Chapter 136
Chapter 136
Fu Zhi pointed a trembling finger at Xie Lanchen, then weakly pointed at Ning Xi. “I swear, I really-ugh, I- you… honestly!”
The suggestive atmosphere from moments ago vanished into thin air thanks to these two uninvited guests.
Ning Xi frowned at Fu Zhi. “Are you starting this again?”
Fu Zhi ignored Ning Xi’s jab and glared furiously at Jiang Sheshe. “Did you see what they were doing just now?”
Jiang Sheshe had no idea what Fu Zhi was so angry about, but she still nodded. “I did.”
Sweet. Hehe.
“No male with a conscience could possibly do something like that!” Fu Zhi continued, indignant.
Seeing Fu Zhi acting as if the sky had fallen, Ning Xi asked in genuine confusion, “What did he do?”
From her point of view, she had only wanted to tease Xie Lanchen, only for him to catch her hand instead.
Fu Zhi choked at Ning Xi’s question, then said awkwardly, “You know, that… that!”
That thing just now, when Xie Lanchen had countered Ning Xi’s move, pinned her hand, and rubbed his face against her palm…
Xie Lanchen had the nerve to do it, but a decent man like him didn’t even have the nerve to say it!
“What ‘that’ and ‘this’? Starve you for a few meals and you’ll behave.” Ning Xi rolled her eyes.
She had clearly run out of patience for Fu Zhi’s hemming and hawing.
“It was…” Fu Zhi tried to continue.
“Enough.” Ning Xi cut him off. “If you have something to say, say it outside. The kitchen isn’t big to begin with, and now we’re all crammed in here. There are so many people it’s making me thirsty.”
Before anyone could figure out what the number of people had to do with being thirsty, Ning Xi had already picked up the orange juice on the table and started drinking it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Wait!”
Xie Lanchen suddenly spoke, his voice a little urgent.
Ning Xi took a sip, holding the cup as she glanced at Xie Lanchen. “What is it?”
Then she lowered her eyes and looked at the spot where the orange juice had been placed.
There had just been two cups of orange juice on the table, side by side. One had a straw in it, and the other didn’t.
She had simply grabbed the one without a straw. Was there something wrong with that?
Xie Lanchen looked at the completely oblivious Ning Xi, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
After squeezing the orange juice, he had tasted it.
The cup Ning Xi was holding, if he remembered correctly, should, perhaps, possibly… have been his cup…
And so, everyone saw it.
Xie Lanchen, who had always been lazy and casual, calm and composed, and who only smiled a little more around Ning Xi, gradually turned as red as a fully cooked shrimp in front of all the guests and the cameras.
“?”
Ning Xi was baffled.
What had she just said that made Xiao Xie overheat on the spot?
“Was I not supposed to drink from this cup? Oh right, what were you trying to say when you suddenly interrupted me?” Ning Xi asked in confusion, casually holding the cup as she took a step closer to Xie Lanchen.
Xie Lanchen’s eyes uncontrollably fell on the cup, then, as if he had seen a hazardous object, his gaze snapped away.
“Nothing. I just meant you all can keep talking. I’m going to take out the trash.”
With that, he picked up a bag that only had a few orange peels in it, avoided Ning Xi’s gaze, and left the kitchen.
“Xiao Xie is acting so strange today,” Ning Xi said, looking at Xie Lanchen’s retreating back with feeling.
“You’d rather think he’s strange than consider that maybe something you did was what made Feynman turn into that?” Jiang Sheshe said faintly.
Ning Xi fell silent for one second, then asked, “So what did I do?”
Xiao Xie hadn’t said just now that he had turned that red because of her. Besides, she didn’t think she had done anything…
[Although I don’t know why Xie Lanchen blushed just now either, I don’t even have to think about it to know it was definitely because of Ning Xi!]
[Ah, but Ning Xi would never think that. She’ll only think Xie Lanchen is weird. Her whole thing is never overthinking anything.]
[Speaking of which, have any shipping scholars analyzed why Xie Lanchen blushed just now?!]
“Whose cup is this?”
Jiang Sheshe suddenly asked.
[!!! Right, it was the cup! Ning Xi had just taken a sip of orange juice, and Xie Lanchen blushed! And when Ning Xi was about to drink from it, Xie Lanchen even tried to stop her.]
[So… is it possible that Ning Xi just drank from Xie Lanchen’s cup? So in Xiao Xie’s eyes, that was an indirect kiss, and that’s why he blushed so hard?]
[Indirect kiss… hehe… indirect kiss… hehe… indirect kiss… hehe…]
[I knew a love-addled brain would be useful for spotting clues like this!!! Sister Jiang, I’ll never call you brainless again!]
“This cup…” Ning Xi’s gaze fell on the orange juice. “Anyone can use it, can’t they?”
She had even deliberately chosen the cup without a straw just now.
Because she’d sensed that Xie Lanchen seemed to be a bit of a clean freak, she had left the cup with the straw for him.
“Is that so? Not necessarily…” Jiang Sheshe’s eyes had already seen through everything.
She was certain that Feynman’s reaction just now definitely had something to do with this cup!
If it were anything else, Jiang Sheshe’s brain wouldn’t work this fast.
But if someone was secretly sprinkling sugar, flirting, or doing anything romance-related, her eyes turned into precision measuring tools!
“Ning Xi, didn’t you say just now that as long as I helped you mop the floor, you’d give me Xie Lanchen’s role?”
Just then, Fu Zhi, who had been silent this entire time, finally spoke up.
Ning Xi looked shocked. “When did I say that?”
Because of the scene he had witnessed earlier, and because all of Ning Xi’s attention had been on Xie Lanchen just now, Fu Zhi already had a lump of frustration lodged in his chest.
Now, seeing Ning Xi play dumb, he was so angry he practically wanted to turn into a zombie and bite everyone to death.
“The cameras recorded everything just now. Don’t even think about going back on your word!”
As he spoke, Fu Zhi coldly pulled up the video replay.
At this moment, the video was more convincing than ten thousand explanations.
-Fu Zhi: “Then I’ll buy the role with money, okay?! Name your price!”
-Ning Xi: “Well, let me think about it…”
-Ning Xi: “Let me test you. If I agree to give you this role, besides money, what else would you be willing to do?”
After watching the video, Ning Xi rubbed her chin. “Exactly. What I said was that if you mopped the floor, I’d think about it. I never said it was a done deal.”
Fu Zhi puffed up with rage like a blowfish. “Ning Xi!!!!”
This damn girl actually dared to freeload off his labor!!!
He was going to fight Xie Lanchen to the death!
“I don’t care. This role has to be mine! No discussion!”
Fu Zhi gave a cold snort, his tone extremely forceful.
Ning Xi wasn’t about to indulge his rotten temper either. “Then I’ll be blunt too. You’re not suitable.”
If acting ability was something she could score three points in, Fu Zhi would be at negative ten thousand.
And Fu Zhi’s temper was basically a time bomb. What if he got too into character halfway through and started fighting the character played by Jiang Sheshe on the spot?
Fu Zhi exploded. “You, you, you, you!!!”
“…But if you really want to act, there is a tiny role with two or three lines I can give you,” Ning Xi said.
Originally, there had been an assistant character at the beginning of the skit that she had cut.
But if Fu Zhi insisted on joining the fun, and was willing to use the power of money, she wasn’t entirely opposed to resurrecting that character.
Fu Zhi’s expression immediately improved a lot.
“Then how many lines does this role have? How much screen time? How many lines does Xie Lanchen’s role have? Do I get more screen time than him or less? How much time do I get interacting with you…”
Ning Xi: “…”
[Good lord. Even fans calculating screen-time distribution in girl group MVs aren’t as meticulous as Fu Zhi.]
[As expected of Fu Zhi, who has a friend who used to be a girl group idol, Ning Xi. The moment he opens his mouth, the fandom energy is overwhelming!]
Ning Xi took a deep breath, picked up a broom without saying a word, and started driving Fu Zhi away with it.
“Get out!”