Is Pei Shiyu like a cat?
He really must be nearsighted.
“Oh, by the way, Xiao Qing, why do you not come and have a meal with us the day after tomorrow?”
Xu Qing did not understand. “Bring a lunch box and eat with you?” What kind of primary school student behavior was that?
Wan Yi: “Of course not! We do not eat boxed lunches every single day!”
Xu Qing smiled: “So?”
Wan Yi: “We have our victory celebration the day after tomorrow!”
Xu Qing: “You won the match?”
At the mention of this, a smile bloomed on Wan Yi’s face: “We won. We made it to the semi-finals of the city tournament!”
“Congratulations!”
Xu Qing had always known that Pei Shiyu and the others were with a club called Eternal. Although he had previously helped the development headquarters test games, he had never really looked into the competitive scene.
Even if he did not understand the competition, he did know that you needed five people to start a match.
In this club, he had been delivering meals for so long and had never seen anyone other than these three people.
“Do you have other teammates?”
Wan Yi spoke excitedly: “Yes, we do. We have them this time!”
The city semi-finals required an offline match, and Pei Shiyu had already informed the other two teammates in advance.
Fortunately, everyone was not too far away, so coming over was not difficult.
Xu Qing: “Had you guys never met before?” After all, they had made it to the city semi-finals. “Are you not all in Boteng City?”
The other two game accounts were based in Boteng City, but the people were not necessarily all there. Besides, Wan Yi said carelessly: “We are all grown men. What is there to meet about?”
Xu Qing: “And now?”
“That is different! This is the semi-finals, after all.”
Tsk, two faces.
Xu Qing did not refuse. He was alone in Boteng City now and had nothing else to do.
On the day of the agreed meal, Xu Qing took leave from Boss Cai in advance and headed out directly from his grandmother’s house.
Just as Xu Qing finished changing his clothes, he heard Lu Xinyu outside talking to his grandmother: “I will not be eating at home today. I am going out with friends.”
Grandmother scolded him with a smile: “Go out then! I was not planning on making your food anyway!”
Lu Xinyu laughed: “Stubborn little old lady.”
Xu Qing had also changed into a new outfit: “Grandma, I am going out to eat with friends today too.”
Grandmother immediately smiled kindly, her attitude doing a 180-degree turn: “It is good to go out and make more friends.”
Lu Xinyu, who was unlocking his little pink electric scooter nearby, immediately felt disgruntled: “Hey, hey, I am still right here, little old lady! Who is your son!”
Grandmother glared: “You are still my grandson! Get out! Scram! Do not be an eyesore here! You go out 800 times a day, who cares about you?”
Lu Xinyu grumbled as he pedaled his little scooter away.
Xu Qing helped his grandmother tidy up the things in the small courtyard before setting off.
Xu Qing looked at the address Wan Yi sent. It was neither too far nor too close, about a 20-minute walk, which fit the agreed time perfectly.
Passing by a flower shop, Xu Qing thought for a moment and walked in, buying a bouquet. Since it was the team’s first time gathering together, he figured he would treat it as a nice blessing.
As Xu Qing struggled, not knowing which one to choose, the shop assistant spoke up: “Are you buying this for your girlfriend?”
Xu Qing: “Uh.”
The shop assistant: “Is it a gift for an elder?”
Xu Qing: “Hmm.”
He felt that coming in to buy flowers seemed like a mistake. If he had known, he would have just plucked a few from his grandmother’s garden.
However, the shop assistant must have been experienced. Seeing that two attempts failed, she immediately tried again: “Is it for a friend’s grand opening?”
Xu Qing, who finally caught a keyword, nodded vigorously: “Yes! A friend’s grand opening!”
Then, the assistant recommended a bouquet half a person’s height, looking like a bunch of wheat.
The shop assistant: “This is our bestseller. Usually chosen for grand openings.”
But how am I supposed to carry this? I have to carry it to the restaurant.
In the end, Xu Qing still bought the flowers, but he paid for them to be delivered to the second floor of the Dawn team. He also picked out a sunflower with no strange meaning, just pure, beautiful blessings.
Xu Qing tapped the sunflower, quite satisfied: “Hmm, festive.”
Xu Qing had been delayed for a while at the flower shop when his phone buzzed with a message.
It was a location ping, the same one Wan Yi had sent.
It was from Pei Shiyu. This was their first time speaking online since they had added each other as friends that day. Pei Shiyu had a black avatar of a cat, looking like a Q-version of Xiao Hei. He did not remember what the avatar was before, just that he did not think it was this one.
Pei Shiyu was actually a closet cat lover. Wan Yi thought he had a husband-like vibe. It seemed there might be some truth to that.
It was just that the combination of Pei Shiyu’s temperament and a husband-like vibe was inexplicably funny.
Xu Qing: Wan Yi already sent me the location.
Pei Shiyu: .
Xu Qing watched the dialog box show that the other party was typing, and a second later: 18:00.
Xu Qing: He told me.
Pei Shiyu: 5 minutes left.
Xu Qing checked the time, and indeed, there were only 5 minutes left.
Xu Qing: Do you not let people eat if they are late?
Pei Shiyu did not send another message. Xu Qing curled his lips unconsciously, and inexplicably, the image of Pei Shiyu frowning in helplessness flashed in his mind.
Two minutes later, Pei Shiyu replied: You can.
A grumpy, husband-like, strong-fighting, cool guy.
Xu Qing thought that in the short month they had known each other, he had added too many descriptors to Pei Shiyu.
Putting those thoughts aside, Xu Qing arrived at the entrance of the restaurant. It was a semi-open-air outdoor restaurant, and for the cool nights in Boteng City, eating outside was just right.
He saw a familiar little electric scooter at the entrance.
Was not this Lu Xinyu’s scooter?
He remembered that Lu Xinyu also played the game Eternal and had mentioned something about a tournament.
But, on the same team as Pei Shiyu?
A thought flickered in Xu Qing’s mind, but he felt it could not be such a coincidence. Maybe it was just the same restaurant? He looked around and, not far away, saw Pei Shiyu’s iconic motorcycle.
If he had thought the little scooter was just the same model, the probability of bumping into Pei Shiyu’s obviously modified motorcycle in Boteng City was too low.
As Xu Qing walked in, he saw Wan Yi, and sitting next to him with his arm around his shoulder was none other than Lu Xinyu.
“Xiao Qing! We are over here!”
Wan Li, who saw Xu Qing first, waved from his seat, and Pei Shiyu, who was sitting next to him, looked up as well.
Xu Qing was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt with light pink trousers, a silver bracelet on his wrist, and fluffy, slightly curly black hair. He looked clean and refreshing, with his usual harmless smile on his face.
Xu Qing always wore vibrant colors like pink or yellow that few men wore, but every time he did, it did not look out of place. Instead, it was eye-catching.
At this moment, in the buzzing restaurant, his smile was as radiant as the sunflower he held in his arms.
“Xiao Qing?”
Hearing the familiar name, Lu Xinyu turned his head abruptly. Upon seeing it was Xu Qing, he said in shock: “Xiao Qing, why are you here?”
Seeing Lu Xinyu’s reaction, Wan Yi and Wan Li were also a bit confused.
“Do you two know each other?”
Lu Xinyu: “Know each other? That is an understatement. Can people who live under the same roof not know each other?”
After hearing Lu Xinyu’s answer, even Pei Shiyu’s gaze could not help but sweep back and forth between Lu Xinyu and Xu Qing.
Several people, although they said not a word, their eyes seemed to contain a thousand words, their brains desperately trying to extract key terms, their CPUs burning out.
“Every day,” “under the same roof.” How could they know each other?
Lu Xinyu reacted for a moment and raised his voice in disbelief: “What are you guys thinking? This is my nephew!”
Even though the one being joked about was himself, Xu Qing could not help but laugh out loud: “It is clearly because what you said was too ambiguous.”
Lu Xinyu was dissatisfied: “Then why did you not explain?”
Xu Qing smiled without answering, just thinking that the expressions of the others guessing were very amusing, even Pei Shiyu’s expression was a rare sight.
Pei Shiyu looked at Xu Qing, who had shown no surprise at seeing Lu Xinyu: “You knew?”
Xu Qing shook his head honestly: “No.” He only knew that Lu Xinyu played the game Eternal. He had never linked him to Pei Shiyu and their team before. “I saw his scooter and your motorcycle at the entrance.”
Pei Shiyu looked away and said: “Oh.”
Wan Yi: “You even remember the team’s vehicles? He rarely rides it anyway. It is always parked in the shed downstairs.”
Xu Qing: “Well, I have ridden on his scooter.”
Wan Yi raised his voice: “You have ridden on his scooter?”
Xu Qing rubbed his ear, which was pained by the shout: “Is there a problem with that?”
“The team’s vehicles are not even allowed to be touched usually.”
Pei Shiyu interrupted: “Since everyone is here, let us eat.”
Xu Qing glanced at the expressionless Pei Shiyu and said nothing.
Halfway through the meal, although it was the first time they had met offline, they were all young, and since they had played games online for a long time, they warmed up quickly.
Wan Yi was eager to try: “Since Xu Qing is Commander Yu’s uncle, and we are Xiao Qing’s friends.”
Xu Qing laughed heartily, intrigued: “And then?”
Wan Yi looked at Xu Qing, who was smiling at him, and swallowed hard. After getting along these past few days, he had already seen it. This kid, Xu Qing, only had a cute face. He was even 2 centimeters taller than their team leader.
Wan Yi immediately changed his tune: “Then of course we are all even better friends… hehe.”
Xu Qing then shifted his gaze and raised his glass: “Then congratulations on qualifying for the city semi-finals.”
The little surprise actually pulled the young men closer together.
Wan Yi suggested they drink, but it was vetoed by Pei Shiyu.
Drinking would affect their performance, and besides, they had only made it to the city semi-finals. They were still far from what he wanted.
Xu Qing had been quietly observing Pei Shiyu.
The other people in the team included a yellow-haired Tiger Bro in addition to Lu Xinyu. Wan Yi, Wan Li, and Lu Xinyu quickly got rowdy and hit it off.
But Pei Shiyu, apart from the initial self-introduction, spoke very little.
Is this just his personality, or does he have something on his mind? Xu Qing realized he always seemed to have a bit of curiosity about Pei Shiyu.
Clearly, their relationship had grown closer after the business with Xiao Hei, but it also seemed like it had not.
It seemed Xu Qing’s gaze was too intense.
Pei Shiyu subconsciously looked at the clothes he was wearing today.
He did not know why Xu Qing was so obsessed with whether he was wearing clothes or not.
Xu Qing restrained his laughter and shook his head: “It is nothing.”
Then he nodded and leaned closer to Pei Shiyu.
Pei Shiyu looked at Xu Qing’s face, which had suddenly magnified in front of him, his eyes scanning up and down uncontrollably.
Xu Qing’s skin was a bit too fair. Even from this close, he could only see the fine fuzz on Xu Qing’s face.
Xu Qing leaned over, and his nose crinkled slightly: “I smell it.”
Pei Shiyu raised an eyebrow: “?”
“It is the smell of Xiao Hei and the others.” Xu Qing smiled and reached out, plucking a black cat hair from Pei Shiyu’s shoulder.
“Look.” Xu Qing pinched the cat hair at his fingertips and put it in front of Pei Shiyu.
“…”
Pei Shiyu watched him blow the cat hair to the ground, then turned his head to join Wan Yi and the others’ conversation with complete naturalness.
It was as if the deliberate leaning in earlier was just to remove that strand of cat hair.
Simply…
Inexplicable.
Pei Shiyu lowered his head, looking at his black short-sleeved shirt, realizing there were more cat hairs stuck to it than just one.
Even though they did not drink alcohol, they were all in their late teens, and because of their previous battle friendship from playing games online, they ended up finishing the meal late into the night.
When they parted, everyone took a taxi back to the team base together.
Actually, this restaurant was not far from Xu Qing’s grandmother’s house, but it was too late now, and his grandmother was elderly and a light sleeper. It would not be good to wake her up.
The six of them arrived back at the team base with a racket. It was the first time Lu Xinyu and Tiger Bro had visited.
They insisted on exploring the team base where they would be staying in the future, as well as the present.
The two walked with their arms around each other’s shoulders, looking like they had arrived at summer camp.
Under the guise of building team camaraderie, the two decided to share a room.
Fortunately, because they knew they were meeting, they had intended for them to come stay, and Pei Shiyu had asked the housekeeper to clean the rooms in advance.
However, because he only knew Lu Xinyu and Tiger Bro were coming, he had not expected Xu Qing, the surprise.
So, only that one room had been cleaned.
Wan Yi and Wan Li, the two brothers, were sharing a room, and Pei Shiyu’s room only had one bed.
Xu Qing played with Xiao Hei, who was exposing his belly on the floor, without looking up: “Should I leave?”
Wan Yi blurted out: “But the team leader’s bed is a big bed, so there should not be a problem with two people sleeping in it, right?”
Xu Qing looked up at Pei Shiyu, who had been leaning against the door frame without a word, his eyes curved like crescents: “Then thank you.”
Pei Shiyu looked at Xu Qing, who had no intention of leaving, and did not speak.