In a private room of a small stir-fry restaurant in a small town

"Hey! Lao Qian, you're late! Are you abandoning your brothers now that you're looking for a girlfriend? These women are the most annoying! They have to put on makeup before going out, and they dawdle over changing clothes. And when it comes to drinking, they make excuses. So annoying! Come on! Drink this for me first!" Wearing a baggy white T-shirt and jeans, with short hair, Rong Tingyu squeezed next to Jin Yinqian with a glass of wine.

Xie Ming looked at the girl with great interest.

He's not tall, but he has height-increasing insoles; his features aren't great, but he has some Asian sorcery...

Let's not even talk about his fashion sense. They're still "brothers" now, so wearing a skirt would really ruin his image.

"Old Qian, drinking Tingyu's wine doesn't count. You have to drink three more cups as punishment after you finish." The person sitting at the other end tapped the wine glass on the table with a chopstick.

"Alright, alright, it's my fault. I'll drink whatever Tingyu owes you!" Jin Yinqian didn't even have time to sit down. He reached out and grabbed Rong Tingyu's cup, downed the wine in one gulp, and then turned the cup upside down to shake it.

Seeing him drink directly from his cup, Rong Tingyu's face flushed noticeably.

Xie Ming glanced at them and immediately noticed the unusual interaction between the two. Were they hooking up?

"Brother Qian is a true buddy, keep pouring him more!" a man with a tuft of purple hair shouted.

Jin Yinqian smiled and picked up the wine bottle to pour himself a drink.

Xie Ming pulled up a stool, found a random spot to sit down, picked up his chopsticks, and started eating, completely ignoring how Jin Yinqian was drinking.

He had advised him in his past life, because this person had suffered hardships in his early years and his stomach wasn't very good. It was thanks to Xie Yi that he recovered.

Xie Ming felt sorry for his older sister's hard work and tried to offer some words of advice, but he was squeezed out by the people at the table and ended up not even having a seat.

After they finished drinking, Jin Yinqian pretended to only then notice his "girlfriend's" displeasure, quickly sat down next to "her," and cautiously asked, "Xiaoyi, are you angry?"

Actually, he was feeling quite conflicted at that moment. His girlfriend was beautiful, had a gentle personality, and came from a better family than him.

They were considered a campus couple, and standing together, they were a rare sight to behold.

But now that such a big thing has happened to the Xie family, if the person in the hospital doesn't wake up, then I'll be dragged down with them.

Having experienced hardship, he naturally didn't want to go back.

Moreover, he now has a better option. Thinking of this, Jin Yinqian secretly glanced at Rong Tingyu.

Rong Tingyu, who had already returned to the diagonally opposite position, seemed to sense something and met his gaze.

Xie Ming ignored the two's entanglement with a cold smile and continued eating the stir-fried dishes in front of him.

But Rong Tingyu wasn't about to let Xie Ming off the hook. She casually leaned on the table and complained to him, "Hey, hey, hey! What's wrong with you? This is how we brothers drink. It's just a few drinks, what's the big deal? Women are so annoying, they make drinking and playing cards unpleasant!"

The man sitting next to him chimed in, "Tingyu, who would act like a tomboy like you!"

"That's right, that's right..."

Before Xie Ming could speak, the people present started chattering incessantly, as if he were throwing a tantrum.

He looked up, his face full of confusion: "Are you talking about me?"

"It's just a drink, why are you making such a fuss?" The person sitting next to Xie Ming whispered, seemingly disapproving of his petty behavior.

Xie Ming put down her chopsticks, turned to look into his eyes, and said in a sweet voice, "Then tell me, how have I been?"

The beauty's smile was captivating, and the man stared at Xie Ming's face, speechless.

Jin Yinqian felt uncomfortable when he saw his buddy looking lost. He hadn't broken up with his girlfriend yet, so what was he doing?

This group of people had long been jealous of his sweet, beautiful, and well-off girlfriend, and they were always secretly urging him to mistreat her, hoping that she would break up with him so that they could have her instead. He knew very well that these people were jealous of him.

So he felt no guilt whatsoever about using the guys at this table to help him break up, but they haven't broken up yet, have they? They can't openly drool over his "gratitude" right now!

Suppressing his anger and discomfort, he said to Xie Ming, "Xiao Yi, can't you be a little more sensible?"

Xie Ming picked up his chopsticks, took another bite of food, and gently replied, "Okay, you can continue drinking!"

Jin Yinqian felt like he had punched cotton, feeling a tightness in his chest that he couldn't swallow or spit out, and he was extremely uncomfortable.

Sitting diagonally opposite them, Rong Tingyu probably couldn't stand their clandestine relationship any longer. She stood up, grabbed her bowl and chopsticks, pushed the other person next to Jin Yinqian away, and sat down next to him. She said earnestly, "Brother, don't be angry. Have a drink. Women are just so boring."

After saying that, she poured Jin Yinqian another glass of wine.

The atmosphere at the table became lively again. After a few rounds of drinks, the atmosphere at the table was wonderful, except for Xie Ming, who sat there like an oddball.

Rong Tingyu seemed more like Jin Yinqian's girlfriend, as she ate her own food while also serving him food.

While eating the food in her bowl, Jin Yinqian jokingly said, "Tingyu, you eat your own food. You're as skinny as a stick. If you were to hug you, you wouldn't have a pound of meat on you. Aren't you afraid of being disliked?"

Rong Tingyu was also a wicked person. Hearing his obvious hint, she quickly replied, "If you don't mind, that's fine. Do you really want to watch me suffer?"

Her words sounded harmless, but they essentially admitted that she and Kim In-cheon had had physical contact and that their relationship was quite special.

"That's right. What kind of relationship do we have? We're the ones who sleep in the same bed and share the same pants!"

Every word spoken and answered reached Xie Ming's ears.

Xie Ming was disgusted. He propped his chin up and turned to look at the two of them, saying, "Jin Yinqian, are you deliberately trying to disgust me by sending someone who's neither male nor female? What's with all this talk about being thin or sleeping? Want me to bring a bed for you two to put on a show?"

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!