The private room was spacious, containing not only a dining table but also a television, sofas, and even a wine rack filled with various bottles.
The dining table itself was not large, rectangular in shape, and could accommodate at most four people.
After the two were seated, Shen Xi noticed a QR code affixed to the side of the table, indicating that ordering could be done via scanning.
She took out her phone, scanned it, and then handed it to Qin Si Ye.
“Mr. Qin, please order the food.”
Qin Si Ye, however, gave her a meaningful glance, took the phone, and selected a few dishes.
Shen Xi then walked over to the wine cabinet, retrieved a bottle of fine dry red wine, and brought it back. After the waiter opened it for them, he withdrew from the room.
The moment the door closed, Qin Si Ye fixed his gaze on Shen Xi and said, “Speak. Why did you delete me on WeChat?”
Her heart skipped a beat. Shen Xi hadn’t expected his first words to be about this, and she felt caught off guard.
Perhaps it was the QR code on the table that triggered this.
“I… I accidentally touched it without realizing,” she stammered in response.
It was difficult to come up with a suitable reason.
She was here to discuss matters with him today, and she needed to maintain a humble demeanor; she couldn’t afford to anger him again.
“That excuse is too far-fetched,” Qin Si Ye scoffed, his eyes still fixed on her, unblinking, observing her facial expressions.
They were sitting very close to each other. Although the light in the room wasn’t strong, they could clearly see the expressions on each other’s faces.
Shen Xi’s gaze flickered slightly, but she still said with determination, “One evening, I was home looking through my WeChat, and I accidentally touched the delete key.
I regretted it later, but I didn’t dare to send you a friend request again, fearing you would be angry.”
As Shen Xi spoke, her voice grew softer, as if genuinely recounting the event, and she even conveyed a hint of remorse.
Deleting a friend on WeChat required several steps; how could a mere accidental touch occur?
Although Qin Si Ye didn’t use WeChat much, he was aware of this fact.
“So you made one mistake after another and pretended not to know, waiting for me to discover it?”
“I…” Shen Xi was momentarily speechless, unsure how to answer.
If she had known she would face this situation today, she would never have acted rashly and done such a thing that night.
Qin Si Ye curved his lips, took out his phone, brought up his WeChat add friend QR code, and placed it in front of her.
“If you add me back now, I’ll forgive you!”
“Oh.” Shen Xi was very obedient. Just as she was looking for an excuse to smooth things over, she quickly scanned the code to add him.
Qin Si Ye picked up his phone, tapped to accept, and they were once again WeChat friends.
“Don’t let something like this happen again. Deleting someone from your friends list without reason is a behavior that deeply hurts one’s pride and feelings, do you understand?” Qin Si Ye put down his phone and looked up at her.
“Oh. Sorry!” Shen Xi had just finished speaking when she suddenly felt that two words in his statement might have been used inappropriately.
Feelings? Did they have feelings for each other?
Upon reflection, she reasoned that the feelings he mentioned might refer to those between friends, so she didn’t probe further.
“Yesterday afternoon, I saw you at the badminton court. Why didn’t you acknowledge me?” Qin Si Ye, unaware of her thoughts, picked up the light tea on the table and took a sip before continuing his question.
Shen Xi was startled again. She suddenly felt that this was less like a meeting to discuss business and more like an interrogation.
“I… I was playing at the time, and it wasn’t convenient to greet you.”
Qin Si Ye was not satisfied with this explanation. He widened his eyes and looked at her, “If you truly wanted to greet me, you could have stopped. Don’t you understand the basic etiquette of acknowledging acquaintances when you meet? Did you learn all this arrogance abroad?”
“I…” Shen Xi lowered her head and muttered, “Didn’t you ignore me as well? Director Gu wanted to talk to me earlier, but didn’t you pull him away?”
Although her voice was very low, Qin Si Ye heard it clearly. His voice suddenly rose a few decibels, “Oh, you even noticed this small gesture. It seems you can keep an eye out in all directions while playing. Later, when your brother Kai Cheng arrived, you were so warm with him; were you doing that deliberately to spite me?”