Chapter 22

Chapter 22

It feels great to have someone to fall asleep with in class.

Fu Yao spent the whole class avoiding Ying Ying, not even lifting his head once, and with Su Xingze snoring up a storm right next to him, he ended up falling asleep too.

By the time the two of them woke up, the afternoon classes were already over. Su Xingze texted Ying Ying, setting up a meet at a hotpot place right by the school gate.

When they got there, Ying Ying still hadn't shown up. Su Xingze ordered food and dug in without waiting.

Fu Yao was so on edge he couldn't sit still—his butt never even touched the seat.

Su Xingze dropped a plate of beef into the pot: "No matter what, you can't starve yourself."

Fu Yao paced back and forth a few times, "You have no idea how messed up this is!"

"Even a simp's gotta eat." Su Xingze took a photo of the hotpot and sent it to Lu Xingwen, telling him he was having hotpot today.

The reply came back fast.

Lu: [Who are you with right now?]

Xingchen: [Fu Yao, the one I used to hang out with in middle school.]

Lu: [I'm on my way to pick you up.]

Xingchen: [No need, you're busy with work. I can handle it myself.]

No reply came for a while, and Su Xingze got a bad feeling.

Before he could think further, the door to the private room opened. Ying Ying slipped in through the crack, decked out in a hat and mask.

This was Su Xingze's first time seeing Ying Ying in the flesh.

Honestly, he wasn't as hot as Xiaolu, didn't have Xiaolu's vibe, and more importantly, didn't have Xiaolu's chill, refined personality.

But he had this magnetic pull that made people flock to him.

"Fu..." Before Su Xingze could finish, Fu Yao next to him suddenly seemed like a whole different person. His whole vibe and way of talking were completely off from his usual self.

"Brother Ying, you finally came to see me." Fu Yao grabbed Ying Ying's arm, handed him a bowl of beef that Su Xingze had just cooked, and flashed a suck-up smile.

Wait, is this seriously Fu Yao? How is this even possible?

Now Su Xingze didn't need Fu Yao to convince him—he was starting to think Fu Yao had multiple personalities or something.

"Where have you been lately? Here, have a shrimp, and a slice of potato. Brother Ying, do you want some lamb?" Fu Yao kept cooking and piling food into Ying Ying's bowl nonstop.

He seemed totally zoned out, like Su Xingze didn't even exist anymore.

"Brother Ying, I'm really sorry for posting all that random crap on my account earlier. Don't be mad at me anymore. I know I was wrong."

Su Xingze couldn't eat anymore. He grabbed his chest: "Ugh..."

Su Xingze said: "Do you two think you're in some short drama? One's a total pick-me, the other's a wannabe CEO. You think this is funny?"

Fu Yao was furious: "You're just jealous! You've been chasing Brother Ying forever, and he never even looked your way!"

"You know what happens to characters like you in those short dramas?" Su Xingze laughed: "They die a miserable death! I know you're not Fu Yao. Get the hell out of his body!"

Fu Yao's whole body shook, and for a second, his eyes snapped back to normal. He looked at Su Xingze, went quiet, and just stood there, dazed.

"Xingze." Seeing that, Ying Ying quickly grabbed some food and dropped it in Su Xingze's bowl: "Still mad at me?"

"..." Speechless. Su Xingze stood up and yanked Fu Yao behind him: "I'll admit, you've got abilities normal people can't wrap their heads around. But I just realized your little trick has a flaw."

Ying Ying still wasn't ready to drop the act. He stood up, maintaining his previous smile: "What are you talking about? I don't understand."

Su Xingze sat back down and took a bite of the meat in his bowl, "If you don't get it, then scram. I'm done explaining."

His fists slowly clenched, knuckles going white. In the end, Ying Ying still didn't blow up. He walked out of the room and left without a backward glance.

In all these years, no one had ever made him eat crow. Today was the first time. As the male lead, the cannon fodder characters meant to serve him had stopped listening—and were even trying to fight back?

They weren't supposed to have self-awareness. They were just paper dolls meant to serve the plot. For the story to stay intact, he had to fix things and get everything back on track.

When Su Xingze finished his hotpot and walked out with Fu Yao, the latter was still out of it. He leaned on Su Xingze, not answering anything, just staring off into space.

"What are you thinking about?" Their private room was on the second floor. On the way down the stairs, Su Xingze had to drag him along, and worried Fu Yao might actually be losing it, he grabbed a random topic.

Fu Yao muttered under his breath: "Alpha, broad shoulders, slim waist, eight-pack, V-line—total hunk!"

"Ying Ying?" Though he didn't want to mention that name either.

"Nah." Fu Yao whispered: "It's this top-tier Alpha I know. He's got a huge office, a company with like thirty-plus floors, and he's totally my type."

Going by all that, the only one who fit the bill was Xiaolu?

Su Xingze shoved Fu Yao away and warned: "You can't like him. I don't allow it."

Fu Yao, still out of it, tried to lean back in: "I don't like him. I just wanna sleep with him."

Su Xingze ditched Fu Yao and walked ahead: "Still not allowed."

"Why?" Fu Yao stumbled after him, trying to ask why, but somehow didn't trip even once.

The hotpot restaurant Su Xingze had chosen was at the school gate. Thanks to its location and cheap prices, it always had a steady flow of customers.

But now, the first floor was completely empty. The owner saw him, grinned excitedly, and said: "Someone already paid. Take your time."

He led Fu Yao outside and saw the crowd surrounding the hotpot restaurant.

Su Xingze: "???"

Lu Xingwen had rolled up with three luxury cars blocking the entrance of the hotpot place. Ying Ying's business van was sandwiched in the inner layer. Because of the cars and the crowd of onlookers, it couldn't drive out. Bodyguards were clearing a path, but when people recognized them as Ying Ying's bodyguards, they surrounded the van even more tightly.

But what drew the most attention now wasn't Ying Ying's car—it was Lu Xingwen standing at the entrance of the hotpot restaurant.

He was already strikingly handsome, and having driven three ten-million-level luxury cars at once, with three bodyguards standing behind him and an assistant carrying a medical kit, he was impossible to ignore.

The crowd around was buzzing with discussion.

"What kind of novel plot is this? Is he gonna throw someone over his shoulder and take them home for some... you know?"

The Omega beside him replied quietly: "I thought they were filming a short drama! Look at these two leads—each one is hotter than the last. They're perfectly matched!"

"But Ying Ying is here too. Do they have some connection?"

"The one in the pink clothes, isn't that Su Xingze from our performing arts department? He's Ying Ying's simp, just got out of the hospital and he's already back to licking boots—talk about dedication."

"Isn't that guy leaning on him, all wobbly, Ying Ying's first love? Oh my god! How the hell are these two out together?"

...

Su Xingze, who had never been socially anxious, nearly got his social anxiety triggered by this scene.

He whispered to Lu Xingwen, "Xiaolu, what are you doing here?"

Lu Xingwen looked down at Fu Yao, who was clinging to him, and shoved him at the bodyguard to get him in the car. Then, without saying a word, he slung Su Xingze over his shoulder.

"Wait, what's wrong with you?" Su Xingze reached up to feel Xiaolu's forehead—no fever?

The murmurs around them grew louder. Su Xingze's ears burned as he buried his head in Lu Xingwen's shoulder, not daring to lift it.

This was straight out of a romance novel.

But he had to admit, it was also a bit cool!