asked, then paused, remembering Qin Guanglin’s mention of a ’dorm party’, and pointed toward Luo City University, "Your girlfriend isn’t still in school, is she?"

"Senior year, about to graduate," Qin Guanglin nodded.

"...Now that’s something, still managed to snag a junior after graduation."

"Pretty impressive, indeed impressive."

Qin Guanglin humbly said, "It’s all fate."

"Never saw it coming, you kept it deep undercover, how’d you manage that?" Xiao Yu was surprised, wondering how he did it.

"Just like this, like that, and it happened," Qin Guanglin gestured vaguely, not wanting to go into detail with them.

"..."

"..."

"Let’s drink." Xiao Yu raised his glass and clinked it with Sun Wen’s, not wanting to deal with him anymore.

They ate and drank until after nine. Three crates of beer, most of which went into Sun Wen’s stomach, and a lesser amount into Xiao Yu’s, with Qin Guanglin having only a little, was the most sober one.

While Sun Wen was on one of his many trips to the bathroom, Qin Guanglin called Uncle Shao over to settle the bill, only to laughingly be told it had already been paid.

"When?" Qin Guanglin was puzzled.

"He took care of it with me on his way to the bathroom earlier," Uncle Shao gestured toward the direction where Sun Wen had gone off to the restroom.

"This guy..." Qin Guanglin sighed, putting his wallet away, this big guy’s been eating greens, yet he’s still playing the big shot, living for face but suffering for it.

"What’s taking him so long?" Xiao Yu looked around, "He didn’t fall into the toilet, did he?"

"Let’s go check." Qin Guanglin stood up, also suspecting that Sun Wen might have drunk himself under, especially since he was all wobbly on his last trip to the restroom.

Sure enough, when the two of them arrived, Sun Wen was slumped outside the toilet, resting against the wall, attempting to stand up. Each time he got halfway up, he’d end up sitting back down again.

"What happened to you, I thought you could drink?" Xiao Yu ran over to help him get up.

Sun Wen was still trying to tough it out, "No, no problem, just need to rest a bit, I’ll be fine soon."

"Lie down and rest when we get back, what are you doing sitting out here?" Qin Guanglin helped him on the other side and they headed outside.

"Just let me rest a bit, I don’t want to go, don’t wanna go back, I’ll just sit here and rest."

Once outside, Sun Wen struggled free from the two men and plonked down on the curb, mumbling nonstop.

"I’m not going back, I wanna stay out here, sit here, not going back."