There was an evident shock in those intimidating eyes of Ye Wangchuan when he saw the girl turn around. He stepped on his lit cigarette and strode over.
He rose a brow and grabbed her left wrist. “What are you doing here?”
Qiao Nian felt a wave of oppression as his shadow loomed over her. Moreover, he was holding onto her. She felt her head throb again, and she did all she could to not shake him off. Instead, she said casually, “I heard there’s a good milk tea shop around here. I came to get it.”
“Get milk tea?”
“Mm.”
Ye Wangchuan furrowed his brows. He had no idea if there was a milk tea shop on this street, but he knew of a few bars.
He had been smoking around the corner when he overheard some men talking about “nice legs” and decided to follow their gaze.
He then ended up finding her standing by the roadside, completely unaware!
Ye Wangchuan exerted some force on his temple to ease his frustration, then asked in a low voice, “So, have you gotten it?”
Qiao Nian showed her free hands and answered very easily, “I did. It tasted ordinary. I only had half of it and threw the remaining into the bin.”
“…”
Ye Wangchuan had never interacted with people of her age. But he thought about how he used to be at 18 and felt that he wasn’t like her, who seemed to exude wildness even in her eyes.
Almost like an untamable wolf!
Her eyes were full of madness and free will.
“Shouldn’t you be in school at this time?”
Qiao Nian was so calm, she didn’t look like someone who’d been caught playing truant. She gave him some nonsensical reason in a surprisingly serious manner. “It’s the first day of school, so we didn’t have any lessons. It ended early and I came to get some milk tea.”
He considered her words thoughtfully and then released her hand. His stiff expression softened as well. “Have you eaten? Let’s go, Brother will give you a treat.”
Qiao Nian eyed him in shock. “You’re really going to treat me?”
Ye Wangchuan found her reaction amusing. He got closer to her ear and said almost flirtatiously, “Why not? Well, you can treat me too. I wouldn’t mind that.
“Come on, it’s on me. You can have anything you like.”
Qiao Nian seemed to scrutinize him with her dark eyes. “Anything at all?”
Ye Wangchuan wasn’t really expecting her to treat him, anyway. As he looked at her long and lush lashes which curled up slightly, he couldn’t even help but smile a little. He found it pretty adorable. “Yes, anything at all. Just let me know what you feel like eating.”
The wildness in Qiao Nian’s eyes seemed to have been set free as she smiled. “Alright, you said so!”
…
Twenty minutes later, Master Wang was standing before a small stall by the roadside. There wasn’t even a shelter for that stall. He simply couldn’t take a step.
“We’re here.”
Qiao Nian seemed to feel at home around here as she greeted the boss.
“Aunt Chen, how’s business today?”
There was just a single trishaw by the road, with a few planks of wood on it. A clean and simple tablecloth was draped over the planks, and about 20 plastic baskets were laid out neatly on the makeshift table. Vegetable and meat skewers were placed into the baskets.
There was a pot of soup right on the inside of the trishaw, now hot with steam. A woman in her early 40s was busying herself with it.
The woman was evidently happy to see Qiao Nian and smiled despite how busy she was. She greeted in return, “Nian Nian, you’re here.”
“Mm, school ended early today, so I came to have a look.” Qiao Nian seemed to be rather close to her. There was a sort of comfort and familiarity in the way she spoke.
Ye Wangchuan had never seen her at ease like now. His frown eased as well.
This was his first time at a roadside stall. While he wasn’t very particular about where to dine at, this place that Qiao Nian took him to was out of his expectations.
They were at the corner around a cross junction, and the pavement was especially wide. 30 tables were set up around the trishaw, and the seats were all snapped up even before it was seven in the evening.
Most of the customers here were young people, and some of them were in school uniforms, likely from the schools nearby.
