Chapter 46: The Clown Was Me All Along

Zhou Ge Old Hot Pot.

It is not far from Xingyao, but if you walk there, it still takes over ten minutes.

Fu Hai clocked out early and stood at the main entrance, waiting anxiously for Shen Huai.

Shen Huai carried his laptop bag and walked out of the elevator, neither fast nor slow.

"Brother Huai, if I succeed today, I'll cover your meals for the next month!" Fu Hai patted his chest excitedly, making a promise.

Shen Huai smiled: "The company canteen is free anyway."

"Then afternoon tea for a month! My treat!"

After saying this, Fu Hai turned his head and stretched his neck, his gaze searching through the crowd of people getting off work.

"Why haven't they come out yet? The line for hot pot will be super long in a while."

Fu Hai's face was full of panic, "Shen Huai, you say they haven't come out yet, could it be that they've changed their minds?"

"Don't worry, they won't."

Shen Huai patted Fu Hai on the shoulder to comfort him: "Let's not lose our composure; I suspect they are probably even more panicked than you right now."

At this moment.

The first-floor restroom at Xingyao.

Chu Tiantian stood in front of the restroom mirror, frantically applying foundation to her face.

"Su Meng, take a quick look, is this blended evenly?" Chu Tiantian turned her head and winked at Su Meng, who was leaning against the wall.

"My ancestor, you've already asked me eight hundred times. It's beautiful, beautiful, very beautiful."

Su Meng said helplessly: "You've almost used up this whole compact, stop touching it up, calm down, look at how nervous you are."

Hearing this, Chu Tiantian felt a little more at ease.

She leaned closer to the mirror to look, then revealed an expression of slight annoyance: "Sigh, if I had known, I wouldn't have stayed up late working overtime last night. These dark circles can't even be covered, so annoying."

"Do you think Fu Hai will see these dark circles and stop liking me?" Chu Tiantian muttered.

Watching Chu Tiantian's fretful appearance, Su Meng completely lost her patience, grabbed Chu Tiantian by the elbow, and dragged her out: "Ancestor, it's time to go, we are already 10 minutes past the agreed time!"

"Fu Hai even brought his friend this time; it's clear he came prepared, we can't lose the first round right from the start!"

"For a first date, letting the other person feel that you don't value your appointment with them is a huge taboo, so let's go quickly."

One word awakened the dreamer.

Chu Tiantian frantically stuffed the compact into her bag: "Yes, yes, yes, punctuality is important, let's hurry over there."

The two walked out of the restroom and ran all the way toward the entrance.

Before they even reached the entrance.

Su Meng spotted Fu Hai looking around the lobby at a glance.

Shifting her gaze to the right, she saw a tall, lean man standing with his back to them, leaning against the glass exterior wall of the main entrance.

If she wasn't mistaken, this boy must be the Military Advisor behind Fu Hai.

But why did this back view look somewhat familiar?

Chu Tiantian also saw Fu Hai and was about to wave at him excitedly, but before her hand could even be raised, she was stopped by Su Meng.

"What are you doing? Control your expression!"

"How can a girl act so proactive? This will make him not cherish you!"

"……Oh, okay." Chu Tiantian was lectured by Su Meng and sullenly lowered her hand.

Fu Hai looked around the circle.

He finally spotted Chu Tiantian walking toward this side.

"Tian Tian! Over here!" Fu Hai waved his hand excitedly, unable to wait to meet up with Chu Tiantian.

Hearing Fu Hai's shout, Shen Huai turned around subconsciously.

"Why is it you?"

Su Meng and Shen Huai blurted out in unison.

The moment he saw Su Meng, Shen Huai's practiced social smile froze on his face, and even his breathing stopped for a second.

And Su Meng's expression was naturally very rich as well.

"You guys actually know each other?" Fu Hai was very surprised.

"I was the one who processed his onboarding," Su Meng explained first. "We met back then, right, Shen Huai?" Receiving the warning in Su Meng's eyes, Shen Huai raised an eyebrow and nodded: "……That's right, we met back then."

"So that's how it is."

Chu Tiantian looked Shen Huai up and down several times, a flash of excitement in her eyes: "You must be the handsome guy who just joined Public Relations Department Group 2, right?"

"Finally got to see your face today, you're really handsome!! No wonder Su Meng has been talking about you incessantly."

"……Huh?"

Hearing the last sentence, Shen Huai raised his head in surprise.

Su Meng immediately covered Chu Tiantian's mouth, a trace of panic flashing across her face: "Chu Tiantian, what nonsense are you spouting? When have I ever talked about him incessantly?"

"!" Su Meng glared at Chu Tiantian and leaned into her ear to whisper, "If you keep talking nonsense, I won't help you anymore……"

"……I……mmph." Chu Tiantian nodded repeatedly.

Letting go, Chu Tiantian hurriedly tried to smooth things over: "Ah……hahaha, I used the wrong idiom, it should be……talked about with great relish."

"……"

Hearing this, the embarrassment on Su Meng and Shen Huai's faces was practically overflowing.

Forget it, it's better not to let Chu Tiantian speak anymore.

"I didn't expect the friend Fu Hai mentioned to be you."

"I didn't expect the person who wanted to eat super spicy hot pot to be you."

Along the way.

The four of them walked in pairs toward the hot pot restaurant.

Originally, Fu Hai was walking side by side with Shen Huai, and Chu Tiantian was walking side by side with Su Meng.

As it turned out, as they walked, Fu Hai and Chu Tiantian ended up walking ahead.

Leaving only Shen Huai and Su Meng behind, walking in silence behind the two of them.

After a pause, Su Meng spoke up again: "What kind of advice have you been giving Fu Hai?"

"Hm? What are you talking about? I don't understand at all."

Shen Huai began to play dumb.

"Do you take me for a three-year-old?" Seeing Shen Huai stubbornly refuse to admit it, Su Meng laughed in frustration. "Without ten or twenty years of experience, could you even say those things?"

"You used to be just like Fu Hai; I didn't expect that after not seeing you for a few years, you'd be able to act as someone's Military Advisor," Su Meng teased.

"You look like you've improved quite a bit too; didn't you used to be just as green and sweet as Chu Tiantian?" Shen Huai countered precisely.

Su Meng knitted her brows and glared back.

After a pause, she cast a meaningful glance at Shen Huai, her eyes darkening.

"I just don't want to see Tian Tian end up like me, with a heart full of sincerity only to be abandoned by certain people."

"Yo, so you suffered a heartbreak abroad? Which country was the guy from? I'll curse him for you." Shen Huai continued to be sharp-tongued.

Hearing this, Su Meng stopped in her tracks.

"Shen Huai, stop playing dumb with me here."

Su Meng stared intently at Shen Huai: "You clearly know that the person I'm talking about is you."

"Me?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Huai also stopped walking.

Years after breaking up, he was suddenly saddled with a huge blame? Words could be spoken recklessly, but he couldn't just accept responsibility for things he didn't do.

He wasn't going to take the fall for this.

"Su Meng, saying it like that is a bit too unreasonable, isn't it?"

Shen Huai met Su Meng's gaze head-on: "If we're talking about abandonment, wasn't it you who abandoned me first?"

"You moved your whole family abroad without a word, blocked all my contact methods, and just vanished into thin air, without even giving me a goodbye."

"Even if you needed to apply for schools abroad, it would take at least a few months, right? Yet you never told me a thing."

"My college entrance exam scores were completely enough for me to get into a top-tier university, but because of one word from you, I chose the same second-tier college as you."

"In the end, the clown turned out to be me."

Shen Huai's tone carried a hint of anger, "How can you have the nerve to put on a show of 'the thief crying stop thief' in front of me now?"

(End of chapter)