Chapter Text
“Let’s go to a pub to celebrate!!”
Tang Mo looked up from his computer screen, gaze falling on the few people in the library before looking at his boss with a blank eye. When seeing such an expression, Director Wang couldn’t help a laugh, patting Tang Mo’s shoulder from across the table.
“They have just sent the promotion letter. You should celebrate a little! Xiaozhao, aren’t I right?”
Zhao Yan was assembling some books, eyes fixed on the paper in her hand as chirped a ‘yes’ in approval. “Brother Tang,” she turned around, “You hardly ever party. Don’t refuse, I’m sure Director Wang will treat us. Right?”
The old man let out a groan, finger pointing at Zhao Yan. “Xiaozhao, you’re so evil. Fine! I’ll be treating you to drinks. But! I’ll be choosing the location.”
“Not a problem.” Zhao Yan raised her shoulders innocently, hands pacing to keep the books in their right places. “Brother Tang, we’ll take that as a yes.”
I didn’t even speak, thought Tang Mo, but since he couldn’t find himself to say no - he’d refused them too many times in the past, and he was running out of excuses - he nodded. Director Wang’s face lit up, clapping his hands together. “That’s decided, then. Xiaotang, Xiaozhao, be ready at 7. I’ll be picking you up. Now go, I’ll take care of the rest.”
The young lady beamed with joy, books in the cart almost done as he did some last checks onto the computer. The clock above his desk showed half past 4, second hand ticking exceptionally loud in the library's silence, accompanied by the clicks of the keyboard.
He bid his last goodbyes to his Director Wang, and as he reminded Zhao Yan to get home safely and collected his belongings, it was already 5.
—
The bus hadn’t been all that crowded, and he had left on time, so he’d taken a shower before changing into some casual clothing - black jeans, a grey hoodie and denim jacket - and opened up QQ.
[Mo Tang: Let’s play a game.]
Victor was usually active during the nights, not the evenings, but regardless, he sent out a message.
The man responded immediately.
[Victor: I’m sorry. A little busy here.]
That wasn’t a problem, Tang Mo thought. He was about to close his tab to call Director Wang, but a ‘ting’ sounded as a message popped.
[Victor: Don’t you live in Suzhou?]
Fu Wenduo sat in a hotel room, bedsheets tucked and blankets folded as his fingers pressed keys on the keyboard, eyes on the screen. He ran his thumb across the dial of his watch, waiting for Mo Tang’s response.
[Mo Tang: I do.]
With eyes calm like an unrippled lake, he typed out a message.
[Victor: I’m passing by Suzhou.]
[Victor: Do you want to meet?]
Fingers tapped at the table as Fu Wenduo patiently waited for the other party’s message. Unbeknownst to him, though - the said party was probably freaking out.
His eyes darted to the new message.
[Mo Tang: Boss has called me out for drinks. Sorry.]
On his side, Tang Mo had gotten down from his excitement pretty easily. If he refused now, Director Wang might as well ask him to resign. Even Xiaozhao might not save him. However, as he reread his already sent message, he didn’t want Victor to misunderstand. So, Tang Mo added.
[Mo Tang: I’ve gotten a promotion.]
The older man’s fingers made a pause, the sonorous table having gotten a rest from being Fu Wenduo’s instrument. He typed out.
[Victor: Congratulations.]
A smile crept up the young major’s face as he read Mo Tang’s new message.
[Mo Tang: Thanks :) ]
Fu Wenduo was about to type out another message when he heard a knock on his door, the door unlocking and a youthful face greeted him. “Senior, get out of there! Boss is calling.”
He nodded, and the door was promptly closed. He typed out one last message before tapping the laptop shut before standing to leave with the young man.
[Victor: Another time, then. Goodbye.]
—
Tang Mo fiddled with his fingers, seated on the passenger seat next to Director Wang as they waited for Zhao Yan to come down. She did, and in a few moments, they hit the road.
The old Volkswagen that Director Wang owned was relatively good for its age, and it wasn’t long before they reached their required destination. As Zhao Yan reached down the car and Director Wang locked it up, Tang Mo observed the bar from afar.
The bar was barely illuminated, the neon on top hardly noticeable other than a stark checkered board and a rook imprinted, dim but visible text reading…
Don’t tell him Director Wang really brought them to a chess pub?!
“Xiaotang, I forgot to ask you. Do you play chess?”
Forget chess. He hardly played board games.
He couldn’t curse at his boss of all people, so he could only respond vaguely. “I know the rules, but I’m not good at it.”
Director Wang laughed and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not good at it either! Well, if you don’t want to play, you can always sit back with your drink and enjoy the show for yourself. Xiaozhao, what about you? Should you and Xiaotang have a match today? I know the pub owner, he is an old friend of-“
“No no, I think I’m fine with the drink.” The young lady shook both of her hands, hoping that could relay the message. Director Wang laughed, pulling out his ID as they entered the pub. “That’s fine, that’s fine.”
As they entered the pub, Tang Mo noticed the absence of people in this bar. Which, fair, few would come to a chess pub, even if it had excellent drinks. Still, for an abstract topic - abstract to him in particular, of course, he had no idea they even existed until Victor mentioned them in QQ - having a few people still meant that Director Wang didn’t have the worst taste after all.
He wondered how Victor would be at chess...
Would he be as good as he was at bridge? He’d mentioned it, so of course he must be interested in chess, but if he was as good as he was with cards...
He’d love to have a match against him.
He’d probably lose, but this was about Victor, not chess.
“... Brother Tang!”
Tang Mo raised his head, eyes meeting Zhao Yan’s as she handed him his drink. Director Wang sat across from him, laughing as he clapped when one of the current players made a good move. Though he couldn’t make a difference yet - he really did just know the rules - he was a quick learner. He was good with competitive exams, and this can’t be any worse.
As the few other men and women cheered in themselves - the chess players sat in the middle, but not everyone cared for them - and the spotlight on the chess players meant that the rest of the bar was pretty much dimly lit.
In the poorly illuminated room sat another group of people.
“Xiao Duo, you could have told me earlier. I would have informed Professor Luo about this meeting later. After all, there was no rush.”
“Exactly what I’m saying!” A young man, around 19 years of age spoke up, his voice agitated, but had no genuine force in it. “Not fair. But hey, at least we’re here.”
“Jiu Chang.” Fu Wenduo looked at the young man with cold eyes.
Jiu Chang was a junior officer from the army, and a close friend of his - the latter had made the initiative, but Fu Wenduo would be lying if he didn’t think they’d make good friends - and probably the only person who spoke to him in the army, other than the higher ups.
One such gentleman sitting across from him.
They were called to Beijing to meet Professor Luo of Peking University, but since they’d recently been at their base which was closer to the border, they figured they stop at Suzhou for the night, starting their travels the next afternoon.
Of course, their plan didn’t involve coming to spend the night at a chess pub - his higher up’s choice - but Jiu Chang had been a little... vocal about his birthday when he found it out, hence the change in plans.
How he found out, Fu Wenduo could try to find it out, for it wouldn’t be hard for him, but he couldn’t care less.
Too bad he couldn’t meet Mo Tang.
He always wondered what Mo Tang would look like. Maybe he looked like a southerner, spectacles, not too tall - all the stereotypes the internet could feed him, really - but his instinct told that this internet mutual of his was a very interesting figure.
He couldn’t wait to meet him.
Whenever that was going to happen. He knew it would.
“Xiao Duo, I’m not really sure what you youths like nowadays,” his boss started, “but I assumed this would be fine. The drinks are on me, by the way. You don’t have to pay them even if it’s your-“
“I’ll pay them.” Fu Wenduo stated as he raised himself from the seat. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Fu Wenduo made his way to the bartender, placing his order in simple words as he waited at the counter, hands behind his back in habit. From afar, it looked like he was daydreaming, but only a person with a deep understanding could tell that he was, in fact, noting the people in the bar.
Occupational habit.
His eyes met a lot of faces - young and old, men and women, all people enjoying their company - until his face landed on a particular youth, face a frown as he gulped down a drink.
The man looked in his early twenties, short hair pushed behind as he let out a smile when the middle-aged man across from him laughed. In the dim lighting, you would expect that his vision would be unclear, but in his line of sight, this man was clearer than the moon on a full moon night, the sun amidst the orange sky.
His instincts told him to pay special attention to this man.
Whoever he was.
The bartender called him out, placing the three glasses in front of him, and Fu Wenduo steadily held them in his hands, making his way back to his table.
“Thanks.” Jiu Chang took a sip of his drink, face contouring into pure bliss as his hands gently placed the cup down onto the table. “Hey, wanna play a round? I heard that the two playing are in their last round.”
Seeing Fu Wenduo not respond, he continued. “The first three rounds are free.” He turned his head. “So, do you want to play?”
A birthday spent playing chess was definitely better than a birthday on a mission. Seeing no reason to refuse, he nodded, beaming the young man beside him up. “Boss, I’ll be right back. Get their ass!”
Across the room, on a certain table.
Director Wang was on his 5th drink of the night, and Tang Mo was just so tired. In between drinking for the sake of his boss’s heart and dealing with the emotional drunk mess that was Zhao Yan, he was just so fucking tired.
He wasn’t planning on drinking too much anyway, and now that Director Wang was on the verge of passing out, and Zhao Yan clearly had no other way to reach home, he concluded himself being the only person left to become their driver.
He’s never agreeing to Director Wang’s drink outs ever again.
“Xiaotang!” Director Wang cooed. “You’ve been an excellent employee. I’m so proud of you. Kid, you make me feel like a parent. Keep your good work up! Cheers!” He raised his glass high in the air, motioning Tang Mo to click it with his own. He picked his empty glass and obliged.
Director Wang’s drunk mind shouldn’t be able to differentiate that, anyway.
“Xiaotang, hear me out.” Director Wang clanked his glass onto the table, eyes bright and twinkling, and Tang Mo had a bad feeling that it was- “Play the next round of chess.”
...not a good sign.
Fuck him.
“Director,” he started, pausing more often than not to make himself clear. “It’s getting late, shouldn’t we leave? We still have Xiaozhao with us, a young girl staying here so late. Her parents must be worried.”
“Xiaotang,” Director Wang tried to sound angry, but his drunk state made him sound coquettish instead. “It’s 10:30, you call this late?”
Not for him, but it was for Victor. He’d go offline after 10:30. Tang Mo never saw the need to question that, and since he had nothing better to do other than play games with Victor, sleeping by that time had become more of a habit than a necessity.
“No buts. You’ve gotten a promotion, don’t be a killjoy, ok? I’ll give your name to the bartender, he’s also an old friend of mine, you’ll be playing against whoever has written their name as well. Make me proud, ok?”
The bartender was barely over 20, but Tang Mo might as well make no comments about that if he wasn’t suicidal.
Now that he was playing this game of chess, he might as well try to get good at it. He didn’t know what kind of bar this was - did losing mean he’d have to pay a sum of money? That shouldn’t be. Gambling was illegal. Still, he couldn’t get checkmated in the first few moves, that’d be far too embarrassing.
The players in the middle seem to be in deep thought, waiting almost a minute two between each move, examining each piece in scrutiny. There was a screen on a wall, a digital version of the players’ ongoing game. The one who’d been playing with the black pieces had lost almost all of them, while the one with the white pieces was clearly at an advantage, strong points like the knight and the rook still standing tall and proud.
He didn’t know how useful the knight and the rook actually were, but Victor had once mentioned that they had been his favourite pieces, so he assumed they were special.
Maybe it was a little unhealthy how much he cherished Victor’s words, but in his defence, he had splendid memory.
If he were to pick favourites...
He’d say the queen. And the bishop.
The player on the white side was content with his moves, paying little attention to a desolate black pawn in the seventh rank...
By the time the player on the white side had any time to join the dots and eliminate the pawn, it was already too late. The player on the black side had exchanged his pawn for a queen, and the few who had been paying attention to game cheered in excitement.
Such was the beauty of chess.
It was merely a few moves later that the player with the black pieces had gained the upper hand, each move closer to the white pieces’ checkmate. Soon enough, the crowed erupted in a roar - it sounded a little pathetic, a few people cheering really wasn’t all that exciting - but it still did its job of explaining what needed to be explained to him.
He’s got this.
Once the cheers simmered down, the bartender came up to the table, hands clapping as he announced the end of the game, holding the arm of the winner high in the air. A few cheers - still pathetic, but slightly more energetic - echoed through the dimly lit room, and the bartender fished out a paper, eyes squinting before he started.
“And now shall we have the last match for today! Please welcome,” a quick glance to the paper, “Fu Wenduo and Tang Mo!”
Amidst the screams and cheers reverberating the room, two pairs of eyes met - one scrunched, the other calm - as Tang Mo scrutinized the man from face to feet. Brown overcoat, black turtleneck and black trousers, he wouldn’t be surprised if this man turned out to be some mafia boss.
He didn’t even know this man. Why was he glaring at him?
He turned to Director Wang, eyes practically glued to the chessboard. Amidst his drunk mumbles, the only thing he could catch on was “jiayou”.
It would be a miracle if he didn’t need that.
He saw the man make his way to the centre - so he was this Fu Wenduo, huh - pushing his overcoat behind as he sat on the chair, rearranging the pieces on the board in silence. By the time Tang Mo made his way all across the room, the man had already placed the pieces in their respective positions - at least according to his memory.
“Fu Wenduo.” The man reached out his hand, eyebrows raised with lips curved into a smile. Tang Mo took it, shaking it with his face a frown - the man looked suspicious - before introducing himself. “Tang Mo.”
The bartender motioned him to sit on the chair, and the eyes of all the people present in the pub were on him and the man. He wasn’t sure if this was how every game started, with the full attention of every person in the room, slowly dissipating as the match ended.
The man across from him - Fu Wenduo, he recalled - was looking at him. He could tell. He just didn’t care enough to look straight into the other man’s eye just yet, for he still had this entire chess thing he wasn’t sure how to deal with.
“You can take the white side.” The man spoke up, turning the board around to place the white pieces on his side. He hadn’t the intention. What was so interesting about the black pieces, anyway? The white pieces went first anyway, it wasn’t-
Was this man looking down at him?
How dare he.
Tang Mo sent a glare - he wasn’t one to make enemies with his opponent already, but in his defence, the said opponent bought it upon himself. The bartender took a whistle - well, what the actual fuck - and the game began.
Tang Mo had little information about first moves - he was told about how moving a knight is never a bad thing - so he went with that. Fu Wenduo - he’d got to call the man by his name - moved a pawn, and Tang Mo doesn’t quite know the other party’s strategy yet.
The pawn Fu Wenduo had moved paved the way for his bishop, which he ended up introducing in the play almost immediately. Tang Mo’s position wasn’t all that bad yet, which took him by surprise.
Either his opponent really looks down upon him, or he’s actually not all that bad at this.
Tang Mo ended up moving his other knight too - he’d taken a liking to this piece, very useful - but he soon realised that he was falling behind. His bishop and two pawns were gone, and he still didn’t have a particular strategy on how to win.
Well, ‘not lose’ was the goal, and a draw was fine too.
He wondered what he’d do if this was bridge. In bridge, he got all the important cards out, while Victor did took charge of making sure their opponents never overpowered them.
Too bad Victor wasn’t here.
He was good at chess, and with this tacit understanding they had, there was hardly any need to speak. Their moves in bridge flowed like the river, never out of time, never out of the path.
With little time to brood, he was back into the match, Fu Wenduo having just moved a rook of his to eliminate his bishop.
Whoever this Fu Wenduo was, he seemed to like the rook and the knight a lot. He’d eliminated all of them with these, and if this went on, he was sure to be in a checkmate thanks to them.
Fu Wenduo also seemed to have done a move he didn’t quite know. The king and a rook seemed to have switched their positions, sitting next to each other in a corner of the last row. Guessing that this was just another thing he didn’t know, he ignored it.
Which was a grave idea.
Well, he was exaggerating, of course, but the change in the king's position gave Fu Wenduo an innate advantage of not being checkmated as easily as - well, him. And that wasn’t nice. His bishops were gone, and the only other piece that could move diagonally was the queen. He couldn’t put her in danger, but he couldn’t rely on his knights forever.
Time to bring out his rooks.
He could finally see a pattern in Fu Wenduo’s moves, concluding them to two points:
One, he uses rooks and knights. He’d eliminated one of each pair, but Fu Wenduo hadn’t shifted.
Second, that from the last five minutes, he’d been eliminating his pawns. Compared to, say, 20 minutes ago, when he’d been eliminating every other piece.
Maybe Fu Wenduo thought he’d been planning to do what the player before him had done? It wasn’t a risky move. He quite entertained the idea of it, but he wouldn’t do it unless he was in dire need. Fu Wenduo clearly wasn’t stupid enough to let the pawns hanging around either, clearly noticeable with his present change in strategy.
He’d eliminated quite a few of Fu Wenduo’s pieces, and he’d consider each other on the same page now. They were still eliminating pieces, but they’d both lost significant pieces, so with no one at a real advantage, the game wasn’t all that fun anymore.
When he went from 'I can’t play' to 'this isn’t fun anymore', he didn’t quite keep track.
He wondered if he could call in a draw?
The reason he knew chess at all was that his late father had been good at it. He’d taught him the rules - extremely handy today, clearly - and played with him when he was younger. Of course, he’d been too lenient when he was younger, and they never played when he got older, so he thought that his game at this was bad.
Was he just having exceptionally good luck?
That’s not possible. He notoriously had the worst luck.
He remembers being told about calling it a draw. Or quitting. Something along those lines. Would that mean that Fu Wenduo would win?
He assumed that won’t be the case.
At the most, it should be a draw.
Looking in the bartender’s direction, he raised his palm around his mouth. “Laoban, I quit!”
“-I quit.” Said a calm voice simultaneously.
Two pairs of eyes peeked into each other.
Fu Wenduo wasn’t smiling anymore, but if looks could kill, holy shit, he’d be dead already. Tang Mo was too wide eyed to care, though, forehead turning into a frown.
…what just happened.
The bartender clicked his tongue, and the crowd audibly sighed, chattering whispers among themselves. Now that he was out of it, holy shit, the crowd had been paying attention. Almost all the people had been surrounding their table - Director Wang and Xiaozhao included - and he didn’t quite want to know the reason yet.
“It’s a draw since both of you have agreed to end the game. Couldn’t have kept playing, could you?”
It was a draw? That’s good. At least he didn’t lo-
Wait a fucking minute.
They agreed?
They never agreed...?
Tacit understanding much?
He doesn’t even know anymore.
And who was this Fu Wenduo anyway?
The man seemed to read his thoughts, which, scary, and held his hand out again. “You play well.”
I don’t, he said to himself, but he hadn’t forgotten how Fu Wenduo looked down at him yet, so he said nothing, merely shaking the hand back with a frown.
This man was special.
Whether in a good way or a bad one, he didn’t quite know yet.
Since he had nothing in particular against him, he’d keep his distance, get out of here as soon as Director Wang is done with a rant, send Zhao Yan home, and take a taxi back home for himself.
He saw the man walk away to a table, a young man’s face a frown as he seemed to latch questions upon him left and right. Fu Wenduo, however, seemed undeterred, taking sips of his drink in between of every brief answer.
Interesting.
Just as he expected, Director Wang walked to him in rushed steps, almost latching onto him as he patted his shoulders, laughing and giggling. He saw Zhao Yan walk behind him, face a little pale - he hoped that she’s okay - but she looked just fine, a smile painted on her face.
“I heard that Fu Wenduo was a tough cookie. Xiaotang, didn’t you say that you didn’t know how to play? Those were amazing moves! I’m proud, you’re my pride. We’re like a family, right Xiaozhao?”
The young lady only smiled with a small nod.
Darn it, Director Wang was far too drunk.
“We should leave.” He said, directed at Zhao Yan, as he placed Director Wang’s arm around his neck. Seeing her nod, he pushed himself in the exit’s direction.
The man’s steps were far too sloppy - he’d be surprised if they got to the car without stepping on some cat’s tail - and his body wobbled around too much. They had walked, what, ten metres, and he’d already bumped into two people, even if they were the ones standing in the middle of the path.
When did he sign up for this?
So it was to no one’s surprise when Director Wang almost flopped into the arms on a youngster - the same one who’d been talking to Fu Wenduo, the man himself sitting right across the table, eyes on their chaos - and all he could do is apologize on his behalf.
“Don’t worry about it!” The young man smiled. Looking at Director Wang on his side, he spoke. “You don’t have to deal with that, you know? Go ask the bartender. He has something to make it better.”
They do that in pubs?
He probably shouldn't be feeding his boss random drugs, but this pub looked for from shady, so he agreed.
Zhao Yan stood by the table, hands crossed as she kept her head down, face in a frown. Just then, the young man who’d helped Director Wang spoke up. “Why’d he drink so much?”
Oh god.
She opted to remain silent.
Soon enough, Tang Mo came back, sitting Director Wang onto a chair. He knew the tablet; it was a normal painkiller. Zhao Yan heard a whisper in her ear. “We’ll have to wait for some time in here.”
She nodded, biting the insides of her cheek.
“I’m Jiu Chang.” The youngster introduced himself - he should be around his age, but he’d still call him youngster anyway - before pointing at the man beside him. “And this is Fu Wenduo.”
Fu Wenduo made no movements, like he wasn’t the one just being introduced.
Weird.
“Fu Wenduo!” Director Wang spoke up, stumbling into an older man beside Fu Wenduo. Gods, someone save him. “Child, you play so well!”
The man’s head bowed, and he responded with a plain “thank you”, lips slightly curved.
If Tang Mo frowns anymore, his forehead might as well crease forever.
“Our Tang Mo here said he doesn’t play much, so I made him play for fun. Eh, Xiaofu, did you have fun too?”
The second-hand embarrassment Director Wang was giving could choke Tang Mo, probably.
The man - Fu Wenduo - had never stopped smiling, but now, his smile looked mocking. “I did.”
“That’s good!” Director Wang nodded along. “Eh, Xiaofu, are you here to celebrate?”
The man looked under the table, smile widening before he faced up, composing himself. “You could say that.”
“What a coincidence! Our Xiaotang has gotten a promotion. You should come to visit the library sometime. How does that sound?”
At that, the man’s smile seemed to have faltered. He almost mistook it for an illusion, for Fu Wenduo was back to normal instantaneously, but he’d clearly seen it. Eyes came to stare at Tang Mo, and they were far too deep for his liking, so he didn’t stop himself from looking away when he felt like it.
Holy shit.
Jiu Chang, who’d been exceptionally silent all this while, spoke up. “Oh? Tang Mo, congratulations.”
Jiu Chang had smiled too, but even a toddler could tell the difference. All Tang Mo did was nod, mind racing for answers to his confusions.
Fu Wenduo seems to have stopped smiling at some point, but Director Wang’s drunk mind couldn’t capture that. “What about you, child?” He should have sobered by now, Tang Mo thought but stayed silent. “Do you have anything special?”
“Birthday,” is all Tang Mo heard, and his eyes widened.
Birthday?
This man was interesting. Not only did he have a tacit understanding with him, he even shared the birthday of a person he knew...
Wait.
Usually, he wasn’t one to care about coincidences. He hadn’t cared when the huckster had conspired all he could about the Mayan civilization when he’d caught the other man trying to steal a book. He hadn’t cared when Zhao Yan giggled phrases like “it’s a sign” when all she had gotten was a text from a potential partner.
He rarely cared about things like fate.
But now, things were clicking together, and he wasn’t sure if he could not believe in them anymore
Stop it, he said to himself. He should stop his horses before they got out of control.
[Victor: I’m passing by Suzhou.]
[Victor: Do you want to meet?]
Control? Maybe he was a little too late.
His eyes shifted to Fu Wenduo, and the other man was - dang it, again - smiling at him. This time, however, it looked calmer, more genuine than it did when it was directed at Director Wang.
If this really was Victor...
He should have figured it out too.
That calmed his heart more than it should have, but he wasn’t one to care.
The man - he still wasn’t sure, but he’d rather take a chance than regret not meeting Victor - looked at him with calm eyes, and Tang Mo returned him with a smile. After all, if this was indeed just another stranger, at least he wouldn’t leave the worst impression.
Just as he was about to excuse himself, Director Wang spoke up, face bright. “Xiaotang, you and Xiaofu should play again sometime. Child,” he looked at Jiu Chang, “what do you think?”
Jiu Chang looked at Fu Wenduo, eyes squinted as he hummed. “Why not. Senior, what do you say?”
Fu Wenduo looked at Tang Mo, eyes deep as a smile laced his face.
“Sure.”
—
Tang Mo wasn’t sure what he was doing with a drunk man in his arms, crossing a road to reach the old Volkswagen with a stranger’s number in his phone - could be Victor, but it wasn’t confirmed. Director Wang was better now, and he wasn’t limping anymore, finally, but he still needed support, and who better support than Tang Mo, of course.
“Director, why’d you promise for a second game?” Came Zhao Yan’s voice.
“You don’t like them? I think Fu Wenduo is a good person.” Director Wang mumbled, chewing the insides of his mouth.
“You can’t trust them that easily! Have you seen how that man looks? What if Brother Tang falls in trouble?”
“Do I look stupid?” Director Wang turned his head to the young lady. “They’re from the military, that child Jiu Chang had an ID.”
“Director, that could be fake. You were drunk too. How could you tell? What if they’re undercover people? If they harm Brother Tang, what will we do?”
“Xiaozhao.” Tang Mo shook his head, clicking the lock open as he gently placed Director Wang in the car. Thankfully, the car wasn’t too far, and the walk till here had been relatively easy.
Zhao Yan got into the car by herself - bless her - and Tang Mo contemplated the idea of asking Victor about his whereabouts.
Should he take the chance right now?
He had nothing to lose.
He opened up his QQ - he and Victor preferred the web version, but the app was fine too - and typed out a message after a deep breath.
[Mo Tang: Sorry to disturb but]
[Mo Tang: Do you happen to have come here?]
[Mo Tang has sent a location.]
A ‘ping’ startled Tang Mo, and the man looked at his phone in question.
[Victor: Did you get your drinks at this pub?]
[Victor has sent a location.]
In the moonlight, a man shifted his weight to rest on his arm against a dirty Volkswagen. As if delighted by a joke, the man let out a laugh, breathy and low, hands coming to nudge at his nose to stop the laughter.
[Mo Tang: Take a guess.]
Even with a dozen meters and an entire wall between them, he could tell that Victor - Fu Wenduo - was smiling. Which, he was guilty of that too, but whatever.
[Victor: You said you never played chess.]
[Mo Tang: I don’t, my dad taught me the rules.]
He pushed his bangs aside, clouding them on the top of his head.
[Victor: Coincidentally, so did mine.]
Yeah, right, like he couldn’t spot the lie in there. Tang Mo laughed at his thought - Victor had no reason to lie, but here he was, giggling like a teenager when teased.
He heard a knock behind him.
“Xiaotang, where did you run off to? Get into the car.”
He turned around, looking at Director Wang’s frown - this man hardly sounded angry, but he should treat him all the same - and quickly typed a message to Victor.
[Mo Tang: Boss keeps nagging, gotta go :/ ]
He walked around the car, reaching out to open the door.
[Victor: We still have a match to play.]
As he sat himself in the driver’s seat and grabbed at the key placed in a nook of the car, he typed out a message.
[Mo Tang: Be prepared :) ]
As a young man drove a car through streets of Suzhou, Tang Mo thought to himself, a smile on his face.
Someday, he should find the opportunity to thank Director Wang for today.
Victor didn’t know about his feelings, and he wouldn’t tell them, but for now…
This was enough.