SM Chapter 69

“Didn’t see clearly enough? Want another kiss so you can see better…”

Wei Wang and Hao Hao were the first to arrive. As soon as they sat down, they noticed Ran Cai with her head down, deep in thought, frowning with excessive worry.

Wei Wang raised an eyebrow, “Did your illness finally flare up?”

Ran Cai slowly looked up at him, striking a “The Thinker” pose, her tone heavy, “Don’t talk, I’m reflecting.”

This sudden, unexplained sentence was more confusing than informative. Wei Wang and Hao Hao exchanged glances, then naturally turned their inquiring eyes to Li Chennan.

Sensing their gaze, Li Chennan shrugged and spread his hands. “Yeah, she’s reflecting.”

This affirmation was utterly useless. Hao Hao was speechless for a moment. “So? Reflecting on what?”

“Reflecting, reflecting on why her sexuality is being questioned.” After saying that, Li Chennan couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

After a moment of shock, Wei Wang turned to Ran Cai. “Old sis, what did you do? Are you going this far to avoid blind dates?”

So willing to throw yourself away, huh?

“What are you talking about? I’m reflecting on why I would give people that kind of impression,” Ran Cai straightened up, looking at him, her gaze still grave.

Hao Hao couldn’t hold back a laugh. Under her sharp glare, he recomposed himself and said seriously, “Tell me, who’s so blind? I’ll help you question them.”

He patted his chest, looking ready to stand up for her.

Hearing this, Li Chennan and Zhu Shihao both looked at him.

Li Chennan gave a thumbs up, trying to suppress his upward-curving lips. “A brave man, a true hero, upholding righteousness.”

Just as Hao Hao was acutely realizing something was off, Ran Cai spoke, her tone low and mournful.

“Really? It was your Brother Xu. Could you help me ask for details?”

The hand that had patted his chest slowly lifted away. Hao Hao froze, then bowed his head heavily, clasping his hands in a fist. “It was just babbling nonsense. Please pretend you didn’t hear it.”

Wei Wang, who had gone from puzzled to amused, was the first to call him out. He also clasped his fist in his hand. “We can, but maybe you should ask Brother Xu if he agrees?”

“…Brother Xu?” Hao Hao turned, his clasped fist still not lowered.

To this, Tan Zhi Xu gave a soft chuckle, his tone indifferent.

“Was that a person speaking just now?”

Hao Hao’s face fell. He turned to Zhu Shihao, his clasped hands now a pleading gesture.

“Good sis, save me, save me.”

Zhu Shihao’s lips curved. “Easy, easy, but…”

Hao Hao immediately understood and waved his hand generously. “I’ll add another thousand to your wedding red envelope.”

The sudden mention of marriage didn’t feel out of place. From learning about their relationship to thinking about marriage, it all seemed overly logical.

However, there was still something to criticize about this.

Wei Wang curled his lips. “What, do they need that thousand from you?”

Tan Zhi Xu hooked his lips without speaking. Even in the dim light, where shadows blurred, his gaze was fixed on Zhu Shihao, and he clearly saw the gentle smile that always graced her face.

“More is always better, enough to cover the cost of several items of clothing,” Zhu Shihao said with a smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle your Brother Xu.”

Hao Hao glanced at Tan Zhi Xu, seeing that the man’s gaze never left her.

He hadn’t said anything, hadn’t expressed any emotion, but Hao Hao felt a strong whiff of sickeningly sweet love.

“With you taking action, Good Sis, there’s no reason why you couldn’t handle Brother Xu,” he blurted out without thinking, inwardly marveling at how he had never noticed the “trickery” in that look before.

Tan Zhi Xu glanced at him, then leaned back slightly, reaching out to wrap his arm around Zhu Shihao’s waist, pulling her closer. He spread his other hand and pinched her cheeks, his tiger’s mouth catching her chin.

“Your role as a fire extinguisher has been consistent and dutiful from beginning to end,” he said.

Zhu Shihao’s face was turned to him by the clutching hands, her lips were forced to be slightly pouting, which seemed very kissable.

Tan Zhi Xu’s gaze rested on her lips, his eyes narrowed slightly.

She tilted her head. “How else would I get so many five-star reviews?”

“You’re pretty proud of yourself?” Tan Zhi Xu shot her a sidelong glance, then released her.

Zhu Shihao rubbed her cheeks with both hands. “One of a kind, of course I’m proud.”

Hearing this, Tan Zhi Xu chuckled, not answering, but the corner of his mouth curved up a little more.

The others all shuddered, theatrically displaying how frightened they were, and clamored.

“Save me, Brother Xu, don’t smile like that, we’re scared!”

Wei Wang was marveling at the same time that he found the former self-understanding difficult.

“Wait, how did we never suspect anything before?”

The same thought was echoed by several others.

Li Chennan stroked his chin as he looked at the pair at the center of the conversation, lost in thought. “I did think about it in college, but you were both too natural and steadfast.”

Saying the last sentence, he looked at the remaining three one by one, and finally fixed his gaze on Wei Wang’s face, who had patted his chest and sworn an oath at the beginning.

It seemed like that had happened. Wei Wang also remembered it, sniffed, and his eyes fluttered slightly. “…Who would have thought?”

Tan Zhi Xu ignored them. The hand resting on her waist rose and draped over her other shoulder, his forearm falling naturally in front of her chest.

Wei Wang remembered something and was about to explain himself when Hao Hao interrupted.

“Here they come, here they come!” he said, excitedly pounding Wei Wang.

“Who is it?” Wei Wang followed his gaze.

Several figures were walking towards them. Their heavily concealed appearance seemed somewhat affected in this setting, but the figure in the lead looked familiar.

Even in the dim light, it didn’t stop Wei Wang’s eyes from shining. “Yo, our big star is here.”

His excitement at the prospect of seeing a good show instantly soared. After a couple of seconds, he asked, puzzled, “Huh? How come there are two other people with him?”

Zhu Shihao had just lowered her voice to tell Ran Cai about tonight’s surprise guest. Hearing this, she also “ah”-ed in surprise and looked over, confused.

It went without saying that the man who was wrapped up as tightly as Yang Xu was one of them. She turned her gaze over the blank space and looked at the beautiful woman who was being held by the hand.

The words that Xu Yan had said during their last meeting came to mind at that moment, and she showed a rare look of obvious interest.

Turning to pat Tan Zhi Xu, she leaned closer to his ear, afraid of being overheard, and lowered her voice to say, “Right? Right? It’s his wife, right?”

“What else could it be?” Tan Zhi Xu looked at the two people holding hands, and his mood improved slightly. “You can’t just hold the hands of members of the opposite sex, did you hear that, Zhu Shihao?”

She blinked her eyes. “But I haven’t.”

Tan Zhi Xu hummed twice and pinched her face twice, then instinctively and soothingly rubbed the area that he had pinched.

While they were talking and surprised about other people’s appearance, they didn’t know that they were also the focus of other people’s attention.

Bai Yizhao tugged at the hand that she was holding, her eyes sparkling. There were a series of small “wow” sounds. “Ah Yan, ah Yan, they’re so well-matched. My lead characters have faces now, no, no, it feels like I have lead characters.”

Xu Yan looked at her, amused, and said softly, “Since I’m taking you out to have fun, can you not have any of that?”

Raising her eyes, she fell into his gentle and smiling gaze. Bai Yizhao pursed her lips and smiled. She didn’t say anything, but the hand that was being held gently swayed back and forth.

Feeling this arc, Xu Yan’s lips curled, very much enjoying her coquettishness.

After exchanging a few words, the three of them were already in front of them.

With three people sitting on one end and one on the other, looking at the remaining space on the wide sofa, Yang Xu did not hesitate. He went around the table and sat down next to Ran Cai, casually sitting on the edge. He leaned over and picked up an empty glass, handing it to Xu Yan and Bai Yizhao.

After the wine was poured, he didn’t even lift his head. “What, why is everyone so silent?”

Ran Cai exchanged glances with the three others, considered it for a moment, and couldn’t bear to keep it to herself. “Why don’t you look more closely?”

Look at Tan Zhi Xu’s hand, which was draped over Zhu Shihao’s back with no sense of boundary.

Yang Xu found time to lift his eyes and swept his gaze around before lowering his head and continuing, “What’s there to look at? Did you get plastic surgery or get disfigured?”

Ran Cai was filled with anger and was hopeless. “Look again, look at Brother Xu and Shihao. Don’t you feel like something is different?”

Yang Xu finished pouring three glasses of wine unhurriedly before finally looking up and examining the two people in question.

Everyone waited silently for his response, even Wei Wang, who was wholeheartedly hoping to see something interesting, couldn’t help but hope that he would figure it out on his own.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Seeing Yang Xu knit his brows and seriously scrutinize them for a good while, he dropped his serious expression in an instant.

“What is it? Are you trying to tell me that the friendship of three people is destined to leave one person lonely?”

The air instantly quieted.

Even though she had met Yang Xu a few times, she hadn’t talked with him deeply. Bai Yizhao was greatly surprised. She turned her head to look at Xu Yan, and a speech bubble slowly appeared above her head, with a question mark inside.

Xu Yan covered his smile with his finger against his lips and leaned towards her, saying in a voice that only the two of them could hear, “He seems to be a bit slow, and a bit stupid when it comes to these things.”

Over there, Ran Cai’s features all scrunched up, and her throat tensed. “Could you look again? See if there’s something… wrong?”

Wrong?

Yang Xu looked at the two of them again.

He sized them up again and again. Rarely, Tan Zhi Xu wasn’t impatient. Instead, he used some strength in his arm to lean back with Zhu Shihao, leisurely letting him examine them.

Clearly understanding what he meant, Zhu Shihao shot him a sidelong glance with a smile, then turned her head to look at Yang Xu, considerately prompting him, “Don’t you want to think a little more?”

“Think a little more?” Yang Xu thought about it for a moment, then was filled with shock. “Did you two break up?”

Everyone: “…”

Absolutely hopeless.

Even if they broke up, who would want to hug and hold each other and want to stuff each other in their arms?

Tan Zhi Xu raised his eyes, his gaze cool. “It seems like you really want the internet to have more colorful memories of your childhood? Boogers, picking your feet, or princess dresses, which do you prefer?”

Yang Xu choked. “I don’t like any of them! Fine, fine, I was just joking. Can’t you take a joke?”

Ran Cai felt deeply helpless. “You just don’t think that they’re standing too close?”

The key words were almost enunciated one by one, and the hint was very obvious.

However, the other party didn’t accept her prompt. Moreover, his tone was disdainful to the point of deserving a beating.

“When haven’t they been close?”

Yang Xu didn’t think anything of it.

He had seen Tan Zhi Xu massaging Zhu Shihao’s foot when she sprained it, and massaging her stomach when she had her period…

Having seen it so many times, he didn’t think anything was wrong at all. He cast a despising glance at them.

“You guys are just making a fuss about nothing.”

The people who were making a fuss about nothing: “…”

Actually, they’d seen it quite a bit.

They looked at each other in dismay, and Wei Wang nodded. “That makes sense. We thought the same thing, so it’s no wonder we’re blind.”

These words were agreed upon by the other people, and they felt like they had found the truth.

But then again, things were deliberately placed right in front of his eyes, and he could still be so unmoved. He was really resolute. Zhu Shihao was rendered speechless for a long moment.

Ran Cai glanced at her and decided to give Yang Xu another chance, her tone sincere. “Look at Brother Xu’s actions. Look at that hand.”

Even the best of friends of the opposite sex wouldn’t put their arm on someone’s chest!

Tan Zhi Xu chuckled. “It’s like trying to advise someone who’s determined to die. You can’t wake a person who’s pretending to be asleep, and you also can’t wake a truly stupid idiot.”

Li Chennan said seriously, “Yang Xu, were you placed under some kind of shielding spell?”

Yang Xu said, “Huh?” and still looked somewhat lost.

“Forget it, I’ll just be direct.” Tan Zhi Xu grinned and easily pulled the person he was holding closer in front of everyone.

He hooked his arm around her, and his firm muscles pressed against the back of her neck. A kind of explosive strength surrounded her slender, fragile neck. He hooked her chin to make her lift it slightly.

In the next second, an extremely aggressive aura covered her. He kissed Zhu Shihao’s lips.

He didn’t have any intention of performing for everyone. It was just like declaring to the world that he had touched her before letting go. After ending this touch, the two of them still stood extremely close to each other, with almost no space left between their bodies.

Tan Zhi Xu released her and draped his arm over Zhu Shihao’s shoulder again. He rested his chin on her head. He was clearly talking to someone else, but his hot breath beat against her skin.

“If you didn’t see clearly, want me to kiss her again so you can see it?”