Outside Wine Hidden bar, a big Mercedes was struggling with parallel parking.
The Mercedes S-Class had a long body to begin with, and Li Rui sitting in the driver's seat had just gotten his license not long ago. After several attempts he still couldn't park it.
Li Xinyue and her best friend Chen Rongrong sat in the back, making Li Rui's entire face turn beet red with extreme nervousness.
The more nervous he got, the less he could park it.
The worst part was there was only this one marked parking spot nearby—he didn't dare park randomly elsewhere. After all, it wasn't easy borrowing his dad's car to go out. If he got a ticket from the police, he'd inevitably get lectured.
Li Rui finally managed to crookedly park the big Mercedes. He immediately got out to personally open the car door for Li Xinyue, displaying his gentlemanly demeanor and warm guy style.
He was in a really good mood today because Li Xinyue and Cheng Zhu had broken up, and this time they'd even deleted each other.
"Can't go back, their relationship definitely can't go back this time!"
Therefore, he immediately found Chen Rongrong and had her help invite Li Xinyue to go sit at a bar tonight.
Chen Rongrong had secretly gone to bars during high school and even dated a bar promoter.
How else would she have such potent fertility?
Li Xinyue hadn't been to a bar yet.
For some students at this stage, bars were a forbidden zone, but they were also a bit curious.
Li Rui specifically chose a lounge bar rather than a nightclub for dancing, because he knew Li Xinyue would definitely refuse otherwise.
On the way there, he kept showing off.
"This bar called Wine Hidden—I'm pretty familiar with the owner."
Actually, it was his cousin who knew Shen Minglang. When the bar first opened, he helped advertise on social media. Li Rui didn't know Shen Minglang at all.
When paying later, he'd directly use his cousin's membership card and pretend it was his own. Li Rui felt this would be cooler.
Before leaving he'd already told his cousin, and would transfer money to him afterward.
The behavior was quite childish, but some boys were like this at a certain stage. And you know what, some men, let alone at eighteen, even at twenty-eight still liked showing off in inexplicable and low-level ways.
On the way there, Li Xinyue and Chen Rongrong sat in back continuously talking about Cheng Zhu.
Li Xinyue even repeated their chat conversation word for word, making Chen Rongrong both angry and amused.
Yueyue told him "we're really done this time," and he actually replied with "okay."
What kind of absolutely genius talent was this!
Replying with just "okay" or "fine" wouldn't be as ridiculous as "okay then" would it?
"How could he be like this!" Chen Rongrong couldn't help complaining.
Li Rui also chimed in at the right time: "When I heard him say 'warm guys rank behind dogs' that day, I knew his mindset was wrong. Men should unconditionally treat women well, women should be unconditionally pampered."
This kid was still sticking to his warm guy persona.
Li Rui felt at this moment, he must have a stark contrast with Cheng Zhu in Li Xinyue's heart.
"Exactly!" Chen Rongrong agreed.
She and Li Xinyue were both girls who acted dramatic during relationships. Birds of the same flock, so she strongly agreed with Li Rui's view, thinking Cheng Zhu was very wrong.
Little did they know in Cheng Zhu's view, real princesses throwing tantrums was called princess syndrome. What was theirs? Theirs was feral chicken emotional instability syndrome.
At this moment, the three walked into Wine Hidden together, all feeling somewhat curious about the place.
The bar was rather dark. After sitting down, they discovered the person sitting across from them seemed to be Cheng Zhu!
"It's Cheng Zhu!" Chen Rongrong said quietly.
Li Rui cursed his bad luck internally and suggested: "Should we switch to another bar?"
But Li Xinyue shook her head, her gaze gathering on Shen Qingning.
Although she could only see her profile, whether it was Shen Qingning's temperament, appearance, or those obviously long legs, all were more than a level above Li Xinyue.
And she had an ineffable noble air about her, like an aloof young heiress.
Some girls were like that—one look and you'd feel their family circumstances were very good.
Shen Qingning was this type.
"Not switching, let's sit here." Li Xinyue suddenly said.
"Ah? Then... okay." Li Rui and Chen Rongrong exchanged glances.
Chen Rongrong even asked quietly: "Do you recognize those people next to Cheng Zhu?"
Li Xinyue shook her head: "I only recognize that Jiang Wanzhou. He's Cheng Zhu's good friend, but I don't like him—so effeminate."
On the other side, Cheng Zhu and Jiang Wanzhou also noticed Li Xinyue and the others sitting not far across.
Jiang Wanzhou smiled: "That's your just-broken-up ex-girlfriend."
As soon as he spoke, Shen Minglang got interested and asked: "Where, where, let me see little cousin's taste."
Cheng Zhu hadn't expected to run into them, but he didn't really care.
He'd experienced this kind of scene plenty of times later.
When he went to Yiwu to start his business, although that small commodities city was world-famous, it was still a county-level city—very small.
Plus with his later personality, always being a reformed prodigal who'd turn around and be prodigal again, he'd constantly run into women he'd had stories or even accidents with.
No panic! Small scene, small scene.
In his view, these high school graduates were still at the stage of being nervous giving speeches on stage, too embarrassed to really sing at KTV. In this kind of public setting, they fundamentally couldn't cause any real trouble.
Seeing Li Rui looking this way, he directly stared back, making Li Rui immediately look away awkwardly.
Shen Minglang followed Cheng Zhu's gaze and said with a smile: "Not bad, both girls are quite youthful. Are both of them little cousin's ex-girlfriends? Should I have Ye Zi send over a fruit platter later?"
"No need, no need." Cheng Zhu even smiled: "Cousin is so generous."
This side was relaxed and at ease, but over at Li Xinyue's table, because both Shen Minglang and Shen Qingning had looked their way, she suddenly felt increasingly uncomfortable, feeling awful all over.
She felt very embarrassed, an embarrassment she'd never experienced before.
Then because of the embarrassment, she became increasingly annoyed at Cheng Zhu.
"It's all his fault!"
At this moment, the bar's screen was playing World Cup replays.
Quite a few customers around were still discussing the previous match.
Some excited, some frustrated.
Chen Rongrong actively opened a topic: "I heard recently many people are betting on games. Do you know anyone who does?"
Li Xinyue shook her head, distracted.
Li Rui immediately said: "In a few hours it'll be this year's World Cup finals, Argentina versus Germany. I'm planning to bet a small 2000."
He started intentionally or unintentionally displaying his financial power, his voice getting a bit louder.
"Betting two thousand, that much?" Chen Rongrong said in surprise.
"It's okay, small gambling for pleasure." Li Rui said, his voice getting even louder.
The bar's background music was currently quiet, but the replayed match volume was turned up, allowing Cheng Zhu's side to vaguely hear Li Rui's words too.
"Tsk, betting two thousand, little rich second generation." Shen Minglang didn't know if he was genuinely sighing or mocking.
At this moment, Jiang Wanzhou got up to go to the bathroom.
Cheng Zhu had been waiting for this moment.
So he spoke up: "Cousin, Jiang Wanzhou told me I could ask you to help place bets, said your odds are pretty good."
"Yeah, if you trust me, of course you can. Just a small favor." He said with a smile.
He himself had already placed his bets, betting on Germany to win, betting fifty thousand.
The odds were pretty good at 2.3.
That meant if Germany really won in the end, he could earn 65,000.
Shen Minglang asked: "Which side does little cousin think will win?"
"Germany." Cheng Zhu said directly.
"Hm? Good eye! Cousin also bet on Germany winning! Small bet of fifty thousand." Shen Minglang patted his shoulder.
Cheng Zhu smiled: "Didn't you just say you're a diehard Messi fan? Why didn't you bet on Argentina?"
"Right, so for my idol, I also bet 500 on Argentina winning." Shen Minglang nodded.
You really are—grandma getting into bed—cracking grandpa up.
Cheng Zhu gave him a thumbs up: "Touching."
"How much does little cousin want to bet on Germany winning? My odds are 2.3." Shen Minglang said to Cheng Zhu.
Unexpectedly, Cheng Zhu shook his head: "Cousin, I'm not betting on the winner, I'm betting on the score."
"Whoa! Quite ambitious, actually going straight for correct score betting. Which scores are you betting on?" Shen Minglang said.
Betting on who wins or loses was one thing, but betting on the exact score—the probability was much lower.
Of course, the odds would also be much higher!
Cheng Zhu asked: "What are your odds for 0-0?"
Shen Minglang picked up his phone to check: "Let me see... the odds are... seven point five."
"Then help me bet on this. I think it'll be 0-0 in regular time, then go into overtime. Cousin, what's the most convenient way to transfer money to you?" Cheng Zhu asked.
"Damn, you're quite bold, betting on 0-0. Any transfer method works for me, I'm OK with anything." Shen Minglang said: "How much are you betting, little cousin?"
"Twelve thousand." Cheng Zhu said without hesitation.
"Twelve thousand, okay... wait, you said how much?" Shen Minglang looked up, his face showing surprise.