Chapter 60

Chapter 60

© Bro, wanna order? ©

Neither Meng Qi nor Kuang Hui wanted Ren Suiyi to stay, but neither dared to kick him out. So Kuang Hui tried to drag Dong Jiaming back to school for lunch, but Meng Qi talked him into staying. Looking pissed, he stood there with Meng Qi, waiting for Qi Yun.

Good thing it wasn't for nothing.

When Qi Yun showed up, he looked like a conquering hero, both hands full of loot. He walked out of the shadows into the light looking super cool, and Meng Qi got so hyped he ran over first.

Kuang Hui and Dong Jiaming followed close behind.

Then the three of them stood at the market entrance, sorting through the bags Qi Yun was carrying.

Of course, Kuang Hui did most of the sorting—anything too heavy went to Meng Qi, anything too dirty to Dong Jiaming, and anything with fancy packaging stayed with Qi Yun. After all his fussing, each of the four ended up with three to five bags of different weights.

"What the hell is in this black bag that stinks so bad? You sure this is edible?" As they walked, Kuang Hui turned to Qi Yun and asked.

This was the first time he'd willingly talked to Qi Yun, and his tone was normal, no sarcasm at all. It made Meng Qi feel warm inside, and he couldn't help but smile.

When Qi Yun came out of the market, he was carrying four black bags of different sizes. Now Kuang Hui was stuck holding all four. The bags looked clean and simple, which Kuang Hui could tolerate, but the stuff inside smelled so bad it pissed him off. Holding his breath, he tried to figure out what ingredient could smell that nasty.

It was the kind of stench that almost knocked him over when he looked down—so bad he had to say something to Qi Yun.

"It's fresh tripe. The vendor said it just came in and was still warm, so he hadn't cleaned it yet," Qi Yun explained, reaching for the bag. "Give it to me, I can handle the smell."

"This is tripe?!" Kuang Hui couldn't believe it, eyes wide. "The tripe I've been eating in hotpot is this stuff?"

Even Meng Qi, who'd just gotten into tripe in copper pot hotpot, didn't want to believe it. He squinted at the black bag in Kuang Hui's hand and quickly looked away.

The smell was so strong it went straight to his head and made him wanna puke.

The whole romanticized idea of copper pot tripe shattered in his mind, and he frowned, wondering if he'd even want to eat it.

Just then, Qi Yun started explaining to Kuang Hui, sounding a little proud.

Meng Qi, walking next to Qi Yun, perked up his ears and heard him say, "Once it's cleaned, that smell will be gone. Trust me, I'll get it spotless."

Meng Qi felt relieved, stopped worrying about eating it, and the urge to puke faded.

But Kuang Hui was still skeptical. "You sure you can handle it?"

Qi Yun looked refined and pale. Saying he had "fingers like onion roots and lips like cinnabar" was a bit much, but it kinda fit. He didn't look like the type to deal with something so messy. He looked more like someone who'd be in a Michelin-star kitchen, wearing a white apron and chef's hat, making fancy pastries.

Based on looks alone, Qi Yun's ability to clean tripe was basically zero, so Kuang Hui's doubt made sense.

Qi Yun met Kuang Hui's eyes and nodded firmly. "Seriously, I've been doing it since I was a kid. If you count it up, I've got about eleven years of experience with tripe."

Kuang Hui and Dong Jiaming were both stunned. They looked at Qi Yun at the same time, and Kuang Hui's jaw dropped. "Damn, that's impressive?"

"...Not really. Different places, different people. Where I'm from, most people love eating stuff like tripe, intestines, and other strong-flavored things. But since we worry about how clean it is when we buy it, we usually get it raw and handle it ourselves. I learned from my mom when I was little, and after third grade, I never let her do it."

By third grade, he was already a pro—that was pretty impressive.

Kuang Hui got curious and pushed further. "Can everyone where you're from handle that smell? Is the whole place marinated in it?"

Qi Yun shook his head. "It's so stinky not many can stand it. I couldn't at first either. But once, my dad hit me on the back with unprocessed tripe and got some on my face. After that, I was immune to the smell."

"What?! Hit you with tripe? Your dad's pretty hardcore too..."

"I was a wild kid—climbing roofs, catching fish in rivers, exploring bomb shelters, wandering through sewers..."

The more Qi Yun talked, the more Kuang Hui and Dong Jiaming admired him, hanging on every word. As Qi Yun kept telling his legendary stories, the tension between them slowly faded.

But for Meng Qi, it was the opposite.

The more Qi Yun said, the more obvious it was to Meng Qi that he wasn't Wang Boyuan. His family and Wang Boyuan's lived pretty close, but no one in his family liked or knew how to handle that stuff, and neither did the neighbors. Different places, different people—same for Wang Boyuan's family.

Unlike the lively chatter around him, Meng Qi felt a twinge of sadness, loneliness creeping in.

While Qi Yun was still talking to Kuang Hui and the others, Meng Qi subtly glanced at his profile, studying it.

Wang Boyuan had a dark mole on his right earlobe, about the size of a red bean. If you didn't look close, you might mistake it for a shiny black agate, giving him a mysterious vibe. With his sharp side profile, it looked pretty striking. He Cong once teased him about it: "I bet in your past life, you really wore a black agate earring like that. Maybe it was a gift from your lover or parents—something so precious you couldn't let go of it even crossing the Bridge of Helplessness. So in this life, it turned into a mole."

Qi Yun's right earlobe was clean, no mole like that.

But Wang Boyuan didn't have pierced ears, while Qi Yun did.

"What are you staring at?" Kuang Hui, walking on Qi Yun's left, suddenly leaned over to look at Meng Qi, frowning.

Meng Qi shifted his gaze from Qi Yun's earlobe to Kuang Hui and said, as if discovering something new, "Qi Yun has pierced ears."

"What's the big deal? Here, look at my ear—I've got piercings too, more than one." Kuang Hui circled from Qi Yun's left to his right, shoving his ear under Meng Qi's nose. "See? How many?"

Meng Qi counted carefully. "Three?"

"Yep, three. To commemorate my three failed romances."

Meng Qi: ...

Heartbreak was painful enough, but adding ear piercings on top of that only doubled the suffering. How miserable must that be? Meng Qi didn't quite understand Kuang Hui's reasoning, looking at him with confusion.

Kuang Hui didn't care whether Meng Qi understood. As Meng Qi stood there dazed, Kuang Hui revealed his real motive for showing his piercings: "My birthday's coming up. How about you get me some earrings? Gold or diamond, either works. Let me experience drowning my sorrows in money so I can wholeheartedly welcome new love."

"As for the style, keep it simple—just like that aquamarine earring you used to wear."

Was that how it worked?

Well, it wasn't a bad idea.

As Meng Qi's gaze swept over Qi Yun's right ear again, he readily agreed to Kuang Hui, promising to give him a few nice earrings on his birthday. "Three isn't enough, right? How about ten?"

"Get lost! Can't you wish me well?!"

Everyone wanted to hope for the best. In the end, Meng Qi decided to give Kuang Hui five earrings, leaving only two for his future love life, hoping he'd suffer less in romance.

And then, he'd sneak one to Qi Yun—he'd look great wearing a black agate.

As for the aquamarine earring from the "Meng Qi" in the book that Kuang Hui mentioned, he'd look for it later when he got back.

With Meng Qi, Kuang Hui, and Dong Jiaming deliberately slowing their pace, a walk that usually took three minutes stretched to ten. This left Qi Yun utterly confused, his gaze darting between the three of them.

When they finally returned to the "Meng Qi" in the book's home, Qi Yun figured out the reason on his own.

He had seen Ren Suiyi at Golden Sorghum before, so without needing an introduction, he immediately nodded respectfully to Ren Suiyi and said, "Hello, Young Master Ren."

Meng Qi hated this—he didn't want to see Qi Yun so humble and timid. It only made him more resistant to Ren Suiyi, his eyes tinged with resentment as he looked at him.

Ren Suiyi glanced at Meng Qi without changing his expression, then turned back to Qi Yun and said calmly, "No need to be nervous. Meng Qi's friends are my friends. From now on, just call me Brother Sui like they do."

Qi Yun lowered his eyes and replied, "Yes," but in the end, he never called him "Brother Sui."

Although ten minutes wasn't a long time, it was enough for Gangzi to carry the newly bought tableware upstairs, load the old set into the car, and drive the Maybach out through another gate of the neighborhood, leaving his boss high and dry here.

Now they were stuck "inviting" Ren Suiyi to stay for lunch. Meng Qi and Kuang Hui exchanged a glance and silently looked away.

Meng Qi wasn't sure if Ren Suiyi could eat spicy food. After a few seconds of thought, he decided to cook with Qi Yun, who would stick to his plan of making spicy Sichuan-style dishes, while he prepared his own mild specialties.

With both spicy and mild options, surely one would suit Ren Suiyi.

Still, out of politeness? Respect? Or some other complicated emotion, it was better to ask Ren Suiyi if he wanted to order anything. Meng Qi poked his head out of the kitchen and asked Ren Suiyi, who was sitting on the sofa waiting for lunch, "Brother Sui, do you want to place an order?"

Ren Suiyi looked up at Meng Qi and quirked his lips. "They can call me Brother Sui, but you keep calling me what you used to."

Huh?

Meng Qi was taken aback, then let out an "Oh," followed by a clearing of his throat. He asked again, "Brother, do you want to place an order?"

"No need."

Fine, fine. Shouldn't have asked.