Rear-End Collision

test your blood alcohol level.” The officer said.

Li Yangxiao had no choice but to push the car door open and follow the traffic officer as he walked toward Xu Yan.

During the breathalyzer test, Li Yangxiao deliberately turned so that the side of his body was facing Xu Yan–he did not want to be recognized.
He would not have cared if it was anyone else, but this man was Xu Yan, the guy who had once chased after him.
And now he was even driving a Porsche Cayenne.

But God obviously did not want to grant his wish.
Just as he returned the breathalyzer to the traffic officer and was about to turn around and get back into the car, Xu Yan called out from nearby: “Hey? Is that Li Yangxiao?!”

In Li Yangxiao’s imagination, he was supposed to slowly twist his neck around, and say with an expressionless face: “Nope, you’ve got the wrong person.” Then, with leisurely steps, he would leave Xu Yan with nothing more than his emotionless receding back.

But those thoughts were just that: thoughts.
Li Yangxiao rolled his eyes and quickly put on a very well-practiced grin.
He turned as he said: “Huh?! Xu Yan! Long time no see!”

Then, the two warmly shook hands, with Xu Yan jiggling his arm up and down.

“I never expected to meet you here! You didn’t go to the reunion a few days ago, everyone was talking about you!”

Li Yangxiao answered with an extremely regretful smile: “Ai, right.
I couldn’t make it, I just got back yesterday.”

“Song Chang said that you’re staying in Beijing for work.
What are you doing that’s got you so busy?”

Li Yangxiao continued to smile: “Hai1! What work, it’s just a bit role.”

“You’re too modest!” Xu Yan slapped Li Yangxiao’s shoulder, “What, is that car up front yours?”

“It’s my dad’s.” Li Yangxiao smiled as he spoke.
At this moment, he came to understand the sentence that boy had uttered earlier: “It would’ve been better if I had died in the crash.”

–He and Song Chang could have been lovebirds in death2.

Xu Yan obviously noticed the little Xiali parked in front of his Cayenne, but he was quite considerate.
The boy standing at the side had cried until his face resembled a rain-drenched pear blossom and his voice was hoarse.
Li Yangxiao cast him a sympathetic glance.
He also had no idea what to do; if it were him, he would probably have considered prostituting himself.

“What use is there in crying? Where are your parents?” Xu Yan was annoyed by his sobs and walked over to ask.

The boy could only shake his head; he was crying so hard that he was hiccupping.

“I don’t have time to take care of your problems today.
You should go home and think of something, and wait for me to contact you again.
Give me your number first.” Xu Yan noted the phone number, before he turned and grabbed Li Yangxiao’s shoulder again, smiling as he said: “I finally got a hold of you, let’s have a meal together.
Oh right, I haven’t introduced him to you yet.
This is Chi Mingyao, Young Master Chi, the vice-chairman of Mingtai Group.
Yangxiao, you’re in the entertainment industry, surely you know who Young Master Chi is?”

Li Yangxiao was not in the entertainment industry yet, so he had never heard of Chi Mingyao.
But judging by Xu Yan’s tone, this man was a prestigious figure, so he pretended to have an epiphany: “Oh… Young Master Chi, I’ve heard so much about you!”

Chi Mingyao looked at Li Yangxiao and laughed, the kind of laugh that was a bit disdainful–he could tell that Li Yangxiao was faking it.

Xu Yan quickly introduced Li Yangxiao, before he slung an arm around each of their shoulders, saying that Chi Mingyao had to join them for a meal as well.

Xu Yan’s persuasion methods were very simple and down-to-earth: “Yangxiao, aren’t you going to give me some face3? Young Master Chi, what about you? If you don’t come, you’re going to make me look bad!”

So, Chi Mingyao was very annoyed by him, and it was for the same reason that Li Yangxiao had rejected Xu Yan back then– this person’s coarseness4 was far too obvious.
But he had no choice; he had just crashed Xu Yan’s Cayenne.
Even if the boy behind him was to blame for this whole thing, no matter what the truth was, he had to give him some face.

So, the three of them got into the Cayenne.
Xu Yan had asked a traffic officer to drive the little Xiali away for repairs.
Li Yangxiao could tell that Xu Yan now seemed to be one of W City’s local tyrants.

Once they were in the car, Xu Yan began to reminisce about their youth: “Back then, Yangxiao was the only one in W City who got into the Central Academy of Drama.
There’s only one every few years, he’s that exceptional!” Then, he turned back around, and asked point-blank, “Hey, Yangxiao, I was chasing after you back then, remember?”

Li Yangxiao restrained his desire to roar at him to shut up.
With great difficulty, he maintained his composure, smiling as he nodded.

After chattering away for a long while, Xu Yan finally paused for a moment.
Li Yangxiao and Chi Mingyao were both sitting in the backseat row.
He was feeling a bit uneasy–Chi Mingyao’s aura was too depressive and stuffy, and it was overwhelming; it infringed upon Li Yangxiao’s comfort zone a bit.

Li Yangxiao turned and looked out the window.
Suddenly, he remembered the scene of him rejecting Xu Yan back then.

At that time, Xu Yan had bought him 99 roses, and had wrapped them in a layer of light purple wrapping paper.
He had stopped Li Yangxiao on his way home, before stammering a confession.

Li Yangxiao immediately frowned as he said, “Such a big bouquet, do you want my dad to beat me to death?”

Xu Yan took out an envelope and handed it to Li Yangxiao, asking him to open it at home.
Li Yangxiao immediately pulled out a pen and wrote on the back of the envelope: “you are not my cup of tea”, before passing him the envelope and leaving.

In Li Yangxiao’s brain, he had translated the sentence very eloquently into “ni bu shi wo de na bei cha5“

For a long time afterwards, he thought that this rejection had been utterly brilliant.
He felt that it had been very tactful, very poetic, and very Li Yangxiao.

But he obviously did not expect that Xu Yan, who had never passed English, had gone onto Baidu that night and obtained the translation: “You are not my type!”, exclamation point and all.

–So arrogant. That was Xu Yan’s exact thought back then.

Notes

Wowiee, that’s brutal.

Thanks for reading~~

嗨 is just one of those exclamation sounds; it can sometimes be a sigh.
It’s often used when people are trying to be modest. 亡命鸳鸯 (wáng mìng yuān yāng): 亡命 means “exiled”, and 鸳鸯 are mandarin ducks, which symbolize couples.
Uh… in this case, I think it means “in death” rather than “exiled”. 给面子 (gěi miàn zi): “to give someone face”.
If you’ve read lots of danmei already, you’ve probably seen this term before! It’s basically to show someone respect/to be considerate. 土 (tǔ): Literally “dirt”.
When used to describe people, it means that they are coarse, uncultured, etc. Sorry if including the Chinese pinyin here is jarring, but I think it’s important to differentiate this! Li Yangxiao wrote “you are not my cup of tea” in English, so the pinyin written there is the literal translation (as in, no hidden meanings/proverbs attached).
This phrase doesn’t actually mean anything in Chinese.