"Enough! Someone throw them all out!"
Old Mr. Qi had watched from the sidelines for quite some time, his face thunderous. The security guards Lin Xingmo had called arrived just then and hurriedly pulled the three men apart, dragging them out of the banquet hall.
Li Hanwen still wanted to go back in and explain, but the other two clung to him like rabid dogs, refusing to let go.
The people inside shut the doors.
Li Hanwen had clearly seen the disgust in Old Mr. Qi's final glance. Now that he had offended him, his future was finished.
His emotions, already near breaking point, erupted. Furious, he swung around and threw punches at the other two.
But the servers outside had already called the police. The three had barely started brawling again before the officers took them all away.
The sudden farce left Qin Ke stunned. Li Hanwen had been taken away just like that? What about the rest of the plot?
His brain crashed.
Lin Xingye found the whole thing immensely satisfying. He didn't know whom Li Hanwen had offended, but whoever it was had done him a favor.
Only when his attention shifted away from the spectacle did he realize that Qi Sijing had somehow wrapped him in his arms like an oversized dog.
He was squeezing him so tightly that Lin Xingye was about to throw up the dessert he'd just eaten all over his face.
[Let go! Let go! Murder!]
Someone pulled Qi Sijing away. His expression chilled, but when he shot a glare over, he saw a familiar face.
Cheng Yu wore an obnoxious grin as he pointed at Qin Ke. "Qi Sijing, the one you want to hold is over there. I'll take care of this one for you."
Qi Sijing glanced at the others. Every one of them looked disgusted, apparently scornful of his earlier attempts to please Tea Bag.
He couldn't even explain his suffering. He hadn't done it willingly!
Wait! Why did Lin Xingmo have that expression too?
Qi Sijing's probing gaze settled on him. Their eyes met, and the contempt froze on Lin Xingmo's face. He quickly turned away and whistled.
He pretended nothing had happened.
Lin Xingmo was terribly nervous. Was his cover about to be blown? Were the Little Fishes about to discover that he could hear them?!
After eavesdropping on so many of Little Fish's secrets, would he get... snuffed out?!
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and the wilder his thoughts grew. After all, his brother had said that the more outrageous something was, the more likely it was to be true.
Qi Sijing silently noted Lin Xingmo's strange behavior and turned sideways to avoid Qin Ke's outstretched hand. That loss of control earlier still sent chills down his spine.
He turned and left, dragging An Shi, who had been watching the show behind them, along with him.
An Shi: ?
Lin Xingye watched Qi Sijing's retreating figure with puzzlement.
[Strange. Isn't this supposed to be the showdown between Little Fish Qi and Little Fish Cheng?]
[Two men fighting over one man, with Tea Bag rising to meet the men in that famous steamy scene?]
Little Fish Cheng: ?
The smile vanished from Cheng Yu's lips. He pulled Lin Xingye farther back, away from Qin Ke.
He had no desire to become the target of those comments.
[What, is Tea Bag so beautiful you can't bear to look?]
[Aren't you supposed to fall for pretty Tea Bag at first sight too, and then do this and that with him?]
[Invite pretty Tea Bag to your private bar for a lovely...]
[Ow, ow, ow! Why is he pinching me too!!!]
With practically every sentence, Cheng Yu's expression darkened another shade. Before Lin Xingye could finish, his face was already as black as the bottom of a scorched pot.
But he still had to ask out of concern first, "What happened to your hand?"
"None of your business!" Lin Xingye was in a foul mood after having his cheek pinched again.
Not only did he refuse to explain, he was downright snappish.
Lin Xingye covered his cheek and glared at him aggrievedly. Then he looked back at the half of Qin Ke's face that Qi Sijing's punch had swollen so badly, and understanding dawned.
[So he's a sucker for good looks after all. What a shallow man.]
[With all of you throwing yourselves at Tea Bag one after another, I thought your eyes didn't work. Turns out they only work intermittently.]
Cheng Yu had been somewhat annoyed, but then he saw Lin Xingye's little face, which looked unusually adorable with his cheeks slightly swollen from being pinched.
He even tilted his head up to glare at him with those enticing little eyes, challenging him.
It felt as though some tiny paw had scratched his heart, leaving it itching.
Perhaps Lin Xingye was right. He, Cheng Yu, was a shallow man.
"Lin Xingye, don't bait me. I really will take the bait." Cheng Yu's lips curved upward, and he suddenly wanted to tease him.
Lin Xingye looked as though he had eaten shit.
[Baka! You! You massively overconfident, utterly mediocre man!]
Cheng Yu: ?
Lin Xingye gave him a disdainful glance and backed away.
[A man can be handsome, but he can't be sleazy! Especially not sleazy and delusionally confident!]
[No matter how handsome he is... well, it's not entirely out of the question.]
[I'll pretend I didn't see that this time. Don't do it again, okay~]
Lin Xingye muttered under his breath, "Love really does make people stupid. He hasn't even fallen for him yet, and he's already like this. What's he going to do later?"
Cheng "I can hear you" Yu: ...
Seeing that Cheng Yu's eyes had darkened as though he wanted to murder someone, Lin Xingye fled the scene at top speed, afraid of getting his cheeks pinched again.
Qin Ke had wanted to flirt with Cheng Yu too, but hadn't expected him to leave so quickly.
The man who had brought Qin Ke finally found him in a corner. Seeing that he was hurt, he hurriedly took him into the back to get treated.
After that, Lin Xingye obediently stayed with Lin Xingmo, and nothing else happened.
Everyone soon put the earlier farce behind them, as though nothing had happened at all. As for what would happen to Li Hanwen afterward, what did that have to do with them?
No one would lend a helping hand. Anyone who didn't kick him while he was down could already be considered a good person.
Lin Xingye breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the banquet's plot could be changed after all.
For the first time in ages, he felt relaxed, as though relieved to have finally escaped the beginning of his previous life's tragedy.
"Mr. Lin, your mother, Ms. Chen Qin, just asked you to meet her in her room on the fourth floor."
Hearing that it was their mother, Lin Xingmo nodded and urged his brother to go. After all, Li Hanwen had already been taken away, and Qin Ke was with someone else. Surely nothing would happen.
Lin Xingye didn't give it much thought either. In his previous life, he had been taken to the third floor midway through the banquet. The room Li Hanwen could get wasn't on the fourth floor at all.
And his mother really was resting on the fourth floor.
When he entered the elevator, the attendant stationed inside pressed the button for him.
The instant the elevator doors closed, a burning sensation he could only call familiar surged through him.
He curled up almost instantly, staring at the attendant in horror.
The man turned with a vicious grin, revealing the illuminated third-floor button behind him.
He hadn't pressed the fourth-floor button at all.
The scene overlapped almost perfectly with his previous life. His heart pounded so loudly that it seemed to thunder right beside his ears.
His pupils constricted. A wave of confusion surged through him, and he could no longer make out the face of the person before him.
He could only do what he had done in his previous life.
The instant the elevator chimed, he sprang up and shoved the man outside, knocking him to the floor. Then he struggled to get up, stumbled back into the elevator, and frantically pressed the door-close button over and over.
Soon, his vision blurred and wavered. Even simple thoughts became difficult, and sheer willpower was all that kept him going.
He could only press a random floor button. No matter what, anywhere but the third floor would do.
After repeating all those actions, he collapsed helplessly inside the elevator, almost sobbing aloud.
He didn't know what had happened this time. He only knew that it might mean he couldn't change anything at all.
The terror crushed the breath out of him, as though he had plunged into an icy abyss.
The elevator chimed. Without a moment's hesitation, he scrambled out on his hands and knees, terrified that if he was even a step too late, he would be taken back to the third floor.
Worse still, they would soon follow him to the floor he had pressed, just as they had in his previous life. He couldn't afford to waste a single moment.
Nearly all the guests were downstairs at the banquet, and every room door was locked.
Even if a few people were resting inside, the rooms' excellent soundproofing would completely block out the feeble cries for help that were all he could manage now.
He prayed that this was the fourth floor, yet dreaded being on the fourth floor, so terribly close to the third.
Before you continue