Chapter 18: The Day They Ate Barbecue Together

Inside the newly opened barbecue restaurant in the mall, an enthusiastic server stood beside a certain table and greeted them cheerfully.

“Alright, we’ll grill the beef short ribs now!”

“Thank you for your hard work.” The delicate-looking high school boy smiled and thanked the server.

The server looked over. He did not know if it was his imagination, but he felt that this high school boy was staring at him for slightly too long. Realizing this, the server’s face turned faintly red.

“Hehe.” Meng Weiyu laughed happily.

Then, after the server began grilling the meat, this table once again fell into terrifying silence.

While grilling the meat, the server could not help quickly glancing left and right. On his left sat that refined-looking high school boy who looked as if he had a very good temper. He propped up his head and looked at the person sitting across from him, pouting slightly.

Although he said nothing, his body language had already expressed one thing: he was very bored right now.

On the server’s right sat a handsome high school boy. His appearance was gentle and elegant. His black hair was darker than most people’s, and he wore a pair of silver-rimmed glasses. The server found it strange. Why did someone wearing framed glasses also wear blue colored contacts? The boy leaned against the sofa, lips pressed tightly together, with no intention of speaking.

The two of them could not communicate at all.

What was this atmosphere?

Weren’t people who came to eat together supposed to be friends?

The server silently complained in his heart, then began grilling the second type of meat.

“Salad, fried rice, ramune, and the complimentary side dishes.” Another server came over to deliver the rest of their food.

“Thank you.” Meng Weiyu smiled at her.

Seeing this, the server inexplicably felt disappointed.

So this pretty high school boy gave everyone flirty looks. He was not special at all.

“You two eat first. I’ll come back later to grill the remaining meat.” The server sobbed inwardly, then maintained his professionalism, making sure not to reveal anything before turning and leaving.

“Hehe.” Meng Weiyu thought the server’s expression was very funny, so he watched his back and laughed.

“Hurry and eat.” Shen Zhoudu took out a pair of chopsticks and handed them to Meng Weiyu, stealing his gaze at the same time.

Meng Weiyu accepted the chopsticks with his left hand.

Shen Zhoudu took the initiative to mix the salad, then pushed it to a place where Meng Weiyu could easily reach it. He also casually opened both bottles of ramune, placing one in front of Meng Weiyu.

His body language conveyed one message: take it.

“Shen Zhoudu, aren’t you… an only child?” Meng Weiyu curiously accepted the soda and casually placed it aside.

“I am. You are too, right?” The basic family situations of their group were basically shared information among them.

“Then why are you… so good at taking care of people?” Meng Weiyu had discovered that whether it was at the villa before or now, Shen Zhoudu took care of him very naturally.

Hearing this question, Shen Zhoudu suddenly fell silent.

For the young Shen Zhoudu, he could not calmly admit that he was trying to please someone.

It was too ugly, too beneath him, and too embarrassing.

“Because I’m not a pampered little young master,” Shen Zhoudu said coldly.

“Hmph.” Meng Weiyu laughed disdainfully. Then he picked up his chopsticks and pointed at Shen Zhoudu with them. “How are you not a pampered little young master? Don’t tell me you think that just because you can set out chopsticks, live by yourself, and casually take care of someone a little, you can remove yourself from the ranks of extravagant young masters?”

“That’s not what I meant.” Shen Zhoudu lowered his head and picked up his chopsticks.

Meng Weiyu: “…”

He admitted his mistake too quickly. Meng Weiyu had not even started performing yet!

“Hurry and eat. It’s going to burn,” Shen Zhoudu told Meng Weiyu.

Meng Weiyu dazedly reached out his chopsticks, blankly picked up a piece, and stupidly put it into his mouth.

Wait, what was the point of that meaningless conversation?

“Ai.” Shen Zhoudu suddenly sighed.

“What?” Meng Weiyu became alert.

“I forgot to ask for lettuce leaves. I want to wrap the meat,” Shen Zhoudu said, disappointed.

Meng Weiyu felt that this was not a problem. He quickly called a server over, and two containers of lettuce leaves were placed in front of Shen Zhoudu.

“Thank you.” But wasn’t this amount a little too much?

Meng Weiyu originally wanted to restrain his poisonous mouth, but his lips moved, and in the end, he still chose to speak recklessly. “Stuff yourself to death, you starving ghost.”

He originally thought Shen Zhoudu would either retort back or, if it was serious, turn and leave. In his view, Shen Zhoudu was the kind of person who had no sense of humor and took things too seriously.

Unexpectedly, Shen Zhoudu suddenly lowered his head and let out a series of abrupt laughs.

“Hahahaha.” After laughing, he immediately stopped.

Meng Weiyu was startled by him.

“A few leaves won’t stuff me to death.” When Shen Zhoudu raised his head again, he had returned to the usual appearance Meng Weiyu was used to seeing.

Meng Weiyu looked at him and strangely fell silent.

“What are you looking at?” Shen Zhoudu asked.

“You,” Meng Weiyu answered without hesitation.

“If it’s me…” Shen Zhoudu did not know how to respond to such a direct statement.

“What were you doing just now?” Meng Weiyu revealed a subtle expression.

“Laughing.”

“What was so funny?” Was it necessary?

“What you said was funny.” When Shen Zhoudu said this, laughter began to enter his voice again.

Meng Weiyu suspected that he was being mocked.

“Ai.” Shen Zhoudu touched the back of his neck with the back of his hand, as if savoring what Meng Weiyu had just said. Then he calmly picked up a lettuce leaf and began wrapping barbecue meat.

Meng Weiyu: “…”

What kind of mood should he have while facing this?

“I’m very good at wrapping barbecue.” Shen Zhoudu wanted to boast about this.

“Then I’ll give you a chance to perform.” Meng Weiyu decided to let go of his strange behavior from just now. Smiling, he reached out toward him.

Without hesitation, Shen Zhoudu handed the lettuce wrap filled with meat and side dishes into Meng Weiyu’s hand.

Meng Weiyu accepted it with a smile and stuffed it into his mouth.

Shen Zhoudu raised his eyes to look at him.

“Mm, mm, mm. It’s good.” Meng Weiyu picked up his chopsticks and kept smiling as he went to pick up salad, his words still thoughtless. “But it’s only so-so.”

Just as his chopsticks were about to leave the salad bowl, another pair of chopsticks quickly reached over from across the table and clamped onto Meng Weiyu’s chopsticks at once.

Meng Weiyu’s smile was still on his face. Before his expression could change, he looked at the person across from him.

Shen Zhoudu said nothing and just pressed down on his chopsticks like that.

“Hey.” You had better move aside immediately.

What Shen Zhoudu did next made Meng Weiyu realize just how childish this person actually was.

“I won’t let you eat it.”

“I’ll eat it if I want to.” Meng Weiyu wanted to beat him to death.

“Then don’t eat it.”

Meng Weiyu immediately stabbed his chopsticks into the salad bowl. Then he jumped up from his seat, left his side, walked over to Shen Zhoudu, and sat beside him.

Shen Zhoudu was startled by him.

“Brat, are you trying to make me cause trouble here?” Meng Weiyu used the base of both palms to viciously rub his face.

Shen Zhoudu’s face was messed up terribly by him, and even his glasses were about to fall off. He hurriedly wanted to remove Meng Weiyu’s hands, but remembering that his own hands had just wrapped barbecue meat, he could only dodge desperately.

At this moment, the server appeared with a smiling face. He had come to grill more meat, but when he saw that the cooked meat had not been finished yet, he was just about to turn away without leaving a trace. Then he quickly saw Shen Zhoudu and Meng Weiyu playing around.

Shen Zhoudu met the server’s gaze and froze.

The server nodded, gratified: as expected, they really were good friends.

After he gracefully left, Shen Zhoudu struggled free from Meng Weiyu with all his might.

“Hmph, hmph.” Meng Weiyu shifted his butt and approached Shen Zhoudu. When Shen Zhoudu noticed that the two of them were almost touching, he quickly sat farther to the side. Meng Weiyu saw the gap and immediately moved over again. This sofa was actually quite long, but before long, Shen Zhoudu was completely pressed against the wall, while Meng Weiyu blocked him on the other side.

“Shen Zhoudu, what kind of blue are your eyes?” Because they were too close, Meng Weiyu realized that Shen Zhoudu’s eyes were really eye-catching and could not help asking curiously.

“I don’t know.” He had never studied it.

“Aside from your eyes, there’s nothing else about you that looks foreign.” Meng Weiyu had been looking at Shen Zhoudu’s evasive face the whole time.

Hearing this, Shen Zhoudu’s head, which had originally wanted to turn away from Meng Weiyu, suddenly paused. Then he quickly turned his head.

“Uwah.” This time, it was Meng Weiyu’s turn to be startled. They had almost kissed.

“There’s one more place.” Because of the features in his appearance that differed from the people around him, Shen Zhoudu had received many criticisms. However, he could feel that Meng Weiyu meant no harm, so he took the initiative to show him. He lowered his head, shook it slightly, letting his hair fall, and indicated to Meng Weiyu. “Look.”

“Look at what?” Meng Weiyu could not understand unless it was pointed out clearly.

“My original hair should be light brown. My current hair is dyed black. The last time I dyed it was two months ago, so the roots should show a different color now.”

“Ah, it really is.” Meng Weiyu wanted to reach out, but he felt that since they were eating, it was not good to touch someone else’s hair, so his hand waved in the air.

“Heh, that’s how it is.” Shen Zhoudu raised his head again.

Then, without warning, Meng Weiyu’s big face was practically right in front of him.

“Can you not do this…” Shen Zhoudu shrank toward the wall.

“What am I doing?” Meng Weiyu smiled and prepared to lean closer again. He was the type whose enthusiasm grew the more others refused him.

Seeing his movement, Shen Zhoudu immediately took the bowl and chopsticks that had originally been placed across the table and handed them to him.

“Hehe.” Meng Weiyu laughed.

Shen Zhoudu discovered that Meng Weiyu’s mood changed as quickly as a roller coaster speeding past in one minute.

The two began eating barbecue again. This time, however, they were sitting on the same sofa.

“Do you want to come to my house later and play games?” Meng Weiyu invited him.

“I can’t today. My parents will be home tonight.” Shen Zhoudu had only refused today.

“Oh.” Meng Weiyu did not understand.

Shen Zhoudu turned his head and looked at his indifferent expression. The hand holding his chopsticks moved restlessly.

“Or…” Shen Zhoudu placed his other hand on the table and anxiously leaned over.

“Mm?” Meng Weiyu met his gaze.

“The day after tomorrow? Hm? The day after tomorrow?” The day after tomorrow, it seemed his parents were taking him to some event, so he probably would not be free then either.

Seeing Shen Zhoudu stutter and freeze like that, Meng Weiyu found it funny. He said, “Then send me a message when you’re free.”

“Ah?” Shen Zhoudu had completely not thought in that direction.

“But when that time comes, it might be my turn to be unavailable.” Meng Weiyu smiled proudly. “After all, I’m very popular.”

Shen Zhoudu answered in his heart: I can tell.

For some reason, that thought made him unhappy.

After that, the two chatted on and off, though most of the time, they were silent. After they finished eating barbecue, Shen Zhoudu left his seat and planned to pay. The owner happened to be at the counter and told him, “Guest, there’s no need.”

Shen Zhoudu quickly turned his head and looked at Meng Weiyu. He was sitting in his seat, waving at him and smiling.

“This was a seat Young Master reserved in advance. As for the payment, it has already been handled.”

Meng Weiyu carried Shen Zhoudu’s schoolbag and stood up, walking toward the entrance. Seeing this, Shen Zhoudu hurried to catch up.

“This mall is under my grandparents. I can eat and take whatever I want. Someone will settle the bill later.” Meng Weiyu slung Shen Zhoudu’s schoolbag over his shoulder and smiled as he asked, “Is there anything else you want? I’ll give it to you.”

“Thanks, but I don’t need anything for now.” Shen Zhoudu reached out to ask for his schoolbag.

“Aren’t you going to the restroom? I’ll hold it for you first. Don’t worry, this young master disdains stealing your things.” Meng Weiyu checked the time. “It’s about time too. I’ll have the driver send you back later.”

“I’ll be back quickly,” Shen Zhoudu told him.

“It’s fine if you take your time too.” Meng Weiyu revealed his usual teasing smile.

Shen Zhoudu helplessly shook his head, then walked toward another path. Meng Weiyu had already agreed with him beforehand, so he stood near the escalator waiting for him.

Just as Meng Weiyu had his back to the corridor and was boredly looking down at the scenery from the tenth floor, a hand patted his shoulder.

“So fast.” Meng Weiyu muttered and turned his head. But with this glance, he saw a face that was not Shen Zhoudu’s.

“Meng Weiyu~” Xie Wenxuan stood behind him with a playful smile. “What a coincidence.”

The sound of rain stopped at the instant the sun broke through the clouds.

“Xie Wenxuan?” At the dining table, Meng Weiyu listened to Shen Zhoudu tell the story and raised his bowl to drink soup, trying hard to remember this person. They had indeed played together quite often, but in Meng Weiyu’s view, they could only be considered playmates. Ordinary friends, nothing more.

Shen Zhoudu looked at his husband, who had lost his memory, and casually said, “In university, he confessed to you. Then you two cut ties.”

“Pfft.” Meng Weiyu spat.

Seriously, could he poison Shen Zhoudu mute right now?