Chapter 478: 502 Pei Zhuxuan

Gangnam District, inside a private room at Haidilao.

This restaurant is located on the third floor of a commercial building; the decor is the warm yellow tone typical of Haidilao. The private room is not very large, with a square table embedded in the center. The induction cooker on the table hasn't been turned on yet, and four chairs are arranged around it.

The television on the wall is playing a music program's performance stage, but because it is muted, it looks inexplicably comical.

As soon as Lin Yun'er sat down, she didn't even bother to take off her coat before skillfully picking up the tablet the waiter had placed there in advance. Her fingers slid rapidly across the screen, and she began to order.

Kim Taeyeon, who followed behind, first took off her down jacket and draped it on the empty chair next to her, then moved a little closer to Lin Yun'er.

She stretched out a finger to point at this and that on the tablet, poking at the picture of shrimp paste one moment and clicking on the option for tripe the next.

She didn't forget to mutter in that rapid-fire, short-sentence tone: "This one, this one, and this one. Oh right, let's get an order of shrimp paste too, and we can't be without duck intestines."

At this moment, the way the two of them were huddled together looking at the menu was no different from two high school girls who had snuck into a snack shop after school to place an order.

However, the two of them didn't just focus on ordering for themselves; in the gaps between their heated discussion, they still remembered there was a third person at the table.

So, Lin Yun'er first moved her gaze away from the tablet, looked up at Lin Xiuyuan sitting across the table, and asked naturally, "Xiuyuan, what do you want to eat?"

"You both know my habits and preferences; just order whatever, I'm not a picky eater anyway."

Lin Xiuyuan, who was being asked, was looking down, his thumbs tapping rapidly on his screen as he replied to messages from Dalongzai.

So, after hearing Lin Yun'er's question, he lifted his head to glance at her and replied casually.

But just as he finished saying this, before his mouth had even closed, he heard a "Yo~" from Lin Yun'er that carried a clear tone of mockery.

Then, she began to list Lin Xiuyuan's "crimes" one by one.

"Xiuyuan, you really dare to say you're not a picky eater. Yet here you are, disliking curry, refusing tom yum soup over there, and you don't like eating sashimi either. If this doesn't count as being a picky eater, I really don't know what does."

"Haha, Yun'er, stop it." Kim Taeyeon laughed heartily from the side.

However, Lin Xiuyuan certainly didn't take this kind of attack to heart.

After sending the last message, he flipped his phone face down on the table and said to the two women laughing in a huddle in front of him, his expression unchanged, "That's called not liking something, not being a picky eater."

After saying this, he made a move to stand up and continued, "Alright, I'm going out to get some fruit and things to eat. What do you want?"

Kim Taeyeon reined in her laughter, wiped the moisture from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand, and replied, "Get some of all the fruits; the ones here are quite fresh."

Lin Xiuyuan nodded, stood up from his chair, pulled open the door of the private room, and walked out.

When the door automatically sprang back and closed behind him, it made a very soft damping sound, temporarily separating him from the two women in the room.

Just the second after the private room door closed.

Kim Taeyeon immediately moved her chair next to Lin Yun'er, pushed up the overly long sleeves of her hoodie, rested both elbows on the table, and whispered into Lin Yun'er's ear.

"Yun'er, that matter about you wanting to get pregnant—haven't you talked to Xiuyuan about it yet?"

"No."

Lin Yun'er answered very crisply.

While speaking, her hands didn't stop moving, and she continued to select a few more dishes from the menu.

"Are you waiting for an opportunity?"

Seeing her calm and composed appearance, Kim Taeyeon became even more curious.

She tilted her head to look at Lin Yun'er's profile. Lin Yun'er's expression was too calm, which made her a bit unable to read the situation. This was a pretty big deal; how could she be so composed?

Facing Kim Taeyeon's curious questioning, Lin Yun'er finally withdrew her gaze from the tablet screen and turned to face Kim Taeyeon.

"Unnie, didn't I say before? This matter definitely cannot be spoken from my mouth. We have to see how things are with Xiujing first; there's no use being anxious right now."

"Little Crystal, huh." Kim Taeyeon added subconsciously.

"It's Big Crystal, Unnie."

Lin Yun'er corrected her with a smile, then continued, "Anyway, Xiuyan Unnie has already spoken to her, and with my actions of seeking her out earlier, as long as Xiujing has any thoughts on the matter, she should show some response."

When Lin Yun'er said this, her tone carried a very calm sense of composure.

And Kim Taeyeon, listening to this, first nodded slightly, then as if thinking of something, shook her head again.

A smile with a mix of admiration and helplessness appeared at the corners of her mouth as she looked at Lin Yun'er and said, "I must say, you two Unnies—one biological, one not biological but closer than biological—have really calculated Crystal to a T. I truly feel sorry for her."

There was no helping it; the methods these two used to scheme against people together were truly unique.

Back when they were in the group, quite a few people in the company had been tricked by them.

"No way, this is called recommending the most suitable person to do the most appropriate thing." Lin Yun'er extended an index finger and shook it at Kim Taeyeon with a smile.

And just as the two of them were huddled in the private room talking about this, Lin Xiuyuan, who had walked out of the room to the public self-service area, ran into an acquaintance he hadn't seen for a while, which was quite a surprise.

The public self-service area of this Haidilao was at the end of the corridor; it was a long, narrow counter with several rows of stainless steel buffet trays and various cold dishes and fruits.

Lin Xiuyuan walked back and forth holding an empty plate, picking out watermelon slices and cantaloupe chunks in the fruit section.

Just as he put the tongs back and was about to move to the cold dish section—

A figure turned over from the dipping sauce station nearby, almost bumping into his shoulder.

The two looked up.

"Oh, why are you here?"

Pei Zhuxuan, who was also holding a plate, had her signature large eyes widen noticeably when she saw Lin Xiuyuan, a flash of genuine surprise crossing them.

She was wearing a classic navy blue wool cardigan today, paired with simple jeans, her hair left to fall casually behind her.

She wasn't wearing much makeup, just some lip balm, so she looked fresh and clean.

To this, Lin Xiuyuan held up the plate in his hand, which was already piled with several pieces of fruit, and shook it between them, smiling with a casual tone, "Came to eat, of course. Or did you think I came to Haidilao to host a birthday party?"

After that somewhat special breakfast meeting, plus the daily online chats the two had been having on social media during these days, their relationship had become much closer.

At the very least, they were no longer strangers separated by a layer of politeness and formality.

So, when Pei Zhuxuan heard this reply from Lin Xiuyuan, which carried a clear tone of mockery, she no longer had her previous reserve; instead, she scanned Lin Xiuyuan naturally and let out a soft, humming laugh through her nose.

She gave him a brief warning look, "Speak properly."

When she said these four words, her tone wasn't actually heavy, but combined with her face, which was naturally endowed with a sense of coldness, the deterrent power was quite strong.

So, Lin Xiuyuan, having been warned by her gaze, immediately followed suit and changed his phrasing, his expression switching very smoothly from the casual teasing of just a moment ago to a straight-faced seriousness.

Then, in a tone like he was introducing himself to a client, he answered with perfect articulation, "Well, actually, I'm here to work as a male model."

Then, Pei Zhuxuan, who had already endured him once, finally couldn't hold it in this time.

She burst out laughing with a *puchi* sound.

Her eyes curved into two shallow crescents, and her tone was full of a mix of annoyance and amusement, "Then may I ask, Xiuyuan-xi, who are you here to be a male model for? Honestly, your glib tongue is too greasy; you really should change that."

"I'm not lying to you, I came here to eat with your two great seniors; they're right inside."

Facing Pei Zhuxuan's smile, Lin Xiuyuan shrugged and pointed the fruit platter in his hand toward the direction of the private room in the hallway.

Pei Zhuxuan was very clear about just how messy the connections of the man in front of her were.

So, when she heard Lin Xiuyuan finish this sentence, she instantly retracted her smile, her expression became slightly more serious, and her gaze crossed Lin Xiuyuan's shoulder to glance at the direction of the private room he had just pointed to.

Her brain quickly completed a rapid match.

Then she turned back to look at Lin Xiuyuan, "Who is it? Taeyeon unnie and YoonA unnie?"

"Congratulations, you've learned to buzz in with the answer. Do you want to go in together to meet them and catch up?" Lin Xiuyuan nodded, his smile carrying a sense of watching a show.

Seeing that she had actually guessed correctly, Pei Zhuxuan's expression underwent a very complex transformation in the span of a single second.

Then it froze into a look of retreat.

She stood there holding the empty plate, first looking toward the private room, then looking at Lin Xiuyuan, who was smiling and waiting for her reply.

Finally, she made a very intense gesture of refusal: shaking her head frantically.

She said repeatedly, "Forget it, forget it, you guys go ahead and eat, I won't disturb you."

After saying this, she turned around and jogged back in the direction she had come from, still holding that empty plate.

It seemed she had really been frightened, to the point that she had completely forgotten that the reason she had come out of the private room in the first place was to get fruit from the self-service area.

Watching Pei Zhuxuan's back, which was almost fleeing in panic, disappear around the corner of the hallway, Lin Xiuyuan kept the smile on his lips, then withdrew his gaze, preparing to carry the fruit platter back to the private room.

At this moment, a scene suddenly flashed through his mind.

It was a video about Pei Zhuxuan and the others that he had inadvertently seen while scrolling on his phone earlier.

Although he wasn't sure if the content of that video was true or false—after all, there were many different opinions online—there were a few points that were discussed quite specifically, and they looked very much like the truth.

Thinking of this, Lin Xiuyuan frowned slightly without realizing it, stood in place in a daze for a while, and then muttered to himself.

"It even affects fertility; I don't know if it's true or false. I'll have to ask when I have time."

As he spoke, he tapped his fingertips twice on the edge of the fruit platter, as if marking this matter in his mind.

Although it wasn't an urgent matter that needed to be handled immediately, it didn't seem like something he could just leave alone forever either.

After temporarily shelving this thought, he quickly returned to the private room.

When the door was pushed open, the two people in the room were still chatting with their heads together; they only raised their heads simultaneously after seeing him enter.

And as Lin Xiuyuan placed the two fruit platters on the table, he looked at them with a mysterious smile, using a tone of sharing a fun piece of news that had just happened, "Guess who I just saw outside."

Having finished ordering and putting the tablet aside, Lin Yun'er looked up, the corners of her mouth lifting with a tone of practiced teasing.

"Don't tell me you ran into one of your many female confidantes again."

"Probably. You don't have many friends in Seoul, this guy. If it were one of our people, they would have followed you in already."

Kim Taeyeon also chimed in from the side in a very cooperative manner.

After saying that, she laughed quite confidently and gave two options directly, "So there's no need to even guess, Xiuyuan. Is it Karina or Irene?"

Looking at the two big sisters, who were looking at him from left and right with playful and knowing gazes, happily teasing him.

Lin Xiuyuan felt that he really couldn't build up any defense against these two women, or rather, against this side of 26.

So, feeling a bit depressed, he pushed the two fruit platters to the center of the table, then pulled out his chair and sat down, "No fun. Why does it feel like I'm stripped naked in front of you two? I have no privacy at all."

"That's not quite true; at the very least, we don't know that you and Xiaomin were chatting so deeply."

Lin Yun'er looked at Lin Xiuyuan again with eyes full of laughter; she wouldn't be fooled by his act of playing the victim.

And she continued her pursuit, "Besides, I heard from Zhiyan that she even wanted to throw herself into your arms. Xiuyuan, when will you be able to restrain your charm a little? You're leaving affection everywhere like this; it's very tiring for us to keep watch over you."

Before Lin Xiuyuan could recover from this precise strike by Lin Yun'er, Kim Taeyeon seamlessly joined in to play along with him, "YoonA, I know, we can just confiscate his phone."

Lin Xiuyuan was hit by the double offensive of these two, one on the left and one on the right, singing in harmony, and he had no power to parry; his mouth opened and closed, closed and opened.

In the end, he could only make a few sounds of "aba aba" without any real substance, and chose to give up resistance.

Fortunately, just at this moment, the door of the private room was pushed open from the outside.

Two waiters walked in, one carrying a super-large tray filled with the dishes that Lin Yun'er and Kim Taeyeon had just selected on the tablet, and the other carrying the soup base.

Soon, the round table was mostly covered with plates of food, the induction cooker was turned on by the way, and the soup base in the pot began to make a bubbling sound.

White steam rose in curls from the mouth of the pot, and a rich, spicy aroma permeated the entire private room.

Taking advantage of the few minutes the waiters were serving the food, Lin Xiuyuan hurriedly used his eyes to have a silent back-and-forth exchange with the two over there.

When the waiter served the last dish, said "Please enjoy," and exited the private room while closing the door, the tug-of-war of gazes between the three of them was temporarily declared a truce.

And Lin Xiuyuan also timely pulled his chopsticks out of the paper sleeve, tapped them lightly on the table to align the tips, and then raised his head to look at the dazzling array of hot pot ingredients on the table in front of him.

Using a simple and sincere tone, he delivered the most important concluding statement of the night.

"Since things have come to this, why don't we eat first."