When Shen Xingruo uttered the words “哥哥 (Gege),” Lu Xingyan felt as if an electric current surged through his entire body, causing him to freeze momentarily. Her voice was clear and cold, yet the two words “哥哥 (Gege)” carried a hint of sweetness to his ears. It was downright eerie. Suddenly, he had the inexplicable desire to be humiliated by her again. But it seemed like no one else noticed any other meaning behind Shen Xingruo’s repetition of his words, as she simply echoed what he had said earlier.
Xu Chengzhou slapped the table, laughing hysterically. “茶毒 (cha du) hahaha! This is so hilarious!”
“No, Brother Yan, you’re teaching me with such conviction! I can’t handle it anymore, hahaha! It hurts my stomach from laughing…” Li Chengyue was laughing so hard he was almost in tears, clutching his stomach.
Chen Zhu glanced at them disdainfully, his face full of disgust. “You guys are embarrassing. Shut up, all of you.”
Compared to Lu Xingyan, who was more familiar with mocking banter, the three girls from Room 403 and Ruan Wen were struggling not to burst into laughter. They had to cover their mouths, their cheeks flushing red.
As Lu Xingyan regained his composure, he glanced at them and casually picked up his chopsticks, tapping them against the bowl.
“What’s so funny? Acting like idiots. Do you want me to get each of you a bowl to beg for food on the roadside? That’ll give you something to laugh about.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Chengzhou let out a loud “pfft” and led another round of laughter, showing no mercy.
Whether it was because of Shen Xingruo’s last “哥哥 (gege)” or not, Lu Xingyan couldn’t muster any anger at the moment. He even treated these floating disciples of the Bright Summit, who had been so arrogant, with unusual kindness, simply watching them with cold eyes, without any action.
Before long, He Siyue came in with a bag of drinks.
Seeing them laughing, he chuckled and casually asked, “Everyone’s here. What are you chatting about? You seem so happy.”
“Class Monitor, let me tell you, just now Lu Xingyan…” Li Chengyue was about to speak, but Lu Xingyan, who had shown him kindness for five minutes, suddenly kicked his chair leg, his attitude doing a 180-degree turn.
“Why don’t you go perform comedy with all that talk? With grades like yours, you’d starve if you didn’t learn a trade.”
Li Chengyue was knocked sideways onto Zhao Langming’s chair. He sat up, laughing, “No, I’ll go learn a trade now. Then I won’t have a chance to ‘茶毒 (cha du)’ you, the upright and promising youth.”
After speaking, he secretly praised himself for being quite clever, with his brain working so quickly. Then he couldn’t help bursting into laughter again.
“Li Chengyue, you’re such a jokester…”
Zhao Langming had just taken a sip of water, but he couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter again.
He Siyue didn’t quite understand what was going on. He placed the plastic bag on the table and took out the drinks he had bought.
Among the drinks he bought were lemon tea, black tea, and jasmine tea.
Xu Chengzhou was sitting next to He Siyue. When he saw the drinks, he shook his head and pushed the tea away a bit, saying seriously, “No, I won’t drink this. It’s poisoned. ‘茶毒 (cha du)’, tea is poisonous.”
“Pfft…”
“Hahaha…”
“I can’t, I’m going to die laughing!”
Lu Xingyan had never experienced such humiliation in his life. Despite being ridiculed for so long, he strangely wasn’t very angry.
Before long, the dishes arrived, and Lu Xingyan took off his coat. Only Li Chengyue commented, “Hey Yan Ge, you’re quite stylish in pink,” but nobody else paid attention, let alone connected his attire with Shen Xingruo’s.
But that wasn’t surprising considering how many people were color-clashing today. Even if someone wore lotus pink, it would be assumed to be a couple’s outfit. Chen Zhu and Xu Chengzhou even clashed with fluorescent green, making them look like firefly partners.
The restaurant served Sichuan-style cuisine. Their main dish was a double-layered basil frog and crab hot pot, along with side dishes to add after finishing the frog and crab, as well as some stir-fries and barbecue.
Shen Xingruo tried a dish of peppered fish slices, finding it delicious. But every time the lazy Susan turned, the dish passed her before she could grab more.
She wasn’t a reserved person, but having often dined out with her parents before, she had developed a habit of never rotating dishes on a round table.
Sitting opposite her, Lu Xingyan casually glanced at her several times and noticed her quietly staring at the peppered fish slices.
Lu Xingyan took a sip of water and suddenly shouted, “Xu Chengzhou, stop spinning the lazy Susan like a top, pass the Kung Pao chicken to me.”
The Kung Pao chicken was directly across from the peppered fish slices. As the chicken reached Lu Xingyan, the peppered fish slices coincidentally landed in front of Shen Xingruo.
As if realizing something, Shen Xingruo was about to look up across the table. But suddenly, He Siyue, sitting beside her, picked up a piece of fish and put it in her bowl. “You seem to like this dish. Have some more.”
“Oh, thank you.”
He Siyue smiled. “Did you like eating fish since you were little? I’ve always heard that people who like fish are smart.”
Shen Xingruo replied, “I didn’t particularly like it when I was young. It’s just that back in Huize, the fishing industry was quite developed. We could always get fish no matter where we went.”
“Now that you mention it, I’ve been to Huize once, Huize…”
Lu Xingyan never expected that before he could even pick up a piece of chicken, the two opposite him would start chatting.
He Siyue and Shen Xingruo seemed to get along well, at least they weren’t bringing up strange words like “golden stomach” or “茶毒 (cha du)” while chatting.
Seeing Shen Xingruo slowly finishing a piece, He Siyue prepared to pick up another piece for her.
Shen Xingruo declined, saying she could do it herself. As they continued talking, Lu Xingyan suddenly turned the lazy Susan expressionlessly, bringing the fish back to himself.
He Siyue: “…”
Shen Xingruo: “…”
Lu Xingyan didn’t look up, just stared at the fish in front of him.
He had no real interest in the fish at the moment, so he simply rotated it to Chen Zhu’s side and said, “You like fish, right? Have some.”
Chen Zhu was happily eating crab, but as she watched Lu Xingyan move her crab aside and replace it with a plate of fish, she was puzzled.
Since when did I like fish?
“You’re out of your mind. I like salmon sushi,” she retorted.
Lu Xingyan didn’t even look at her. “It’s all fish, isn’t it? You wrap some rice in seaweed from seaweed soup, and that’s sushi, right? You’re so Westernized.”
Chen Zhu?