Pei You’s work efficiency was clearly reliable, but the middle-aged man was dragging his feet and only finished the work after 8 o’clock in the evening, with his half-hearted cooperation.
The site was quite far from the city center, requiring over two hours of driving. Around seven o’clock, Zhou Qingbo came over to inquire about the progress and learned that the work would take a while longer. He decided to book a nearby hotel to avoid the hassle of traveling late at night.
Zhou Qingbo didn’t like going to the office to deal with the messy accounts and documents. Instead, he wandered around outside. When he got tired, he sat in front of a small supermarket, chatting with the owner. Over the course of the evening, he had eaten three grilled sausages.
As Pei You walked out of the site’s gate, he spotted Zhou Qingbo sitting on a plastic stool in front of the supermarket, engaged in a lively conversation with the owner. In his hand, there was a skewer of fish tofu that he hadn’t had a chance to eat, and the broth was shaking precariously, almost falling off the skewer.
“Zhou Qingbo,” Pei You called out to him.
Zhou Qingbo paused for a moment, turned his head, and glanced at Pei You with bright eyes. He waved his hand to signal him.
Zhou Qingbo said goodbye to the supermarket owner and with three quick steps, he reached Pei You’s side and without a word, handed him a piece of fish tofu.
“Are you hungry?” Zhou Qingbo asked. “Here, I just scooped it out of the pot, and it’s still hot.”
Pei You was afraid that he might spill soup on himself, so he instinctively held onto Zhou Qingbo’s wrist and declined.
“You go ahead and eat,” Pei You said. “I’m fine.”
“I’ve already had a bunch of snacks while you were working inside,” Zhou Qingbo said. “Take it, I think their Gansu hotpot soup is quite well made.”
Pei You couldn’t resist him and reluctantly lowered his head, taking a piece of fish tofu from Zhou Qingbo’s hand.
“How was it?” Zhou Qingbo finished the other piece, tossed away the skewer, and casually asked, “Did everything go smoothly this afternoon?”
With his mouth full, Pei You found it hard to speak, so he just nodded. Then he took his briefcase off his elbow, unzipped it, and showed Zhou Qingbo some documents inside.
There were various documents related to procurement and reimbursement forms. Zhou Qingbo glanced at two of them, then casually stuffed them back into Pei You’s briefcase.
“As long as it went smoothly,” Zhou Qingbo yawned lazily and mumbled, “I miss the fun nightlife of Beijing.”
“It’s almost over,” Pei You said.
After swallowing the fish tofu, Pei You walked alongside Zhou Qingbo and shared the news from Beijing with him.
“So, you mean Liu Xin is using his mother’s company to transfer funds for the projects?” Zhou Qingbo asked.
“Most likely,” Pei You said. “There are no significant discrepancies in East River’s accounts, which indicates that there might be another set of accounts operated by a shell company. As I audited these projects, I noticed their purchasing prices were consistently higher than the market average. Coupled with additional wastage and excess purchases, it seems they might be doing some private work on the side.”
Zhou Qingbo had already sent the issue of workers mysteriously taking leave to Pei You via WeChat. For those technical matters, Pei You had the final decision, and Zhou Qingbo always had faith in his capabilities.
Compared to those messy accounts, Zhou Qingbo was more concerned about when they would return to Beijing.
“That should be enough,” Zhou Qingbo clapped his hands together with a smile. “Now we just need to catch him in the act, and then we can head back home.”
Although that was the plan, Pei You wasn’t as optimistic as Zhou Qingbo. Liu Xin’s assets were sizable, and if the company’s accounts didn’t match his income, they might need to resort to unconventional means.
“But…”
“No buts,” Zhou Qingbo interjected, dissatisfied, as he reached out his arm to poke Pei You playfully. “We should be happy we made a bit of progress. Let’s not go back to the hotel for now. It’s still early; let’s go out for dinner and have some fun.”
Pei You: “…”
Zhou Qingbo was good at “rewarding” himself with reasons to have fun, whether there was something to celebrate or not. Pei You didn’t get a chance to express his opinion before Zhou Qingbo dragged him away without another word.
“Where are we going?” Pei You said helplessly. “This small town doesn’t have much nightlife. The hotel’s kitchen closes at 6 pm, and apart from street barbecue stalls, there are hardly any open restaurants.”
“While checking the reviews on Dianping this afternoon, I saw a unique bar around here with good ratings,” Zhou Qingbo turned back and raised an eyebrow at Pei You. “Since we’re already here, let’s go check it out.”
He paused for a moment and added, “Don’t worry, it’s not one of those chaotic places. I called to confirm this afternoon. They don’t have loud DJs or dance floors. It’s a chill bar, so you won’t find it bothersome.”
Zhou Qingbo had already planned this “rewards trip” in advance.
Pei You didn’t have any reservations about going to a bar, so he agreed to Zhou Qingbo’s suggestion.
“Alright,” Pei You said. “Let’s go back to the hotel first and drop off our things. Oh, by the way, you mentioned it’s a unique bar. What makes it unique?”
Zhou Qingbo had forgotten to ask about that, but based on his experience, unique bars usually meant fancy cocktail styles or specific music themes. He was afraid that Pei You might not be familiar with such places, so he took the time to confirm that there were no pole dancing or any other weird performances, ensuring that it wouldn’t be out of their comfort zone.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Zhou Qingbo said nonchalantly. “Probably just a gimmick.”
Coincidentally, the “unique bar” Zhou Qingbo mentioned wasn’t far from their newly booked hotel. It was located in the town’s “busy area.” Once they left the hotel, it took them just over ten minutes to walk there.
The bar was situated at a corner with an entrance adorned with RGB lights advertising “snacks” and “cold dishes.” The storefront was quite small, seemingly able to accommodate only one person at a time.
Once they entered, there was a narrow staircase leading downstairs. Pei You realized that the bar was actually located underground. The entrance above wasn’t the actual front door; the real entrance was downstairs, around a corner.
The lighting in the staircase was dim, with only a few purple ambient lights on the walls. Pei You hesitated for a moment, then turned to Zhou Qingbo and reached out his hand.
“It’s too dark in here,” Pei You said. “Can you see clearly?”
In the small town, the infrastructure wasn’t as developed as in big cities. Walking under the dim streetlights, Zhou Qingbo had already adapted to the low light conditions. He looked at the hand that Pei You extended toward him, hesitated for a moment, and then held it.
His fingertips first touched Pei You’s wrist and then moved to the side until Pei You grasped his hand firmly.
“Be careful on the stairs; they’re quite steep,” Pei You said.
“Got it,” Zhou Qingbo replied, gently squeezing Pei You’s hand and smiling. “Be careful as well.”
Pei You hummed in agreement and indeed slowed down his pace. He didn’t realize that Zhou Qingbo’s eyes had adjusted to the light as he occasionally looked back, worried that he might stumble.
The short flight of twenty-something stairs took them a few minutes to go down, and by the end, there was a thin layer of sweat on both their palms.
The narrow and winding staircase opened up after a turn, revealing a regular-sized door at the end. On it were written some elegant English letters, likely the bar’s name.
Zhou Qingbo didn’t pay much attention to it. He turned to Pei You, smiling, and took his arm, leading him toward the bar counter. “Let’s have a drink before we leave. What would you like?”
“Anything is fine,” Pei You wasn’t picky. “You decide, just no strong alcohol.”
The bar area was brightly lit, and a bartender was wiping glasses behind the counter. Zhou Qingbo pulled Pei You to sit at the bar and tapped on the counter.
“One Golden Stout and one Mojito, both non-alcoholic,” Zhou Qingbo ordered.
As he spoke, a young man in the corner suddenly stood up and walked toward the bar. He held an open box of cigarettes, with one sticking out and wedged against the paper lid.
“Hey, buddy,” the young man sat next to Pei You without hesitation, placing the cigarette box on the counter. He smiled and greeted Pei You, “Can I borrow a lighter?”
Pei You didn’t smoke, but he did have an emergency lighter in his pocket. He was about to agree when Zhou Qingbo reached over, taking the cigarette and said, “Sorry, he doesn’t smoke.”
The man looked at Zhou Qingbo’s hand on the cigarette box and then glanced at Pei You. His gaze lingered between them for a while before he shrugged and put the cigarette box back into his pocket.
“Whatever,” he mumbled, “Seems like he’s taken.”
Pei You was puzzled. It felt like they just had some sort of confrontation, but he didn’t notice anything.
Before he could ask what was going on, Zhou Qingbai burst into laughter, leaning in with his chin on Pei You’s shoulder, and whispered, “He was trying to ask you out.”
Pei You: “…???”
“Is that so?” Pei You thought blankly. He instinctively looked around, feeling like everything was normal in the bar. There was no inappropriate behavior or intimate interactions between male couples.
Pei You was filled with question marks, and he couldn’t help but ask, “How did you know?”
Both he and Zhou Qingbo entered the bar together and saw the same things, so he couldn’t figure out how Zhou Qingbo came to this conclusion.
“Didn’t you notice?” Zhou Qingbo said, “When we entered just now, they were all looking at us.”
Zhou Qingbo straightened up and, just like the man from earlier, leaned against the counter, grinning. “In a bar, besides gays, no man will be so interested in other men.”
Pei You: “…”
