Chapter 301: The Highly Aggressive

Over at the hotel.

Lying on the bed, Lin Xiuyuan couldn't help but smile after sending that "thoughtful" message and seeing the chat box go completely quiet.

He could already imagine what a spectacular expression must be on Quan Baolan's cute, doll-like face on the other end of the phone right now.

It was likely a look of frustration, wanting to scold someone but finding no way to do so.

So, without waiting for a reply, he casually set his phone to silent mode, tossed it aside, turned over to pull the quilt up, found a comfortable position, and closed his eyes to rest.

The main thing was that he had truly woken up early today.

First, he had run over to the year '25 side to arrange matters and pick up Kim Taeyeon, Li Juli, and the others.

Then, he had gathered Krystal and the other members, and after getting everyone settled, he had to rush off without a moment's rest to pick up Goo Hara.

After that came a "cemetery tour," followed by dealing with all the emotional issues and trivialities that came with it.

It was undeniably exhausting; one could say he had spent the whole day laboring both physically and mentally.

So, as his mind relaxed, a strong sense of fatigue surged in like a tide, and the moment he closed his eyes, he fell into a deep sleep almost immediately.

As for that phone he had set to silent, just a few minutes after he fell asleep, the screen quietly lit up again, displaying a preview of a new message.

It was just a pity that by then, Lin Xiuyuan had already entered dreamland, and with great foresight, he had enabled the physical silent mode with one click.

The 2013 Apple phone still had this physical silent switch, whereas the 2025 one had it removed; it was truly a step backward.

Lin Xiuyuan had complained about this point more than once before.

Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and by the time Lin Xiuyuan woke up naturally, the sky outside the window was already pitch black.

Inside the room, only the Casio digital watch he had taken off and left on the nightstand emitted a faint glow, showing that the time had already reached around eight o'clock in the evening.

Outside the window, the pitter-patter of rain continued, never ceasing.

Looking out through the glass blurred by rainwater, the night scene, interwoven with streetlights and neon signs, bled into a hazy and dreamlike halo, forming a typical urban scene on a rainy night.

However, after waking up, Lin Xiuyuan didn't get out of bed immediately; instead, he spent a few minutes in a daze under the warm quilt, letting his chaotic brain slowly reboot.

Afterward, he reached out to grab the phone by his pillow, lit up the screen, and checked his messages.

As these few hours had passed, several unread messages were displayed on the phone's lock screen.

Looking at those familiar profile pictures, Lin Xiuyuan first tapped on Quan Baolan's chat box.

Quan Baolan (two hours ago): 【Let's meet up.】

Seeing these words, Lin Xiuyuan laughed silently, with a hint of expected playfulness.

However, he didn't reply immediately, but instead tapped on the other message windows first.

Xian Enjing and Park Jiyeon had both sent him messages, the content being much the same: asking if he had woken up and if he wanted to get something to eat together.

Then there was a message from Sulli, which showed it had been sent half an hour ago.

Sulli: 【Oppa, we're awake. Hela unnie is a bit hungry, so we're going out to eat with Enjing unnie and the others first. We won't wait for you; remember to find something to eat when you wake up, or you can ask us to pack some for you.】

After a quick browse to understand the general situation, Lin Xiuyuan finally switched back to the chat window with Quan Baolan.

His fingers began to tap back and forth on the screen.

Lin Xiuyuan: 【Sorry, I was a bit tired earlier and fell asleep; I just woke up. Have you eaten? If not, let me treat you to a meal, just as an apology for my presumption earlier.】

After this message was sent, it didn't make Lin Xiuyuan wait too long; the reply from the other side was almost instantaneous.

Quan Baolan: 【Not yet, but let me treat this meal.】

Facing this reply, Lin Xiuyuan raised an eyebrow, very curious if this "legal loli" wanted to take the initiative, or what she was up to?

So, after hesitating for a moment, he replied.

Lin Xiuyuan: 【It doesn't matter who treats, let's meet first and talk. You choose the location, how about that? I'm not very familiar with this area.】

Quan Baolan: 【Okay, but you'll have to wait a little while, I need to get ready.】

Lin Xiuyuan: 【No problem, no rush, I also need to get up and wash up.】

With the communication finished, the destination for dinner was resolved.

So Lin Xiuyuan quickly and nimbly rolled out of bed, walked into the bathroom, and took a quick rinse with warm water to drive away the lingering sleepiness in his brain.

Then he casually opened the Time Gate to return to the Villa in the year '25 and came before his walk-in closet.

Facing the wardrobe that had become dazzlingly full, Lin Xiuyuan no longer grabbed things at random like before.

Because ever since Krystal, Jessica, Lin Yun'er, and others had started, one after another, intentionally or unintentionally, to add various styles of clothing for him.

Until one night when he wore a random mix-and-match, he ended up being surrounded by that someone for a round of critique and sarcasm; he couldn't find a word to refute her for the entire duration of that meal.

He didn't want to experience that feeling a second time, so he learned his lesson and directly took a pre-matched full set.

After changing into that outfit, which looked casual yet stylish, he stood before the mirror to tidy up his hair and applied a bit of refreshing hair wax.

Confirming his appearance was correct, Lin Xiuyuan then passed back through the Time Gate and returned to the hotel room in Tokyo in 2013.

Just then, the phone screen on the nightstand lit up again; it was a message from Quan Baolan.

Quan Baolan: 【I'm about to head out, are you ready on your end?】

Lin Xiuyuan: 【OK, see you at the hotel entrance.】

Having finished replying, Lin Xiuyuan hurriedly put on his shoes, took one last look at himself in the mirror, and then calmly walked out of the guest room.

A few minutes later, the two met at the entrance of the hotel's brightly lit lobby.

The sound of rain outside was even clearer than it had been in the room.

"Where are we going to eat?" Lin Xiuyuan looked at Quan Baolan before him and asked naturally.

At the same time, however, his gaze also swept quickly and unobtrusively over her outfit.

There was no helping it; who could blame him when Quan Baolan was indeed quite eye-catching tonight?

A pair of beautiful legs wrapped in slightly sheer black silk stockings—although their length wasn't heaven-defying due to her height, they made up for it by being straight, symmetrical, and beautifully shaped.

On her feet were a pair of black ankle boots with a slight heel, which perfectly elongated the proportions of her legs.

The combination of black silk and boots exuded a subtle yet alluring aura under the lights of the rainy night.

According to the complementary principle of "the lower the body, the more basic it is, and the upper the body, the less basic it is"—

Lin Xiuyuan's gaze moved upward accordingly.

Sure enough, Quan Baolan's upper body was dressed quite conservatively, even a bit bloated.

First, there was an off-white, irregular-hem sweater that looked like it had good texture as a base layer, and over it, she wore a black woolen short coat, tightly and completely hiding that proud bust—which had once given Lin Xiuyuan a fleeting glimpse and stood in stark contrast to her petite figure.

And as Lin Xiuyuan scanned her, Quan Baolan naturally noticed his few glances, but she didn't feel offended; deep down, a trace of small, secret joy even flickered through her.

Although her personality leaned toward being a homebody, she was, at the end of the day, a young woman.

Being looked at with an appreciative gaze by a handsome young man with such outstanding physical conditions as Lin Xiuyuan, even if it was just for a moment, was enough to satisfy her little bit of vanity.

Of course, the validity of this feeling relied to a large extent on the high quality of the modeling.

If it had been a man who was unattractive or even a bit sleazy casting the same look, those few glances just now would likely have immediately escalated into a proper accusation of sexual harassment, along with that uncomfortable male gaze.

Having regained her composure, Quan Baolan lifted her chin slightly and glanced at Lin Xiuyuan with a hint of imperceptible smugness.

She reached out and pointed to an inconspicuous alley entrance next to the Jiudian, "Let's eat somewhere around here; I don't want to run too far on a rainy day. It just so happens there's a good yakitori place in the alley ahead, the taste is very authentic, and the environment is quiet. Can you accept that?"

Hearing the words "yakitori," Lin Xiuyuan almost blurted out, "Isn't that just barbecue?"

But the words reached his lips and he swallowed them back, simply nodding along, "Sure, I'll listen to you. Anyway, this kind of shop usually has main courses too, just eating something casual is fine."

Then, he naturally took a step forward and reached out to take the closed transparent umbrella from Quan Baolan's hand.

This made Quan Baolan look at him with some surprise; the other party's sudden gentlemanly gesture caught her off guard.

And Lin Xiuyuan had already "pop" opened the umbrella, holding it over both their heads, forming a small space isolated from the curtain of rain.

He then turned his head to look at Quan Baolan, who was still standing in place with a slightly puzzled look in her eyes, and said in a natural tone, "Let's go, what are you standing there for?"

Under Quan Baolan's guidance, Lin Xiuyuan and she shared the umbrella and soon arrived at that yakitori shop next to the alley entrance.

The shop was not large, and warm yellow light filtered out from the wooden lattice windows, casting a cozy glow on the wet stone path.

However, just as they stepped into the shop entrance and she folded her umbrella at the foyer, Quan Baolan, standing beside him, looked up and asked Lin Xiuyuan with an expression that was both exasperated and amused, "Um, Xiuyuan-i, how tall are you?"

Lin Xiuyuan, who was bending over to put the closed umbrella into the umbrella stand at the door, answered casually, "Ah? About 182 or so, I haven't measured properly in a long time."

Especially after "eating people," Lin Xiuyuan had not measured these physical check-ups at all.

Anyway, looking at it with the naked eye, the change was quite big, and if nothing went wrong, his height should have grown a little bit too.

And hearing this number, Quan Baolan, whose height was fixed at 155cm, immediately pouted unhappily and subconsciously wrinkled her small nose.

Then she looked down at her own calves clad in black silk; sure enough, they were stained with some fine water droplets, and she followed up with a tone carrying a bit of small resentment.

"Then when we go back later, I'd better hold the umbrella myself. The umbrella held at your height doesn't cover me at all; I was just busy blocking the rain for you, and I didn't get a share of the rain or dew at all, just drinking the wind and catching the rainwater."

This sudden complaint with a specific sense of imagery was an angle Lin Xiuyuan had completely not expected.

He hurriedly looked down at Quan Baolan's black silk and small boots; sure enough, there were many tiny water droplets on them, making them look wet.

Seeing this, an apologetic look immediately appeared on his face, and his tone also carried a bit of embarrassment, "Ah, damn, sorry, really sorry. I didn't consider this point, I was just busy watching the road, sorry, sorry."

"How about we go back now and let you change into a set of dry clothes first?"

Watching Lin Xiuyuan's flustered apology, Quan Baolan instead let out a "pfft" laugh, shook her head, and her tone softened a lot.

"It's fine, actually it's no big deal, it's just a little bit of water vapor drifting on, it's not as exaggerated as you think, it'll be dry in a while."

As she said this, she looked up at Lin Xiuyuan seriously again and added with some emotion, "But you are really very tall. Many male friends I know, including many people in the industry, report their height as hovering between 170 and 175."

1

"Aren't boy group idols all quite tall? I saw in the data that many are over 180." Lin Xiuyuan put away the umbrella, followed Quan Baolan inside, and asked with some curiosity.

Hearing this, Quan Baolan glanced at him with an amused look, and then said, "Actually, there are more false reports; it's a common operation in the industry. Using shoe inserts and reporting height with shoes on are all for the sake of looking good."

Lin Xiuyuan understood this point, so he nodded to show he understood.

Afterward, the two walked toward their seats under the guidance of a waiter, while he continued the previous topic, "So you really shouldn't fight me for this meal, I must pay, just consider it an apology and hush money?"

The last few words were a small joke Lin Xiuyuan made, combining the previous situation.

"We'll talk about it later."

Hearing this, Quan Baolan first gave a non-committal response and did not agree immediately.

Led by the waiter, the two came to the counter area inside the yakitori shop and sat down at a corner seat against the wall at the very back.

It was relatively quiet here, far from other diners, and it was just right for talking about art.

For the ordering part, it was ladies first.

Quan Baolan held the menu and looked at it carefully, while Lin Xiuyuan didn't even look and said directly to the waiter, "Please give me a portion of beef rice bowl, thank you."

This operation made Quan Baolan, who was looking at the menu, couldn't help but look up, "Who comes to a yakitori shop and orders a main dish like rice directly?"

Hearing this, Lin Xiuyuan immediately changed his words, "And add a few more skewers of grilled meat, you order, I'll see how your recommendations are, I trust your taste."

During the conversation, he naturally handed the ordering power to Quan Baolan.

Don't look at Quan Baolan's usual impression as a homebody + introverted, but at this moment when a decision needed to be made, she performed very steadily and decisively.

She didn't have any pointless pushing back and forth with Lin Xiuyuan like "You order" or "You order," and very naturally accepted the ordering power handed over by Lin Xiuyuan.

Looking down at the menu, her fingers slid over several dishes, and she skillfully reported to the waiter several skewers she had eaten and felt were good on weekdays.

When considering Lin Xiuyuan's appetite, she specially ordered a few more portions of meat, and finally closed the menu; everything was arranged in an orderly manner.

In the gap while waiting for the chef to prepare the ingredients and grill them, only the two of them were left in the small space.

Under the warm yellow light, the scent of charcoal fire faintly drifted over.

Quan Baolan, sitting on a high stool, had her legs dangling, holding the slightly warm barley tea with both hands, her fingertips gently rubbing the cup wall, seemingly hesitating for a moment.

When she looked up, her gaze immediately carried a bit of curiosity and inquiry as she looked at Lin Xiuyuan sitting next to her.

Then she softly asked a question that had been circling in her heart for a while, "Xiuyuan-i, may I ask you something presumptuous? Are you and Zhiyan together? Or are you with Enjing?"

"Ah???"

Not expecting Quan Baolan to ask such a direct question, Lin Xiuyuan's eyes widened slightly, and he let out a syllable full of shock and confusion.

No, he hadn't even started his offensive yet, how was this loli player more anxious than him.

This is a bit too aggressive!!