Soon, dinner was ready.
Everyone sat together with their scrumptious meals around the warm hearth, and the cake Lin Mu’an had prepared beforehand delivered punctually to Jing Ting. Along with the dazzling colored lights of the Christmas tree, it was perhaps the warmest and coziest Christmas Eve everyone there ever had.
At the same time, Lin Mu’an was snuggling up to Sheng Minglan on purpose. And seeing that Jing Yun hadn’t taken a seat, Mu Qiqi sneaked up to him and said, “Don’t you know that Lin Mu’an is a Casanova? You best watch out, especially with Fourth Sister feeling down right now… he just might exploit that chance.”
Jing Yun looked at Mu Qiqi and said nothing, although he took a food tray and stiffly squeezed between Mu’an and Sheng Minglan.
Mu Qiqi and Sheng Xiao shared a glance then and smiled. In the end, goading works best.
“It’s such a long time since I’ve played such a childish game… or do we need to make wishes on Christmas Eve?” Even so, Lin Mu’an deliberately looked past Jing Yun to speak to Sheng Minglan. “Well, goddess, shall we play a game? How about it?”
Lu Qianqian quickly raised her hand in agreement. “I second that. It’s Qi’er’s birthday and we are all friends here. Let’s get the party started.”
“I have nothing against it.” Mu Qiqi raised her brow and turned to Sheng Xiao. “And you?”
“We’ll see who’s the boss here! Tell us the rules!”
“Let’s start with an exciting question—everyone must answer truthfully or drink five shots if you don’t. How about that? We may see each other quite a lot, but we don’t really know each other all that well, and since we’re all friends here, shouldn’t we be aware of everyone’s dark history?” Lin Mu’an said, at once explaining the rules of the game and asking what the others think. “So? Are we playing?”
“Yes.” Sheng Xiao replied, sealing the deal.
“Alright, I’ll start then! We’ll each answer in a clockwise sequence, and you only pass if everyone is satisfied with the answer!” Lin Mu’an said, readying the shot glasses in front of everyone.
“Let’s go!” Lu Qianqian was naturally very supportive—being Mu Qiqi’s best friend, she naturally knew that Mu Qiqi held the mini gathering to help Jing Yun, and was therefore putting on a good show.
“First question: the name of your first love!”
“Bug off! Do you even remember your first love?” Lu Qianqian glared at Lin Mu’an in disdain. “Still, I’ll be the first to answer since we’re going by the clock. That said, the whole town knew about my, so do I even have to say it? Duan Shao’an!”
“Crown Prince?”
No one doubted Lu Qianqian’s answer, which was why everyone immediately turned to Sheng Xiao.
It was Mu Qiqi’s birthday after all, and if the Crown Prince named another woman, he might be subject to kneeling on a durian.
Be that as it may, he remained fearless and his expression was ever-composed.
“What, does everyone think I would just choose any woman?” He said, putting his hand over Mu Qiqi’s shoulder. “There’s only one I ever liked—my darling Qi’er.”
“Really?” Everyone stared at him in suspicion, although Sheng Minglan stood up for him.
“I can testify in his stead over this: my cousin was insulated against women before Qiqi appeared in his life.”
“Well, in that case it’s a pass. Now, as for Qiqi, we don’t need to ask, would we? It would definitely be our Crown Prince—it’s not worth debating, just look at how fascinated she is with him. So, what about you, goddess?”
Lin Mu’an then turned towards the two guests of the hour, with Sheng Minglan blushing before answering stiffly. “It’s been some years and most of you know him. Leng Feng.”
“And our next contestant is even more impressive: Jing Yun! Hurry up, tell us who was your first love.”
Jing Yun, however, said nothing. He merely picked up the shot glasses, downing one after another in quick succession.
“What, you don’t have one? What a pity…” Lin Mu’an made a fuss over it before taking his turn. “Well, my first love was a chubby girl back in grade school named Xiaxia.”
Lu Qianqian rolled her eyes. “Every other kid is still playing with mud when you’ve had your sexual awakening.”
“Don’t try to change the subject. Well, the first round is over so let’s get on with the second round… This is going to be spicy… Just you wait.”
Lin Mu’an took a brief break while observing the looks on the others’ faces—Sheng Xiao and Mu Qiqi were palpating bliss that everyone could clearly feel, so there’s nothing much to go on there.
On the other hand, there were hollow looks in Jing Yun and Sheng Minglan’s eyes.
“Who is the first person you fantasized… sexually?”
Slap!
Lu Qianqian had brought her palm down on Lin Mu’an at his question. “Pervert!”
“Cut the crap! You’re drinking if you’re not answering!”
Lu Qianqian glared at him while promptly downing five shot glasses.
“Crown Prince?”
“Qi’er!” Sheng Xiao answered casually.
Mu Qiqi was stunned once again. “Me again?”
“Don’t you know very well the only person I could get hard to?” Sheng Xiao whispered into her ear.
Mu Qiqi promptly flushed.
After that, Lin Mu’an skipped her turn again. “Qiqi doesn’t need to say it because we all know there’s only Crown Prince in her heart. Now, as for goddess…”
Sheng Minglan was actually sweating over how liberal the question was. “I’ll drink…”
Nonetheless, Jing Yun took up the shot glasses before she could and started drinking.
“Jing Yun, you’re breaking the rules—you know?”
“You never mentioned helping is breaking the rules…”
Lin Mu’an held his gaze for a beat but let it pass.
“Well what about you? Answer the question.”
He then told Jing Yun, who said nothing but promptly drank five more shots…
Could he really continue with fifteen straight shots? His face was already a little red.
Still, Lin Mu’an merely showed him a thumbs up in praise. “You’re good… Anyway, my first sexual fantasy was Angelina Jolie.”
“You’re the one who’s cheating here.” Lu Qianqian was very dissatisfied with his answer.
“Yes, well, the warm-up is over—let’s eat or the food might get cold, although some of us might already be drunk.” Lin Mu’an said pointedly, before picking up his fork and knife and walking to Sheng Minglan’s other side.
“May I sit beside you, goddess?”
Sheng Minglan nodded.
But as Lin Mu’an was about to sit, he inadvertently knocked down the red wine in front of her…
“Sorry, about that, goddess. I’ll bring a towel to wipe your feet.”
Nonetheless, Jing Yun icily stopped him when he was about to go. “That’s unnecessary. I’ll go.”
“But it was my fault. I’m a little uncomfortable…”
Jing Yun promptly stood up, pulling Sheng Minglan with him. “Fourth Sister, let’s get you clean in the bathroom or you’ll catch a cold.”
Sheng Minglan nodded and simply followed…
The four people who remained behind were smiling.
“That’s some flaring jealousy.”