Chapter 101: A Moment of Leisure (Confirmed: Release Scheduled for Tomorrow!)
After finishing dinner at Qin Shishen’s café, Lin Lu continued to linger there, passing time by petting the cats.
She hadn’t thought her behavior was inappropriate. But as the number of customers dwindled and Qin Shishen, along with the staff member Xiao Song, began tidying up tables and cleaning, she started to feel a bit restless.
Seizing the moment when Qin Shishen walked past her with a broom in hand, Lin Lu quickly stopped him.
“Hey, I’ve been sitting here all this time… am I holding you guys up from closing?”
“Not at all!” Qin Shishen replied with his usual gentle and kind demeanor. “But if you don’t mind, you could move over to the bar area to rest. That way, Xiao Song won’t have an excuse to skip wiping down a table.”
Xiao Song, who was diligently working, was caught off guard by this unexpected situation. He frowned in surprise and glanced at his boss with an expression that seemed to say:
“You clearly want the young lady closer to you. Why not just say so? Why drag me into this? I’m not competing with you—or against you, for that matter…”
But the expression didn’t last long. Under his boss’s sly smile, Xiao Song cleared his throat a few times and resumed wiping the tables.
Unaware of their thoughts, Lin Lu, holding a cat in one arm and her bag in the other, shifted over to the spot Qin Shishen indicated. She continued petting the cat while swiping through her phone screen, mulling over her thesis topic.
If she didn’t hurry up with this, she’d probably end up being publicly reprimanded by Wen Chuan on the lecture stage.
“Want a drink?” Qin Shishen asked as he returned to the bar after tidying up the tables and chairs, turning his head slightly.
“Nah! Our boss is treating us later, so I have to save room!” Lin Lu smiled, patting her belly. Having worked at Max for two weeks, she felt the flesh on her stomach was growing at a visibly noticeable rate. Clearly, she’d been fed way too many times!
Qin Shishen raised an eyebrow, then turned and pulled out a tall glass and a few bottles of spirits from the cabinet. There were no customer orders at the moment, but that didn’t stop him from indulging himself.
“Boss, it’s going to be hard to get a cab later. I’m heading out now!” Xiao Song said, then switched off the lights in the dining area and hurried out with his bag before Qin Shishen could respond.
With half the lights in the café turned off, only a few warm lights near the entrance and bar area remained, casting a gentle glow. The light from the chandelier above the bar fell perfectly on Qin Shishen’s profile, lending a layer of mystery to his refined features.
He was truly handsome, with long, elegant fingers.
Lin Lu found herself staring again.
The creak of the door opening jolted her back to reality. She shook her head sharply and glanced stealthily at the man she had been admiring.
Luckily, she hadn’t been caught.
It seemed she was deeply influenced by Jiang Xiaohan—always dragged along to admire handsome men, and now her own resistance was too weak!
“Oh? It really is you!”
Hearing the voice, Lin Lu finally turned to look toward the door. It was none other than the sisters Cai Yuyao and Tang Xiao who had just entered.
“Boss, are you still open?” Cai Yuyao called out loudly.
“Yes, what would you like?” Qin Shishen smiled, setting down the cocktail he had just prepared but hadn’t yet sipped.
“I’ll have a coffee—uh, make it a strong Americano.”
While Cai Yuyao was placing her order, Tang Xiao pulled over a chair and sat beside Lin Lu, giving her a thorough once-over.
“You’re quite unhurried, aren’t you?”