Lin Qi had booked a hotel right across the street. The moment the four of them walked in, a staff member came to greet them. Lin Qi handed over the cake: “Bring it out after we finish eating.” Then he pulled Nan Chu into the private dining room.
Nan Chu extricated herself from his grip. “Is it your birthday?”
They’d met at the end of last year and he’d never mentioned a birthday.
Inside the private room, Lin Qi pulled out a chair and sat down, legs spread wide, slapping the seat beside him and beckoning Nan Chu over with the exact same manner as someone else she knew.
Once Nan Chu sat down, Lin Qi picked up her cup and started filling it with water. He talked as he poured: “No pressure, I don’t expect any kind of gift from you. Just having you all here to have a meal counts as celebrating with me.”
He pushed the cup over. “Drink up. Not poisoned.”
Nan Chu’s hand had barely touched the cup before he added: “You know how hard it is to get my brother out anywhere? Once every ten days if you’re lucky. Can you guess what he does?”
Nan Chu cooperated perfectly and shook her head.
“Firefighter.” Lin Qi said it with complete reverence and a great deal of pride. “Surprised? Didn’t see that coming, did you?!”
“……”
This kid, Nan Chu thought. What a handful.
As they spoke, two more people came through the door.
Taking their sweet time, those two.
Lin Qi turned around and slapped the seat across from himself. “Ge, sit here!”
Lin Luxiao sauntered over with his hands in his pockets.
Xia Wan, following behind, said with annoyance: “Lin Qi, how come you didn’t ask me to sit?”
Lin Qi, utterly unaware of any undercurrent, said: “You’re not my brother.”
Xia Wan: “……”
Nan Chu couldn’t help feeling a moment of sympathy for Xia Wan.
The emotional intelligence of these two brothers was appallingly low, one after the other.
When Lin Luxiao had taken his seat, Lin Qi looked back at Nan Chu: “Where was I?”
“You said your brother was a firefighter, and asked if I was surprised.”
Nan Chu said it while glancing at Lin Luxiao, who, for once, turned the corner of his mouth almost imperceptibly upward.
“……”
Lin Qi nodded. “Right, right, right! My dream since I was little was to be a firefighter.”
Nan Chu: “I remember you telling the press your childhood dream was to be a violinist.”
Lin Qi: “I also told the press I wanted to be a scientist. You believe everything you read?”
Then he caught himself, slapped his thigh, and said: “Wait — you’ve been looking through my interviews? Do you have a crush on me?”
In your dreams.
Nan Chu gave him a look.
Lin Qi saved himself from his own embarrassment. “Never mind, if we make headlines together, you’ll have to deal with people coming after you.”
Lin Qi had a fairly good public image at the moment — occasionally said something slightly ridiculous, but he was young, endearing, and had a pair of hands more elegant and pristine than most women’s. He’d gathered quite a following, though the classical violin world was a small one, and not many knew of Lin Qi outside it. Still, those who were fans were fiercely devoted — more than capable of going to war if needed.
Tearing Nan Chu apart would take them no effort at all.
Lin Qi looked at Lin Luxiao with something like regret. “I wasn’t built like my brother — couldn’t get into the military academy. Not like him, top of his class. Everyone there used to call him ‘Iron Wolf.’ Muscles like bricks.”
At that.
Lin Luxiao shot Lin Qi a warning look.
Lin Qi, blissfully unaware of consequences, suggested: “Ge, want to lift your shirt and show off the abs?”
“……”
Nan Chu gave Lin Qi an approving look.
Well played.
Xia Wan’s ears had gone red. “Lin Qi, you can’t just sell out your own brother like that.”
Lin Qi: “I’m not selling him out! Plenty of male celebrities post pictures of their abs on Instagram — heavily edited, every last one. I was there in Milan last time, there was this American guy who kept insisting we look at his muscles — made me feel sick for half a month afterward. When it comes to abs, nothing beats what my brother’s got — the real thing.”
Nan Chu remembered that incident: the large American man had been harassing Lin Qi and tried to drag him off to a hotel room, and it had frightened Lin Qi so badly he wouldn’t agree to go back to that bar with her for a full month afterward.
As Lin Qi finished speaking, his hand reached out — and was immediately caught by Lin Luxiao, pushed firmly back. “Don’t cause a scene.”
Lin Luxiao was generally easygoing and didn’t mind a joke, but when he was serious, his face emptied of all warmth, and that alone was enough to make people wary. Lin Qi didn’t dare push further, and sheepishly shifted the conversation elsewhere.
The staff began bringing out the food.
The atmosphere went slightly quiet. Lin Qi was somewhat in awe of Lin Luxiao, and under that kind of pressure, he didn’t dare breathe too loudly. He could only stick out his tongue at Nan Chu, pouting miserably in his seat.
Xia Wan glanced at Lin Luxiao.
He had his head down, eating.
Xia Wan called to him: “Lin Luxiao.”