Chapter 404: Pei Zhuxuan

More than half an hour later, Pei Zhuxuan, having finished removing her makeup, leaned against the cushions of the sofa, her whole body half-sunk into the soft seat.

The soft light in the Living Room illuminated her face, and after a moment of daze, she picked up her phone again to glance at the screen.

Among them, the message from Lin Xiuyuan was still at the very top.

Just now, while removing her makeup, she had been a bit curious about why Lin Xiuyuan would send that to her, and she also discovered that she actually didn't know how to respond to him.

How should she put it? To say she and Lin Xiuyuan were close, it didn't seem like they were that close.

The number of times the two had met wasn't high, and it was basically all by chance; if it weren't for the endorsement of those two great seniors, Kim Taeyeon and Lin Yun'er, she wouldn't even have noticed this person of the opposite sex.

But to say they weren't close, they had indeed met twice and chatted.

Most importantly, they had each other's contact information, although their private contact was limited to greetings and well-wishes.

However, the words Lin Xiuyuan said to her at the checkout counter last time made her somewhat curious about this man.

But even so, their relationship shouldn't have progressed to this extent.

This "I'm back" that suddenly popped up—what exactly did he mean?

Staring at those four characters for a while, Pei Zhuxuan finally placed her phone gently on the coffee table and got up to get a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

As she walked back to the Living Room, her footsteps stopped in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

At this moment, Seoul outside the window hadn't completely fallen asleep.

The lights of the high-rise buildings in the distance were scattered, and cars occasionally passed by on the street, their headlights carving out a brief line of light in the night.

The city in the early morning was quiet to the point of being empty.

Pei Zhuxuan stood there, taking small sips of water, while her mind involuntarily thought about that message from just a moment ago.

Was it possible that he just sent it as a mass message?

This thought suddenly popped up, and her eyes narrowed slightly.

Hmm, it was very likely a mass message, because she often did that too, and then checked the wrong person or checked too many people.

Thinking about it, the more Pei Zhuxuan thought, the more reasonable it seemed.

Perhaps Lin Xiuyuan had returned to Seoul, so after landing, he sent a mass message to his friends to update them on his situation.

But that wasn't right either.

Pei Zhuxuan, who had just felt her reasoning was somewhat sound, frowned the next second; who informs people of their situation in the middle of the night? Couldn't he wait until dawn?

So, was it still very likely that he sent it to her individually? Did he want to ask her out?

But it seemed they weren't that close, right?

She stood there for a while before slowly walking back to the sofa.

After sitting down again, she picked up her phone and opened the message to read it once more.

A short four characters, without any emojis.

No salutation, and no extra explanation.

It really looked like a mass message, it was just the timing that was off.

Thinking of this, Pei Zhuxuan, who couldn't help but take another look at the message, sighed softly.

After struggling for a while, she finally put the phone aside again.

Forget it.

Not going to reply.

Replying at this hour felt a bit strange.

Even if she replied, she wouldn't know what to say.

Time to take a shower.

Shaking her head, Pei Zhuxuan stood up and walked toward the bedroom; the Living Room soon fell into silence.

More than ten minutes later, the sound of water splashing from the shower came from the bedroom, and in the blink of an eye, who knew how much time had passed.

Inside the Villa, Lin Xiuyuan was still playing games quite intensely.

Gunshots were constant in the desert map, and he and his teammates' corpses lay in countless corners of the map, with the occasional outburst of "national essence" (profanity) spraying from his mouth or ringing out from his headphones.

Until the final round, Lin Xiuyuan steadily controlled his recoil, and with a few bullets, he knocked the opponent directly to the ground.

"Nice!"

Seeing the victory achieved, his teammates cheered happily over the voice chat; after all, a score of 12:10 was still somewhat exciting.

At the same time, Lin Xiuyuan took off his headphones and let out a long breath, leaning back into his chair and stretching comfortably.

At this moment, a teammate in the headphones was also shouting, "Buddy, are you still coming? It's 6 o'clock. If not, I'm going out to eat a bowl of hot dry noodles first; I'm hungry."

"I'm a bit hungry too. How about we take a halftime break? I'm going out to have a bowl of soup noodles."

"Let's do that then. Let's add each other as friends and play together again if there's a chance."

Hearing this, Lin Xiuyuan chuckled and added a few teammates as friends, then switched screens to a short-video platform, intending to relax.

At the same time, he also reached out to pick up the phone next to him to take a look.

Because it was still too early, his mass messages from earlier hadn't received any replies.

But just as Lin Xiuyuan was about to put the phone down again, the device vibrated slightly, and then a notification sound rang out.

Lin Xiuyuan opened it casually, and upon seeing the sender, his eyebrows couldn't help but lift slightly.

It was Pei Zhuxuan.

There was only one sentence on the screen: 【Just saw the message, did you send this to the wrong person?】

With his mind a bit blank, he looked at this message and then glanced at the words above; damn, he really did send it to the wrong person.

Leaning against the back of the chair, Lin Xiuyuan paused his fingers by the keyboard, pondered for a moment, and then immediately picked up his phone to type rapidly.

【Yeah, sorry about that. I originally meant to send it to Taeyeon and the others. I didn't expect to disturb you so early, I'm really sorry.】

After the message was sent, he subconsciously stared at the screen for a while.

As a result, after a few seconds, the other side replied with a message.

【It's fine, I haven't slept yet either. I just got back from overseas and haven't even adjusted to the time difference yet.】

Lin Xiuyuan let out a soft "tsk" as he read this sentence from the other side, his fingers rubbing against the edge of the screen.

Two breaths later, he started typing again.

【It seems that even for an idol, the glamour is only on the surface; it's actually quite hard behind the scenes.】

The message had just been sent when the other side replied again very quickly.

【It's alright, we don't have it as hard as Taeyeon sunbae and YoonA sunbae. So, what are you doing now?】

Lin Xiuyuan glanced at his computer screen, where a young woman with a full figure dressed in revealing clothes was dancing on the edge of appropriateness, so he replied casually.

【Playing games, how about you?】

【Just finished showering, currently spacing out.】

Seeing these words, Lin Xiuyuan thought for a moment and slowly typed out a sentence with his fingers.

【Since neither of us can sleep, how about going out for breakfast? I heard there's a 24-hour restaurant that has pretty good sukiyaki. We can have some Korean beef, or some soup and rice to warm our stomachs.】

After sending the message, he placed his phone on the table, thinking that the other person would probably refuse, after all, the two of them hadn't officially met in person or spoken more than a few words.

But thinking of the innocent version of her from 2013, Lin Xiuyuan couldn't help but pick it up and take another look.

As a result, the chat box remained quiet for a few seconds with no movement.

Seeing this, Lin Xiuyuan grinned, then set the phone aside and continued scrolling through dance videos.

It wasn't until a while later that the notification sound rang, and the other side replied with two words.

【Now?】

Having received the reply, the corners of Lin Xiuyuan's mouth immediately curled up, and he replied quickly and decisively.

【Yeah, I can't sleep anyway, right?】

The response time for this one was even longer.

The phone screen glowed quietly, the chat interface frozen there; Lin Xiuyuan stared at it for a while, and just as he thought about turning off the screen to continue watching dance videos,

A message arrived.

【Alright, send me the address.】

Looking at this message, besides smiling, Lin Xiuyuan was also a bit surprised that Pei Zhuxuan would actually agree to him.

But his fingers still nimbly sent the location of that soup and rice restaurant over.

After sending it, he put the phone on the table and turned off the screen.

Then he got up and walked into the bathroom, simply washing his face with cold water.

Feeling the water droplets sliding down his cheeks, Lin Xiuyuan looked up at himself in the mirror; his hair was a bit messy, but his expression was unexpectedly clear.

Then he muttered softly, "Asking someone out for breakfast in the middle of the night, I'm a bit silly, and the person on the other side is a bit crazy too—"

After saying that, he laughed out loud.

For some reason, this inexplicable middle-of-the-night moment suddenly seemed quite interesting.

At the same time.

On the other side, after Pei Zhuxuan agreed to Lin Xiuyuan's invitation, just as he had guessed, she looked at the conversation on her phone and cursed herself in a low voice, "Yah, Pei Zhuxuan, are you crazy? It's the middle of the night and the sky isn't even bright yet, and you agreed to go out for breakfast with a man you aren't even close to?"

Actually, after she finished showering earlier, she had been hesitating whether to reply to Lin Xiuyuan. Later, when she dried her hair and lay in bed with absolutely no sleepiness, she switched back to the chat window with Lin Xiuyuan, letting her instinct act faster than her reason to send that first reply.

Although Pei Zhuxuan started to regret it after sending it, the first step had already been taken, and it certainly couldn't be taken back.

So, following Lin Xiuyuan's reply saying that the text message was meant for Kim Taeyeon and Lin Chong'er but was sent to her by mistake, Pei Zhuxuan's already immense curiosity became even more intense.

In the middle of the night, to be able to send such a message to two sunbaes without any hesitation, what exactly is the relationship between them?

And there's also the sunbae from Tara.

The more she thought about it, the more curious she became, so she went along with chatting with Lin Xiuyuan, and thus it ended up as it just did, agreeing to Lin Xiuyuan's breakfast invitation.

Thinking about it now, Pei Zhuxuan was truly extremely regretful, but there was no other way.

Now it was either stand him up or go to the appointment.

How to choose?

Half an hour later.

In a quiet alley near Sinnonhyeon Station in Gangnam District.

That 24-hour Korean beef sukiyaki shop was brightly lit; there were few people in sight at the entrance, only some sanitation workers sweeping the street.

The early morning air carried a hint of chill, and a faint fragrance drifted through the alley.

When Lin Xiuyuan pushed the door open and entered, there wasn't a single person in the shop, only two middle-aged women working the night shift sitting there chatting. Seeing him enter, they called out a casual "Welcome."

After entering, Lin Xiuyuan scanned the shop and quickly chose a seat in the corner to sit down.

Just a short while after he sat down, Pei Zhuxuan arrived too.

Wearing a beige coat, she pushed the door open and walked in. Her hair was draped casually over her shoulders, and her face, having just showered, didn't seem to have much makeup on, but it wasn't bare either; she had simply applied a base, looking clean and fresh.

As soon as she entered, Pei Zhuxuan's gaze noticed Lin Xiuyuan, because he had already raised his hand to signal her.

Glancing at the empty shop, Pei Zhuxuan walked over slowly and sat down opposite him, "Hello."

"Hi, no need to be so formal, just be casual."

Hearing the honorifics, Lin Xiuyuan waved his hand, then picked up the sukiyaki menu and handed it to her, "Take a look at what you want to eat. I didn't expect that sending a message to the wrong person would land me a dining companion for breakfast. I'm truly very lucky, and at the same time, I'm really sorry to have disturbed you."

Pei Zhuxuan looked at Lin Xiuyuan, her eyes carrying a hint of subtle scrutiny and a few traces of faint curiosity.

"So, why did you suddenly think of asking me out for breakfast?"

"Can I say I was hungry?" Lin Xiuyuan picked up the menu on the table and flipped through it, his tone casual, "I slept from noon yesterday until three in the morning when I crawled out of bed, then I couldn't sleep and played some games, so I got a bit hungry."

As he spoke, he looked up at Pei Zhuxuan opposite him, "I heard the sukiyaki here is good; it's not as sweet as the ones around here, but rather closer to the taste of Nihon. Do you want to try it?"

Hearing this, Pei Zhuxuan looked at the menu for a few moments and finally nodded, "Then I'll have the one you mentioned."

After ordering, she handed the menu back and looked at Lin Xiuyuan again, seemingly hesitating about something.

After a while, once Lin Xiuyuan finished ordering with the middle-aged woman, she finally asked, "By the way, that message of yours was sent to a group, right?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiuyuan was stunned for a moment, but then he did not hide it and nodded quite frankly.

"Yes, it was a group message."

He shrugged, "I was in a rush to play a game at the time, didn't look at the contact list carefully, and just sent it to everyone with a swipe."

Having said this, Lin Xiuyuan looked across the table, "So I'll treat you to this Breakfast; consider it my remedial measure for disturbing you, and don't argue with me."

"You really don't seem like someone from here in Seoul."

"Didn't you know I'm from Huaxia?"

This answer made Pei Zhuxuan pause, and she shook her head lightly, picked up the water on the table, and took a sip, "You don't seem to have told me, and I thought you saw the news about my return and wanted to ask me out because of that."

"The news about your return?" Lin Xiuyuan was stunned for a moment, his eyebrows slightly raised, "When did you return?"

"Also in the early hours of the morning."

"Then I really didn't know; it was purely accidental, I didn't expect to flush you out." Lin Xiuyuan smiled.

Hearing this, the indescribable emotion that had been in Pei Zhuxuan's heart suddenly dissipated.

Since it was just a group message, there was nothing more to think about.

So she smiled lightly, her expression noticeably more relaxed than before, and her tone became a bit more lively, "To be honest, I thought you sent it to that person from our company's current leading girl group, and I was wondering if replying to you would disturb you two."

Lin Xiuyuan, having been teased for no reason, quickly thought of the scene where he and the other party had run into Liu Zhimin last time.

After a flash in his eyes, he smiled and said, "What, wanting to spread rumors about me dating her again?"

"No." Pei Zhuxuan shook her head hurriedly, startled.

Lin Xiuyuan continued to smile, "Just a joke, don't be nervous. But thinking about it now, does the meal we agreed on back then count as being fulfilled now?"

Pei Zhuxuan did not expect that the boy across from her could actually circle back to that casual remark from before.

However, this kind of respect, being kept in mind and not forgotten, still had quite an impact on a woman.

Haven't you seen the very gentle smile already hanging on her face?

"It really does."

Immediately, Lin Xiuyuan also responded, "Yeah, although it was a bit of a lucky strike, it just shows that fate is even more coincidental."

Fate??

Pei Zhuxuan, who had always been sensitive to such metaphysical concepts, felt her heart tighten and raised her eyebrows to look at him.

At this moment, however, Lin Xiuyuan took the initiative to reach out his right hand, "Right, we've known each other for so long but haven't formally introduced ourselves. Hello, my name is Lin Xiuyuan, from Huaxia."

Having never experienced such a situation, Pei Zhuxuan was dazed for a moment before subconsciously reaching out her hand and gently shaking his.

"Hello, my name is Pei Zhuxuan."