Whose Jissbon hot pot container is it?
The sound of a slap echoed through the air, and many people looked up at the same time.
Zhou Lin was completely unprepared and stunned by the blow. He turned his head and looked down at the hand that had hit him. The five fingers were slender and white, with neatly trimmed edges, and the palm was slightly red. Above that was a slender, white wrist.
He's quite thin, but he's surprisingly strong.
He lifted his eyelids and shifted his gaze to the girl who had slapped him, his expression unreadable.
Lin Shiren didn't see any panic on his face, but he himself panicked first: "That's right, you did that first, that's why I'm like this..."
At that moment, everyone around them was on edge, but Zhou Lin met her gaze calmly, his elbows resting on the armrest, and asked directly, "What's wrong with me?"
The scene was so familiar it made me want to back away. On the first day of school, when we bumped into each other at the convenience store, he had just as effortlessly bought a box of Jissbon in front of her and then took a taxi to the hotel.
Doesn't this person know what shame is?
Lin Shiren was very angry, her voice filled with unconscious reproach: "Your hand was about to touch my face..." She really wanted to call the police, wondering if the coffee shop's security cameras had captured what had just happened.
Zhou Lin looked at her coolly: "There's a mosquito on your face."
mosquito?
Lin Shiren's brain went blank for a few seconds, then he looked at the two eyewitnesses opposite him. Song Ci was trembling as she suppressed her laughter. Dong Rui winked at her and pointed to the spot on her cheek.
The spot that was pointed at became itchy belatedly, and the scene fell into a sudden and indescribable silent standoff.
"Can you clear my name?" the aloof boy whispered in her ear.
Song Ci was utterly amazed. He began to recall the times Zhou Lin had been beaten since childhood, only to find that none of them had ever happened. What was even more intriguing was Zhou Lin's reaction; he didn't even get angry when he was slapped.
Lin Shiren's face flushed: "I'm sorry, I misunderstood. But why didn't you say you were catching mosquitoes earlier?"
What girl would hit and scold her crush? Zhou Lin was so angry he laughed. "I've realized you have a deep misunderstanding about me, both this time and last time."
Song Ci and Dong Rui exchanged a glance, their gossipy nature stirring within them.
Lin Shih-jen was terrified by his laughter. Last time, he was forced to write a confession just because she had only insulted him anonymously. This time, he was being publicly attacked. She didn't even want to think about the consequences.
Her hand, which she had just hit, now hurt too. Her voice was weak and pleading: "Force is reciprocal. If it hurts you, it hurts me too. But if you really can't take it, I can hit you back. But you can't hit too hard. If you leave a mark, my mom will see it. She has a bad temper and might come to the school to settle the score with you..."
This involved using every conceivable piece of physics knowledge and the threat from her mother.
Dong Rui raised her voice in amusement: "You didn't do it on purpose. How could Zhou Lin hit a girl?"
Lin Shiren didn't know how to explain it to her. Dong Rui had never seen him go to a hotel with a girl and had always been misled by his academic background, thinking that he was a very upright person, but he was not at all.
She avoided looking at him the whole time, and Zhou Lin saw it all. He said something that was both sweet and veiled: "It seems that my reputation outside is indeed not very good."
Lin Shih-ren had nothing to say.
The typhoon had passed and the rain had subsided. The group's coffee was all gone. Song Ci suggested, "Let's have dinner together tonight. Any grudges can be resolved at the dinner table."
After discussing it for a long time, we finally decided to have hot pot.
When it was time to pay, Zhou Lin stood at the cashier to pay.
The boy was slender and tall, quietly and attentively entering the password on the screen. The dim light shone on his shoulders, and he lowered his gaze. His eyelashes were long, and his eyes were indistinct under his neat short hair.
Lin Shiren glanced at the cashier who was secretly watching him and couldn't help but think to himself, "This appearance is indeed deceptive."
The sound of payment notification rang out in the store. The cashier was stunned for a few seconds before reacting. She blushed and handed him the receipt, but Zhou Lin didn't take it. He just thanked her.
Not taking a receipt is also a bad habit and should be punished severely.
Perhaps it was because her disdainful gaze was too intense that Zhou Lin noticed and looked over, but she quickly looked away.
A light drizzle was falling, and the navigation showed that the ride-hailing car was still three minutes away. Neither of the two boys had an umbrella, so Lin Shiren and Dong Rui shared one. She stared blankly into the distance, looking utterly hopeless.
A car horn sounded, and the water splashed from the tires stopped a meter in front of them. Through the slowly rolling down window, she heard a girl's booming voice: "Song Ci, you dare to play hide-and-seek with me?"
Slightly taken aback, he saw Dong Rui, who also looked puzzled.
Song Ci reacted strongly. After blurting out a swear word that started with a C, he asked Zhou Lin with particular sensitivity, "How did she know I was here?"
The woman got out of the car with her arms crossed. She had short hair that reached her ears, wore sunglasses, and a well-tailored suit, exuding a superstar aura. Before speaking, she punched him in the chest: "You don't answer the phone or reply to WeChat messages. Do you want to rebel? Let me tell you, the reason I'm your sister is that no matter where you run, you can't escape my grasp."
Song Ci's momentum instantly weakened: "I was just so engrossed in studying that I forgot to check my phone!"
"With such dedication, how do you still find time to log into the King of Glory rank?"
Song Ci fell silent.
After scolding her disobedient younger brother, the woman pulled down her sunglasses, glanced at the onlookers, and raised an eyebrow.
Zhou Lin, ever the quick-witted one, greeted her proactively: "Sister Shi."
Tang Shi smiled and asked, "Have you finished studying? Where are you going now?"
Before Zhou Lin could answer, Song Ci bypassed everyone and nudged her with her elbow: "Sis, we're going to eat. Look, the car will be here soon."
"What do you want to eat? Take me with you, I'll be your driver."
"What are you going to do? You're not even close to my classmate."
"Won't we get to know each other after we finish eating?"
Tang Shi pushed him aside, stepped forward and squeezed into the umbrella, her arms naturally hooking around the two girls: "Little beauties, are you happy to welcome me?"
...
Lin Shiren had no idea how he ended up at the hot pot restaurant with three people he barely knew, especially since Dong Rui had been called home by his father halfway through the meal.
Perhaps it was because Xin Xiaomei never called her, or perhaps Tang Shi was just too enthusiastic for her to refuse; whatever the reason, by the time she sat down in a daze, Song Ci was already noisily preparing the dipping sauce.
The hot pot restaurant was quite popular; soon after they sat down, a queue began to form outside. The waiter brought over a half-and-half hot pot, and the large expanse of red oil made them very hungry.
Tang Shi sat next to Lin Shiren, scalded her bowl and chopsticks inside and out with hot water, and said with a smile, "I asked Zhou Lin to make you some dipping sauce. He's quite an expert in this area. I once asked him to copy the dipping sauce recipe for me. I made four or five batches, but the taste was still not quite right."
The door to the private room opened, and the noise outside rushed in all at once. The two of them returned carrying bowls.
Zhou Lin placed the prepared dipping sauce in front of her. Lin Shiren said thank you. She doesn't usually like sesame paste, but under Tang Shi's expectant gaze, she dipped her chopsticks in it and tasted it. The taste was surprisingly good.
Tang Shi said she was on a diet, but her chopsticks never stopped. While waiting for the meat slices to change color, she praised Zhou Lin several times: "Zhou Lin, promise me that you will invite me to eat hot pot in the future."
"This is the taste! I tried making five bowls of sesame paste last time and still couldn't get it right."
Zhou Lin's cheeks moved slowly, neither arrogant nor impatient, as if he had long been accustomed to the worship from all directions.
Song Ci went out for a while and when he came back, he was carrying a few cans of drinks. When he handed them to Lin Shiren, Lin asked, "Team leader, what would you like to drink?"
"I'm fine with either."
She picked up a can at random, and before she could even see the letters on it, Zhou Lin suddenly reached out and took the can from her hand.
Before Lin Shiren could speak, Song Ci started criticizing: "My sister praised you for nothing just now. How could you steal the team leader's drink?"
Zhou Lin looked at the ingredient list on the can, and when he looked up again, he said, "RIO is not a beverage; it has a high alcohol content. Don't give it to her."
Even Tang Shi noticed something this time, and she tapped her chopsticks with a smile: "Zhou Lin, I've never seen you so thoughtful before..."
Without any hesitation, he replied, "She's prone to getting into trouble when she drinks."
Lin Shiren understood what he was talking about; he was referring to the message he left on the forum last time. His cheeks flushed involuntarily, but in Song Ci's eyes, this seemed to be evidence of a secret affair.
"No wonder you two are so close, having picked up leaves together before?"
Zhou Lin put down his chopsticks, leaned back, his clear pupils somewhat cold, and just stared at him without saying a word.
"Okay, okay, I won't say anymore." Song Ci surrendered as if she had been tricked.
Tang Shi watched the play with great interest: "Wait, keep going. I haven't read a pure love story in a long time since I became an adult."
"Sis, you're so hypocritical."
Song Ci was furious. He slammed his fist on the table with a loud bang, his voice dripping with disdain: "Zhou Lin is a pure lover, and I'm a pervert?"
"How dare you say that? Why did you buy Jissbon?" Tang Shi swung her hand at him, but he dodged it.
Their conversation was so risqué that Lin Shih-jen was taken aback and didn't know how to react. She was a people-pleaser, and she maintained friendships by suppressing her own needs. Over time, she felt wronged and became unwilling to get too close to people.
She had never seen anything like it before.
Song Ci pointed at Zhou Lin: "You've ruined me! You better explain to my sister who that box of Jissbon stuff is!"
A note from the author:
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50 red envelopes~
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