HCILH Ch. 62

Chapter 62: Distance

When the birthday celebrant arrived, Sui Houyu took the stage and instantly blew everyone away with his opening act, electrifying the entire crowd.

Amidst familiar faces, Sui Houyu acted quite wild, laughing cheerfully the whole time.

He kept smiling, his eyes sparkling with vibrant brilliance. His lips curled up, and his gaze softened into crescent-shaped eyes, pure and adorable.

As the music gradually quieted down, it became easier for everyone to chat.

Su Anyi walked over, carrying several colorful glass bottles, and introduced them: “These are fruit juices. I checked—they’re safe for athletes to drink.”

Deng Yiheng picked one up and inspected it, asking: “Aren’t we not supposed to drink stuff other people give us at clubs?”

Classic first-time-clubber behavior—cautious about everything.

Su Anyi put her hands on her hips and replied: “Sui Houyu booked the place tonight. Everyone here is a friend. Besides, no one’s out to harm you—don’t flatter yourself.”

Relieved, Deng Yiheng quickly unscrewed a bottle, took a sip, and remarked, “Tastes pretty good.”

“Brother Yu loves juice, but he hasn’t been able to drink any lately and was craving it badly. I specifically bought him a few cases, so you guys get to benefit from it too,” Su Anyi added before heading off to chat with others.

Sang Xian picked up a bottle, studied it, then glanced at the bottom before placing it back on the table.

Curious, Deng Yiheng asked, “What’s wrong?”

Sang Xian answered nonchalantly, “This fruit juice is hard to come by. Even big clients need to place an order six months in advance. It’s impressive she managed to get several cases so quickly.”

“That hard to get?” Deng Yiheng inspected the bottle closely, but couldn’t figure out what was so special about it.

“Yeah, it’s entirely handmade and limited in quantity—just a few batches released each year.”

Deng Yiheng, still confused, gave up and looked around the venue, muttering, “This private booking must’ve cost a fortune.”

Sang Xian replied casually, “If you’re familiar with the owner, it could be around 100,000 to 200,000 yuan per night, depending on the drinks ordered.”

Deng Yiheng’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Brother Yu booked the whole place on his own?”

“Seems like it.”

Taking another sip of the fruit juice, Deng Yiheng sighed: “This is what wealthy friendships look like… Honestly, I should’ve realized when I first enrolled in this private school that I’d be living in a different world from the students here. Brother Yu doesn’t flaunt his wealth, but he really is rich—and yet he works hard alongside us.”

He glanced at Sang Xian again.

Sang Xian, knowing this heir of a conglomerate was sitting here too, undoubtedly feeling similarly conflicted.

Hou Mo looked at the fruit juice but didn’t drink any. After sitting for a while, he scanned the room again. Sui Houyu was perched on the back of a sofa, chatting with a group of people.

They seemed to be playing a game. Sui Houyu casually shook a box a few times, set it on the table, and opened the lid, drawing gasps of excitement—it looked like he had rolled a good number.

After glancing at them briefly, Hou Mo sat back quietly, waiting for the night to end.

He couldn’t enjoy himself. To him, the people dancing wildly seemed almost crazy.

Like Deng Yiheng had said, Hou Mo had enrolled in this private school for the tuition discount, knowing he’d encounter a group of wealthy second-generation students.

The harsh reality was the stark contrast between them. Within the same school, they were worlds apart.

Sui Houyu could spend 200,000 yuan on Ran Shu’s birthday—an amount that Hou Mo would have to work tirelessly for a year to earn, and it was just enough to cover his remaining debts.

What weighed on Hou Mo like a boulder was nothing more than a casual splurge for Sui Houyu.

His friends were no different.

Because Sui Houyu had given up sugary drinks, Su Anyi bought several cases of fruit juice for him. Meanwhile, Hou Mo had competed fiercely for days to earn a prize that wouldn’t even buy a single bottle of that brew.

Ran Shu went even further—he was willing to invest in a whole competition just to cheer up Sui Houyu.

They lived in two completely different worlds.

In that moment, Hou Mo felt an immense distance between himself and Sui Houyu.

What hurt the most was that he had started to develop feelings, only to give up almost as soon as they emerged.

All he could do was hide those feelings—bury them deep. Damn it all.

Before long, Sui Houyu came over, sat at the table, picked up a bottle of fruit juice, and studied it. Then, he twisted the cap open and took a sip: “This is pretty good. I thought it would burn my throat.” 

Sui Houyu asked as he looked up at Hou Mo: “Are you not having fun?” 

Hou Mo replied frankly: “Not really. I don’t often come to places like this.”

“Just hang in there for a bit. Ran Shu loves a lively atmosphere. After the birthday celebrations, I’ll get you out of here.” Sui Houyu assured him.

“Okay.”

While they were talking, Ran Shu suddenly approached, wielding a glowing smoke gun and spraying it toward them, causing everyone at the table to scatter like startled birds.

As Sui Houyu ran, he didn’t forget to cover the opening of his fruit juice bottle.

When Ran Shu finally stopped, Sui Houyu, clearly annoyed, exclaimed, “Ran Shu, are you trying to get yourself killed?”

Deng Yiheng wiped his face, saying, “That felt refreshing. I was getting sleepy, and now I’m wide awake.”

Ran Shu boldly defended himself, “You all looked so lifeless! Come over and eat some cake!”

Sui Houyu got up to join Ran Shu in cutting the cake and returned shortly with a plate, asking, “Can I eat this?”

Everyone at the table shook their heads in unison.

Sui Houyu stared at the cake for a long moment before turning away and giving it back.

Though Sui Houyu wasn’t keen on socializing, he needed to help Ran Shu keep the mood lively today. He occasionally chatted with others, playing around a bit since he was one of the organizers.

As the night dragged toward midnight, Sui Houyu leaned over to Hou Mo and asked: “Are you sleepy?”

“Not too bad.” Hou Mo replied, struggling to keep his eyes open.

Having had two matches earlier, he was physically drained and found it hard to keep awake after staying up late following the competitions.

Sui Houyu pointed behind him, saying: “Let me take you guys to the hotel…”

Sang Xian interjected immediately: “No need. I’ll take them to my place. You just need to sort things out for Hou Mo. A car will come pick us up shortly.”

“Oh…” Sui Houyu nodded in surprise, swaying slightly as if losing his balance. He turned to Hou Mo and said, “Then let’s go.”

As they left, they pulled a suitcase behind them filled with the fruit juices Su Anyi had brought for Sui Houyu.

The two of them dragged the suitcase into the lobby, and Sui Houyu felt a bit dizzy. He handed his phone to Hou Mo, saying, “You find the room; the words are spinning.”

Hou Mo took the phone from Sui Houyu and asked: “Have you been drinking?”

“Was that fruit juice alcohol?!”

“How much did you drink?”

Sui Houyu counted on his fingers, finally holding up two fingers and saying, “Three bottles!”

He was definitely drunk.

Hou Mo glanced down at Sui Houyu’s phone, which was already opened to a hotel booking app.

As he scrolled through it, Sui Houyu raised a finger and said: “Just tap this finger for payment. It’s that easy.”

As he spoke, he dug into his pocket and placed his ID into Hou Mo’s pocket.

After seeing Sui Houyu complete this series of actions, Hou Mo tugged at the hem of his shirt and pulled him in front of himself.

Then, Sui Houyu casually leaned against him and started to fall asleep.

When they first met, Sui Houyu had been so particular that he didn’t even want to be touched; now, he was willingly leaning against Hou Mo to sleep, completely at ease—this was quite a change.

Hou Mo didn’t know whether to feel bittersweet or happy.

He turned his head to look around, then checked the location of the nearby hotels before letting out a sigh. He returned Sui Houyu’s phone and said: “Forget it. I’ll take you to my place. The hotel is too far, and it would be a bit strange for two guys to share a double room.”

“Your place? It takes hours to get to Xiangjia Alley!” Sui Houyu protested immediately.

“My old home.”

Hou Mo needed to carry a backpack and push two suitcases, with one suitcase serving as a seat for Sui Houyu.

Sui Houyu was struggling to keep steady, swaying side to side, and eventually clung tightly to Hou Mo’s arm, not letting go.

After staring at Hou Mo for a moment, Sui Houyu suddenly recalled: “Oh, I remember now! You used to live on Hongqiao Street; that’s pretty close…”

“Yeah, it’s just a five-minute walk from here.”

“Why did you move?” Sui Houyu’s mind seemed to short-circuit; he couldn’t understand why Hou Mo wouldn’t live closer to the city center.

“My house was auctioned off to pay off debts.”

“How did that happen?”

Such questions probably could only be asked in this straightforward manner after Sui Houyu had been drinking.

After being asked, Hou Mo didn’t think much of it and casually replied: “My family’s company went bankrupt.”

“How did it go bankrupt?”

“My dad passed away, and my mom got sick. The company was temporarily taken over by my dad’s brother, and it ended up in chaos.”

Sui Houyu nodded, elongating his “oh” in response.

After thinking for a moment, he asked with confusion: “Then how can you still go back to your house?”

Hou Mo explained, “Sang Xian’s family bought the house at auction. It’s been vacant ever since, and they said I could move back anytime, but I want to buy it back; I don’t want to owe them anything.”

“Why did they auction your house?”

Hou Mo fell silent, pressing his lips together, his eyes focused on the road ahead.

In the quiet night, the sound of the suitcase wheels rolling against the ground echoed around them.

Pushing two suitcases along with Sui Houyu, Hou Mo walked further and further away.

Finally, they disappeared at the end of the road.

*

Ran Shu boldly sat down at Deng Yiheng’s table and started chatting with them.

At that moment, a tall person with long hair walked over and asked Ran Shu: “Ran Shu, does my dress look good today?”

Ran Shu glanced casually at the person and nodded: “Looks good.”

The person surprisingly pulled down their neckline to show Ran Shu their underwear and lifted their skirt to reveal their panties, saying, “See, it’s all matching.”

Ran Shu remained calm, replying: “You’re quite bold.”

The person wasn’t offended; instead, they laughed and exchanged a few more jokes with Ran Shu before walking away.

Deng Yiheng watched this unfold, feeling awkward and flustered like a quail.

Shen Junqing was gulping down water to calm his nerves, and once the person left, he asked: “Are girls really this open nowadays?”

Ran Shu burst into laughter after hearing that and said, “Girl? His d*ck might even be bigger than yours.”

Deng Yiheng and Shen Junjing turned around in perfect sync, then exclaimed in surprise, “A guy?!”

Ran Shu grinned mischievously, “Wanna meet him?”

Deng Yiheng waved his hands frantically. “No, no, no! There’s no way Senior Brother would be into that either.”

If someone were into that kind of thing, why not just go for women?

This was truly someone extraordinary. In TV dramas, they could always tell when a man was cross-dressing and would complain that the characters were blind for not noticing. But in real life? They couldn’t spot it, nor even catch it in his voice.

Ran Shu chuckled slyly: “Huo Mo’s gay, isn’t he?”

The moment he said that the whole table went silent.

Leaning back in his chair, Ran Shu said: “It’s obvious. I’m not an idiot. But I don’t want to bring it up—otherwise, Brother Yu wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”

Ran Shu might seem carefree, but that didn’t mean he was clueless.

He had seen through things—he just chose not to say them out loud.

Shen Junjing kept drinking water, trying to calm himself.

Deng Yiheng, on the other hand, asked Ran Shu what was really going on with Sui Houyu.

Ran Shu shrugged, explaining that Houyu and Huo Mo sticking together was simply about being able to sleep well. There was nothing shady going on.

Then Ran Shu mused: “I just don’t get it. How did Huo Mo end up like this? His family used to be well-off. I remember more than ten years ago, when he and Brother Yu were learning piano together. Their teacher was a famous maestro who had just returned to the country, and each lesson cost over 2,000 yuan. Their families split the fee—still more than a thousand each per session. He shouldn’t have fallen to this level.”

Shen Junjing finished off a whole bottle of water.

Meanwhile, Deng Yiheng instinctively looked over at Sang Xian.

Sang Xian’s face instantly darkened, his gaze dropping as he remained silent for a long time.

This time, Ran Shu couldn’t figure out what was going on.

*

Sometimes, what breaks people isn’t that they were born into different worlds.

It’s that they were originally from the same world, but later on, one stayed where they were, while the other sank into the mud.

Struggling to escape, shackled and bound, they watch as the person who once stood beside them moves further and further away.

And it seems… they can no longer get close again.