Chapter 15: Little Curly Hair Comes to the Rescue.
He Man walked ahead, while Liang Yizhi quietly slowed her pace and explained to Jiang Huai.
Upon entering the hot pot restaurant, Lulu was already waiting at her seat. Only when she got closer could Liang Yizhi see her face clearly; Lulu was indeed very cute, with sweet dimples when she smiled.
To her surprise, Lulu's friend was a boy.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," He Man politely asked first, "Is this your boyfriend...?"
“No, no,” Lulu stood up and introduced him to them, “This is my brother, Zhang Qi.”
Zhang Qi stood up and smiled at them, saying, "Hello."
Oh, it's my older brother.
When the other person stood up, Liang Yizhi was surprised to realize that Zhang Qi was extremely large, probably close to 1.9 meters tall, with a strong physique, and one of his arms seemed capable of lifting all three of them.
In stark contrast to the petite and delicate Lulu.
After everyone was seated, Lulu spoke first: "Actually, my brother was in the car the day the car was rear-ended, but it was quite dark and we were all in a panic, so you probably didn't notice him."
"Ah—" He Man looked like she suddenly realized, "I know, that tall guy next to me that day was him, right?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Huai leaned closer to Liang Yizhi, keeping his mouth still open, and whispered to her in ventriloquism, "I bet five cents she absolutely doesn't remember this person—"
Liang Yizhi gave a perfunctory smile.
The dishes were all served, the pot was heated, and wisps of white steam rose. Everyone held their chopsticks, chatting animatedly. Being young, they naturally had many things in common and the conversation was quite lively.
He Man felt even more strongly that bringing Jiang Huai instead of Gu Yinyan to dinner today was absolutely the right choice.
If Gu Yinyan were brought along, he would sit there silently like the Buddha, and the meal would probably turn into a business meeting.
Jiang Huai was enthusiastic and talkative, and the atmosphere was quickly heated up.
Jiang Huai probably wanted to help He Man, so he threw out a suggestion: "Lulu, how about we all go out and have fun together next weekend? What do you guys usually like to do?"
Lulu said, "I usually like rock climbing and playing murder mystery games."
“Rock climbing.” Jiang Huai’s ears twitched. “He Man also likes sports, but she prefers skiing.”
"Really?" Lulu's eyes lit up, and she exchanged a glance with the man beside her. "What a coincidence, my brother also loves skiing, but I'm not very good at it."
Liang Yizhi smiled and chimed in, "Manman is really good at skiing. If you're interested, you can go together next time."
Zhang Qi seemed intrigued by the topic and asked He Man, "Do you snowboard or ski?"
He Man: "I like to ride skis."
"I see. I usually snowboard." Zhang Qi crossed his arms on the edge of the table, his muscles bulging and bulging beneath the fabric.
He gazed intently at He Man: "If we have the chance to go together next time, I can teach you."
“Then there’s no need.” He Man’s cheek twitched, and she rejected him almost instantly. “It’s not that I can’t, I just like playing on skis, so I don’t need to.”
Zhang Qi said, "It's okay. Besides skiing, I'm willing to accompany you on any other sport as long as it's not too niche."
“My brother is a fitness coach,” Lulu added. “So he has a wide range of knowledge in sports, and he’s good at most sports.”
Jiang Huai chimed in, "Wow, that's amazing! I'll have to ask you to be my personal trainer next time. I've been wanting to work out for a while now. A muscular physique is so cool!"
"Sure." Zhang Qi smiled and leaned back smugly, resting his left hand on Lulu's chair back. "Men do need to be strong to protect their women."
Liang Yizhi frowned slightly.
Out of politeness, she did not express her true thoughts.
But He Man couldn't help herself. She scoffed, "Come on, stop with the stereotypes. We girls can protect ourselves too. We're not as fragile as you think."
After listening, Zhang Qi suddenly smiled and said, "Miss He, you don't need to show off. Men are all gentlemanly and won't think you're weak just because of your appearance or physique. On the contrary, I think Miss He is just right."
He Man: "...What did you say? What do you mean just right?"
Zhang Qi: "Miss He, you must exercise regularly, I could tell at a glance. Your figure is very well-proportioned and beautiful."
He even tilted his head slightly to examine He Man's figure, which was hidden by the table: "You have everything you need, so many girls would love to have you. If you work out too much, you won't be cute."
"Cute?"
He Man gripped the glass tightly, so angry she was speechless. It was the first time someone had ever described her as cute.
Liang Yizhi was also disgusted by these words.
Arbitrarily judging other people's bodies and even imagining that girls compete with each other because of their bodies, where did this weirdo come from?
Liang Yizhi looked down and saw He Manqiang suppressing the urge to smash the glass on the other person's head. He reached out and placed his hand on her leg, squeezing it repeatedly.
She patted her and whispered to He Man when no one was looking, "I can't eat anymore, let's go early."
He Man nodded.
The atmosphere became tense for a moment because of Zhang Qi's remarks.
Lulu suddenly said she needed to use the restroom, and then asked Zhang Qi to get her coat from the car because she felt a little cold.
The two left one after the other.
Finally getting a chance to breathe, He Man sighed and facepalmed, "Letting her bring a friend today was the worst decision I ever made. Why did she bring such a greasy guy? I'm disgusted."
Jiang Huai mimicked Zhang Qi's tone, his voice deepening, "Want to learn snowboarding, Manman? I'll teach you!"
He Man grabbed a used napkin from the table and threw it at Jiang Huai across Liang Yizhi: "Single snowboard? I bet you're about to get one-on-one killed by me! Die!"
Jiang Huai blocked them one by one, and Liang Yizhi in the middle was overwhelmed by the disturbance.
The hot pot was too spicy, and Liang Yizhi suddenly felt an upset stomach. She put down her chopsticks, raised her hands, and said, "You two can keep playing for a while, I need to go to the toilet."
Liang Yizhi clutched her stomach as she left the room and went to the women's restroom.
As she passed through the corridor near the restroom, she heard people whispering in the fire escape next to her.
Liang Yizhi paused in her steps.
The voice sounded familiar, and seeing that there was no one around, she quietly pressed her ear against the door.
"Dude, can you think before you speak? How can anyone be interested in you looking like that?"
"What did I say wrong?" the man asked dismissively. "Didn't you tell me to be more direct? I said I'd take her to exercise together and complimented her on her figure."
"You have to consider the occasion when you compliment someone!" the girl said angrily. "If you're having a nice meal and suddenly compliment someone's figure, of course they'll think you're being weird!"
"Otherwise, what do you want me to say?"
"So all that talking to her on my behalf was a waste of time, wasn't it? You need to make use of the information I gave you and find common ground. Don't just judge a book by its cover; are you afraid people won't know you're all brawn and no brains?"
In just a few words, Liang Yizhi had already figured out that the people inside were Lulu and Zhang Qi.
Judging from what they said, Lulu brought him here today to introduce Zhang Qi to He Man?
Upon further reflection, it seems that it wasn't Lulu who was interested in He Man during this meeting, but rather Zhang Qi. Lulu approached He Man and chatted with her simply to extract more information about her so she could act as a go-between for her brother.
As Liang Yizhi was shocked, the voices of the two people inside the door rang out again.
Lulu: "Is it going to work or not? Or are you just trying it out?"
“Of course not.” Zhang Qi sounded very annoyed. “I really want to win her over.”
"Then you go ahead. If it really doesn't work, I'll organize another gathering later, and we'll go to karaoke afterwards. We'll always be able to create an opportunity..."
At this point, Liang Yizhi couldn't listen anymore; her nerves were too tense, and the spasms in her stomach intensified.
She was pale, bent over, and leaned against the door frame to catch her breath.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed in the corridor.
One or two sounds, someone is coming in this direction.
Liang Yizhi turned around and saw a boy with regular bone structure.
He had his hair permed into curls, and his facial features were very delicate, with the curled ends of his hair having a calculated curve.
The passageway was spacious, and now only she and the curly-haired man remained. They were met with scrutinizing gazes from the opposite side, and Liang Yizhi had no choice but to endure it.
She suppressed the strange feeling in her abdomen, stood up straight, looked around, and pretended to be waiting for someone.
The gaze from the other side was so tangible, it fixed perfectly on her face.
As he approached, Liang Yizhi's eyes inadvertently met his.
Those were beautiful, narrow, and extremely aggressive eyes.
Upon closer inspection of his face, Liang Yizhi noticed that his lips were very red, full of vitality.
The man's lips slowly curved into a gentle smile, and he nodded slightly, as if greeting her.
It must be my imagination. Why would he greet her?
Liang Yizhi responded with a perfunctory smile, which was extremely awkward.
After passing by, the man turned and went into the restroom.
Liang Yizhi once again peered through the crack in the door, hoping to glean some more information, but unfortunately, the two inside had already finished their discussion and were preparing to come out.
In a moment of panic, Liang Yizhi also entered the women's restroom.
She hid in the cubicle and waited for a while, but there was no further movement.
As the abdominal pain subsided, Liang Yizhi sorted out what she had just heard and felt a surge of anger.
Although the actions of these two people were reasonable and did not violate any public order or good morals, Liang Yizhi felt that this was another kind of deception.
Moreover, judging from the words they used, He Man was merely treated as a target, prey; they showed her no respect whatsoever.
Liang Yizhi stayed in the restroom for a minute or two before deciding to hurry back and tell He Man about it.
As soon as she opened the door and stepped out, she heard He Man's voice from outside.
"Let's talk things out calmly, don't get physical."
"Don't be afraid of me..."
"I'm really not afraid of you. But let go first, or I'll hit you—"
He Man saw that Liang Yizhi had been in the toilet for a long time and hadn't returned, so she wanted to go find her. On the way, she ran into Zhang Qi.
Zhang Qi kept blocking her way, talking to her about this and that. He Man didn't want to pay attention and was about to leave when Zhang Qi suddenly grabbed her hand and said he wanted to talk to her.
He Man's attitude was terrible, and Zhang Qi couldn't stand being treated like that. His temper flared, and he gripped He Man even tighter.
"What kind of attitude is this? I just wanted to have a proper talk with you, is it really necessary to react like this?"
"You want to speak with your hands?" He Man glared at him, her eyes filled with disgust.
Thinking back to the disgusting things he had said at the dinner table, her face completely turned sour. "Get away from me!"
When Liang Yizhi came out, she saw this scene and quickly stepped forward: "What happened? Don't do anything."
"We don't have to resort to violence, but first, make sure your friend shows some respect," Zhang Qi yelled at Liang Yizhi.
He was so strong that even the two of them combined couldn't match him. He Man's wrist was slender, and when he gripped it so tightly, the entire circle turned red.
Zhang Qi: "Miss He, you must have realized that I'm interested in you, so I just wanted to have a few words with you alone. But what kind of look is that?"
He Man retorted, "You? You're interested in me?"
Zhang Qi: "Of course, otherwise why would my sister talk to you for so long? I really didn't have any bad intentions. We first met after that rear-end collision, and I thought you were very beautiful. I really like you, and my sister likes you too. You—"
He Man's anger surged to the top of her head, then she suddenly realized something: "Ah—so it's you who likes me."
She sneered twice: "Fine, then I'll tell you now, I don't like either of you. In fact, I find you extremely annoying and disgusting! I think we don't need to eat anymore. Let's just part ways amicably!"
He Man used all her strength and finally broke free.
Zhang Qi was immediately enraged by her words. He thought to himself, "This girl is stubborn and won't listen to reason. I have to teach her a lesson."
"Disgusting, huh? Come on!" Zhang Qi raised his hand and poked He Man's thin shoulder. The force was so strong that He Man staggered two steps. "How about it? Still disgusted? Perform again?"
He was spitting as he spoke, and raised his hand as if to poke He Man's shoulder again.
Liang Yizhi instinctively stepped in front of He Man, but Zhang Qi pushed her, causing her to crash into the cold, hard tile wall. Her bones ached through her skin.
"Yizhi—"
"You two are just asking for it!" Zhang Qi couldn't stand the two women in front of him, who were so self-righteous and pretentious.
Zhang Qi stretched out his arm, trying to pull He Man back. However, as soon as he raised his hand, he was restrained by a force.
The hand that was about to fall was blocked.
Liang Yizhi looked up.
It turned out to be the curly-haired guy who had just gone into the bathroom.
Surprisingly, despite his slender frame, his forearm, with its sleeves rolled up, was surprisingly powerful, with taut muscles and bulging veins.
He held Zhang Qi's hand, preventing the latter from moving.
Curly looked politely at Liang Yizhi and asked, "Miss, do you need any help?"
His eyelashes drooped, making the corners of his eyes appear hooked and even more upturned. The glance he gave Liang Yizhi was exceptionally light, yet its purpose was clear.
Seeing someone causing trouble, Zhang Qi cursed, "Idiot! Get lost!"
He raised his hand, trying to break free of the restraints. However, as soon as he moved, Curly-haired Zhang Qi also exerted force, and Zhang Qi cried out in pain.
Curly seemed not to hear, staring intently at the flustered Liang Yizhi, his dark eyes revealing only that one clear point.
He raised an eyebrow, as if waiting for her instructions:
"I'll listen to you."
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