The Dian Ji students all wore grey gym uniforms with a vertical blue streak on one sleeve. Their uniform was their sign, and Erzhong students would give them a wide berth to avoid any unnecessary trouble if they saw them.
Shen Jie held on to his pocket the whole time. He sat to one side and observed the restaurant as well as the people at the other tables.
As He Zhao was flipping through the menu, someone at another table knocked on the table with a beer glass and said, like he was picking a fight, "Another carton of beer!"
Shen Jie dragged his line of sight back to his own table and saw that his Zhao-ge was also looking at the available drinks. He Zhao's finger landed on the menu and he said, "Green bean soup?"
Xie Yu's finger landed just under He Zhao's, less than half an inch away. "I'll have this."
"Mineral water again," He Zhao said. "Your life is really boring, isn't it?"
Shen Jie watched with wide eyes as they decided on drinks and started to select dishes. He felt as if he was invisible. A second later, he said, "Are... neither of you going to ask me? What I want to drink?"
"Order for yourself what food and drinks you want." He Zhao didn't even raise his head, and turned to Xie Yu after he finished speaking. "Will you eat this?"
Damn it, I should just not have come along for this meal. You two go and eat your fill.
Shen Jie gripped his chopsticks tightly with complex feelings.
The table next to them was very raucous, and the sounds of beer bottles being popped open occasionally reached their table. There was even a girl among them, wearing a very short miniskirt and a row of piercings along one ear. She had big hoop earrings and a loud voice.
"Sis-in-law, when is Ji-ge coming? Come on, give him a call and hurry him up," someone said drunkenly, waving his beer bottle. "We've already almost finished two rounds. If he still doesn't come... hic."
Big hoop earrings picked up her phone from the table and said generously, "Right, I'll rush him."
Shen Jie wasn't very picky about food either, but the two people opposite him were really getting to be too much. He Zhao ordered a bowl of noodles and specifically mentioned not to add spices. Shen Jie, unable to hold it in, interrupted. "Why not?"
The moment he asked he regretted asking.
He Zhao replied, "My little friend won't eat them."
Shen Jie: "......I'm full. I haven't even eaten anything and I'm full."
Who could remember the long list of foods Xie Yu wouldn't eat, anyway?
Xie Yu's appetite wasn't very good; he had been under the hot sun for a long time today. He ate several pieces of vegetables and half a bowl of noodles, then put down his chopsticks and went to the counter to pay.
As he got up, someone entered the restaurant.
Xie Yu saw the silhouette out of the corner of his eye and didn't pay much attention to it. He looked down at his phone, swiping in his passcode. "A hundred and two?"
The lady boss punched numbers into her calculator, looked at the bill, then did the sums over again for fear of collecting too little. Then she nodded and said, "Aye, that's right."
"Ji-ge!" The people at the neighboring table had also finished eating and now they all stood up, applauding as they welcomed the newcomer. "You're late! Finish these seven bottles! They've been waiting for you for a long time and you have to drink them."
