Xie Yu often called him idiot, stupid, and various other insults. The only respectful name he had called him was 'Big Bro Flirt,' but that wasn't complimentary, either.
So now the words 'Zhao-ge,' said in an even tone without inflection, left He Zhao stunned.
He almost dropped his chopsticks.
By the time He Zhao came back to his senses, Luo Wenqiang had snatched the final piece of corn pie with his bare hands.
Luo Wenqiang had one foot on his chair, his posture open. He had done his utmost to seize food, forgoing chopsticks and using his hands directly. "Ha ha ha ha ha, Zhao-ge, admit defeat!"
Xu Qingqing said, "Gym rep, I really didn't imagine you to be this sort of person."
Liu Cunhao shook his head. "I didn't, either... There's nothing he won't stoop to for food. Tell me, did you really forgo just dinner? Surely you didn't go the whole day without food."
Luo Wenqiang bit into the corn pie and explained, "Not that far, not that far. I just have a big appetite, that's all."
He Zhao cleared his throat, about to ask why Xie Yu was calling him big bro.
Xie Yu said, "I don't like corn pie."
"I didn't get the pie, anyway," He Zhao said. "Then what do you want to eat?"
Xie Yu pointed at the steaming pot of three-ingredient soup.¹
The food on the table was already a mess. The remaining dishes were a plate of vegetables on which were piled several shrimp, and a small rib that had come from a different dish.
He Zhao stared at the mess and thought, Let alone a bowl of soup, I'll do anything!
He Zhao reached out to turn the lazy susan. After it had rotated halfway, his hand stilled and he asked, "You want some soup, right? Call me big bro again and I'll get it for you."
He Zhao thought the little bastard certainly wouldn't listen to him and might even kick him instead. Or even fold up his sleeves and, in his cold and haughty manner, bestow the words, "Get lost."
But the little bastard just called him again. "Zhao-ge."
"......"
He Zhao felt his throat tighten.
Almost everyone he knew called him Zhao-ge.
But the words were different coming from Xie Yu.
When he said them, a piece of He Zhao's heart seemed to collapse in his chest.
His thoughts were in chaos. Eventually the hundreds and thousands of words formed a sentence: Fuck, something is very wrong.
Xie Yu's mind was in chaos, too.
He stared at the bowl of soup for a long time, then stirred it with a spoon.
Actually, he didn't really dislike corn pie and didn't really want the three-ingredient soup, either.
So... what was he really trying to do?
Did he simply, having touched some nerve, want to call He Zhao big bro?
"How about some wine?" Liu Cunhao asked.
Luo Wenqiang said with his mouth full, "Yes, yes! That little bit isn't enough to fill the gaps in my teeth."
The group rarely went out and, without supervision, they all acted like grown-ups, ordering food and wine. The alcohol especially seemed to erase a line of some sort; the moment they drank, the boundaries they usually maintained all disappeared.
