A Narrow Encounter

Song Mingzhou froze, then asked innocently, "Why bring that up? I never said I was leaving you, brother."

"..."

Duan Xun clenched his fingers around the book. If he couldn't hear Song Mingzhou's thoughts and know what he was thinking, he would have been fooled again.

Little liar. His acting was pretty convincing, one act after another.

Duan Xun took a deep breath and said something completely out of the blue. "It's nothing. Your acting is good enough to win Best Actor someday."

Song Mingzhou blinked. "Huh?"

"Nothing. Are you sleepy? Want to take an afternoon nap?"

Song Mingzhou shook his head. "No. If I sleep now, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep tonight."

"Fine. Then keep reading."

That evening.

The two of them disguised themselves and headed out discreetly. They went to a restaurant by the river, in a great location with a sweeping view of the river at night and a gentle evening breeze.

What a beautiful night.

It would have been, if they hadn't run into Gu Yanting and Shen Qing.

Four people—no, five—met on a narrow road, running into each other right downstairs. Though they were all well disguised and strangers might not recognize them, they knew each other too well. They could recognize one another from the back alone.

Five pairs of eyes exchanged glances. They silently pretended not to know each other, then went upstairs from opposite ends and entered two separate private rooms.

Duan Xun was with Song Mingzhou, along with the ever-present third wheel: Lin Cheng.

Whether he was there or not made no difference.

On the other side, Gu Yanting and Shen Qing had come by themselves.

Damn.

What rotten luck.

What kind of lousy place was this?

Song Mingzhou took a hard gulp of water, his good mood completely gone.

Duan Xun silently glanced at Lin Cheng. Lin Cheng's back went cold as he wailed inwardly, This has nothing to do with me, Your Majesty! I strictly followed your requirements when choosing the place. Who knew the world was so small that we'd run into them by such a coincidence?!

Duan Xun pulled out a tissue and handed it to Song Mingzhou. "Want to change places?"

Song Mingzhou shook his head. "No. If they can come here, so can we. If we leave now, they'll think I'm afraid of him."

Right.

Song Mingzhou looked up. "Brother, if Shen Qing sees you with me, will he be unhappy?"

"Pfft..."

Duan Xun nearly spat out the water he had just swallowed. That pretentious, affected tone... Where had he learned it??

Song Mingzhou, however, did not think there was anything wrong with it. Blinking his bright eyes, he asked with utter sincerity, "If Shen Qing gets angry, will you blame me, brother?"

"..."

527 silently gave him a thumbs-up. [Impressive. You've already learned to complete tasks in advance. The task hasn't even appeared yet, and you've already accomplished it.]

Song Mingzhou froze too, then burst into wild laughter inwardly. [You flatter me, you flatter me. I'm only as smart as you.]

[That's true. Keep it up, Host!!]

Duan Xun pushed the menu in front of him. "I'm not familiar with him. Don't worry. What do you want to eat?"

Not familiar?

Heh. What an act, deadbeat man.

Song Mingzhou cursed him once, then accepted the menu with a beaming smile. He casually checked off a few items before pushing it back. "You pick, brother."

"Alright."

As the two were ordering, there was a knock on the private room door. Lin Cheng immediately went over, shielding the view inside with his body as he opened the door a crack.

Then he turned his head. "It's Mr. Gu and Mr. Shen."

Why had those two come over?

Duan Xun looked at Song Mingzhou, patted the seat beside him, and silently mouthed: Sit here.

Song Mingzhou immediately smiled until his eyes curved, then stood and sat down beside him.

Lin Cheng silently watched the two switch seats. Once they were seated, he opened the private room door and made a polite inviting gesture. "Please come in, gentlemen."

The moment Gu Yanting entered, he saw Song Mingzhou and Duan Xun sitting shoulder to shoulder, heads lowered as they marked the menu. They spoke to each other from time to time, turned to meet each other's eyes, and smiled happily.

Shen Qing saw it too.

Shen Qing immediately looped his arm through Gu Yanting's with pride, shot him a meaningful look, and then walked toward Duan Xun and the others.

Gu Yanting frowned at their linked arms. After thinking for a moment, he did not pull away.

"Teacher Duan, Teacher Song."

Shen Qing greeted them first.

Duan Xun raised his head as though he had only just noticed them. "Oh, you're here? What a coincidence. Have a seat."

Song Mingzhou smiled politely as well. "Please, sit."

That host-like attitude made Shen Qing extremely uncomfortable, but he had insisted on coming over, and Gu Yanting could only agree.

The four sat down.

Duan Xun glanced at Lin Cheng. Lin Cheng nodded, picked up the menu, and turned to leave.

Shen Qing stared at Duan Xun and Song Mingzhou's touching shoulders, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. Pretending to ask casually, he said, "Brother Xun, are you and Teacher Song close? Why haven't I heard you mention him before?"

He and Duan Xun were friends, and Gu Yanting knew that, so he did not avoid the subject in front of Gu Yanting.

Gu Yanting was curious too.

Duan Xun smiled, but Song Mingzhou answered for him. "Do we need to report to you whether we're close? What is your relationship with Duan Xun? If you two are so close, does Gu Yanting know?"

Song Mingzhou looked at Gu Yanting sincerely.

Gu Yanting's expression stiffened.

Shen Qing grew a little angry again. "Brother Xun and I are good friends. Why do you always jump to conclusions about other people? If you can't stand seeing Yanting and me together, you can just say so."

Rather than getting angry, Song Mingzhou actually wanted to laugh.

Shen Qing was beginning to lose face. He looked at Duan Xun. "Brother Xun, he..."

"He's quite good."

Duan Xun lifted his eyelids and leaned back before continuing, "Mingzhou and I get along well. Oh, right, I'm also going to the next episode of that variety show. We'll be meeting again, so we came out for a meal to get acquainted in advance."

"What?" Shen Qing was stunned as well. "Brother Xun, weren't you only filming one episode?"

"I added another episode."

"Then you..."

"Ahem." Gu Yanting gave a light cough. Shen Qing was being a little too enthusiastic, leaving him out in the cold. For some reason, that made him a little displeased.

The four chatted casually for a while longer before Lin Cheng pushed the dishes in.

"Eat."

For some inexplicable reason, a dinner for two had turned into a meal for four. Song Mingzhou did not feel awkward; he acted as he normally would. The only thing he could not do was kiss Duan Xun.

Bang.

A pair of chopsticks fell onto the table.