All the groundwork finally paid off at this moment.
Lin Lu added Cheng Zhu on WeChat—and she did it happily, too.
For Cheng Zhu, he always left behind many "hooks" during conversations.
Like deliberately mentioning earlier that if she had a child in the future, she should never let her study late into the night—that was a hook.
That hook didn't necessarily have to lead naturally to exchanging WeChat contacts. After all, how Lin Lu would respond was unknown.
But that was fine. There would be hook after hook coming next.
At the most appropriate moment, he would say that line:
"I don't have your contact information."
Getting someone's contact info wasn't actually that hard.
Cheng Zhu could've asked for it after the meal.
But letting Lin Lu take the bait herself made it different.
Like right now—Lin Lu not only added him, she also felt that Cheng Zhu was a pretty interesting person.
Of course, the prerequisite was that your overall conditions had to be solid. With good overall conditions, you were a man who understood humor. Without them, you were just a clown or a try-hard.
Jiang Wanzhou and Shen Minglang were both stunned watching from the side.
Especially Shen Minglang—he was completely dumbfounded.
He prided himself on being a scumbag, and girls had never been lacking around him.
But for some reason, he suddenly felt that in front of Cheng Zhu, he seemed… a bit low-tier.
"Coincidence? It just happened to flow here, the atmosphere built up, and then they added each other?" Shen Minglang thought.
"Yes, yes, it must be a coincidence."
"He's only just graduated high school!"
Truth be told, Shen Minglang did think Lin Lu was very cute—full of energy, and a voice actress with a highly versatile voice.
But he also knew clearly that he and Lin Lu had no chance.
And grass close to the nest—especially something called "your sister's best friend"—came with high risk.
If things went well, it was becoming even closer family. If things went badly, it meant falling out with his own sister.
On this point, Shen Minglang was very clear-headed.
At the same time, his self-positioning was also clear. The girls he dated were after his money and the fun he could provide. Right now, he was just playing around—far from settling down—and he changed women extremely fast.
Lin Lu wasn't someone he was fit to play with, nor would she look down on him.
The effort he put into dressing up—buying clothes, doing his hair—was purely because he was flamboyant by nature.
Of course, he didn't think Cheng Zhu could take Lin Lu down either.
"If a high school graduate like him can land a girl at Lin Lu's level, I'll wash his underwear for a whole year," Shen Minglang swore inwardly.
Only Shen Qingning couldn't help but take another look at Cheng Zhu at this moment, thoughtful.
…
…
After the meal, everyone had chatted happily.
Cheng Zhu played a key role in it.
As always, as the biggest "outsider" among the group, he never led the topic, yet he always controlled the rhythm of the conversation.
After all, he was someone who dared to fight and hustle, relying on himself to achieve class mobility—a first-generation entrepreneur.
This level of dominance was nothing to him.
After eating, Shen Minglang suggested finding a place to sit for a while.
After nine o'clock, he needed to go to the bar he owned. With the World Cup over, business had started to slow down again.
But it was still early, and he needed people to keep him company and kill time.
What Boss Shen didn't know was that this move conveniently satisfied another one of Cheng Zhu's needs.
Think about it—if a group of young people just sat somewhere chatting, it'd still be a bit boring.
So you could play some games. Like cards, or party games such as *Who's the Undercover?* or *Truth or Dare*.
That way, Cheng Zhu could very naturally suggest that Shen Minglang create a WeChat group for the five of them.
Having a group made games much more convenient. You could send links in the group, or even play directly inside it. If money was involved in card games, you could also transfer funds right in the group.
Many people probably have this problem: after going through great effort to get a girl's WeChat, they don't know how to chat with her one-on-one.
Are you dumb? Why private chat right away?
If there's a group chat, you can start with group chatting first.
Meals should be eaten bite by bite. Roads should be walked step by step.
As always, what you want is things to flow naturally.
"Showing too much intent right away just makes people guard against you." This was Cheng Zhu's hard-earned experience.
…
…
"And this newly acknowledged cousin Shen Minglang—he loves chatting, loves lively atmospheres, loves showing off… He'll also interact with everyone in the group in the future," Cheng Zhu had already designated him as a tool.
Besides, don't forget—Cheng Zhu still hadn't added Shen Qingning on WeChat.
But once they were in the same group, he still didn't plan to add the cool beauty there. For now, he'd only add Lin Lu.
Yes—he did it deliberately.
This dog of a man wanted exactly this effect.
…
…
Close to nine o'clock, everyone parted ways at a trendy dessert shop.
Shen Minglang drove to the bar. Shen Qingning took Lin Lu home. Jiang Wanzhou took Cheng Zhu.
On the way, Jiang Wanzhou couldn't help gossiping. "Do you have a thing for Lin Lu?"
"Why do you keep asking me that?" Cheng Zhu snapped. "When I chatted with Ye Zi, you said I wanted to hit on her. Today we meet Lin Lu and you say the same thing. Why don't you say I want to hit on your cousin?"
"Uh…" Jiang Wanzhou felt he might've been overly suspicious lately, but still said, "That's just how it feels to me. What—can't I say that?"
"Sure, sure. Your intuition's pretty accurate," Cheng Zhu laughed and cursed. "Why don't you call me brother-in-law first and let me hear it?"
"Get lost," Jiang Wanzhou started cursing.
On the other side, Shen Qingning drove her white Range Rover, taking Lin Lu home.
It had to be said—some slightly domineering cars really felt even better when driven by a woman.
At school, Shen Qingning and Lin Lu were campus goddesses of the same tier.
But far fewer people dared to pursue Shen Qingning than Lin Lu.
No choice—her aura was right there.
Living in Hangzhou and studying in Hangzhou, she drove a Range Rover straight to school.
Combined with Shen Qingning's naturally cool temperament, she looked aloof and intimidating, causing most boys to shy away.
As they neared the residential complex, Lin Lu used the tone of a domineering CEO's delicate wife and said, "Hubby, can you walk me upstairs? I'm scared of taking the elevator alone."
Shen Qingning shot her an annoyed glance. "If I walk you upstairs, you'll ask me to come in and sit. If I sit, you'll ask me to stay over and sleep with you."
"Isn't it nice to sleep hugging me? Have you gotten tired of me already?" Lin Lu said pitifully, using a soft voice.
"Stop being a menace. Looks like you're in a pretty good mood today," Shen Qingning ignored her clingy routine.
"I am pretty happy today," Lin Lu admitted directly. "I knew it—this Cheng Zhu is actually quite handsome."
"Oh? Caught your eye?"
"I'm not purely a looks-obsessed person, okay? Just a tiny bit," Lin Lu said frankly. "I just think he's pretty interesting."
The car happened to pull into Lin Lu's underground garage.
After putting the car into park, Shen Qingning turned and looked into her best friend's eyes. "Have you ever heard a saying?"
"What?"
"So-called interesting souls are actually people whose information density and knowledge depth are far higher than yours—yet they're willing to bend down, listen to your meaningless nonsense, exchange ideas with you, present viewpoints you've never heard before, and shatter your shallow imagination and worldview."
Lin Lu carefully digested Shen Qingning's words, her lively, bright eyes widening.
Soon, she protested. "He's a little brother! He just graduated high school. Are you looking down on me?"
Then she added, "Even your brother Old Shen can't give me that feeling. Shen Minglang has social experience, has opened several shops, is older than us, and is a scumbag who loves to run his mouth."
"Perhaps," Shen Qingning said noncommittally. "Maybe you just feel that you're on the same wavelength."
"Maybe I am overthinking it. If he could match wavelengths with anyone…" Shen Qingning paused, smiled slightly, and said, "Even my brother—a self-proclaimed eloquent scumbag—might have to call him… Grandmaster?"
TL: If you want to read ahead, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup