Vase cannon fodder is pampered by the group again

Chapter 82.2

That evening, Shen Ci went with Lu Xiao to the Shen house. Min Song also came along for a “reunion dinner.”

Min Shoubei was still in H Country handling crew matters and would have to make it up when he returned.

They were eating happily when Shen Bie suddenly remembered something and patted his little brother’s shoulder: “Oh right, Xiao Ci, about your hot pot mmph—”

“Ah, this shrimp is super delicious, big brother, try it!”

Shen Ci quickly picked up a shrimp and stuffed it in his big brother’s mouth, desperately giving him meaningful looks, too guilty to look at Lu Xiao.

He dared to tell Brother Zhang, Lu An, and all his other friends about opening the hot pot restaurant, but he absolutely didn’t dare tell Lu Xiao. He planned to hide it as long as possible.

Since childhood, Lu Xiao had indulged Shen Ci. Even when it came to bullying others, he let Shen Ci do as he pleased without any worries.

But when it came to matters involving his health, Lu Xiao’s attitude was extremely firm.

His stomach was always acting up. If Lu Xiao found out about him opening a hot pot restaurant… he’d definitely be strictly controlled, making it hard for him to sneak food.

Shen Bie glanced at Lu Xiao, then at his foolish little brother, nodding understandingly without saying more.

“Mm mm, delicious!”

He happily chewed the shrimp Shen Ci personally fed him, completely forgetting that he was clearly the one who had shelled it.

Lu Xiao methodically cracked crab, asking quietly: “Xiao Ci’s what?”

That light question struck the brothers’ hearts like thunder.

“…” Shen Bie nearly choked to death on the shrimp meat, hurriedly making exaggerated facial expressions at Shen Ci.

Shen Ci also widened his eyes, pouted, and wrinkled his nose—the two engaged in silent facial expression communication.

In the end, the brothers stared at each other with wide and small eyes, neither understanding the other.

“Geez, you dummy!” Shen Ci snapped, then clung to Lu Xiao’s arm ingratiatingly: “The drama I acted in! Want to watch it together later, little uncle?”

Lu Xiao looked down, offering crab meat to Shen Ci’s lips, saying lightly: “Hot pot restaurant? I’ve heard about it.”

“…” Shen Ci’s opened mouth froze instantly, and he gave an awkward laugh.

Not good… Was Lu Xiao a mind reader? How did he know!

He mentally beat up his big brother. Their security measures were way too poor!

Sure enough, Lu Xiao said he’d send an assistant to work there, keep business records, and the boss would need to file an application before eating in the store each time, to prevent Shen Ci from going overboard.

Shen Ci was in tears. This boss position was way too stifling…

The hot pot restaurant was located on the third floor of a shopping mall in the CBD, a prime location that Shen Bie had worked hard to secure. The interior design was also professionally done by a hired team.

The renovation had been completed while Shen Ci was filming, just waiting for the ribbon-cutting ceremony to open.

After discussing with his big brother, Shen Ci decided to do a live stream a few days before opening to build buzz.

“I want to invite all my friends!” Shen Ci’s eyes sparkled.

During the three months of filming, gaming was the only entertainment he shared with his friends. Recently his WeChat had been buzzing non-stop—all his friends wanted to chat and hang out with him.

Shen Bie paused his pen: “…If all your friends come, won’t that be quite a spectacle?”

“Yeah, a bit…” Shen Ci scratched the back of his head worriedly. The shopping mall might get mobbed by fans.

“It’s fine. Just handle security well, and everyone can make new friends.” Shen Bie snapped his fingers, grinning slyly: “We can get those muscle guys from last time to come. Standing at the door, that effect, tsk tsk tsk…”

Shen Ci: “…The effect would be passersby calling 110 left and right.”

In the end, Shen Ci couldn’t resist his big brother’s chuunibyou soul and reluctantly agreed to ask Lu Xiao to lend them people.

The live stream was scheduled to start at 9:30 PM. The mall had already been cleared, with security and Lu Xiao’s people working together to handle safety, preventing fans from accidentally entering and any incidents from occurring.

Friends gradually arrived via the underground parking garage, with Lu Xiao’s bodyguards providing individual escorts.

Wei Shuo was the first to arrive. As soon as he saw Shen Ci, his eyes lit up and he ran over, jumping onto Shen Ci: “You little vixen! This young master can finally touch you again!”

“Holy shit!” Shen Ci nearly got knocked to the ground. He gritted his teeth and steadied himself, then grabbed Wei Shuo’s cheeks and stretched them mercilessly.

Wei Shuo wasn’t about to give up either, grabbing at Shen Ci’s hair. The two of them wailed while refusing to let go, fighting fiercely as usual.

Bai Yan, standing nearby, fell into thought—should he violently end this elementary school fight?

“Damn! You messed up my idol’s beautiful hair!” Rapid footsteps sounded behind Wei Shuo—Yang Ning had arrived.

Shen Ci was getting his eyes to water from Wei Shuo’s pulling and quickly squeezed out “Ning Ge, help me.”

“You got it!” Yang Ning was extremely helpful, easily pressing down Wei Shuo’s raised arms, then tightly restraining his entire upper body. Under Wei Shuo’s suddenly horrified, stunned gaze, he lifted him up like he was showing off.

Wei Shuo’s feet immediately left the ground as he cursed and kicked frantically trying to struggle free.

Yang Ning snorted dismissively.

Tall and big, he held Wei Shuo like he was holding a large doll. Shen Ci stood to the side with his hands on his hips, laughing heartily.

“Stinky Shuo! Bet you didn’t expect me to have backup!”

“Shorty, hurry up and surrender!” Yang Ning threatened Wei Shuo, shaking him: “Idol, tickle him!”

“No no!” Wei Shuo was immediately terrified: “I don’t dare anymore! You sissy, let me go! Haha, damn it! Stinky Shen, hahaha, damn…”

Shen Ci wickedly tickled him, making Wei Shuo laugh-cry as the two tormented him nearly to madness.

Seeing Wei Shuo laughing so hard he had no strength left, Yang Ning finally carried him into the store and set him down on a booth sofa.

Wei Shuo was tickled until his face was completely red, his fingertips trembling softly as he gasped for breath, rolling up his loose sleeves to look.

Indeed, there were red marks on his arms from being gripped.

“You sissy, you gave this young master bruises!” Wei Shuo slapped Yang Ning’s back with a “smack” that startled Shen Ci.

But Yang Ning didn’t seem to care much, instead laughing ominously: “Call me sissy again and I’ll tickle you once more!”

Wei Shuo was intimidated into reluctantly shutting his mouth.

The roughhousing had indeed gone too far. Shen Ci grabbed Wei Shuo’s arm to look—it was indeed a bit red from the grip.

Shen Ci laughed: “Who knew Ning Ge had such strength? Look how he squeezed our Shuo-meimei.”

Wei Shuo immediately glared: “Damn! Shen Xiaoci, don’t push your luck!”

Yang Ning quickly rolled up his sleeves, showing off his solid biceps to his idol: “The real deal!”

The trauma from those tough guys ran deep—Shen Ci now got nervous seeing muscles. He hurriedly pulled down Yang Ning’s sleeves and gave perfunctory praise.

On the contrary, Wei Shuo stared for a while, then looked down at his own right arm unconvinced, flexing hard—it was pretty big too. How come he couldn’t break free from that idiot’s grip?

Wei Shuo was completely puzzled.

Shen Ci had staff bring ice and towels, personally and carefully applying the ice pack to Wei Shuo.

Wei Shuo wasn’t actually that delicate, but to get Shen Ci to wait on him, he deliberately acted like he’d been squeezed into delicate weakness.

As soon as the ice touched him, Wei Shuo shivered all over, biting his lip with reddening eyes.

Shen Ci was completely fooled, even starting to fuss over him with concern.

“Oh no! Another friend is here, I need to go greet them…” Shen Ci looked through the transparent glass toward the outside, torn as he set down the ice towel: “Ning Ge, could you help Shuo Shuo apply this? He looks so pitiful, remember to be gentle!”

He finished speaking and pattered off to the store entrance. Yang Ning had no choice but to pick up the towel and take over his work.

Wei Shuo rolled his eyes and coolly shook off his hand: “Don’t need it, doesn’t hurt!”

“You’re way too tsundere.” Yang Ning complained. “Don’t act tough—you were practically crying just now.”

Wei Shuo: ???

Unable to struggle free no matter what, Wei Shuo just gave up completely, extending his arm for Yang Ning to mess with.

Yang Ning hummed a little tune, running his hands a few times over Wei Shuo’s smooth upper arm, gripping his elbow to hold it steady while applying the ice towel.

The booth was in a corner of the store, and Shen Ci had specifically put on background music in the store—upbeat rhythms flowed through the small space.

“Although my heart’s falling too.”

“I’m in love with your body.”

“…”

Wei Shuo was looking down, his ear tips somewhat flushed. Long, thick lashes hung down, trembling lightly with each blink.

Yang Ning noticed that up close, Wei Shuo’s features were quite delicate too, and there seemed to be a very faint beauty mark at the corner of his eye…

Wei Shuo suddenly looked up, and they immediately locked eyes. Both froze, then awkwardly looked away in unison.

Dim, dusky light flowed around them as the low, husky song wound through the air. Yang Ning gripped his elbow, his Adam’s apple unconsciously bobbing.

His slightly calloused fingertips moved lightly, able to feel the thin muscle underneath—the texture was really quite nice.

Yang Ning cleared his throat lightly, laughing awkwardly to redirect attention: “You look dark, but your skin’s actually not bad!”

Wei Shuo immediately responded: “Of course! Plus, this young master’s is called wheat-colored! Understand what a wild boy is?”

Yang Ning: “Uh… very wild, very rugged!”

Wei Shuo: “…”

What kind of response was that?

The two fell into silence. Wei Shuo unnaturally averted his gaze, trying to pull his arm free, but it remained firmly clamped in place.

Yang Ning switched to ice the other arm, touching his nose and awkwardly joking: “These arms are way too thin—how will you carry your girlfriend at the wedding?”

Wei Shuo immediately got angry: “Thin my ass, this young master—”

His voice cut off abruptly. He glanced at his arm pressed against Yang Ning’s larger one, and the comparison was… indeed quite brutal.

Wei Shuo immediately became frustrated, sulking in silence.

The atmosphere grew quiet again, leaving Yang Ning feeling very awkward.

He was usually quite outgoing—when he first met his idol Shen Ci, they’d warmed up within minutes.

Even with Wei Shuo, this trash-talker, despite their constant bickering and fighting, they were still fairly familiar.

But suddenly being “harmonious” like this—applying medicine and chatting… Yang Ning suddenly didn’t know what to do.

What was going on? Yang Ning scratched his head in confusion.