I Went on a Blind Date with My Ex-Boyfriend

Chen Li thought he'd never see Lin Wensheng again in his life. Their breakup had been brutal, and Lin Wensheng had left without looking back.

-

A friend was being pressured into a blind date. After learning that the other person was homophobic, he panicked and asked Chen Li to help him turn the prospective date down.

If Chen Li had known then that the other person was his ex-boyfriend, whom he hadn't seen in five years, he wouldn't have shown up with dark circles under his eyes. No, he wouldn't have agreed to help his friend in the first place.

After all these years, Lin Wensheng was like a different person. Gone was the clean-cut boy in his blue-and-white school uniform. Now he wore a black suit, his air somber and cold.

He raised his eyes when he saw Chen Li and gave an inscrutable smile. "Qiao Yan?"

Chen Li sat down on the sofa opposite him, trying to keep a straight face. He couldn't bring himself to say a word of what his friend had told him to say.

No one knew better than Chen Li whether Lin Wensheng was homophobic.

-

The blind date had to go on.

Lin Wensheng asked, "Have you ever been in a relationship?"

"...Yes."

"How many times?" The man tapped the table rhythmically with a bent finger.

Chen Li didn't dare look up. His lashes lowered. "...Twice."

The tapping stopped. Lin Wensheng smiled slyly, dark eyes roiling with emotion. "The one who called you Baby?"

Lin Wensheng remembered that person very well, because Chen Li had broken up with him back then because of that man.

Chen Li hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Lin Wensheng gave a silent, cold laugh.

-

Chen Li thought they'd parted on bad terms and that the blind date was over. But the next day, his friend came to see him, looking distraught, and said the date had gone well. Then he asked Chen Li if he could marry in his place.

Chen Li: ...

Chen Li dressed up for his friend's engagement party, looking nothing like the disheveled man who'd reunited with Lin Wensheng.

This time, he stood to one side and watched Lin Wensheng at the center of the crowd.

When his friend still hadn't shown up, Chen Li sensed something was wrong and went backstage to look for him. All he found was a little note that read, "Li, I ran away from my wedding."

Lin Wensheng was there behind him, reading it too.

Chen Li was forced to "stand in" for his friend at the engagement party. As people came to congratulate him, he stood beside Lin Wensheng and used the name Qiao Yan to fulfill the promise they had made when they were young.

That night, Chen Li got utterly drunk.

The next day, Lin Wensheng tossed him a little red booklet and sneered, "Is getting drunk and dragging someone off to get married a hobby of yours, Young Master Chen?"

Chen Li frowned, staring helplessly at the marriage certificate in his hands.

Theme: Face setbacks with courage and keep moving forward.