When the director issued the invitation, Xu Qingfeng originally had no intention of going.
Having spent years navigating social dinners, he preferred to decline unnecessary engagements just to go home and rest. However, when he heard that Huo Xiu would also be attending, he no longer refused.
As for the reason…
To this day, he still hadn’t managed to share a meal with Huo Xiu. Even if there were many outsiders present, it was still better than never having eaten together at all.
And so, with the director playing host, the group picked a private restaurant with good discretion. The place was quiet, set back from the street, and featured a unique décor perfect for a small gathering of friends.
The director appeared very excited and enthusiastic about their arrival, welcoming them with a smile throughout the evening.
What surprised Xu Qingfeng was that the director had brought the female host along, and the woman standing beside him was acting strangely. To call her cold wouldn’t be quite right, yet she wasn’t particularly warm either.
However, the frequent glances she cast his way gave him the fleeting, joking illusion that she might be expressing affection. His actual thought, though, was that he could roughly guess the true purpose behind this dinner.
Huo Xiu acted as if he were entirely oblivious to his surroundings. Because of his powerful aura, the director didn’t dare to strike up a conversation with him easily. He simply ate with elegant movements, maintaining silence throughout the meal. Occasionally, when he did look up, his long eyes would merely sweep over Xu Qingfeng.
Consequently, the focus of the dinner remained centered on Xu Qingfeng. He wasn’t blind to the flattering brown-nosing in the director’s words; while he didn’t particularly enjoy being fawned over, flattery no matter how transparent is rarely offensive. Generally speaking, it was pleasant to the ear, and his mood improved accordingly.
Seeing that Xu’s expression was favorable, the director quickly patted the female host’s back, saying with a suggestive hint, “Hey, have you not eaten in days? Are you just going to focus on the food?”
Following the director’s previous private warning, the female host naturally understood what this meant. But she found it difficult to lower her pride to offer a toast and an apology. Her eyes darted between the director and Xu Qingfeng who was watching her with a faint, knowing smile. Not only did she have a “poker face” at work, but her expressions in daily life were also wooden. This made her look both dim-witted and pathetic.
As a man who had weathered many storms, Xu Qingfeng didn’t care about a woman’s apology. He intended to maintain his gentlemanly demeanor to break the deadlock, especially since Huo Xiu was eating right next to them. It wouldn’t do to ruin everyone’s appetite.
“Director Feng, she’s so thin; she should eat more to gain some weight for her health. She’s an adult; she knows what she’s doing,” Xu Qingfeng said. He even went as far as using the serving chopsticks to place a piece of braised pork into the female host’s bowl.
The director’s eyes nearly bulged out. He could sense Xu Qingfeng’s magnanimity from his speech and behavior, but he hadn’t expected him to be this generous, truly holding no grudge at all. He chimed in with agreement repeatedly.
Unfortunately, the female host wasn’t quite as sensible. Seeing that Xu Qingfeng had a good temper and liked to joke, she lost her previous sense of hesitation. Her tightly bitten lip relaxed, and she said directly, “I don’t like eating meat.”
After speaking, she picked the meat out of her bowl and placed it directly onto the plate designated for food scraps.
From her perspective, she was simply stating a fact without much thought, but to everyone else, it looked like blatant ingratitude. It even drew a sideways glance from the quietly dining Huo Xiu.
The atmosphere in the room instantly turned much like it had during the recording it became cold enough to rival the South Pole.
The director’s heart was now filled with deep regret. Had he known, he would have apologized on her behalf. Why had he brought this stupid woman along? It was maddening; he wondered how she had survived this long with such a brain.
Turning his back to Xu Qingfeng and Huo Xiu, he frantically winked and signaled to the female host, even going so far as to kick her hard on the shin under the table. He put some force into it.
Sure enough, the female host let out a low cry of pain.
Fearing further accidents, the director stopped pretending and said directly to the woman, “Hurry up and toast President Xu! Apologize properly!”
Xu Qingfeng had already let it go once, and he didn’t feel like repeating himself. He leaned back against his chair with his arms crossed, watching the female host’s next move with the coldness of a bystander.
Seeing she had no way out, the female host stepped forward with a glass of beer, her expression written with dissatisfaction. Even the look she gave Xu Qingfeng was filled with resentment, as if asking Why are you doing this?
At that moment, she wondered if someone would step in to break the tension again, and she cast a pleading look toward Huo Xiu. However, Huo Xiu’s expression didn’t change in the slightest; he looked back at her as if she were a puff of air.
It was only then that she clearly realized she and they were from two different worlds.
Unable to resist any longer, she suppressed the complex emotions in her heart. Her eyes grew moist, and her expression was stiff. “I’m… I’m sorry, President Xu.”
Though she didn’t know what she had done wrong, she figured there would be no more issues as long as she apologized. After speaking, she proactively moved her glass closer, intending to clink glasses for a toast.
Xu Qingfeng nodded with a smile, then reached out and handed her a new glass.
“Drink this.”
The female host looked at the object in front of her, her body trembling slightly.
It was a concoction of white spirits, Western liquor, and red wine, creating a vibrantly colored, pungent-smelling mixture. One didn’t need to guess to know how high the alcohol content was.
She usually didn’t drink at all. A clear teardrop slid from the corner of her eye as she was forced to gulp it down in tears. Her slow, one-shot finish earned a round of applause from Xu Qingfeng.
After the dinner ended, Xu Qingfeng hadn’t forgotten the more important matter: he needed to ensure Huo Xiu’s safety today to avoid the dangerous situation described in the book.
Because of this, when he noticed Huo Xiu intended to move alone, he stopped him and accompanied him. Huo Xiu, who had planned to go to the restaurant garden, did not mind.
Once they reached a place with no one around, Huo Xiu spoke words he hadn’t expected.
“Are you angry?”
Xu Qingfeng immediately knew what he was referring to. His smile carried a hint of helplessness. “I wouldn’t say I’m angry; I just wanted to teach her something that might help her in the future. Why, are you starting to dislike me?”
True, his actions just now hadn’t seemed very kind. But Xu Qingfeng had always believed his representative color wasn’t a choice between black and white, but rather the gray formed by their fusion.
“No. It’s very unique a side of you I haven’t seen.” Huo Xiu slid his hand into his trouser pocket, seemingly reaching for something…
When Xu Qingfeng saw those beautiful hands pull out a cigarette pack, he couldn’t hide the surprise in his eyes. He hadn’t thought Huo Xiu smoked. After all, despite knowing him for so long, he had never smelled smoke on him or seen him take out a cigarette. Moreover… Huo Xiu seemed uninterested in everything and was quite young; the fact that he smoked was indeed surprising.
When Huo Xiu offered him one and received the information that Xu Qingfeng didn’t smoke, he was equally surprised.
“Most people around me smoke; it helps relieve stress.” Xu Qingfeng took Huo Xiu’s lighter and toyed with it in his hand, adding casually, “But I can’t quite accept things that are bad for one’s health or are addictive.”
Huo Xiu allowed Xu Qingfeng’s actions, looking down at him with an unlit cigarette in his mouth. The glow of the setting sun fell on his handsome, youthful face, adding a different kind of sexiness.
Xu Qingfeng had taken the lighter mainly to remind the other man to quit smoking, but being watched with such a gaze, he found he couldn’t speak. Instead, Xu Qingfeng lit it for him.
The sound of the friction wheel was very clear in the quiet space, and the flame flickered. Xu Qingfeng raised his hand to block the wind, moving the flame closer to Huo Xiu.
The taller Huo Xiu leaned down slightly to get closer…
Their heads were close, and the flickering red and blue flame in the middle formed a bridge, maintaining this rare moment of intimacy.
With their features magnified, Xu Qingfeng still couldn’t see a single pore on the other’s skin. Instead, under the glow of the sunset and the flame, it looked even more lustrous and delicate, possessing the texture of jade.
The brief close contact ended once the cigarette was lit. He didn’t know what brand the other was smoking, but it didn’t have the bitter taste of traditional tobacco; instead, it had a faint, not unpleasant fragrance.
A sudden voice broke the quiet and harmonious scene.
“Xiu, how could you treat me like this?!!”
This person’s appearance was very familiar. Xu Qingfeng recognized him as the weirdo from the audience by that baseball cap and mask the person who would occasionally send out cold, dark stares.
The man wore a crumpled jacket, with grease stains on the cuffs and collar. His pants were equally unsightly; the light-colored fabric had turned an eerie dark gray, looking as if they hadn’t been washed in a long time.
When they were far apart, Xu Qingfeng hadn’t noticed these details, but now that they were close, the smell made him want to recoil he felt a physical urge to gag. This wasn’t psychological; it was physiological.
Turning to look at Huo Xiu, he saw the man was so calm it seemed he was used to it. Clearly, this wasn’t the first time he had encountered this weirdo. However, Huo Xiu’s brow still furrowed slightly.
The weirdo didn’t stop approaching. Instead, he took two steps forward and continued to question in a hysterical roar, “You knew I was watching you! How could you get so close to someone else right in front of me?! You shouldn’t be like this. You’re wrong, you’ve made a very big mistake, you’ve let me down…”
Xu Qingfeng: ?
As the weirdo continued to ramble incoherently, Xu Qingfeng was reaching his limit with the stench. Looking at the hair sticking out from under the cap so oily it was clumped into strands it was simply… He had to admire Huo Xiu’s tolerance.
His greatest wish right now was to kick this person into the pond for a good scrub.
Huo Xiu, however, spoke in a serious tone to explain: “I am not wrong, and I haven’t let you down. Please stop interfering with my life.”
Xu Qingfeng, whose mood had been soured by the weirdo, felt it lighten instantly upon hearing those words. If one treated a strange person with the logic of a normal person, it would seem… how to describe it? A bit earnest, yet also…
A flash of inspiration hit him. Xu Qingfeng suddenly remembered what Huo Xiu had said before about having to change his number regularly.
He looked again at the filthy weirdo. Could it be that this person was the reason why Huo Xiu was forced to change his number all the time?