ROBEPTQ chapter 18

In the end, Liang Ru couldn’t find the door number of Mei Yuchen’s house and got lost in the villa area.

Bai Sijun received her at the convenience store near the residential area. That day, Liang Ru was dressed more formally, with long curly hair tied into a bun behind her head, giving her a mature look.

After exchanging greetings, they walked together towards Mei Yuchen’s villa together. Liang Ru asked, “Ge, is there anything I need to pay attention to later?”

Bai Sijun thought for a moment and decided to give her a heads-up. He said, “Mei Yuchen is not easy to get along with. Don’t take anything he says to heart.”

Liang Ru’s expression showed some fear. “What if I accidentally offend him?”

Bai Sijun smiled and reassured her, “It’s okay; I’m here.”

Liang Ru blushed immediately, lowered her head, and stopped talking. Bai Sijun pursed his lips; he didn’t intend to flirt with the young girl. He just wanted to convey that if Mei Yuchen got angry, he would handle it, and she didn’t need to worry. However, it seemed that Liang Ru misunderstood his intentions.

When they arrived at Mei Yuchen’s house, Bai Sijun naturally took out the house key. Liang Ru looked at him opening the door skillfully and said, “Ge, you two seem quite familiar.”

“Just a bit,” Bai Sijun replied.

Mei Yuchen didn’t come out to greet them. Bai Sijun handed Liang Ru a pair of slippers at the entrance, then called out to the living room, “Mei Yuchen?”

After a while, Mei Yuchen walked out of the living room leisurely and leaned against the wall, examining Liang Ru from head to toe.

Liang Ru was initially a bit scared, but the moment she saw Mei Yuchen, her eyes lit up. Excitedly, she said, “Teacher Mei, hello! I’m your fan and have read all of your works.”

Mei Yuchen still had no expression, but Bai Sijun couldn’t help but chuckle. Liang Ru immediately looked at Bai Sijun awkwardly, and he explained, “I said the same thing to him the first time I came.”

Liang Ru laughed along, saying, “Oh, I see. It seems that Teacher Mei has a lot of fans!”

Mei Yuchen himself seemed indifferent to the flattery, turning back to the living room.

Liang Ru whispered to Bai Sijun, “He looks really stern.”

“Does he?” Bai Sijun glanced at Mei Yuchen’s back. Maybe he was used to Mei Yuchen’s antics, so he didn’t feel much.

Bai Sijun led Liang Ru to the living room and then went to the kitchen to make tea. Carrying the tray back to the living room, he suddenly realized why he was doing all this. It should be Mei Yuchen, as the host, who should be doing these things.

However, Mei Yuchen was comfortably sitting on a single-seater sofa, engrossed in reading, not bothering to lift an eyelid.

Sitting down near Mei Yuchen, Bai Sijun said, “Let me introduce. This is our new intern editor, Liang Ru.”

Mei Yuchen lazily glanced at Liang Ru and continued reading.

Liang Ru seemed a bit embarrassed, and so did Bai Sijun. Bai Sijun thought he was just following Mei Yuchen’s request to bring Liang Ru here, but it seemed like Mei Yuchen was not giving him any face.

Bai Sijun cleared his throat, trying to break the awkwardness, and said to Liang Ru, “Isn’t it quite far for you to come here?”

“It’s okay.” Liang Ru smiled. “My school happens to be in this direction, and it takes just an hour by subway.”

“That’s good.” Bai Sijun couldn’t find a suitable topic and took a sip of tea.

“It seems you live near the company, right?” Liang Ru asked. “It’s quite far from the company to here.”

Before Bai Sijun could respond, Mei Yuchen spoke up, “He slept here last night.”

Bai Sijun looked at Mei Yuchen inexplicably, wondering why he suddenly wanted to join the conversation at this point.

Liang Ru was momentarily stunned and said to Bai Sijun, “Ge, when you said you had had something to do last night; it turns out you were here with Teacher Mei.”

“Yeah.” Bai Sijun responded awkwardly but heard Mei Yuchen add, “He came over to cook for me.”

Bai Sijun couldn’t help but frown at Mei Yuchen, silently asking, “Why are you bringing this up?”

Mei Yuchen smirked and continued reading his book.

“Haha.” Liang Ru forced a laugh. “You two seem to get along well.”

In the end, instead of visiting the author, Bai Sijun found himself telling Liang Ru stories about the industry. But luckily, Mei Yuchen wasn’t completely ignoring them. When the topic shifted to him, he would interject a few words, so the atmosphere wasn’t as awkward as it was initially.

As lunchtime approached, Bai Sijun asked Liang Ru, “What would you like for lunch?”

Liang Ru’s eyes lit up, and she asked, “Will you cook Ge?”

Mei Yuchen snapped the book shut and said, “He doesn’t cook for others.”

Liang Ru’s expression froze, and Bai Sijun was equally baffled. He quickly said, “My cooking skills are terrible. Let’s just go out for lunch.”

Liang Ru opened her mouth, ready to say something, but Mei Yuchen added, “I don’t want to go out. Order takeout.”

Bai Sijun tried to read Mei Yuchen’s thoughts from his expression but, as usual, failed.

Bai Sijun knew he owed Liang Ru a meal. How could he use takeout to dismiss her?

He thought for a moment and said, “What if we go out and bring something back for you?”

Mei Yuchen pursed his lips and remained silent.

If there were no one else around, Bai Sijun would usually let Mei Yuchen do whatever he wanted. However, with Liang Ru present, Bai Sijun already felt he owed her once and didn’t want to do so again.

In the end, Liang Ru laughed it off, saying, “It’s okay, let’s just order takeout. Takeout can be delicious too.”

Seeing Liang Ru agree, Bai Sijun didn’t want to insist further. He took out his phone and ordered some spicy skewers from a nearby mall.

Except for the lack of the friendly service from the skewer shop employees, eating crayfish in the living room or in a restaurant didn’t make much of a difference. The three of them sat on the floor around the coffee table, creating a more atmospheric setting.

Bai Sijun handed gloves to Liang Ru and then to Mei Yuchen. Unexpectedly, Mei Yuchen didn’t take them at all, saying, “I need to type later; I don’t want my hands to smell.”

A flawless excuse, but Bai Sijun felt the urge to smack him.

—You don’t want to peel the shrimp shells, then why didn’t you say so when I ordered the crayfish just now?

Bai Sijun couldn’t complain. He didn’t want Mei Yuchen to be hungry, but he also couldn’t let Liang Ru feel awkward. So, he painstakingly peeled the fragrant crayfish one by one and placed them in Mei Yuchen’s bowl.

Liang Ru suddenly became very quiet, and Bai Sijun found it unusual. He asked, “How does it taste?”

Liang Ru smiled and said, “It’s quite delicious.”

“That’s good,” Bai Sijun said. Turning to Mei Yuchen, he saw that his bowl was empty again. He conscientiously peeled a spicy crayfish and handed it over. This time, Mei Yuchen grabbed his wrist, lifted it a bit higher, and then leaned over to take the shrimp meat with his mouth.

In the end, he even commented, “I want garlic-flavored.”

Bai Sijun had gotten used to Mei Yuchen’s troublesome behavior, so he handed him a garlic-flavored crayfish without much reaction. Meanwhile, Liang Ru suddenly coughed loudly.

“Cough, sorry,” Liang Ru poured herself a glass of cola, “I choked.”

Bai Sijun handed her a tissue, saying, “The spicy flavor can be a bit strong; try the five-spice flavor.”

Liang Ru nodded and wiped her mouth, saying, “Okay.”

After this somewhat tumultuous lunch, Bai Sijun and Liang Ru cleaned up the coffee table. Carrying garbage bags, they walked to the entrance, and Mei Yuchen followed.

“Leaving?” Mei Yuchen asked.

Bai Sijun knew he wasn’t asking about Liang Ru.

Originally, he planned to leave with Liang Ru. After all, he had to go to work tomorrow, and spending the night here wasn’t an option. However, at this moment, he hesitated.

For some reason, Liang Ru had become very quiet. If he left with her, they would have to endure a silent and awkward hour on the subway.

And there was also something else – Mei Yuchen admitted that he didn’t want to be alone earlier, and now he had followed them, most likely not wanting Bai Sijun to leave.

Although Bai Sijun had a lot of complaints about Mei Yuchen, being with him didn’t make him uncomfortable. Besides, there was still a good part of Sunday left, and if he left now, Mei Yuchen would probably be unhappy.

Bai Sijun lowered his head to put on his shoes and muttered, “I’ll go and see her off.”

Mei Yuchen chuckled lightly and replied, “Sure.”

Liang Ru, however, seemed unexpectedly silent. Bai Sijun felt a bit guilty for bringing her here to meet Mei Yuchen. He comforted her, “Mei Yuchen is a bit difficult to handle. Not all authors are like him.”

After a moment of silence, Liang Ru suddenly said, “Actually, you can just tell me.”

Bai Sijun was stunned, “What?”

Liang Ru took a deep breath and asked, “How long have you two been together?”

Bai Sijun was shocked, and Liang Ru laughed self-deprecatingly, saying, “I shouldn’t have asked if you had a girlfriend; I should have asked if you had a partner.”

Bai Sijun quickly explained, “It’s not what you think.”

“What do you mean?” Liang Ru interrupted him with a blink, regaining her energetic self. “I’m not blind.”

Bai Sijun was momentarily speechless. Did they really appear that way to others?

Could it be that the girls who saw them at the mall yesterday also thought they were a couple, hence the strange looks?

Bai Sijun, who usually wouldn’t think in that direction when seeing two men behaving intimately, forgot to explain. Curiously, he asked, “Don’t you find it strange? Two men.”

“What’s so strange about it?” Liang Ru gave him a mysterious smile. “A handsome guy with a handsome man is only natural.”

Bai Sijun’s expression cracked, thinking he understood the minds of young girls, but at this moment, he couldn’t comprehend.

When they parted ways at the subway station, Liang Ru nudged Bai Sijun with her elbow, saying like an old mother, “Good luck, Bai ge. Your boss Mei spoils you so much; don’t flirt with young girls outside.”

Bai Sijun: “…?”

“I didn’t flirt.” Bai Sijun couldn’t help but retort. He had never flirted with anyone from start to finish. “And he doesn’t spoil me at all; it’s me who spoils him.”

Mei Yuchen’s capricious nature would probably make most people angry. Luckily, he had a good temper.

However, when these words came out, Bai Sijun realized something was off.

“I know.” Liang Ru patted his shoulder. “I know you guys have a good relationship; just don’t flaunt your love too much.”

Bai Sijun: “…”

Why didn’t he feel like he and Mei Yuchen had that kind of relationship?