October 4th is Tang Baona's birthday.
Because she was having lunch with her family and a group of friends had arranged to celebrate her birthday in the evening, Xiang Kun naturally couldn't show off the new dishes he had researched today.
Tang Baona had invited him to dinner with her friends, Xiang Kun naturally declined.
Then he invited him to go karaoke after dinner. Xiang Kun thought about it for a moment and decided to go for a quick visit, drop off the gift, and leave.
At 8 p. m., Xiang Kun, carrying a wooden box wrapped in gift paper, took a taxi to the place Tang Baona had mentioned on WeChat.
Upon finding their private room, Xiang Kun discovered that besides Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er, there were seven other people inside, who should be the childhood friends and classmates that Tang Baona had mentioned.
According to Tang Baona, these people are usually either traveling to different places and not in the city, busy with work and business, or they are married and usually spend time with their families and children, so they don't usually have many opportunities to meet. Today is Tang Baona's birthday, and it also happens to be the National Day holiday, so it's a rare opportunity for them to get together.
"Wow, this box is so heavy! What's this gift you gave me? I'm really curious!" At the door of the private room, Tang Baona took the box wrapped in colorful gift paper and said with great curiosity.
"It's something I made myself. You can open it when you get home, otherwise the box will be difficult to open, and there are things fixed inside, so it will be troublesome to put it back later," Xiang Kun said.
Seeing Tang Baona's slightly flushed cheeks, he guessed she had drunk a little alcohol during dinner. If she slipped and dropped the wooden carving, breaking off a hair or her arm, it would be disastrous. A vampire-made anime-style wooden carving—for now, it's probably one of a kind in the world, right? And if she took it out now, it would definitely attract a crowd of her friends, who would then ask him a lot of questions. He didn't want to show off or attract attention in front of Tang Baona's friends.
Originally, Xiang Kun planned to leave after delivering the gift, not only because he was uncomfortable being with so many unfamiliar people, but also because today was supposed to be the day he drank blood. Based on the time he last woke up, he should have felt hungry around 9 to 10 pm tonight.
However, Yang Zhen'er, who saw him coming, excitedly ran over, pushed him by the back and pushed him into the private room. Then, together with Tang Baona, she introduced him to her friends and introduced them to him.
Therefore, he couldn't leave right away and could only sit and wait for a while.
"Our Chef Xiang is a culinary genius. He's only been learning to cook for less than two months, and he's already better than the top restaurants outside..." Yang Zhen'er, like an agent, began to boast about Xiang Kun.
As he spoke, he took out his phone and showed the picture of a bald man's back that had gone viral on Weibo last month, saying, "This is our Chef Xiang himself!"
Several of my friends had seen this picture or a heavily modified version of it online before, and they were all quite surprised, their eyes constantly switching between the picture on their phones and Xiang Kun.
"The bag he's carrying is a gift from Nana and me—a bow and arrow. Chef Xiang; he beat the instructor on his first visit to the archery range. If he lived in ancient times, he'd definitely be a fierce general!"
As Yang Zhen'er spoke, she pulled up a video on her phone and showed it to her friends. "And this is also Chef Xiang! He kicked a knife-wielding thug flying! Oh, right, remember when I told you about witnessing a wanted criminal being caught? That was Chef Xiang himself capturing a wanted criminal right in front of us!"
"And last month, we went horseback riding with Lao Xia Chef Xiang. On the way back, we ran into four human traffickers. Chef Xiang took down two men one-on-two, and Lao Xia also took down two women one-on-two. Nana and I were cheering '666' on the sidelines..."
Xiang Kun was a little confused. This scene reminded him of a product manager introducing the excellent features of their product to a client.
Then Yang Zhen'er put away her phone, pointed to a bottle of Rio, and said to her friends, "Now that the hints are over, here's the question: Guess what Chef Xiang's main job is. Whoever guesses correctly gets to finish this bottle, and whoever guesses wrong has to drink a penalty shot."
Tang Baona, standing next to her, was already laughing so hard she was clutching her stomach. She could already foresee her friends racking their brains before silently drinking as punishment.
Who the hell could have guessed that?
Sure enough, after exchanging puzzled glances, one of the girls asked curiously, "Yang the Third, didn't you call Mr. Xiang Chef Xiang? Isn't he a chef?"
Yang Zhen'er rolled her eyes at her. "Don't call me Yang the Third! Call me Third Sister! Didn't I just say that our Chef Xiang is the Lang Lang of the culinary world, a genius! He's only been learning to cook for two months! Okay, you guessed wrong once, drink!"
Another man, wearing glasses and with his hair tied in a small braid, asked somewhat uncertainly, "Is he a fitness instructor?"
"Wrong! Drinking!"
Another person guessed. "Stops an armed assailant and arrests a wanted criminal, could they be police officers?"
"Wrong! Drinking!"
"I'm guessing a martial arts coach, or a combat sports coach? Or perhaps a combat sports athlete?"
"Drink wine!"
"The PE teacher?"
"Drink wine!"
"Although Mr. Xiang is very skilled, he actually looks quite refined, and he wears glasses. Hmm, I guess he's a musician, or maybe a painter, anyway, an artist!"
"Wrong, you're drinking! This is your third drink now..."
The girl who initially guessed wrong pondered for a moment and then said, "Given Yang the Third's treacherous and cunning nature, it must mean that Mr. Xiang's profession has nothing to do with what he said before, and it's very likely that it also contrasts with his appearance. Hmm, I guess he's a makeup artist?"
"Let's drink! Let's drink!" Yang Zhen'er urged smugly.
After each of her seven friends had drunk at least three glasses of wine, Yang Zhen'er finally let Tang Baona reveal the answer, "Chef Xiang is a programmer..."
With this little incident, although Xiang Kun hadn't said a word except when Tang Baona introduced him to her friends, the sense of unfamiliarity between him and Tang Baona's friends was significantly reduced.
Three of the men among these friends were either married or about to get married. Two of their wives were also in the private room, and both were high school classmates of Tang Baona. The other one also already had a fiancée, so there was no jealousy or hostility towards Xiang Kun.
The man with glasses and a small braid came over to chat with Xiang Kun. He was an art director at a game company, so they had a lot in common to talk about.
"Beer or wine?" the man with the ponytail asked in a friendly manner.