The Conversation

Sizzle!

The meat crackled as it touched the iron grill.

The air filled with the aroma of roasted meat.

Chu Yu looked at the more than twenty plates of meat in front of him, along with a basket of chilled beer beside them, and stared in bewilderment.

He never would have guessed that Su Ruo's idea of treating him to a meal would be bringing him somewhere like this.

The restaurant's decor was rather luxurious, and the prices probably weren't cheap. But this was nothing like the scene Chu Yu had imagined when Su Ruo said she was treating him.

"Uh, Boss Su, I'm still a student. Do you think all this is appropriate?" Chu Yu asked, glancing at the two opened bottles of beer in front of him.

"Are you eighteen yet?" Su Ruo asked calmly, her eyes fixed on the beef that hadn't finished grilling.

"I am... I'm eighteen, but I'm still a student..." Su Ruo cut him off.

"Then what's the problem? Drink the two bottles in front of you. The rest are mine."

As she spoke, Su Ruo took the remaining beer from the basket beside her and set it on the table, opening every bottle as she went.

"But—"

"No buts. This whole pile is mine, and those two bottles are yours. We're not leaving tonight until we've finished the beer and eaten all the meat."

Today, Su Ruo looked nothing like the woman in business attire he'd seen at the company. Her dark hair was tied back with a black headband, leaving her beautiful face fully exposed.

With her delicate eyebrows, crescent-shaped eyes, and dimples that appeared when she smiled, plus her light green floral dress, she honestly looked like an eighteen-year-old girl the same age as Chu Yu. She wasn't wearing any makeup, either.

Quite a few customers passing their table turned to look at the two of them, then muttered things about Premature Love.

Chu Yu sighed. He had no idea what had gotten into her today. Treating him to a meal was one thing, but she was drinking too. There were more than twenty plates of meat and over a dozen bottles of beer on the table. Who knew how long it would take them to get through all that?

The first time he'd ever drunk alcohol was the day his parents were buried. He'd bought a huge pile of liquor, hoping to drink all night, but two bottles of strong liquor later, he'd passed out and slept until the following afternoon.

He'd never expected the second time he drank to be with his manga editor.

Looking across the table, he saw Su Ruo eating like she hadn't seen food in days. She snatched up the meat as soon as it was cooked. Chu Yu hadn't eaten much at all; instead, he'd become her personal grill master, flipping meat the whole time.

"Aren't you afraid you'll gain weight?" Chu Yu watched her for a while before finally asking.

After all, Su Ruo was a beauty with a great figure. Even without makeup, she was every bit as gorgeous as the stars on screen. Wouldn't someone like that normally measure every meal down to the gram?

She ate all the grilled meat and drank all the beer she wanted. How did she keep her figure?

"Heh!" Su Ruo looked at Chu Yu, her eyes full of smugness.

"You wouldn't understand!"

"I was born with a body that doesn't gain weight. Whenever I'm in a bad mood, I come here and binge just like this."

"My favorite thing is to sit in the office and happily eat all the food my colleagues love, right in front of the ones I can't stand while they're trying to diet..."

"Okay, okay, I'm not interested in hearing about your weird hobby." Chu Yu stopped Su Ruo before she could launch into a long speech. At the same time, though, he picked up on the key point in what she'd said.

"But you said when you're unhappy... you binge like this."

"Does that mean you're... unhappy right now?"

"Did someone... make you angry?" Chu Yu thought for a moment, then asked.

As soon as Chu Yu said that, Su Ruo's previously calm expression stiffened. She reflexively thought of someone, and disgust filled her eyes.

The air fell silent, and the mood turned awkward.

Smack!

The more Su Ruo thought about it, the angrier she got. Finally, she brought her hand down on Chu Yu's head.

"What are you doing?" Chu Yu winced and covered his forehead.

"Tonight is a celebration for your work making the top three in votes during its first run in Ink Shadow. Why do you keep bringing up people I can't stand?" Su Ruo said.

When did I bring anyone up? That's all in your imagination! Chu Yu felt wronged.

Even after smacking Chu Yu on the head, Su Ruo still seemed a little bothered. She picked up a bottle of beer and downed it in one go, leaving Chu Yu dumbfounded.

That woman was something else!

But Chu Yu didn't press the issue. It was obvious Su Ruo wasn't in a great mood.

"By the way, what did you just say?"

"Did you say The Garden of Words made the top three in votes during its first run?" Chu Yu asked, catching the important part of Su Ruo's words.

"Exactly. Why else do you think I brought you here for meat and beer?"

The top three?

Chu Yu knew about the online voting. When manga companies across the Dragon Kingdom evaluated a work's potential, they basically looked at just one thing: its number of votes.

In the past, they'd counted the questionnaires mailed to the manga companies. Now, it was much easier: they'd switched to online voting.

The number of votes directly affected a work's standing in a manga magazine, how much publicity it received, the author's pay, and, most importantly... whether the manga could continue serialization.

If a work kept ranking at the bottom of the voting, the manga company would usually decide to cancel it.

Since The Garden of Words was only on its first chapter, Chu Yu had hoped it would at least make the top ten among the eighteen works serialized in Ink Shadow. He hadn't expected its very first chapter to land it in the top three.

Thinking of that, Chu Yu got excited too. He imitated Su Ruo and lifted a bottle of beer, downing it in one go... or at least a third of it, before nearly choking.

Cough, cough, cough!

Seeing Chu Yu hunched over and choking on his beer, Su Ruo finally couldn't hold it in. She burst out laughing.

She'd already had two bottles of beer, and her cheeks were faintly flushed. At that moment, her smile made the hearts of the men in the restaurant who noticed her—including Chu Yu—skip half a beat.

"Ah, that feels better. Much better!" Su Ruo leaned back in her chair, feeling far more relaxed than before.

Ever since Song Jiayu started targeting her inside the company three months ago, the manga artists under her had been leaving one after another, office gossip had been swirling, her performance had slumped, and Song Jiayu's harassment had left her under tremendous pressure.

In those three months, Su Ruo hadn't once eaten with anyone, nor had she laughed so wholeheartedly like she was now.

Today, she'd invited Chu Yu to eat not so much to celebrate The Garden of Words' results as to find someone to talk and eat with. As far as she was concerned, it had worked out wonderfully.

Chu Yu glanced at her.

So this was what she was like in everyday life? What a strange woman!

He shook his head. His stomach was growling, too, so he finally started eating in earnest.

He devoured the grilled meat in front of him.

Half an hour later, Chu Yu looked at Su Ruo sprawled across the table, completely dumbfounded.

Su Ruo's face was bright red. She was utterly drunk and completely out of it!

The two of them had ordered a basket of eighteen beers right away. She'd boldly declared that Chu Yu would drink two and the rest were hers!

He'd thought she was a pro... but it turned out she was just a novice.

Of the more than a dozen opened bottles, she'd only drunk a little over four. And of the more than twenty plates of meat they'd ordered, she'd only eaten five or six.

And after all that, she'd said they wouldn't leave until they'd finished everything!

Besides, hadn't you said you were treating me? Who's going to pay now that you've passed out?

Did I... just get tricked?