The environment at Chuanxiang Restaurant looked quite upscale, and luckily everyone arrived fairly early, so there was still a large private room available on the second floor.
After taking their seats, Han Mingyue handed the menu given by the waiter to Liu Yu, signaling for him to start ordering dishes.
However, Liu Yu immediately passed the menu directly to Sun Shuhan, who was seated to his left.
This little gesture didn’t escape everyone’s eyes, so they almost instinctively lowered their heads or looked away!
Pouring tea, chatting...
Zhen Yuxin chuckled to herself, realizing that by dating Han Mingyue, her relationship indeed had the effect of connecting their roommates.
The "attention" made Sun Shuhan’s face instantly blush! She hurriedly pretended to casually look up and quickly glanced at everyone!
After "discovering" no one was particularly focused on her, she silently pulled the menu toward herself and opened it.
"Does everyone eat spicy?"
Before anyone could answer, Liu Yu suddenly countered, "Do you eat spicy?"
Sun Shuhan’s face flushed again! Then she quietly replied, "...I eat spicy."
Liu Yu quickly responded, "Then I eat spicy too!"
Everyone: "..."
Could you be any more obvious? Do you really think we’re all invisible?
However, the fact was, after Liu Yu mentioned his preference for spicy food, he immediately turned to everyone and loudly asked, "Is there anyone who doesn’t eat spicy? Speak up if you do! If no one says anything, I’ll order the spicy hotpot!"
Sun Shuhan quickly kicked Liu Yu under the table, with a naturally moderate force.
But outwardly, she shyly smiled and asked everyone, "How about we get a ying and yang pot?"
Tian Mingyuan looked around and found that no one really said they didn’t eat spicy.
So he quickly stepped in on behalf of his buddy, "No need, spicy is fine!"
Seeing this, Zhen Yu also proactively supported the girls’ side.
"Since you guys don’t have any issues, let’s get the spicy hotpot! After all, all four of us from the dorm can eat spicy."
——
Once the hotpot base was decided, everything else was easy.
Everyone could just order what they wanted to eat, as in the end, everything would be placed in the pot to cook together.
By the time they finished ordering, the hotpot base was already on the table, heating up, but not yet boiling.
So this was when Han Mingyue’s roommates, led by Liu Yu, began discussing what drinks they’d have later.
Being the host, Han Mingyue naturally had to take care of everyone.
So he agreed to whatever the boys wanted to drink and promptly asked Zhen Yu, "What will you girls drink?"
Shi Mei was the first to speak, "Is there any juice here?"
Liu Yu was the first to object, "We said we’re celebrating New Year’s, why drink juice? Let’s all drink alcohol! You girls can have beer, how about that?"
You Qing didn’t hesitate and retorted, "No way! Celebrating doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate with drinks!"
"Isn’t it different?" Liu Yu chuckled, "I won’t make you drink much! Just one beer each, is that okay?"
Silly Shi Mei! Without waiting for the other three girls to speak, she said, "That works!"
Upon hearing her, Zhen Yu quickly buried her head, lest anyone see the eye roll she was about to give...
The thing is, Han Mingyue’s invitation basically meant Zhen Yu was inviting everyone! So as the co-host, it wasn’t appropriate for her to speak much for her roommates either! Whatever decision was made would be up to them...
Moreover! She also had to join in drinking, didn’t she?!
——
Eventually, under Liu Yu’s persuasion, You Qing agreed to start with a beer and then switch to drinks.
This was mainly because—she was isolated and helpless!
She couldn’t rely on Zhen Yu, Sun Shuhan was hopeless, and Shi Mei was completely unreliable!
You Qing sighed internally, thinking how tough she had it...
Until all the dishes were served, drinks were filled, and amidst the steaming heat, everyone’s gaze locked onto Han Mingyue.
A bit embarrassed by everyone’s attention, Han Mingyue had no choice but to stand up with his glass.
Even if he had never drunk baijiu before, he felt somewhat intimidated.
But in such a setting today, being the one who hosted the gathering, he absolutely couldn’t say he can’t do this or that...
"Hmm... Today we have a rare chance to gather everyone together. I feel this somewhat shows that the eight of us are quite destined to be together! So for our destined acquaintance, our destined gathering, cheers!"
The "cheers" he mentioned was just a habitual phrase!
The meaning was basically—drink!
However, Liu Yu was the first one to laugh, having his heart set on the word "destined"!
So he immediately raised his glass and stood up!
And loudly echoed Han Mingyue, "Old Han said it well! Come on, come on, for our destiny, let’s drink! Cheers!"
"..." Han Mingyue turned to look at Liu Yu, feeling a pounding headache!
This glass holds baijiu, buddy! Drinking it all at once, who could handle that...
——
Turns out Liu Yu could handle it.
Under everyone’s surprised gaze, Liu Yu hadn’t even eaten a bite yet but downed a small glass of baijiu!
Having the heart but not the courage, Tian Mingyuan saw this, then secretly steeled himself, thinking, "Damn it! I’m going all in!"
Then he immediately raised his hand!
"Glug glug!" After a few gulps, Tian Mingyuan also emptied his glass...
Seeing two of them had done it, Han Mingyue knew not downing his glass would be unacceptable!
So he could only smile wryly at Zhen Yu, closing his eyes and tilting his chin back... drink!
From that glance, Zhen Yu only gathered one meaning! That he was asking her to remember to clean up the mess in case he got drunk.
Three out of four boys had emptied their glasses; without any ulterior motives, Zheng Fan was immediately dumbfounded!
These guys! I just wanted a hotpot meal...
Fine then! Drink is drink! I’ll just accompany these gentlemen with my life!
Just like that, the fourth boy also finished his baijiu.
The four yet-to-drink girls exchanged looks.
Zhen Yu reluctantly glanced at her roommates, then also downed the beer in front of her.
She set the precedent...
Seeing this, the other three girls brought their glasses to their mouths, though hesitantly.
But Liu Yu ignored the others! He merely urged Sun Shuhan, "If you can’t drink, take it slow! Don’t follow my example..."