Become the Sickly Villain in the Novel - Chapter 46

On a summer evening, the izakaya was bustling with people. The group of four had no choice but to head to a slightly farther spot, but there were still employees from the company present.

As soon as Qin Xu walked in, whispers started spreading.

“Isn’t that Director Qin?”

“Totally out of place here.”

“…I should’ve gone somewhere else. After a busy stretch, I just wanted to relax. Seeing Director Qin after work is the last thing I want.”

“Let’s eat quickly and leave.”

“Ugh, this place is already a bit far from the office. Running into Director Qin here? Just my luck.”

Amid the noisy chatter, Li Nuo overheard these remarks and chuckled quietly. Earlier that morning, he had witnessed Qin Xu coldly reject a report submitted by a manager. As expected, Qin Xu was the company’s infamous cold-blooded overlord.

Qin Xu, however, paid no mind to the comments. He scanned the room and chose a seat near the corner before walking over.

The group seated in the middle let out a collective sigh of relief—corners had poor visibility, meaning they couldn’t see each other anymore.

At the table for four, Qin Xu decisively sat on one side. When Li Yan was about to guide Li Nuo to the other side, Secretary Yang pulled him back.

“You’re sitting with me on this side.”

“…Why?”

“Why do you think? You’re the one who suggested treating me to drinks, so of course you’ll keep me company.”

“……”

Secretary Yang motioned for him to sit on the inside and then blocked the aisle by sitting on the outside himself. He casually signaled with his chin for Li Nuo to sit next to Qin Xu.

“…Secretary Yang.”

“Yes, I’m here. Li Nuo, what do you feel like eating? I’ve been here before and can recommend a few dishes you might like.”

Ignoring Li Yan’s resentful glare, Secretary Yang casually picked up the menu and began recommending signature dishes to Li Nuo.

Resting his hands on the table, Li Nuo glanced at the menu and turned his head to ask, “What would the Director like to eat?”

“Li Nuo, order whatever you want.”

“…Huh?”

“Order anything you want, as long as it’s not something you’re not allowed to.”

Without any trace of impatience, Qin Xu repeated himself in the same tone.

Li Nuo slowly nodded and returned his attention to the menu. Just now, Qin Xu had directly called him by his name. That hadn’t happened before, even though they’d interacted several times.

How should he put it? His heart was racing a little, as if he had finally gotten closer to a large, predator beast.

The table wasn’t large, so the conversation between the two was naturally audible to the others across from them. Secretary Yang’s smile grew increasingly peculiar, while Li Yan’s expression became more and more dissatisfied.

Mo Chuan had gone abroad on a business trip, and Qin Xu had been very busy, working in his office. Except for lunch breaks, he rarely came out, so they barely ran into each other. Qin Xu, always reticent outside of work, put him somewhat at ease.

Unexpectedly, after such a long time, Qin Xu happened to join them while Secretary Yang was being treated to dinner.

Clearly, Qin Xu wasn’t someone who enjoyed noisy environments. Be it at amusement parks or this time, he had still chosen to come along.

To be honest, Li Yan had previously seen Secretary Yang jokingly invite Qin Xu to such gatherings, only to receive his signature death glare.

Let’s just eat quickly and leave.

Li Yan regretted inviting Secretary Yang out today.

“Then let’s start with these. Director, will you drink anything?”

“No,” Qin Xu, ever sparing with words, declined. He had to drive later that evening.

“Li Nuo can’t drink. Li Yan, what about you? Are you drinking?”

Li Yan decisively refused as well. He had to head home afterward, and if he got drunk, it would be unfair to make his frail brother take care of him.

“Tsk, so I’ll be the only one drinking? Fine, let’s start with two bottles then.”

Secretary Yang, having quickly made the decision, placed the order, and the food was soon brought to the table.

The group began eating, but Li Nuo stared silently at the chicken on his plate, at a loss for words.

“……”

“Brother, aren’t you eating?”

“If I’m not mistaken, I ordered fried chicken, didn’t I?”

But what is this pale piece of meat in front of me?

Was fried chicken supposed to look like this?

“Yes, it’s fried chicken, but I peeled off the outer layer,” Li Yan said matter-of-factly.

“…Why would you do something so cruel?” Li Nuo looked pained. “Fried chicken without its skin, can that even still be called fried chicken? It’s basically become plain boiled chicken!”

Even though it was just fried chicken, how much better could the meat inside really be? Yet Li Yan had taken away the soul of the fried chicken as if it were nothing.

Li Nuo gazed regretfully at the discarded fried chicken skin tossed to the side, biting reluctantly into the bland, flavorless meat.

He understood that Li Yan was doing this for his health, but after so much time, couldn’t he indulge just this once?

On the other side of the table, Secretary Yang had no such reservations. The crispy chicken skin that Li Yan had peeled off was now sitting near him, and he took a big bite without hesitation.

Li Nuo’s resentful gaze followed him immediately, making Secretary Yang hesitate to take another bite.

It was clearly Li Yan who forbade him from eating it, so why had he felt a pang of guilt?

Perhaps it was because the room was dimly lit. Under the orange glow of the lamps, Li Nuo’s glistening eyes seemed as though they might burst into tears at any moment, which subtly pricked at Secretary Yang’s conscience.

“…Secretary Li, why not just let him have a little? Otherwise, Li Nuo looks like he’s about to cry.”

Li Yan, busy peeling more fried chicken, looked up and saw Li Nuo across from him with drooping eyebrows and a pout, deliberately blinking his eyes.

Li Yan sighed.

“Just a little.”

Li Nuo’s face instantly brightened. “Okay, just a little!”

He eagerly waited for Li Yan to pass him the chicken, but unexpectedly, an entire plate of fried chicken appeared in front of him instead.

“Eat,” Qin Xu said, pushing the plate toward him.

Li Nuo hesitated, staring at the food. Qin Xu set down his chopsticks.

“What, you don’t want what I gave you?”

“No!”

Hurriedly, Li Nuo forked a piece and stuffed it into his mouth, no longer caring that Qin Xu had pushed the entire plate toward him.

Is it okay for me to eat all of it?

Since coming to this world, he’d had his share of fine meals, but junk food was different. Li Nuo preferred to call it a “happiness meal.”

His face lit up with delight as he ate the fried chicken. Watching this, Li Yan couldn’t help but laugh, shaking his head helplessly.

“Slow down. No one’s going to take it from you.”

Li Nuo nodded, slowing his chewing.

“Come on, let’s toast! This is technically the first team dinner for our office,” Secretary Yang said enthusiastically, raising his glass. Li Nuo raised his glass of plain water to clink it.

……………

“So, that partner was incredibly annoying. Back then, Li Yan, you hadn’t joined the company yet, right? I still vividly remember that partner even now…”

It was clear that Secretary Yang was drunk.

He had mentioned that it had been a while since he’d had a drink. Feeling comfortable among familiar people, he wasn’t afraid of getting tipsy. After starting with sake, he ordered beer and drank them in combination.

Even though Li Yan tried to stop him, Secretary Yang ignored the advice and kept complaining about how exhausting things had been recently, completely disregarding the fact that his boss was sitting across the table.

Fortunately, Qin Xu knew his classmate well enough to avoid getting angry over this, though that didn’t mean he would tolerate someone causing a drunken scene across the table.

“Call a cab and send him home,” Qin Xu said with a frown, clearly unwilling to let this continue. Li Yan nodded in agreement; if Secretary Yang kept drinking, he’d likely be too intoxicated to even stand.

Li Yan took out his phone to call a cab, but in the blink of an eye, Secretary Yang snatched it away from him.

“Go home? No way! Let’s keep drinking!”

With a nimbleness that a drunken man couldn’t even think of, he deftly slipped the phone into his other pocket, keeping it out of reach.

“Secretary Yang?”

Li Yan immediately reached out to grab it, but Secretary Yang dodged with a sly grin.

The two men, both well-built, wrestled over the phone in the limited space of their seats, causing the already small table to shake violently.

Li Nuo reached out to steady the wine bottle on the table to keep it from tipping over but couldn’t manage the rest of the items. Seeing that a freshly poured bowl of soup was about to spill, Qin Xu reached out and pressed down on the edge of the table, stabilizing it.

With just one hand placed firmly on the left side of the table, Qin Xu’s old scars were clearly visible to Li Nuo. They seemed to have been there for years, as time had not healed them.

In previous encounters, Li Nuo had noticed that Qin Xu’s right hand also bore numerous scars.

Were these from his childhood?

The parts of the novel I had read so far didn’t mention anything about his childhood.

Li Nuo stared at his hands for a moment too long. When he felt someone’s gaze on him, he raised his eyes cautiously and glanced to the side.

His eyes locked with Qin Xu’s.

“…Sorry,” Li Nuo murmured apologetically. His voice was drowned out by the argument across the table, leaving him unsure whether Qin Xu had heard.

Feeling awkward, Li Nuo coughed lightly and directed his attention forward.

“Secretary Yang, if you keep going like this, you’ll wake up tomorrow wishing you could slam your head against the wall in regret.”

“No, I won’t regret it.”

Li Yan was at his wit’s end. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get the phone back. It was hard to believe this was the same composed and mature Secretary Yang, now acting like a child after a few too many drinks.

As the struggle grew more intense, Qin Xu finally lost his patience. He kicked Secretary Yang’s chair with considerable force.

The chair, which had already been tipping backward, couldn’t handle the impact and toppled over.

At the moment of crisis, Secretary Yang sobered up slightly and scrambled to his feet. The chair crashed into the wall behind him with a loud bang.

The noise startled Secretary Yang, who hiccupped in fright. Having had too much to drink, the scare made him feel nauseous.

The commotion drew the attention of the other customers in the izakaya, who craned their necks to see what had happened.

Fortunately, the group seated in the middle had already left. Otherwise, the next thing circulating in the company’s internal chat might have been a video of the director’s secretary making a drunken scene.

Qin Xu’s expression darkened completely. “Yang Wen! If you throw up on this seat, I will fire you.”

Secretary Yang froze in shock and quickly covered his mouth. Qin Xu rarely called him by his full name, and when he did, it meant he was seriously angry.

Just then, a staff member approached to ask what was wrong.

Qin Xu gestured to Li Yan, signaling for him to take Secretary Yang to the restroom to vomit and wash his face to sober up.

Li Yan’s phone was still on Secretary Yang, and there was no one else around who could help.

Unfamiliar with the place, Li Yan had to ask the staff for directions as he supported the staggering Secretary Yang out of the room.

Watching the two disappear into the distance, Li Nuo let out a long breath.

It was his first time witnessing someone drunk in person. He had to admit, alcohol was truly something else. Secretary Yang was like a completely different person, but the sheer volume he managed to drink suggested he was in a very good mood.

Li Nuo released his grip on the wine bottle he’d been holding, tilting his head slightly as he stared at the half-full bottle on the table.