The villainous female supporting character beckons, and the aloof male lead kneels down to pamper he

Chapter 72 He acted impulsively

Seeing him eagerly chasing after her and even bringing her chicken legs, Lin Shuyao thought to herself, "It seems the 'Flirting Girl' tutorial really has some substance."

You shouldn't chase after men; you should keep your distance.

Lin Shuyao pursed her cherry-red lips and said politely but distantly, "Thank you, Representative, but I ate quite a lot at noon. You should give this chicken leg to a female colleague who needs it."

"I'm going back to my dorm now."

After saying that, she didn't even look at his expression, nodded slightly, and turned to leave.

The moment she turned around, Cheng Zheng's fingers tightened around the aluminum lunchbox, his gaze fixed on her graceful figure as she walked away, his dark eyes seemingly filled with an unyielding darkness.

He only turned around slowly after her figure disappeared into the dormitory building, his fingers leaving five slight dents on the lid of the aluminum lunchbox.

It was near the end of the workday in the afternoon.

Lin Shuyao was tidying up documents in the office when Li Wei and Wang Qiang approached her. Li Wei scratched his head, looking a little shy, and asked, "Comrade Shen, do you... do you have any plans after get off work today?"

"No, what's wrong?"

Lin Shuyao has become more familiar with the two men in the past two days. This is partly because she is the class monitor, and they were in the same team during the morning military training. Li Wei and Wang Qiang actively cooperated with her work and also motivated the other comrades, which made it easier for her to carry out her work.

Secondly, the three of them happened to be working on the same set of materials, with Lin Shuyao responsible for translation, so they interacted quite a bit. Plus, the two men were both rather lively and outgoing, the kind who crack jokes and banter, which made it quite interesting.

Hearing that she was free, Li Wei boldly spoke up: "Um... Wang Xiaohong from the next department is having her birthday and invited Wang Qiang and me to dinner. We're not quite sure what you female colleagues like, so we'd like to ask you for some advice. We're going to the department store in a bit..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Zheng walked in from the door of the department and glanced at the group of people.

Lin Shuyao immediately agreed to Li Wei's request: "Okay, then I'll go with you."

Li Wei and Wang Qiang smiled and said, "Then let's pack our things now and go as soon as possible."

"Okay!" Lin Shuyao packed her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and still didn't glance at Cheng Zheng. She only said to Li Wei and Wang Qiang, "I'm ready, let's go."

Li Wei and Wang Qiang locked the documents, nodded to Cheng Zheng, and then followed Lin Shuyao out.

The three of them chatted and laughed, creating quite a lively atmosphere. Even from a distance, Lin Shuyao's silvery laughter could still be heard.

They even said something like, "Why are you so funny?" I don't know who they were talking to.

Cheng Zheng's face was cold and grim as he looked at the remaining colleague who was engrossed in writing: "Where did they go?"

The colleague looked up, adjusted his glasses, still engrossed in the data calculations, and said in confusion, "Huh? What? I don't know, sir..."

The moment he uttered the words "I don't know," Cheng Zheng turned and left.

The colleague gave a blank "eh" and then went back to calculating the data.

As Cheng Zheng left the office building, he could still see the backs of Lin Shuyao and the other two. Just seeing her standing in the middle, protected by Wang Qiang and Li Wei on either side, made his aura suddenly sink, and his eyes surge with dark emotions.

Without thinking, he followed.

He knew his behavior was irrational and impulsive, but he just couldn't control his feet.

That vague feeling of losing control challenged the restraint and abstinence he had cultivated over many years of military service.

Before he could sort out his thoughts and react.

The person was already standing at the entrance of the department store.

Looking up, I saw Lin Shuyao and Li Wei at the counter on the corner of the first floor.

These counters sell items for women, including hair creams, face creams, watches, and jewelry.

Lin Shuyao glanced around and asked Li Wei, "What's your budget for gifts?"

Knowing her budget allows her to choose the right gift.

Li Wei thought for a moment and said, "I'll deliver it with Wang Qiang. We can deliver something a little more expensive, under 2 yuan."

He originally wanted to say it would cost less than one yuan, but he didn't want to appear stingy in front of his goddess, so he directly raised the budget to two yuan.

What is the purchasing power of two dollars in this era? Normally, when giving money as a wedding gift, close friends would only give one dollar, so a gift budget of two dollars is already considered a generous gift.

Two yuan can buy 13 jin of rice, or 3 jin of pork, or 40 eggs.

However, the things women use are different from food. With a budget of two yuan, they can only choose osmanthus oil for women's hair, or snow cream produced in Shanghai, or a bow hairband.

Wang Xiaohong has short hair, so she probably won't need hairbands or osmanthus oil; the only thing she can use is face cream.

So Lin Shuyao recommended face cream to Li Wei. The face cream only cost 1.6 yuan, so the two of them split the cost, which was 0.8 yuan each.

Li Wei and Wang Qiang also felt that giving face cream was the most practical gift, as it seemed that every female comrade had a box of face cream.

"This one is fine, I'll go pay," Li Wei said readily to the sales clerk.

The sales clerk was writing out a ticket with her head down. Li Wei and Wang Qiang were waiting at the counter. Lin Shuyao thought that since she was already there, she might as well take a look around. Her eyes were drawn to the jewelry counter next door.

As expected of the capital, this place boasts the most complete and fashionable selection of goods in the country. You can find products from all over the country, including foreign goods.

The jewelry display case was lined with dark green velvet, and the jewelry inside was mainly made of gold, silver and jade, as well as some other materials, and the styles were also very diverse. However, Lin Shuyao's eyes were drawn to a pair of pearl earrings.

These earrings are very simple, consisting of two soft, off-white pearls, simple and elegant.

"Hello comrade, may I take a look at this one?" Lin Shuyao pointed.

The sales clerk noticed that she was dressed quite appropriately and didn't seem like someone who couldn't afford it. She took a small key out of her bag, bent down to open the counter, and took out the pair of earrings, placing them on the counter: "These pearls are from Nanyang. They're perfectly round, with a soft, non-glaring luster, suitable for young women like you. You can try them on. Here's a mirror."

The sales clerk took out a round plastic mirror from behind and placed it on the counter for Lin Shuyao to see her reflection.

Lin Shuyao looked in the small round mirror and tilted her head to put on earrings on both sides.

The person in the mirror had black hair and snow-white skin, with lustrous pearls quietly adorning their earlobes, like a drop of soft light condensed on jade.

The gentle light brightened her entire face, making her profile appear even more graceful and her neck longer.

She turned her face slightly, and the pearls shimmered with a subtle iridescence, reflecting her delicate features and exuding a refined and noble charm that made her even more breathtakingly beautiful.

The sales clerk was stunned. After a few seconds, she finally spoke: "Sir, this really suits you. It's like it was meant to grow on your ears... Oh, I'm not good at expressing myself, but it just suits you perfectly. It looks especially good on you. If you don't believe me, have your boyfriend show it to you."

The sales clerk assumed Li Wei was her boyfriend, but Lin Shuyao was so engrossed in admiring herself in the mirror that she didn't notice the clerk's address. "How much are these earrings?"

"26 pieces."

Upon hearing the price, Lin Shuyao sobered up.

It's quite expensive.

If she didn't care about the future and didn't need to save money for running away, she could buy it without hesitation. Unfortunately, she is currently in a crisis and has no one to rely on in this era, so she has to make plans for herself.

"It's a bit expensive, let me look around some more." She reluctantly took off the earrings and returned them to the sales clerk.

The sales clerk gestured towards Li Wei with her chin, "Why don't you ask your boyfriend to buy it for you?"

Li Wei also stated, "Comrade Shen, if you like it..."

He was willing to buy it for her.

"No need, Comrade Li. If I like it, I'll buy it myself." Lin Shuyao refused, then turned to the sales clerk and explained, "He's not my boyfriend; we're just colleagues at work."

She doesn't refuse to spend men's money; she refuses to spend money from men other than her boyfriend.

Because she spent the other person's money, she expected a return, either emotional or physical, but she was unwilling to do either.

But when she spends her partner's money, she feels no burden.

Men's money should be spent on women.

Unbeknownst to her, her casual remark had caused the expression on the face of a figure standing outside the department store, who had been staring in her direction, to change from gloomy to cheerful.

Then, as if letting out a sigh of relief, he slowly turned around and left.

Cheng Zheng went home.

After his mother discovered Shen Qing's true identity last time, she was furious and didn't know how to face her. So he's been coming home quite late lately, and his mother is already asleep when he gets home.

However, when they met in the morning, the atmosphere was usually rather quiet. Since he was usually not very talkative at home, his younger sister, Gao Tingting, didn't notice anything unusual.

This morning when she left home, Gao Jie specifically told him to come home early after get off work tonight.

So after leaving the department store today, he went back.

As soon as I got home, I heard laughter and cheerful voices coming from the living room.

Gao Jie and Zhang Mei were chatting with a young woman. When they saw him come in, Gao Jie stood up first and greeted him, "Ah Zheng is back? Perfect timing, I didn't cook tonight, let's go out to eat together."

Cheng Zheng glanced upstairs: "Isn't Gao Tingting going?"

Gao Jie said, "She just took her medicine and fell asleep, so let's not disturb her and let her sleep for a while."

"Let's go, Zheng," Zhang Mei said, linking arms with the young woman.

Having just reconciled with his biological mother, Cheng Zheng didn't say anything and followed the three of them out the door.

After sitting down at a nearby restaurant, Zhang Mei pointed to the girl next to her and introduced her: "Azheng, this is Zhou Liya, the daughter of my colleague. She was just assigned to No. 103 Middle School this year to teach chemistry."

Cheng Zheng nodded politely, as if to say hello.

Gao Jie tried to smooth things over: "That's just how my son is, he doesn't talk much, please don't mind him."

Zhou Liya smiled and said, "How could that be, Auntie? I talk a lot in class, but I don't really want to talk in private. I quite enjoy the quiet atmosphere."

Zhang Mei had already ordered the food.

Before long, the dishes were placed on the table one by one.

Zhang Mei nudged Gao Jie with her elbow, and Gao Jie immediately understood, standing up and saying, "Azheng, Mom is going out with your aunt to buy some things. We'll be visiting a patient at the hospital later. You and Liya eat first."

Zhang Mei added, "Ah Zheng, I'll trouble you to take Liya home later."

Before Cheng Zheng could respond, Gao Jie and Zhang Mei hurriedly left.

Only Cheng Zheng and Zhou Liya remained.

Zhou Liya smiled shyly at Cheng Zheng: "Comrade Cheng, let's eat then."

Cheng Zheng already knew by now that today's dinner was a blind date.

It's the kind of thing his mother would do.

Now that the food is on the table, out of basic courtesy, he can't just walk away.

However, it's impossible to expect him to have a pleasant conversation with female comrades.

He gave a flat "hmm," picked up his chopsticks, and said nothing more, focusing only on eating the dishes in front of him.

His well-fitting military uniform accentuated his upright posture, his face was handsome and stern, with thick black eyebrows, deep eyes, a high nose bridge, a superior jawline, and a long, powerful neck. His prominent Adam's apple bobbed gently as he swallowed, giving him a very charismatic look.

She just has a cold aura; she looks aloof and distant, making her difficult to approach.

Moreover, when he slightly raises his chin and his dark eyes sweep over you coldly, he exudes an innate arrogance that makes people afraid to talk to him casually.

During a break from eating, Zhou Liya secretly glanced at him. After just one look, her cheeks flushed uncontrollably, and her heart started beating faster.

When Cheng Zheng noticed her gaze and slightly lifted his eyelids to sweep his eyes in her direction, she quickly lowered her head, staring at the rice in her bowl. Her hand gripping the chopsticks tightened slightly, and she felt both nervous and unable to help but have some shy daydreams.

Cheng Zheng finished his meal and put down his chopsticks. Zhou Liya followed suit. In fact, she hadn't eaten much, but she was afraid he would think she could eat a lot, so she stopped eating.

Cheng Zheng glanced at her indifferently, and Zhou Liya quickly explained, "I... I've finished eating, I wasn't that hungry anyway."

Cheng Zheng got up to pay the bill.

After paying the bill and returning, he asked Zhou Liya, "Where do you live?"

Zhou Liya gave an address.

"Let's go." Cheng Zheng walked straight out, Zhou Liya following behind him, trying to strike up a conversation: "Comrade Cheng, is your factory usually busy?"

Without turning his head, he said, "Busy."

"I heard that your residential compound's auditorium is showing a movie on Friday nights. Can I go?"

"Can."

Are you going?

"No, I don't have time."

That's how the conversation died.

Just then, an old man came over carrying a candied hawthorn stick.

"Candied hawthorn skewers, sweet and sour candied hawthorn skewers! Girl, buy a skewer of candied hawthorn skewers."

Zhou Liya shook her head, muttering, "I don't like this stuff, it's so sour it makes my teeth ache."

Cheng Zheng stared blankly at the bright red hawthorns. When the old man selling candied hawthorns was about to leave, he called out to him, "I'd like a skewer."

After he paid, the old man took out a string of coins and handed it to him.

"Actually, eating one skewer occasionally isn't that sour," Zhou Liya added with a smile, assuming Cheng Zheng had bought it for her.

Cheng Zheng held up the candied hawthorn, took a bite, swallowed it, and said, "It's quite sour."

Zhou Liya's expression froze, and she said awkwardly, "Right, right, I just don't like eating this stuff."

Cheng Zheng smiled enigmatically: "I like sour things."

His actions caused the atmosphere to freeze again.

Zhou Liya didn't know what to say.

Cheng Zheng finished the entire string of candied hawthorns and threw away the wooden skewers.

Passing by the department store, Zhou Liya suggested going inside. Perhaps afraid he would refuse, she went inside as soon as she finished speaking. Cheng Zheng thought of something and followed her in.