When the words "return to you" rang in his ears, Meng Kuo was still in the shock that Chu Ge had brought him. It was not until the heavy dumbbell drew a parabola in his line of sight and fell that he snapped back to reality, but by then it was too late to catch the dumbbell as gracefully as Chu Ge had.

In fact, even if he had the time, he wouldn't dare try such a thing.

Initially, Meng Kuo planned to pull a little move during the handshake with Chu Ge to further embarrass him, but now he couldn't care less about that. He quickly let go of the hand, flustered and awkwardly retreating backward.

With a dull "thud," the dumbbell hit the floor heavily, leaving a small dent.

Looking at the dumbbell only a few centimeters from his right foot, Meng Kuo's pupils shrank, and he felt a twinge of fear.

If that dumbbell had landed on his foot, even if he was lucky enough not to be severely injured, he'd still need a long time to recover!

Meng Kuo lowered his head, and after a moment of fear, his face turned extremely ugly as a wave of anger surged within him, but with Qin Ruoying present, he couldn't act out.

Ironically, he forgot that he had wanted to give Chu Ge a taste of his own medicine just moments ago.

Qin Ruoying came to her senses and cast a dissatisfied glance at Meng Kuo. She had just assured Chu Ge that her friends were all nice, yet Meng Kuo pulled such a stunt. What was this?

"Big guy Meng, what do you mean? If it weren't for Chu Ge's quick reflexes, he would have gotten hurt!"

She said angrily, then looked worriedly at Chu Ge, "Chu Ge, are you okay? Did your left hand get strained?"

"I'm fine." Chu Ge smiled, casually moving his left arm.

Seeing Qin Ruoying so concerned about Chu Ge, without even a glance at himself who almost got hit by the dumbbell, made Meng Kuo even angrier.

He had been pursuing Qin Ruoying for half a year and had never seen her show this kind of concern for any other man.

But to maintain his image in Qin Ruoying's eyes, he could only suppress his anger, and with a fake smile said, "Yingying, don't be mad. You know my character, I didn't do it on purpose, it was just an accident."

Qin Ruoying snorted, ignoring Meng Kuo, and took Chu Ge's arm, heading toward the second floor.

Upon reaching a nicely decorated lounge bar on the second floor, as soon as Qin Ruoying entered, someone waved at her and called out, "Over here."

Chu Ge looked in the direction of the voice and saw seven or eight fashionably dressed young people sitting on silver metallic high chairs next to the bar, gazing at them with expressions that were somewhat peculiar.

"Let me introduce you all, this is my friend Chu Ge."

Under several complex gazes, Qin Ruoying, arm in arm with Chu Ge, sat down in the spot that had been saved for her by her friends in the center, first greeting them with a smile, then proudly introducing each of her friends to Chu Ge.

"This is Tommy, specializes in mixology, this is Mike, specializes in body painting, and this is..."

During Qin Ruoying's introductions, although Chu Ge could clearly feel the superficiality and detachment from these people, he still nodded and smiled at each of them, not caring at all about the hint of hostility in their eyes.

Once Qin Ruoying finished introducing them, just as Chu Ge was about to sit on the high chair next to her, Meng Kuo, who had followed them upstairs, blocked his way, and with a very "apologetic" tone said, "Bro, sorry, I didn't know Yingying would bring someone else. We only saved a seat for her, this spot is mine."

Qin Ruoying frowned, about to say something, but Chu Ge patted her shoulder and smiled at Meng Kuo, saying, "Go ahead, I'll sit over there."

Although Meng Kuo was displeased by Chu Ge's intimate gesture of patting Qin Ruoying's shoulder, he felt a sense of triumph seeing Chu Ge sensibly move to the far end of the bar, interpreting it as a sign of submission.

In reality, Chu Ge had already discerned at a glance that Qin Ruoying's friends were a bunch of arrogant, pretentious scions. He figured he wouldn't have much in common with them and thought he might as well enjoy some peace on the sidelines.

As it turned out, he was exactly right. After he sat down, except for a young man named Xiao Le who was sitting next to him exchanging a few polite words, no one initiated any conversation with him. It was as if he didn't exist at all.

For anyone else, such a situation would be undoubtedly awkward, but Chu Ge found it quite agreeable, just as he liked it.

He ordered a bottle of beer and drank contentedly by himself, as if the people next to him had nothing to do with him, as if this ordinary bottle of beer was more interesting than the crowd.

In stark contrast, Meng Kuo and Qin Ruoying sat in the middle of the group, the center of attention. Everyone seemed proud to exchange a few words with them, flaunting their skills and trying to capture their attention at all costs.

There was no other way; how could anyone not bow when under someone else's roof?

Meng Kuo was the one with the best family background and connections among them. On the surface, everyone acted like siblings, but in reality, Meng Kuo was the leader of this group.

For this reason, when they saw Qin Ruoying enter with a man, arm in arm, their looks turned peculiar, and they acted indifferently towards Chu Ge.

However, anyone could see that Qin Ruoying was obviously distracted today, not captivated by any topic, her gaze occasionally drifting toward the end of the bar.

This realization only heightened the group's hostility toward Chu Ge, fueling their lively discussions even more.

When this group of people's topic shifted from entertainment gossip to international affairs, Chu Ge finally couldn't take it anymore, stood up, left the bar, and headed towards the stairwell.

Although he was around the same age as these people, his past experiences were vastly different. To him, they were just a bunch of self-righteous kids, listening to their conversation was simply childish and laughable.

He had just lit a cigarette and taken a few puffs when footsteps sounded behind him. Chu Ge turned his head to see Qin Ruoying walking over with a bit of an apologetic look.

"Not staying with your friends, why did you come out?"

"Afraid you'd be bored, came out specially to keep you company."

"By the way, the couple discount was fake; you wanted me to help fend off that big fool, right?"

"Heh... You found out? Sorry, you're not mad at me, are you?" Qin Ruoying stuck out her tongue.

"No, but you really could have told me the truth earlier."

Qin Ruoying gave an apologetic smile, leaned against the windowsill next to Chu Ge, then after a few seconds of silence, asked somewhat expectantly, "Brother-in-law, what do you think of my friends?"

"Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

"Is that even a question? Of course, the truth."

"Not that great."

Hearing Chu Ge say this, Qin Ruoying instantly felt a bit unhappy and pouted, "It's just that they weren't very warm towards you; it's because you're not part of their circle. If you spent more time with them, you'd definitely notice their good sides."

Chu Ge smiled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, thinking some things simply didn't require explanation.

Just as Qin Ruoying wanted to say something else, Meng Kuo walked into the stairwell, calling out, "Yingying, you're here? Everyone's waiting for you, let's go back."

The sudden appearance of Meng Kuo startled Qin Ruoying. Even though she was a bit upset with Chu Ge, she didn't want her friends to hear the "not that great" comment.

Little did she know, Meng Kuo had already heard those four words clearly when he came over and was planning to make an issue out of it.

He glanced at Chu Ge, saw him turn around to keep smoking, neither acknowledging Meng Kuo nor showing any intention of going back with her, so Qin Ruoying didn't say much and followed Meng Kuo back to the bar.

When Chu Ge finished his cigarette and returned to the bar, sitting down again at the end of the bar counter, Meng Kuo smirked and got up, walking towards Chu Ge amidst a few puzzled glances.

"Bro, sorry, I overheard your conversation when I went to find Yingying just now. But, don't you think you owe us an explanation for your words?"

Chu Ge smiled, "What explanation?"

Meng Kuo deliberately paused for a few seconds, seeing that everyone's attention was on him, only then did he continue, "An explanation for saying we're not that great."

Hearing this, the faces of Meng Kuo's side turned, and Qin Ruoying looked even more embarrassed. She hurriedly stood up, trying to cover for Chu Ge, saying Meng Kuo must have misheard.

However, before she could smooth things over, Chu Ge casually said, "To you? I have nothing to explain."

"Damn, who do you think you are?"

"Do you know what art is? Do you know what elegance is?"

"You came over here today to deliberately cause trouble, didn't you? We're not that great, but are you better than us?"

This time, Chu Ge's attitude completely angered the others; they'd already not liked him from the start and finally had a chance to vent at him.

Completely ignoring the indignant faces, Chu Ge glanced at the somewhat embarrassed Qin Ruoying and said, "I'm leaving first. You can get a cab home later."

After saying that, he turned and left.

"I ask you, are you even a man? Yingying was just so concerned about you, and now you're leaving her here just like that? You're a real jerk!"

Seeing everything going the way he hoped, Meng Kuo was pleased, yet outwardly, he pretended to be very indignant for Qin Ruoying, saying angrily.

"Meng Kuo, shut up. Even if everyone in the world is trash, Chu Ge is not! Chu Ge, let's go together, wait for me!"

However, to everyone's surprise, right after Meng Kuo cursed at Chu Ge's back, Qin Ruoying, without thinking twice, reprimanded Meng Kuo and quickly caught up with Chu Ge.

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