Misunderstanding

"Isn't this going too far...?"

I was conflicted. I wanted to refuse Lin Qingying's expensive gift, but refusing it would embarrass her in public.

"Fine."

Lin Qingying pursed her red lips, her gaze somewhat evasive. "I looked for a long time, and this one is the most suitable, and the price isn't too expensive..."

"Ding Han."

At this moment, Zhang Ruolin, who was standing to the side, said, "You should just accept Xiaoying's kind gesture. Don't be so sentimental!"

"Cough cough..."

I felt a little embarrassed, but I accepted the gift and said, "Xie Xie!"

Lin Qingying smiled slightly.

"Then... shall we eat?"

Cai Cai said, "Brother, I'm so hungry my stomach is practically sticking to my back..."

Everyone laughed, even Lin Qingying smiled.

"Open the wine! Open the wine!"

The fat man gestured to the waiter to open a bottle of baijiu (Chinese liquor), along with two bottles of red wine and some beer. It was too cold to drink beer in winter, so these beers were naturally prepared for me, someone who is "intolerant of alcohol."

Let me introduce it to you.

I looked at Lin Qingying and pointed to Fatty and the others. "This is my best brother, Fatty, whose name is Yang Wei. He also works at Luo Mei. This is Xu Hao, who is Luo Mei's colleague. The woman next to Fatty is Shen Yue, his girlfriend."

Hello... Hello...

Lin Qingying simply smiled and nodded.

I continued, "The woman next to you... you seem to have met her before, Zhang Ruolin. She's the one who came to our area that time and made you misunderstand that I was hooking up with some shady women."

"Um."

Lin Qingying nodded with a smile; she should have recognized Ruolin from the very beginning.

"Hello, I'm Zhang Ruolin, Ding Han's friend!"

Ruolin extended her hand and said, "We meet again~~~"

Hello, Ruolin.

Lin Qingying shook hands with her and said, "It was a misunderstanding last time, I'm sorry..."

"I'm the one who should apologize..."

Zhang Ruolin took out her phone and smiled, "How about... we add each other on WeChat?"

"Um!"

Lin Qingying the QR code.

I continued, "The cute girl next to Ruolin is called Kou Mei, she's our good friend, and the dark-faced guy next to her is Cai Cai, also our good friend."

Cai Cai and Kou Mei nodded repeatedly.

"Alright, shall we begin? Fill the glasses!"

The fat man stood up, raised his glass, and said with a smile, "Let's start with a toast to our birthday star, Ding Han! Wishing you all the best, a happy birthday, and may everything go smoothly for you!"

"Happy birthday!"

Everyone raised their glasses, and I raised mine and drank it all in one gulp.

"Eat your vegetables, eat your fill before you drink!"

"Okay!"

The main meal finally began, Cai Cai, Fatty, and the others wolfed it down like hungry ghosts.

Lin Qingying, on the other hand, only ate small bites of food, her appetite was pitifully small.

"You're too thin, you need to eat more."

I put a large piece of fish on her plate.

"Um."

Lin Qingying nodded, her pretty face blushing slightly.

Xu Hao and Shen Yue were stunned and didn't dare to say a word.

After a few rounds of drinks, everyone was a little tipsy. Cai Cai and Xu Hao chatted with their arms around each other, while Lin Qingying and Ruolin also joined in the conversation, frequently bursting into laughter.

At that moment, the fat man answered a video call.

"Mom, look! Today really is Ding Han's birthday, and a group of us good friends are celebrating with him!"

"Is that so?"

On the other end of the video, as expected, was the fat boy's mother. She stared wide-eyed at them and asked, "Xiao Wei, who's that girl next to Ding Han? She's so pretty... Is she his girlfriend?"

"Well, I can't really explain it," the fat man said dismissively.

"Old man, come and take a look!"

The fat man's mother immediately called out to her husband, saying, "Look, that girl next to Ding Han most likely his girlfriend. Look at Ding Han, he's usually so quiet, but he's actually got such a beautiful girlfriend. If his dad knew, he'd be so happy!"

"Wow, really? Ding Han's got some serious talent..."

I inwardly groaned and hurriedly stepped forward, saying, "Auntie, don't jump to conclusions... She's just my friend, not the kind you're thinking of. You've misunderstood..."

As a result, the aunt on the other end of the phone let out a "hehehe" laugh, "Look at you, buddy, you're embarrassed now? What's there to be embarrassed about? It's bound to happen sooner or later, isn't it, little girl?"

I was surprised.

Turning around, I saw Lin Qingying's face almost pressed against my shoulder, her big eyes blinking rapidly as she stared intently at the screen, repeatedly confirming that the girlfriend my aunt was talking about was herself.

"Hello, Auntie..."

Slightly tipsy, and perhaps a little out of it, she actually greeted them.

"Okay, okay, okay~~~"

While grumbling about me, the aunt smiled as she looked at Lin Qingying, liking her more and more. "Ding Han, look, that girl is much more outgoing than you. You're so secretive about having a girlfriend..."

"Auntie, you've really misunderstood..."

I looked helpless, and wanted to explain further.

"Mom!"

The fat man turned the camera around and said, "Stop dawdling, we still need to keep drinking, so we can't chat with you anymore..."

"Hey hey..."

The aunt wanted to say something more, but the fat man had already hung up the video call.

"How about that? Pretty loyal of me, huh? Got you out of trouble..." he said smugly.

"What are you untying?" I asked, completely bewildered.

Around 8 o'clock.

"Ding Han..."

Lin Qingying gave her an apologetic look. "I have a cocktail party to attend, I have to go there. There are several CEOs from our partners there, and I have to be there today."

"Are you even capable of attending a cocktail party in this condition?" I asked with some skepticism.

"It's alright, I don't need to drink there, and I don't usually drink at social events."

"All right."

I thought for a moment and said, "You've been drinking, so you can't drive. How are you going to get there?"

"My assistant is already waiting for me outside."

"Alright."

So, Lin Qingying stood up, poured herself some wine, and said to everyone, "Excuse me, everyone, I have some things to take care of, so I have to go first. Please enjoy your meal and drinks, excuse me~~~"

Everyone exchanged polite greetings and then watched Lin Qingying leave. Outside the door, her assistant was already waiting.

"Manager Lin has left."

Shen Yue suggested, "How about we go sing karaoke?"

"It's not impossible."

Ruolin smiled and said, "What do you say, host?"

Let's go!

What else could I say? I threw on my coat and went to pay the bill, only to be greeted by the lobby manager who politely said, "Mr. Ding, Mr. Manager Lin has already paid your bill."

"Ah?"

I was taken aback and momentarily at a loss. Lin Qingying's actions were just too... too perfect!

"Holy crap..."

The fat man cast an envious glance at him.

Cai Cai's eyes also stung with tears. "Brother, you really don't know the value of a man when you're young..."

"Holy shit..."

I pretended to hit him, Cai Cai laughed and ran away with her head in her hands.

"Fine, I'll just buy it then."

Ruolin said, "This is a score between you and her, we can settle it later. Let's go sing karaoke first."

"Alright, let's go!"

Not long after, a nearby karaoke bar...

Everyone was in a lot of pain when it came to requesting songs, because many of the songs that were popular in our world weren't popular here yet and needed to be developed by music industry figures like Milo.

"Damn, what kind of KTV is this? They don't even have the fruits of love and happiness from later Sheng Xia?"

"Damn it, I was originally going to sing a song about wanting to live another five hundred years!"

"Exactly, I can't sing my 'Most Dazzling Ethnic Style' anymore."

"Damn, all I want to do right now is sing 'Cool Down' for Star Abyss!"

Xu Hao and Shen Yue, standing to the side, couldn't understand anything, but they just thought our group was quite interesting.

So, everyone could only request older songs.

Around nine o'clock, my phone vibrated; it was a call from Old Ding.

"It's my dad's phone call."

I pointed to my phone and said to Fatty and Cai Cai, "I'll go outside to answer it."

Go ahead.

Stepping outside the KTV, a gust of cold wind instantly invigorated me.

"Dad."

"Happy birthday, son," Old Ding said out of the blue.

"Yeah, Fatty and I are singing outside right now."

"Good."

Old Ding hesitated for a moment, then said nothing. After a few seconds, he finally asked, "Have you finished the smoked fish and cured meat I brought last time? Do you want me to send you some more?"

"If you've finished eating, that's fine. Then I'll send you some more."

My dad's smoked fish tastes great; the pieces are plump, glossy, and well-defined, with an excellent texture. Every time my family makes smoked fish, Lin Qingying and I eat quite a bit.

After a few more words between father and son, Old Ding hung up the phone.

I had a feeling he wanted to say something, but after thinking it over, he didn't.

I was suddenly taken aback. Could it be that Auntie told Old Ding about Lin Qingying? It's quite possible, and the probability is at least 90%!

Around 11 o'clock.

The business gathering finally came to an end, and everyone took taxis to leave.

Shen Yue called a designated driver, so Fatty and I rode in her car back to the neighborhood. Afterwards, Shen Yue helped Fatty upstairs; we'll probably be staying at Fatty's place tonight.

As I watched their backs as they walked away, it would be a lie to say I wasn't envious.

The world of <Star Abyss> is cold and indifferent, and we players are like homeless children, afraid to even reveal our identities, otherwise we might be hunted down by everyone...

Loneliness and isolation are human nature.

I went upstairs, sat in the living room, took out the watch Lin Qingying had given me, put it on, and rotated my wrist. I must say, it really suited me; suddenly, I exuded an air of wealth.

He took off the watch and placed it in the Dimensional Storage Space.

This thing is just for decoration. For a player like me who's out in the wind and rain, my watch can easily break, so I have to keep this safe. If it gets damaged by someone's bullet during a PvP battle, I'll be heartbroken.

Leaning back on the sofa, slightly tipsy, my head was a little fuzzy.

Lin Qingying hasn't gone home yet; she's probably working overtime at the company again.

"Drop!"

Just then, a WeChat message arrived from Lu Xiaobei: "Ding Han, are you home yet?"

"Yeah, just got home. What's up?"

"Go downstairs."

Lu Xiaobei said, "I had someone bring you the cake, please take it."

"Ah?"

I exclaimed in surprise, "Xiao Bei, this is too much trouble for you!"

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and come downstairs. They don't want to wait too long."

"All right."

I hurriedly got dressed and went downstairs, but the place was completely empty.

"Here..."

Suddenly someone shouted.

I turned around and took a few steps, then saw a figure walking through the gap between the two buildings. She was carrying a cake and had a smile on her face, "Didn't expect that, did you?"

Holy crap, it's actually Lu Xiaobei himself!