Spice Of Life Chapter 9

Chapter nine

The other three turned around to stare at him.

Still frowning, Lin Xi still wore some anger on his face. "What are you looking at?"

Tang stumbled over, barely able to tell people apart, "Well then, you tell me. Who else could it be?"

"It's definitely not Fang Ruolian!" Lin Xi s.n.a.t.c.hed the red wine from Lu Lingxing and poured it down his throat, speaking as the anger gushed out of him, "What if I said I was the one married to him?"

The room was suddenly silent.

Lin Xi came back to his senses. After a while of silence he raised his chin and said somewhat unwillingly, "Don't go around telling–"

Lu Xijia interrupted him in a mocking voice, "If you're married to f.u.c.king Duan Shen, should I go and get married to my old brother?"

Hearing this, Tang laughed out loud.

Lu Lingxing approached, sizing him up, and said with some surprise, "Was the c.o.c.ktail that strong?"

None of them took him seriously. He had been nervous for nothing. Lin Xi breathed a sigh of relief, yet somehow felt like his heart was even more suffocated than before. His expression cold, he grabbed another gla.s.s of red wine and poured it into his mouth.

After a while, the tray was stacked full of empty gla.s.ses. Pushing them aside, Lin Xi started walking out. Pole in hand, Lu Lingxing glanced at him, "Where to?"

Lin Xi waved his hand without even looking back, "Bathroom."

Seeing that his tone was normal and his steps were still steady, Lu Lingxing didn't think too much of it. He didn't remember him until much later. By the time he went downstairs to look for him, the cupboard of alcohol downstairs had already been raided. Face red and eyes squinty, Lin Xi was dozing on the bar, empty bottles scattered beside him.

Tang, who was finally sober, went over with a wince to count how much of his collection remained. Lu Lingxing leaned down to slap Lin Xi's face. Lin Xi raised a hand and swatted away his, turning his face and mumbling, "You can f.u.c.king stop annoying me now."

Lu Lingxing glanced around at everyone else, "Who got you this drunk?"

One of the rich kids who had his body pressed against a model on the sofa clambered up and clarified, "Mr. Lin got the alcohol himself."

Tang glanced at Lu Lingxing and asked cautiously, "What can we do now?"

"What else? Ask someone from the Lin family to pick him up." Lu Xijia grabbed the phone from Lin Xi's pocket and tossed it to Lu Lingxing. "The Lin family's recently been watching Lin Xi very closely. He'll be getting a lesson today when he goes back."

Lu Lingxing pressed Lin Xi's finger to the phone, unlocking the fingerprint lock. He started flipping through his contacts for Lin Xi's brother's phone number, but paused after the first few entries

In the "D" log, there was a contact name, "Dad".

Lu Xijia came closer and eyed it, surprised, "Isn't Lin Xi's dad dead?"

"Probably isn't his real dad," Lu Lingxing hit the number keys with surprising calmness, smiling with some intent, "Even the demon child of the Lin family has to look up to someone someday."

After exactly three rings, the phone was picked up.

Lu Lingxing cleared his throat and spoke first, "h.e.l.lo, sir, Lin Xi is drunk. Would you please come and pick him up?"

The other end was silent for a few seconds before a deep, serious male voice spoke, "Lu Lingxing? Message me the address."

Affirming it with some hesitation, Lu Lingxing hung up and rubbed his own head. "Why does it sound like Duan Shen on the other side?"

Lu Xijia didn't cut him any slack, "You drunk too?"

Lu Lingxing laughed, "You think I'm Lin Xi?"

Quickly enough, the two of them forgot about the whole thing. Pushing Lin Xi on Lu Xijia, Lu Lingxing went to the balcony to make a few phone calls. When he came back, Tang was shepherding all the models upstairs, while the rest of the rich kids were busy throwing their clothes back on.

A cigarette hanging from his mouth, Lu Lingxing shoved his hands in his pockets and shouted, "What are you doing here, Mr. Tang! Is it the police or Lu Xijia's brother?"

Lu Xijia's expression was exasperated. "It has nothing to do with me this time."

Tang walked quickly down the stairs, handing him the picture that the security guard downstairs had sent him, "Why do I feel like this guy in the driver's seat looks kind of like Duan Shen?"

Mockingly glancing at the picture, Lu Lingxing's jaw slackened. The cigarette fell from his mouth.

Two minutes later, Duan Shen's car drove into the mansion's yard.

Tang lifted Lin Xi out of the house, while Lu Lingxing and Lu Xijia followed slowly. Seeing the fearful expression on Tang's face, Lu Lingxing suddenly remembered the scene a few weeks ago when they had b.u.mped into Duan Shen at the bar, "Lin Xi's brother probably isn't back yet, so he gave Duan Shen permission to look after Lin Xi."

Hearing this, Tang let out a sigh of relief, "If it's that, then there shouldn't be that much to worry about. I've almost been traumatized by how many times Mr. Lu knocks on my door looking for someone in the middle of the night."

Lu Xijia snorted. "That's all the b.a.l.l.s you have."

Duan Shen took Lin Xi into his arms, his hands lifting his shoulders as he glanced back at the three of them standing in a line. "How much did he drink?"

Tang frowned, trying to think, "Um…maybe four or five bottles."

Duan Shen nodded. "What else did he do other than drink?"

Tang waved his hand, "Nothing, nothing. Just a bit of wine."

Lu Lingxing nodded, "Shen, did Lin Xi's brother ask you to look after him? As long as he's fine, we're fine, right?"

"It has nothing to do with Lin Xi's brother," Duan Shen's voice was flat. One hand went behind Lin Xi's hand and landed on the back of his waist, bringing him closer. "In the future, you can call him out to play. Just keep an eye on him when he's drunk and messing around."

Turning around, he pushed Lin Xi into the car. The latter leaned against the car seat, completely out cold. The chain hanging around his neck fell from his collar, revealing a clean-cut ring.

The three men watching were immediately hushed, their eyes moving between Duan Shen's left hand ring finger to Lin Xi's collar. Back and forth, they must have looked three times between them and were so surprised that their jaws almost fell off.

After a long pause, Tang looked at Lu Xijia with hesitation, "Mr…Mr. Lu, did you actually marry your brother too?"

Lu Xijia blushed, "f.u.c.k off!"