Chapter 30: Treating to Dinner

When Ji Xu stood in front of the dorm door, he took a deep breath.

He pressed his ear against the door panel to listen for two or three seconds—there wasn’t a sound coming from inside, quiet as an empty room.

He slowly turned the key and pushed the door open gently, the door hinge letting out an extremely faint squeak as he first poked half his head inside, his gaze quickly scanning the room.

Yuan Hanfei’s bed was empty, the blanket neatly folded, the chair pushed under the desk, the items on the desk arranged as usual, the computer closed, and the charging cable hanging from the corner of the desk.

There was indeed no one in the whole dormitory.

Ji Xu let out a sigh of relief, squeezing his whole body through the doorway.

The handle of the bag of snacks in his hand pinched his fingers into a red mark, having been stuffed into his bag by Rong Du this morning—chips, biscuits, jelly, chocolate, as well as two boxes of milk and a pack of beef jerky, packed to the brim.

He had said “keep them in the dorm to eat slowly,” and Ji Xu tried to decline a couple of times without success, so he took them back as a matter of course.

Ji Xu set the snack bag down on his desk and turned around to change into his slippers when footsteps came from the doorway.

The footsteps were very light, but exceptionally clear in the quiet hallway, approaching from far to near, before stopping at the entrance of 404.

Ji Xu’s heart shrank violently, and before he could make any reaction, someone patted him lightly on the shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

Ji Xu let out a “Ah!” as his whole body bounded up, reflexively grabbing the snack bag off the desk to shield his chest as he turned around, like holding up a not-very-useful shield.

His eyes were round and wide, seeing Yuan Hanfei standing half a step behind him with arms crossed, head slightly tilted looking at him, his face wearing an expression of “I’ve long seen through you.”

“Yuan Hanfei!” Ji Xu’s voice rose half a notch due to the scare, “Do you walk without making any sound?”

He hugged the snack bag to his chest, his fingertips applying a bit of force out of nervousness, making the paper bag rustle.

He looked down at how he looked right now, then looked back up at Yuan Hanfei, feeling that his sneaky look earlier was most likely fully caught.

Had he known he’d be caught, he might as well have walked in openly to save himself from this awkwardness.

Yuan Hanfei bent down slightly, making his line of sight level with Ji Xu’s.

Separated by a bag of snacks between them, Ji Xu’s eyes dodged slightly under his gaze, his eyelashes fluttering twice.

“Are you that scared of seeing me?”

There was no blame in Yuan Hanfei’s tone, even carrying a hint of a helpless smile, like an indulgence of “I don’t even know what to do with you.”

Ji Xu set the snack bag down and took a deep breath, trying to make his expression look a bit more normal: “I was just checking if you were in the dorm.”

As he spoke, he looked down to untie the snack bag, fishing out two bags of snacks from inside—a bag of potato chips and a bag of chocolate-filled biscuits—and stuffed them into Yuan Hanfei’s hand: “These are for you, they’re really delicious.”

After speaking, he looked up at Yuan Hanfei, the unspoken message in his eyes crystal clear—after eating the snacks I gave you, don’t mention those previous things anymore.

Yuan Hanfei looked down at the two bags of snacks in his hand, then looked back up at Ji Xu’s face that wrote “please let me off,” the curve at the corner of his mouth unable to stop widening.

He took the two bags of snacks without opening them, weighing them in his hand: “Thanks.”

Ji Xu’s little scheme was simply as transparent as a thin veil before him, all his thoughts written right on his face—nervousness, guilt, pleasing, probing, every emotional shift showing clearly between his eyes and brows.

Like a kitten that thought it was well hidden, when in fact its tail had long slipped out from the crack of the cabinet, a fluffy section swaying right there while completely oblivious itself.

Seeing that he accepted the snacks, the tight string in Ji Xu’s heart loosened a bit, turning back to arrange the remaining snacks into his cabinet one by one.

Standing behind him, Yuan Hanfei watched him stack the potato chips and biscuits neatly as if organizing a mini supermarket shelf, his lips moving before opening his mouth to say: “Let’s go out to eat tonight, my treat.”

Ji Xu’s movements paused, turning back around.

Yuan Hanfei was leaning against the desk edge in a relaxed posture, the meaning in his eyes looking at him clear—”this matter is settled.”

A wave of guilt suddenly surged up in Ji Xu’s heart—it was clearly he himself who did something impolite to Yuan Hanfei first, grabbing his neck and pressing his gland, and then dodging and not daring to face him afterward.

Yet in the end, it was Yuan Hanfei who took the initiative to ease the atmosphere, giving snacks and treating to dinner, as if the person who made the mistake wasn’t Ji Xu, but Yuan Hanfei himself.

He held the pack of beef jerky he hadn’t put away yet, his fingertips pinching the seal of the paper bag.

He opened his mouth wanting to say “actually I should be treating you,” but swallowed the words back at the tip of his tongue.

In the end, he just curved the corners of his mouth and nodded: “Then thank you.”

A new barbecue restaurant had opened near the school; the storefront wasn’t large, but the decoration was very fresh, with white exterior walls, a raw wood sign, and a few potted green plants lined up at the entrance.

Yuan Hanfei must have reserved in advance; after going in, the server led them straight to a booth by the window, where the grill was embedded into the tabletop, the heat of the charcoal embers subtly seeping through from beneath the iron mesh.

Ji Xu flipped through the menu; there were more dishes than imagined, ranging from beef belly to seafood platters to vegetables and mushrooms, filled with two full pages of photos accompanied by prices.

When he flipped to the back page, Yuan Hanfei reached over, his fingertip tapping the signature tongue and seasoned pork neck in that column, then pointing to the seafood platter beside it, before picking up a pencil to check off a series of dish names on the paper.

When the charcoal fire was brought up, the flames flickered once before stabilizing, the oil paper on the grill slightly curling at its edges under the heat.

Yuan Hanfei picked up a slice of beef tongue with tongs and placed it on the iron mesh; the moment the thin-sliced raw meat touched the high heat, it let out a sizzling sound, the edges quickly curling up and turning golden brown, the fat dripping onto the charcoal and rising in a small wisp of white smoke.

Ji Xu mimicked Yuan Hanfei, placing a slice of pork belly onto the grill.

A spark of oil splattered onto the back of his hand, making him shrink his hand back with a “hiss.”

Yuan Hanfei had already handed over a lettuce leaf, while moving the slightly overcooked meat onto his own plate, putting a fresh piece onto the iron mesh to grill for him instead.

Watching Yuan Hanfei skillfully flip the meat slices on the grill, placing them onto his plate once cooked, and casually pushing the dipping sauce tray in front of him, that feeling of “owing him” surged back up a little in Ji Xu’s heart.

Toward the end of the meal, a small pile of bones and empty plates accumulated in front of each of them, the grill on the table was replaced once, and the vegetable platter was completely cleared out.

Ji Xu drank two glasses of iced lemon water, leaning back against the seat back as he let out a satisfied little burp, feeling that this meal was very much worth it.

Yuan Hanfei paid the bill, and the two of them strolled slowly out of the restaurant, walking back along the shop-lined street near the school entrance.

The evening breeze was a bit cooler than at dusk, feeling very comfortable on the face, as the neon lights and shop signs along the road stretched the shadows of the street trees into long and short slanted lines.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

I Heard I’m the Villainous, Hated Character in a Pampered Novel?

BLDramaFantasy

Read Now →
Not interested