Chen Jiu's expression darkened, but he held his temper.
He merely turned back and said quietly, "Go inside and sit down first!"
Zhou Yuanhang said nothing. He helped Song Ning over to a table in the corner and sat down with her.
The restaurant was fairly large. At a glance, seven or eight tables were already occupied.
People bustled in and out, carrying dishes, calling out orders, or chatting away with chopsticks in hand.
The place was lively.
No one paid any attention to the few people in the corner.
Most restaurants these days required customers to pay first, then take their order slips to the kitchen window and wait in line.
After handing his slip through the window, Chen Jiu went out through a door in the corner of the dining hall.
It was quite a while before he returned.
As he passed the neighboring table, he casually picked up their teapot.
Four men had been sitting there, all looking like truck drivers.
Two had grown impatient and gone to the window to wait for their food. The other two had their heads bent over a crumpled sheet of paper, making marks with a pen as though working out their accounts.
No one noticed the teapot being taken.
Chen Jiu moved quickly.
He promptly put the teapot from his own table onto the neighboring one.
One of the men noticed as he set it down and turned to give Chen Jiu a puzzled look.
Chen Jiu smiled. "Your pot was too close to the edge. I was moving it in for you!"
The man glanced dubiously at the teapot, then at Chen Jiu.
After a moment's hesitation, he nodded. "Oh! Thanks!"
Chen Jiu sat back down as though nothing had happened and poured water into Zhou Yuanhang's cup.
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