Chapter 41: The Vicious Rich Family’s Fake Young Master · 41 Part 2

The two love rivals in the dorm were still quite a threat. He couldn’t just stand on the sidelines and watch.

Thus, just as Su Wenyu fumblingly sat on the bicycle, stepping on the pedals to learn how to make it move, the number of hands supporting his bike—and him—went from two to three.

But by that point, Su Wenyu had no attention to spare for the uninvited Zhou Xu. Just keeping the bike steady while they were holding it was difficult enough. How could he possibly have the focus to worry about how many hands were on his body now?

Tofu eaten clean, and Su Wenyu didn’t even know who had eaten it.

It took several minutes before Su Wenyu, under Shen Yi’s guidance, barely figured out how to pedal. As the bike moved forward, Su Wenyu practically cried out in excitement.

Xia Yehang, seeing the front wheel wobble, reminded him: “Grip tight, don’t be afraid, just ride straight ahead.”

Su Wenyu had never been on a bicycle before. He was clumsy at first, but once he got it moving, he immediately found the trick: “I can do it, I can do it, I think I’m getting it!”

Xia Yehang was the first to let go of the hand supporting Su Wenyu’s body, followed by Shen Yi.

Zhou Xu gripped the bottom of the bike seat. After steadying it for a final short distance and seeing he was no longer needed, he let go as well.

Su Wenyu pedaled steadily forward. The warm evening breeze blew the hair from his forehead, and the scenery beside the path flew past. Su Wenyu’s heart pounded in his chest. He felt as though he’d experienced what freedom truly was.

“Are you guys still there? Still holding on?”

Su Wenyu could no longer hear Shen Yi and the others, but he didn’t dare look back. He could only raise his voice and ask.

For a long moment, Su Wenyu didn’t hear them respond. Had they let go ages ago?

A sudden jolt of fear hit Su Wenyu, and the handlebars he was controlling started to wobble.

Right at the end of the path, Su Wenyu panicked and hit the brakes, and then it suddenly struck him: he hadn’t learned how to dismount!

Just as the front of the bike was swinging wildly out of control, two hands suddenly reached out from either side of Su Wenyu, one on the left and one on the right, steadying the handlebars.

Xia Yehang and Zhou Xu were breathing slightly heavily; it looked like they’d run after him the whole way.

Shen Yi also braced Su Wenyu’s body as he almost lost his balance. He evened out his breathing slightly and said, “Don’t be scared. We were right behind you the whole time.”

Su Wenyu froze for a second. “Oh,” he murmured. Then, under the instruction of all three, he learned how to stabilize the bike after braking and then dismount.

“You learn so fast! When I first learned to ride, I fell several times before I got it,” Xia Yehang praised, completely omitting the fact that he’d learned to ride a bike when he was still in kindergarten.

Su Wenyu was a little embarrassed by the praise but also felt a bit more confident.

“Want to practice a bit more?” Zhou Xu checked his watch. “It’s only five o’clock.”

Feeling full of confidence now, Su Wenyu immediately got back on the bike. “Let’s practice a bit more.”

Learning anything is always hardest at the first step, but once you get that down, the rest becomes much simpler.

Su Wenyu, who struggled with academics, learned everything else very quickly.

After practicing riding in a straight line a few times, Su Wenyu quickly mastered how to turn. Though his turns were wobbly, at least he was making them.

Later, when Su Wenyu reached the end of the path, he didn’t brake to stop. Instead, he turned the handlebars, made a U-turn, and started circling the path.

Aside from the first few rides, where he sweated a little from nerves, Su Wenyu soon began enjoying the experience of cycling—the wind whistling past his ears, that feeling of freedom held in his own hands.

Xia Yehang, Zhou Xu, and Shen Yi stood at a short distance off to the side, their gazes following Su Wenyu as he circled around and around.

By the time dinner rolled around, Su Wenyu could handle the bicycle quite skillfully. Even when he braked and stopped right in front of them, the rear wheel traced a graceful arc on the ground.

The three of them applauded, giving Su Wenyu’s performance a perfect score.

“Tomorrow we can all ride our bikes to the cafeteria for meals, and to classes!” After dismounting, Su Wenyu’s face was flushed pink with excitement.

Zhou Xu pulled a pack of tissues from his pocket and handed it to him so he could wipe the sweat from his forehead. He didn’t refuse.

Shen Yi and Xia Yehang’s bicycles would also be delivered before 10 PM, so naturally, they had no objections either.

After pushing their bicycles to the parking spot next to the dorm building and parking them next to Zhou Xu’s, Su Wenyu, wanting to thank them for teaching him, suggested treating everyone to hotpot at a restaurant outside the campus.

The word ‘get-together’ was something he’d learned a few days ago while watching videos on his phone.

He’d heard that many freshmen, after moving into the dorms, would go out to eat with their roommates. It helped break the ice and let them get to know each other faster.

Although Su Wenyu felt he was already pretty familiar with his three roommates, he still wanted to have a get-together.

Most importantly, he really, really wanted to eat hotpot.

His phone had been pushing him ads for this hotpot place off-campus. The reviews all said it was amazingly delicious.

Su Wenyu had never eaten hotpot before. Just looking at the pictures in the reviews made him swallow.

Upon hearing this, the other three naturally had no objections.

So Su Wenyu happily led them to the hotpot restaurant.

On a Sunday evening, the hotpot place was busy. Because it offered good food at a good price and excellent flavor, students who were a little better off financially would come here for a treat whenever they had time.

By the time Su Wenyu’s group reached the restaurant entrance, there was already a line outside.

Su Wenyu did as the others did: waited in line and got a number. Seeing the estimated wait time of one hour on the ticket, he thought wasting an hour just waiting around would be a pity, so he and the three of them took a stroll down the street.

This was the first time Su Wenyu had gone out exploring off-campus since starting school. Although his mind held the original host’s memories of going out for fun, those memories were more like watching a movie, lacking any sense of immersion.

Now he had it. Su Wenyu saw many tricycle vendors along the roadside. Smelling the scents drifting from the stalls, he found it hard to keep walking.

“Fried baby potatoes, grilled skewers, dry-tossed fried rice cakes, teppanyaki tofu…”

Su Wenyu looked at them one by one. The glutton inside him was fully roused, his stomach growling.

“Buy it if you want to eat it,” Xia Yehang said, seeing Su Wenyu practically drooling. He headed straight to a barbecue stall and bought ten meat skewers.

Su Wenyu said, “No, no, we have to eat hotpot later,” but his eyes remained fixed on the cumin and chili powder being sprinkled onto the skewers. The words ‘I want to eat’ might as well have been stamped on his forehead.

“It’s fine, just have a little to taste. We’ll eat whatever you can’t finish,” Xia Yehang said. He didn’t believe that the three tall guys, himself included, couldn’t handle Su Wenyu’s leftovers.

With Xia Yehang’s guarantee, Su Wenyu was free of worry. He dragged them from one end of the street to the other, buying one of almost every snack.

Unknowingly, the hands of the three following behind Su Wenyu were soon full of bags.

Shen Yi looked down at the things in his hands, then looked coldly at Xia Yehang: “We’ll eat the leftovers?”

Where did Xia Yehang get the nerve to drag them into his promise?

Xia Yehang also hadn’t anticipated that Su Wenyu would want a bite of everything. Just as Su Wenyu was about to buy two pieces of nut cake to taste, Xia Yehang immediately stopped him: “It should be about our turn now. Let’s go back and check.”

Su Wenyu only reluctantly tore his gaze away from the nut cake.

Zhou Xu warned, “If we miss our number, we’ll have to wait another three tables.”

Su Wenyu’s attention instantly snapped away from the nut cake. He wanted to eat hotpot soon even more than he wanted the snack.

After returning to the hotpot restaurant entrance, their number was indeed almost up. Only one table was ahead of them.

Eating his fried potatoes, Su Wenyu had barely taken two bites before the restaurant called their number.

The moment they entered the hotpot place, they were hit by a wave of loud chatter. Pots on every table bubbled furiously, and the shop was filled with the numbing, spicy, savory aroma.

Su Wenyu followed the server toward their table, curiously glancing at other tables as he passed to see what they had ordered.

Once they were at their four-person table, the server gave them fresh tableware and brought over the menu, enthusiastically saying, “What kind of broth would you like first? Let me know so I can put that order in ahead of time, it’ll arrive faster.”

Su Wenyu knew this one. He ordered a split pot directly—that way, those who could eat spicy and those who couldn’t could both enjoy it.

The server went off to place the broth order first. Su Wenyu took the pen and checked off a few of the highly recommended meat dishes from online, then pushed the menu to the others for them to continue selecting.

Xia Yehang, a carnivore, boldly added several more plates of fresh-cut beef. Shen Yi added a few vegetable dishes. Zhou Xu checked off a few desserts.

When they handed the menu back to the server, Zhou Xu didn’t forget to remind them to bring the desserts last.

After placing the order, Zhou Xu got up and called Su Wenyu to go make their dipping sauces. Xia Yehang and Shen Yi also got up to join them.

The hotpot restaurant was very thoughtful. On the wall of the sauce station, they had posted pictures and instructions teaching people how to mix delicious dipping sauces.

Su Wenyu held his small bowl and followed the instructions to make a standard, safe sauce. When he got back to his seat, he stirred it with his chopsticks and licked the tip. The flavor was pretty good; Su Wenyu was quite satisfied.

As the broth boiled, the various dishes were brought to the table one after another.

Because the street snacks they’d bought outside covered half the table, when the hotpot dishes arrived, they could only be temporarily placed on a cart beside the table.

The hotpot was absolutely delicious. After just one bite of meat from the spicy broth, Su Wenyu let out a blissful sigh.

After that, he simply buried his head in his food, eating meat until his nose sweated from the spice, not wanting to stop.

With Su Wenyu no longer chatting, the three other guys at the table had even less in common. For a time, the only sounds from their table were the clatter of utensils fishing for meat and the sounds of eating.

This peace was only shattered when four cheerful, chattering girls were led in by a server. One of the girls spotted Xia Yehang, who was facing the entrance, and immediately waved at him. “Xia Yehang!”

The other three girls looked over at her words. When they saw Xia Yehang’s looks, a hint of admiration at seeing a handsome guy flickered in their eyes.

But the other three weren’t close with Xia Yehang, so even when their eyes met, they were too shy to greet him, only smiling politely.

Xia Yehang heard someone call his name and looked up. Seeing who it was, he choked before he could even swallow his mouthful of beef. Turning his head, he coughed violently.

“You okay?” Su Wenyu quickly handed him two napkins and poured him a glass of lemon water.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Xia Yehang, terrified that Su Wenyu would turn around and see who had called him, didn’t even mind that the chili had hit his throat and made his eyes water. He hastily put the plate of brown sugar glutinous rice cakes in front of Su Wenyu. “Try these, they’re really good.”

Su Wenyu’s attention was immediately snagged by the snack. He picked up a piece of the rice cake, drenched in brown sugar syrup. The outer crust was crispy, and the inside was soft, chewy, and glutinous. It really was very good.

Xia Yehang finished coughing and immediately gulped down a glass of water, silently praying that the server would quickly lead the girls past their table and far away.