Luoxing Lake was predominantly a high-end residential area with limited dining options, only featuring a few upscale restaurants and cafes. The two of them hailed a taxi and headed towards a nearby shopping mall. However, the mall closed quite early, with clearances starting as early as 9:30 pm, and most restaurants stopped accepting new customers by 8:00 to 8:30 pm.
After making a full circle, they felt even hungrier. Hunger might not sharpen one’s senses, but it seemed to kickstart the sluggish brain cells.
Lu Xingyan suddenly turned to Shen Xingruo and asked, “Are you sure you can handle spicy food?”
“I can,” she replied.
“There’s a well-known hotpot restaurant nearby called ‘The Fly’s Shack.’ They serve delicious bullfrog hotpot and are open until 2:00 am, but it tends to be quite spicy,” he paused, “plus, the ambiance isn’t great.”
Shen Xingruo nodded. “Let’s go.”
“Are you sure? The place is shabby and small, with makeshift tables, and the hotpot… has a vintage vibe,” Lu Xingyan looked at Shen Xingruo suspiciously.
“It’s not the cleanest place, but eating there won’t make you sick,” Shen Xingruo turned to him, her gaze direct and candid. “Do you have a germ phobia?”
Nope, now the miss is taking the lead in lines. Lu Xingyan nodded. “Alright, let’s go.”
So, the two young masters who looked like they suffered from severe germaphobia left the shopping mall, traversed several streets, and finally arrived at a run-down courtyard.
This “Fly’s Shack” was cunningly hidden amidst twists and turns. If it weren’t for Shen Xingruo’s trust in Pei Yue and Lu Shan, she could have reasonably suspected Lu Xingyan of trying to kidnap her.
As they stopped outside the courtyard, Shen Xingruo faintly smelled a savory aroma. Inside, the place was bustling. Several small tables were set up outdoors, and the indoor area was packed with customers, including young men and women, middle-aged men with beer bellies, and even two elderly gentlemen. Everyone was enjoying their meal and lively conversations, mixing the local dialect with standard Mandarin, creating a warm and familiar atmosphere.
The restaurant was bustling, and they had to wait for twenty minutes before getting a table. Considering that Shen Xingruo might be pretending to be sophisticated, Lu Xingyan went easy on the spiciness level, ordering a mildly spicy hotpot and opting for a split pot with clear soup in the middle, just in case she couldn’t handle the heat and could still enjoy some vegetables. He ordered thirty bullfrogs, a portion of Barramundi slices, as well as beef rolls, shrimp balls, and various meat and vegetable dishes.
Shen Xingruo didn’t have a clear idea of the portion sizes, but she felt it might be a bit too much and only added two servings of vegetables.
When the waiter came over and saw their order, he exclaimed, “Hey handsome, beautiful, thirty bullfrogs is too much! Fifteen should be enough for the two of you.”
Lu Xingyan felt like he could eat a whole cow right now and said expressionlessly, “I think I could eat thirty on my own.”
The waiter didn’t say anything more. Money on the table was money earned. He helped them place the order and left.
Shen Xingruo had never thought that having a meal could be so exhausting. After waiting for an hour for the takeaway, finding the mall’s restaurant closed, and then queuing for another twenty minutes – they had to wait for half an hour before the hotpot was served. By then, it was already 10:00 pm.
Both of them were too hungry to engage in small talk, so they just dug into their meal as soon as it arrived. Because Lu Xingyan had ordered too many bullfrogs, they couldn’t fit in the hotpot, so the waiter put the rest on a metal plate for them to finish on their own.
The frogs were large, and the table was already crowded with various dishes, making it quite a spectacle. Only now did the two of them realize what thirty bullfrogs meant.
After eating for a while, Lu Xingyan felt like he was coming back to life and had enough energy to talk. He asked, “What do you think?”
He observed Shen Xingruo’s expression when he asked, seeing that she wasn’t sweating profusely or constantly drinking water due to the spiciness. Finally, he believed that she could handle spicy food.
Shen Xingruo finished a piece of potato before looking up and replying, “The taste? It’s pretty good.”
However, she was a bit suspicious. Was this restaurant deliberately making people smell the aroma but not taste the food, starving them to death before serving? Making everything seem delicious because of hunger?
If that was the case, this unconventional hunger marketing strategy was quite clever.
She picked up a piece of shrimp ball. The mild spiciness wasn’t enough for her, so she dipped it in chili powder from the dry plate and then in various chili sauces she had added to her sauce dish.
Lu Xingyan’s chopsticks paused when he saw her eat the shrimp ball without changing her expression. “You can handle spice this well?”
“Just a little bit,” she replied.
It wasn’t just a little bit, miss.
Shen Xingruo added, “I told you, I can handle it. Pei Yue might have thought I prefer bland food, but my taste tends to lean towards stronger flavors.”
This miss was straightforward. When she said she could handle it, she really could. Lu Xingyan fell for his mom’s tricks.
Shen Xingruo was already half full, so her movements slowed down as she continued eating. She asked between bites, “By the way, how did you know about this place?”
“I’ve been here twice with my friends,” Lu Xingyan replied. He didn’t like spinach, so as he spoke, he picked up all the spinach Shen Xingruo had cooked and put it on a plate, then pushed it over to her.
He said it casually, but the experience was far from simple.
There was a time when Lu Xingyan was also a picky customer who insisted on wiping the chair three times before sitting down. The first time he came to this restaurant, he felt the air was so greasy it was suffocating, so he berated Chengzhou and the others before turning to leave. It was Xu Chengzhou who personally wiped the table and chairs for him, swearing by three fingers that the taste would be heavenly. Combined with his rumbling stomach, Lu Xingyan reluctantly sat down.
After that, it naturally turned into a delightful scene.
They chatted for a while, and Lu Xingyan felt the atmosphere was okay, so he brought up the old topic, “My mom said she’s going to Huize tomorrow afternoon. Are you not going? Then you’ll be alone at home with no one to cook for you.”
“I’m not going,” Shen Xingruo replied without even lifting his head. “I’m heading back to school tomorrow afternoon.”
“I…”
Shen Xingruo suddenly put down his chopsticks and stared at the hotpot.
Lu Xingyan paused.
He felt that if he said another word, Shen Xingruo might just pick up the hotpot and pour it over him. If he was capable of pouring water, pouring a hotpot wouldn’t be impossible.
Lu Xingyan tapped his chopsticks, deciding not to continue the topic.
He didn’t like to meddle in other people’s business. If it weren’t for his mom repeatedly reminding him and entrusting him with this task with the promise of double the living expenses, he wouldn’t even bother to say half a word.
Shen Xingruo stood up at the right moment and said, “I’m going to the restroom.”
Ten minutes later, Shen Xingruo returned, and Lu Xingyan also got up to use the restroom. Passing by the front desk, he paid the bill as well. This restaurant wasn’t very high-tech; ordering was done manually, and so was settling the bill. The waiters seemed to be worse at math than him, taking three tries to get the total right.
After paying the bill, Lu Xingyan headed out.
But the waiter scratched her head, feeling like something wasn’t quite right.
Someone in the private room wanted to order more dishes, so without much thought, she hurriedly checked the bill and rushed over.
By eleven o’clock, Lu Xingyan and Shen Xingruo couldn’t eat another bite, not even the leftover frog legs priced at ten yuan each. They had lost at least one hundred and thirty yuan, with most of the crabsticks and shrimp left untouched, and the side dishes practically forgotten.
When they arrived, there was another table of middle-aged men discussing a redevelopment project worth over ten billion yuan while eating.
As they finished eating, the men at the nearby table were still discussing heatedly, as if they were determined to argue until dawn.
“… It’s going to be demolished. Jinsheng wants that piece of land. It all depends on what price Mr. Jinsheng can offer!”
“Mr. Wang, didn’t you say you had dinner with Mr. Jinsheng Lu last time? Did Mr. Lu reveal anything?”
“Mr. Lu, I’ve had dinner with him more than once. Before, the Loxing Lake project had intentions to negotiate subcontracting with our company. I even went to his house for dinner. Mr. Lu’s house…”
Shen Xingruo glanced at Lu Xingyan.
Lu Xingyan leaned back in his chair, with an expression that said, “I have no idea if my dad knows this person, but he hasn’t been to our house for dinner.”
This guy was exaggerating more and more. Lu Xingyan was too lazy to listen to this crazy bragging series anymore. He moved his neck lazily and said, “Full? Let’s go.”
The fire was still on, and Shen Xingruo glanced at the remaining frog legs on the table. “Didn’t you say you could eat thirty frogs by yourself?”
When he boasted about thirty frogs, he seemed quite imposing, and she almost believed him.
Lu Xingyan paused for two seconds, questioning from the depths of his soul, “Shen Xingruo, are you uncomfortable if you don’t criticize me dozens of times a day?”
“But you have a lot of flaws,” Shen Xingruo replied earnestly.
Lu Xingyan was speechless, but he couldn’t do anything to her, so he just draped his coat over his shoulder and walked out first.
Outside the yard, he stopped at the door.
It was pitch black in the middle of the night, and he couldn’t afford to let anything happen to the young girl, especially since she was quite pretty, making the likelihood of trouble too high.
Also out of safety concerns, Lu Xingyan didn’t use his phone to call a cab. They walked to the main road and waited for a taxi.
The spring night breeze was gentle, and the streetlights cast a warm yellow halo. The two stood by the roadside, chatting aimlessly.
Lu Xingyan had never been to Huize. Huize was also a place with a lot of good food. Shen Xingruo rarely opened up, telling him about the delicious food and fun things in Huize, and even repeated the specific addresses from her memory to him. Afraid that his goldfish brain wouldn’t remember, she said she would send him a message.
The atmosphere was initially friendly, but Lu Xingyan always had the whim to bring up some mood-killing topics.
“You seem to really like Huize. Did you transfer to this area because your dad is getting married, and your future stepmother and her daughter forced you to come?”
“…”
“Shut up, I came here on my own.”
The plot wasn’t as miserable as he imagined, but Shen Xingruo lost interest in talking in an instant.
Fortunately, a taxi arrived soon.
They got in, and Lu Xingyan, unaware, thought about struggling a bit more with the double living expenses, trying to persuade her a bit more, only to realize that Shen Xingruo had already put on her headphones.
Silence prevailed throughout the journey.
Upon reaching Loxing Lake, Shen Xingruo scanned the taxi driver’s QR code first, preparing to make the payment.
But her phone prompted: Insufficient balance.
“Lu Xingyan, can you pay, or transfer thirty yuan to me? I just paid the bill, and my phone is out of money.”
Lu Xingyan paid, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that Shen Xingruo’s words were strange.
After getting out of the car, he suddenly asked, “What bill did you pay?”
“Just now, the hotpot…” Shen Xingruo sensed something was wrong, “I paid the bill while I was in the restroom. It was four hundred and fifty-three. What’s wrong?”
Lu Xingyan remained expressionless. “I also paid a bill, four hundred and fifty. Maybe she was jealous of your beauty and didn’t give you any change.”