Sang Ya pushed himself over the railing with his hands and jumped directly down from the second floor. There was no sound when he landed. His body was so agile and nimble that it reminded You Que, who was sitting not far away, of some kind of cat.
Sang Ya motioned the round-faced bartender to go to the side to serve, and he took over the other's job. He walked up to You Que and started mixing drinks. His slender figure was shrouded in the ambiguous light and shadow of the bar, and only his wrists could be seen clearly. His movements seemed to be more skillful than before: "Sir, I thought you would not come today."
You Que stared at Sanya's movements and noticed the antibacterial patch on his hand: "So this is why you ran upstairs?"
Because he didn't come, so you went upstairs to stay
Sang Ya paused when he heard that. His silver eyes sparkled as he stared at You Que and said, "Please don't say that. It's as if I wouldn't come downstairs if you didn't come... I was just taking a break just now."
You Que suddenly realized that what he said just now sounded like a tease, and calmly changed the subject: "So your break time is over?"
Sanya said: "It just ended."
As he spoke, Sanya had already prepared a glass of light blue strong liquor. He held the glass and gently placed it in front of Youque, and pushed away the untouched glass of iced tea without leaving a trace: "Sir, have a taste."
You Que didn't move.
This is extremely uncommon in the small town of Saint-Riez. The male insects are always trying their best to marry some beautiful and wealthy female insects to support them, and will never waste their energy on finding jobs. Only male insects from really poor families will go out to work, but such examples can be counted on one hand.
Sang Ya always felt that You Que seemed to be showing off something. He took the glass of wine a little late, and he really couldn't let go of this refreshing and cold color: "You came here as if to steal my job."
The mint blue wine was slowly poured into the glass, with the color becoming deeper and deeper layer by layer. Under the light, it formed a beautiful gradient.
You Que looked around and saw that no bugs were paying attention to this place. He pointed inside the bar and said, "Can I go in and take a look?"
You Que knew that this question was a bit strange, but for the sake of survival, face was nothing. He coughed awkwardly and asked in a low voice, "Are you hiring a bartender here?"
You Que picked them up one by one and checked them. He roughly understood what kind of wine Sanya had mixed. He took out a high-heeled glass, put some crushed ice in it, and began to replicate Sanya's glass of wine. His hand felt so precise that he almost didn't need to use an ounce cup. There were not many fancy movements when shaking the wine, but it was neat and beautiful.
As he was speaking, an idea suddenly occurred to him: "How about I work as a security guard here? It might work out well."
Although he didn't know why, he still moved aside to make some room: "Of course."
"… "
Sang Ya thought, is You Que afraid that I will poison him? But he still pointed to the bottles of wine on the table and said, "These."
Sanya raised her eyebrows slightly: "Do you want to come in?"
Sanya was stunned for a moment when he heard this: "What did you say?"
Sanya tapped the wine glass with his fingertips and asked with a half-smile: "Why don't you find a female insect as a partner? That way you don't have to work so hard."
It can be seen that Sanya must have practiced before. This glass of wine is obviously stronger than the last time, but the ice cubes inside have been shaken into pieces, and the original gradient layers are a bit turbid. Strictly speaking, it is still a failure.
He was just joking, but he didn't expect You Que to actually look at him and said, "Are you hiring a bartender?"
"… "
He was about to open the door when You Que swiftly climbed in. He and Sang Ya squeezed together beside the bar and glanced at the messy bottles on the table. "What did you use to make the cocktail?"
Sanya can be a bartender even though his skills are so poor, there is no reason why he can't do it, right
Sanya finally understood something: "You want to find a job?"
You Que raised his hand to adjust his cufflinks, pretending not to understand the teasing in his words: "I don't mind, but you saw it in the restaurant today. They were all scared away by me."
Sanya smiled and said, "Don't worry, there's no syrup in it this time."
You Que cut a slice of lemon and stuck it on the edge of the glass. He held the glass of wine with his slender fingertips and handed it to Sang Ya: "Try it."
You Que has scared away many female insects with his ugly face. If he were to work as a security guard in a bar, his effect might be no less than that of a door god. The only problem is that he might scare away the customers as well.
Sangya said nothing and took a sip of the wine in the glass. It tasted very light at first, and after a few seconds, a spicy and lingering taste came up from his throat. In the end, only the coolness and slight sweetness of mint remained. It was a hundred times stronger than the one he mixed.
Sang Ya shook his glass, as if thinking about something, and after a moment he looked up at You Que: "Do you really need this job?"
You Que just said it casually, and he didn't really expect to find a job in the bar. He opened the door and went back to the outside of the bar. Even he was a little unsure about this question: "Maybe."
Do thieves really need to go out to work
But if you have a job, you are no longer a thief.
You Que has run out of money. If he has no source of income, he will have to go out and steal things again. Otherwise, he will not be able to pay the rent and will be kicked out, and he will really become a beggar.
A thief is always more respectable than a beggar...
Sanya was silent for a moment, and then he remembered something and put his glass on the bar: "Sir, please wait a moment."
After saying this, he turned around and went upstairs.
Feiwen and Kevin had been sitting on the sofa observing the movements below, unable to hide their gossiping minds. Suddenly they saw Sanya coming up and asked jokingly, "Hey, Sanya, weren't you in a hurry to go down just now? Why are you suddenly running up here?"
The cubicle on the second floor was the office. Sanya ignored them and pushed the door open. When he came out, he had a paper contract in his hand. "Nothing. Just hiring a new employee for the bar."
Fei Wen's eyelids jumped when he heard this, and he suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart: "New employee? Who?"
Sanya shook her silver-gray ponytail behind her, her movements neat but with a hint of laziness: "The one you know is the male insect downstairs."
Feiwen was so shocked that he sat up from the sofa subconsciously. He couldn't help but complain: "Damn it, this is a prisoner's nest, not a charity. That male insect is so ugly, he will scare away all the customers. Do you think every insect is as brave as you?"
Sanya flicked the contract with his fingers, put one hand in his pocket, and walked straight downstairs: "But he does mix good drinks."
Fei Wen thought that the wine was well mixed, which was clearly an excuse. He was about to stop them, but Kevin and the others held his shoulders and said, "Forget it. It's just hiring one more employee. It won't cost much."
Feiwen was just worried about his eyes being poisoned: "Bug shit, you don't know how ugly that male bug is. If he hangs in front of me every day, I will go to see the Bug God tomorrow!"
Kevin was slightly surprised and subconsciously looked downstairs: "No way?"
Feiwen rolled his eyes: "Why do you think that male insect always wears a mask?"
On the other side, Sanya had already returned to the bar with the contract. You Que didn't know what the other party had done. He was playing with a few dice in his hand and asked, "What are you holding?"
Sanya pushed the contract in front of him and said, "You want to find a job? Our bar is just short of a bartender. Here is the work contract. If you are willing, you can come and start work tomorrow."
You Que paused when he heard this, his eyes looking somewhat doubtful: "Contract?" Sang Ya nodded: "Work contract."
You Que thought to himself, how could such a coincidence happen in the world? He had just said he wanted to find a job, and right after that, Sang Ya came over with a contract. He frowned slightly and said, "You bar recruits employees so casually. Doesn't the boss need to check them out?"
Sanya made up an excuse: "I'm a relative of the boss, and he asked me to take care of it. So, are you interested in this job?"
"… "
You Que picked up the contract and took a look. He saw that the terms and conditions were clearly stated and even had a stamp on it, so it should not be a fake. A base salary of 6,000 star coins plus commission a month was already a good salary in this small town.
You Que raised his eyes to look at Sanya, and said in a low voice, making it difficult to guess his emotions: "Why are you helping me?"
They didn't really know each other, they didn't even know each other's names.
Sanya asked back, "You helped me too, didn't you?"
"… "
You Que really needed this job, and he couldn't refuse it. He folded up the contract and put it away, glancing at the old clothes on Sang Ya's body: "Are you sure you are the boss's relative?"
Sanya: “Distant relative.”
You Que had no doubts, because Sanya's business ability did not seem to be very good. He could not think of any other reason except that he came in through the back door. He paused before saying, "... Thank you."
From childhood to adulthood, few people have extended a helping hand to You Que, so that when he sincerely said these two words one day, they sounded strange and weird.
Sanya glanced at the glass of wine he had mixed on the table. Most of the ice inside had melted, and the light blue wine was getting lighter and lighter. The male insect didn't even drink a sip: "If you really want to thank me, why don't you drink this glass of wine? The ice inside has melted. If it doesn't taste good, don't blame my cooking skills..."
As he was speaking, his voice suddenly paused, because the male insect across the table had taken off the mask on his face at some point, and a breathtakingly handsome face was exposed under the light, which was a huge difference from his previous ugly face, and it made people's heart skip a beat.
You Que's facial features were too deep, and he looked wickedly handsome, but because of his single eyelids, he looked a bit cold and distant. He took the glass of wine that Sangya had mixed and drank it all. After the spicy liquid in his throat dissipated, he shook the empty glass in his hand and commented, "It's not as sweet as last time."
It’s hard to tell whether he wants to drink something sweet or not.
Sanya's expression was full of shock: "Your face is allergic, isn't it? Why are you... "
You Que said: "It's cured."
He touched his face after he finished speaking, not caring at all how many surprised and prying eyes he attracted after taking off the mask, and said self-deprecatingly: "It shouldn't be as scary now as before, right?"
Sanya really didn't expect that the male insect's true face would be like this. He was stunned for a long time before he came to his senses. Even Kevin, who had been peeping from the corner upstairs, was stunned. He turned his head and asked Feiwen in disbelief: "This male insect is so beautiful, and you actually think he is ugly??!"
His tone was filled with shock that he should go to the hospital to see an eye doctor.
Fei Wen was also dumbfounded. He leaned over the railing and looked at her several times without giving up: "He, he, he... He obviously didn't look like this before, how come he suddenly became so handsome today?!"
It took Sanya a few seconds to come back to his senses: "Sir, if your face is scary, there will be no beautiful bugs in the world."
You Que glanced at him and was about to say something when a shy voice suddenly sounded beside him: "Sir, do you think I would be honored to buy you a drink?"
You Que looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a female insect walking up to him at some point. She had a pretty face and was well dressed, so she shouldn't have trouble finding a partner in the town of Saint-Riez. She might even attract some low-level male insects to fight over her.
Seeing this, Sanya said nothing, just lowered his head to wash the wine glasses on the table, making it difficult to discern his emotions.
You Que shook the remaining liquid in the glass, his angular face became more and more bewitching under the light. He lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then pointed at Sang Ya and said, "Sorry, I'm drinking with him."
Sanya paused.
The female insect that had spoken to him glanced at Sangya and saw that he was dressed shabbily. She couldn't hide her contempt in her tone and frowned slightly, saying, "Do you want to drink with this bartender?"
You Que smiled and said, "Is it my freedom to drink with whomever I want?"
His refusal was so obvious that the female insect was embarrassed and could only leave in embarrassment. Seeing this, Sanya finally stopped what he was doing, put his hands on the bar and said, "Sir, I have to say that you made a wrong decision. If you had gone out to drink with that beautiful female insect just now, you might not have to come out to work."
You Que raised his eyes and looked at him: "But I was drinking with you."
You Que sat at the bar, and was approached by female insects one after another. In just ten minutes, he had been approached no less than twenty times, but he rejected them all. In the end, perhaps because he was annoyed, he turned over and jumped into the bar.
The bartender's seat was small, so Sanya gave him some space: "Do you want another drink?"
You Que shook his head: "I don't drink."
He just wanted some quiet time.
Sanya had no choice but to continue tidying up the table and cleaning the glasses. You Que saw that the glass of wine he had mixed was still on the bar, so he reached out and took it and handed it to Sanya: "Aren't you going to finish it?"
You Que felt that he had drunk up all the wine that Sang Ya had prepared, so to be fair, the other party should also drink up all the wine.
The alcohol content of this glass of wine was too high, and mixed drinks were the easiest to get drunk. Sang Ya could not guarantee that she would be sober after drinking it, but when she saw You Que holding the glass to her lips with that slender and beautiful hand, she had an idea and did not refuse. She took it and drank it all in one gulp.
Soon, Sanya's fair skin was covered with a thin layer of light red, and even his voice became hoarse. He didn't know whether he was really drunk or pretending to be drunk. He squeezed in the narrow corner of the bar with You Que and asked, "Sir, I don't think I know your name yet?"
Eugene, this is the name on the ID card in You Que's pocket. Normally, he shouldn't reveal his real name, but for some reason, he slowly uttered two words: "You Que—"
His voice was deep, mellower and more intoxicating than the wine he had just drunk: "My name is You Que."
Sanya remembered the name: "My name is Sanya."
You Que noticed Sanya's braids, long silver-gray hair that had already reached his waist. He had never seen a man with such long hair before, so he held up a strand of hair with his palm and asked curiously, "How long have you had your hair?"
You Que's hands were really sexy, his slender fingertips hooked and twisted, and the silver-gray hair wrapped around his fingertips like a snake, smoother than silk. He even stroked it for a moment, and the itchy feeling seemed to be transmitted along the hair to Sang Ya.
Sanya's body trembled, and his breathing became disordered for a moment, as if the braids were his sensitive spot: "Have you never seen a female insect with long hair?"
You Que hummed seriously: "I haven't seen it."
After he finished speaking, he gently pulled Sangya's hair, but his fingertips suddenly felt empty and the hair slipped away from his fingers with a swish.
Sanya quickly pulled out his hair, took two steps back and looked at You Que. His eyes were like an animal whose territory had been violated, with a dangerous sharpness. He warned in a low voice: "Don't pull my braid."
You Que said nothing. He slowly spread out his palm under the light, and a silver-gray hair was wrapped between his fingers. He didn't know whether it was dropped by Sanya or stolen by him.
(End of this chapter)