Amid the awkwardness, Luo Ziling noticed a student holding a phone and taking pictures of them.
He immediately spoke up to stop them, asking them not to take random photos.
The women didn’t seem to care, they just lowered their heads so the nosy photographers couldn’t catch their faces.
Luo Ziling chuckled and said, "I might have to post a clarification on Weibo later, or else someone might take this as gossip fodder."
Mentioning Weibo made Luo Ziling mentally say "damn."
During his time abroad, he hadn’t updated Weibo or even followed it.
While overseas, he had to hide his whereabouts, so it was impossible to log into Weibo or WeChat.
Many people say that if you do something continuously for twenty-one days, it becomes a habit.
Having not checked Weibo for over a month, back to a life where there’s no need to hide, it didn’t occur to him to make a post.
Of course, another important reason is he hadn’t had any free time since returning, so much so that he was too lazy to even play on his phone by the time he went to bed.
But Luo Ziling knew this wasn’t good; he had disappeared without a word for so long, he had to make some noise upon returning.
So, after cracking a couple of jokes and earning eye-rolls from four women, he sensibly stood up.
"You guys chat for a while, I’ll post a message."
Saying this, he took his phone and walked to the side, opening the Weibo app he hadn’t logged into for so long.
He thought that having not posted in such a long time, logging in would likely flood him with private messages, maybe even crash the app.
But to his surprise, after logging in, no messages popped up.
Instead, he saw a post from yesterday morning.
"Already back, resting up, very tired!" Attached was a photo from a shoot.
Luo Ziling immediately understood this was posted by Luo Yuqing.
Over all these days, only this one message had been posted on his Weibo.
Luo Yuqing likely logged in frequently and must have read all those private messages.
After thinking for a bit, Luo Ziling wrote a message: "Returned from a tour of countries, did a lot for the country once again, feeling very accomplished."
The photo included was taken at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris while waiting for a flight.
After posting on Weibo, Luo Ziling put away his phone.
But after thinking it through, he felt he should say something more, so he took a picture of the other women chatting.
"So many beautiful senior sisters want me to treat them to supper, should I or should I?" After sending this Weibo post, Luo Ziling put his phone away, not caring about the "stormy waves" his two posts might stir up on Weibo.
He sat back down between Yang Qingyin and Wuyue, then called the owner to bring a case of beer over. He wanted to drink freely with these beauties.
In the process, he urged the owner to bring everything they needed.
The hotpot was ready but not yet boiling.
The man, who was the owner, mentally cursed and despised Luo Ziling’s nonsense, but in the end, he brought everything they needed himself. He soon recognized Luo Ziling.
This prominent figure from Yan University was well-known even among those running food businesses near the school.
Students coming here for late-night snacks often talked about Luo Ziling.
The owner was puzzled, wondering why no fans came up for autographs with Luo Ziling sitting here today.
But after observing the scene, he understood.
Seeing so many beautiful women surrounding Luo Ziling, none of the female fans dared to come close.
Male fans, upon seeing so many beautiful women around Luo Ziling, felt intimidated and similarly dared not approach.
After delivering a plate of side dishes, the owner instructed another waiter for the next delivery to take a photo for him. He wanted to post it on social media for some posturing and to advertise his hotpot restaurant.
The waiter didn’t recognize Luo Ziling.
But Luo Ziling and the women exuded such an aura that he dared not approach.
Taking a sneaky picture was something he was willing to do.
He had already sneakily taken a few pictures of the beautiful women at the table earlier, but unfortunately, he didn’t capture their faces.
The four women were chatting softly, and when Luo Ziling returned, they ignored him.
Luo Ziling didn’t mind their attitude toward him anymore, and once seated, took control again.
"Comrade Lin Lan, your health has almost recovered, you can drink some alcohol. It’s rare to have so many people together today, we ought to drink to celebrate, just don’t overdo it!" Luo Ziling said boldly, "Five people, a dozen beers—isn’t that enough?"
"Aren’t you afraid that drinking will cause trouble?" Lin Lan looked at Luo Ziling strangely, then pointed at Wuyue and Ye Xiaoli, "You’re actually letting them drink?"
"No worries, who’s brave enough to bother us today?" Luo Ziling laughed, "Only someone weary of life would dare!"
But just then, someone came to embarrass Luo Ziling.
As they picked up chopsticks, ready to start eating, a few brash young men walked toward them.
"Oh, so many pretty girls, and only one guy, isn’t that unfair?" A long-haired young man leading the group said in a sarcastic tone, "Mind if we join you?"
Luo Ziling, who was just raising his glass to drink, burst out laughing at the scene.
"Somebody’s here to entertain us!" He cheerfully asked the young men, "Do you know how to write the word ’dumb’? It’s the spring character with two caterpillars below. Don’t go into heat blindly, going into heat might make you castrati. And would you like me to teach you how to write the word ’death’?"
Luo Ziling’s arrogance left the young men stunned for a moment, then amused: "Oh, such a bold student."
"You new here?" Having been teased by a few women, Luo Ziling was eager for some fun, so he patiently played along with these delinquents, "Didn’t bother to learn about the situation before coming to cause trouble? Some people shouldn’t be messed with, or you’ll be in trouble."
"You are so..." The long-haired young man hadn’t finished speaking when Ye Xiaoli stood up and grabbed the young punk’s neck, lifting him off his feet.
Then, "slap," a heavy slap landed on the young man’s face.
With a face full of frost, Ye Xiaoli shouted at the terrified young men, "Scram!"
Though she looked like a gentle girl, she was surprisingly violent with a high combat power, frightening the young men into dashing off without a word.
About 500 meters from where Luo Ziling and the others were eating hotpot, in a dark room of a high-rise building,
two people were watching the whole incident through binoculars.
Shortly after, they received a message: "Confirmed, the guy is Luo Ziling. Damn it, got slapped, need extra pay."
"Ha, then let him die under the peony flower!"
After receiving the message, one of them laughed lightly, tossed the phone aside, and set up the newly assembled gun.