Chapter 13: Transmigrated as a Cheapskate Phoenix Man (13)
In truth, Cen Yu had never intended to get drunk in the first place.
He only wanted to fake it, but he never expected that the Cen Yu of this world—a street hooligan turned King of Odd Jobs—actually couldn’t hold his liquor at all!
The moment the third glass went down, his consciousness began to drift. While he remained somewhat aware and wasn’t babbling nonsense, his whole body felt light as a feather, devoid of any energy to stand up.
Realizing he still had a plot to progress, he simply face-planted onto the table.
Lou Baichuan instinctively reached out to support Cen Yu, only for Gao Lanyuan to beat him to it.
“Is Brother Cen drunk already?” Gao Lanyuan bent down, speaking almost right next to Cen Yu’s ear.
Lou Baichuan found the sight somewhat grating, yet felt his own mood was inexplicably ridiculous, so he turned his eyes away—the other colleagues gathered around as well, clearly surprised by Cen Yu’s dismal alcohol tolerance.
“…Should we send Cen Yu back first?” suggested a colleague wearing glasses.
Just as Lou Baichuan was about to suggest letting him sit here for a while to sober up, he heard Gao Lanyuan volunteer, “I’ll take Brother Cen home then.”
Lou Baichuan turned his head. “You didn’t drive today, so it might not be very convenient, right?” he asked.
“It’s fine,” Gao Lanyuan raised his phone. “I can just hail a ride.”
“Forget it.” Lou Baichuan hadn’t taken off his suit jacket yet. He stood up and looked down at Cen Yu slumped over the table. “I’ll drive him home first. You guys go ahead and eat.”
Seeing this, Gao Lanyuan stood up as well. “It’s not very convenient doing it alone. I’ll lend you a hand, Brother Chuan.”
Lou Baichuan’s face remained largely expressionless as he exchanged a look with the smiling Gao Lanyuan. “Alright.” Turning to the bewildered onlookers in the private room, he added, “We’ll take Little Cen back first. You guys go ahead and eat—just use this card to settle the bill later.”
With that, he passed his card to the familiar team leader in the department.
Lou Baichuan glanced at Cen Yu, who had already been hauled up by Gao Lanyuan—
“Let’s go.”
Cen Yu was actually still conscious at this moment.
When he first heard Gao Lanyuan offer to take him home, he had instinctively wanted to speak up and stop it, only for Lou Baichuan to jump in right away.
—Could this be the invisible hand of the plot god at work?!
To keep the drunk guy comfortable, Gao Lanyuan didn’t sit in the front passenger seat this time, opting for the back row instead. He held onto Cen Yu, whose face was flushed crimson—perhaps owing to the alcohol, Cen Yu’s skin tone had lost its earlier cool paleness.
The scent of alcohol was very faint, only wafting out occasionally with his breath, which Gao Lanyuan didn’t find off-putting in the slightest.
Gao Lanyuan’s gaze lingered on Cen Yu’s face for a few seconds. He reached out with a smile. “Brother Cen, if you can’t hold your drink, why drink so much?” He stroked his thumb lightly over the tear mole beneath Cen Yu’s eye—
“Fasten your seatbelt.”
Lou Baichuan’s voice came from the driver’s seat.
Gao Lanyuan let Cen Yu’s head rest against his shoulder. Through the rearview mirror, he looked at Lou Baichuan fastening his seatbelt in front, as if the man’s earlier reminder had truly been an instinctive casual remark.
A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. He reached out and practically wrapped an arm around Cen Yu… pulling the seatbelt over from the other side. His movement was broad, yet he seemed mindful of the drunk man, cradling Cen Yu’s shoulder with one hand while using his right hand to grab the seatbelt above Cen Yu’s left shoulder.
From Lou Baichuan’s angle of vision, it looked as though the man was holding Cen Yu in his arms, turning his body to kiss him.
An absolute eyesore.
Fortunately, Gao Lanyuan didn’t do anything further. Once he clicked Cen Yu’s seatbelt into place, he buckled his own as well.
He met Lou Baichuan’s eyes in the rearview mirror—
“We’re good to go, Brother Chuan.”
“Where does he live?” Lou Baichuan asked, gripping the steering wheel.
“Oh right, Brother Cen, where’s your place?” Gao Lanyuan looked down at the thoroughly dazed Cen Yu.
Cen Yu swatted away Gao Lanyuan’s hand resting on his shoulder. “Hot,” he muttered impatiently. Seemingly catching the key words, he rapidly rattled off a neighborhood name and a door number.
Then he slumped back against the rear seat again.
Gao Lanyuan didn’t get angry at having his hand swatted away. Instead, he brought his hand in front of Cen Yu with a somewhat aggrieved expression—
“You slapped my hand until it turned red. Drunk Brother Cen is so fierce.”
“…” Stop acting.
Although Cen Yu was drunk, he was only about 60% buzzed.
He was merely pretending to be unconscious to make sure Lou Baichuan drove him home and helped him complete his plan.
Meanwhile, after hearing the address he provided, Lou Baichuan started the navigation… It wasn’t too far from their current location, about a 40-minute drive home.
With his hands resting on his thighs, Cen Yu began debating whether he should give Yu Xinyu a heads-up…
After all, in the original novel, he had only gotten drunk near the end of the meal. Now that it was two hours ahead of schedule, what if Yu Xinyu wasn’t home?!
Who would perform on the stage he had set up?
At that thought, Cen Yu fumbled to pull out his phone—a movement instantly noticed by Gao Lanyuan sitting beside him.
Gao Lanyuan immediately caught Cen Yu’s hand. “Don’t squirm around. Be good, we’re in the car and we’ll be home real soon.”
“…” Annoying.
Cen Yu shook off Gao Lanyuan’s hand. “I need to make a call,” he stated with total justification.
Pulling his phone out of his pants pocket, he promptly dialed Yu Xinyu’s number—
In less than two seconds, the call connected, and Yu Xinyu’s voice came through the line right away.
“Hello~ Hubby, what’s wrong~”
“…I’m coming back,” Cen Yu mumbled. “Don’t forget to wash the clothes.”
The words were garbled and disorganized. Combined with the unmistakable drunk tone in Cen Yu’s voice, the person on the other end instantly realized that Cen Yu was drunk.
Yu Xinyu nearly crushed his phone before maintaining the softness in his tone—
“Did you drink?” he asked gently. “Didn’t I tell you that it’s best not to drink outside… drinking is bad for your health.”
The picture of generosity and thoughtfulness.
By now, the alcohol was starting to hit Cen Yu in full force. Yu Xinyu’s gentle words sounded like a lullaby to his ears.
“Hanging up,” Cen Yu said, attempting to end the call, only to feel his mind growing increasingly foggy.
“Want to hang up? Let me help you,” Gao Lanyuan said thoughtfully, taking Cen Yu’s hand to end the call.
Yu Xinyu caught the sound of that unfamiliar male voice.
Young, full of energy… He looked down at the clothes in front of him, the ones Cen Yu had taken off yesterday and that he had just retrieved from the hamper.
In the end, he submerged the clothes in water anyway.
Except the movement looked as if he were trying to drown the garments.
Can’t get angry, can’t get angry, Yu Xinyu told himself. Cen Yu would be back soon, so he needed to finish washing these clothes first… That was what his mind told him, yet his eyes remained fixed on the front door.
He wondered if that voice belonged to Lou Baichuan? But according to Cen Yu, Lou Baichuan was his boss, so he shouldn’t have such a young voice.
Besides, if the other person was driving, could he be making a phone call?
Did he take a taxi back…?
A dozen possibilities crossed his mind. Sitting on the stool, he lost track of how long he had been waiting before he finally heard chaotic footsteps outside the door, sounding as if several people had arrived together.
Hurriedly wiping the water off his hands, he opened the door… only to see Cen Yu practically being carried to the doorway by two men.
Gripping the doorknob tightly, he stared at the two men standing before him.
