Who wants to be a male model after being reborn? I want to be a male god.

Chapter 433 Her Bar
When Xu Wen and Gu Xingruo had just graduated from high school, Gu Xingruo had run a bar.

He initially thought the young lady was just doing it out of interest.

After all, she loved to have fun in high school.

But he later learned that Gu Xingruo opened this bar for him.

Gu Hong wanted his daughter to study abroad, but she could stay in China if she could only do so by developing a profitable project within three months.

And that's how this bar came to be.

It seems that during the liquidation of Gu Hong's assets, this bar was identified as Gu Xingruo's personal property and had no connection with Hongjing Industry, which is why it was preserved.

Xu Wen drove to the bar, a bar called Serendipity.

Serendipity's sign remained brightly lit in the night, its dazzling lights almost blinding.

When Xu Wen pushed open the door, the familiar jazz music mixed with the aroma of whiskey wafted out, as if time had never passed here.

The interior of the bar was exactly as he remembered it.

On the retro brick wall hang the vinyl record covers personally selected by Gu Xingruo.

Warm-colored lights illuminated the entire venue.

Even the old-fashioned jukebox in the corner was still playing Gu Xingruo's favorite songs.

"President Xu?" someone called Xu Wen from behind.

Although he hadn't been here for a while, the people here still recognized him.

Xu Wen raised his index finger to his lips, his gaze sweeping over the throng of people in the booth area.

Business was better than expected over the weekend. Groups of two or three customers were chatting and laughing with their glasses in hand, while young men and women were playing games. There were also quite a few people on the dance floor.

You'd never guess this is a bar that's been without its owner for almost six months.

He walked straight to the innermost semi-circular VIP area, a private space specially designed by Gu Xingruo, which was now occupied by a tall figure.

Cao Yanan was trimming her manicure with nail clippers when she heard footsteps. Without looking up, she said, "Order whatever you want to drink. Don't expect me to treat you."

His Northeastern accent, mixed with a husky voice, sounded particularly bold and unrestrained.

“Anything is fine, a whiskey bar.” Xu Wen unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat down.

This spot faces the dance floor and is Gu Xingruo's favorite place. She says she can see everyone's micro-expressions clearly from here.

Cao Yanan's nail clippers stopped with a "click" in mid-air.

She was wearing an oversized black leather jacket today, and the silver skull earrings on her earlobes swayed gently as she turned her head.

"Holy crap, you're finally here. Where's Gu Xingruo?" She leaned forward abruptly, her perfume mingling with a faint scent of tobacco.

Xu Wen took the glass of wine that the bartender handed him with trepidation. The ice ball collided in the glass, making a crisp sound.

He took a sip of wine, letting the alcohol burn his throat.

Cao Yanan only spoke after impatiently kicking the coffee table: "She won't be back for a while."

"Bullshit! Three months ago she said she was going to Paris for a fashion show, and then she vanished without a trace! She doesn't reply to WeChat messages, her phone is off, and she hasn't even updated her QQ space!" Cao Yanan grabbed his tie.

Her voice was extremely low, but each word seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth: "You'd better explain yourself clearly."

The music on stage reached its peak at this moment, so loud it hurt people's eardrums.

Xu Wen stared at the spinning ice ball in the glass and succinctly summarized Gu Hong's imprisonment and Gu Xingruo's departure in a few sentences.

When she mentioned that she had personally handed over the evidence, Cao Yanan suddenly let go of him, grabbed a bottle of wine from the table, and took two gulps straight down her throat.

"So that silly girl is hiding abroad to heal her wounds now? I knew her dad's mess was bound to explode sooner or later." She wiped the wine from her lips with the back of her hand, a helpless smile on her face.

Xu Wen twirled the ring on his ring finger.

That was a couple's ring that Gu Xingruo had given her, and she continued to wear it even after Gu Xingruo left.

"How's the bar been doing in the last six months?" he asked the question he wanted to ask.

"Just operating normally." Cao Yanan kicked the Hermes bag at her feet, revealing a thick ledger inside.

"Before your young lady left, she transferred two years' worth of operating expenses to the manager, and didn't even change the beverage supplier. Do you know what's the most amazing thing? She even pre-deposited the employees' year-end bonuses." After saying that, she took another big gulp from the bottle.

The stage lights suddenly turned red, casting a bloody mist on Cao Yanan's face. Xu Wen then noticed that her eye makeup was badly smudged, with mascara forming a black spiderweb at the corners of her eyes.

Cao Yannan looks so disheveled now.

"How long has it been since you slept?" Xu Wen pulled out a tissue and handed it to him.

Cao Yanan froze for two seconds, then suddenly sprang up and crumpled a tissue into a ball, throwing it at his face: "Stop fucking changing the subject!"

Realizing she had lost her composure, she quickly sat down again: "When exactly is Gu Xingruo coming back?"

The customers at the next table looked on curiously, and the bar manager hurriedly told his men to turn up the music volume.

"She's waiting for the right moment." Xu Wen didn't know what else to say, so he could only explain softly.

After pausing for a while, he continued, "It's like you could have ignored everything, but you still took leave and came to Linjiang to find her."

Cao Yanan seemed to have been paused, her hand, which was about to pick up the wine bottle, hovering in mid-air.

The music in the bar had changed to "Being a Jerk" at some point, a song that Gu Xingruo always sang when she was drunk.

She suddenly grabbed the bottle and chugged the liquor down her neck and into the collar of her leather jacket.

"This run-down shop is her lifeline." The wine bottle slammed onto the solid wood table with a thud.

"On the day of the opening, she wore that hideous sequined dress and insisted on saving the first drink for you. What the hell were you doing, giving me this damn lecture?" Cao Yanan gestured drunkenly.

Xu Wen thought about it briefly.

He did receive a call from Gu Xingruo that day, but he ultimately didn't go.

“I’ll take over this bar temporarily, and then transfer it to Xingruo when she comes back,” Xu Wen suddenly said.

Cao Yanan threw her head back and laughed as if she had heard a joke.

"You think I care about this? Look at last quarter's cash flow! Do you think I'm short of this little bit of money?" She suddenly grabbed Xu Wen's wrist and pressed it against the ledger.

“She contacted me before she left, saying that if I couldn’t reach her for three months, she would give you the contents of the safe.” Cao Yanan’s voice suddenly softened. “She said that if I couldn’t reach her for three months, she would give you the contents of the safe.”

She took a key out of the inside pocket of her leather jacket and pushed it towards her: "It's in the office inside."

Xu Wen took the key.

Gu Xingruo's office was on the second floor, around the corner. Dust settled gently as she pushed open the door, indicating that no one had been in there for a long time.

The safe was placed behind the desk. After turning the key, Xu Wen opened the safe door.

There were only three things in the box: a bank check, enough to keep the bar running for another two years; a house sale invoice in a brown paper bag; and an old Nokia phone, whose screen lit up with the starry sky wallpaper set by Gu Xingruo when turned on.

There is only one number saved in my contacts, with the note "A Wen".

As Xu Wen pressed the dial button, he heard his own heart pounding, but all he heard from the receiver was a cold, electronic voice: "The number you dialed is currently switched off."

"Damn it! What is she playing at?" Cao Yanan slammed her fist on the door frame, making the wine cards on the wall clang loudly.

Xu Wen held his phone close to his chest.

He suddenly noticed a note stuck inside the safe, in which Gu Xingruo's flamboyant handwriting read: "Ya Nan will definitely curse when she sees this. Remember to buy her a drink to apologize."

“I will hire a professional team to manage it, but I need you to come and oversee things every week.” Xu Wen locked the safe.

Cao Yanan leaned against the doorframe, took out a lighter to light a cigarette: "Why should I?"

“Because only you know what style she likes, what kind of music she likes, and what kind of bar she wants.” Xu Wen pointed to the photo wall next to the stage, where photos of Gu Xingruo with various performers were pinned.

Cao Yanan looked as if she had been struck by lightning.

She flung her hand away abruptly only when the flame touched her fingertips.

"Damn, you know it all." She lit her cigarette again.

"When she comes back, I'll make her pay me back the money she owes me for the past six months, with interest." Cao Yannan didn't take more than a few puffs before angrily stubbing out her cigarette.

Xu Wen looked at the wind chimes at the door.

Those were glass items that Gu Xingruo brought back from Hai Province. It is said that anyone who hears the bell will encounter a destined surprise.

As the evening breeze swept through the hall, accompanied by the crisp tinkling sound, he softly said, "Okay."

(End of this chapter)