Chapter 56: The Entire Bill is Paid By...

A song titled "Boy", dedicated to everyone.

Having had the experience of performing publicly with Wang Xiaole and Ah Hua before, Gao Yun was not particularly nervous. He directly picked one of his signature songs, held his guitar, and began to sing and play along with their accompaniment.

"Once, by accident, he and she fell in love..."

Quite a few guests were holding up their phones, recording videos on TikTok while humming along.

When the song ended, Gao Yun bowed and expressed his thanks. Wang Xiaole walked up to the microphone, said a few polite words of gratitude, and then had the backstage staff play some soft background music before stepping off the stage with Ah Hua to take a break.

Shortly after, the three of them returned to the table in the corner on the first floor and sat down. Ah Hua waved to a waiter, signaling the kitchen to start serving the dishes. Perhaps because preparations had been made in advance, beers, foreign liquors, several plates of cold appetizers, snacks that went well with alcohol, and some skewered barbecued meats were quickly brought out.

"Not bad! The taste is good!"

Zhou Tian took a few bites and gave his approval, "A bit worse than what we grill ourselves, but better than most barbecue joints!"

As Ah Hua popped open a beer, he said proudly, "That goes without saying. Let's drink a lot today."

"Wait a second, try this first."

Gao Yun opened the insulated box under the table, took out six bottles of peach wine, and distributed one to each person.

"What kind of wine is this?"

"Peach wine, shipped over from Hangzhou."

Everyone twisted open their bottle caps and poured the contents into their glasses, revealing a pale yellow liquid that emitted a rich fruity aroma.

"Let me taste it."

Liu Ximing took a small sip first. The ice-cold and refreshing texture, intertwined with a strong peach flavor and a hint of alcohol, instantly captivated him. With a slightly shocked expression, he said, "Delicious! Is this the one you and Daria drank in Hangzhou?"

Gao Yun was also drinking the peach wine. Initially feeling it was quite sweet, the mention of Daria suddenly left a bitter taste in his mouth. Recalling all the scenes of the two of them at the Manshu Kaiseki restaurant, he swallowed the wine and grinned, "Don't mention those three words for now, we broke up."

"Oh."

"Alright, got it."

"Understood!"

The brothers were not surprised at all, and didn't even have the urge to ask for the reason, wearing expressions that said, "I expected this all along; just how on earth did you pull this off, you scumbag."

Gao Yun slapped the table to show his dissatisfaction, "What are you guys doing? I just said I'm heartbroken! Not only are you not comforting me, why do you look as unfazed as if you just heard a weather forecast?"

"Damn it," Wang Xiaole rolled his eyes. "What kind of fake heartbreak is that of yours? You reconciled for two and a half days and were in a long-distance relationship for two months. I swear you just wanted to sleep with her, and dumped her the moment you got tired of it after a few times."

Wang Xiaole's words struck a chord in the hearts of the brothers, and they all nodded in agreement.

"Right! That's just hookup culture!"

Zhou Tian showed his disdain, "Scumbag, stop talking. Every time you speak, crumbs fall all over your body and scatter across the whole table; we can't even eat anymore."

Diao Jun took a bite of meat, followed by a clove of garlic, and chewed as he said, "From now on, don't tell us you're in a relationship until you've dated a girl for more than three and a half months. If it doesn't last three and a half months, don't bother telling us."

Liu Ximing echoed repeatedly, "Any relationship under three and a half months isn't a relationship; it's just shattered pieces. Shattered love isn't worth talking about."

Ah Hua said, "Ah Yun, put in some effort and strive for a four-month relationship next time, let us see if you can pull it off."

Taking a thorough roasting from the guys and seeing that the situation was unfavorable, Gao Yun immediately changed the subject, bringing up his plan to leave Hushi for the capital to look around after a while. The guys all expressed their unanimous support. At the same time, they warned him that Hushi would always be his home, and he still had to come back to check on it occasionally.

Diao Jun had a good memory and vaguely remembered chatting idly with Gao Yun a long time ago. With an uncertain tone, he asked, "I remember you mentioned having a master who is in Peking University's Department of Psychology. Are you heading there for him this time? Planning to pursue advanced studies or what?"

Gao Yun half-jokingly replied, "Advanced studies, trying my best to enter Peking University for advanced studies. I just wonder if they'll accept someone whose highest full-time educational qualification is a vocational school."

Wang Xiaole gave a "heh" sound, "Believe it or not, Ah Yun, if you further improve your street dance or guitar skills, get a few more followers, and pull some strings at the end, you might actually get admitted into Peking University's art department through special recruitment."

These words stirred a ripple in Gao Yun's heart. The issue of his educational background had always been a deep pain in his innermost soul, and the fact that he never truly experienced a proper college life was also a major regret. Given a chance to be reborn, he definitely would have chosen to study hard, test into a university, and make up for that regret.

Secondly, the theoretical and practical knowledge learned in university could enhance his existing skills while allowing him to master new ones.

However, asking a 28-year-old Gao Yun to enroll in college directly now and live the life of a student studying hard for four years really made him a bit intimidated.

After all, he was determined to be a bum; why try so hard? Just hiring a few private tutors to learn some things he liked would be enough.

While everyone was chatting merrily, a commotion broke out at the neighboring table where Li Jiaojiao sat. It turned out that a young punk who had too much to drink was hitting on Li Jiaojiao for her WeChat ID and got rejected. After he uttered a few unpleasant remarks, the two tables started arguing.

"If you won't give it, you won't give it. Who do you think you're pulling that stinking face for?"

"Are you sick in the head? Didn't your parents teach you how to speak?"

"Are you even a man? So petty-minded, getting mad just because your WeChat request was refused? Drop dead, then."

Li Jiaojiao maintained her cold expression as if the whole thing had nothing to do with her. She glanced at Gao Yun a few times, just drinking without speaking. Her three tablemates all looked like students—one guy and two girls—and they showed no weakness, fighting back with words.

At the young punk's table, there were also four people, consisting of two men and two women. The two men were around thirty years old, stout and heavily built, wearing casual trousers paired with ribbed tank tops that revealed tattoos. Thick gold chains dangled around their necks, exclaiming the aura of local hoodlums.

Seeing their companion being ganged up on, they all stood up and moved closer, leaving the two heavily made-up women sitting in their seats with spectator expressions.

"Damn, I forgot about this detail."

Wang Xiaole and Ah Hua exchanged glances; the two old hands had let down their guard and forgotten to hire security personnel to handle trouble. Over the past two years, the public security crackdown had made law and order so good that they hadn't anticipated this.

A bar, even a quiet one focused mainly on music, still served alcohol. Even if no one intentionally caused trouble, it was inevitable that some guests would drink too much.

Verbal conflicts escalating into all-out brawls were far too common, and at times like this, a few influential figures were needed to smooth things over.

With his ex-girlfriend involved, Gao Yun wanted to intervene, but he was afraid that showing his face as an internet celebrity would easily escalate the conflict. He came up with an idea and whispered a few words to his brothers. Wang Xiaole and Ah Hua first smiled, then shook their heads in disagreement, but under Gao Yun's persistence, they still called a waiter and instructed him to carry it out as told.

"Go, get on stage and shout a message into the microphone, just shout..."

After the two bar owners gave their instructions to the subordinate, the waiter quickly ran toward the stage. Diao Jun, Liu Ximing, and Zhou Tian simultaneously stood up and walked toward that table.

Three fitness-enthusiast muscular men standing there created a full sense of oppression. Their bulging pectoral muscles under their clothes and thick arms exposed beneath short sleeves sobered the young punk up by more than half. "What's the meaning of this..."

"What are you doing, what are you doing?" The other two male companions approached aggressively with fierce expressions, purposely shouting loudly, "Who the hell are you guys? Want to start a fight?"

This was where the benefits of fitness showed: it not only strengthened the body, but it also made idiots willing to reason with you calmly.

Before Diao Jun could open his mouth to reply, the young punk squinted his eyes, recognized Liu Ximing's face, lit up, and softened his attitude: "Ming'er, you're here too."

"Ah, I'm here." Liu Ximing only found him vaguely familiar but couldn't recall his name, thinking to himself, *Which nobody are you?*

Liu Ximing's family company was responsible for heating in well over half of the urban district, and virtually no locals didn't know his family's enterprise. Therefore, Liu Ximing could be considered a prominent figure, so running into an "acquaintance" wasn't strange.

"Go back and drink." Seeing that the guy recognized him, Liu Ximing suppressed the impatience in his heart and squeezed out a smile, "This is opened by my friend. It's the first day of business, so let's all keep it happy."

"Hey, it was nothing much to begin with..."

"Ba-da-da-da~~"

At this moment, a burst of energetic music interrupted the young punk's words. The waiter was seen standing on the stage with lights flashing all around. Holding the microphone, he shouted in an impassioned tone: "Up until now tonight, all the consumption of every single guest is on Mr. Gao Yun, Young Master Gao!"

Thanks to "Half City Fate Dream" for the tip and support, thank you so much.