Chapter 109: Wang Zibo’s Envy! Han Ning: Gu Yifan, Stop Right There
In a private room on the second floor of the Mountain City Restaurant.
Gu Yifan was sipping his tea and chatting casually with Wang Zibo.
Su Qinghe sat quietly to one side, listening to them talk while she rinsed Gu Yifan’s bowl and chopsticks with hot tea.
After rinsing them, she carefully dried them off before placing them in front of Gu Yifan.
"It’s...it’s clean," she said softly.
Gu Yifan paused for a moment. "Alright, thank you," he replied gently.
Watching this from across the table, Wang Zibo’s eyes filled with envy.
’Qinghe is so sweet. She’s way too good to a guy like Brother Fan!’
’Sigh...’
’Maybe it’s time I got a girlfriend, too.’
The thought sent a flutter through his heart.
"Hey, Brother Fan!"
Tired of being the third wheel, Wang Zibo quickly changed the subject. "I heard this room has a minimum charge. Isn’t it a bit of a waste for just the three of us to get a private room?"
"Oh, I know."
Gu Yifan glanced over at him and said coolly, "Aren’t our classmates eating here too? If we sat in the main dining hall, we’d inevitably run into them. A private room might be a little extravagant, but it saves us the awkwardness."
"Oh, right!"
"Right, I almost forgot about that!"
Wang Zibo chuckled and nodded.
...
Soon, a waiter brought the dishes they had ordered to the table.
With no elders around, the three of them were quite relaxed, chatting casually as they ate.
Of course, it was mostly Gu Yifan and Wang Zibo doing the talking. Su Qinghe just ate quietly in small bites, periodically placing more food in Gu Yifan’s bowl whenever she saw it was getting empty.
In turn, when Gu Yifan noticed she was only eating vegetables, he would put some meat into her bowl.
This scene made Wang Zibo want to roll his eyes.
It only intensified his desire to find a girlfriend.
"Come on, you two, there’s another person here!" Wang Zibo finally burst out, his expression pained. "If you keep this up, I’ll be too full from watching you to eat any actual food!"
"Uh..."
Gu Yifan and Su Qinghe looked at each other.
Su Qinghe’s fair face instantly flushed crimson. She quickly looked away, lowering her head in silence.
"Oh, shut it!"
Seeing her reaction, Gu Yifan shot Wang Zibo a glare and huffed, "Eat or don’t. If you don’t, that just means more for me!"
Wang Zibo was speechless. "..."
"A single guy gets no respect, huh? Fine, I’ll shut up!" Wang Zibo muttered bitterly under his breath.
After that, he said no more and just lowered his head to focus on his food.
’What can I do?’
’Beggars can’t be choosers. I’m a freeloader, what rights do I have anyway!’
Gu Yifan saw his shameless, thick-skinned act and could only shake his head in resignation.
’This damn guy,’ Gu Yifan thought. ’There’s just no dealing with him!’
KNOCK KNOCK—KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—
Just then, a knock came at the door to their private room.
"Come in!" Gu Yifan called out, assuming it was a waiter.
CLICK~
The door opened, and Han Ning appeared at the doorway in a white chiffon dress...
When he saw clearly who it was, Gu Yifan froze.
Seeing Gu Yifan fall silent, Wang Zibo turned to look and froze as well.
Su Qinghe, however, seemed unaffected. She just looked quizzically at Han Ning’s sudden appearance.
"Ahem~"
"Princess Ning, what are you doing here?" Wang Zibo was the first to recover.
As he spoke, he shot a look at Gu Yifan, his meaning obvious: ’See? In a crisis, you can always count on Brother Bo!’
Gu Yifan understood the look and couldn’t help but roll his eyes at him.
But Han Ning didn’t answer Wang Zibo’s question. She just stood silently in the doorway.
"Hey, Xiaoning’er, why’d you walk so fast!"
"I..."
Just then, Wu Xiaoyan caught up to her, but her voice died away the moment she took in the scene...
"Hi..." Wu Xiaoyan said, looking embarrassed.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the room grew strange.
Seeing this, Gu Yifan felt he had to break the awkward silence. "Um... Wu Xiaoyan, have you two eaten yet? If not, why don’t you sit and join us?" he offered politely.
"Oh, we couldn’t—"
Wu Xiaoyan was just about to decline, but Han Ning moved. She walked straight to the table without a word and sat down.
"Uh..."
Wu Xiaoyan didn’t know what to say. She was stuck in an awkward limbo, not knowing whether to sit or stand.
"Go on, sit," Gu Yifan said, shaking his head with a sigh to save her from her predicament.
"Oh, okay... sure!"
Grateful for the way out, Wu Xiaoyan went to the empty seat beside Han Ning and sat down.
"Zibo, go get a waiter. We need two more sets of tableware. And order a couple more dishes while you’re at it," Gu Yifan said, turning to Wang Zibo.
"Huh?"
Wang Zibo froze for a second before it dawned on him. He nodded quickly. "Oh, right... I’ll go right now!"
With that, he immediately shot up from his seat and made a quick exit.
After he left, the atmosphere in the room grew even more tense.
Even Su Qinghe grew more reserved.
Gu Yifan noticed her discomfort and reached out to gently take her hand.
"It’s alright, I’m here," he whispered to Su Qinghe.
Feeling the warmth of his hand, Su Qinghe froze for a moment, then slowly turned to look at Gu Yifan and gave a slight nod.
Gu Yifan met her gaze and nodded slightly. He then let go of her hand, picked up his chopsticks, and placed some more food in her bowl.
Only then did he turn to Han Ning and ask directly, "You came to see me, right? What’s on your mind?"
His tone was flat, with no discernible emotion.
Hearing Gu Yifan speak to her so coldly, Han Ning suddenly felt a surge of hurt.
Her eyes began to redden. She pressed her lips together and refused to look at Gu Yifan, remaining silent.
Seeing this, Wu Xiaoyan quickly jumped in to smooth things over. "Oh, it’s nothing! Xiaoning’er and I just heard from He Ming that you guys were here, so we thought we’d come say hi!" she finished with a nervous laugh.
"I see."
Gu Yifan gave her a long look, then nodded slightly.
After that, no one spoke again.
Silence fell over the private room once more.
「After another moment」
Gu Yifan found the atmosphere too stifling. He stood up and said to Wu Xiaoyan, "Well... we’re about finished here, and we have something to do, so we’re going to head out."
"By the way, I had Wang Zibo order more food for you. I’ll take care of the bill on my way out, so you two take your time and enjoy."
With that, he turned to Su Qinghe. "Hanhan, let’s go."
"Mhm."
Su Qinghe nodded obediently.
Then, the two of them left the table and walked towards the door of the private room...
Just then, Han Ning spoke.
"Gu Yifan, stop right there!"
...