"Sir, please sit down."
Seeing this, Ye Chen did not refuse and sat down calmly. Xu Qiang, who was sitting in the main seat, saw Ye Chen take a seat between Du Xiaoya and Li Kexin, and his face immediately soured. When Du Xiaoya had gotten up, wanting to give her seat to Ye Chen, Xu Qiang had almost lost it.
"Damn it,"
he fumed internally,
"my goddess wants to give up her seat to him? What kind of international joke is this? Where does he get the audacity?"
The restaurant manager's timely intervention with the chair momentarily suppressed Xu Qiang's anger. Besides, the restaurant manager was a foreigner, and with many classmates and other diners around, losing his temper rashly would mean losing his composure and grace.
"Cough, cough."
Xu Qiang cleared his throat, then raised his glass and said,
"Ye Chen, you're late. You must drink three cups as a penalty."
As soon as Xu Qiang's words fell, several male classmates sitting near him chimed in.
"Yes, you must take a penalty!"
"Three cups isn't enough! Six cups would be more like it. Red wine isn't that strong anyway."
"Red wine has a strong aftereffect; three cups should be enough."
Some of these students who echoed were just joining in the fun, while others clearly wanted to curry favor with Xu Qiang. Ye Chen could naturally see this. He often saw these same people in the class WeChat group, always sucking up to Xu Qiang. Before Ye Chen could even speak, Du Xiaoya, next to him, immediately objected.
"What penalty? No one even sent him the address, that's why he's late!"
Du Xiaoya wasn't stupid. After talking to Ye Chen on the phone, she understood the whole situation. Now that others were trying to force Ye Chen to drink, Du Xiaoya was naturally unwilling to let it happen.
As soon as Du Xiaoya bluntly challenged him, not giving him any face, Xu Qiang's expression changed abruptly. A classmate beside him quickly said,
"I remember sending it."
After saying that, he took out his cell phone, glanced at it, and added,
"My bad, it must be because my phone was out of credit, so the message didn't send successfully."
When Xu Qiang heard this, his expression suddenly improved a lot.
"In that case, no penalty. It's rare for us to get together today, let's just drink."
"Yes, let's drink! Xiaoya, you're one of our school's beauties. You should take the lead for the girls!" another classmate interjected.
...
The classmates chimed in one after another, and the atmosphere became quite boisterous. Ye Chen remained very calm, but Du Xiaoya was getting anxious. Just as she stood up, perhaps to argue further, Li Kexin slapped the table hard with a
"Bang!"
"Will you ever stop? Didn't you see that Xiaoya has a boyfriend now?"
When Xu Qiang heard this, his expression changed drastically, and he glared at Ye Chen with a "swoosh"-like intensity. Ye Chen glanced at Xu Qiang coolly, then gently pulled Du Xiaoya back down onto her chair and said,
"Sit down and eat quietly."
"Well..."
After hearing Ye Chen's words, Du Xiaoya immediately became as obedient as a little rabbit.
Seeing this scene, Xu Qiang's face suddenly turned a dark red. Previously, when he had heard about the relationship between Ye Chen and Du Xiaoya from Li Kexin, he had managed to remain somewhat calm. But now, Xu Qiang was genuinely furious. Du Xiaoya's current attitude was so docile, one could even say she was completely obedient to Ye Chen's words. A very unpleasant thought instantly emerged in Xu Qiang's mind.
"What? That bastard Ye Chen... he must have actually succeeded with her..."
The more Xu Qiang thought about it, the angrier he became. The classmates on the side looked from Xu Qiang to Ye Chen, unsure of what to say. The female classmates, however, were different; they started chattering amongst themselves, speculating about the "love story" between Ye Chen and Du Xiaoya.
Ye Chen calmly tasted a few bites of his steak, then raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
"Snap!"
The restaurant manager, who had been keeping an eye on their table, hurriedly stepped forward and asked,
"Sir, do you have any requests?"
Ye Chen wiped his mouth with a napkin and asked,
"Do you have Ace of Spades champagne?"
"Yes, sir. How much do you need?"
the restaurant manager nodded and replied.