Xu Cheng caught his phone and blew on it fondly.
“You and the junior got this close already?”
Lu Quan lifted his eyelids to glance at him, his thin lips parting slightly.
“We’re roommates.”
Xu Cheng lounged lazily on the sofa, eyeing the sharp-dressed thug across from him. He raised an eyebrow. “Yo~ Since when does our Young Master even know the word ‘roommate’?”
Lu Quan shot him a sidelong glance. “There’s a lot you don’t know.”
Xu Cheng saw him getting ready for the meeting. He jingled the keys in his hand and stood up. “Lunch at the usual spot?”
Lu Quan shook his head. “No.”
Xu Cheng rattled off several of their go-to restaurants. “Which one, then?”
Where they ate didn’t matter to him one bit.
Only Young Master Lu was that picky.
Lu Quan handed the files in his hand to the assistant waiting at the door. “The cafeteria,” he said flatly.
The cafeteria?!
Xu Cheng blinked. “Don’t you never eat at the cafeteria? You always say it’s not clean enough.”
All he got in response was Lu Quan’s utterly indifferent back as he walked away.
Xu Cheng trailed off. “…”
He spun his phone in his hand, trying to figure out what Lu Quan was up to. He had no clue.
Not until he ran into the junior at the cafeteria.
“Senior.” Liang Zhixia greeted him with a smile. When he spotted Lu Quan behind Xu Cheng, he paused and added, “Brother Lu.”
Xu Cheng was baffled all over again.
Why did it feel like he was the outsider here?
That weird vibe only grew stronger once they sat down to eat together.
It was like a three-person movie where he never got a name.
“When did you two get so tight?”
Xu Cheng was genuinely curious.
He knew Lu Quan’s personality. There was no way he’d get chummy with the junior just because they were roommates.
And that intimate nickname—Xia Xia.
The kicker? Lu Quan wouldn’t let him call the kid that.
Total double standards.
Lu Quan poked at his tray, ignoring him completely.
Liang Zhixia swallowed his bite of rice. “Brother Lu’s working at the coffee shop with me now.”
“Working?!” Xu Cheng nearly spat out the soup he’d just sipped. He coughed a few times before managing, “Did the Lu Family go bankrupt? Does he need to pick up a part-time gig?”
Liang Zhixia glanced at him, as if Xu Cheng had no idea what was going on. He continued, “Brother Lu said his parents cut off his allowance.”
That made even less sense to Xu Cheng.
Uncle Lu and Aunt Lu were always trying to make up for the childhood they missed out on giving Lu Quan. Even Lu Manman didn’t get treated that well. No way they’d cut him off.
Plus, Lu Quan’s net worth was already in the nine figures. His investments from the past couple years had raked in who-knew-how-much. He didn’t need the money.
“You sure—”
“Xu Cheng.” Lu Quan cut him off. He turned to the dazed Zhizhi. “Ignore him. Just eat.”
Liang Zhixia nodded and bowed his head to shovel rice into his mouth.
He was starving, but his lip still stung, so he could only take small bites.
Talking to Xu Cheng had left most of his food untouched.
Now that Lu Quan had spoken up, he could finally eat in peace.
As Liang Zhixia focused on his meal, Xu Cheng shot Lu Quan some meaningful looks, mouthing, “What’s the deal?”
Lu Quan tapped the phone on the table with a fingertip.
Xu Cheng got the message right away.
He pulled out his phone.
Lu Quan had sent him a text.
【I’ll explain later.】
That was as good as nothing. Xu Cheng waited patiently for the explanation, but the moment they finished eating, Lu Quan announced he was heading to the coffee shop to work with the junior.
What about his explanation?
Ditched again!
Fine. He’d find the answers himself.
After changing into the coffee shop uniform, Liang Zhixia stepped out of the break room first. He didn’t want yesterday’s fiasco to repeat itself.
The boss had given them the day off yesterday, so the shop didn’t open until two-thirty today.
It was only two-ten now, and Xu Cheng was the sole customer inside.
Liang Zhixia approached with the menu.
“Senior, ready to order?”
Xu Cheng took the menu and set it on the table. He grinned. “Send Lu Quan over.”
Liang Zhixia glanced back at the break room, looking a bit troubled. “Could you wait a sec, Senior? Brother Lu’s still changing.”
Xu Cheng shrugged. “No rush.”
With Lu Quan out of sight, his boldness returned. He turned to Liang Zhixia. “Why do you call Lu Quan ‘Brother Lu’?”
Liang Zhixia answered honestly. “He said he’s older than me, so I started calling him that.”
Xu Cheng narrowed his eyes. Lu Quan’s behavior was downright bizarre.
“Don’t you find Lu Quan hard to get along with?”
Liang Zhixia thought back over the past few days and shook his head truthfully. “Nah, he’s fine. Brother Lu just seems kinda aloof, but he’s actually pretty easygoing.”
Xu Cheng wouldn’t have bought that from anyone else, but coming from the junior, it carried some weight.
“Maybe it’s just with you,” Xu Cheng said.
Liang Zhixia wasn’t sure how to respond. In his mind, Xu Cheng might be jealous.
So he blinked and said, “Don’t worry, Senior. Brother Lu and I aren’t that close yet.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a low, magnetic male voice sounded from behind him.
“So Xia Xia still hates me that much?”
Getting caught by the man himself was mortifying.
Warm breath ghosted over the back of his neck, sending a shiver down his spine.
He stepped back on instinct—and right into the man’s arms.
Remembering the guy’s germaphobia, he scrambled out of Lu Quan’s embrace, his long lashes fluttering. “Sorry.”
Lu Quan rubbed the fingertip that had brushed Zhizhi’s skin and chuckled softly. “No harm done. My germaphobia isn’t that bad. The way Xia Xia bolted, though—I thought I had some kinda virus.”
Liang Zhixia scratched his cheek sheepishly. “No, I get it.”
Right then, a customer pushed through the door. Liang Zhixia hurried off to serve them.
Lu Quan’s dark eyes tracked the young man’s retreating figure. The thin apron strings accentuated his slim waist. Seeing his Zhizhi smile at someone else…
He tsked softly. Zhizhi’s smile was so beautiful. Why waste it on others?
It sparked real jealousy.
Xu Cheng had to call out to him several times before Lu Quan followed his gaze—just in time to see the junior taking an order.
“What’re you staring at?”
Lu Quan glanced down and jabbed at a coffee on the menu, his expression blank. “I’ll have this one, right?”
Xu Cheng’s eyes widened. Before he could speak, the menu was snatched away.
“…”
Lu Quan was acting really strange.
The shop wasn’t busy today. Liang Zhixia was chatting quietly with a coworker in the corner when one table specifically asked for him.
A group of guys—local college students, by the look of them.
He approached and set the menus down. “What can I get you?”
One of them, a particularly striking guy, looked up with a smile.
“Has anyone ever told you you’re gorgeous?”
Liang Zhixia frowned slightly but stayed polite. “No.”
The guy next to him hooted. “Come on, Da Bai, you got this! Just ask her out already!”
The others joined in.
“Are you even a man?!”
“Real men make a move!”
Liang Zhixia could tell they were targeting him. He gripped his pen tighter. “I’ll get my coworker to—”
“I’ve had my eye on you for ages. Since your first shift here. I really like you. Be my boyfriend?”
Liang Zhixia frowned and took a step back, his face impassive. “Sorry.”
Usually, that shut things down.
But this guy wasn’t getting the hint.
“I mean it—I really like you. I’ll treat you right. I’m a freshman at Jiao University next door. Name’s Wang Bai.”
“Sorry, I’m not interested.” Liang Zhixia rejected him again.
Wang Bai’s smile froze. His eyes narrowed. “How about we swap contacts first? You might warm up to me.”
Liang Zhixia had no patience for this. “I have a boyfriend.”
The burly guy rose slowly, towering like a wall. He loomed over Liang Zhixia with a superior tone. “That excuse won’t fly with me. You work here ’cause you’re broke, right? Come with me—I’ll give you ten thousand a month. Deal?”
A flash of disgust crossed Liang Zhixia’s eyes. “Sorry. I’m not interested.”
Wang Bai’s friends watched the scene. One tugged his arm with a grin. “Sorry about this, man. My buddy’s just crazy about you. No need to get upset—things get messy for everybody if it blows up.”
It sounded like peacemaking, but it was a veiled threat: don’t make a scene.
Liang Zhixia hadn’t planned to anyway. He still wanted to keep the job.
Wang Bai eyed him like a hawk, waiting for an answer.
Unless he grabbed someone right now and claimed they were his boyfriend.
Just then, a hand seized his arm. He turned to see Lu Quan.
Then his hand was clasped firmly in another. Lu Quan’s voice came cold and flat. “I’m his boyfriend. You trying to steal my guy?”
Wang Bai sized up the taller guy, noting the coffee shop uniform. A glint flashed in his eyes.
“So you’re a waiter here too? So what? I can give him ten thousand a month—can you?”
It had been a long time since anyone dared speak to Lu Quan like that.
Just as Liang Zhixia opened his mouth to respond, he felt a gentle pinch on his finger.
In the next moment, Lu Quan had pulled him behind himself. Right in front of Wang Bai, Lu Quan took out his phone and lowered his head, tapping away at something.
Liang Zhixia’s phone vibrated softly in his pocket.
Lu Quan looked up at Wang Bai. “Ten thousand a month? You think that’s enough to shoo away a beggar?”
He set the phone down on the table, his fingertips drumming idly against the surface, his tone lazy and offhand.
“I can give him ten thousand a day. Can you?”
The screen clearly displayed a transfer of two hundred thousand, with the note: “Voluntary gift to my boyfriend.”
And today was the twentieth, of course.
Wang Bai’s face flushed beet red as he glared at Lu Quan in disbelief. “How can you have that much money and still be working here? You look like some pretty boy—who knows if that cash came from legit sources!”
Lu Quan eyed the man’s frantic outburst, a chill settling in his gaze, his voice turning icy. “You must be Wang—”
Smack!
A sharp slap landed squarely across Wang Bai’s face.
Liang Zhixia calmly withdrew his hand and stared straight into Wang Bai’s eyes.
“Apologize to him.”
The young man’s voice rang out clear and firm. The entire shop fell silent, though a closer look would reveal his left hand trembling ever so slightly.
Pulled to the back, Lu Quan gazed at them with deep, dark eyes, turbulent emotions churning within. He lowered his head to their clasped hands.
