"With so many kinds, there must be something I can eat!"
He said that, but his hands didn't show any mercy. Of the two bags brought back, Xu Qingsong filled a huge bag for himself. Liu Xu watched him pack and joined in, grabbing stuff too. In the end, all that was left for Xiao Yu and Ye Qingli were two frozen autumn pears and a big loaf of dark bread.
"..."
"This should be enough for you two, right?" Liu Xu held the bag, shamelessly.
"You two cleaned us out like a raid!" Ye Qingli looked at the two items left on the table. One of the frozen pears looked like it had thawed or gone bad—it was leaking water.
No wonder they didn't want it.
"Oh, come on! You guys ate so much good stuff in Ice City! You had the Modern ice cream, right? The iron pot stew? What about the yogurt cake? You ate that too, didn't you?" Xu Qingsong's words made sense. He acted as if he had suffered a huge loss, hands on his hips. "And this is basically something you helped me bring back. If I hadn't called you ahead to buy some specialties, would you have bought any?"
"Exactly! Besides, there's so much stuff—you two can't finish it. It would go to waste. We're just helping you out," Liu Xu nodded vigorously in agreement.
"..."
What a pair of weirdos, Ye Qingli thought to herself.
"Since you've taken so much stuff, it's not too much to ask you to treat us to dinner tonight, is it?" Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow and lit a cigarette.
"Of course! What do you want to eat? How expensive? You two decide. Just send me the menu after you pick," Xu Qingsong agreed readily. Just as he turned to leave, Xiao Yu added, "Eating out isn't cost-effective. Let's eat at your place."
He thought for a moment. "Hot pot. You two go buy some ingredients." Then he looked at Ye Qingli. "Didn't you say your roommate is coming back to school this afternoon? Call her over too. Let them cook."
He stressed the last five words. Ye Qingli understood and smiled. "Sure, I'll go call her."
After she left, Liu Xu slumped his shoulders and sighed. "Come on, A Yu. How much could eating out cost? Besides, you're not the one paying. Now with so many people, washing the vegetables alone will take half a day."
"No way. My girlfriend is teaching me to save money. I can't be wasteful anymore." Xiao Yu said this with a hint of pride. He blew a smoke ring, his roguish face momentarily hazy. He pointed at the things in their hands. "You know? The stuff in your hands—even though they all look similar—Ye Qingli dragged me to several places to buy them. After all that, isn't it fair that you two serve us a little?"
"You were that sincere?" Both were surprised. If Xiao Yu had bought it himself, they wouldn't have believed it. But if Ye Qingli dragged him to buy it, that was credible.
These two fools were so easy to trick. Actually, everything was bought near the station. Who the hell would run all over the city to buy specialties just before getting on the train? Xiao Yu barely suppressed his smile and continued the act. "Of course! And you two are unhappy about it? That breaks my heart."
He even clutched his chest, acting very convincing. Xu Qingsong eyed him skeptically, then finally waved. "Stop acting, stop acting! We'll cook, okay?"
"Fine. I'll send you the menu later."
...
Xiao Yu kept his word—he made them do all the cooking while he watched, not lifting a finger.
"Man, how did your girlfriend's mom fall for a dog like you? If it were me, I'd kick you out before you even stepped through the door."
Xu Qingsong and Liu Xu were running around in the kitchen like headless chickens. The four girls in the room were playing cards, and it was fine to let them off easy since they were girls. But what about him? Sitting around like a king, waiting to be fed.
"You've been complaining since the vegetable-picking step. How long are you going to go on about it? I brought you guys Ice City specialties. Can't I take a break?" Xiao Yu clicked his tongue in annoyance, rolled up his sleeves, and walked over.
He poured himself a glass of soda and drank.
"..."
Xu Qingsong's face scrunched up. He would probably hold the specialty thing over him for a lifetime—a bunch of dry bread in exchange for a lifetime of favors. He regretted it deeply.
He pointed a finger. "Why don't you go back to watching them play cards instead of standing here being annoying?"
"You think I want to stay here? I have to supervise you two."
"What do we need you to supervise?"
"Didn't I remind you to wash your hands after using the toilet just now?"
"..."
After nearly two hours of busy work, they finally had all the ingredients ready. Liu Xu felt like he was about to collapse. He reached back and pounded his lower back, his face more contorted than someone constipated.
Xu Qingsong plugged in the induction cooker, pulled a stool over with his foot, sat down, and leaned against the wall, also half-dead. He said to Xiao Yu, "Seriously, this is the last time. Next time, don't bring anything."
"Okay. When you finish those and want more, I'll send you the location, and you can buy them yourself," Xiao Yu replied casually.
"Did you save the locations for all those places?"
The meat in the pot was almost ready to eat. Since his goal of freeloading was achieved, he stopped teasing them. "Just kidding. Bought them all near the station."
"..."
They were so mad they wanted to throw this bastard off the building.
The aroma filled the room. Without needing to be called, the girls inside came out. Ye Qingli looked at the bubbling red-oil hot pot soup, sniffed, and said in disbelief, "I never thought you two had such skills!"
"There's a lot you haven't thought of. If it weren't for the others here, we'd definitely put poison in the pot," Xu Qingsong said flatly, tilting his chin at her.
Ye Qingli: "..."
The dipping sauce had also been prepared in advance. They could start eating as soon as they sat down.
Liu Xu sucked on his chopsticks and waved his fist excitedly. "I realize my cooking skills are pretty good, you know. Maybe I should open a hot pot restaurant someday?"
"It'd go out of business in two days," Xiao Yu said with a smirk, pouring Ye Qingli a glass of sparkling water.
Then he started piling meat and vegetables into her bowl. There were many varieties, and he put a bit of each, quickly covering the sauce at the bottom. Ye Qingli paused, blocked his arm, and told him to stop.
"If you take it all, what will we eat?!" Xu Qingsong slammed the table in anger. "Just because you're dating, you think you're something!"
"Seriously! All he does is flaunt his love!" Zhang Yan chimed in.
"What dog are you? Don't you have a boyfriend?"
"Well said. Then you're not one either."
"What do you mean?" The others at the table caught on and looked at Jiang Mo. Zhang Yan smiled. "She's about to have a boyfriend too. They're in the hot and heavy flirting stage. Whoever breaks the ice first will be official."
"Wow! Such big news, and you only told Zhang Yan?! Are we even good roommates anymore?" Xu Yan put down her chopsticks, eyes wide. Jiang Mo's face flushed red, feeling like she was tied to a stake and roasted over fire. She covered her hot cheeks. "Oh, she only found out because she noticed it. I told her about it. I couldn't just announce it before anything was certain—how embarrassing if it didn't work out."
Actually, she knew deep down that, as Zhang Yan said, they were both testing the waters. Whoever broke the ice first would succeed. But she couldn't take this topic any longer, so she turned to the others at the table.
"Aren't there plenty of singles here? Stop talking about me. A whole winter break has passed—let me hear about your progress too."
"What progress can we have? You know we date just for fun. After all these years, we haven't met anyone we truly like."
Liu Xu pouted, then suddenly thought of something and looked at Xiao Yu. "But I'm still surprised. I thought among the three of us, Xiao Yu was the biggest scoundrel. But he turned out to be the most devoted."
"You're the scoundrel," Xiao Yu shot him a cold glare. He switched the chopsticks to his other hand and, under the table, took Ye Qingli's hand and placed it on his leg.
"Fine, fine, I'll stop," Liu Xu raised his hands in surrender. He slung an arm around Xu Qingsong's shoulder and pursed his lips. "Ah, gotta say, us two brothers are the best. Tell me, how many girlfriends do you plan to have this year? I'll just have one more than you."
"Then your goal is pretty easy to achieve."
"What do you mean?"
Xu Qingsong raised an eyebrow. "Bro's white moonlight is coming back."
Xu Yan picked up a meatball to eat. Knowing there was broth inside, she planned to bite it slowly. But upon hearing that, she lost control of her bite. The meatball burst in her mouth, juice splattering. It burned her, making her frown. The meatball rolled aside and then fell to the floor.
Seeing this, Ye Qingli quickly grabbed a few tissues and handed them to her. She looked at Xu Yan's scalded red lips and frowned. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm fine." Xu Yan took the tissues and wiped her mouth. Maybe it was because the meatball was too hot, but a layer of mist suddenly gathered in her eyes.
"Why did you eat so urgently? No one's trying to steal it from you." Xu Qingsong walked over, picked up the meatball through the tissue, bent down to wipe the floor, and stood up to pat Xu Yan's shoulder. "I'm a generous guy, so I'll let you off without charging you a cleaning fee this time."
"Oh."
Xu Yan responded softly without turning around. She knew she would cry if she saw Xu Qingsong's face.
"I'll be more careful next time," she forced a smile, not wanting to ruin everyone's good mood.
She didn't want to like Xu Qingsong anymore. She told herself this secretly.