Xu Ya had never expected Lin Xingchen to say something like that. He almost lost control and demanded on the spot: Jianian is already like this, and all you care about is making me pay the bill?
But with Tang Wenzhen still there, he restrained himself and simply said, “Alright.”
Lin Xingchen nodded slightly and lowered his head to drink the millet porridge Pei Qingjian had served him earlier.
Xu Jianian: …
He turned away, his eyes faintly reddening.
Chen Cheng ground his teeth in anger but could do nothing except keep comforting him.
Xu Jianian did not stay any longer and left.
Xu Ya hurried after him, coaxing him gently.
Watching Xu Ya leave almost without hesitation, Pei Qingjian sneered inwardly.
He was the one who had invited everyone to dinner. Now he was the one leaving first and abandoning the guests behind.
How polite of him.
Pei Qingjian glanced at Lin Xingchen from the corner of his eye. Seeing that he showed no reaction and seemed not to care, he finally relaxed a little.
But then another thought crossed his mind.
How many disappointments must someone go through before their heart becomes this numb?
After all, Lan Xingchen had said it himself—they had once been the best of friends.
Pei Qingjian felt a pang of sympathy for Lan Xingchen.
He picked up his chopsticks and helped Lan Xingchen serve some of his favorite dishes again.
“You eat yourself, no need to bother with me,” Lan Xingchen said, looking up at him.
“I’ve eaten enough,” Pei Qingjian replied.
“Really?” Lan Xingchen lifted his hand over his chest and felt his stomach through his clothes. “I didn’t see you eat that much.”
“Quite a lot,” Pei Qingjian said, pointing to his now-empty bowl.
He had been eating nonstop since the dishes arrived, and when Xu Jiannian and Xu Ya tried to persuade him earlier, he had eaten even faster—finishing a whole bowl of rice in no time.
“So… do you think it’s tasty?”
“Tasty~” Pei Qingjian said cheerfully. “Some of these dishes I’ve never had before. When I go back, I’ll look up the recipes and try making them myself~”
Seeing him enjoy his meal, Lan Xingchen finally felt a bit relieved. Good, that meant his time hadn’t been wasted.
He retracted his hand to continue eating, but unexpectedly noticed Tang Wenzhen still seated, picking at a piece of fish.
Lan Xingchen: ???
“You’re still here?”
Tang Wenzhen: …
Tang Wenzhen smiled. “Perhaps you remember—I’m here for lunch.”
His enunciation was clear, his tone softened, proving that the grating, unpleasant voice Pei Qingjian had complained about before wasn’t him.
Lan Xingchen: …He really did forget.
He lowered his head and continued eating in silence.
Pei Qingjian, having finished his meal, wanted to go to the restroom.
“I’m going to the restroom,” he said to Lan Xingchen.
“Mm.”
Pei Qingjian stood and left the private room.
Following the signs, he reached the restroom. After finishing, he was about to wash his hands when he noticed Tang Wenzhen enter as well.
Pei Qingjian ignored him and turned on the faucet.
Unexpectedly, Tang Wenzhen didn’t head to a urinal or stall—he walked right beside him.
Pei Qingjian looked at him, puzzled.
Tang Wenzhen tilted his lips into a slow smile.
Pei Qingjian: ??? Why is he smiling again?!
What’s so funny?!
You should be smiling at Xu Jiannian, not me!
“Something wrong?” Pei Qingjian asked after washing his hands and turning off the faucet.
Tang Wenzhen chuckled lightly. “Mm.”
Clearly, there was something wrong.
Pei Qingjian frowned and took a step back. “What is it?”
Tang Wenzhen: …Was that step back for real?!
“What else could it be? Naturally, I came to catch up.”
Pei Qingjian: ???
“Catch up?”
“Yes,” Tang Wenzhen nodded. “I never expected we’d meet again.”
Now Pei Qingjian was even more confused.
“Do we know each other?”
Tang Wenzhen snorted softly. “Pei Qingjian, it’s just the two of us now—are you still pretending not to know me?”
Pei Qingjian: ????
Pretending?!
He hadn’t met him before today!
Wait… Pei Qingjian realized he hadn’t met him, but perhaps the original owner had.
So Tang Wenzhen and the original owner actually knew each other?
“I don’t remember,” Pei Qingjian said flatly.
Tang Wenzhen didn’t believe him. “Back then you swore you liked me. Now, you say you don’t remember?”
Pei Qingjian: ???!!!
Tang Wenzhen had come to the restroom looking for him after lunch because Pei Qingjian hadn’t returned. Lan Xingchen: ???!!!
What was going on?!
Pei Qingjian thought the same: What was going on?!
“I… liked you?” Pei Qingjian racked his brain, trying to dredge up the original owner’s memory.
Top student, school bully, senior—none of these could be Tang Wenzhen, right?
Except the senior’s face was vaguely familiar, and the early top student and school bully memories were nearly a blur.
Seeing Pei Qingjian still hesitating, Tang Wenzhen’s anger flared.
“What’s the matter? Are you trying to deny it? Back in first year, didn’t you wait in the sun for half an hour just to confess to me?”
First year! Pei Qingjian caught the key phrase—school bully!
Now, with Tang Wenzhen’s words, the dormant memory of the original owner stirred slightly. That seemed like the right name.
Good heavens! The original owner actually had history with Tang Wenzhen!
Quite surprising.
“I remember now,” Pei Qingjian tentatively said. “You were pretty good at fighting back then, right? That’s why you were famous?”
“Oh, you finally remember.”
Lan Xingchen: !!! He actually remembers!
Lan Xingchen snorted in his heart.
Indeed, it was the school bully. Pei Qingjian was speechless. This world was way too small.
He sighed. “It’s been so long. How do you still remember?”
Tang Wenzhen: “You haven’t forgotten either, have you?”
Pei Qingjian shook his head. “I really did forget. I honestly thought today was the first time we met.”
Tang Wenzhen didn’t believe him. “Come on. When you confessed, you said I was your first love. Can you really forget your first love?”
Lan Xingchen: !!! And it’s the first love!
Lan Xingchen snorted again in his heart.
Pei Qingjian hadn’t expected the original owner to say something like that. Clearly, his first love was that top student.
And what of first love?
Even in the original owner’s memories, first love was just a blur—no advantage at all!
“This… might be a misunderstanding,” Pei Qingjian said, desperately searching through acting tutorials he’d recently read. He decided to improvise, adding layers to his own persona, kicking off a new round of performance.
“The thing is, back then I was playing a game with classmates. I lost, and they made me choose ‘truth or dare.’ I was young and reckless, fearless really, so I chose dare. And then they told me to come confess to you.”
“You know, you were pretty popular at school, so choosing someone like you—well, it makes sense.”
“I was the victim too!” Pei Qingjian said indignantly. “I refused, I really did. I said, isn’t this deceiving someone’s feelings?! But they were all thrill-seekers, insisted I go anyway, otherwise it meant I couldn’t handle losing.”
“You know how high schoolers are—hot-headed and impulsive. So I went.”
“The whole ‘first love’ thing, saying I liked you—that was all just lines they gave me.”
“As for waiting half an hour in the sun,” he recalled, “I vaguely remember I was actually in the shade, not really sunburned.”
Tang Wenzhen: …
His face practically turned green.
Lan Xingchen nearly laughed out loud.
Pei Qingjian sighed. “Of course, the main problem was me. I was too young, knew it wasn’t right, yet still fell for their provocation and went to you, deceiving your feelings. I apologize.”
“But didn’t you refuse?” Pei Qingjian asked. “Did you refuse back then but later regret it, so you’ve been hung up on me ever since?”
“No way, no way!” Pei Qingjian said deliberately. “You haven’t secretly liked me all along, have you?!”
“Of course not!” Tang Wenzhen replied without hesitation.
Pei Qingjian knew it—it made sense. He’s the protagonist, how could he like me?
Even now, bringing this up after nearly ten years with someone he rejected? There’s obviously some other motive.
Completely unnecessary!
“Good, then.” Pei Qingjian feigned relief. “I actually thought you’d been pining for me all these years. That would’ve been my fault.”
Tang Wenzhen: …He’s not that clueless!
But…
“You’re saying this now for real? Or are you with Lan Xingchen, so you don’t want to admit it?”
Pei Qingjian: Of course I don’t want to admit it!
Besides, the confession wasn’t even from him—it was from the original owner.
And the original owner didn’t really like him much!
So Pei Qingjian had zero psychological burden. “It’s true, of course.”
He looked at Tang Wenzhen, his eyes full of understanding. “I can understand someone like you, a popular figure, naturally thinking everyone likes you, and therefore unable to accept it, thinking I’m deceiving you. But you don’t need to take it too seriously—because you weren’t the first, nor the last.”
Pei Qingjian comforted him. “Two others went through the same thing.”
Tang Wenzhen: ???
“One was a middle school classmate, a top student famous throughout the school. I was smaller then, competing in dares, and someone suggested we confess to him. I went without hesitation, grabbed him, and said I liked him. He was my first love—the first victim. I still feel a pang of conscience remembering that.”
“The other was my college senior. I lost another dare and was forced to confess to him too. He was the last victim. Even now, recalling it, I feel a little guilty.”
“And you…” Pei Qingjian looked at him with some pity, “you were caught in the middle, neither first nor last. You got completely forgotten—sorry about that.”
Tang Wenzhen: …
He almost ground his teeth to bits.
Lan Xingchen struggled not to laugh.
And here Tang Wenzhen had the nerve to corner someone in the restroom, when that person didn’t even remember him?!
Tang Wenzhen took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and forced a smile. “Are you deliberately trying to make me angry?”
Pei Qingjian shook his head—he really wasn’t. He just wanted Tang Wenzhen not to focus on him.
“I just wanted to tell you you weren’t the only one I deceived, so there’s no need to be so angry.”
This… he’d rather have just deceived him alone!
Tang Wenzhen said through clenched teeth, “Fine! Pei Qingjian! You’re something else!”
Pei Qingjian: ???
“Why do I feel you’re still angry? You really haven’t been hung up on me all these years? Otherwise why are you so mad? Normally, if you didn’t like me and heard I never liked you, shouldn’t you be happy?”
Tang Wenzhen: !!!
“I haven’t been hung up on you!”
“Then why are you angry? I didn’t deceive only you, did I?!”
Tang Wenzhen: !!!
“So, if it’s not just deceiving me, is it really deceiving?”
Lan Xingchen couldn’t hold it anymore. “What do you want?”
He pushed the door open and came in. “Enough. Didn’t Qingqing just say it? It’s his fault. He apologized. He apologized! What more do you want?”
Pei Qingjian: !!!
Tang Wenzhen: !!!
“Why are you here?” Pei Qingjian and Tang Wenzhen asked in unison.
Lan Xingchen remained calm. “I finished eating. Seeing that you hadn’t returned, I came to find you. I happened to catch you two talking. I didn’t want to interrupt, but also didn’t want anyone else spoiling your conversation, so I stood outside to guard your talking space.”
High EQ: guarding your talking space.
Low EQ: eavesdropping.
Pei Qingjian thought, good thing he used his little brain—otherwise if Lan Xingchen had misunderstood something between him and Tang Wenzhen, it would’ve been troublesome.
Tang Wenzhen didn’t think the same. He turned to Pei Qingjian. “You noticed him outside just now, right? So you said it deliberately for him to hear?”
Pei Qingjian: ???
He shook his head. “Heaven knows, I was just as surprised as you were.”
“We just said it in unison, didn’t we?”
Lan Xingchen felt that Tang Wenzhen had made this far too pointless.
It’s not like Pei Qingjian ever liked him—so why make such a big deal about it?
His voice was that unpleasant, after all. Pei Qingjian not liking him was perfectly normal.
“You noticed, but you didn’t. So, are you slower to react, or just less observant?” Lan Xingchen said bluntly.
Tang Wenzhen: …
Besides, Pei Qingjian wasn’t even capable of that. Earlier at their house, when his father and brother came, Pei Qingjian was the one who heard the door and warned him.
“I know you might be used to being admired, and suddenly realizing someone doesn’t like you is hard to accept—but that’s the fact. Facts are facts. Your will doesn’t change them. Pei Qingjian only likes me—I am his first love.”
Lan Xingchen said this as he moved next to Pei Qingjian.
Pei Qingjian quickly nodded. “Mm-hmm, this is true love! And the first love is true too!”
Tang Wenzhen: …
“Now that you like him, of course you’d say that.”
Lan Xingchen sighed. “You really are…” He paused, then added, “You should talk less. Pei Qingjian said your voice is unpleasant, raspy and hard to listen to. Every word you say only makes him like you less.”
Pei Qingjian nodded again. “Mm-hmm, this is truly not liking you, and your words are truly unpleasant.”
Tang Wenzhen: !!! Damn! That really was him!
Why does my voice sound so awful?
It should be smooth and charming!
“You…”
Tang Wenzhen opened his mouth to argue, but Lan Xingchen raised a hand and covered Pei Qingjian’s ears.
Tang Wenzhen: ???
“I said it’s unpleasant. Why do you still talk so much? Stop with all the ‘you, you, you.’ He doesn’t like you, forcing him to like you—isn’t that just making it harder for him?”
Pei Qingjian kept nodding. “Mm-hmm, this is truly not liking, and it truly is making it harder!”
Tang Wenzhen: …
“Shut up!” he gritted out.
“You shut up!” Lan Xingchen snapped. “Why are you yelling so loud? You’re not his husband, don’t care? No wonder Pei Qingjian doesn’t like you, serves you right.”
Pei Qingjian nodded again. “Mm-hmm, this is truly not your husband, and you truly don’t care.”
Tang Wenzhen felt his temper completely off balance.
Where did he even raise his voice just now?
He was speaking normally!
Lan Xingchen, seeing Tang Wenzhen finally quiet, grabbed Pei Qingjian and started walking out.
Pei Qingjian followed, still staying in character. “Hubby, you’re so handsome! Truly my husband, just so dashing and imposing! I really like you! Only you deserve to be my first love!”
Tang Wenzhen: …
He didn’t ever want to hear “my husband” again in the near future, especially the part “truly my husband.”
Oh, and “first love”!