Tang Li paused her action of pouring water and looked up at him.
"Coming back from the restroom, I had to pass by the neighboring private room. Their door was ajar and I heard the sound of people playing mahjong. I glanced inside and saw Ji Ming sitting on the sofa reading a magazine. He’s always with my uncle, so my uncle must be in there too."
Speaking of which, Fu Si crossed his legs, "The people playing cards with my uncle are almost always from the government departments. It’s the end of the year, you know, so there are especially a lot of these dinner and card game gatherings."
He wanted to drink water, but his gaze fell on Tang Li’s right hand, and he felt a flicker of timidity again.
Fu Si licked his lips: "I suddenly have a great idea."
"What?" Tang Li asked him.
"I think we should go next door." Fu Si grew more convinced by his own idea as he spoke. The more people there were in the private room, the less he’d feel this creeping dread: "Next door is lively with lots of people. Look how quiet it is here. Atmosphere is key when having a late-night snack."
At this moment, the waiter brought over a dish called "Sea-Land-Air Barbecue."
"Please take it next door." Fu Si promptly raised his hand, directing the waiter: "Minister Song next door, playing mahjong, is my uncle. Could you also relay a message for me and tell him I’ll be over shortly to have some seafood?"
Fu Si slid his chair back: "Let’s go, the sooner we finish eating, the sooner we can return."
"Aren’t there a lot of government officials next door? Wouldn’t it be inappropriate for us to go over?"
"What’s inappropriate about that." Fu Si raised his eyebrows with a somewhat smug look: "They all listen to my uncle anyways. They say they’re playing cards, but actually they just want to butter up my uncle." After saying this, he went to pull Tang Li: "You’ve met my uncle before. We’ll eat seafood on the side and not disturb them; they’ll probably ignore us anyway."
Just as he was about to touch Tang Li’s hand, Fu Si suddenly remembered something, sheepishly withdrew his hand with all five fingers spread, and rubbed his chest somewhat awkwardly a few times: "If you really don’t want to go, we can also get the seafood to go."
"Then let’s go." Tang Li had already stood up.
Noise from shuffling cards could be heard right from the door of the adjoining private room.
Fu Si took the lead and pushed the door open.
The moment the door opened, Tang Li smelled a waft of tobacco smoke.
Fu Si sauntered in and found that Ji Ming was no longer on the sofa. He went behind the screen and, sure enough, among several men playing mahjong, he spotted his uncle and immediately said: "Uncle, it’s almost 12 o’clock, why haven’t you gone home to rest yet?"
While speaking, he took a tangerine from the fruit plate next to him: "My mom still complains about my dad not coming home at night, and here you are doing just the same!"
His remarks caused the others to laugh and joke.
"Truly Minister Song’s nephew, I thought the waiter was joking."
"Is this Chairman Fu’s son? Indeed an impressive young man!"
Fu Si chimed in: "Exactly, they say a nephew takes after his uncle. How could I be inferior with an uncle like him?"
Listening to his own boastful self-praise, Song Baiyan also smiled faintly, played a mahjong tile, and then asked him: "Coming all the way here in the middle of the night with friends to eat seafood?"
"It’s not something I can control when to come over." Fu Si explained while peeling the tangerine: "Tang Li just finished attending an award ceremony, so it got late."
After finishing speaking, he turned his head to look at the entrance of the private room: "Where’s Tang Li?"
Song Baiyan also looked up.
"She might be a bit embarrassed." Fu Si put the tangerine on the coffee table: "I’ll go call her in."