Unfortunately, Wei Muran was born insensitive to this sort of issue and merely considered them as extremely friendly colleagues without realizing their true intentions. It was the fact that Qi Youxuan had known Wei Muran since they were young, and declared repeatedly and shamelessly that she was going to be his girlfriend in the future that acted as stepping stones for him to find his significant other. Moreover, with the help of a spy, Zhang Ming, he was brazen enough to visit the Criminal Investigation Division every single day to lodge police reports about his missing wallet that had contributed to his progress. He even explained his true intention to Wei Muran very clearly and thus, Wei Muran had become his girlfriend successfully.

Even so, Qi Youxuan figured that it was necessary to extinguish the hopes of those interested individuals so that they would no longer disturb his Mumu anymore.

The innocent Wei Muran had no idea what was going through Qi Youxuan’s mind. She merely assumed that the public display of affection was a form of mental torture for the male bachelors in the police department and was unable to bear the thought of them suffering in agony.

Embarrassment gnawed at her throughout the journey. After noticing someone’s gaze on her, Wei Muran figured that she should act honestly and sincerely to express her well-mannerism, and there was absolutely no need for her to act like she had a guilty conscience since she was not a thief after all.

Thus, she put on a polite smile and made direct eye contact.

Little did Wei Muran know, she accidentally threw her smile to one of her secret admirers and penetrated his fragile heart mercilessly. She even had no clue what had happened when the secret admirer walked away in sadness.

Wei Muran averted her gaze doubtfully and asked Qi Youxuan, “What happened to Senior Le? Why did he look as if he was deeply resented when he saw me?”

Qi Youxuan pretended to process this issue seriously before answering, “Perhaps due to food poisoning.”

“…” Senior Le was left speechless.

‘Did you ever consider my feelings at all? T.T’ he thought.

…

…

A black Mercedes SUV was parked across the road. The door of its passenger seat opened at the same time as the duo exited the police department.

Qi Youning got down from the car and waved at the duo. “Brother—your sister, Muran—your sister-in-law, is here!”

“…” Wei Muran was dumbfounded.

“Haha, I really have no idea how Wen Xu tolerates her,” Qi Youxuan mocked.

Wei Muran agreed with Qi Youxuan even though Qi Youning was his sister.

It was an understatement to say that Qi Youning’s personality had not changed after all these years, but to put it frankly, her maturity was not directly proportional to her age and she was basically a child in disguise at present.

Since Qi Youxuan had his own transportation, they drove toward Qi Youning and parked behind Wen Xu’s car before greeting them.

“Where are we going?” asked Qi Youxuan.

“Dynasty,” replied Qi Youning with a melodious tone.

“…” Qi Youxuan was at a loss for words.

“Hey, are you worried that your future father-in-law is going to Dynasty to punish you?” Qi Youning raised her eyebrows and gloated over Qi Youxuan’s misfortune.

“…” Qi Youxuan took out his cellphone silently. “Dad called me today and asked when can you return home and have a meal together.”

Qi Youning reached out and held onto Qi Youxuan’s phone quickly. “Brother, brother, don’t you remember that we vowed to always help and love each other? Since we agreed to have dinner together, I believe my absence will greatly disappoint you guys!”

Qi Youning rolled her eyes and said, “Well, we’re not going to Dynasty, I was joking with you just now. I’ve made reservations and we’re going to have Hangzhou cuisine tonight!”

Qi Youxuan pouted and put on a ‘you were no match for me’ facial expression which made him look like he was gloating with pride.

Qi Youning puffed out her cheeks, thinking that her brother was becoming less cute the older he got.

…

…

After the quartet reached the Hangzhou restaurant, both Qi Youxuan and Qi Youning rubbed their hands excitedly when they were about to place an order.

Qi Youxuan: “Braised Pork Belly!”

Qi Youning: “West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy!”

Qi Youxuan: “Tea-scented Chicken!”

Qi Youning: “Dragon Well Tea Shrimp!”

Qi Youxuan: “Braised Duck!”

Qi Youning: “Meat-stuffed Field Snail!”

Qi Youxuan: “Stir-Fried Beef with Pineapple!”

Qi Youning: “Minced Beef with Egg!”

“…” Wei Muran, Wen Xu, and the waiter were dumbfounded.

When was the last time these two consumed meat?

Finally, both Qi Youxuan and Qi Youning closed the menu. “That’s all. We’ll order again if there’s not enough food.”

The waiter said doubtfully, “I think there’s too much meat for the four of you, so do you want to replace a few with vegetables or desserts? Otherwise, you may feel sick after eating so much meat.”

“We can finish them!” yelled both Qi Youxuan and Qi Youning which gave the waiter quite a shock. Their agitations appeared as if the removal of a few meat dishes would annihilate them.

Wen Xu remained silent, so Wei Muran, who almost lost her appetite after hearing all the meat dishes, took the menu and ordered two vegetable dishes to get rid of the greasy feeling after eating meat.

The duo had developed psychological trauma from constant weight loss since they were young, and even at present, they were forced to have vegan meat as side dishes whenever they returned to Prestige Residences for meals. Moreover, Qi Chenglin would definitely instruct them to consume larger portions of greens since they were born carnivores, otherwise, they could bid those meat goodbye for the rest of their lives. Left with no choice, they had to swallow the greens in agony.

Thus, they would act like they were willing to trade their lives just for a taste of meat whenever they were having meals outside their home, and would always binge eat despite knowing they may very well gain ten kilos after eating like that.

Inevitably, Qi Youxuan and Wei Muran started discussing the criminal case during the meal. Qi Youxuan mentioned that he had a year left before returning to Qilin next year, so Wei Muran wanted to use this opportunity to learn more from him.

Wei Muran could not possibly rely on Qi Youxuan every single time to solve criminal cases. She had to learn how to investigate the cases independently. Thus, she tried her best to learn as much as she could during this period of time.

Qi Youning was reaching out to the West Lake Fish with Vinegar Gravy when the duo was describing Feng Haoli’s proptosis. Staring at the bulging eyes on the fish, somehow Qi Youning found it difficult to consume the fish any further.

Qi Youning glanced at Wen Xu pitifully. “My brother must be doing it on purpose! That way, he’ll be able to eat more meat than me!”

Wen Xu merely replied calmly, “Close your eyes.”

Red tint seared through Qi Youning’s cheeks as she stared at Wen Xu, dropping her chopsticks and burying both her cheeks and eyes into her palms. “Hey, we’re in the restaurant. I hate you.”

“…” Wen Xu remained silent.

He took a pair of serving chopsticks and transferred the fish head to his empty bowl, which was left aside.

“Open your eyes, you can eat now,” said Wen Xu with an extremely flat tone.

Qi Youning’s eyelids flickered open to a headless West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy which pleased her eyes. At least she would not relate the fish with the corpse no matter how Qi Youxuan described the cadaver.

Then, she shifted her gaze to the bowl beside Wen Xu’s hand. There it was, the fish head.

Wen Xu noticed Qi Youning’s gaze and covered the bowl quickly. “Don’t look at it, weren’t you afraid of it just now?”

Qi Youning finally realized that Wen Xu was actually removing the fish head when he asked her to close her eyes just a few moments ago.

Honestly, Qi Youning was expecting Wen Xu to kiss her, and she was so cooperative too. Wen Xu did not even think about kissing her after removing the fish head.

Qi Youning peeked at Wen Xu bitterly before munching on the fish, which tasted less savory than usual.

“…” Wen Xu was left speechless.

Was Qi Youning blaming him for not kissing her earlier?

Wen Xu watched silently as Qi Youning chewed on the fish. Then, without prior warning, he grabbed her chin suddenly and turned her head to face him before planting a kiss right on her lips and licking the vinegar around them.

After that, Wen Xu released his grip on her and nodded. “You can eat now.”

“…” Qi Youning was at a loss for words.

Did this man assume that she would lose her appetite without getting his kiss?

The duo’s public display of affection disgusted Qi Youxuan. He turned around to look at Wei Muran, who glanced anxiously to the sides before muttering a response. “You… You behave yourself!”

“…” Qi Youxuan figured that Wen Xu’s way of stealth assaults seemed like a good strategy after all.

However, Qi Youxuan had to give up since Wei Muran was alert at the moment. Thus, he took a piece of fish meat, removed the fish bones carefully and patiently, and put some sweet and sour sauce from the serving plate before placing it into Wei Muran’s bowl.

Since kissing was a no-go, this modified public display of affection was considered equally effective too. This was called cognitive flexibility!

Qi Youning was disgusted by Qi Youxuan’s gaze which felt like an act of confrontation, so she turned around and stared at Wen Xu’s handsome face instead. However, Wen Xu misunderstood her intention and planted another kiss on her lips again without hesitation.

Qi Youning was totally unprepared for this. How could she expect Wen Xu to have some convulsions and kiss her again?

To be honest, Wen Xu’s current sovereignty could satisfy every woman’s fantasy about men, especially after the introduction of a few romance novels regarding bossy presidents by Qi Chengyue. Wen Xu was basically a natural-born bossy president; he did not have to act.

Qi Youning was greatly satisfied with this quality, and his occasional sudden kabe-don [1] would always send her into euphoric bliss.

However, they were not even halfway into the dinner and yet Wen Xu had already kissed her multiple times publicly and unexpectedly. Even with her thick boundary, she could no longer withstand such embarrassment, especially in public areas.

Qi Youning covered her mouth and complained, “We… We’re in public right now. It’s… It’s very embarrassing if you keep on doing that!”

Wen Xu asked doubtfully, “Were you not thinking about kissing me when you stared at me just now?

“…” Qi Youning was left speechless.

She figured that Wen Xu was putting all the blame on her for his indecent acts.

____________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

[1] Kabedon or Kabe-Don (Japanese: 壁ドン; Kabe, “wall”, and Don, “bang”) refers to the action of slapping a wall fiercely, which produces the sound “don”. One meaning is the action of slapping the wall as a protest which occurs in collective housing like condominiums when the next room makes noise. Another meaning often appears in shōjo manga or anime when a man forces a woman against the wall with one hand or leans against the wall and makes the sound of “don”, and this has become popular as a “clever move of confession”.