Qin Xiaoyu continued, "Old Chen, you're good at everything except admitting things. I just saw you staring at me for a while, and you're still denying it?"
"Besides, there's nothing to be embarrassed about admitting."
Qin Xiaoyu boasted, "After all, your girl-bro here is so pretty, it's quite normal to occasionally be captivated by My beauty! Old Chen, don't you agree?"
Chen Kai was torn between laughter and tears, thinking, "Xiaoyu, how can you overthink things so much?"
After a while, the owner brought over the grilled items, a bottle of iced beer, and the strawberry-flavored yogurt Qin Xiaoyu had requested.
"Two young students, please enjoy your meal. If you need more, just call me anytime, and we can grill it for you right away."
"Okay, thank you, boss!" Qin Xiaoyu smiled slightly, "Boss, please go attend to other customers. We'll call you if we need anything."
"Alright!" The owner went back to attending to other customers. Although it was noon, there were quite a few patrons.
And this barbecue restaurant only had the owner and his wife working, so they were quite busy.
"Old Chen, hurry and try this. I came here with My roommate once before, and the owner's cooking is really good, especially this grilled lamb. He uses a bit more cumin, it's so fragrant!"
"I remember every New Year, My Dad would often grill meat for me at home, but the taste really can't compare. It's so many times worse than what the owner of this place makes!"
Qin Xiaoyu took a bite of the grilled meat, then a sip of yogurt. Mmm, not bad.
Having lunch and a big feast here with her only and best brother in the middle of the day felt quite atmospheric!
Moreover, Chen Kai and Qin Xiaoyu were sitting at the outdoor tables of the barbecue restaurant, like a typical street food stall.
It had a much better atmosphere than eating inside the restaurant.
And it was summer, it had just rained yesterday, so today the weather was slightly cool. Eating with a gentle breeze was truly refreshing!
Just as they were eating barbecue, Chen Kai's phone rang. It was his mom calling him.
"Old Chen, your phone's ringing. The caller ID says it's Auntie. Answer it quickly, let's see what Auntie wants to talk to us about," Qin Xiaoyu said.
Chen Kai answered, and then his mom's voice came through the phone, "Son, it's already past 11. Your mom's shop is still a bit busy. I'll have My Dad bring you two lunch later. Just wait a little longer, okay! If you and Xiaoyu are hungry right now, there's some instant food in the fridge, you can eat some to tide yourselves over."
Chen Kai replied, "No need, Mom. You and My Dad just remember to eat early, you don't need to worry about me and Xiaoyu."
"We're eating barbecue outside right now."
Qin Xiaoyu also chimed in, "Yes, Auntie, Old Chen and I are eating outside right now."
Li Chunmei on the other end of the phone replied, "Oh, oh, you two are eating right now? I was thinking of bringing you food after the shop wasn't so busy. Well then, you two go ahead and eat."
Qin Xiaoyu also said with concern, "Auntie, business is important, but you and Uncle must remember to eat early!"
"Or, I could tell the boss to grill a bit more meat, and Old Chen and I could bring it to your shop later. You and Uncle could try it, really, the grilled meat at this place is so delicious!"
Li Chunmei said, "No, no, you two eat. Auntie's shop has too many customers. Now that your sprint is over, there are more students, and the shop is too busy to handle it all. We'll just eat something simple."
"Oh, I see, well, okay then. Goodbye, Auntie." Qin Xiaoyu chatted with Li Chunmei for a few sentences, then Chen Kai greeted his mom, and then hung up the phone.
After the call ended.
Chen Kai looked at Qin Xiaoyu and said, "Xiaoyu, have you noticed that My mom seems to like you a lot? Look, when she was talking to you just now, she was more enthusiastic than she is with me."
Qin Xiaoyu became smug.
"Haha, of course! After all, I'm so pretty, everyone loves me and flowers bloom for me. It's just Old Chen who doesn't know a good thing when he sees it."
Chen Kai gave a helpless smile. "Praise you a little, and you're already flying high."
Qin Xiaoyu giggled, then didn't say anything more, continuing to eat the skewers in her hand. The yogurt was finished, and she was about to ask the boss for another bottle.
Because the boss had just given her a boxed yogurt, there wasn't much to begin with, and it was gone after a few sips.
However, at this moment, there were more and more customers in the shop, so the boss was a bit too busy to handle it.
Qin Xiaoyu had no choice but to go inside and get it herself.
She also told Chen Kai, "Old Chen, you keep eating. I'm going inside to get a bottle of yogurt."
When Qin Xiaoyu went inside to get the yogurt.
Her phone was left on the dining table.
At this moment, the screen lit up. It seemed to be a pop-up news item. Chen Kai picked up Qin Xiaoyu's phone and looked at it, realizing that Qin Xiaoyu's phone didn't have a password set.
After swiping to unlock, the interface was on the bookshelf of a comic app. A comic book saved there had a very hot and eye-catching cover.
After seeing this, Chen Kai was completely stunned.
"Old Chen, I'm back! I also grabbed a bottle of cola for you, here you go!"
Qin Xiaoyu came bouncing out with two bottles of drinks, then sat down opposite Chen Kai.
She noticed Chen Kai looking at her phone.
Qin Xiaoyu didn't pay too much attention at first. Old Chen was one of her own, so it was fine if he looked at her phone.
However… Qin Xiaoyu seemed to suddenly remember something, but couldn't recall it for a moment. She just felt like she had forgotten something.
Damn it, this brain really isn't working.
Qin Xiaoyu's CPU was almost overheating.
"Qin Xiaoyu, I didn't expect you to like reading this kind of thing." Chen Kai said at this moment, holding Qin Xiaoyu's phone and looking at the screen.
"What is it?" Qin Xiaoyu looked bewildered, still unable to remember, until Chen Kai turned the phone screen around.
Seeing the cover of that comic on the bookshelf.
Qin Xiaoyu wished she could find a hole to crawl into, it was too embarrassing!
Hadn't she waited for Old Chen at the community entrance for over an hour after buying daily necessities this morning? She was bored then, so she read some comics for a while, but she forgot to exit the app, and she hadn't even set a password.
Just now, she was thinking that she absolutely couldn't let Old Chen know about the cover of this shojo manga she secretly read.
Because which girl hasn't read a few shojo mangas during her innocent and ignorant phase? It's very normal.
But the one Qin Xiaoyu was reading, the cover was too… that, it was easy to misunderstand.
Old Chen wouldn't misunderstand her, would he?
He wouldn't think of her as that kind of perverted woman, like a wolf or a tiger, would he?
"Old Chen, you, you listen to My explanation! I haven't read this comic. My roommate used My phone to read it! It's not me! I haven't read it!!"