Chapter 125: Dig a Hole for Me!??
“Could it be me?”
Two men smiled at Si Shaozhe with identical, teasing expressions.
“This is what you said yourself, and it has nothing to do with us!”
Si Shaozhe stared, utterly bewildered.
Too shameless!
……
Nearby the hotel lay several bustling commercial districts. It was already half past seven in the evening, peak dinner hour, the streets alive with the chatter of families and friends. A trio of masked and hatted figures slipped into a hotpot restaurant in the most unobtrusive manner possible. They secured a private room, ordered a mountain of dishes, and settled in.
Since the bill would not fall on their shoulders, Lin Yu’s appetite knew no bounds. He requested the finest wagyu, the most luxurious accompaniments for hotpot—tripe, cured pork, every premium cut and condiment imaginable. The richer the better.
Once the masks and hats came off, the other two noticed Si Shaozhe sitting with arms crossed, face turned away, clearly sulking.
They watched him in silence.
What a grown man, yet behaving like a delicate girl?
“Decide what you want to eat,” Wang Fei suggested, employing the coaxing tone he had mastered after years of crooning love songs. He slid the menu across the table.
Si Shaozhe gave a curt huff. “I already told you I don’t feel like eating.”
Their laughter bubbled up despite themselves.
Such a tall, imposing fellow, yet this temper was tougher than any woman’s!
They could humor him—keeping his figure, preserving his screen presence. If he refused to eat, fine. The moment the dishes arrived, the rich aroma of simmering broth would tempt even the most reluctant palate. He would eat eventually.
“Just vegetables? Seems a bit dull,” Lin Yu said suddenly. “Want something to drink?”
“Alcohol?”
Wang Fei, a seasoned artist who had spent years in the spotlight, rarely touched spirits these days. He had watched too many colleagues lose everything to excess—reputations ruined by slips of the tongue while half-drunk. Weight gain was one concern; broken secrets were another.
“I don’t drink,” he answered.
Before Lin Yu could reply, Si Shaozhe’s brows furrowed. He had assumed the question was aimed at him. The sudden silence, the peculiar look on Wang Fei’s face, only now registered as something amiss.
“Not asking me?”
“It could be asking me too,” Wang Fei replied with a mischievous grin, an idea already forming. “We’re all eating together—him refusing to eat, me refusing to drink. How awkward would that be?”
“Then let me pay the bill. At least we won’t feel embarrassed.”
Si Shaozhe’s eyes widened in protest. ????
Wait, weren’t you the ones who invited me to dinner?! Why must I foot the bill?!
The two ignored his objections and happily dove into their discussion of wines.
Si Shaozhe sat there, fuming, already sensing he had been tricked. Something felt off, yet the knot of resentment in his chest refused to untangle.
……
In the end they chose beer.
Lin Yu gave a long, theatrical sigh, gazing at Si Shaozhe’s sulky, phone-scrolling figure. “How boring. Eating out without eating or drinking—what exactly are we here for? Finding a dinner companion is that difficult?”
Si Shaozhe perked up at once.
“You’re talking about me?”
The two men exchanged knowing glances, their familiar smiles returning.
Si Shaozhe: ……
Dammit, who do you think you’re looking down on? It’s just drinking, for heaven’s sake! Today I’ve lost all dignity—I’m drinking! What’s the big deal? I can’t sing better than these two, so surely I can handle a little booze!
“Water! Bring the strongest baijiu you have!”
“Fill it! Fill it!”
“Right! More than them!”
“Fill it to the brim!”
The waiter stared, mouth slightly agape. The man was practically overflowing, yet still acting tough!
And what Water? She wasn’t water!
Lin Yu watched with a grin, Wang Fei stepped in to cover Si Shaozhe’s mouth.
“Opened wine can still be returned,” he said.
“Switch to beer instead. We don’t drink white liquor.”
It was obvious Si Shaozhe was bluffing. With those skinny arms and legs, one bottle of baijiu and he would keel over. The two of them wouldn’t drink it, so he would have to finish it alone—death by alcohol on a restaurant floor.
The waiter cared only about performance. Customers ordered; they drank. Who was anyone to judge?
“Customer is king,” she murmured, already flipping to the premium baijiu section. “What price range would you like?”
She pointed to the most expensive bottle on the tablet. “This 3999 baijiu?”
Si Shaozhe was already tipsy.
“Bring me the whole bottle!”
After a pause he added, “One bottle enough for one person? Bring three! One each! Don’t let the neighbors next door—”
“You’re reciting lines now?” Wang Fei clamped a hand over his mouth.
This lunatic—three bottles?! They weren’t drinking it! With that kind of nerve, he should drink all three himself!
But it was clear he lacked the strength.
Lin Yu gave him a helpless look. “Enough. I know you’ve been filming too much lately and your brain’s gone soft. This isn’t a set—it’s dinner.”
“Calm down! You can’t finish it!”
The waiter burst into laughter at the scene.
Si Shaozhe’s face burned crimson, then darkened further.
Give us some face, please!
You two are absolutely shameless!
Pretending to be tough is illegal? Then arrest me!
The waiter retreated, shaking her head. Whoever had ordered the liquor clearly wasn’t drunk—or perhaps his mind was a little off. Good people didn’t usually eat hotpot wearing masks and hats.
Guilty conscience, maybe?
Actually, drinking wasn’t forbidden. But Si Shaozhe’s frame was alarmingly slender, his build screamed poor tolerance. Baijiu was strong stuff—anyone could knock back a bottle, yet this boy looked ready to collapse.
Don’t wait until nightfall for the two of them to play coolies and drag him home.
Still, he was impossible to coax. Arms folded tight, face turned away, he sulked like a heartbroken girl.
The two had no choice but to order the baijiu after all.
The kid didn’t understand restraint. They had offered him an easy way out—don’t force him to drink so much. Yet he insisted on trying anyway.
Didn’t he know that “not doing stupid things won’t get you killed, doing stupid things will”?!
They were all adults. Let him experience the consequences of overindulgence. Maybe next time he would think twice…
Ten minutes later the waiter returned beaming, carrying three bottles of baijiu.