They didn't eat slowly. In half an hour, everyone had almost finished eating.
Only Xu Lin and Father Bai remained at the table, continuing to eat and chat.
The five girls were on the side.
They set up a new bottom for a basin, laid down a thick piece of paper, took out two decks of cards, and started playing poker.
Chu Qingchan then discovered another thing that Chu Fengyi wasn't good at: she wasn't very good at poker, although Chu Qingchan herself wasn't that great either.
The few of them started pecking at each other like rookies, but Ji Yun, with her amazing luck, won two games in a row. In the third game, Ji Yun looked at the two 2s and two kings in her hand and felt that her luck was great today.
"One 3."
"One 2."
"Ji Yun, what's with this?"
"Pass."
"Pass."
"Pair of 4s."
"Pair of 10s."
...
"It's over... Ji Yun, your cards are too good."
Chu Qingchan thought for a moment, her cards were so smooth that even with X-ray vision, it would be hard to get such a comfortable combination.
"Do we keep playing?"
"Why don't we play some Gobang? This game doesn't rely on luck."
Bai Xiaoxiao took out two boxes. This Gobang set was quite old, brought from her hometown in Sichuan Province.
There were also chess and military chess sets, but she wasn't very good at those. Her dad liked chess more.
"That sounds good. Chu Qingchan, shall we play a round first?"
"Sure, Chu Fengyi, you always boast about being much better than me. But it seems like you don't know much more than I do."
"Don't be so arrogant, I'm really good at Gobang."
Chu Fengyi, not wanting to lose, picked up the black stones. She remembered that black stones had an advantage, although she didn't know why.
"Let's go."
The two then played for half a minute, and Chu Qingchan won the first game.
"No, I was distracted just now. Let's play another round."
"Alright!" Chu Qingchan puffed out her chest and gave a tactical sneer.
The second game took about 2 minutes, and the pieces were already extending to the edges of the basin bottom. Ji Yun, Bai Xiaoxiao, and Liu Qinnuan sat nearby, chatting quietly.
"Didn't both of them already win?"
Liu Qinnuan looked at Chu Qingchan, who had already made a row of five, and at Chu Fengyi, who had four in a row and couldn't block.
"Let them decide the winner themselves, otherwise, both of them will be unhappy."
Ji Yun understood the competitive spirit between the Chu sisters, but they also had a good relationship. Is this how sisters get along?
"Hey, Sister Ji Yun, you and Xu Lin are classmates. Can you tell me some stories about him from school?"
"There's not much to tell, just ordinary school stuff."
Ji Yun knew what Liu Qinnuan meant. She wanted to know about the relationship between her and Xu Lin. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about it, but there wasn't much to say.
After the incident with Zhang Kang, she and Xu Lin gradually moved from being friends to having a close relationship.
The transition was very natural. Although she was polite to everyone, she was actually quite reserved.
But her feelings for Xu Lin quickly reached a point where it felt like they were always meant to like each other.
It was a wonderful feeling, but she was too shy to talk about such strange things.
"Oh, what about Sister Bai Xiaoxiao?"
"I'm not in the same grade as Xu Lin."
"Just tell us how you met him, that works too."
"Well, Xu Lin thought I was being bullied by others and helped me, but it turned out I wasn't. It's as simple as that."
"I thought it was a hero saving a damsel in distress situation. When we were on set, someone tried to harm me, and Brother Xu Lin saved me and got hurt himself."
"He got hurt?" Ji Yun and Bai Xiaoxiao's faces changed.
Xu Lin didn't tell them about this because he didn't want them to worry... But why didn't he say anything about getting hurt? Silly boy...
"That's why I'm here in Linshui. I mainly wanted to thank Brother Xu and take a bit of a break."
"Sister Liu, what does your job usually involve? I'm not very familiar with the daily life of a celebrity."
"I'm different from regular artists. I have my own study time, and in the future, I'll have to take the art exam. So, my schedule is scattered yet very tight."
"Being an artist isn't easy."
"Some things are easier, but... how should I put it?"
Liu Qinnuan looked at the two pure high school girls. Although she was young, she knew a lot of dirty secrets and didn't want to tell these innocent girls.
"By the way, Brother Xu isn't a professional actor. How did he get so good at acting?"
"I don't know, maybe it's just pure talent. Oh, and he can sing too."
Ji Yun recalled Xu Lin's voice. It was amazing. If Xu Lin sang, she would be a huge fan even if she didn't know him.
"Xu Lin can sing?"
"Yes, he sings very well."
"Then let him sing something."
"We can ask Sister Chu to talk to him later. Sister Chu is also..."
"Miss Chu?"
"Yeah... Sister Chu can persuade him."
Ji Yun quickly corrected herself, almost letting slip Sister Chu's singing plans. They weren't from the same company, so she might inform her company, which could cause issues.
"I won!"
Nearby, Chu Qingchan was the first to realize she had lined up five pieces.
"I have four over here; you can't block me."
"You didn't notice it just now, so it doesn't count."
"Uh... let's play cards instead."
Chu Fengyi felt she was smart but not suited for this game.
Poker was more fun.
"Okay, let's continue with poker. But let's play mobile Landlord, with beans and some rewards and punishments, how about that?"
Chu Qingchan glanced at Chu Fengyi. As an elder sister, she was going to let her little sister, who always pretended to be cool, feel the taste of failure today.
"What kind of rewards?"
"Going on a date with Xu Lin."
"Aren't you going to ask for my opinion?"
Xu Lin, who had just finished talking with Uncle Bai, overheard them discussing using a date with him as a reward. He barely had any time for himself.
"What's your problem with going out with beautiful girls?"
Chu Qingchan, a bit fired up, looked at him seriously but with a hint of mischief.
Ji Yun and Bai Xiaoxiao also seemed to agree, and even Chu Fengyi didn't object.
"Alright, but it depends on my availability."
"Okay, what about the punishment?"
Chu Qingchan scanned the room and noticed a box of beer.
"We'll drink. Win twice and get a date with Xu Lin; the losers drink a cup of beer each."
"No, no, you shouldn't drink!"
Xu Lin quickly stopped them. Among these girls, only Chu Qingchan and Chu Fengyi were adults; the other three were underage.
Although there's no strict law against underage drinking in the country, using it as a punishment wasn't a good idea.
"It's fine, just a small cup, it should be okay."
Chu Qingchan picked up a small disposable cup, about 150 milliliters.
"I'm okay with it," Chu Fengyi waved nonchalantly, as if beer was no big deal.
"I can do it too," Ji Yun said, looking at the two and raising her arm.
Although she didn't want to drink, she felt lucky today... Going on a date with Xu Lin, and it is an official one, so she couldn't back out.
"Hey, hey, calm down, class monitor Ji."
"It's okay."
"I can do it too." Bai Xiaoxiao raised her arm and glanced at her dad.
"It's fine to drink a little, tomorrow is the weekend, you can sleep it off if needed."
Today, Bai Xiaoxiao's parents were also very happy. After all, it was a lively meal, so they decided to let their daughter have her way for once.
"I'll join too. I'm actually pretty good at drinking."
Liu Qinnuan found it quite interesting. However, she would be leaving in a few days, so it was unlikely she would win any prizes.
"Then let's get started."
"Alright!"
"Take it easy, you guys."
Xu Lin looked at the excited group of girls, wondering why they were getting so excited even before drinking.
The ensuing card game turned out to be extremely intense. Miss Ji Yun's luck seemed to have run out, while Chu Fengyi surged ahead, winning two rounds in a row and earning a date opportunity.
In the following rounds, Chu Qingchan also won two rounds. Ji Yun, Bai Xiaoxiao, and Liu Qinnuan each won one round, with Bai Xiaoxiao and Ji Yun starting to get tipsy.
"Don't drink anymore, you guys..."
"Okay, no more."
As she said that, Ji Yun slightly tilted her head, and Xu Lin caught her from behind.
"She really hasn't drunk much before... Two bottles of beer and she's down."
"Ugh... Xu Lin, I lost."
Bai Xiaoxiao also leaned over in a daze, and Xu Lin extended his left arm to hold her too.
In an instant, he had two beauties in his arms, their faces flushed with a slight blush, gently exhaling warm breath. His heartbeat couldn't help but quicken.
"Ahem... Honey."
Father Bai cleared his throat, and Mother Bai came over. Xu Lin stood up and handed Bai Xiaoxiao over to them. But Bai Xiaoxiao suddenly used force and clung tightly to him.
Mother Bai was a bit embarrassed and patted her daughter, but Xu Lin felt her grip tighten even more.