However, Furina quickly reacted, shaking his head and saying, "No, no, it's not like I'm paying anyway, and not being able to eat hotpot is absolutely no good!"
Xavier was speechless; it turned out he was the unlucky one in the end.
"Xavier, hurry up! I order you to grab that meatball for me!"
Furina knew he didn't have the strength to compete with Hu Tao, so he set his sights on Xavier.
After his repeated pleas, Xavier managed to snatch a meatball for him.
Furina bit into thae meatball with satisfaction, but the next second…
"Pfft!"
Soup splattered from the meatball, shooting straight into Furina's eyes.
"Help! Murder! Someone's trying to murder me!"
"Damn it, sure enough, there are people on Blue Star who can't stand me. They must be the legendary anti-fans!"
Furina covered his eyes, twisting his body frantically, almost falling off the chair.
Xavier chuckled gleefully; there were many fools, but rarely one this foolish.
Nahida was more thoughtful, helping Furina check his eyes.
"Are you alright, Furina? That's just soup, you know."
As he spoke, an invisible light flowed into Furina's eyes, and the burning, stinging sensation gradually disappeared.
After recovering, Furina immediately checked his body and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that he was indeed not injured.
After the false alarm, Furina immediately questioned Xavier: "Xavier, what on earth is going on?!"
"Well, that meatball has another name: 'Pissing Beef Ball'."
"As the name suggests, 'Pissing Beef Ball' means it 'pees'…"
Furina was furious: "Then why didn't you tell me?!"
"You didn't ask me!" Xavier said with an innocent expression.
Furina was about to erupt when Klee suddenly shouted, "So spicy, so spicy!"
Klee had only been eating tomato hotpot before, and just one bite of the spicy hotpot was already too much for him.
"I almost forgot!"
Xavier suddenly thought of something and placed an additional order.
Not long after, a large bottle of iced cola was placed on the table.
"What is this? It's not some special medicine to stop the spiciness, is it?"
Nahida, who had never drunk or seen cola before, actually mistook such a delicious drink for medicine.
It couldn't be blamed on him, because from its appearance, cola was pitch black and didn't look like something good to drink.
"You'll know in a bit. This is the best companion for hotpot!"
Xavier chuckled, deliberately keeping them in suspense.
After pouring the cola, Xavier raised his glass and said, "Cheers!"
Everyone followed suit and raised their glasses together.
"A-Mao, you join us too!"
Nahida saw that Balladeer hadn't raised his glass, so he reminded him.
Balladeer reluctantly raised his glass, but didn't say a word.
"Cheers!"
At the moment their glasses clinked, a feeling he had never experienced before washed over Nahida.
This feeling was very subtle, as if at this moment, everyone's emotions were connected.
The steaming hotpot, the misty vapor reflecting everyone's happiest smiles.
The same joy, the same happiness—this was enough to forget all worries.
It was this subtle feeling that created a special bond, connecting everyone together.
"Ahhh~ That's so good!"
Hu Tao gulped down the cola in her glass in one go, shouting with satisfaction.
"Wow, although I've had cola at Xavier's house before, today's cola is completely different!" Yoimiya was also incredibly surprised.
Xavier said proudly, "Of course! Otherwise, why would it be called the soulmate of hotpot!"
"Xavier, Xavier, give me another glass!" Furina finished his drink and eagerly demanded a refill.
Even Balladeer showed a slight look of surprise.
He hadn't expected this drink to have such a unique taste; it was indeed quite special.
Everyone had a truly enjoyable hotpot meal today.
Especially the lively atmosphere of scrambling for food, which was completely different from eating other things.
However, those who frequently eat hotpot might know that even with fresh ingredients, the butter from hotpot is not so easy to digest…
"Oh no, my stomach…"
As soon as Furina returned home, he felt his stomach churning.
He usually ate mild-flavored foods and rarely spicy ones.
Eating such spicy hotpot all at once, his stomach naturally couldn't handle it.
"I can't take it anymore, I can't take it anymore! I need to go to the restroom!"
Furina clutched his stomach and rushed towards the restroom, almost bumping into Zhongli, who was walking towards him.
"Zhongli, you missed out big time by not coming out with us today!" Hu Tao came up to Zhongli and boasted, "Today, Xavier treated us to hotpot, and it was so delicious!"
Zhongli smiled faintly, "It's good that the Director enjoyed it; that makes me happy too."
If it were anyone else, they might have been touched, but Hu Tao wasn't like that.
"Tsk, how boring~"
Hu Tao waved his hand; what she wanted to see was an expression of regret on Zhongli's face.
Thinking that he hadn't seen Zhongli at all today, Xavier asked, "By the way, Zhongli, what did you do today?"
"I went out for a stroll for a while. Don't worry, I didn't cause any trouble."
Although Zhongli was a bit of an old-fashioned person, his actions were quite steady, which greatly pleased Xavier.
But as soon as Xavier sat down, he noticed various cigarettes and other miscellaneous items on the coffee table.
Xavier's eyes widened, and he asked in surprise, "Zhongli, don't tell me you brought all these things back?"
Zhongli admitted without hesitation, "Indeed."
Hu Tao also found these items very curious and played with a cigarette in her mouth.
"Zhongli, what did you do? How did you bring back so many strange things?"
Hu Tao's question was also the question Xavier wanted to ask.
"Hmm…"
After a moment of contemplation, Zhongli said, "First, I went out and played Xiangqi with someone, then Go, and then I received these gifts."
"You didn't gamble on the games, did you?" This was the most likely possibility Xavier could think of.
"From a universal rational perspective, gambling is an act that causes one to erode." Zhongli shook his head, "These were voluntarily given to me. Although I repeatedly refused, I simply couldn't resist their enthusiasm."
Xavier suddenly felt his KFC was on fire; how could anyone beg to give things to others? Did Zhongli manipulate them?
After beating around the bush for a long time, Zhongli finally told everyone the truth.
"They saw that my chess skills were quite exquisite, so they wanted to become my disciples."
"However, I have always disliked getting entangled with people, so I refused."
"But they persisted, so I had no choice but to concede a step and promised to give them some pointers when I had time. These items came from that."
Who would have thought that this slacker just went out for a couple of strolls and people were begging him to accept things?
Even in the abstract world, that was quite abstract.
Xavier gave a thumbs up and praised, "Zhongli, you're really something!"