Chapter 438: 462

460 "Yo, rare guest, Irene~" (Seeking subscriptions and monthly votes)

And just as Liu Zhimin was lost in thought in the vocal practice room, Pei Zhuxuan, who had already walked far down the corridor, raised her small hand, gently touched her chin with her fingers, and put on an expression of deep thought.

As she walked, she muttered softly to herself, her voice so faint that only she could hear it. This book is first published on Tiantiankan Novels, tt. tw, providing a worry-free reading experience with error-free and correctly ordered chapters.

"I just get the feeling that Karina was lying to me earlier."

Pei Zhuxuan's footsteps slowed down unconsciously. The sunlight from outside the window shone on her face, reflecting her slightly furrowed brows and a look of mild confusion. "That must be it, so Karina has some kind of connection with Lin Xiuyuan."

Pei Zhuxuan, who never liked to overthink, had a train of thought that was wild and imaginative this time; there was no logical deduction process at all, she was following her gut entirely.

Thinking of this, Pei Zhuxuan's footsteps came to a complete halt.

Then, standing at a corner of the corridor, she took her phone out of her coat pocket, held it in her palm, and gently swiped her thumb across the screen.

However, she stopped again, a look of hesitation appearing on her face.

Because ever since she and Lin Xiuyuan had that breakfast appointment last time, although they hadn't met face-to-face in the days that followed, their contact over the internet had never once lapsed.

Occasionally, when bored, they would chat back and forth; sometimes sharing funny videos they saw online, sometimes complaining about trivial matters happening around them, or talking about life's little details like what good food they'd eaten or where they wanted to go.

This way of interacting had caused the relationship between the two to progress by leaps and bounds compared to before.

If they could only be considered ordinary friends who would greet each other when meeting before, then now they had at least reached the stage of daily friends—the kind of familiarity where one could send a message at any time without needing to think too much about an opening line.

So this time, when Pei Zhuxuan realized through her sixth sense that Liu Zhimin and Lin Xiuyuan might have some kind of connection, her first reaction was to try and fish for information from Lin Xiuyuan himself to see if she could dig up some gossip to talk about.

As a woman, her curiosity was actually quite strong.

If she hadn't been curious about the relationship between Lin Xiuyuan, Lin Yun'er, and Dalongzai back then, she wouldn't have gotten to know Lin Xiuyuan in the first place.

It could be said that her friendship with Lin Xiuyuan started from a gossipy heart.

Since she got to know him out of curiosity back then, it didn't seem wrong to go chat with him out of curiosity now.

Thinking of this, Pei Zhuxuan felt her reasoning was very sound, so she immediately made up her mind and hesitated no longer.

She unlocked her phone screen, opened the chat interface with Lin Xiuyuan, and her fingers flew as she typed a line and sent it.

The content of the message was quite interesting, carrying a hint of teasing and probing, completely different from the cold and dignified image of Pei Zhuxuan that others saw in their daily lives.

"Xiuyuan, how come I didn't know you became a Chinese teacher? Teach me some Chinese sometime, too; I'll have a use for it next time I go to Huaxia."

After typing, she sent it.

After sending the message, the corners of Pei Zhuxuan's mouth curled up unconsciously, and then she tucked her phone back into her pocket and continued walking down the corridor.

She suddenly felt that today had become interesting.

……

On the other side.

Lin Xiuyuan, who had just sent Krystal to the heavens, had just come out of the bathroom after showering. The hot water had washed away the residue from their exercise, and he felt much more refreshed.

He was only wrapped in a bath towel, holding another towel in his hand to wipe his wet hair.

Just then, the phone on the nightstand rang; it was a message notification.

So Lin Xiuyuan continued wiping his hair while walking over to pick up the phone and take a look.

When he saw that the sender displayed on the screen was Pei Zhuxuan, and read the "Chinese teacher" remark in the message, he was almost startled.

His first reaction was: Oh no, could she have snuck a peek at the scene where he was in bed with Liu Zhimin?

As soon as this thought popped up, Lin Xiuyuan's heart skipped a beat, but he quickly calmed down and thought about it, feeling that it was impossible for Pei Zhuxuan to know about that; it was probably some other issue.

Thinking of this, Lin Xiuyuan steadied himself, picked up the phone, and retorted.

"What Chinese teacher, what teaching Chinese? Irene-xi, you've got me completely confused."

A few seconds after the text was sent, a reply came back from the other side.

"You really are interesting. You call me by my name directly when we meet, but use all sorts of honorifics when typing. I'm talking about Karina. You aren't going to tell me you don't know her, are you?"

Seeing this reply, Lin Xiuyuan finally realized what was going on.

Liu Zhimin must have been doing something at the company that Pei Zhuxuan bumped into, and then this big sister guessed something based on her intuition.

Although he didn't know exactly how she guessed it, it was at least much more normal than his previous thought about "being caught in bed."

Thinking of this, Lin Xiuyuan couldn't help but laugh.

On the bed, Krystal was lying there limply; the earlier exertion had left her too lazy to even move a finger.

Hearing Lin Xiuyuan's laughter, she struggled to lift her head to look at him, her voice carrying a light pant that hadn't fully subsided.

"What are you laughing at, Xiuyuan? Mocking my poor stamina, are you?"

"No, I'm laughing at someone whose brain isn't working quite right," Lin Xiuyuan said, looking up at Krystal and denying it.

As he said this, his mouth still held a smile; he was clearly quite amused by Pei Zhuxuan's message.

And Krystal, noticing the phone in his hand, glanced at it. Although she couldn't see the specific content, she could roughly guess which girl had sent Lin Xiuyuan a message again.

Thinking of this, she didn't press for details on who it was, but just lay back down. "Which little sister have you gone off to flirt with now? Take it easy, don't go getting anyone pregnant."

"Is that necessary? I've already finished inside you so many times, and I haven't seen any 'human life' come of it yet," Lin Xiuyuan replied casually, his tone carrying a hint of dismissive teasing.

"You know that's not what I meant."

Faced with Lin Xiuyuan's retort, Krystal was speechless, but she also casually snapped back, "Besides, is it that I don't want to? It's you who isn't capable."

As soon as Krystal said the words "not capable," Lin Xiuyuan was immediately unhappy.

What is a man most afraid of?

It's a woman saying he isn't capable.

This sentence was more effective than any challenge; it struck directly at Lin Xiuyuan's weak point.

So, after casually replying to Pei Zhuxuan on his phone, he tossed it onto the nightstand, turned around, leaned over the bed, and shouted.

"Come, come, come, I'll let you see who isn't capable."

"Ah, no, I meant you can't get me pregnant, not what you're thinking!" Krystal realized her phrasing had been ambiguous and hurriedly propped herself up and raised her head to explain.

But it was already too late.

"I don't care, I'm going to teach you a lesson first."

"Stinky Lin Xiuyuan!!!"

Krystal's shout carried both feigned anger and laughter, echoing throughout the room.

Over at SM Company.

Pei Zhuxuan looked at the last message Lin Xiuyuan had sent her, feeling a bit dazed.

"Let's meet up and talk tonight."

Just these five simple characters, with no extra explanation and no context whatsoever.

Yet it made Pei Zhuxuan read the message over and over again, her brows knitting slightly as all sorts of question marks popped up in her mind.

What does that mean?

What does "let's meet up and talk tonight" mean?

Does he want to ask her out for a meal? Or does he want to talk over a video call?

Speaking of video calls, the two of them had actually video called a few times during this period.

But those few times were only because they happened to be sharing something interesting they saw in their daily lives, and feeling that it wasn't clear enough through text, they just dialed a video call to show it to the other person.

But every time, they only kept it on for a few seconds, letting the other person see the object before hanging up immediately; they never had long video chats.

So, what exactly did Lin Xiuyuan mean by "let's meet up and talk tonight" this time?

Pei Zhuxuan held her phone, staring blankly at the message on the screen, lost in a daze.

She pondered the meaning behind these words over and over in her mind, but the more she thought, the more confused she became.

Time passed by, One Minute One Second at a time.

Unknowingly, the sky outside the window had gradually darkened from the brightness of the afternoon into the dim, orange-red hue of the evening.

After finishing her work again, Pei Zhuxuan sat down to rest for a while, then picked up her phone, intending to kill some time.

As it turned out, when she inadvertently opened the Kakao app and saw Lin Xiuyuan's message again, she finally remembered the situation from noon.

So she rubbed her face, feeling that things couldn't go on like this.

However... since she couldn't figure it out no matter how much she thought about it, why not just stop thinking?

Anyway, Lin Xiuyuan said to meet up and talk tonight, so she might as well ask him out for a meal; she didn't have any plans for tonight anyway, and it was boring to stay alone.

Pei Zhuxuan, who acted as soon as she made up her mind, no longer hesitated; she picked up her phone, but this time she didn't send a text, instead dialing Lin Xiuyuan's number directly.

After the call went through, the beeping sound of waiting for an answer came from the receiver—once, twice, three times.

Fortunately, the person on the other end answered quickly, not making her wait too long.

"Yo, a rare guest, Irene."

Lin Xiuyuan's voice came from the other end of the line, his tone carrying obvious laughter, sounding like he was in a good mood.

There was some music in the background; the volume wasn't too loud, but one could tell the rhythm was quite strong, sounding like the accompaniment to some pop song.

Pei Zhuxuan, who rarely received such a casual and intimate response from men on the Peninsula, was stunned for a moment by being called "Irene," then replied with a chuckle.

"Who are you talking to? Why aren't you calling me 'Irene-xi'? Isn't that how you call me when you text? Also, I'm your noona, do you understand?"

Her tone carried a bit of teasing, but in truth, she didn't feel any aversion to this way of being called by her name directly.

"Same thing, same thing." Lin Xiuyuan laughed and brushed it off.

"What are you doing? The music is so loud," Pei Zhuxuan listened carefully to the background noise on the phone and asked curiously, "It's so early, the bars shouldn't be open yet, right?"

It was just evening now, and bars and nightclubs on the Peninsula usually didn't start operating until after eight or nine at night; there shouldn't be such loud music at this hour.

At this moment, Lin Xiuyuan had just dropped Krystal off at the airport and was driving back to Seoul.

With one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding his phone, he smiled and answered after hearing Pei Zhuxuan's question, "I'm driving. I was just wondering who was calling me at this time."

"That's perfect, come over and have a meal together."

When Pei Zhuxuan said this, her tone still carried a hint of awkwardness.

You have to know, she rarely took the initiative to ask men out for meals; most of the time, others asked her, and whether she agreed or not depended on her mood.

Now that it was her turn to take the initiative, she was still a little unaccustomed to it.

At the same time, Lin Xiuyuan was clearly shocked on his end, and he shouted with a somewhat exaggerated voice, "Wow, a fairy has descended to earth! What good deed did I do? Are you rewarding me?"

"Stop with the glib talk, are you eating or not?" Pei Zhuxuan felt a bit embarrassed by what he said, her tone carrying a hint of feigned anger, but the corners of her mouth had already curled up involuntarily.

"Eating, of course I'm eating if a beauty asks me out. Where at?" Lin Xiuyuan answered without hesitation.

"I'll send you the address in a bit."

"Alrighty."

Lin Xiuyuan agreed very readily, his voice filled with laughter.

Having set the dinner date, Pei Zhuxuan couldn't help but smile lightly after hanging up and looking at the finished call screen.

Then she opened a map app and began to browse for suitable places to eat nearby, her fingers sliding across the screen as she carefully selected a restaurant.

Although this wasn't her first time asking a man out for a meal, it was the first time she had asked a man so much younger than her, so she still cared a little about her image and wanted to show off a bit.

The sky outside the window had darkened further, and the streetlights had turned on, emitting a warm yellow glow in the thickening night.

Soon, after choosing the restaurant, Pei Zhuxuan copied the address and sent it to Lin Xiuyuan, then put away her phone, preparing to head back home.

For no other reason than that she had to tidy up her appearance.

And tonight, it should be quite interesting, right?

On the other side.

Lin Xiuyuan put down his phone and continued driving toward Seoul, only the navigation had changed from the Villa to the address Pei Zhuxuan had just provided.

However, sometimes, the occurrence of special circumstances always comes so unexpectedly.

Lin Xiuyuan, who had been staring straight ahead, caught sight of a seemingly familiar figure from afar with his keen gaze, so he eased off the gas pedal in surprise and slowed the car down.

When the car glided past the person, Lin Xiuyuan, having confirmed the person's identity, pulled the car over to the side.

He then looked up at the situation in the rearview mirror, hesitated for a moment, and still opened the car door to step out.

Finally, under the person's equally surprised and curious gaze, he walked up to them and smiled slightly, "Long time no see, what happened here?"

Han So-hee looked at Lin Xiuyuan before her, and only one thought crossed her mind.

Who is this??