Chapter Fifteen: Basketball—How Could It Ever Rival the Excitement of a Battlefield?

Damn, could she be his girlfriend!? For a moment, Lu Mengyao actually felt guilty and asked, “Are you his girlfriend?”

“Me? How could I be!?” Liu Hanyue was baffled. There was no way she was Wang Wenbo’s girlfriend.

Chen Qian snapped, “If you’re not his girlfriend, then why are you so anxious?”

“You were the one who started insulting people first. We only responded, okay?” Wang Churuo frowned, her eyes full of disdain.

Impatient, Chen Qian said, “Mengyao, let’s just go. This is boring.”

“Yeah, let’s go. I don’t find this interesting either, but Wang Wenbo’s roommate is actually quite handsome.”

Relieved to hear she wasn’t Cheng Yao’s girlfriend, Lu Mengyao breathed a sigh of relief and felt secretly glad. She turned to Chen Qian and said, “But... Wang Wenbo said he’d treat us to seafood tonight. Are we really leaving?”

“Oh,” Chen Qian replied, saying nothing more.

For the sake of seafood, she decided to endure it.

Liu Hanyue looked at Wang Churuo. “Why are you so worked up? It’s just a question, it won’t kill you.”

“Heh, you’re just as anxious, aren’t you?”

“I’m not...” Wang Churuo grinned, leaned in, and whispered, “Last time, when Cheng Yao carried you to the infirmary, he really didn’t do anything to you?”

“No!”

“Oh, so you’re not into him?”

Liu Hanyue frowned. “It’s only been less than half a month since school started. How could I possibly fall for someone so soon? Are you interested in him?”

“No, I just think he’s quite good-looking.” Wang Churuo shook her head. Girls just like to be around handsome guys, and Cheng Yao had a great personality, too. As for liking him, it wasn’t that sort of feeling—being around him was simply comfortable.

On the basketball court, the match was getting heated, with both sides going back and forth. Wang Wenbo committed several fouls and almost had to be substituted. The tension nearly sparked a fight, but the coach quickly intervened.

In the end, Class Two won the game.

Wang Wenbo muttered a string of curses under his breath, clearly annoyed. “Let’s go, let’s go. We’ve got nothing planned tonight, so let’s shower and go all out with some spicy crayfish.”

“Should I invite Liu Hanyue and the others?”

“Sure,” Wang Wenbo nodded lightly.

So Cheng Yao pulled out his phone and sent Lu Mengyao a message.

Cheng Yao: Why are you here?

Lu Mengyao: What, I can’t come watch my boyfriend play basketball?

Cheng Yao: Ha, I don’t believe you.

Lu Mengyao: Believe it or not, I’m waiting for you at the school gate.

Cheng Yao: Okay.

Cheng Yao then messaged Liu Hanyue before heading back to the dorm to shower.

Honestly, only a fool would believe Lu Mengyao’s nonsense. He hadn’t messaged her in days and she was getting anxious.

Cheng Yao chuckled to himself, finding the situation rather amusing.

Usually, if a guy doesn’t text his girlfriend for a few days, he’s no longer her boyfriend! But now, the roles were completely reversed. Was this the power of soft girl money? It truly had the magic to make girls go weak!

He quickly showered, and then everyone left the dorm, heading straight for the school gate. Chen Qian and the others were already getting impatient from waiting.

When Cheng Yao arrived, Lu Mengyao didn’t say anything, just nodded at him.

“Hey, handsome, good evening.”

“Good evening.” Cheng Yao nodded as well, not greeting Lu Mengyao directly. It was a tacit understanding between them—was this the so-called friendship between gentlemen, plain as water?

Lu Mengyao was wearing a basketball jersey and leggings today, looking both spirited and pure.

Wang Wenbo grinned. “Spicy crayfish and chili crab, all you can eat. I know a great place—the food is so good it’ll melt your tongue. Cheng Yao, are Liu Hanyue and the others coming?”

“They’re coming, just a sec.” Cheng Yao sent a message.

Lu Mengyao took a deep breath. As she expected, that bastard had his eye on the other girl—how could he be like this?

Scumbag.

Scumbag!

Soon, Liu Hanyue and Wang Churuo came out hand in hand, looking like a couple.

Liu Hanyue turned to Cheng Yao and smiled. “Where are we eating?”

“Where are we going?”

“Longmen Crayfish House. This place sells thousands of pounds of crayfish a day. It’s always packed. I’ve been a few times, always had to wait. But I reserved a private room and ordered ahead, so the food will be ready when we arrive.”

Wang Wenbo was always thorough. It was only a few subway stops away.

The food street was near the high school, so there were a lot of students around. But those who came to Longmen for crayfish were all adults—high schoolers couldn’t afford it. A pound of crayfish cost sixty or seventy yuan, and they were huge, the biggest you could find in the market.

Sure enough, the place was packed, with a line out the door.

Wang Wenbo greeted the owner when they entered. “I booked a private room online.”

“Which number?”

“Room Four.”

The owner called out, “Take them to Room Four. They ordered fifteen pounds of crayfish—three pounds each of thirteen-spice, spicy, dry-fried, garlic, and scallion. Three orders of spicy crab, smashed cucumber, century egg with chili, and boiled peanuts—get those out quickly...”

Once inside the private room, the noise from the main hall was greatly reduced.

“Their business is incredible. They must make a fortune,” Lu Mengyao couldn’t help saying. When she’d checked online earlier, the orders were off the charts.

Cheng Yao said, “After deducting rent and all, since it’s not in the city center and the storefront isn’t that big, they probably make one or two million over the summer. In the city, maybe even more. Jinling’s crayfish demand is huge, probably among the top in the country.”

“I’m not sure, but they definitely make half a million to a million. Not every place does this well—it depends on the shop. Their food is good, so customers flock here,” Wang Wenbo nodded.

For students, those numbers were astronomical.

Lu Mengyao thought it was a bit exaggerated—could selling spicy crayfish really earn that much? She honestly had no concept of what a few million meant, but since Cheng Yao had promised her fifty thousand a month, that’d be six hundred thousand a year. How rich did someone have to be to treat money this way?

Still, if he kept treating her like this, Lu Mengyao felt she wouldn’t even care about the money.

After all, he’d spent eighty or ninety thousand on her within just two days of knowing each other.

Liu Hanyue and Wang Churuo, having no fondness for Chen Qian, huddled together, whispering about other things.

“You’re all from Jinyi. How did you meet?” Liu Hanyue looked up at Cheng Yao.

“Wang Wenbo took me to a bar where we met.”

“Hmph, just shifting all the blame, huh?” Liu Hanyue wasn’t fooled. She actually thought Cheng Yao was smarter than Wang Wenbo.

Cheng Yao shrugged and said quietly, “None of them are as pretty as you.”

“Oh, thanks...”

Liu Hanyue ignored him after that and went with Wang Churuo to grab some yogurt.

Fifteen pounds of crayfish filled the entire table, along with sides of spicy crab. They’d ordered three small portions of spicy crab—each came with six crabs, and the roe was plentiful. Two were female, their golden yolks full and rich, though the crabs were only palm-sized.

For this season, it was already quite good.

Cheng Yao put on gloves and dug into the crayfish. “This is delicious. No wonder the place is always packed—it makes sense.”

“Yeah, and it’s pretty affordable too.”

...