Chapter 149 IF Time Travel (The Dog Chasing His Wife) 4: Before Shen Wanqing time-traveled, she wasn't actually that opposed to blind dates; she had her own methods...
Before she transmigrated, Shen Wanqing wasn't actually that opposed to blind dates. She had her own methods for refusing a date without offending the matchmaker.
Besides, they are all colleagues in the same unit. Although Zhou Hong has had no real power in the trade union for decades, she can still talk to all the leaders.
Aside from her dignity as a model matchmaker in the union, why was she so enthusiastic about whether Shen Wanqing had a boyfriend? Of course, it was because Shen Wanqing was useful to her, and she also wanted to be useful to Shen Wanqing.
Zhou Hong got married early but had children late. She gave birth to a daughter, and her family doted on her. From a young age, she was naughty and refused to study, but her family couldn't bear to say a harsh word to her.
It wasn't until I got into a junior college and couldn't get into any of the better majors that I started to panic. In the end, I had no choice but to study architecture. After graduating from junior college, I used connections to get an internship at a subcontracting unit under the group.
After Shen Wanqing overheard this story, she helped find a reliable mentor for the young girl. While it's possible to succeed in this line of work through sheer hard work and perseverance, the hardships and injustices are immense. Having a mentor to guide you and lead you in is a completely different story.
The young woman is doing quite well now. I heard that after completing her bachelor's degree through self-study, she plans to take the postgraduate entrance exam, probably intending to transfer to the group in a few years. Who knows, she might need Shen Wanqing's help then?
Shen Wanqing was able to connect with the big boss's sister-in-law two years ago because Zhou Hong organized a party during the Spring Festival and invited her to attend. That's how she got to know several leaders' wives whom she would normally never have spoken to.
Shen Wanqing hadn't cared much about these things before, after all, she was a capable person. It didn't matter if she was a little lacking in these social skills, as long as she could handle the project.
But now we're already considering going to Southeast Asia, right? Traveling is always difficult, and once we get there, we might have to ask someone for help at any time.
So even though Yu Lang's face was already ashen, Shen Wanqing still nodded in agreement and agreed to meet the promising young man she was introduced to after get off work tomorrow.
Practice makes perfect. The person who had been waiting for Shen Wanqing on the curb the other day was now daring to camp in the parking lot and block her car. As soon as Shen Wanqing opened the car door, she saw a figure dart into the passenger seat, acting all sneaky and self-righteous.
"What, you're not going to play dumb with me anymore?"
"Stop pretending! If you keep pretending, your wife will be stolen away. Do you look like a live turtle?"
"Well..." That's hard to say.
Before Shen Wanqing could finish her sentence, the intern could no longer laugh after hearing just one word, "that," which was uttered with great ambiguity.
The two remained silent the entire way until the car reached Shen Wanqing's apartment building. Shen Wanqing turned to look at the still sulking person and said, "Don't hold a grudge against me. If you have something to say, just say it. If you have nothing to say, you can go back."
"You don't like what I'm saying." Yu Lang was really angry. She was a grown man right here, and her sister was going to go on a blind date with someone else!
"You tell me first. How do you know I'll be angry if you haven't said anything yet?"
"Are you trying to fool me, you little idiot? You want me to speak first? If you get angry after I've finished, and then kick me out this late at night, I'll be the one in the wrong. Grandma, do I look that stupid?"
Yu Lang was almost amused by Shen Wanqing's antics. He wasn't exactly a generous person. It would be strange if he just watched the person he liked go on a blind date without any reaction!
Yu Lang's words were full of resentment, but Shen Wanqing couldn't help but chuckle. To be honest, Yu Lang's anger at her going on a blind date was quite amusing.
"Lord Yu says he won't say anything, but he's already said everything. We're having boiled live fish for dinner tonight, are you coming or not?"
"Walk."
Angry as he was, he couldn't skip his meal. Having already lazed around all the way, how could he possibly go back to his rented room by himself at this hour? Yu Lang got out of the car, grabbed Shen Wanqing's bag, and followed her upstairs like a little tail.
The fish was prepared and served directly from the small restaurant downstairs, a hidden gem owned by Shen Wanqing. She'd eaten there so often over the years that they even had a hot pot stove, alcohol, and all sorts of other tableware.
All you have to do is wait for the owner's eldest daughter to bring up the fish in a basin, then set up the alcohol stove and you can enjoy hot pot right there.
The fish was a large male fish that was just delivered from the reservoir this afternoon. The head and tail were pan-fried until they developed a tiger-skin pattern, then boiled. The fish meat was sliced and the fish bones were used to make soup. The soup was simmered until it turned white, then green peppers, perilla leaves, scallions, and ginger were added, and hot oil was poured over it. There's no better taste than that.
Once the fish soup boiled again, Shen Wanqing first served Yulang a bowl of fish soup, then scooped out the meat from the belly that he liked. After a mouthful of hot soup, most of the discomfort in his heart was finally suppressed.
The two focused on their meal and neither brought up the matter again. The milky white fish soup looked rich and thick, but it got spicier and spicier as it cooked. When they added vegetables to the pot towards the end, Yulang couldn't stand the spiciness anymore and got up to find a drink in the refrigerator.
"We have beer, would you like some?"
"No, I don't like the taste."
Yu Lang took out two cans of Coke, opened one and handed it to Shen Wanqing, then gulped down the whole can himself to suppress the spiciness.
"Why are the chilies so spicy now? They're not the same as they were back then."
"That's right. These days, everything has been iterated and improved. Watermelons are so sweet and delicious now. You have no idea how much I wanted to say when you said this year's watermelons were especially good."
Yu Lang is the kind of person who loves spicy food but is also not good at it. He was so spicy that his eyes and nose were running, but now he sat down again and put the beef rolls that Shen Wanqing took out into the pot.
"There's something I want to ask you. I was holding back from saying it, but after thinking about it, I still want to ask."
"Speak up. If you still have questions you can't ask me, who else would you like to ask?"
Shen Wanqing was also spicy, but the spicier it was, the less she dared to stop. If she stopped, it would be even spicier, so Shen Wanqing, who was already suffering from the spiciness, missed the struggle and slight anxiety in Yu Lang's eyes.
"Was my coming into this world a good thing or a bad thing for you?"
Yu Lang had been pondering this question ever since their reunion. Shen Wanqing had spent a long enough lifetime with him in his other world. Now that she was finally back, did she really want to see him again?
Why would you think that way?
Shen Wanqing was taken aback by the question. She put down her chopsticks, lowered her head, and stared at the fish, meat, and vegetables in her bowl, refusing to look up at Yu Lang. The question was too sharp, so sharp that it instantly shattered the peace that the two of them had been trying so hard to maintain.
"Because you're avoiding me."
"I wasn't avoiding you, I just..."
"Don't repeat what you said last time. I know better than you whether I love you or how long I can love you. Jiyun, there will never be anyone in this world who can make me give my heart again. A person's heart is limited. Once I've given it to you, I can't give it to anyone else."
This was something Yu Lang had already decided in his heart. Originally, he wasn't in a hurry, thinking that some things could be left unsaid and unasked. But today, someone suddenly interfered, and he couldn't tolerate it any longer.
"But I don't want to trouble you, if you really..."
"If you really feel that my presence doesn't make you happy, then I can leave."
Once you start talking, it's not so hard to say it. Yu Lang picked up the vegetables that had been cooked until very soft and put them into the small bowl that Shen Wanqing had specially prepared for holding vegetables.
"I'm not unhappy, and I didn't want you to come. Don't wrong me." Shen Wanqing finally raised her eyes with reddened eyes to look at Yu Lang, the person who had been with her for a lifetime.
"I just..."
"I'm just a little unwilling and worried."
"You have no idea how many faults I've tolerated. In the past, once you made up your mind about something at home, you would definitely do it. Everyone outside says that Madam Shen is formidable; look at how she's managed Lord Yu."
"Then why didn't they see that whenever you got the urge to do or buy something, when have I ever really stopped you? With all those knives in your room, if I were in my current temper, I would have found a scrap collector and taken them all away to sell."
"And then there's the matter of my son. If I were really in a bad mood, I would flip over the table if anyone wanted him to go to the palace to be a study companion or a servant. But you have to weigh the pros and cons, so I can't go against your wishes anymore."
“I know you’re not wrong, and I know you have no choice, but I’m still unhappy. Now, if I’m unhappy, I’ll argue with you and make a scene, a huge fight, but I couldn’t before, I…”
In the past, everyone would say that their great-grandmother was too powerful, but they had no idea how shameless Yu Lang could be when he wanted to be unreasonable. It wasn't that the two of them didn't argue, but no matter how fierce the argument was, Wan Qing couldn't really go all out.
"The me you like isn't the real me. I just want you to see clearly what kind of person I really am before we talk. What's the rush?"
Shen Wanqing suddenly felt quite wronged, and tears streamed down her face like a broken string of pearls. This guy dared to feel wronged, dared to ask her if she didn't want him to come, what a bastard.
"I'm not in a hurry, I'm really not in a hurry."
The last time I saw Shen Wanqing cry like this was when she was about to send Yi'an to the palace to be her study companion. Since then, it seems like nothing has made Shen Wanqing cry so hard that she can't stop hiccuping.
"I'm just afraid you'll find it annoying that I'm always following you around. My arrival disrupts your peaceful life, which is really irritating."
Yu Lang finally disregarded the delicate and strange relationship between the two of them, got up and squatted down next to Shen Wanqing, carefully wiped away her tears with a tissue, and took the opportunity to hold her hand in his own.
"Shen Wanqing, I want to officially start pursuing you. From this moment on, can you accept my pursuit?"
"What's with all this talk about pursuing something? So old-fashioned. A country bumpkin, old-fashioned, old-fashioned, rigid..."
Shen Wanqing originally wanted to call him an old lecher, saying he'd lived a whole life and was still talking about this now. But she couldn't help but look up at the pretty and charming girl squatting in front of her, and ultimately decided not to say anything more.
She was crying so much that she couldn't eat. Yu Lang coaxed Shen Wanqing to take a shower first, and then he went into the kitchen and rummaged around for a while, finally managing to clean the blender that Shen Wanqing had long since gathered dust.
He had originally intended to make soy milk for Shen Wanqing the next morning, but after washing the blender, he realized this wasn't the fully stocked kitchen he used to live in. Given Shen Wanqing's situation living alone, the refrigerator was mostly filled with drinks, beer, fruit, and various instant foods; there was hardly any soybeans.
"What are you looking for?" Shen Wanqing was taking a shower when she heard a lot of banging and crashing outside, like the house was being torn apart. If she wasn't sure that Yu Lang didn't intend to die with her, she wouldn't have been able to finish her shower.
"I wanted to make you a bowl of soy milk, but I couldn't find any soybeans."
In their past life, as they grew older, they began to learn about health and wellness. Every morning, they would have various kinds of soy milk, five-red-ingredient soup, five-black-ingredient soup, and different kinds of herbal drinks containing angelica and goji berries. Now...
"Don't bother looking anymore, there's nothing at home. I'll go to the supermarket to buy something after get off work tomorrow."
"You have time after get off work tomorrow, don't you still need to do that?"
"Um, what? Lord Yu, if you don't explain clearly, I won't know where I'm going."
"We'll know tomorrow whether you're clear-headed or not. Go to sleep already. It's so late, you're not asleep yet. You won't be able to get up in the morning."
Shen Wanqing already gets off work late, and it's almost 8:30 when she gets home. The two of them spend nearly two hours eating dinner, and after taking a shower, it's already past 11:00.
"It's so late..."
"Don't worry, I'll go back after you fall asleep."
Yu Lang found it amusing to see Shen Wanqing hesitate to speak, not wanting to stay but too embarrassed to say anything.
"You said I'm an old-fashioned person, and old-fashioned people don't have such modern ideas. How can I be so shameless as to stay without mentioning it again since you haven't even given your approval?"
"Oh, I didn't say you were shameless."
Shen Wanqing leaned against the bedroom door and looked at Yulang. It was late at night, and it wasn't good to do or say anything, so she decided to do nothing and just go to sleep. Who was afraid of who?
Yu Lang said he would leave after Shen Wanqing fell asleep, and he actually watched her crawl into bed and lie down obediently. After telling her not to play on her phone while lying down, he turned off the lights, closed the door, and prepared to leave.
There was no movement from the bedroom, and Shen Wanqing didn't come out to ask him to stay. Only after Yu Lang had reached the bottom of the stairs did he suddenly feel his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and saw that Shen Wanqing had transferred five thousand yuan to his WeChat account.
Lord Yu was so happy that he paced back and forth several times. If it weren't so late, he would have gone upstairs to ask Shen Wanqing: You still like me, right? You like me even a little bit, don't you?
The next day was a bright and sunny day. Early in the morning, Shen Wanqing looked at herself in the mirror with her eyes swollen like a goldfish. She sent Yu Lang a WeChat message demanding that he pay her back before putting down her phone and seriously putting on makeup.
On the other side, Yu Lang, who had already gone out to queue up with his company on the opposite side of the city to buy steamed dumplings and xiaolongbao, received a text message early in the morning asking for a refund and smiled like a fool.
The older woman behind him couldn't help but strike up a conversation with Yu Lang, who was so young yet carrying a thermos to hold dumplings and buns.
"Young man, you're out buying breakfast so early? That's rare."
"Yes, my wife likes to eat at this restaurant, so I'll buy it for her."
"Wow, you're so young to be married! That's rare. There aren't many young people like you getting married so early these days."
"Not yet, I'm still pursuing her."
The two middle-aged women covered their mouths and laughed when they heard this. They hadn't even won him over yet, but they were already talking about love this and that. Young people are indeed exceptionally sincere and passionate when they talk about love.
Yu Lang knew they meant no harm, so even though he felt uncomfortable, he endured it without moving or dodging until it was his turn in line. The older woman behind him then interrupted and told the dumpling vendor, "Boss, please be careful with the dumplings for this child. He's taking them to his loved one."
One sentence made Yu Lang's ears turn bright red, and he practically fled after taking the thermos from his boss. Even after returning to the company and sitting in Shen Wanqing's office, he still couldn't help but complain to Shen Wanqing, who had just arrived at the company, with lingering fear.
"Those middle-aged women are really something, they can say anything, I just can't keep up with them."
"Chen Ji's steamed dumplings, who did you ask to run the errand for you from so far away?"
Shen Wanqing took off her coat and sat on the small sofa. She opened the stainless steel thermos that Yu Lang had brought in. For a moment, she didn't know whether to be surprised that he knew she liked this family's steamed dumplings or that he actually had such an old-fashioned thermos, which really didn't match his temperament at all.
"It costs forty or fifty yuan to send it by errand runner from so far away. They don't even have insulated containers, so it'll be cold by the time it arrives."
Yu Lang took the disposable chopsticks, broke them open, cleaned off the bamboo splinters, and handed them to Shen Wanqing. Only then did he take the tea that Shen Wanqing had just brewed for him, lean back in his sofa chair, and take a couple of leisurely sips.
"did you eat."
"I ate. There's a noodle shop next to his house, and I had a bowl of beef noodles."
Shen Wanqing nodded, then took the lid of the thermos and gave him two steamed dumplings and two small steamed buns.
Upon seeing this, Yu Lang immediately moved his buttocks closer to Shen Wanqing, put down his teacup, took the lid of the thermos, and happily ate all the dumplings and buns that Shen Wanqing had given him.
After breakfast, Yu Lang originally wanted to linger in Shen Wanqing's office, but he didn't realize that President Qing was busy with important matters. Zhang Huai knocked on the door and came in without even glancing at Yu Lang: "President Qing, the people from the north of the city were supposed to come to inspect today, and they're almost here. Don't you think we should go over there too?"
"Okay, go to the garage and wait for me. I'll be there in ten minutes."
Zhang Huai nodded, turned around, and left again, not even glancing at Yu Lang once. His attitude was clearly off; he was treating Yu Lang like a gigolo trying to take shortcuts and engage in illicit relationships.
"Is that what he meant?"
"Oh, what else?"
"An intern who just joined the company had lunch with the boss's boss on his first day of work, and brought me breakfast on his second day. Do you think they wouldn't have any complaints?"
"No, I feel like the way he looks at me is like he's looking at a treacherous official. Did he misunderstand me?"
Yu Lang, who had been a favored minister all his life, understood the expression on Zhang Huai's face all too well. For many years, those old censors in the Censorate had viewed him this way, thinking that the emperor consulted with him on everything, that he was too good at flattery, and that the maternal relatives were wielding power with ill intentions.
"Then I don't know. You can handle this yourself." Shen Wanqing got up, put on her coat, packed her things, picked up her bag, and pushed Yulang out. "I'm so busy today. Don't wait for me after get off work this afternoon. I definitely won't be coming back today."
Yu Lang emerged from the force of Shen Wanqing's push on his back, only to bump into Zhou Hong, who was walking in his direction.
Seeing this, Shen Wanqing pushed him hard on the waist again, then walked past him to grab Zhou Hong's arm and headed towards the elevator.
"Sister Hong, could you help me turn down that guy this afternoon?"
"What, is that kid really going to pursue you?"
"Yes, we've known each other for many years. I didn't know he was coming before, but now that he's interested, I'd like to give it a try too."
Yu Lang brought breakfast without hiding it from anyone. He thought he was openly pursuing Shen Wanqing, but his colleagues saw it in a polarized way.
Some people think he's pursuing Shen Wanqing, while the other half think he's just trying to curry favor with the leader, and that Zhou Hong is just there to gather information.
As Zhou Hong asked the question, she glanced back and saw that Yu Lang had already walked towards the other end of the stairwell. Even though she could only see his back, she could tell that the kid was in a good mood.
The older woman couldn't help but purse her lips; she couldn't see anything good about the young man except for his face. However, she only thought this to herself and didn't say it aloud.
When Yu Lang finished his morning training session and came out, even Xie Shuangming, who had joined the company at the same time, knew that this kid had his eye on the group's big devil, Shen Wanqing, and was going to risk his life to pluck that tyrant flower.
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