Chapter 303: Dragon Cub

Inside the yakitori shop.

Watching the side profile of Lin Xiuyuan beside her as he focused on eating under the warm yellow light, Quan Baolan swallowed instinctively.

This small action wasn't because she was craving his body; it was just that regarding the answer he had just given about the relationship between Park Jiyeon and Xian Enjing, she felt like something wasn't quite right.

It was a feeling that made logical sense, yet intuitively, it didn't seem like it should be that way.

So, after quietly eating a few skewers of yakitori to pad her stomach a little, Quan Baolan put down the bamboo skewer in her hand and once again cast her gaze toward the calm and composed man beside her.

At this moment, Lin Xiuyuan happened to be picking up his water glass to drink, and as he looked up, he met her large, inquisitive eyes.

The next second, he couldn't help but laugh. He put down the glass and said with a hint of teasing, "What? The thirst for knowledge in your eyes is about to overflow, Baolan. Is it about the question from just now? How do I remember you not being the type to be so gossipy?"

Quan Baolan slightly furrowed her delicate brows, looking a bit stubborn, and said straightforwardly, "I just feel like your previous answer was as if you were lying to me."

Faced with this blunt remark, Lin Xiuyuan was left feeling both amused and frustrated, but he also gained a new appreciation for her keen intuition.

No way, she could vaguely sense even that?

Is she cheating?

However, despite his internal surprise, Lin Xiuyuan maintained a serious expression on the surface and firmly shook his head in denial, "How could I lie to you? I've already sworn, I'm honest and fair to all, Baolan-i."

Hearing this, Quan Baolan took a sip of the slightly cool tea and muttered softly, "It just feels like you didn't tell the whole truth."

This remark made Lin Xiuyuan look at her with interest and ask in return, "So, according to your feeling, do you have some other thoughts now?"

Putting down her glass, Quan Baolan blurted out almost without thinking, "Yeah, how about we chat some more."

"Chat about what?" Lin Xiuyuan went along with her.

"You ask, I answer?" Quan Baolan proposed a classic interactive mode and immediately added the rules, "

One question each, no lying allowed."

After hearing this proposal, Lin Xiuyuan first laughed twice, then raised an eyebrow, "Doesn't this just turn into 'Truth or Dare'? What, planning to treat this place like a KTV?"

"Forget the dare, let's just play Truth," Quan Baolan said, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on Lin Xiuyuan's face.

She seemed to want to capture any possible slip-up or genuine emotion from his most subtle facial expressions.

Yet, Lin Xiuyuan calmly bit off the last piece of chicken in his hand, then put down the skewer and picked up a napkin to wipe the corner of his mouth.

Only then did he ask in a leisurely manner, "Sure, let's do it. So, what do you want to ask? Still that same question from before?

"

Being asked back, Quan Baolan was momentarily stunned. She searched her mind a few times, only to find that she couldn't come up with a particularly precise question, or rather, one she really wanted the answer to.

In the end, she couldn't help but reply with some embarrassment, "Ah, I don't know, I haven't thought of one yet."

Lin Xiuyuan, who hadn't expected this answer, was also dumbfounded and laughed, "No, Baolan, if you haven't thought of a question, then what kind of Truth game are you playing with me?"

Being teased, Quan Baolan blushed and looked away, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the teacup.

In truth, deep down, she didn't necessarily have to dwell on the relationship between Lin Xiuyuan and Park Jiyeon and the others, nor did she have a specific list of questions.

She just purely, and suddenly, wanted to know a little more about the person that was Lin Xiuyuan.

That was why she thought of using this Q&A game to more clearly outline the contours of this man.

But Quan Baolan was certainly too embarrassed to say this real thought in her mind out loud.

So, after hesitating for a while, she chose a more casual explanation, "Just treat it as a pastime? Ask whatever comes to mind, how about that? That's fair, right?"

Facing this answer that seemed a bit clumsy yet cute, Lin Xiuyuan looked deeply at Quan Baolan, as if trying to see into her heart.

Then he shook his head gently, his tone carrying a hint of imperceptible softness, "Honestly, this doesn't really seem like your usual personality, Baolan."

"Then what kind of personality do I have in your eyes, Xiuyuan?" Quan Baolan asked back subconsciously, not even noticing that she had naturally omitted the formal honorific suffix when addressing him.

"What kind of personality?"

Lin Xiuyuan struck a contemplative pose, tapping his fingertips lightly on the table, and then counted on his fingers, "Hmm, let's see. A bit introverted and a bit of a homebody, not very willing to communicate deeply with people you aren't familiar with, and most of the time you'd rather stay by yourself than take the initiative to talk or converse. That's about it, I guess."

His series of stereotypical descriptions made Quan Baolan point at herself with some dissatisfaction, her eyes widening slightly, "Are you sure you're talking about me? I'm not that exaggerated."

She admitted that her personality was indeed on the introverted side, but since she wasn't the one mainly responsible for speaking in the group, it didn't reach the level of being "unwilling to communicate" or "unwilling to talk."

It was just that there was no need to be overly talkative.

To this, Lin Xiuyuan immediately brought up ironclad evidence, his tone carrying a hint of aggrieved accusation.

"Look, not long ago when we were fighting the final boss of that dungeon, I asked you for a heal when my HP was almost bottomed out, but what did you do? You turned around and gave the big heal to the warrior tanking the monster in front. I asked you why in the team channel, and you just ignored me. Isn't that the best proof of being 'unwilling to communicate'?"

Now it was Quan Baolan's turn to be amused and frustrated. Recalling the scene in the game, her tone also became uncharacteristically heavy, with a mix of annoyance and amusement.

"Ya, Xiuyuan, you were a shooter hiding at the very back, you were clearly just lightly grazed by the boss's area-of-effect attack and only lost a layer of skin, how was that 'bottomed out'? The main Tank was taking the boss's frontal attacks, and their HP was truly only a tiny bit left, on the verge of falling. In that situation, you tell me, who should I have given that instant big heal to? To tickle you?"

Lin Xiuyuan, who had been deliberately playing dumb and trying to argue unreasonably, was left speechless for half a second.

But he immediately found new evidence of guilt and continued to accuse, "Then last time when that double Flying Mount came out, I invited you to ride it for sightseeing, why didn't you agree to me? That wasn't an emergency combat situation, was it?"

As Lin Xiuyuan spoke, Quan Baolan also remembered that experience and couldn't help but purse her lips and smile, her eyes filled with teasing.

"I don't even want to talk about you. If you hadn't deliberately controlled the mount to spin wildly in the air to look at those messy angles, and then desperately taken screenshots to send to me, trying to see angles the game characters aren't supposed to see, do you think I would have rejected you? Mr. Lin Xiuyuan?"

Just as the two were going back and forth, as if they had returned to the atmosphere of teasing and bickering they had in the online game—

The dark blue curtain to the front left that served as a partition between the bar and the side aisle was suddenly "swished" open from the inside.

Immediately after, several voices that were incredibly familiar to both Lin Xiuyuan and Quan Baolan drifted over, accompanied by footsteps and laughter.

"Unnie, the taste of this shop is really delicious!"

"It is quite good. Do you and Zhiyan come here to eat often?"

"Not really, just occasionally. We also just arrived from Seoul not long ago, but Juli Unnie and Xiaomin Unnie often come here."

"Mm-hmm, yes, last time—"

Following these voices, Xueli, Hela, Xian Enjing, and Park Jiyeon, who had left a message for Lin Xiuyuan saying they were going out to eat, walked out one after another from the private room area behind the curtain.

Xueli, who was walking in the front, didn't notice the scene in the corner of the bar at first because she was looking back to chat with Park Jiyeon behind her.

It was Hela, walking half a step behind her, who scanned the bar and immediately spotted that familiar figure, as well as his petite yet eye-catching companion: Quan Baolan.

A flash of surprise crossed Hela's face upon seeing this, but it quickly turned into a knowing smile, and she took the initiative to raise her hand in greeting, her voice gentle, "Hi, Xiuyuan, when did you wake up? You were still sleeping when we left."

Upon hearing these words from Goo Hara, Xueli, Xian Enjing, and Park Jiyeon, who had been chatting heatedly, all stopped talking and followed her gaze toward that relatively secluded corner of the bar.

Seeing this, Lin Xiuyuan and Quan Baolan had no choice but to temporarily suspend their tense game of truth, raising their hands in unison to signal to the group over there.

Seeing this, Xueli immediately walked over toward them, saying in a slightly coquettish tone as she walked, "Ah~ oppa, why didn't you tell us when you woke up? We thought you were going to sleep until dawn, so we didn't call you to eat with us."

Just then, a light laugh filled with obvious playfulness and a love for stirring up trouble came from behind Xueli; Park Jiyeon walked behind her, her eyes scanning back and forth between Lin Xiuyuan and Quan Baolan, her tone drawn out and full of implication.

"Aigoo~ wuli Xueli, didn't you see? Xiuyuan oppa clearly has a date, right, wuli Baolan unnie~"

The final "Baolan unnie" was delivered with a rising inflection at the end.

Filled with teasing, it instantly focused the attention of everyone on Quan Baolan, who was sitting beside Lin Xiuyuan and looked somewhat flustered and slightly flushed from being caught red-handed.

Noticing Quan Baolan's embarrassed reaction—stiffening instantly and blushing deeply at Park Jiyeon's teasing—a hint of a smile flashed in Lin Xiuyuan's eyes.

However, he still raised his hand at the right moment, waving it gently across the path of Park Jiyeon's playful gaze, successfully drawing her attention to himself.

Then, he said in the most natural tone possible, "Zhiyan, stop shouting nonsense over there."

He then cleverly skipped over the sensitive word "date" and asked instead, "But why did you all eat so fast? I remember Zhenli sent me a message half an hour ago saying you had just left."

After speaking, his gaze turned to Goo Hara, his eyes softening slightly as he asked with clear concern, "What's wrong? Is your appetite not good? Did you not eat much again?"

Noticing this concern, Goo Hara felt a slight warmth in her heart; she smiled happily, shook her head, and explained, "That's not it, I've already eaten quite a bit. We aren't like you, having a black hole for a stomach that can eat so much. We're girls, after all; eating a little bit until we're fifty or sixty percent full is enough."

"Does eating really need to be measured in percentages?" Lin Xiuyuan raised an eyebrow, his tone carrying a bit of disapproving, straight-man confusion, "That sounds so tiring. Shouldn't you eat until you're satisfied and content?"

As he spoke, he naturally patted the empty stool on his other side, "Come, come, come, sit down and eat some more, my treat."

"It's really enough, Xiuyuan." Goo Hara laughed helplessly and brought out the universal excuse, "The doctor said it's not good to eat too much for dinner; it's bad for your health."

But Lin Xiuyuan acted as if he hadn't heard her refusal, still signaling her to sit down with his eyes, carrying a bit of unquestionable persistence.

This slightly overbearing way of showing concern made Goo Hara feel both amused and helpless.

So she looked back at Xueli, Xian Enjing, and the others behind her.

After the girls exchanged a look, they all smiled and, with tacit understanding, sat down one by one in front of the long, narrow bar.

As they sat down, the space that had been relatively spacious was instantly occupied by this group of youthful and beautiful girls, making it look exceptionally lively.

At this moment, Park Jiyeon rested her hands on the smooth bar top, tilted her head, and looked at Lin Xiuyuan like a curious kitten, bringing up the old topic again with a tone of coquettish questioning.

"Oppa~ you still haven't answered me; why didn't you come out to find us the moment you woke up? Did you forget about us?"

Questioned again, Lin Xiuyuan first deliberately turned his head, his gaze lingering for a moment on Quan Baolan, who had become silent and was trying to lower her presence because of the crowd.

Then, a playful mood struck him.

He turned back to look at Park Jiyeon with a roguish smirk on his face, dropping a bombshell, "Why? Are you even jealous of your Baolan unnie now, Zhiyan?"

This earth-shattering tease completely stunned Quan Baolan, who was sitting beside him.

Her already large eyes widened instantly, and the blush that had just faded from her face "boomed" and exploded back into a deep red, even staining her small earlobes crimson.

She immediately waved her hands frantically toward Park Jiyeon, her voice trembling with urgency, "Ah, it's not like that, Zhiyan! Don't listen to Xiuyuan's nonsense; there's nothing like that at all. We just happened to run into each other, yes, we just happened to run into each other."

Xian Enjing and Xueli, who had already seen through the situation, couldn't help but cover their mouths and let out soft, rustling giggles, happy to watch the show from the sidelines.

Park Jiyeon was also caught off guard by Lin Xiuyuan's direct hit; she puffed out her cheeks in frustration and let out a dissatisfied huff, "Hmph, stinky oppa, it's not like you don't know that I'm even jealous of myself, let alone Baolan unnie."

This seemingly petulant remark was actually a double entendre, making everyone's laughter ring out for another moment.

Because everyone was in on the secret, they knew exactly who the "myself" Park Jiyeon was referring to.

Only one of the core figures of the incident, Quan Baolan, whose brain was currently filled with embarrassment, completely failed to grasp this complex meaning.

She even felt that Park Jiyeon was using self-deprecation to help her resolve the previous awkwardness.

So she hurriedly cast an apologetic, soothing look toward their cute youngest member, completely unaware that she was the one being targeted by the teasing.