I Treat You as a Brother - Chapter 14

14 – Do You Have a Girlfriend?

Translator: tamago

Fang Mo’s sense of crisis was burning.

It was only last night when he had realized how difficult it was for him to get Xu Xiran, and now today, he was surprised that there were still many competitors for such a difficult challenge.

Not all men who like men are aggressive and put their attempts in others’ faces. As for Xu Xiran, even with just a bit of contact with him, you could immediately notice how straight and how thick his nerves were. As far as Fang Mo knew, all the people who have been in contact with Xu Xiran have shown a strong interest in this straight man. Among those people, even Zou Shun, who although had no further intentions with him because of his sense of loyalty, also gave a very high evaluation of Xu Xiran’s attractiveness and charm.

Taking into account the normal percentage of homosexuals in the population, God knows how many of them have ideas about Xu Xiran and are secretly lurking in the dark, stalking their prey.

When Xu Xiran showed him his divine animation yesterday, he mentioned that each character had a different level of strategy and progress in getting with the protagonist. Fang Mo pondered and didn’t know how much progress he had made with Xu Xiran, and whether he had enough advantages over all the other rivals.

After worrying for half a day, he waited until he was seated at the restaurant that Xu Xiran had recommended, and he suddenly felt a little smug when he saw the smiling, cheerful, and oblivious straight man across the table.

Ai, as expected of the person he liked; he was so popular. If he were an ordinary person that no one cared about, wouldn’t that mean that Fang Mo’s taste in men wasn’t good enough? The more intense the competition, the better it feels to be successful in the end.

In his mind, he compared himself with that Xiao Yang just now and felt that he had a lot of advantages. At least in terms of appearance, he was sure to win. And even if Xiao Yang and Xu Xiran have known each other for a long time, they most definitely have not spent the night together alone.

He had even seen Xu Xiran’s bare body in the dead of night with no one else around.

While in his thoughts, Xu Xiran was already starting to introduce him to the menu.

This was a Cantonese-style restaurant with a lot of types of dim sum for breakfast. Since it was approaching noon, it seemed best for the two of them to share their dishes together.

“Other than shiitake mushrooms and mangoes, is there anything else that you don’t eat?” he asked Fang Mo.

Fang Mo thought for a bit, “I can’t eat shelled shrimp.”

“Too lazy to peel?” Xu Xiran asked.

“No, I’m allergic to shrimp shells,” Fang Mo explained, “I also don’t eat mangoes because I’m allergic. Even if it’s just a mango-flavored snack, if I come into contact with that flavor, I’ll psychologically start to feel itchy. In fact, I’m not a very picky eater, I just don’t like shiitake mushrooms.”

After Xu Xiran heard his words, he pointed to the shrimp dumplings on the menu, “Is shrimp meat okay?”

Fang Mo nodded, “Yes, yes.”

“What about this…”

“Oh, I also don’t eat radishes.” Fang Mo spoke again.

Xu Xiran looked up at him, “Okay, then…”

Seeing that his finger pointed down to another picture, Fang Mo said, “…I can’t stand the smell of durian.”

“……”  Xu Xiran’s hand continued to move to the side, “Then what about this?”

Fang Mo was starting to feel embarrassed himself, “I’m also allergic to crabs.”

Xu Xiran looked up at him again, and then sighed, “You should be able to eat salted egg custard buns, right?”

Fang Mo nodded quickly.

“What about squab1?”

Fang Mo nodded hard again.

When they finally placed the order, he felt a little embarrassed, “I do actually avoid a number of foods, sorry about that.”

“It’s okay, there’s nothing you can do about allergies,” Xu Xiran looked at him with a hand under his chin, “This must be hard for you, isn’t it?”

He and Fang Mo looked at each other for a few seconds, then Fang Mo lowered his head and looked at the two fingers he was poking together, “It’s not as hard when I meet someone who can understand.”

“It’s alright, you’re quite suitable to eat with me,” Xu Xiran smiled. “I’m not picky, so if we take out all the things you can’t eat, I still like the rest, hahaha.”

Fang Mo’s whole body was on cloud nine, “Then in the future can we often…”

Before he could finish speaking, there was suddenly another unexpected guest.

“Xu Xiran?” A soft female voice came from the direction of the restaurant door, “You’re also eating here?”

Fang Mo and Xu Xiran turned around together and saw two girls walking in their direction.

There was a lively exchange of greetings. Xu Xiran talked with the girls for a bit and then asked if they wanted to share tables. Fang Mo’s heart felt alarmed. Fortunately, the two of them chose a two-seat table when they came in, and there were no more four-seat tables in the restaurant. After the two girls left, Fang Mo, who was highly nervous, subconsciously turned his head and glanced back in the direction where they were seated.

Unfortunately, one of them met his gaze. The other person froze for a while, then smiled at him. Fang Mo also responded with a gentle and polite smile, but what he was thinking about was very intense.

He thought to himself, It’s over, I’ve been careless, my rivals were not only of the same sex. These cute, small girls also had natural advantages that he couldn’t match. Xu Xiran was so handsome, there must be many girls who like him, right?

What do I do?

In midst of his anxiety, Xu Xiran’s phone vibrated on the table.

He picked it up and looked at it, then quickly looked up in the direction where the two girls were seated. A while after, the corner of his mouth raised a smile that made Fang Mo panic.

What the hell was this, sending pigeons to pass notes and flirt in front of him, this was too much!

Just as he was about to open his mouth, Xu Xiran put down the phone in front of him, leaned over close, and said in a low voice, “There’s one thing I haven’t asked you before.”

Facing Xu Xiran’s close face, Fang Mo’s heart skipped a beat, “What?”

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Xu Xiran asked.

Fang Mo was stunned for a moment, then immediately felt shy, “…No, no I don’t.”

After he finished speaking, he licked his lips and was about to ask “what about you”, when Xu Xiran picked up the phone again and started typing.

Fang Mo felt something was off, “Who are you talking to?”

“The one behind you, the one with the long hair,” Xu Xiran said and smiled. “She wants your contact information.”

“……”

Never had he thought that the rival in his eyes was actually interested in him.

“When you’re that handsome, you can be eaten like food2,” Xu Xiran sighed. “She’s our class beauty, and there are at least a dozen people who want to chase after her.”

Fang Mo quickly turned his head and glanced. The girl turned her back to him, so he was unable to see her face. When Xu Xiran was chatting with them just now, he was so entangled in their arrival that he didn’t pay attention to whether the two girls were attractive or not.

But even if she was a beautiful goddess, what did that have to do with him?

“I can send her your WeChat, you have no problem with that, right?” Xu Xiran asked.

Fang Mo originally wanted to refuse, but after thinking about it, he swallowed his words. He felt a little guilty. Now that he had admitted that he didn’t have a girlfriend and that the other person was recognized as a beautiful girl in the eyes of men, it would seem suspicious to be so ruthless. He already had a wealth of experience in rejecting girls anyway, he’ll just make it clear to her later.

“Okay.” Fang Mo nodded.

Xu Xiran lowered his head and fiddled with his phone, “Is she your type?”

“To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention,” Fang Mo said. “There are too many girls asking me for my contact information, so I’ll have to connect with her first to see.”

Xu Xiran stopped moving for a while. He frowned and glanced at Fang Mo, “…Why does it sound like you’re not amused.”

Fang Mo cleared his throat. “There must be a lot of people asking for your contact information too, right?”

“There is a lot,” said Xu Xiran, “Just all men.”

“Eh… Maybe it’s because girls get nervous when they see you. You’re too handsome,” said Fang Mo.

“Thank you,” Xu Xiran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Don’t force yourself, I’m used to it.”

“There must be girls who like you too?”

Xu Xiran shrugged and didn’t respond.

“…Then do you have a girlfriend?” Fang Mo finally asked.

He felt that Xu Xiran didn’t have one, after all, he had not been in frequent contact with anyone in the past two days.

“Of course I do, don’t you know?” Xu Xiran said.

Fang Mo was shocked, “I didn’t know!”

“Oh, not strictly speaking a girlfriend. Here,” Xu Xiran showed him his phone wallpaper, “that’s my wife.”

On the screen, there was a two-dimensional girl with long black hair, a mole on the corner of her eye, a chest that filled up half the screen, and a hand doing a finger heart.

Fang Mo was speechless for a moment, then asked, “Do you think your class beauty is pretty?”

“She’s quite pretty,” Xu Xiran said. “If she wasn’t pretty how would she be the class beauty?”

“Then if she chases after you…”

“Hahaha, stop teasing me, people don’t like me like that,” Xu Xiran waved his hand dismissively, then picked up the phone and showed it to him, “Plus I already have a wife.”

“……”

Fang Mo’s feelings were complicated.

Although Xu Xiran thought that the class beauty was pretty, he had no other intentions about her at all. Maybe Zou Shun’s initial assumption of him was true.

He didn’t know whether he should feel bad that the strategy for getting the person in front of him was more difficult than getting to heaven, or if he should feel glad that all his rivals, whether of the same sex or the opposite sex, were actually on the same starting line.

The biggest difficulty in chasing Xu Xiran may not be that Fang Mo was a man, but that he was alive.

had no idea this word existed in English either but it means young pigeon meat

Kind of like eye candy in English