Xie Wanxing also greeted each of them one by one, but except for Li Siheng, he didn’t know anyone and had to wait for Fu Wenshan’s introduction.
Fu Wenshan skipped Li Siheng and pointed to a man with frameless glasses beside him, saying, “This is Luo He, the hospital where you went for treatment last time was his family’s.”
Luo He smiled at Xie Wanxing, polite and gentle, with no hint of his usual flirtatiousness.
Fu Wenshan rarely saw him in this serious manner and wasn’t quite used to it for a moment.
“This is Yan Wei, Mr. Yan, the oldest among us.”
Yan Wei was dissatisfied with this introduction, feeling that Fu Wenshan was indirectly calling him old. He rolled up his sleeves and said, “Xiao Fu, are you asking for trouble again?”
Ignoring him, Fu Wenshan went on to introduce the last one, “The remaining one is Wei You. He develops games.”
Among the group, Wei You looked to have the best temperament, with gentle features. He said to Xie Wanxing, “Mr. Xie, don’t blame us for presuming to meet you. It’s rare for Wenshan to like someone so much. We all wonder what kind of celestial being could capture his heart.” He paused and added, “But seeing you today, we know that Wenshan didn’t make a mistake.”
With one sentence, he praised both Fu Wenshan’s deep affection and Xie Wanxing’s attractiveness.
Xie Wanxing couldn’t help feeling a little embarrassed, but Fu Wenshan hooked his arm around his shoulder and chuckled softly, “I also think I didn’t make a mistake.”
Since everyone was present, the dishes were served one by one.
Since it was a private gathering among friends, Fu Wenshan didn’t bother with the menu and just picked what each person liked. There were dishes from various cuisines on the table, including Sichuan, Cantonese, Thai, Japanese, and more. There was even a copper pot for hotpot.
Eating together always livened up the atmosphere, especially with the steaming white vapor rising from the table, while outside the window, the autumn rain drizzled down, creating a warm and pleasant feeling.
At first, Xie Wanxing felt a little awkward, but Li Siheng and the others soon started teasing Fu Wenshan, eagerly recounting the foolish things he had done in the past.
Li Siheng, while grilling slices of meat, talked incessantly about Fu Wenshan’s silliness during his youth, “You don’t know how silly Fu Wenshan was in his adolescence. The girl sitting in front of him was the school’s beauty queen at the time, and she was smitten.”
“She was really attractive, but she ended up fancying him, throwing flirtatious glances at him every day, and always finding reasons to talk to him. But do you know what Fu Wenshan did?”
Of course, Xie Wanxing didn’t know. “What did he do?”
Luo He also remembered this, laughing uncontrollably as he continued, “He secretly complained to us. The girl in front of him seems to have a problem with her eyelids, always twitching. Then the girl kept asking him questions, annoying him. After a week, he switched seats with the class monitor. Directly made the school beauty cry.”
Xie Wanxing chuckled as he held his drink. He turned to joke with Fu Wenshan, “How could you be so clueless?”
Fu Wenshan was also annoyed, “How was I supposed to know she was interested in me? She didn’t say anything, am I supposed to read her mind? And she asked me chemistry questions every day, and my worst subject is chemistry! I even suspected she was deliberately making things difficult for me.”
The laughter around the table grew louder.
Fu Wenshan kicked them under the table, “You can’t stop talking even when eating. All you do is talk about my embarrassing past,” then raised his glass and clinked it with a few people, “Everyone, help yourselves, the guest rooms are upstairs, sleep wherever you want tonight.”
Only Xie Wanxing was drinking apple juice on the side.
Fu Wenshan picked up a chopstick of sliced meat, dipped it in sauce, and placed it in Xie Wanxing’s bowl.
The people across the table felt sour in their mouths.
Luo He sighed, “Look at how attentive our young master Fu is in serving others. Who would have thought that you, who couldn’t even boil water before, would become like this?”
Xie Wanxing was quite surprised. After eating the hot and steamy slice of meat, his lips had a thin layer of pink, and he asked, “He wasn’t diligent in doing chores at home?”
His friends were taken aback, asking, “He cooks for you every day?”
Fu Wenshan coughed, but no one paid him any attention.
Xie Wanxing nodded, “Not every day, but whenever we’re all at home, he does.”
Several people laughed again, teasing Fu Wenshan.
Fu Wenshan was getting annoyed.
Luo He exposed Fu Wenshan’s past, “He wasn’t even diligent in cooking for himself. Before moving to Cuhe Bay, he was my neighbor, always coming over to my place for food and drinks.”
Li Siheng added quietly on the side, “They say the way to a man’s heart is his stomach. I can see it. Xiao Fu, you’re really eager to tie down Xie Wanxing.”
Xie Wanxing laughed. Since he entered this courtyard today, he had been smiling. He glanced sideways at Fu Wenshan. Under the light, Fu Wenshan was pouring wine for Li Siheng, looking like a domineering bully, but in Xie Wanxing’s eyes, Fu Wenshan seemed gentle and considerate.
The people at the table had already turned the atmosphere into a mess, pouring each other drinks, behaving all polished and glamorous outside, but now each had turned into high school boys causing chaos.
Xie Wanxing watched them teasing each other on the side, and finished a full cup of juice, feeling very sweet.
After dinner, the group moved to the small courtyard outside, sitting under the eaves, watching the fine rain hit the red maple trees in the yard.
The air was filled with a moist fragrance, very refreshing and pleasant.
Everyone had eaten their fill, and Xie Wanxing was very worried, suspecting that he would have to lose weight again before joining the crew.
Li Siheng knew that Xie Wanxing was about to film that Republic of China movie, so he asked a few more questions, and the two talked about filming.
While they were chatting.
Wei You lightly kicked Fu Wenshan, lowered his voice, and asked in the drizzling autumn rain, “Let me represent the three of us and ask you a question.”
“What?” Fu Wenshan vaguely guessed but remained nonchalant. He held a cigarette in his hand, blew out a smoke ring in the night, and it quickly dispersed.
Wei You said, “We want to know if it’s true that you really like Xie Wanxing. Don’t blame us for being nosy; your Fu family and their Xie family are not easy to deal with. If there’s a future emotional upheaval it’s hard to end on a good note.”
Fu Wenshan didn’t answer immediately.
In fact, even he was shocked, because he never thought he would like someone like this.
When he was a child, he witnessed a distant relative in his family who once desperately wanted to be together, but one accidentally killed the other. While the elders sighed, he hid behind the crowd, feeling that love and romance were really troublesome.
Later, he never met anyone who made his heart flutter, and he didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. When Yao Ren confessed to him, he even doubted himself a bit because Yao Ren was so good to him, and he even looked good, but he still didn’t like him. What kind of person did he want?
But now he knew.
Like a rainbow, you only realize its beauty when you encounter it.
He just wanted someone like Xie Wanxing.
Fu Wenshan glanced at Xie Wanxing, who was chatting with Li Siheng. Xie Wanxing was wearing a white shirt that day, with a camel-colored knitted vest on the outside, paired with dark jeans. His black short hair complemented his fair and delicate face, always with a hint of innocence, making people’s hearts soften.
Fu Wenshan flicked off the ash from his cigarette and answered Wei You’s question, “Once when he was away filming, we were chatting on voice call, and he fell asleep while chatting. I surprisingly didn’t want to hang up and listened to the sound of his breathing all night.”
He glanced at Wei You, “Do you think I like him?”
Wei You smirked, feeling a bit disgusted by their display of affection.
“Alright, forget I asked.”
Wei You obediently drank his tea and stopped asking further.
But he felt a bit envious in his heart. They had all rolled in the red dust for so long, yet none of them had found someone who understood them.
Fu Wenshan was lucky. In his early twenties, he found a boyfriend out of nowhere.
It’s really true that comparison is the thief of joy.
As they chatted past ten o’clock, the six of them went upstairs one after another, ready to rest in their respective rooms.
Starry Sea had prepared for their gathering, with each person having their own designated room.
Xie Wanxing still shared a room with Fu Wenshan.
As they reached the stairs, just about to enter their rooms, Li Siheng suddenly stopped in his tracks, as if just remembering something, and called out to Xie Wanxing.
Xie Wanxing turned back, “What’s up?”
“I just remembered something interesting, forgot to tell you.” Li Siheng grinned slowly.
“What is it?” Xie Wanxing didn’t pay much attention.
But Fu Wenshan had a bad feeling in his heart, and his eyelid twitched.
Li Siheng pressed his hand on the doorknob, “I forgot to tell you, although Xiao Fu smokes, drinks, and fights, looking like a seasoned player in the game of love, but when he first got with you… he was still a virgin!”
As Li Siheng’s words fell, four doors simultaneously opened, and everyone quickly retreated into their rooms, not giving Fu Wenshan a chance to retaliate.