Everyone was getting on well.

Zhao Ming couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten with this many people. Joke by joke, he was soon part of the little circle.

When everyone had more or less finished, Xu Ye got up to settle the bill.

But Zhao Ming seemed to have guessed what he was doing. He put out a hand to stop him. “Where are you going?”

“To pay.”

“Don’t rush. I’ll get it in a minute.”

Xu Ye laughed. “We agreed this one was on me.”

Zhao Ming wouldn’t let it go. “Don’t argue with me. The money you put into the film hasn’t come back yet, so you can’t have much right now. Once the film money lands in the account, then you can buy dinner.”

He wasn’t wrong. Most of the ten-odd million Xu Ye had started with was out the door. Five million was in the film and hadn’t come back, another five million had just gone into Yingke, and on top of that he had to transfer Pei Youwei a sum for the expansion any day now. There really wasn’t much left at his disposal.

“You should have said. If I’d known you were paying I’d have ordered a few more expensive things.”

Zhao Ming pointed at him and laughed in exasperation. “Is he this shameless the whole time he’s around you?”

“He’s always like this.”

Xu Ye waved a hand. “All right. Everybody’s about done. Get your things together, we’re heading back.”

Zhao Ming was enjoying the conversation and wasn’t quite ready to leave. But seeing everyone at the table start picking up phones and bags, he got up and went with Xu Ye to the counter to settle up.

Once Zhao Ming had scanned the code and paid, he put an arm around Xu Ye’s shoulders and steered him toward the restroom.

They were taking a leak.

Zhao Ming turned his head. “Anything else going on tonight?”

“No.”

“Want to go on somewhere after?”

Xu Ye thought about it. “Next time. They’re in dorms, and the dorms lock up at night.”

Zhao Ming nodded. “Fair point.”

Xu Ye swore at him at once. “You bastard. Why didn’t you ask me on my own whether I was free?”

“Where’s the fun in just the two of us?”

They both shook twice, pulled their pants up and went over to the sinks together. Xu Ye turned the faucet on and said as he washed his hands, “By the way, don’t just leave afterward. My car won’t hold this many people — I need you to take somebody back for me.”

“No problem.”

Zhao Ming went on, “Then I’ll take the girl who was sitting next to me. The two of us are dressed much the same today. That has to be fate.”

Xu Ye smiled, nodded and gave an mm.

The group took the elevator down to the parking garage. Once they were out, Xu Ye turned to Zhang Ruowei beside him. “Zhang Ruowei, my car won’t hold this many people. I’ll have Zhao Ming drive you back — it’s close by anyway.”

And he gave her a look as he said it: Good man, aren’t I? How’s that for an opening?

Zhang Ruowei made a show of squirming a little, then nodded with a certain ‘shyness.’ “All right, then.”

Zhao Ming led her off to where he had parked.

The others watched the two of them go, a distinctly ‘peculiar’ smile on every face.

Shen Xinyi said quietly, “Those two really do… go well together.”

Qin Zhiwei scratched his head. “But he barely said a word to Zhang Ruowei over dinner.”

“If a guy can talk to every woman around him and the only one he hardly speaks to is one particular girl, then that guy is a hundred percent interested in her.”

“When you two were in the restroom, did he say anything to you?”

Xu Ye laughed. “I said my car wouldn’t hold everyone and asked him to take somebody back. He picked Zhang Ruowei himself.”

“Huh?”

……

“Your school’s near here, right?”

“Mm. Very close. A few minutes and we’re there.”

“Then I won’t bother with the navigation. You direct me.”

Zhang Ruowei nodded and said all right, then reached for the seatbelt. Finding the buckle caught under the seat, she pretended she hadn’t noticed and mumbled, “Why won’t this seatbelt pull out?”

“Let me look.”

Zhao Ming undid the seatbelt he had just fastened, leaned over to check, and said, “It was stuck. It’s fine now.”

Once he had it working, he glanced at her without meaning to, and at that moment she was looking up at him.

The inside of a car was cramped to begin with, and the two of them were very close just then. They held each other’s eyes for a few seconds before she lowered her head without a word. Zhao Ming sat back quickly, stared at nothing for a long moment, then took a bottle of water out of the armrest compartment, twisted it open and drank a long swallow.

“Do you want some?”

“I’m not thirsty.”

“Oh.” Zhao Ming fastened his seatbelt again, touched the accelerator and eased the car slowly out of the underground garage.

The IAPM was right next to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, a few hundred meters away at most, five minutes by car. Before Zhao Ming could say anything, Zhang Ruowei pointed at the school’s east gate. “Turn in there and we’re nearly there.”

He looked up, realized they were already there, and said with a quick laugh, “That close? Makes it easy for you to get out, then.”

“I suppose.”

“Does Xu Ye come over to see his girlfriend a lot?”

“Mm. Pretty much every weekend, unless something comes up.”

Zhao Ming said, “I haven’t been back long and I don’t have many friends here. My company isn’t far away either — twenty minutes by car. Next time you all go out, count me in. I’m on call anytime.”

“Sure~”

“Which way now?”

“That building ahead is our dorm.”

Zhao Ming drove over and stopped below it.

Zhang Ruowei hesitated a moment, then picked up her bag, said thank you and made to get out. She put a hand on the door and counted down silently to herself. Five, four, three, two…

“Um.”

Zhao Ming finally couldn’t hold it in. “If it’s all right, could I add you on WeChat?”

Zhang Ruowei made a show of thinking it over for two seconds, then got her phone out and let him scan the code.

Just as she accepted the friend request, Xu Ye pulled up behind them.

The four flowers of Room 205 went into the dormitory building together.

Zhao Ming walked over to Xu Ye’s car, pulled the door open and got in. His first words were, “Xu Ye, what’s your situation?”

“What do you mean, what’s my situation?”

Seeing Qin Zhiwei there, Zhao Ming hesitated over whether to say it.

Xu Ye read his misgiving. “If you’ve got a fart, let it out. Zhiwei’s one of us.”

Only then did Zhao Ming ask. “Isn’t your girlfriend Dean Jiang’s daughter? How come her surname’s Chen?”

Xu Ye laughed. “When did I ever tell you my girlfriend was Dean Jiang’s daughter?”

“That time at the club—”

Xu Ye cut him off. “It’s a long story. To keep it simple, what actually happened was—”

He explained roughly how he was connected to Jiang Chao and Jiang Wei, and why he had gone to the club with him that time.

Zhao Ming shook his head and laughed. “I damn well thought you were two-timing.”

“I’m not that kind of guy.”

“Where are you two sleeping tonight?”

“A hotel.”

“Right. Next time there’s a thing like this, remember to call me.”

“Did you get her WeChat?”

“I did.” Then it caught up with him. “Christ, how did you know I just added her?”

Xu Ye laughed. “You snuck quite a few looks at her over dinner. Do you think I’m blind?”

“Was I that obvious?”

“Don’t worry. Nobody but me spotted it, and I’m very tight-lipped. I won’t say anything.”

“Good man!”

Zhao Ming clapped him on the shoulder. “Solid!”

(End of Chapter 296)