The heater in the Japanese restaurant was turned up high.
Walking between the other three, Jiang Nuan had a moment of disorientation.
The suffocating confrontation in the living room half an hour ago seemed to belong to some other timeline, one they had traded away simply by going out to eat.
But she wasn’t stupid. One look at the expressions on the people around her told her that nothing had truly been put behind them. They had merely tacitly agreed not to bring it up for the time being.
She caught sight of Qinian’s profile and, honestly, still wasn’t used to it.
Qinian had done a full face of makeup and put on a pair of glasses. The whole person had transformed from a “newly debuted idol on the rise” into a “literary young photographer.”
She could no longer recognize him, but he was still so handsome it was irritating.
When he had just finished applying the makeup, Jiang Nuan had remarked, “…You’re actually pretty good at this.”
Qinian smoothed the stray hairs over his forehead. His eyes curved behind the lenses. “Basic professional skills for a star.”
“Yes, yes, superstar Qi Nian. Sorry to make you go undercover.”
“Not at all.” Qinian smiled at her. “As long as I’m eating with you, I don’t care what identity I have.”
That line was… She couldn’t even be bothered to respond.
The hostess at the front desk looked up. Her gaze swept over the three men entering one after another behind Jiang Nuan, and her smile became incredibly sincere.
With physiques like theirs, it would have been strange if she hadn’t smiled.
If Jiang Nuan were running the place, she would have smiled too upon seeing three enormous carnivores walking in together.
At the neighboring table, two men and two women had been picking up sushi. Their movements stopped instantly. One of them even nudged a companion’s arm, and the group watched the four of them pass as though they were observing rare animals.
Jiang Nuan vaguely caught a few keywords:
“So tall and handsome.”
“The one wearing glasses looks like some celebrity!”
“…She’s so lucky, getting sandwiched between them…”
Jiang Nuan sighed inwardly.
Not worth looking at. Really. These people weren’t nearly as pleasing as they appeared. Their internal toxicity was off the charts.
When they reached the booth at the very back, she habitually chose the seat against the wall.
The instant her butt touched the seat, the place beside her was taken.
It was Ye Que, and he moved with complete naturalness.
Qinian was a step too late. The gentle filter of the “literary photographer” shattered cleanly across his face.
“Ye Que.”
Ye Que opened the menu in front of him and turned a page.
“…Do your legs automatically veer toward wherever she sits?”
“Mm.” Ye Que turned to the second page.
Qinian ground his back teeth together and sat across from Jiang Nuan.
Jiang Ce took the last seat, diagonally opposite Jiang Nuan.
Fortunately, the booth was spacious enough. Jiang Ce’s build just barely fit inside.
Jiang Nuan raised the menu a little higher, blocking her face and the curious glances from the surrounding tables.
“What are you getting?” Jiang Ce’s voice came from across the table.
Jiang Nuan’s voice floated out from behind the menu. “Eel rice.”
“Anything else?”
“A mixed grilled-skewer platter, and a chawanmushi.”
The food in the menu had been photographed far too well. Just looking at the pictures had already made her hungry twice over.
Qinian leaned over to look at the menu in her hands. “Nuannuan, why aren’t you getting sashimi? The salmon belly here looks really good.”
Jiang Nuan used her index finger to push his forehead away when he got too close. “I don’t want anything raw. Don’t lean in so close—you’re getting your makeup on my face.”
Pushed back into his own seat, Qinian affected a delicate voice. “Nuannuan, you don’t like me anymore.”
Jiang Nuan couldn’t hold back her laughter. “Can you use your normal voice?”
“Fine.” Qinian tilted his head at her. “Then I’ll order some tamagoyaki for you, sis.”
Jiang Nuan’s hand stopped in the middle of turning the menu page.
The way he said those two words was downright unfair. He hadn’t even done anything especially deliberate; he had merely lowered his pitch by half an octave and drawn out the final syllable just a little.
Jiang Ce looked up at him. “Nian Nian, this place has a children’s meal. Want me to order you one?”
The corner of Qinian’s mouth twitched.
“Brother Jiang Ce, what do you mean by that!?”
“Nothing.” Jiang Ce turned a page. “I’m just playing along with your performance.”
Jiang Nuan buried her face behind the menu, her shoulders shaking.
Ye Que closed his menu and ordered a grilled mackerel set.
Jiang Ce ordered an extra-large serving of wagyu sukiyaki, along with fried chicken and several plates of sushi.
Qinian ordered the same thing as Jiang Nuan.
Ye Que gave him a cold look. “Do you not have a sense of taste of your own?”
“I just happen to want this today!” Qinian declared, perfectly justified.
He opened the front-facing camera on his terminal, pulled a shading powder compact from his pocket, and dusted some over his nose. “The contouring’s faded a little.”
“If you get recognized, this restaurant’s going to be trending by the end of the day,” Jiang Nuan said.
“That would be great. I’ve already thought of the headline.” Qinian narrowed his eyes and made a frame with his fingers. “Superstar Qi Nian spotted at Japanese restaurant—new romance suspected.”
“Shut up,” Jiang Nuan and Ye Que said at the same time.
Qinian arched his brows. “Wow, you two are in perfect sync.”
Ye Que added coolly, “You’ve been talking too much today.”
Even after he finished speaking, Jiang Nuan was still laughing.
Then someone grabbed her left hand.
Ye Que’s right hand reached over from beneath the table. He turned her palm upward, spread her fingers apart, and laced his five fingers through hers.
Clean, decisive, perfectly fluid.
When her fingers were forced apart, Jiang Nuan stiffened and instinctively tried to pull away.
Wait—there were this many people sitting here!
Ye Que tightened his grip by a fraction. The pressure wasn’t strong, but his message was crystal clear: No.
She suddenly remembered that Ye Que had been injured a couple of days ago, and the force in her tugging hand weakened.
Fine, then. This hand was his.
The server was already approaching with a tray.
Grilled eel rice, the mackerel set, wagyu sukiyaki—the dishes and bowls soon covered the entire table, steaming hot.
Jiang Nuan looked at the eel rice in front of her.
Her left hand… was trapped beneath the table and couldn’t move.
Resigned to her fate, Jiang Nuan picked up a piece of eel with one hand.
Ye Que was using his left hand to deftly pick up a piece of grilled mackerel and put it in his mouth.
All right. Ye Que and Shen Wu could both use their left hands. The entire Zero Squad consisted of people who were experts at eating one-handed.
She didn’t even dare imagine whether Qinian and Jiang Ce might also be left-handed.
The soy sauce dish that came with the eel rice had been placed on the left side of her plate. She gauged the distance. Reaching it with one hand would be a little difficult.
Jiang Ce reached out and slid the dish over to her right.
Jiang Nuan looked at him over her chopsticks and thanked him.
Jiang Ce’s powers of observation were almost absurd. She hadn’t even reached for it yet, and he had already put it within reach.
Across from her, Qinian was eating his tamagoyaki. After taking a bite, his gaze came to rest on Jiang Nuan.
More precisely, it settled on the way her right hand was battling on by itself.
Then his eyes slid toward the area beneath the table. He smiled, lowered his head, and continued eating his tamagoyaki with leisurely composure.
One leg reached over and hooked around hers.
As his ankle curled around her foot, his gaze fixed on Ye Que’s hand beneath the table.
That smile of his was unbearably smug. The meaning was obvious: You’ve claimed the top, so I’ll claim the bottom.
His warmth brushed against her through the fabric. Then his leg slowly moved upward, hooking around Jiang Nuan’s calf.
He rubbed against her once. Once it was pressed against her, it had no intention of leaving.
The hand holding her food stopped. She glared at Qinian across the table.
Qinian was lowering his head to spoon up some chawanmushi. Only when he sensed her gaze did he slowly look up and wink at her. He looked more innocent than anyone else.
Could the purity written all over your face at least match what your leg is doing?
She brought her foot down hard on Qinian’s instep.
Qinian let out a muffled groan, drew his leg back, and looked aggrieved.
His eyes drifted toward the space beneath the table.
Ye Que’s right hand was still holding Jiang Nuan’s, resting on his own knee.
He wanted that seat too. He didn’t even need to hold her hand—having his shoulder pressed against hers would have been enough.
But Qinian wasn’t the kind of person who knew how to admit defeat. After waiting a few seconds, he quietly extended his leg again.
This time, the sensation was different.
What kind of hardness was that?
His foot brushed upward along the leg a little, and only then did his brain catch up.
That muscle definition, that sheer circumference—it was obviously the leg of someone who squatted three hundred kilos every day.
He looked up at Jiang Ce.
Jiang Ce was fishing a slice of fatty beef out of the sukiyaki pot. “Nian Nian, if your feet are cold, you should go back and put on another pair of socks.”
That leg had clearly been deliberately stretched over by him!
Qinian angrily set down his spoon and leaned back. “I’m not eating this meal anymore.”
“Then I’ll eat it.” Jiang Ce reached for the untouched eel rice in front of him.
Qinian narrowed his eyes but didn’t stop him.
“The eel rice here is pretty good!” Jiang Nuan said with a beaming smile.
Qinian immediately pulled the bowl protectively toward himself, his attitude making a complete one-eighty. “Eat. Of course I’m eating. How could I possibly not eat the same dish as Nuannuan?”
Jiang Nuan smiled and was just reaching out with her chopsticks for the last piece of tamagoyaki when the terminal in her hand suddenly vibrated.
She raised her right hand and glanced at the screen.
Incoming call: Lu Zhaoming.
