Chapter 5 Dinner at His Place
Xu Yan cooked five dishes in total.
Every single one looked perfect—colorful, fragrant, mouthwatering.
By the time Xu Jiaqing came out with his own bowl of rice, my plate was already piled high with food.
Xu Jiaqing refused to lose. He reached over and placed a chicken wing in my bowl.
Then he gave Xu Yan a drumstick.
“She doesn’t eat chicken wings.” Xu Yan calmly took the wing away and put the drumstick in my bowl instead.
Xu Jiaqing glanced at the table. “Wait, Brother. Why did you put millet pepper in every single dish?”
He watched Xu Yan peel shrimp. Those clean fingers were now covered in sauce. Xu Jiaqing’s brows furrowed even tighter.
“Aren’t you the one who hates getting sauce on your hands during meals?”
“Do I?” Xu Yan replied. “The one with the cleanliness obsession is you. When we were kids eating at the same table, you wouldn’t even let anyone talk. Scared someone’s spit would land in your bowl.”
As he spoke, he dropped the peeled shrimp into my bowl.
“Are these dishes to your taste?”
I had waited so long that I was genuinely hungry.
I nodded while chewing. “Yeah, they’re all delicious.”
Xu Jiaqing ate two mouthfuls of plain rice. “Tian Wan, I didn’t expect you to handle spice so well. I’ve been allergic to chili since I was little. How about we go out to eat instead?”
My chopsticks paused. I looked at Xu Yan.
He smiled. “Tian Wan just said my cooking tastes good. Why don’t you endure it a little? Let her finish eating first.”
Xu Jiaqing didn’t reply. He just ate two full bowls of plain rice with pickled cucumber.
After dinner, Xu Yan left all the dishes for Xu Jiaqing to wash. “It’s getting late. I’ll drive Tian Wan home. Finish the dishes and head back to your apartment early. I don’t like anyone staying over—not even my brother.”
“Drive safely.”
Xu Jiaqing stood at the door. His face was half-hidden in tree shadows. I couldn’t read his expression.
He waved his phone at me. “Tian Wan, I’ll be waiting for your message.”
I followed behind Xu Yan. He stopped suddenly. I didn’t react in time and bumped into his back.
He grabbed my hand and pushed me into the passenger seat.
Once inside the car, Xu Yan gripped the steering wheel and gave a self-mocking laugh. “Tonight… who exactly was freeloading off whose dinner?”
There was no doubt about it. I had ended up at Xu Yan’s place, not Xu Jiaqing’s.
And not only that—both Xu Jiaqing and I had eaten Xu Yan’s cooking.
“Thanks, Teacher. The food was amazing.”
“…”
“I mean tonight’s dinner.” My face immediately heated up.
I remembered saying almost the exact same thing to Xu Yan before.
Right after he sent me that abs photo.
“Xu Jiaqing can’t cook at all.” Xu Yan turned his head to look at me.
Afraid I didn’t get it, he said straight out, “A man who can’t cook invites you to his place for dinner…”
“That’s pretty suspicious.”
“You’re pretty suspicious too.”
Xu Yan’s jaw tightened. His eyes narrowed slightly.
“That message about going to Xu Jiaqing’s house for dinner—you sent it to him yourself.”
“Yes. I did.”
I clutched my bag tighter and met his gaze head-on. “I know you’re still mad that I blocked you. But that was because of a misunderstanding. We were online for over two months and you never sent me a single face photo. Anyone would get suspicious. If I had known earlier it was you…”
“If it was me, would you still have broken up with me?” Xu Yan turned off his phone. The car fell into darkness.
A car pulled into the parking lot. Its headlights swept across us, lighting our faces for a brief second.
He looked sad in that moment. My heart jolted.
“If I had known it was you… if you weren’t playing with me… how could I have…”
In the dark, he kissed me.
And he didn’t stop.
Not until my legs turned weak and I slumped against the seat did he finally pull away.
Xu Yan looked at me. “Get back together with me.”
I was still catching my breath. I didn’t answer right away.
“I can tell you don’t actually like him.”
Xu Yan reached over and pulled my seatbelt across my chest. “Tian Wan, you don’t understand Xu Jiaqing. He’s not a tiger. He’s a fox. Riding a tiger is hard enough. Being targeted by a fox is worse.”
He paused. “Think carefully. When exactly did you start noticing Xu Jiaqing?”
I froze. After thinking it over, a strange chill crept up my spine.
The day I decided to pursue Xu Jiaqing was exactly the tenth day after my photo got posted on the school confession wall.
Someone had secretly taken a picture of me hugging my friend and claimed to be my high school classmate, spreading rumors that I only liked girls.
One person started it. Then a bunch jumped in to pile on.
Mostly guys—plenty of them had chased me before and got rejected.
Thought she just didn’t like me. Turns out she’s a lesbian.
So annoying. Good thing I only wasted three hundred bucks on roses back then.
Amid all the mocking comments, one person kept defending me.
With that kind of mouth, it’s normal she didn’t want you.
Three hundred bucks to see a guy’s true colors—not a waste.
Our school girls, beware of these idiots. Brainless rumor starters with toxic mouths.
The next day, I happened to run into Xu Jiaqing outside the library.
He was arguing with his roommate about it. The words he said were almost identical to the defender’s.
I gathered my courage, asked his roommate for Xu Jiaqing’s WeChat, and added him.
Xu Yan listened quietly. His fingers tapped lightly on the steering wheel. “If I had known you would go after Xu Jiaqing because of that incident, I would’ve been braver. I wouldn’t have stayed anonymous.”
“What did you say?”
“I’d seen your photos on the confession wall before. Posting confessions was whatever—you’re really beautiful. But spreading baseless rumors about you? I couldn’t stand it.”
Xu Yan opened the school confession wall and handed me his phone.
The person who had clapped back at everyone wasn’t Xu Jiaqing.
It was Xu Yan.
“If it was just to shut down the rumors, you didn’t have to get together with Xu Jiaqing. I could’ve helped you too.”
“You?”
I shook my head frantically. “No way. Your position as professor…”
“Just don’t show my face.” Xu Yan took my hand and laced our fingers together.
Then the flash went off inside the car.
A new photo appeared in his album—our intertwined hands.
He studied it carefully. “No car details exposed. Just hands. Do you think this works for going public?”
“I think they’ll say it’s not my hand. Or that it’s two girls’ hands…”
“Got it.” He cradled the back of my head and kissed my cheek.
This photo captured our profiles perfectly. Most of my face was visible. His was just a vague outline.
Not too explicit, but unmistakably intimate.
Xu Yan even cropped it carefully so only from his jaw down showed. Once again, I couldn’t stop staring at that sharp jawline and neck.
I couldn’t help but admire him. “As expected of you. You’ve clearly practiced this angle—it’s sneaky enough…”
Xu Yan went silent.
I realized too late that it sounded rude.
Just as I opened my mouth to apologize, he leaned closer and smiled. “Want to see an even sneakier one?”
“…”
Memories of all those late-night life-and-death philosophical chats flooded back.
Xu Yan handed me his phone. “Add my WeChat. I’ll send you the photo.”
My face burned. I took his phone like it was a hot potato.
That night, the moment I got home, the photos arrived.
One of him holding my hand in the car.
One of him kissing my cheek.
That was it.
I let out a breath of relief. So when he said “photos,” he really meant these two.
I patted my still-warm cheeks and headed for the shower.
Then I planned to message Xu Jiaqing and explain everything clearly.
But right then, my screen lit up again.
Xu Yan sent a photo of himself wearing an apron.
Just the apron.
Around his neck was a fluffy collar.
No face in the shot, but once my brain superimposed Xu Yan’s features…
It hit different.
Then came his message: 【Looked up the proper way to wear this apron.】
I stared, fingers trembling as I replied: 【Sorry, Professor Xu…】
I think I really bought the wrong apron.
The store said there was a free gift. Was that collar the “gift”?
Unsure, I checked my purchase history. The listing was already taken down.
All that remained was the original product name: “Couple Cooking Apron Uniform Seduction Date Battle Robe…”
Wait. That night I was so sleepy I only read “cooking apron.”
I completely missed the rest of the title…
Xu Yan replied: 【It’s only human. No need to apologize.】
I couldn’t sleep.
I sent Xu Jiaqing a ton of messages.
But the exposed Xu Jiaqing—whether from guilt or something else—didn’t reply to a single one.
Until past two in the morning.
Then he started spamming.
More like attacking.
【After dinner, you kissed Xu Yan again, didn’t you?】
【Today I saw the photos he sent you in his old laptop.】
【Xu Yan has always been obsessed with privacy. Even I’m not allowed in his bedroom. But he sent those to you? On what grounds?】
【He liked you long before you two started dating online.
He was scared you wouldn’t accept his identity, so he hid his face.
He wanted to wait until your relationship was solid, until you graduated, before meeting in person.
And you accused him of catfishing as a girl? Tian Wan, are you brain-dead?】
【He knew I’m allergic to chili, but to cater to your taste, he put chili in every dish.】
【Xu Yan… never even peeled shrimp for me.】
After reading it all, things suddenly clicked.
【So you started the rumor that I’m a lesbian because you’re gay for him?】
Xu Jiaqing exploded the second he saw my reply: 【Called you brain-dead and you really are. Xu Yan is my brother!】
I sent a smiling emoji: 【Xu Jiaqing, I bet you’re hiding under the blanket crying right now?】
【…】
Looked like I hit the mark. I kept going, paying him back for starting those rumors: 【Heh, obsessive brother-con freak.】
【Flirting master at work! Xu Jiaqing, without me, would you even～sleep～tonight～clearly～?】
【Shut up!!!】
【Want～to～taste～the～fairy’s～flavor～? Don’t tell me you used these cringy pickup lines on my brother too?】
Fine. I turned on the bedside lamp, sat up, and started typing back fast.