The hotpot restaurant was located at the end of the alley, a two-story building with very elegant decor. A shop in a location like this could hardly be considered prime real estate, but even so, the restaurant was packed. Since it happened to be lunch rush, quite a few people were standing outside holding number cards and waiting for seats. It was obvious the place was genuinely popular.
Gu Xu had reserved a table in advance, so the two of them didn’t need to wait outside. After the server confirmed the reservation, they were taken straight to the second floor. There were no private rooms in the restaurant, only semi-private spaces divided by screens. The server led them to a booth by the window, set down the menu, and left with a polite smile.
Gu Xu pulled out the inner chair for Xia Zichen, folded his coat neatly after he took it off, and placed it on the stool beside them. Only then did he remove his own coat and sit across from Xia Zichen.
Handing the menu to him, Gu Xu said, “Go ahead and order. See what you want to eat.”
Xia Zichen pushed the menu slightly back toward him. “You order. I don’t know what’s good.”
Whenever he ate out with Shen Yicheng before, Shen Yicheng always ordered without asking, and Xia Zichen had gotten used to it. Besides, he wasn’t picky. Since Gu Xu was treating him, it made sense to let Gu Xu decide.
Gu Xu didn’t take the menu. Smiling lightly, he said, “There are pictures for everything. Order whatever looks good to you. I’m treating you, so naturally I want you to enjoy it. You come first. Even if something doesn’t taste good, we just won’t order it next time.”
Xia Zichen didn’t refuse again. Since Gu Xu had said it like that, there was no point in acting overly reserved. He called over the server and started ordering. At least ordering by pictures was something he could do.
After ordering meat and vegetables, Xia Zichen looked at the other hotpot items. “One shrimp cake and one shrimp ball.”
“Sir, the shrimp cake and shrimp ball are actually made from the same ingredients. They taste the same, only the shape is different,” the server kindly reminded him. “I recommend ordering just one.”
Xia Zichen felt a little embarrassed. Just as he was about to say never mind, Gu Xu spoke first.
“It’s fine. One of each.”
Xia Zichen looked up at him in confusion.
Gu Xu smiled. “The texture is different. Try both.”
After hesitating, Xia Zichen said, “Then half portions of each.”
The restaurant offered half portions, which was thoughtful for customers—it helped avoid wasting food.
“Sure, whatever you want.” Gu Xu didn’t object. To him, it clearly made no difference.
After Xia Zichen finished ordering, Gu Xu added a few more dishes. For the broth base, they chose mildly spicy.
Once the server confirmed everything, he politely asked them to wait and left.
“You definitely didn’t eat breakfast properly this morning. Too much spice would upset your stomach.” Gu Xu poured him some hot tea. “Next time, we’ll come at night and let you eat something spicier.”
Xia Zichen nodded. He really had just eaten something casually that morning, and he didn’t want to end this meal with a stomachache.
Soon the broth and the ingredients arrived. The rich aroma of chili oil lingered in the air, drawing Xia Zichen’s attention entirely to the hotpot.
Once the broth came to a boil, Gu Xu didn’t let Xia Zichen do anything. He dropped in the meat and some ingredients that needed longer cooking. Before long, everything was bubbling.
“Eat. Be careful, it’s hot.”
Gu Xu scooped out the cooked meat and placed it onto Xia Zichen’s plate, then added more ingredients into the pot.
“Thanks,” Xia Zichen said quietly, picking up his chopsticks to eat.
Even though it was only mildly spicy, the flavor was rich and satisfying. Paired with the restaurant’s special dipping sauce, Xia Zichen suddenly understood the obsession of food lovers.
It really was delicious.
“You should eat too. It tastes really good,” Xia Zichen said as he watched Gu Xu continuously tending the pot.
“Mm.” Gu Xu responded, and the two of them ate lunch over the steaming hotpot.
Although Gu Xu looked every bit like a genuine rich young master, his hotpot skills were surprisingly efficient. From start to finish, he didn’t let Xia Zichen lift a finger. Gu Xu handled cooking everything; Xia Zichen only had to eat.
Enjoying this treatment, Xia Zichen found himself somewhat surprised. In his impression, rich young masters should be like Shen Yicheng—when eating anything that required cooking or grilling yourself, they sat off to the side as spectators, only participating in the eating.
“The first time I saw you was during freshman registration.”
Gu Xu placed more food onto Xia Zichen’s plate as he spoke softly.
“But I was just passing by. You didn’t see me.”
Xia Zichen looked up at him. He himself could barely remember what happened that day, except meeting Shen Yicheng.
“Your voice is very distinctive. Easy to remember.”
Gu Xu smiled faintly and continued.
“But at the time, it was only an impression. I didn’t pay much attention.”
“Until last summer.”
“I don’t know how much you’ve heard about my family’s affairs. One of Gu Corporation’s subsidiary companies had a chief legal officer reaching retirement age, so the company was considering hiring a lawyer with a strong reputation and solid ability to take over the position. As a young and outstanding lawyer, your father was among those under consideration.”
“I can’t say too much about the details, but my family situation really is complicated. For important positions, every candidate has to go through a thorough background investigation before we determine whether they’re trustworthy. So your father’s information was included in that investigation.”
“I happened to look through that portion of the file. Your name and school appeared under your father’s family information, which made me notice you again.”
At this point, guilt appeared in Gu Xu’s eyes.
“If that kind of investigation makes you uncomfortable, I apologize.”
Xia Zichen said nothing.
He didn’t know exactly what Gu Xu’s background was, but he believed it was even more complicated than he could imagine. Though being investigated made him uncomfortable, the fact they could dig so deeply also said something. An ordinary person probably couldn’t uncover this much.
At that thought, unease suddenly rose in Xia Zichen’s chest.
With Gu Xu’s family background, how could they possibly accept him being with another man?
If that was true, then this relationship was hopeless after all…
Thinking that, Xia Zichen felt as though something had lodged in his throat, and his appetite vanished completely.
Gu Xu poured more hot tea into his cup and continued.
“The first time I met you in the game, I didn’t know you were Chenxi. Jian Lang formed the party, and my only impression of Chenxi was that your gameplay was pretty good.”
Xia Zichen remembered that first dungeon run with Canmo Wuhen. Jian Lang had said they were waiting for one DPS, and then Canmo Wuhen appeared.
It really had just been coincidence.
“Later, I met you in person at the café.”
“At the time, you seemed to be in a bad mood. But I didn’t really have the standing to ask what was wrong, so I switched your coffee.”
Gu Xu smiled gently.
“But after seeing you that day, I felt an overwhelming urge to get close to you. The sense of similarity was very strong.”
“My instincts are usually very accurate. So I was almost certain you were gay.”
“And I was very interested in you.”
Xia Zichen said nothing. Faced with such direct words from Gu Xu, he didn’t know what to say.
“Disappointed?” Gu Xu looked at him seriously. “Feels like the process wasn’t exactly beautiful.”
“Where do beautiful things come from so easily?” Xia Zichen said quietly. “Attraction is naturally direct.”
He was a man too, so he understood Gu Xu’s feelings and thoughts at the time.
“True enough.” Gu Xu smiled and nodded.
Women often hoped for warmth and romance in love. But for men, emotions often stemmed more directly from desire. Even beautiful things were often just the shell covering that desire. The essence remained unchanged.
“After meeting you at the café, I started paying attention to you. I even asked around about your preferences. You know how it is—when everyone lives in dorms, there are basically no secrets. Especially with neighboring dorms. Learning about you wasn’t difficult.”
That much was true.
Even someone like Xia Zichen, who disliked gossip, knew which students in the building had girlfriends who were campus beauties and which ones had been single all four years.
“But the information I got wasn’t very clear. I only knew your dorm played Sword Soul, and your character name was Chenxi.”
Gu Xu continued placing cooked food onto Xia Zichen’s plate.
“But at the time, ‘Chenxi’ was only a pronunciation to me. I didn’t know which Chinese characters it was written with, so I couldn’t confirm whether the Chenxi in the game was actually you.”
“Later, Jian Lang had someone check your IP. That’s how we finally confirmed it.”
“And after I accidentally saw you playing piano in the music club that day…”
“My interest in you reached its peak.”
After hearing the whole story, it sounded simple on the surface, but in reality it was fairly complicated.
At least Xia Zichen knew he himself would never go to such lengths to find someone.
“Then why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Xia Zichen asked.
He didn’t think he was unreasonable. But the way Gu Xu had carefully hidden everything made him feel as if he had been trapped inside something without ever knowing.
“If I’d told you earlier, you would’ve run away.”
Gu Xu smiled.
“You’ve always been cautious. So before I was sure, I couldn’t take that risk.”
Xia Zichen poked at the frozen tofu on his plate and didn’t deny it.
“I’ve said a lot. I hope you can understand why I handled things this way.”
Gu Xu looked at him seriously.
“I’m treating this seriously. I’m serious about you.”
“I also hope you’ll think carefully before giving me an answer.”
“Even though you agreed online to continue trying with me, in real life, you still haven’t nodded.”
“Of course, you can take your time.”
“Mm.” Xia Zichen nodded slightly.
Gu Xu seemed to understand him very well.
But Xia Zichen’s understanding of Gu Xu was still very limited. Combined with Gu Xu’s family situation, making a decision now felt much harder than it had online.
“I know you have concerns.”
Gu Xu’s smile faded as he spoke seriously.
“I’ll slowly tell you more about myself and let you understand my life.”
“It may be complicated.”
“But I don’t want your judgment of me to be affected by those outside factors.”
He looked straight at Xia Zichen.
“You don’t need to worry about anything else either. I’ll handle those things.”
“You only need to think about me.”
Xia Zichen fell silent for a while, then nodded.
That counted as agreeing with Gu Xu’s way of thinking.
Gu Xu didn’t say more after that, and the two finished the meal together.
After lunch, Gu Xu took Xia Zichen to watch a movie. After that, they had afternoon tea and browsed a bookstore. Since he had a car, getting anywhere was convenient.
After leaving the bookstore, Gu Xu carried the books Xia Zichen had bought and asked where he wanted to go for dinner.
Having just had afternoon tea, Xia Zichen wasn’t hungry at all. Dinner felt unnecessary.
Seeing he had no appetite, Gu Xu didn’t force him. Instead, he bought some takeaway pastries so Xia Zichen would have something to eat later if he got hungry.
By the time they returned to school, it was right during the dinner rush. Gu Xu drove Xia Zichen to the dorm building, attracting plenty of curious looks from passing students.
Standing by the walkway with his books in hand, Xia Zichen said to Gu Xu, who had gotten out of the car, “Head back early.”
“I have something for you.”
Gu Xu walked to the back of the car, preparing to open the trunk, when someone called Xia Zichen’s name.
Turning at the sound, Xia Zichen saw Shen Yicheng walking toward him, holding hands with a girl.
If he remembered correctly—
This girl should be Lian Fei’er…