ALL NOVEL Chapter 36: You Didn't Lock the Door, How Is That My Fault?
Chapter 36: You Didn’t Lock the Door, How Is That My Fault?
Su Mu had already changed into his performance attire and was waiting in the break room. When Gao Yang came in, the two friends greeted each other warmly and briefly caught up on recent events.
As performance time approached, Su Mu stood up and said, “By the way, remember the bar owner I told you about last time? His name is Shang Guan Fan. Be careful not to provoke him.”
Gao Yang didn’t understand why his friend was warning him again about this matter. After all, he hadn’t even met the owner yet – how could he possibly offend his own benefactor?
“Don’t worry, I get it. You should hurry now, or you’ll be fined for being late.”
After Su Mu left, Gao Yang was alone in the break room. He immediately took off his shirt, tossed it on the chair, grabbed a towel, and swaggered toward the shower room.
The shower room was very private, fully equipped, with a solid door rather than transparent glass, and had excellent soundproofing.
This meant that someone could shower inside while others did their makeup in the break room without disturbing each other, avoiding any awkwardness.
Gao Yang, being rather carefree, stripped completely naked once inside and happily started soaping up.
Shang Guan Fan, who had left the room earlier, felt he had an unpleasant smell of alcohol on him and decided to deal with it.
In the hallway, he passed by Su Mu.
“Wait,” Shang Guan Fan called out.
He examined the young man up close. Su Mu had delicate features and appeared vibrant. Wearing a black tailcoat had tempered his youthful college student appearance, making him look elegant and refined.
“Never mind, you may go,” Shang Guan Fan just wanted to see what kind of person could get close to Old Chu without being pushed away.
Su Mu politely nodded and left.
After walking a few steps away, Su Mu inexplicably looked back. Wasn’t Shang Guan Fan heading toward the break room?
Gao Yang was still in there.
He worried about his friend, wondering if this would be the beginning of their conflict.
But what could happen in the break room? Besides, he had just warned Gao Yang not to provoke anyone. Given Gao Yang’s personality, he wouldn’t argue with people unless Shang Guan Fan provoked him first.
“Su Mu? It’s your turn to perform, hurry up! Your performance last time was well-received, and many people came today just to see you,” Manager Wang waved for Su Mu to come over.
Looking at Shang Guan Fan’s distant figure, Su Mu hoped nothing would happen.
Seeing him standing still, Manager Wang anxiously came over to pull him along. “Come on, come on, hurry up.”
Su Mu went along, mainly because his mindset had changed – if his husband was a good person, then his husband’s friend must be good too. Perhaps what happened in his previous life was just a misunderstanding.
As soon as Su Mu stepped onto the stage, the audience began to stir.
“Wow! Young master, we’ve been waiting for you! I can still hear the piece you played last time – what will you play today?”
“Sister, I haven’t been here for a while. Did they change the pianist? How does he compare to the previous one?”
The woman in the V-neck dress holding a wine glass immediately vouched to the person beside her, “This one is,” she raised her red-painted nail with a thumbs up, “absolutely fantastic.”
“Great, great! Now I’m really looking forward to it.”
Arriving at the piano, Su Mu first took a bow, then gracefully swept back his tailcoat and sat down with elegance.
Today’s piece was more upbeat and energetic, immediately igniting the atmosphere in the bar.
Meanwhile, Shang Guan Fan had entered the break room.
He lifted his arm to smell it, confirming the unpleasant odor. He removed his tie and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his floral shirt, heading straight for the shower room.
With a “click,” he quickly pulled the door open.
White flesh, completely naked.
…
He hadn’t expected anyone to be inside, and usually, wouldn’t people lock the door if they were in there?
So he’d opened the door with full force, causing it to swing wide open.
If Gao Yang had been a woman, he would have covered himself, turned away, and let out a scream like those in Detective Conan when discovering a body.
But he wasn’t a woman, so instead of screaming, he was so startled he dropped the soap, which slid along the suds to the doorway.
His baby face showed eyes as wide as bells, a bewildered expression, and a mouth open wide enough to fit an egg.
The scene grew awkward, as if frozen in time, with three metaphorical crows cawing overhead.
After two silent seconds, the stunned expression gradually turned to anger, eyebrows knotting into an inverted figure eight, followed by a colorful expletive: “F*ck!”
“Who the f*ck are you? Get out!”
“Don’t you know not to peep? Stop staring! Keep staring and I’ll call the police!”
Shang Guan Fan mocked him: “What kind of delicate housewife talk is that? We’re both men – what’s seen is seen. Why act so coy?”
Gao Yang was shocked by his shameless response, “That’s because you’re not the one being looked at! Why don’t you let me take a look at you and see how you like it!”
“Heh,” Shang Guan Fan narrowed his eyes, his lips curling into a wicked smile as he taunted: “Someone as insignificant as you isn’t worth my attention. You didn’t lock the door – you can only blame yourself for being careless.”
“You!” Gao Yang was speechless – it was true he’d forgotten to lock the door. He hadn’t even thought about it.
His cheeks puffed up like a pufferfish in anger as he tried to rush over to close the door.
But focusing too much on Shang Guan Fan, he didn’t watch where he was going and stepped on the soap that had slid across the floor.
He fell backward, one leg flying up. Gao Yang closed his eyes, thinking to himself: This is it. Not only would he bruise his behind, he might even get brain damage.
His hands frantically waved in the air, desperately trying to grab onto something. Suddenly, a hand appeared in front of him. Without thinking, Gao Yang quickly grabbed this lifeline.
The expected violent fall didn’t happen. When he recovered from his shock, he found himself held around the waist in someone’s arms.
His soap-covered body instantly turned red, like he’d been steamed. Gao Yang started pushing away, stuttering, “Y-y-you, what are you doing? Let me go!”
Shang Guan Fan held the soap-covered man with distaste. If he hadn’t been worried about someone dying in his bar, he wouldn’t have rushed to help so quickly.
If the police came and asked about a death, how would it look if he said someone had slipped and killed themselves? Would his bar even be able to stay open?
Looking at the person he’d just saved who was still insisting on being released, he asked with a look reserved for idiots:
“Are you sure?”
Almost the instant Gao Yang nodded, Shang Guan Fan withdrew all support, spreading his arms wide and letting him fall straight onto his behind, causing yelps of “Ouch, ouch!” from the floor.
Like a heartless player, he withdrew from the shower room without hesitation, slamming the door with a “bang.”
The door blocked out Gao Yang’s continuing stream of colorful language.
Shang Guan Fan went to the restroom to clean up, then returned to his office to change clothes. Thinking about the recent incident, he rubbed his fingers, recalling the sensation.
With an upturned corner of his mouth, he commented, “For a man, he’s quite soft.”