Chapter 93

"Let's just squeeze in, it's fine," Li Jingming really didn't know what to say at this moment.

"How can it be fine..." Xu Zhuxian widened her eyes, as if Li Jingming had said something outrageous, and was ready to give him another lesson on traffic safety.

At this moment, only one person could control the situation. Jessica knew she had to speak up; if Xu Zhuxian, with her reincarnated Tang Monk personality, started, she would definitely make everyone in the car miserable. She turned around and coldly said to Xu Zhuxian, who was sitting in the back, "Why don't you get out and I'll give you money for a taxi?"

Xu Zhuxian looked at Jessica's stern face, then lowered her head, pouting slightly and breathing heavily. After a moment of silence, she looked at Jessica's expression again, made up her mind, and weakly added, "Um, please fasten your seatbelt."

Although Jessica often played the role of the strict one, she really liked this little sister. She secretly smiled where Xu Zhuxian couldn't see, thinking how stubborn this child still was. Jessica, who had grown up with Xu Zhuxian, had a relationship with her that was as close as with Lin Yoon-a, who had grown up with her. She knew Xu Zhuxian's personality very well, and it was quite amazing that after so many years, this child hadn't changed at all. When would the saying "a girl changes eighteen times" come true?

The car drove through the night of Seoul, with bright lights outside, but the atmosphere inside was quite strange. Two people were pouting, one was spaced out, one was calculating, and one was infatuated. The last one was the driver, Li Jingming. Kim Tae-yeon pouted, glaring at the back of Li Jingming's head, occasionally making funny faces and gangster expressions, imagining how to beat up Li Jingming. Xu Zhuxian was angry with the world; her reasonable advice was ignored. Indeed, good medicine tastes bitter, and honest advice is hard to hear. She tightly held the handle on the ceiling, always feeling a bit unsafe. Lin Yoon-a was calculating something, occasionally glancing at the two people in the front seats with a gleam in her eyes, and sometimes even giggling, but no one knew what she was laughing about. Usually, the one who talked the most among the girls was Tiffany, who had the worst Korean, but today this chatterbox was unusually quiet, just smiling with her eyes closed. Looking at the scene in the rearview mirror and Jessica, who was looking out the window, Li Jingming found it quite amazing. It was his first time being in such a small space with so many girls.

"What do you want to eat? Since I got the first place today, I'll treat you all," Li Jingming said. Would he not treat them if he didn't get the first place? It was just an excuse.

Jessica came back to her senses when she heard Li Jingming's voice, "Um, if you're not tired, we can, um, that..."

Jessica was a bit hesitant. Although she liked eating at home with Li Jingming rather than going to crowded restaurants, Li Jingming had been at the TV station all day and must be very tired. She felt bad asking him to do more.

"Meat, of course, barbecue," Lin Yoon-a said, clenching her fist and shouting.

"Alright, let's go for barbecue," Li Jingming agreed readily.

Jessica was very unhappy after being interrupted by Lin Yoon-a. She hadn't finished what she wanted to say, and Li Jingming had agreed without thinking. What about the others in the car? Their opinions didn't matter? It must be because Lin Yoon-a was pretty. Men are all the same. Women need to be wary of pretty people around them, as she had read in a magazine she wanted to tear up but never did.

If Li Jingming knew about Jessica's "bible," he would definitely help her make up her mind to burn it, not just tear it up. It was too misleading. Unaware of this, Li Jingming was talking to Lin Yoon-a, "You like meat too? I know Sica's sister, Krystal, also loves meat."

"Krystal is a complete carnivore," Lin Yoon-a said, smiling as she thought of Krystal, a cute but not so cute little girl.

Jessica secretly watched Li Jingming and Lin Yoon-a. From what she knew, Li Jingming was easy to get along with, but Lin Yoon-a, the mischievous one, was usually shy and wouldn't talk to strangers. The two of them chatting so easily was confusing to Jessica. Jessica had misunderstood Li Jingming. He seemed easy to get along with, but he was actually very guarded, a self-centered person. Anyone with his experiences would lock their heart tightly, even afraid to reveal secrets in their sleep. His behavior was purely because these were Jessica's friends. Lin Yoon-a was also misunderstood. She was very shy, but Li Jingming was her "brother-in-law," not a stranger. Jessica had taken good care of the younger girls in the company, and they saw her as a sister. Others might have different opinions, but she was sure that she and Xu Zhuxian genuinely saw Jessica as a sister. Since Li Jingming was Jessica's boyfriend, he was also close to them. Lin Yoon-a, who grew up in a single-parent family and had some psychological trauma, was lucky not to have turned bad like others. Being more guarded was normal, and her familiarity with Li Jingming was due to her trust in Jessica.

"Let's find a place nearby, it's already late," Li Jingming said. He finished his performance at 7:30 PM, and it was already 8:30 PM when he picked up Jessica and the others. It was almost 9:00 PM, and he estimated that they would finish eating around 10:00 PM, just in time to drop the girls off before the dormitory closed at 11:00 PM. Li Jingming's personality was such that he needed everything to be under his control to feel secure, even for a meal, he thought through every detail.

"Sure, all barbecue places are the same," Jessica agreed. This wasn't just a casual comment; Korean beef suppliers were limited, and the quality and taste of the same grade of meat were the same in all barbecue places. Each place just had different sauces, but many Koreans enjoyed the "natural aroma" of the meat without any seasoning.

Li Jingming dared not go to a famous barbecue place, having already experienced the power of netizens. More scandals would just be annoying, not because of the scandals themselves, but because of Jin Yoon-shu's nagging. Marriage, marriage, he was a hot commodity, and if he were on the market, he would be snapped up immediately. He didn't know why they were so worried.

He found a clean and tidy place on the street, parked the car, and let the girls find a seat and order food while he parked. It was Friday night in Seoul, and finding a parking spot was a nightmare. It took him five minutes to park in a mall's underground garage and another five minutes to walk to the barbecue place. The girls had already arranged the seats and ordered a large bottle of cola.

Li Jingming grimaced, finding himself seated in the corner, which was definitely arranged by Jessica. After sitting down, he picked up the menu and started ordering. He had noticed in the past few days that his Korean friends were too reserved, each ordering only one dish, but a hundred grams of meat wasn't enough to satisfy an adult, let alone fill them up. Li Jingming started ordering like crazy, knowing that six people would need at least twenty dishes. The last time with Krystal and Park Ji-yeon had shown him the appetite of Korean girls.

"Unnie, have some cola," Lin Yoon-a started pouring drinks for everyone while Li Jingming was ordering, first asking the person next to her, Tiffany.

The seating arrangement was as follows: Li Jingming, Jessica, and Kim Tae-yeon on one side, and Tiffany, Lin Yoon-a, and Xu Zhuxian on the other. Although he was focused on ordering, Li Jingming's vision was sharp, and he saw everything happening across the table. Seeing that someone was about to suffer, he felt it necessary to warn Tiffany, "Aren't you supposed to control your figure? Don't drink high-calorie drinks like cola. I'll get you some ice water."

"It's fine, just a little today... pfft!" Tiffany sprayed the cola, which she had added salt to, all over the table. Luckily, the meat hadn't arrived yet, or she would have been in big trouble, or Lin Yoon-a would have been.

Lin Yoon-a, while everyone wasn't paying attention, had poured a lot of salt into her cup from the salt shaker on the table. Her pranking skills were at a high level, and she could turn any object into a perfect prank tool. When pouring cola, she filled Tiffany's cup in front of her, then filled her own, and naturally switched the cups. The action was so smooth, it seemed like she had practiced it many times. Her innocent expression and eyes were so convincing that Li Jingming wouldn't have been surprised if he knew she was a professional actress.

Tiffany couldn't help but spray the cola; the salt was so saturated that crystals were hanging from the rim of the cup.

"Ah! Lin Yoon-a," Tiffany felt her tongue was almost numb. Was it a crime to be cute? Why did everyone like to prank her! Not just Lin Yoon-a, but also Kwon Yu-ri, these two younger sisters with middle school boy personalities always came up with new tricks to use on her. Even though she was weaker than Jessica, why didn't they prank Jessica?

"I'm sorry, Unnie, I read in a magazine that adding salt to cola gives it a sea flavor, so I wanted to try it. I must have picked up the wrong cup," Lin Yoon-a said, making an innocent face.

"Trying to fool me? Was that a little salt?" Tiffany wiped the salt from her lips, unhappy. She was always pranked, and now she was looking for excuses.

"Really," Lin Yoon-a continued her act, "But Unnie, did you taste the sea flavor?"

Li Jingming's lips twitched. Not just the cola, but any drink with that much salt would taste like the sea.