Tao Mu was fairly satisfied with his physical theater performance. That night, when he invited Li Xiaoheng to come out for dinner, he continued to boast in a proud tone: “…..My classmates, including my teacher, thought I would interpret this quiz topic in the form of absurd comedy. They didn’t expect that my performance was a bit different from what they thought. When I just finished the performance, there was no movement in the classroom at all. When they came back to themselves someone even applauded me.”
“My teacher also said that I performed well today and that the emotional rendering is the proper place. It can be seen that I did some serious thinking and used my brain to act.” Of course, there were also minor details such as excessive acting, but these shortcomings could not be forced. One must take things slowly and gradually.
Tao Mu was really happy when he said this. Li Xiaoheng could also see that Tao Mu really enjoyed his identity as an actor. When he spoke about acting, his eyes shone and his face was very expressive. Compared to how he looked when talking about work, it was as if they were two different people.
The corner of Li Xiaoheng’s mouth hooked up and he handed the peeled shrimp to Tao Mu. In fact, Tao Mu often invited him over to dinner at Song Ji recently because Tao Mu was learning the dishes for ancestor worship during the New Year. So every time he treated guests there were just the same dishes. At the beginning, Li Xiaoheng ate with contentment, but over time, to be precise, after eating too much deer tendon, his body would become hot, forcing him to take cold showers despite the winter weather. Inevitably this consumed a lot of his vitality. After such torment, even a bigshot could not hold up for long. So when Tao Mu invited him to dinner again, Li Xiaoheng calmly suggested that he wanted to eat the food from XX restaurant.
Tao Mu didn’t know Li Xiaoheng’s hardship and entanglement, and thought that Li Xiaoheng really wanted to eat food outside. As a result, the two arrived at the restaurant but after the dishes were ready, Li Xiaoheng didn’t move his chopsticks much. Instead, half of the time was spent peeling shrimps and crabs for him.
So Tao Mu was particularly puzzled: “Didn’t you say you want to eat the food from this restaurant, why aren’t you eating it?”
As Tao Mu spoke, he picked up some crab noodles and lion head with the shared chopsticks and placed it in Li Xiaoheng’s plate.
The two now have a lot of contact with each other due to work and personal relations. Earlier polite restraints have long been consumed over meetings and appointments with each other. This could be seen from Tao Mu’s unconscious ordering around Li Xiaoheng at the dinner table——
“Brother Li, pass me the salt and pepper bottle next to you.” Tao Mu took the salt and pepper bottle Li Xiaoheng handed him and sprinkled some into his plate. He ordered a dish of soft fried pork fillet, only to find that the chef had fried it for too long. Tao Mu felt that it was not as good as him cooking it himself.
“Actually, mine is better, right?” Tao Mu looked up and asked for agreement, still full of complaints about Li Xiaoheng’s refusal to eat the food he cooked: “You truly don’t know how to enjoy at all.”
Li Xiaoheng chuckled: “I admit that you cook better. But you always cook the same dishes for me——”
“Tired of eating it?” Tao Mu smiled and finished for him: “You can’t blame me. I’ve been learning those few dishes recently for ancestor worship on New Year’s eve. If I don’t practice, how can that be good. You just try to overcome it, and wait until after the New Year’s Day, then I can cook something else for you.”
“I didn’t get tired of eating it.” Li Xiaoheng refuted him very seriously. It was Tao Mu’s cooking, so how could Li Xiaoheng get tired of eating it: “I just have a cold. Recently, I have taken cold showers more frequently. Just need to take a rest.”
“Why take cold showers?” Tao Mu paused, before reacting: “From the deer tendon dish? Wooo~ Brother Li, young and vigorous, eh? It seems that your physical fitness is normally particularly good? Unlike me, I have no feeling at all after eating it.”
In Li Xiaoheng’s heart, he thought: how many mouthfuls did you eat in total? On average, there was a pot of deer tendon every day, and you just ate two bites to judge the taste, while the rest of the soup was completely finished by Li Xiaoheng alone.
“Actually, you can give it to Da Mao and Xiao Pang. Feng Yuan also wants to eat it. And my Yao Dad and Xiao Qi Dad, I think deer tendon is particularly suitable for both of them.” After Tao Mu finished laughing at him, he felt a little distressed because Mr. Li caught a cold from the cold showers.
Li Xiaoheng was particularly exasperated. He couldn’t figure out why their Xiao Mu, who clearly said he liked men, yet his thinking was like that of a straight man. The entire Song Ji people could see his feelings towards Tao Mu, and they didn’t even come to fight with him over Tao Mu’s dishes. Only the person involved was completely unaware of this.
Mr. Li was a little bit depressed, but he didn’t dare to press too hard, for fear that Tao Mu would feel uncomfortable. But sometimes, if he didn’t press a bit, he himself would feel unwilling.
“You let me rest for a day, and tomorrow I will continue to eat the dishes you make.” He still did not want to share Tao Mu’s dishes with others, so Mr. Li promised: “I just need to rest a bit.”
Tao Mu laughed loudly: “It’s better to forget it. Taking cold showers and catching a cold in order to eat the deer tendon. I will also feel unbearable.”
Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu, whose mouth said that he couldn’t bear it but in fact, he smiled very happily, and the corners of his own mouth also involuntarily hooked up. Suddenly, he asked: “By the way, how is your dance practice?”
“Huh?” Tao Mu was once again slow to react. By the way, today Mr. Li’s speech and thinking was quite non-linear, jumping around so randomly.
“Crossdress dance.” Li Xiaoheng reminded him with a gentle smile, “Didn’t you say it yourself. If the registered users of FlyNews.com exceed 100 million, you will do a dance while crossdressing to celebrate. I have always been paying attention to the data of FlyNews.com, there are now more than 90 million registered users. It is estimated that it will exceed 100 million after the New Year.”
Like a thunderbolt to the head, Tao Mu suddenly remembered the FlyNews post he had jokingly posted a few months ago.
His whole person was a little panicked.
“It couldn’t be so fast!” Tao Mu subconsciously picked up his cellphone and checked the registered users of FlyNews.com. Sure enough, it was more than 95 million.
It was estimated that in another half a month, it would definitely surpass 100 million. There was also a hot topic on the homepage of FlyNews.com. The number of comments below was as high as tens of millions. They were all comments from netizens who signed in and looked forward to Tao Mu’s crossdress dancing.
Tao Mu exited from the site without expression.
Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu’s expression, and asked with interest, “What dance are you going to do? Street dance? International dance? Rumba? Tango? Belly dance? Ethnic dance? Classical dance?” It couldn’t be pole dance, could it?
“You seem to be particularly interested?” Tao Mu squinted at Mr. Li: “How about I invite you to sit on the sidelines while I’m dancing?”
Li Xiaoheng rubbed his chin and said, “What time?” He wanted to arrange the itinerary in advance and free his time on that day.
Tao Mu: “…..I’m just saying.” He didn’t even choose what kind of dance to do.
“Then you can think now, why don’t I help you brainstorm?” Li Xiaoheng was excited: “How about ballet?”
Tao Mu: “…..You are really afraid that I won’t be played to death, right?”
Li Xiaoheng smiled but said nothing.
Tao Mu suddenly felt that the two of them had a meal, and they didn’t talk about any serious matters: “…..We are just talking nonsense and wasting time.”
Tao Mu looked at his partner who looked very elite in a suit and dress shoes, and laughed teasingly: “I read a financial report yesterday, the column that the famous beautiful anchor lady is in charge of. On it there was a lot of praise for Mr. Li. Saying that you are the most anticipated business genius of this century, and that if she was lucky enough to have a meal with you, it will be worth at least 5 million. So according to her words, I wasted at least 5 million today. Does Mr. Li have any regrets for wasting away the time?”
“I can also be ashamed of not accomplishing anything!” Mr. Li said sarcastically and looked at Tao Mu: “You actually follow this beautiful anchor lady?”
“I am following you. And on the way, I saw the report from this beautiful anchor lady.” Tao Mu corrected Li Xiaoheng’s words with a smile. Seeing Li Xiaoheng’s face turn from cloudy to clear in an instant, he leaned over and continued to tease: “Oh, Mr. Li, you even learned the art of face-change?”
“…..” Li Xiaoheng’s heart began pounding loudly just by Tao Mu’s mere words. He continued to peel the shrimps for Tao Mu: “Let’s eat.”
“Why do you want to put a stopper on my mouth?” Tao Mu picked up the shrimp innocently and said, “I can chat with you while eating, that way I can live up to my mouth.”
“Yes. The mouth is not only used for eating, but also for talking. Just these two functions, you must not disappoint either. Otherwise, it will be a waste.” Li Xiaoheng followed Tao Mu’s words, and then peeled a crab for Tao Mu.
The two took turns exchanging retorts, and neither one noticed that these words were actually very boring and very lacking in IQ. On the contrary, they quite enjoyed this atmosphere.
Affected by the atmosphere, Tao Mu retorted without thinking: “Who said that the mouth only has eating and talking these two functions? There is also a third function——”
But before he finished speaking, Tao Mu suddenly felt that it was a bit wrong to continue and cut himself off.
However, Li Xiaoheng’s bickering with Tao Mu also became an unconscious reaction. Hearing this he continued: “Isn’t it. The mouth does have a third function. Do you want to try?”
As soon as the words were spoken, Li Xiaoheng looked like a duck with his neck pinched, instantly looking at Tao Mu.
Tao Mu was also stunned.
The private room immediately quieted down. The atmosphere was a bit awkward. After a while, Tao Mu cleared his throat and deliberately changed the subject: “Well, I’ve been paying attention to the international market recently. Especially M country and European stock markets, I think we can continue to short in the banking and insurance industries. I also wrote a financial report which I emailed to you.”
Li Xiaoheng gripped tightly on the crab in his hand. He stared at the crab meat in the plate for a long time, as if he was about to make an important decision to invest tens of billions of dollars. He opened his mouth and said slowly: “I apologize for my rudeness and recklessness just now.”
“You don’t need to be so solemn——” Tao Mu breathed a sigh of relief in silence, and smiled sheepishly.
However, Li Xiaoheng’s next sentence was a direct through ball: “Xiao Mu, you said you like men?”
Tao Mu suddenly became a little nervous, no that was not right, it should be said that he scratched the collar around his neck in a panic. He suddenly felt that the temperature in the private room was a bit high, and he practically couldn’t breathe. His heart was pounding, as if he was about to have a heart attack.
Li Xiaoheng turned his head and looked at Tao Mu with scorching eyes: “I am 25 this year and had gone to university in country M. The academic pressure was very heavy.”
Tao Mu: “???” What do you mean, how did the topic turn to this?
Li Xiaoheng continued: “…..So I haven’t had a single relationship in 25 years. The first person I like is you.”
Tao Mu: “…..”
Li Xiaoheng originally wanted to continue to stay at Tao Mu’s side as a business partner, and influence him subtly. But just now, when Tao Mu casually mentioned the third function, a picture of Tao Mu kissing someone suddenly appeared in Li Xiaoheng’s mind.
Suddenly Li Xiaoheng didn’t want to continue to wait silently. In other words, he dared not wait any longer.
Li Xiaoheng believed that no one knew how good Tao Mu was better than him. Their Tao Mu was handsome and talented, had a humorous personality, and was kind and principled. No matter whether it was business talent or social skills, it was all impeccable.
So, such an excellent Tao Mu must be liked by many people too? Those people may be younger than him, or handsomer than him. And the most important thing was that if someone else confessed before him, what if Tao Mu really agreed to it?
So long as Li Xiaoheng even just imagined it, he would feel so upset that he couldn’t breathe. He didn’t want Tao Mu to fall in love with others. He didn’t dare to imagine that one day, Tao Mu would hold hands and kiss other men or even interact more intimately. When that happened, he didn’t know what he would do.
Li Xiaoheng squeezed the crab in his hands very nervously, and stared directly into Tao Mu’s eyes with scorching eyes: “Xiao Mu, can you give me a chance to officially pursue you?”
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