After I Was Gone, Mr. Song Said He Loved Me - Chapter 1 - I'm a Drink Promoter
I love money, really love it. Perhaps it’s because I grew up poor.
Ever since the first time I saw the skyscrapers of the big city on TV, shimmering like confetti gold, I vowed to make it out of this sleepy thirty-sixth tier town.
And I did make it out, but not in the way those motivational dramas suggest, with hard work and academic success. No, I was driven out, branded with the stigma of homosexuality.
No one understood me, not one, not even the parents who raised me. They called me a monster.
But I know I’m no monster.
I’m human, flesh and blood, with feelings.
It’s just that I happen to love men.
Sometimes I wonder, we’re all pumping testosterone, why is it that my chemistry only reacts to men?
That question might just belong on the list of the world’s unsolved mysteries.
Life in the big city wasn’t as glamorous as I’d imagined. I had no skills, no qualifications; the only thing I was good at was drinking.
It must be a genetic gift from my father, the legendary drinker.
After scouring countless local tabloids and job ads on utility poles, I targeted a job-sales manager.
Why was I bold enough to apply for this job? Because the job description seemed tailor-made for me.
Job Title: Sales Manager
Job Description: Promote beverages
Educational Requirement: None
Age Requirement: None, on-the-job training provided
What really got me was the last line: room and board included, daily wage payment.
It felt like a great responsibility had fallen upon my shoulders.
Only later did I realize that the fancy title was just a cover for being a drink promoter.
But I accepted it, because I needed money, a place to stay, and a firm foothold in Hai City.
The best part of the job was the chance to mingle with the wealthy.
My goal was clear, to strive for money.
In this modest bar, I learned how to scheme against patrons, making brothers and sisters out of both men and women.
I hid my sexual orientation because I realized that the big city wasn’t as tolerant of homosexuality as I had hoped.
It’s just a bit more permissive than my little hometown, with barely an extra sidewalk to show for it, and only a few people walking on it.
Despite this, I was happy because I met my first true best buddy-Fan Lu.
It was he who recommended me for a position as a drink promoter at a luxurious gay bar in Shanghai. I didn’t think twice before accepting.
No matter how big the venue, my ultimate goal remained the same: keep the drinks flowing and their consumption high, and my wallet would swell accordingly.
I had mastered this art at the previous bar, and I wasn’t nervous at all.
But upon arriving, I realized how foolish I had been.
In this high-end club, the bosses weren’t just blindly drinking; they were savoring with their eyes closed, and damn, I had to join in. As the atmosphere grew awkward, I felt hands creeping around like worms, forcing me to twist away in evasion.
Sensing my resistance, one boss’s expression darkened. “Mr. Bai, don’t be so stiff on your first day at work,” he said.
I smiled outwardly, cursing inwardly.
Don’t be so stiff, he said. If I wasn’t, I’d literally become a plank.
I waited until the toilet was momentarily unoccupied before rubbing my legs and whispering to a middle-aged man with a fat belly and a receding hairline, “Bro, I really need to pee. Let me use the toilet, and we’ll continue drinking afterwards.”
Though the man was reluctant to let me go, he had no choice but to concede as the door to the toilet remained shut. Everyone knows you can’t hold back the urgent call of nature.
I nearly sprinted out of the private room.
Selling drinks, that I can do. But selling my body? Dream on!
That was what I thought, right up until I met Song Yu.
I dashed into the toilet, only to bump into a tall, handsome man entangled with a boy…
This man was Song Yu.
My name is Bai Yu.
A damn twist of fate.
