Lin Can had no idea what kind of uproar his participation had caused online. Ever since he stepped in to help Ran Yang clarify things, his Weibo private messages had been flooded with insults and attacks from netizens. Although he didn’t mind the harsh words directed at the original owner, some of the vicious comments still made him feel down. To avoid ruining his mood, he simply stopped logging into Weibo.

What Lin Can didn’t know was that shortly after he intervened, Ran Yang appeared in the fan group, stating that the issues between them as a couple weren’t as simple as who was right or wrong. She hoped the fans would stop hurling insults at Lin Can. After going through a marriage and then a divorce, the fan group was filled with die-hard fans who were completely devoted to Ran Yang. With her saying this, even the fans who felt wronged or heartbroken for her chose to let Lin Can off the hook.

In fact, they all knew that if it weren’t for that scumbag ex-husband, their idol wouldn’t have been able to get through this tough time so easily. Now that the main person had spoken, they didn’t cling to the issue any longer. As for the onlookers who were initially caught up in the drama, they quickly lost interest and moved on. Who would still go out of their way to trouble Lin Can? There were new scandals in the entertainment industry every day, and even the most shocking ones could only hold their attention for a day or two. Plus, with Ran Yang being a perfect victim and her ex-husband being pure evil, there was no twist to enjoy!

With all these factors combined, Lin Can’s private message bombardment had actually calmed down long ago; he just didn’t know it and was deliberately ignoring it with a bit of avoidance in his heart.

When Qi Yuan returned home and saw Lin Can staring blankly at his phone, he thought he had been caught secretly blocking Ran Yang and felt a wave of guilt wash over him. “What are you looking at?” He casually tossed his car keys and stared intently at Lin Can.

“Nothing much, just planning to try something new and looking up menus,” Lin Can replied, and upon seeing Qi Yuan sit beside him, he quickly got up to pour him a glass of water.

Qi Yuan found it amusing; this guy really thought of himself as a housekeeper and didn’t have the slightest awareness of being pampered. But he didn’t mind being taken care of; in the past, he wouldn’t have even come back to this apartment once a month.

“Don’t bother with that, let’s go out to eat.” Fearing Lin Can might discover something, Qi Yuan walked over and covered his phone.

Lin Can was puzzled. “Go out to eat?”

“You’ve been living here for almost a month,” Qi Yuan said, “and I haven’t taken you out to eat yet.”

Lin Can glanced at the calendar and realized it was true; he had come during the hottest part of July, and now it was already August. “What do you want to eat?” Qi Yuan took the water Lin Can handed him and looked at him, which was something he enjoyed doing—looking at Lin Can’s face.

When his brothers found out he had a little lover, they were all taken aback, saying they couldn’t imagine it. If they saw Lin Can’s face, they would probably just regret not making a move first.

As Qi Yuan thought about this, he reached out to pinch Lin Can’s earlobe, which was warm and soft, making his mood lift a bit.

Lin Can shook his head uncomfortably. “I don’t have anything in particular I want to eat; you decide.”

“Spicy?” Qi Yuan reluctantly withdrew his hand, Lin Can’s warmth still lingering on his fingertips, stirring up a bit of affection in him.

Lin Can didn’t catch onto his feelings. “I can eat it, but is your throat okay?”

“It’s fine,” Qi Yuan replied. “I’ve only been using one level for the dating variety show lately, and it doesn’t require any lines, so it doesn’t matter how my throat is.”

Mentioning the dating variety show made Lin Can’s body stiffen for a moment.

“Don’t want to go on?” Qi Yuan raised an eyebrow at him.

Lin Can gently shook his head. “I just still feel a bit unaccustomed…”

Qi Yuan didn’t know how to comfort him. After thinking for a while, he finally managed to say, “You’d better get used to it quickly. If you perform well, I’ll give you a bonus.”

“Bonus?”

“Yeah, a bonus. You can ask for however much you want.”

“You really are generous.” Lin Can said, having spent so much time together, he wasn’t as scared of Qi Yuan as he had been at first.

Qi Yuan showed a proud expression. “Just the balance on my card is enough for you to splurge for a lifetime.”

“Alright, enough of that. What are we having for lunch?” Lin Can glanced at the kitchen. “How about hot pot? I feel like I haven’t had it in ages.”

Qi Yuan frowned. “I’ve never even heard of it. Is it good?”

Lin Can smiled. “It’s delicious! I used to love it and would always go with my roommates.”

Thinking of his roommates made Lin Can feel a bit nostalgic. Although the mentor he encountered during his studies wasn’t a good person, his roommates were all great, and they had a good relationship in their dorm, often going out to eat together. The hot pot restaurant was their most frequented gathering spot.

Qi Yuan couldn’t stand seeing Lin Can lost in thought in front of him; it made him feel inexplicably annoyed. “What about your roommates? Do you even remember their names?”

Lin Can snapped back to reality, realizing his current situation, and awkwardly touched his nose.

“Let’s go out to eat.”

*

Yu Jing Garden was in a bustling area, with surrounding facilities being quite complete, and shopping malls and pedestrian streets lined up one after another. Lin Can chose the highest-rated hot pot restaurant and directed Qi Yuan to drive there.

When Lin Can went out, Qi Yuan never chose a sports car. With Lin Can’s model-like figure and eye-catching face, if he got out of a sports car, the frequency of attracting attention would only increase.

When they first started living together, Qi Yuan had taken Lin Can to the supermarket once in a sports car, and just during the time it took to park and lock the car, three or four people had already surrounded Lin Can, wanting to add him on WeChat.

Since then, Qi Yuan knew that if he wanted to keep Lin Can from being bothered by strange people, he had to hide him completely.

“That’s too exaggerated,” Lin Can was scrolling through the app to check the restaurant reviews when he heard Qi Yuan and couldn’t help but retort, “You look great too; why can you drive a sports car?”

Qi Yuan scoffed. “Who would dare to bother me?”

Thinking of Qi Yuan’s arrogant personality, Lin Can fell silent.

The hot pot restaurant was in a shopping mall. Qi Yuan parked the car and took the elevator to the third floor with Lin Can.

“Are there really this many people?” Seeing the line, Qi Yuan began to regret it.

Through his sunglasses, Lin Can couldn’t see his expression clearly but could tell from his voice that he was displeased, so he quickly said, “I’ll go ask.”

He was back in less than a minute. “The waiter said there’s a private room available, but it has a minimum spend of five thousand.”

“Five thousand is fine.” Qi Yuan said to the waiter who followed Lin Can, “Open that private room for us.”

“How can two people eat five thousand…” Lin Can hesitated. “Should we call a few more people?”

“Call your friends?” Qi Yuan snorted.

Lin Can had no choice but to shut up.

The two walked into the private room, which was spacious enough to accommodate twenty people, and fell silent for a moment.

Lin Can gave Qi Yuan a “I told you so” look.

Qi Yuan didn’t understand what he was trying to save on, “If we can’t finish it, we can just pack it up, right? We can eat from today until tomorrow, and if we still can’t finish it, I’ll take it to the company.”

Lin Can couldn’t help but laugh.

The waiter brought an iPad for them to order from, but Qi Yuan was too lazy to deal with the details and handed it over to Lin Can.

As Lin Can was choosing, he suddenly heard someone say, “Hey.”

“Brother Yuan, what are you doing here?”

Lin Can turned around to see a man standing at the door, around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with a handsome and flamboyant appearance, sporting dyed hair and three earrings in his right ear, wearing a white T-shirt and ripped military blue jeans, looking very trendy.

The man’s eyes were fixed on Qi Yuan, seemingly surprised.

Beside him was another particularly delicate-looking man, slightly over one meter seventy, who also looked over curiously. When he saw Lin Can, his eyes suddenly lit up.

“Wen Shao, who are these two…?”

The man called Wen Shao didn’t answer him but walked straight up to Qi Yuan, his words filled with surprise, “Brother Yuan, you’re here too?”

Qi Yuan waved the waiter away and took off his sunglasses. “Just here to eat, what else could I be doing? What about you?”

Wen Shao respectfully explained, “A brother of mine is going abroad for studies, and we’re having a farewell dinner together. This restaurant is opened by his little lover, so I came to support the business.”

Qi Yuan lazily responded with an “oh.”

“Brother Yuan, do you have guests?” Wen Shao curiously scanned the private room.

“No, just the two of us.” Qi Yuan pointed to Lin Can, who was picking dishes on the side.

Lin Can looked up at the right moment and smiled politely at Wen Shao.

A flash of surprise crossed Wen Shao’s eyes, but he quickly suppressed it and introduced himself to Lin Can without making a fuss.

“Since it’s rare for Brother Yuan to come, I’ll go tell my buddy,” after chatting a bit with Lin Can, Wen Shao jokingly said, “I’ll try to get your meal comped.”

After saying that, he left with his friends.

Lin Can looked at the door that had been casually closed. “Should I step out for a bit?”

“Step out for what?”

“I don’t want to run into them.”

Thinking of the expression on Wen Shao’s face when he saw Lin Can, Qi Yuan felt a bit annoyed. “Fine.”

Lin Can stood up. “I’ll go wash my hands.”

“Okay,” Qi Yuan replied.

Wen Shao and his friends arrived quickly. When they heard Qi Yuan was also in the restaurant, they all stood up, not daring to slack off as they approached.

Wen Shao instinctively searched for Lin Can’s figure as he entered. “Where’s Lin Ge? I heard Brother Yuan is going on a dating variety show, is it with Lin Ge?”

*

Lin Can washed his face in the restroom and didn’t rush to go out.

Having seen Zhang Shao’s experience, he didn’t want to deal with strange rich second-generation kids anymore.

He took out his phone to check the time; it was 11:40. Given Qi Yuan’s personality, he would probably be back to eat by 11:45.

He wanted to look up some recipes online but heard footsteps approaching.

When he looked up, the boy who had been standing next to Wen Shao was walking towards him.

Lin Can blinked in confusion. “Is there something you need?”

“Lin Ge,” the boy smiled shyly. Just looking at his face, one could easily believe he was a high school student, but the words he spoke were completely the opposite—adult and provocative. “Are you the top or the bottom?”

Lin Can didn’t understand at first. “What?”

“We’re all out here working as ducks, Lin Ge, don’t pretend with me,” the boy laughed as he squeezed closer to Lin Can, his warm body mixed with a rich scent of perfume, creating an ambiguous atmosphere. “I know, with Brother Qi, you can’t possibly be the top.”

“But it’s okay; I can be the one for love.”

“Want to make an appointment with me? I’m really good at it; I guarantee you’ll enjoy it.”