Chapter 23: Transmigrated as a Cheapskate Phoenix Man (23)
So damn gay!
Cen Yu thought to himself that this truly lived up to being a BL webnovel world—even Gao Lanyuan, someone who couldn’t even be counted as an official top or cannon fodder top, could actually be this fruity!
Fortunately, the elevator arrived at the first floor right on cue. As the doors opened, a crowd of people filed out immediately.
Meanwhile, Cen Yu naturally stepped back into the elevator cabin, waiting for it to head down to Basement 1.
“Going to B1?” Gao Lanyuan’s foot, which was about to step out of the elevator, paused, and he followed Cen Yu back into the cabin.
“Got your car back from maintenance?” Cen Yu remembered Gao Lanyuan mentioning yesterday that his car was sent in for servicing. Seeing him about to leave with the crowd just now, Cen Yu had assumed he didn’t drive today either.
“Yeah, picked it up,” Gao Lanyuan said absentmindedly.
Once the elevator reached Basement 1, the doors slid open.
He followed close behind Cen Yu.
After a few steps, Cen Yu spotted Gao Lanyuan’s car. He originally thought Gao Lanyuan would just unlock his door and drive off, but unexpectedly, the guy kept trailing behind him.
“?” Cen Yu turned around. “Not going home?”
Gao Lanyuan gave a bright, cheerful grin. “A friend just texted me for dinner. Only noticed the message now.”
He flashed his phone screen. “Coincidentally, it’s at a restaurant right across from the company.”
Though walking through the underground garage wasn’t the most direct route, it was still far more convenient than taking the elevator back up to the first floor. He casually glanced at Cen Yu, who was looking down at his phone. “Are you meeting a friend near the company today too, Brother Cen?”
Cen Yu was busy checking Sang Qianshan’s license plate number and didn’t pay much attention to Gao Lanyuan’s probing. “He’s picking me up on his way.”
He suspected Sang Qianshan wanted to talk about that reality show issue.
After all, the guy had just been exposed (allegedly) by netizens today for trying to hire a fake friend. Still, Cen Yu remembered that in the original novel, Sang Qianshan’s manager indeed had that exact idea.
After all, the only non-celebrity Sang Qianshan knew at the time who could actually be considered a friend was Cen Yu, who frequently dropped mind-boggling statements.
If the two of them went on a reality show together, Sang Qianshan would probably be labeled as “birds of a feather” in the very next second.
While Cen Yu was lost in thought, he didn’t care much about Gao Lanyuan’s probing. The moment he spotted a familiar license plate, he immediately walked over. Halfway there, he even waved a hand back at Gao Lanyuan—
“I’m off then. My friend’s here.”
With that, ignoring Gao Lanyuan behind him, he headed straight toward the commercial van parked in the garage.
The car body was black, and even the glass was tinted opaque… Standing there, Gao Lanyuan’s immediate impression was that the person inside was likely some public figure.
They had specifically chosen an inconspicuous commercial vehicle to pick up Cen Yu downstairs at his company.
A dozen possibilities crossed his mind, but in the end, he couldn’t figure out a concrete answer.
He watched Cen Yu open the front passenger door, slide inside, and quickly shut the door behind him, appearing extremely anxious about revealing the driver’s identity.
…So anxious? Are they having a secret affair?
Dark, malicious thoughts spun through Gao Lanyuan’s mind.
Standing in an empty parking space, he held his phone up to his ear, casting occasional glances toward the elevator lobby nearby as if he were genuinely waiting for someone.
The commercial van quickly started up and drove along the lane right in front of him. Because it was a commercial building, the lighting in the parking lot was exceptionally bright. Through the windshield, Gao Lanyuan instantly caught a clear view of the man in the driver’s seat.
The man wore a baseball cap, with a pair of black-framed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose.
In the next second, the commercial van glided right past Gao Lanyuan…
Only after the license plate vanished from his line of sight did Gao Lanyuan drop the fake phone call stance.
Although the man was wearing a hat and glasses, and it was merely a split-second glimpse as the vehicle passed by, that face was far too unforgettable. Gao Lanyuan recognized who it was in the very first instant—
Sang Qianshan.
Why would Sang Qianshan come to pick up Cen Yu?
Did those two know each other?
After leaving the parking lot, Sang Qianshan set his hat aside.
He glanced at Cen Yu beside him. “Where to?”
“You’re asking me?” Cen Yu pointed at himself, doubting his own ears.
If he remembered correctly, Sang Qianshan was the one who reached out to him, wasn’t he?
“If you don’t know where to go, we’ll head to my place.” Saying that, Sang Qianshan turned the steering wheel, preparing to take Cen Yu back to his home.
“No,” Cen Yu blurted out instantly.
A plan suddenly sparked in his mind.
“Let’s go to my place.”
Since Sang Qianshan was stressing over finding someone to go on the reality show with, isn’t this the perfect coincidence?!
He didn’t bother notifying Yu Xinyu either. After all, according to Cen Yu’s character persona, he never notified the man about anything he did anyway.
“Your place?” Although Sang Qianshan had never been to Cen Yu’s home, he had sent him plenty of packages and naturally remembered his address.
Without using navigation, Sang Qianshan drove along the route he knew. After driving for a while, as if remembering something, he suddenly spoke up, “You never let me visit your place before. How come you suddenly changed your mind today?”
He remembered back around graduation, when he heard Cen Yu was living alone, he wasn’t a celebrity yet and wanted to hang out at his place, only to be brushed off with excuses about it being inconvenient.
He hadn’t expected Cen Yu to actively invite him over now.
Cen Yu knew Sang Qianshan would ask that.
He let out a dry chuckle. “…Well, isn’t it because… I came out to you?”
Saying this, he carefully observed the expression on Sang Qianshan’s face.
After all, the original Sang Qianshan was the ultimate straight guy in the universe, even boasting quite a reputation for being homophobic. This was mainly because back in school, far too many guys confessed to him, and some used rather dishonorable tactics, causing him to fly into a rage whenever a guy confessed to him afterward.
There was even someone he had known for a long time who was ruthlessly cut off simply for revealing his sexual orientation (and having feelings for him).
In the original novel, because of Cen Yu’s sudden coming out, Sang Qianshan hadn’t contacted him for a long time.
Connecting with him now meant the story had finally moved past that shock—thinking that since Cen Yu had a partner, being normal friends shouldn’t be much of a problem.
And upon hearing Cen Yu drop the keyword “came out,” even behind his glasses, Cen Yu could feel Sang Qianshan’s brows furrowing deeply. He instinctively pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, seemingly suppressing some emotion.
Only after a long moment did he speak: “…Even if you came out, you’re still my friend.”
Taking advantage of a red light, he turned his head to look at Cen Yu beside him, happening to lock eyes with Cen Yu’s probing gaze.
Sang Qianshan’s facial features were exceptionally upright and handsome. He naturally possessed very dark pupils, a prominent brow bone, and deep facial contours. When he looked at someone, even without any explicit emotion in his eyes, he naturally carried a touch of deep affection and earnestness.
When he acted, his most famous feature was precisely this pair of eyes that could speak a thousand words.
Yet at this moment, he merely stared at Cen Yu. “You know I’d never get mad at you.”
