The corridor, covered with sound-absorbing carpet, was magnificent, and the singing and music never stopped.
The KTV princesses, with exquisite makeup, greeted Xiao Kesong with smiles. Some held musical instruments; others wore dance costumes. They came over charmingly, surrounded Xiao Kesong, and asked why he wanted to leave just after arriving and whether the service was lacking.
Xiao Kesong was used to such situations and handled it with ease.
He took Chen Zemian’s arm and said, “No, I’m going out for a midnight snack with my buddies.”
Xiao Kesong was a frequent visitor to Fanlou, and every time he came, he was surrounded by people. Chen Zemian stood in the back, half-hidden in shadows, his face not clearly visible. The girls thought he was just Xiao’s follower and paid little attention — until Xiao Kesong pulled him into the light, revealing his face clearly.
At this, the lively atmosphere suddenly quieted.
The girls looked at each other, then burst out laughing simultaneously.
“Mr. Xiao, I was wondering why you haven’t come to play recently. Turns out you have someone to accompany you.”
“You’re so handsome. Mr. Xiao has good taste.”
“Our manager will be angry again when he sees us. He always scolds us for not working hard. But look at his face and figure — can you really get that with hard work?”
“He’s really beautiful.”
“How come you look like a celebrity?” A girl in a black dress suddenly raised her arm and reached out to touch Chen Zemian’s face. “No wonder Mr. Xiao is fascinated by you.”
Chen Zemian only smelled her fragrance. Before he could react, all the muscles in his body went on alert. He grabbed her wrist reflexively and threw her over his shoulder. He caught a glimpse of the beautiful Danzhu manicure out of the corner of his eye, then realized it was a girl and let go in disappointment.
“Don’t throw girls.”
The girl didn’t realize she had almost flown off. She touched Chen Zemian’s face and smiled, “Your skin is so tender. Whose male model are you?”
Chen Zemian was born with a handsome face. Before he traveled through time, he had worked as a male model in a bar. This time, he was familiar with the situation. He wasn’t angry — he just smiled silently.
Xiao Kesong’s face darkened, and he said unhappily, “What male model? This is my brother!”
He ignored everyone’s apologies and pulled Chen Zemian away.
As they crossed the hall, Xiao Kesong suddenly pulled Chen Zemian and said, “Hey, look who that is!”
Chen Zemian had just put the last kumquat in his mouth and almost choked from the sudden pull. He looked in the direction Xiao Kesong pointed and could only vaguely see a tall, thin figure from behind.
She had long black hair draped over her shoulders, wore a long evening gown, and appeared to be holding a guitar.
“Who is it?” Chen Zemian asked. “Do you know her?”
Xiao Kesong hesitated, “She seems to be from our school.”
Chen Zemian frowned. “From your school?”
A young girl holding a guitar, a schoolmate of Xiao Kesong, performing at a nightclub — these elements combined to create an indescribable sense of familiarity.
Suddenly, a background plot briefly mentioned in the original book flashed through Chen Zemian’s mind.
“It’s Shen Qingwan!”
Chen Zemian grabbed Xiao Kesong’s arm excitedly. “I remember.”
On Xiao Kesong’s twentieth birthday night, Shen Qingwan was performing piano at Fanlou. A girl playing the flute was troubled by a group of drunk guests. No one dared intervene except Shen Qingwan, who stepped forward but was detained in the box by the guests…
Then, of course, Lu Zhuonian came to the rescue, and the iron triangle made a big fuss at Fanlou.
This is a key plot point appearing in Shen Qingwan’s memories in the original book.
According to Shen Qingwan, that night she completely fell in love with Lu Zhuonian.
Chen Zemian seemed to be witnessing history, his heart pounding. “Go call Mr. Lu — Shen Qingwan is in trouble.”
Xiao Kesong was stunned. “How did you know?”
Chen Zemian made up a story. “Well, I counted on my fingers and calculated that she’d have a disaster tonight and might meet a difficult customer.”
Xiao Kesong was skeptical, and his IQ suddenly kicked in. “If her disaster involves Zhuonian, shouldn’t you tell their manager?”
Chen Zemian didn’t expect Xiao Kesong to be so cunning and said helplessly, “Then you go tell their manager. I’ll go check it out.”
Xiao Kesong grabbed Chen Zemian and said meaningfully, “What do you think of Shen Qingwan? You really care about her.”
Chen Zemian was ambiguous. “I’ve seen her before, and she seems to like Mr. Lu.”
Xiao Kesong smelled something fishy and became instantly interested. “You’ve noticed that? You’ve observed her carefully — could it be you like her?”
Chen Zemian replied speechlessly, “Don’t be ridiculous, I’m just thinking about Mr. Lu.”
Xiao Kesong shook his finger mysteriously. “Don’t think about it — there’s no hope for her and Lu Zhuonian.”
Chen Zemian was shocked. “How could Shen Qingwan have no hope?”
In the original text, Shen Qingwan had many scenes and was one of the top three most popular female supporting roles. How could the male protagonist’s good brother pronounce her ‘no hope’ before the plot even began?
Xiao Kesong glanced at Chen Zemian and said, “Well, how should I put it? It’s a bit complicated. I have to start from the beginning.”
Chen Zemian was very patient. “I’m willing to listen from the start.”
Xiao Kesong hesitated. “Then I’ll tell you — but don’t tell anyone else.”
Chen Zemian’s eyes were clear and sincere. “Who else would I tell?”
Xiao Kesong felt relieved. “Lu Zhuonian can’t like her, because she looks a lot like our childhood friend — tall, thin, cold, lonely, and able to play the guqin.”
Chen Zemian didn’t remember such a person in the book. “Besides Mr. Lu and Mr. Ye, you have another childhood friend?”
Xiao Kesong nodded. “Yes, another named Su Yao, who was Ye Chen’s first love. She later went abroad and hasn’t come back yet.”
Chen Zemian suddenly realized, “So Shen Qingwan looks like Mr. Ye’s first love. No wonder you said she and Mr. Lu have no chance.”
Xiao Kesong said, “Even if she didn’t look alike, there’s no chance. She’s not suitable for Lu Zhuonian. Shen Qingwan is weak and seems to be in poor health.”
Chen Zemian thought for a long time but couldn’t understand why poor health meant she was unsuitable.
Meanwhile, Xiao Kesong had already called the manager to ask about Shen Qingwan.
The manager was impressed by this school beauty who could play the guqin, noting that many customers recently came just for Shen Qingwan.
“Her father embezzled company funds to speculate in stocks. Isn’t this paying back money and seeking a suspended sentence?” The manager said, “Fanlou’s income is high. A girl like her, educated and beautiful, can easily make six figures a month just by playing piano and drinking.”
Xiao Kesong crossed his arms. “Just drinking?”
“Oh, Mr. Xiao, of course just drinking. We’re very formal here… See for yourself if you don’t believe me.” The manager turned the surveillance screen around.
Everything seemed normal on the video — no conflicts. Shen Qingwan sat in front of the stage, playing piano. There were two coffee tables between her and the guests, about three or four meters away.
The guests were drinking and chatting, paying little attention to the piano players on stage. They even looked a little bored, probably because they found musical instruments less interesting than singing and dancing.
Xiao Kesong turned to Chen Zemian. “Your calculation wasn’t very accurate, Master Chen.”
Chen Zemian said, “…”
Could it be that his intervention fluttered the butterfly’s wings and eliminated the crisis?
Seeing Chen Zemian still hesitant, Xiao Kesong told the manager, “She goes to our school, and we all know each other.”
The manager smiled and bowed politely. “Don’t worry, Mr. Xiao. Since you asked in person, how could I not take care of her?”
He then waved to two security guards and asked them to stand guard at Shen Qingwan’s box door.
Xiao Kesong looked at Shen Qingwan on the surveillance video and sighed deeply. “She looks so much like Su Yao. Ye Chen will definitely be sad when he sees her.”
Chen Zemian stared at the screen for a while, found nothing unusual, and finally felt relieved. “Are you still going to the snack street? The stalls will close soon.”
Xiao Kesong was still feeling sad for Ye Chen but was surprised that Chen Zemian only thought about food. He gave him a condemning look. “I said Ye Chen would be sad, and you answer with ‘If I don’t go to the snack street, the stalls will close?’”
Chen Zemian pointed to his watch. “It’s already eleven o’clock. The snack street is open until half past eleven. It’ll take a while to ride there.”
Xiao Kesong was speechless and said indignantly, “You can tell from the way you talk that you’ve never suffered from love and have no sympathy at all… Although Ye Chen hasn’t mentioned it, he hasn’t dated anyone else for years, so he must still be thinking about Su Yao.”
Chen Zemian pulled Xiao Kesong up from the sofa. “Su Yao has been gone so many years. It doesn’t matter if he leaves for a while. But the snack street will close in half an hour.”
Xiao Kesong said, “…”
How did that make sense?
Chen Zemian walked out of the gate of Fanlou, quickly scanned a shared bicycle, and started pedaling hard. Before Xiao Kesong could choose one he liked, Chen Zemian had already sped away like a rocket.
Xiao Kesong could only quickly scan a bike, without even having time to adjust the seat height, and awkwardly chased forward with his long legs bent.
There is a kind of slope in the world that you cannot feel when walking or driving but can only sense when riding a bike.
The snack street looked very close on the map, with a straight-line distance of less than one kilometer, but the actual distance on the street was nearly two kilometers — all uphill. Chen Zemian rode his bike very fast, and Xiao Kesong chased him hard from behind. When he couldn’t catch up, he had to stand up and pedal. At his most desperate, he actually pedaled like it was a rally race.
“Damn, how can this kid have so much energy?”
Xiao Kesong was stuck at the zebra crossing because of a red light. He could only watch Chen Zemian’s graceful back as he rode away and complained, “He can ride a shared bike so coolly — are you filming a movie, buddy?”
In order to meet Chen Zemian at the entrance of the snack street, Young Master Xiao put in so much effort that his thighs ached from pedaling.
As closing time approached, many stalls in the snack street were empty of customers and filled with the smell of fireworks about to end.
Xiao Kesong was reminded of the scene and remembered that when he was in junior high school, there were many such snack stands in front of the school. “At that time, Su Yao had not gone abroad, and Zhuonian was not like he is now.”
Chen Zemian’s attention was on the food on both sides and listened absent-mindedly. He didn’t hear Xiao Kesong hesitate to speak and thought he was talking about Lu Zhuonian’s mysophobia, so he casually added, “Has Mr. Lu’s mysophobia always been this serious?”
Xiao Kesong recalled, “He has been very clean since he was a child, and he is very particular. He wouldn’t play with his toys if I touched them. But generally speaking, he was better as a child than he is now. At that time, we were as close as one person. We played together during the day and slept together at night. Now, neither of them sleeps with me.”
Chen Zemian said, “Now that he’s grown up, there’s no room for the three of you in one bed.”
Xiao Kesong said, “Yes, I told you about the time I went to a winter camp in the wild. It was cold and snowy at night. I didn’t freeze to death, but I couldn’t stand it anymore and crawled into someone else’s sleeping bag to survive.”
Chen Zemian couldn’t help laughing. “Why go to a winter camp in the wild in the middle of winter? Young Master Xiao has done such a thing to suffer at a cost.”
Xiao Kesong sighed, “I’ve done so many things to suffer at a cost. There was also the time when I made an appointment with Zhuonian to go skydiving. The moment I jumped off the plane, I had already thought of my last words. Later, he even asked me to climb Haba Snow Mountain. I said I would never go even if I died.”
Chen Zemian found a takoyaki stall and stopped. “Young Master Lu really has a special liking for extreme sports.”
“He is too energetic.”
Xiao Kesong talked about a dangerous experience of high-altitude rappelling. When he was talking about the thrilling part, he turned his head and found that no one was around him.
Xiao Kesong said, “???”
Where are the people?
He turned around and saw Chen Zemian standing in front of the takoyaki stall five meters away, holding a portion of takoyaki and preparing to eat it.
“……”
The charred and fragrant octopus balls were sprinkled with seaweed and squid crumbs, drizzled with a thick layer of cheese sauce, ketchup, salad dressing, and a little bit of yellow mustard for flavor.
The crust was crispy, the filling soft, and the octopus chewy.
When you take a bite, several flavors bloom on the tip of your tongue at the same time, with a rich taste and endless aftertaste.
It was just a little hot.
Whoosh whoosh.
Chen Zemian held the remaining half of a meatball in his mouth. He raised his head and suddenly met eyes with Xiao Kesong, who was five meters away.
Xiao Kesong crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. “What are you doing, brother? I’m almost two miles away, and you’re still eating so happily here.”
Chen Zemian swallowed half of the meatball and made up an explanation. “I don’t know what happened. I just remember smelling a fragrance, and then I lost consciousness. When I woke up, the takoyaki was already in my mouth.”
“I’m really convinced.” Xiao Kesong grabbed Chen Zemian’s sleeve and walked forward. “Were you born in the year of the cat? This flour ball is so delicious it disappears when you let go?”
Chen Zemian wanted to let Xiao Kesong try it so that the takoyaki could win over Young Master Xiao, but he lowered his head to count the remaining amount and became conflicted again.
There are five takoyaki in a serving, and three were left in the box. If he gave one to Xiao Kesong, only two would remain. What if Xiao Kesong liked it and wanted another? Then he could only eat one more.
Takoyaki is so delicious that Xiao Kesong will definitely eat two.
Maybe he’ll eat them all.
Just eat it all — after all, Xiao Kesong is his brother.
Chen Zemian stuffed another one into his mouth and handed over the paper box. “You’ll know if you try it.”
Xiao Kesong picked up a bamboo skewer and picked at the takoyaki in the box pickily. “Hey, I didn’t eat this much seafood at the birthday party, and now I run to the night market with you to eat this stuff.”
Chen Zemian suddenly felt reluctant to give it to him and immediately raised the paper box. “You don’t have to eat it either.”
Xiao Kesong quickly inserted a meatball into his mouth.
The delicious taste of octopus was irresistible.
The two of them walked around the snack street from beginning to end, tasting a variety of delicacies including stir-fried tripe, braised pork, donkey rolls, grilled skewers, coated tofu, fried stew, bamboo-flavored duck, cheese mashed potatoes, lotus root soup, and more. In the end, they only brought back two servings of takoyaki and a handful of grilled skewers.
When passing by the front desk, Chen Zemian specifically asked the manager, “Nothing happened, right?”
The manager said, “No, Shen Qingwan has left work.”
Strictly speaking, outside food is not allowed to be brought into Fanlou, but with Xiao Kesong there, who would dare stop them? Even the manager turned a blind eye, pretending not to see.
But the grilled squid was so delicious.
Several guests nearby whose food and drinks were confiscated looked toward the smell and said dissatisfiedly, “Why can they bring in their things?”
Another person seemed convinced and finally pointed out Fanlou’s fault. “You’re open for business. Why don’t you treat everyone equally? If you want to bring something, bring it all, otherwise don’t bring anything.”
The staff explained gently that their drinks could be left here, they could finish their food here, or if their consumption reached a specified amount, the drinks could be brought in.
Not only did the group refuse to listen, one of them even took out his cell phone to record the incident and filmed Xiao Kesong’s face, saying he would post it online.
Xiao Kesong’s face darkened, and he was about to lose his temper.
Chen Zemian tried to stop him and said, “Forget it, why are you angry with them? It’s your birthday today. Why don’t you go up first? There are only a few bites of food left. I’ll go out and finish eating.”
Xiao Kesong couldn’t get angry with Chen Zemian, so he could only walk out with his head down.
In the early hours of the morning, most shops and basement stores had turned off their lights, creating a special kind of silence.
The streets were quiet, and the night breeze was cool.
Xiao Kesong walked along the street for a while and finally calmed down. He ate two more skewers of grilled squid before he felt better again.
Before he could announce his improved mood, he heard a scream.
Xiao Kesong looked back and saw a beer bottle flying from a distance, heading toward his head!
Chen Zemian reacted quickly, grabbing Xiao Kesong’s forehead with one hand and ducking to avoid the attack.
The wine bottle flew a long way due to inertia before landing with a loud bang, broken glass splattering everywhere.
Xiao Kesong was still frightened.
If this had hit his head…
Chen Zemian stood up and looked in the direction where the bottle came from.
He saw Shen Qingwan holding a girl and stumbling toward the light.
Behind the two girls, there were four or five drunk middle-aged men, shouting and acting arrogantly. One of them was the one who had just thrown the bottle, his raised hand not yet lowered.
The plot point that was supposed to happen finally happened.
Chen Zemian seemed to have expected this, with no expression on his face. He just handed the unfinished skewers in his hand to Xiao Kesong.
Xiao Kesong subconsciously took the skewers, but before he could say anything, he saw a lightning-fast figure flash out from beside him, pass Shen Qingwan and the other person, and rush directly toward the five burly men.
Shen Qingwan only felt as if a gust of wind was blowing toward her.
The hair scattered on her cheeks was gently lifted up, and with a vague glimpse, she could see the cold, pale, and handsome face —
It was Chen Zhe!
The name flashed through Shen Qingwan’s and Xiao Kesong’s minds at the same time, and their eyes subconsciously followed Chen Zhe’s figure.
The next second, the man who threw the bottle flew into the air and was propelled backward at a speed faster than the bottle.
After Chen Zemian kicked one person away, he took that person’s place and stood among the group of drunks. His expression remained unchanged. He calmly said two words.
“Get lost.”
*****
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Author: LazyHermitGal
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