Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Coming here today hadn’t been in the plan but now it seems like I don’t have to change my original plan,” Ma Zhida joyfully said.
“I’m only buying you Egg Fried Rice, nothing else, alright?” the young man replied with a smile.
“Yeah, yeah. I won’t be too picky. Don’t worry,” Ma Zhida answered and nodded with a solemn expression to reassure the young man.
“I can’t do anything about you, can I?” The young man shook his head, finding this affair funny.
Just like that, the two chatted while waiting in line. It was quite odd as the two hadn’t even exchanged their names yet they were already chatting like old friends.
“After not seeing you for so long, I thought you won’t come anymore,” Ma Zhida lamented when they were seated.
“What would you like to order?” Zhou Jia asked before the young man could reply.
“Two Egg Fried Rice,” the young man turned his head to face Zhou Jia and said.
The young man really only ordered Egg Fried Rice and nothing else.
“Ok. Please pay first.” Zhou Jia gave the usual reply.
“I know.” The young man nodded and took out his phone to transfer the corresponding amount of money over to the restaurant.
“Done. We received it. Please wait a moment.” Zhou Jia glanced at the phone and nodded with a smile.
“Ok.” Done with that, the young man turned around again to look at Ma Zhida.
“Truth be told, I have really forgotten about this,” the young man seriously said.
“Looks like I’m quite lucky then, for you to eventually recall this,” Ma Zhida answered with a laugh.
“Not really. I am also a lucky one as just like you, I had also borrowed some money to someone else.” The young man maintained a serious expression on his face.
“Oh?” This got Ma Zhida confused.
At first, Ma Zhida thought that this young man was only kidding when he said that he had forgotten. It would seem like that was not the case.
“I went outstation to Yunnan for about a month,” the young man first took a sip off the water offered as part of the set meal before he spoke.
“Is this the start of a story? Technician, aim the camera over here, please,” Ma Zhida joked.
“Don’t tease me. It’s only a short story.” The young man nodded and continued speaking.
“In fact, it’s nothing major. I went outstation and one day I had a Crossing Bridge Noodles in a restaurant. That restaurant was packed full of people. The queue alone took a long time,” while speaking, the young man did not stop moving as he took the wrapping off the appetizing candy and ate it.
“I think those are the specialty noodles of Yunnan.” Ma Zhida nodded approvingly.
“The people there do things differently than us when eating rice noodles. There, the customers will line up at the counter to place an order get a receipt before paying at a different counter,” the young man gave a short description of that restaurant.
“Oh, that’s quite similar to that hand-pulled noodles shop at Lanzhou.” Ma Zhida was quite a good listener. Not only would he seriously listen, he would also give serious replies as well.
“Yeah. They’re indeed quite similar.” The young man nodded.
“While in the line with my colleague, a girl with short-curly hair was in front of me. She has an IKEA-like look,” the young man started describing the look of that girl.
“You gave her quite a thorough observation, huh? What the hell is IKEA-like look anyway?” Ma Zhida asked with a cheeky smile on his face.
“A person that has an ordinary appearance but gives off a comfortable and obedient feeling,” the young man shrugged and selectively answer only a part of Ma Zhida’s question.
“Tsk tsk, you even found out about her character,” Ma Zhida teased with a hidden meaning in his words.
“I overheard her ordering the Topscore Rice Noodles. It was quite expensive, priced at 58 RMB per set. Then, my colleague and I ordered the same thing as well,” the young man maintained his nonchalant expression, yet still seriously continued his story.
“Ok. So next, you asked for her number?” Ma Zhida asked, as if it was completely natural for this to come next.
“Not really. The same thing happened to her. When she was paying, she found that she forgot to bring her money. Since I was behind her in the line, I borrowed her some money,” the young man said.
This time, Ma Zhida did not interrupt. He merely listened on seriously.
“After paying for the meal, she felt rather embarrassed and decided to sit at the same table with us. While eating, we talked,” the young man continued his story.
“She asked me why would I borrow my money to a stranger. That was when I remembered you. So I started telling her about you,” the young man said while looking at Ma Zhida.
During that incident, with her face blushing, the girl asked shyly, “Why had you borrowed me your money? You don’t even know me.”
“Because the last time I forgot my money, it was also a stranger that had borrowed me money,” the young man gently answered after swallowing the rice noodles in his mouth.
“Have you figured out who that person is?” the girl asked instinctively.
“Nope. I didn’t ask for his name, so I don’t even know his name,” the young man answered while shaking his head. Even his colleague beside him was curiously looking at him.
After all, his colleague thought the same as Ma Zhida. He believed that the young man must have been trying to take this opportunity to pick up girls.
The girl had a curious look on her face. However, she reigned her in curiosity and did not ask anything. Therefore, the young man continued speaking.
“But I do know where that was. That was Yuan Zhou’s restaurant, a restaurant with an extremely narcissistic boss,” the young man couldn’t resist and made this remark when he recalled the gorgeous Han attire Yuan Zhou wore.
After saying that, the young man stopped speaking.
“Hey, hold on. Why is Boss Yuan narcissistic?” Ma Zhida couldn’t help himself and asked.
“Of course he is. Look at how unconventionally he always dresses himself. The whole time, he thinks he’s the most handsome man in the universe,” the young man earnestly explained.
“You seems to be on to something here,” Ma Zhida nodded approvingly as he looked at the neat and delicate lotus marks on Yuan Zhou’s attire.
“Wait a second, why are you focusing on that?” the young man asked.
“What should I be focusing on?” Ma Zhida asked in confusion.
“The focus is I only remembered you after meeting the girl that had also forgotten her money,” the young man reminded.
“True, I do need to thank that girl,” Ma Zhida said seriously.
“Nah, I’m only joking. I have always remembered the money I owed you. I just never got the chance to pay you back,” the young man grinned widely and said after looking at Ma Zhida’s serious expression.
“Fine. But I have to make one thing clear. I borrowed money to you because I am a kind person. The same cannot be said for you,” Ma Zhida made his counter-attack.
“You think too much. I don’t even have her number. I only told her to pay me back if we have the chance to meet again in the future,” the young man immediately explained as he knew that Ma Zhida was trying to say that he had a hidden motive in helping the girl.
“We’ll never know if that’s true,” Ma Zhida replied with a cheeky smile, clearly not buying the young man’s explanation.
Just like that, the two joked with each other while eating the fried rice that had just arrived. The whole scene looked incredibly harmonious, even though the two did not even know each other’s name.
Borrowing money to a stranger was a tiny incident for Ma Zhida, something he would not put in mind. As for the young man, due to him once experiencing the kindness of others, he did the same when he encountered someone in the same situation.
The scene was so harmonious even Yuan Zhou, who had initially wanted to make a rebuttal after they called him narcissistic, smiled unknowingly.
‘Sure enough, all sorts of people exist,’ Yuan Zhou muttered inwardly. As for the “most handsome man in the universe” part of their conversation, he directly neglected it.
