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“I quit my job and came to Jiangcheng—wasn’t that what you wanted?”
“You said this way, we could be together every day, see each other every day…”
A voice, on the verge of breaking down and tinged with accusation, came from behind.
“I told you to do it, so you just did? Do you have no mind of your own?”
A sharp female voice rang out.
Right after, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed. Just as Yao Beiguo hesitated about whether to step aside, the half-closed door suddenly swung open.
A tall woman with heavy makeup walked out.
She gave Yao Beiguo a cursory glance, then pressed the elevator button. When the doors opened, she stepped inside.
Yao Beiguo looked at the descending elevator, then at the now fully open door.
After a moment of thought,
He walked toward the doorway. Since he was already here, he might as well go in.
As soon as he entered the room, a strong stench of alcohol hit him in the face.
Yao Beiguo frowned slightly, closed the door behind him, and walked further inside.
Soon,
He spotted a disheveled man slumped under the living room sofa.
The man’s hair was a mess, and he leaned against the couch with empty beer bottles scattered around his feet and nearby. The ashtray on the coffee table was overflowing with cigarette butts.
This man was none other than his former partner, Tao Ze.
“Tao Ze!”
Yao Beiguo called out cautiously.
Hearing the voice, Tao Ze slowly opened his bleary eyes and looked up.
“Who are you? Why are you in my house? Oh… are you here to drink with me?”
“I’m Yao Beiguo. I’m not here to drink, I came to—”
Halfway through his sentence, Yao Beiguo abruptly stopped.
He had wanted to say he came to talk business, but looking at Tao Ze’s current state, what business could they possibly discuss?
“Drinking, huh?”
“I knew it. You’re here to drink.”
Tao Ze pointed at Yao Beiguo, then began groping around on the floor. The clinking of bottles echoed as he knocked into them.
“Huh? Where’s the booze? Gone again?”
He fumbled around, then staggered to his feet and headed toward the balcony.
Worried, Yao Beiguo followed him. When he reached the balcony, he was stunned.
Behind the curtain, there were two full stacks of beer. Each stack had about four cases, making eight in total.
Looking at the mountain of beer, Yao Beiguo couldn’t help but think,
Is Tao Ze planning to drink himself to death in this place?
“Here, drink!”
Tao Ze tried to lift a case but couldn’t manage it. In the end, he simply sat down on the floor.
He grabbed a bottle from a nearby case and handed it to Yao Beiguo.
Yao Beiguo instinctively took it, only to see Tao Ze grab another bottle, pop it open with his teeth, and take a deep swig.
Just like that? Straight drinking? Not even a snack?
“Oh, you can’t open it?”
Tao Ze suddenly realized, took Yao Beiguo’s bottle, popped it open with his mouth again, and handed it back.
Yao Beiguo looked at the beer in his hand and sighed.
After a moment’s thought, he sat down across from Tao Ze and took a drink himself.
Before long, the first bottle was empty.
Just as Yao Beiguo was about to pause, he saw Tao Ze already handing him another opened bottle.
He reached out to take it, and Tao Ze grabbed one for himself as well.
As the alcohol slowly went down, Yao Beiguo could no longer hold back his curiosity and finally asked,
“So… that woman who just left, what was that all about?”
“Her? Just an outsider. Not worth mentioning.”
Tao Ze waved it off, but his expression betrayed anything but indifference.
Moments later, he completely broke down.
“I don’t get it. Why? I did everything she asked.”
“She said the distance was too much, so I moved here. She said…”
“But in the end, why…”
Listening to Tao Ze’s words, Yao Beiguo gradually fell silent. His mind drifted to his first love.
Back then…
A wave of emotion surged in his chest. He looked down at the bottle in his hand and took a long, hard swig.
“Drink…”
“I don’t need your help opening it. I can do it myself.”
After finishing another bottle, when Tao Ze tried to help him open the next one, Yao Beiguo snatched it away.
“Drink…”
…
Dawn broke.
Sunlight streamed through the windows, spilling across the balcony.
Two figures lay sprawled on the floor. One clutched a beer bottle in his arms, the other held one to his lips as if still drinking in his dreams.
Time passed slowly.
The two men stirred, rolled over, and slowly opened their eyes.
Tao Ze blinked and stared at the man lying across from him, completely bewildered.
“Who are you?”
Me?
Yao Beiguo froze at the question.
Who am I?
I’m Yao Beiguo… but why am I here? How did I end up here?
After a long pause,
The two of them sat neatly on the sofa, now fully dressed. The beer bottles that had littered the floor were all cleaned up.
“So, why did you come looking for me?”
Tao Ze turned to Yao Beiguo.
After a round of recollection and explanation, the two had finally pieced together what had happened.
“I came to invite you… to be the Deputy Manager of a Gaming Club.”
Yao Beiguo let out a sigh. That was the whole reason he had come—to invite Tao Ze to manage a Gaming Club.
He hadn’t expected that, in the end, he’d end up drinking too much himself.
“The Deputy Manager of a Gaming Club? Which club? Who’s the manager?”
Tao Ze was taken aback. He hadn’t expected that Yao Beiguo had come to invite him to be the Deputy Manager of a Gaming Club.
It had been ages since he’d had anything to do with Gaming Clubs.
“BL Gaming Club. It’s a newly established club, and I’m the manager. We’ve worked together before—I know what you’re capable of. Even if you’ve been away from the scene for a while, I believe you’ll quickly get back into the rhythm of club work.”
Yao Beiguo spoke slowly and steadily.
“Me?”
Tao Ze let out a self-deprecating chuckle.
“You really think someone like me can handle being a Deputy Manager of a Gaming Club?”
“I don’t doubt your ability. You just need to get your mindset right. Are you really going to keep wasting away like this, drinking your days into oblivion?”
“This wasn’t your fault. Why keep punishing yourself?”
Yao Beiguo looked at Tao Ze seriously. He understood what Tao Ze had been through.
After all, he’d been there himself once. Only back then, no one had helped him. He had pulled himself out of it on his own.
Tao Ze stared blankly as he listened to Yao Beiguo’s words, then turned his head toward the pile of beer bottles stacked by the balcony.
Yeah.
I didn’t do anything wrong. So why am I punishing myself?
If she thinks I’m doing poorly, then I’ll prove her wrong. I’ll live better—better than I ever did before.
And this Gaming Club… isn’t this the opportunity I’ve been waiting for?
Am I really going to turn it down and keep spiraling?
Tao Ze slowly sank into thought. He’d been wallowing for days—it was time to snap out of it.
Yao Beiguo waited quietly by his side. He knew this wasn’t something that could be figured out in a moment.
After a while—
Tao Ze took a deep breath, looked at Yao Beiguo, and said seriously, “Alright then. Let’s team up again. Hopefully, this time, the club won’t end up like last time.”
Staying cooped up in a rented apartment wasn’t a long-term solution.
He needed to prove himself. He also needed work to numb the pain.
“Then here’s to a good partnership.”
Yao Beiguo smiled faintly.
“A good partnership,” Tao Ze echoed with a small smile of his own.
“But can you fill me in on the current state of the club first?”
“Sure.”
Yao Beiguo nodded, then laid out all of President Chen’s requirements in detail.
“The biggest challenge for the club this time is the retired professional players. There’s a real risk they won’t be up to par. If we want to place in the competitions, it’s going to be tough.”
“That’s true.”
Tao Ze nodded slowly. He understood what Yao Beiguo meant.
And it was indeed a difficult problem to solve.
The room fell silent as the two of them sank into thought.
“There might be a few ways… though they’re a bit utilitarian,” Tao Ze said slowly.
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