Chapter 73 - Dinner
According to the words of this elegant and refined girl, her name was Bai Qing and she was studying performing arts, and shared quite a few cla.s.ses with Song Xiao.
Intentionally or otherwise, Song Xiao struck up a conversation, and soon learned Bai Qing’s family background and history. From what she said, she had relied on herself to come over and study. While studying, she was even working a part-time job in a restaurant. It was particularly exhausting to wash dishes everyday. As for what she wanted to do in the performing arts in the future, hopefully she could be a screenwriter or something.
“You should be an actress; it would be a bit of a waste for you to be a screenwriter,” Song Xiao said with a smile that wasn’t a smile.
Bai Qing was taken aback. She thought that Song Xiao was complimenting her on her looks and saying that it would be unfortunate if she didn’t become an actress. She blushed, lowered her head, and said, “I can’t act, so I can’t be an actress.”
Song Xiao smiled and didn’t say any more.
Yu Tang seemed even busier this semester, and frequently couldn’t come to cla.s.s. He was either on frequent plane trips, busy at the family corporation, or meeting strange people. Song Xiao wondered if this guy could graduate smoothly.
Because Yu Tang wasn’t by his side, and the bodyguards always stayed at a distance, Song Xiao looked like a lonely soul. It was during these times that Bai Qing would promptly appear. Sometimes they would go to cla.s.s together, and sometimes they would go to the cafeteria together. They even ran into each other in the library.
“I have two ‘I Want To Eat Meat Restaurant’ coupons. Do you want to come with me?” Song Xiao was speed reading in the library when Bai Qing’s gentle voice rang out next to him. “They’re dinner coupons, and it says that it has to be a girl and guy.”
‘I Want To Eat Meat Restaurant’ was a restaurant with a romance theme. Its candlelight dinners at night were particularly famous, and this restaurant was mainly popular with men. This was because candlelight dinners before would serve very small portions in order to fit the aesthetic. However, this restaurant wasn’t the same, and provided enough meat and vegetables for them to eat their fill. This was thus the first choice for regular people who wanted to go out on romantic dates.
Song Xiao didn’t even lift his head. “You should go with your boyfriend.”
“I… I don’t have a boyfriend…” Bai Qing seemed a little bashful as she whispered the words, then tried to pull on Song Xiao’s arm. “Won’t you come with me? Aren’t we good friends?”
Song Xiao pulled his arm out of her grip and shifted subtly to the side. “Oh, I’ll see if I have time tonight. If I do, I’ll contact you.”
“That’s great!” Bai Qing looked very excited, and left the library with a smile.
Once Bai Qing left, Song Xiao’s expression turned cold. When he finished reading the book in his hands, he walked out to make a phone call.
‘I Want To Eat Meat Restaurant’ was basically booked out for candlelight dinners because of the recent discount promo. In order to be able to protect Song Xiao, the two burly bodyguards also wanted to sneak in.
Since they weren’t using the coupons, no one cared if they were a het couple or not. However, sitting in a restaurant filled with het couples, the two burly men stuck out like sore thumbs.
“What would you gentlemen like?” The waiter walked over with a smile and looked at the two fellows who were still wearing sungla.s.ses at night.
“Uh, just a hamburger.” The curly-haired black bodyguard looked at the prices on the menu, thought about his own wages, and decided to just have a hamburger.
Sitting next to him, his bald companion shrugged. “Give me set A, thanks.”
Curly hair widened his eyes. After the waiter left, he kicked his companion. “You shouldn’t have, it’s so expensive.”
“If you’re only having a hamburger, there’s just enough from the operation funds which Song shaoye gave us for me to order a set meal,” Baldie scratched his smooth head and said with a snicker.
Curly hair: “…”
The two bodyguards were sitting at a square table next to Song Xiao, who was sitting in a booth, and they could clearly see what Song Xiao was doing.
“Have you been studying film directors recently?” Bai Qing recalled the book which Song Xiao had been reading during the day as she tried to find a topic to talk about.
“It was just some casual reading,” Song Xiao replied, his head bent as he played with his phone. He was talking to Li Weiwei. Recently, that fellow had accepted a new role for a show, though it was only the third lead. However, he was already famous in that film school. After all, there were so many students every semester, but still very few who got famous before they entered the school.
Li Weiwei told Song Xiao that Xinghai Entertainment’s current situation still wasn’t very good. They didn’t have any popular projects; moreover, Li Weiwei had recently seen Song Zheng coming and going at the company.
【She interned at the company during the winter break.】 Li Weiwei sent the message along with a disgusted emoji. In his opinion, Song Zheng, that illegitimate daughter, didn’t know herself as a person at all. Rushing to intern at the company before she even got into college – what work could she do? It was nothing more than just wanting to show her face and parade her right of inheritance.
【Help me watch Qiu Mingyan’s movements】 After thinking about it, Song Xiao still sent this message. Li Weiwei might still be a n.o.body in the circle, but his mother Li Meiyi wasn’t a simple character, and could find out any sort of information.
“Sorry ah, Song Xiao, I didn’t know that food prices here are so expensive.” Seeing that Song Xiao kept his head down and was ignoring her, Bai Qing stammered out this sentence.
Song Xiao looked up at her and raised his eyebrows slightly. This young lady said she had coupons and brought him here to eat, but after all that, she wanted him to pay?
“It’s fine. If you don’t have enough money, we can AA.”
Bai Qing choked for a moment. As a young master from a rich family, shouldn’t he be saying “Silly, how is this expensive? You don’t have to pay” or something at a time like this? He actually wanted to AA with her! Could it be that he would have wanted her to pay if she hadn’t said these words?
The coupons were only 20% off, even if it came with a bottle of wine as well. Even though it was a high-end restaurant for regular people, for someone who was ‘a female student so poor she has to wash dishes’, it was still very expensive, even with the discount!
As the former a.s.sistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Song Xiao was fundamentally extremely sensitive towards numbers and money. Someone who was deliberately getting close to him and who definitely didn’t have any good intentions still wanted him to spend money – it wasn’t like he was an idiot.
Bai Qing ate the meal very sullenly. During dessert and drinks after dinner, Song Xiao found an excuse to go to the toilet. One of the bodyguards got up to follow him while the other remained in his seat and watched Bai Qing attentively.
Completely unaware that she was being watched, when Bai Qing was certain that Song Xiao had left for sure, she took out an extremely small pill from her pocket and put it in Song Xiao’s drink, and it dissolved without a trace.
When Song Xiao returned, he picked up the gla.s.s and slowly raised it to his lips, lifting his eyes to look at Bai Qing.
The young lady was staring at him nervously. Seeing him look at her, she immediately lowered her head shyly and ate her dessert.
Song Xiao shifted the gla.s.s away and swirled the drink in his hand, but didn’t take a sip. Bai Qing’s heart also seized up with every swirl. After playing for a while, Song Xiao felt bored. “It’s late already, I’m going back.”
Song Xiao put down his gla.s.s, paid half the bill, then got up and left.
“Ai!” Bai Qing looked at the untouched drink and sighed in disappointment.
As soon as he exited the restaurant, a strong arm grabbed Song Xiao and he was dragged into a car before he could react. Scared out of his wits, Song Xiao tried to cry out for help. He looked up at his two bodyguards as they walked out one after another, but when they saw him, they acted as if they hadn’t seen anything, and they walked off to the side, whistling.
Song Xiao was stunned as the door slammed shut, and he was then pressed firmly down on the car seat.
“Your Majesty?” Seeing who it was that had captured him, Song Xiao sighed in relief. “You… ah…” Before he could finish speaking, the emperor bit him, then grasped his chin fiercely.
“Zhen left for two days and you’re already having an affair, en?” Yu Tang’s eyes were filled with anger. Without further ado, he began to tear open Song Xiao’s clothes.
“Huh? Weren’t you supposed to return tomorrow?” Song Xiao blinked, and right after that, realised that he had misspoken. This made it seem like he had specially taken the opportunity when Yu Tang wasn’t around to go on a date with a girl.
“Hmph, zhen knew it.” As expected, Yu Tang got even angrier. “You planned for when zhen wasn’t around, right?’
“Wu… Didn’t I explain it to you?” Song Xiao tried to push him away. This was a public place. Even though the roof for the convertible was raised, the windows were still transparent, and they could faintly be seen from outside.
On the other side, Bai Qing had already gotten up from her seat. Coming out to see that Song Xiao had disappeared, she curled her lip and turned to head in another direction. Hidden outside the restaurant, a person wearing a windbreaker pulled down the rim of his cap and followed her unhurriedly.
At the same time, Song Xiao’s phone received a message. 【Target acquired. Tailing her now.】
“You clearly knew that something wasn’t right about her, but you still came; is it fun to endanger yourself?!” Yu Tang didn’t hear him out at all. Taking out a bottle of lube, he squeezed out a great deal, and without preparation, he pressed in.
“Ah…” The sudden pain made Song Xiao cry out. “It hurts…”
Yu Tang took a deep breath, then pulled Song Xiao into his embrace. He kissed him soothingly, then hmphed. “It should hurt. Remember this pain. If you eat with troublesome women again next time, the family punishment is to serve in bed!”
Song Xiao glared at him, but was soon tossed about until he couldn’t say a word.
Little Theater
Fish Tang: Not abiding by the ways of the husband, the family punishment is to serve in bed
Xiaoxiao: Hurts…
Fish Tang: Hurts? Then I’ll be gentler
Xiaoxiao: Don’t touch there
Fish Tang: How about here?
Xiaoxiao: En… It feels nice here
Didi: (￢_￢) It’s just a ma.s.sage, what’re you going on and on for?