Li Caiyi's face stiffened upon looking at Meng Renshu. Why did he always appear when she least expected him? She noticed he seemed to look better than he had previously been at school, though.
"Senior Meng? How do you find this place?" Shao Jingfei stood up and greeted him first.
"Ah, I was curious about your cafe after hearing it from Xiaohua, so I decided to visit."
"Is that so?" Shao Jingfei replied awkwardly by shooting a glance at Li Chunhua, who quickly responded by shaking her head.
"Oh?" Meng Renshu chuckled when a gray cat appeared beside his leg and rubbed its head on his leg. He crouched down to pick the cat up before caressing its head fondly.
"This is a good place. It's been so long since I played with cats."
"Haha, do you like cats, Senior Meng?"
"I do. I like it, especially when they gradually open up to you as long as you give them enough care and attention."
He said it lightly, but Shao Jingfei and Li Chunhua couldn't help but glance at Li Caiyi, who currently sitting with an inexplicable expression on her face. The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward, so Shao Jingfei quickly asked him again, "How about you sit down first, Senior Meng? I will take your order."
"Thanks." Meng Renshu gently put the cat down and walked confidently to the chair previously occupied by Shao Jingfei, which was right in front of Li Caiyi. However, he only smiled at the twins without saying anything.
He began to speak only after Shao Jingfei took his order and went to the kitchen.
"Hey, Xiaohua, Xiaoyi. The three of you seem to be pretty close."
"Brother Renshu, why are you here? I don't remember ever telling you anything about this place," Li Chunhua asked.
"Ah, I asked around and somehow found my way here. Since you said Xiaoyi is staying at her friend's place, I have always been worried and wondering if the place is okay or not. But now that I'm here…" Meng Renshu darted his gaze around, "....this place didn't seem to be bad at all."
Li Chunhua could sense the prickly air around her sister and felt she probably shouldn't be there. After witnessing how Meng Renshu confessed his feelings to Li Caiyi the other day, she couldn't see them the same way again.
"Oh yeah, it doesn't seem that Shao Jingfei is living with someone else. Does it mean there are only the two of you during nighttime?"
That question was clearly directed to Li Caiyi, but Li Chunhua felt obligated to answer instead.
"I was the one who recommended this place. Xiaoyi didn't want to inconvenience her friends, and Shao Jingfei is her editor, so there shouldn't be a problem if she borrowed his place for one or two nights."
"I have already heard about his job as an editor. Nevertheless, how can it be fine? It's not like I didn't trust Shao Jingfei, but there is no guarantee that nothing will happen when a girl and boy are alone in a closed space." Meng Renshu said calmly while still maintaining a refreshing smile on his face.
Li Caiyi finally couldn't take it anymore and ask directly, "What are you plotting now? Why are you here?"
"Xiaoyi?" Li Chunhua was surprised by the amount of hostility in her sister's tone. Something must have happened between them again.
"Ouch, you are so straightforward." Meng Renshu chuckled. "But rest assured. You don't have to be so vigilant around me since I didn't come here for you this time."
"Then why did you come here?"
"I came to talk with Shao Jingfei."
"With…Jingfei?" Li Caiyi squinted her eyes suspiciously. "Jingfei had nothing to do with this. We are the ones who asked him to help us."
"Easy, Xiaoyi. You don't have to make an excuse for him. My business with him is different from what you think."
Li Caiyi tilted her head in confusion, but Meng Renshu only shrugged his shoulders lightly. "Unfortunately, this isn't something you need to know."
Li Caiyi tried to remember if there was any instance before when Meng Renshu had interacted with Shao Jingfei before. Except for the time when Meng Renshu almost lashed out at him when Li Chunhua was kidnapped, she couldn't think of anything else.
While Li Caiyi was deep in thought, Shao Jingfei came back carrying a tray with a cup of hot coffee for Meng Renshu.
"Here is your order," Shao Jingfei said while putting down the cup on the table.
"Oh? Did you make this yourself?" Meng Renshu asked, with a hint of awe in his tone.
"Yeah, there is no other staff here besides me, so I did everything alone."
"Isn't it hard to manage a cafe by yourself?" Meng Renshu asked with an interested look on his face. If Li Caiyi didn't know better, she must have already been fooled into thinking that Meng Renshu only came here to chat with them.
"No, this place barely has any customers, so there is no difficulty here. Please enjoy your coffee."
"Thanks, but actually, I come here because I have something to talk to you about."
Shao Jingfei's eyes widened upon hearing that. "With me?"
"Yes, you. Can you spare me some of your time?" Meng Renshu smiled politely.
Shao Jingfei glanced at the twins for a second, secretly trying to remember if he had offended him somehow by allowing the twins to hang out here. One of them even stayed in his place.
"Sure, Senior Meng. Then, how about we talk in a more private place?"
Meng Renshu smiled meaningfully. "I'm glad you are a quick person. I'd love to do that."
"Hey, where are you guys going?" Li Chunhua asked them curiously.
"I'm going to take Senior Meng upstairs, so both of you can relax here for a while."
"Jingfei…" Li Caiyi called out to him worriedly, feeling guilty for dragging him into this mess.
However, as though reading her mind, he gave her a pat on the shoulder before saying, "Haha, don't worry. We will only have small talk. Don't make that face."
After that, they disappeared behind the door leading to the second floor, leaving the twins with their own thoughts.
"Xiaoyi, don't you think that the atmosphere is a kind of heavy back there? Brother Renshu looked scary for some reason."
Li Caiyi sighed. "I don't know, either. I just hope he won't bother Jingfei."
"I don't think he will do that. Brother Renshu is not an unreasonable person."
Li Caiyi also thought that was the case, at least until she witnessed how many times he had lost his composure in front of her. She looked at the door behind the kitchen counter in dismay, hoping that whatever they talked about in there would end soon.
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