Are you playing word games with me?

"What do you want to eat?"

Once they reached the garage, Pei Jinghe took the initiative to ask.

"Whatever." Wu Jiangyuan sounded uninterested as he drawled, "Weren't you the one who suggested going out to eat?"

Pei Jinghe paused midstep. "Didn't you say you were hungry?"

"When did I say..." Wu Jiangyuan was about to argue when he remembered what he had said to Aji.

He had been the one to suggest getting food to Aji.

That little punk Aji really repeated everything.

Remembering that, Wu Jiangyuan simply dropped the argument. "Then I want hot pot."

He really was hungry now. He had thrown away his salad at lunch after just a couple of bites.

"Hot pot?" Pei Jinghe looked him up and down. "Don't celebrities like you have to watch your figure?"

Wu Jiangyuan scoffed. "It's just one hot pot meal. A few hours at the gym and I'll burn it all off."

Pei Jinghe said nothing.

"But I remember you don't eat spicy food?"

Wu Jiangyuan immediately lost interest. "If you can't handle it, pick somewhere else. You decide."

He liked spicy, strongly flavored food, while Pei Jinghe preferred lighter flavors.

Their tastes in food were completely incompatible.

"I can handle it." Pei Jinghe opened the car door. "Get in."

Wu Jiangyuan raised an eyebrow. Could he really?

Why did he remember Pei Jinghe choking to the point of tears after a single bite of chili as a kid?

Wu Jiangyuan had often made fun of him for being delicate because of it.

Since Pei Jinghe said he could handle it, Wu Jiangyuan didn't hold back.

He specifically chose a long-established hot pot restaurant he frequented.

The restaurant was in a rather out-of-the-way location and had been open for over twenty years. Plenty of customers came because of its reputation.

It wasn't mealtime yet, so there were only a scattering of people inside.

To keep anyone from recognizing him at a glance, Wu Jiangyuan deliberately pulled up his hoodie.

Only after finding a private room for two and sitting down did he take his hood off.

The aroma of hot pot filled the room, and Wu Jiangyuan's stomach obligingly growled.

Noticing that Pei Jinghe's expression hadn't relaxed once since they came in, he silently curled his lips.

He clearly couldn't stand the chili aroma filling the room, yet he had stubbornly insisted on coming for hot pot.

Propping his chin on his hand, he said with interest, "Pei Jinghe, it's not too late to leave."

Pei Jinghe took off his suit jacket and calmly unfastened his cuffs, replying casually, "I can eat spicy food."

Wu Jiangyuan gave a quiet laugh and stared at him, inwardly scoffing.

Poser.

His bespoke suit was completely out of place in this hot pot restaurant, and he sat there straight-backed and elegant.

Anyone would think he was having some Michelin-starred feast.

Wu Jiangyuan handled all the ordering and, in his great mercy, still chose a split pot with two broths.

While they waited for the food, Wu Jiangyuan didn't forget the real business.

"Didn't you say there was a contract? Take it out and let me see."

"No rush."

Pei Jinghe sat without moving. "Who brings a contract along to dinner?"

Wu Jiangyuan gave him a humorless smile. "Are you messing with me?"

Pei Jinghe looked slightly troubled. "I don't think I ever said we'd discuss the contract over dinner."

Wu Jiangyuan: "..."

He thought back. It seemed he really freaking hadn't...

He was so angry he puffed up like a pufferfish.

"Are you playing word games with me?"

An almost imperceptible flicker of amusement crossed Pei Jinghe's eyes. "Don't worry. I'll show you after dinner."

Wu Jiangyuan glared fiercely at him, considering whether to beat him up first.

Just then, the pot of broth arrived.

It immediately drew Wu Jiangyuan's attention.

Pei Jinghe ate little, and everything he ate came from the mild broth.

Wu Jiangyuan did most of the eating.

As he ate, he wondered how this guy had grown so tall when he ate so little every time they had a meal together.

Was this the genetic advantage of an Enigma?

Soon, he understood. It wasn't that Pei Jinghe didn't eat; he didn't like the food.

He disliked everything Wu Jiangyuan liked to eat.

At that thought, Wu Jiangyuan couldn't help finding the food a little tasteless.

"Listen, Pei Jinghe," he said. "Let's not eat together next time."

Pei Jinghe's chopstick hand paused. "Why?"

"You don't like any of it," Wu Jiangyuan said. "You don't like any of the flavors I like. Isn't eating together like this miserable?"

Pei Jinghe put down his chopsticks and asked, "You find it miserable?"

Wu Jiangyuan poked at the shrimp in his bowl. "I'm pretty adaptable. I'm just worried about making things hard for you, Young Master Pei."

"..." Pei Jinghe picked up his chopsticks again and explained calmly, "I'm just not very hungry. It's not that I can't eat it."

With that, he picked a slice of fatty beef out of the spicy broth right in front of Wu Jiangyuan, let it cool a little, and put it into his mouth.

"Hey, Pei Jinghe..."

"Cough..."

Wu Jiangyuan had just been about to warn him when Pei Jinghe started coughing.

Helplessly, he got up, went over to Pei Jinghe, and poured him a glass of water, saying irritably,

"I ordered extra spicy. Who told you to eat it just like that?"

Sure enough, he still couldn't handle spice.

Pei Jinghe's face visibly reddened, and as he coughed, his eyes turned red too.

He accepted the water Wu Jiangyuan handed him, his expression indescribable. "You usually eat this?"

Wu Jiangyuan teased, "You can't take even one bite? Young Master Pei, looks like that Enigma constitution of yours isn't invincible after all."

"Wu Jiangyuan." After a moment's thought, Pei Jinghe offered a sincere suggestion. "I'd advise you to eat less of it, or you'll end up in the hospital one day."

Wu Jiangyuan clicked his tongue. "You underestimate me. I'm not as delicate as you."

"No." Pei Jinghe sighed. "I don't think you'd want your name trending alongside the word 'proctology.'"

Wu Jiangyuan: "..."

The corner of his mouth twitched, and his face darkened. "Thanks for the reminder. I only eat it occasionally."

Why hadn't the spice just killed this guy?

By the time they finished eating and left the hot pot restaurant, it was already dark.

Wu Jiangyuan happened to catch Pei Jinghe tugging at his tie and could tell he was feeling a little uncomfortable.

"You really can't handle any spice at all."

Pei Jinghe smiled helplessly. "No one in my family eats spicy food."

Wu Jiangyuan pursed his lips, then turned and spotted a cart selling ice cream cones by the roadside.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "You eat sweet things, at least?"

Pei Jinghe gave a quiet hum of assent.

"Wait here."

Leaving him with those words, Wu Jiangyuan headed toward the dessert cart.

Five minutes later-

"Have some. Don't go dying in front of me."

Wu Jiangyuan held out a plain ice cream cone to Pei Jinghe.

He held a mango one himself and took a bite.

Delicious.

Just then, a text notification sounded on his phone, and he lowered his head to reply.

Pei Jinghe accepted the cone but didn't start eating right away. He looked at Wu Jiangyuan.

Wu Jiangyuan was focused on replying, licking and biting at his ice cream absentmindedly.

Whenever cream caught at the corner of his lips, he would flick out the tip of his tongue and sweep it across his lips, drawing it into his mouth.

The tip of his tongue was pale pink, his lips a glossy crimson.

It lent the whole movement an inexplicable eroticism.

Pei Jinghe's Adam's apple shifted subtly, and when Wu Jiangyuan put his phone away and looked over, he averted his gaze.

Seeing that the cone in his hand was still untouched, Wu Jiangyuan asked, "Don't like it? Didn't you say you eat sweet things?"

"Yes, I do."

After answering calmly, Pei Jinghe took a bite of his cone, and the rich taste of cream filled his mouth.

Yet he was thinking,

What would the mango one taste like?