A beautiful summer night

Today's meal was unexpectedly harmonious.

Xia Wanzhi doesn't eat spicy food, and Xie Qiyan happens to do the same.

Xia Wanzhi dislikes cilantro, and Xie Qiyan happens to dislike it as well.

They unexpectedly clicked.

Xia Wanzhi felt that this hot pot meal was also an unexpected surprise.

Unexpectedly, it led to the discovery of many unforeseen things.

Hot pot paired with ice-cold fruit beer is truly irresistible. While everyone was talking and no one was paying attention, Xia Wanzhi couldn't resist sneaking a few sips.

It's so delicious, I can't resist.

Xia Wanzhi glanced at the alcohol content and thought that she wouldn't get drunk even if she drank ten cans of this.

But I'm afraid of getting scolded.

So she got up, quietly went to the kitchen, opened a can from the refrigerator, and poured it into her thermos.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Yunli asked, calling her back with a thermos.

Xia Wanzhi pretended to be calm: "No, I'll just have some water."

Xie Qiyan, who was sitting next to her, glanced at her for a while but didn't say anything.

After eating almost all of her food, Xia Wanzhi finished the fruit beer in her thermos. She was in a daze for a moment, then leaned forward slightly with her arms on the table. As she raised her hands to support her chin, her elbow brushed against Xie Qiyan's shoulder.

She didn't notice, but Xie Qiyan glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Want some more?" Yunli was worried that Xia Wanzhi shouldn't drink alcohol since she had just recovered from a cold, so she specifically told her to only drink a little bit. Seeing that Xia Wanzhi's eyes seemed a little mournful, she handed her the remaining half can of her own.

Xia Wanzhi smiled, her eyes half-closed: "Okay."

She had already eaten and drunk her fill, so she took a sip and put the drink down, then continued to sit quietly and listen to Yunli and Jiang Baichuan talk.

Actually, Jiang Baichuan and Yun Li are quite a good match.

She's even more suitable than Liang Jing.

Yunli only got together with Liang Jing this year. The two met through a blind date. Yunli's mother was attracted to Liang Jing's status as a civil servant and forced them to be together.

Liang Jing treated them to a meal once, and Xia Wanzhi was sitting across from them watching.

But it was obvious that Yunli was unhappy when she was with Liang Jing.

On the contrary, she and Jiang Baichuan looked perfectly natural sitting together.

What a handsome couple!

Xia Wanzhi sighed and casually picked up the fruit beer on her right and took a sip.

Blueberry flavor.

Xia Wanzhi frowned and subconsciously turned her head: "Why does the taste have changed?"

"What do you think?" Xie Qiyan looked down at her somewhat dazed eyes.

The light was bright, and Xia Wanzhi was sitting right next to him. At this distance, even the fine hairs on her face could be seen clearly.

"I don't know." Xia Wanzhi tilted her head, holding up the can of fruit beer and staring at it blankly.

The ending note had a hook.

A smile inexplicably appeared on Xie Qiyan's lips, but it lasted only a second before he regained his composure and said in a deep voice, "You took the wrong one. You drank mine."

Xia Wanzhi's disconnected mind suddenly reconnected with her nerves.

"You...you...you..." Xia Wanzhi stammered, "Did you drink the wrong thing?"

Xie Qiyan corrected, "You drank the wrong thing."

"What did you drink wrong?" Yun Li and Jiang Baichuan looked up at the same time.

Xie Qiyan leaned back in his chair, his fingertips tracing the peach-flavored beer that Xia Wanzhi had, his tone becoming lighter: "Drink my beer."

Yunli slammed her hand on the table: "Wow, an indirect kiss."

These words came out of his mouth, and everyone else present looked over in astonishment.

A muffled thunderclap struck her mind, and Xia Wanzhi's brain went blank once again.

After a long pause, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, she turned her head and bravely took responsibility: "I'm sorry!"

Xie Qiyan tapped the beer bottle with his fingers, which showed faint blue veins, and said casually, "It's okay."

Xia Wanzhi pursed her lips and blankly handed his can of fruit beer back to him.

Xie Qiyan raised an eyebrow slightly.

A moment later, he took it back and, as if nothing had happened, took a sip.

Xia Wanzhi's face felt a little hot.

I'm tipsy.

she thinks.

After the meal, Jiang Baichuan crossed his arms and looked at Xie Qiyan meaningfully, then exposed him, "He drank after you drank, it's a give-and-take, are you trying to solidify the charge of indirect kissing?"

Xie Qiyan slightly raised his eyelids, his tone self-righteous: "Is it my fault?"

Xia Wanzhi was the one who drank his wine.

Jiang Baichuan chuckled, nodding thoughtfully as he said, "Fine, I can't argue with you."

After everyone returned home, Xie Tan, with a sly look on his face, stared at Xie Qiyan and said, "Brother, I heard everything! You two were secretly kissing!"

Even the most serious person couldn't help but distort their expression upon hearing this.

"Are your ears in your brain? You think whatever you want." Xie Qiyan felt that Xie Tan had been talking too much lately.

Xie Tan chuckled: "It's good that you know what I'm thinking."

Xie Qiyan glanced at her.

Indeed, Xie Tan's intentions were quite obvious.

For a week after that meal, Xia Wanzhi didn't see Xie Qiyan again.

Drinking alcohol leads to trouble.

After that meal, Xia Wanzhi picked up a pen and copied down the phrase "drinking leads to trouble" a hundred times as a warning to herself not to overindulge in alcohol again.

I may be bad at cooking, but I love it.

The day was sunny and bright. Xia Wanzhi's work was back on track. She didn't know why, but things went much more smoothly at work after breaking off her engagement with Zhou Yu.

Xia Wanzhi has many clients who want her paintings done, and her schedule is booked until the end of August.

This made Xia Wanzhi even more convinced of one principle—

Men are stumbling blocks on a woman's road to success.

At 11:30 p.m., Xia Wanzhi finished her last painting, tidied up briefly, and was about to leave when she received a phone call from an unknown number.

She instinctively thought it was a customer, so she pressed the answer button.

Do you like children?

Xia Wanzhi paused, unsure how to interpret the sound.

Asking her right away if she likes children is so presumptuous.

In just three seconds, Xia Wanzhi determined that it was Xie Qiyan's voice.

The deep voice, transmitted through electronic devices, had a more magnetic quality, sounding somewhat different from the real voice, yet somehow the same.

However, Xie Qiyan's voice sounded strange being so close to my ear.

So Xia Wanzhi turned on speakerphone, letting Xie Qiyan's voice resonate throughout the entire studio.

"What do you want to do?" Xia Wanzhi asked warily.

"What are you afraid of? It's not like it'll eat you." Xie Qiyan curled his fingers and twirled the invitation in his hand.

Xia Wanzhi kept a close eye on things: "So-so."

Saying I don't like it would be too insincere.

When she said she liked him, he retorted, "What if you ask her to have a child with him?"

After all, Xie Qiyan spoke without any sense of propriety, making decisions arbitrarily.

"Jiang Baichuan's niece is turning three, and there's a birthday party tomorrow. Why don't you take Yunli over to have some fun?" Xie Qiyan got down to business.

Xia Wanzhi's lips twitched slightly: "Are you informing me or asking for my opinion?"

Xie Qiyan: "Jiang Baichuan, I'm begging you."

Jiang Baichuan, who was waiting to the side: "..."

Xia Wanzhi smiled enigmatically: "Then President Jiang owes me a favor."

Jiang Baichuan naturally took the phone: "Of course."

After reaching an agreement and hanging up the phone, Jiang Baichuan returned the phone to Xie Qiyan with both hands, saying, "I am deeply grateful."

Xie Qiyan gave him a cold glance.

"Look at you, who calls a girl and immediately asks if she likes children? It scares her so much that she doesn't dare to say she does." Jiang Baichuan was in a good mood, and comfortably leaned back with his legs crossed.

Xie Qiyan took a sip of coffee and said matter-of-factly, "So what if she says she likes me? Are you afraid I'll make her have my baby?"

Jiang Baichuan looked at him with a complicated expression.

Look, they really should sew that mouth shut.