Following the woman's gaze to the kettle on the table, Du Zheng had no choice but to say, "Alright, I'll go get the Coke first."
After the man left, Lu Ying took a deep breath. Looking at the pot full of bubbling meat, she didn't have much of an appetite.
After all, they helped her, so treating them to a meal was a way of expressing her gratitude. Even if she had no appetite, she stayed to keep them company.
When Du Zheng returned with the cola, he saw the woman taking out all the meat slices she had previously put in and dumping vegetables into the pot.
His eyes flickered behind his glasses. Without making a sound, he sat down with two drinks in hand and placed one of them, an orange juice, in front of the woman.
In a gentle tone, he said, "I saw that the orange juice was very fresh, so I got you a glass."
Lu Ying looked up, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Thank you, you've really gone to so much trouble."
How fresh can the orange juice in a buffet restaurant be?
She subtly moved the glass of orange juice, blocking her chopsticks from reaching for her food.
The man was oblivious to this, his thoughts still lingering on her words, "It's too much trouble for you." "It's no trouble at all," she replied, "It's my honor to serve a lady, especially since the person I'm serving is you."
Lu Ying's chopsticks trembled as she was putting potato slices down, and the falling potato slices splashed soup, scalding her.
"Are you alright? Did you get burned?" Du Zheng grabbed a tissue, stood up, and moved closer to the other side.
Seeing the large hand heading towards her chest, Lu Ying tactically stood up and retreated, taking out two tissues to wipe the oil splattered on her chest.
"It's nothing, it's just a little oil splattered!" she said to Du Zheng as she wiped herself. "I'm sorry you had to see this. Sit down and eat, don't worry about me."
Before the man could say anything more, Lu Ying had already pulled up a chair and sat down, picking up some greens that were simmering in red oil from the pot and putting them into her bowl. "Eat up, your broth is almost gone."
Du Zheng had no choice but to withdraw his hand, sit down, and slowly pick up his chopsticks to scoop up the food.
The atmosphere quieted down, and both of them ate absentmindedly.
Just then, a table of young men and women arrived at the next table. They looked to be eighteen or nineteen years old, in the prime of their youth, and their laughter and chatter were full of youthful energy.
Both of them turned to look.
Du Zheng paused with his chopsticks, his tone full of nostalgia, "I suddenly remembered the time when we were in school. Conditions were much tougher back then; we even had to hand over our own food rations."
Lu Ying was also reminded of her own memories by his words; the conditions for going to school back then were indeed not as good as they are now.
The school also required students to hand over grain; otherwise, they would not have food. Despite this, she never worried about it at the time.
At that time, Lu Yongkang had contracted a lot of land. In addition to the land he handed over to the school, he would also pack a small bag for her to secretly give to the teacher. When the fruits and vegetables were harvested, she would also secretly give them to the teacher. Sometimes she would also bring some fruits to school to share with her classmates.
However, since the items were valuable, she only took them once or twice.
She didn't have a very deep memory of her school days, and smiled in agreement, "Indeed, conditions were tough back then. Children nowadays are much happier than before."
Upon hearing this, Du Zheng sighed, "Conditions are getting better and better now."
Lu Ying replied nonchalantly, "That's because society is developing so fast."
She was eating a slice of pork kidney, but before she could bite it off, the person across from her started talking again, "I remember when we sat at tables one behind the other, I was sitting behind you, and you shared a big peach that you brought from home with me, I still remember it to this day."
The broth was too spicy, and the pork kidney slices were too hot. While chewing, Lu Ying bit her tongue, causing her to drool profusely from the pain. She could only cover her mouth and endure the discomfort.
She remembered that there were only about twenty people in the class at that time. When it was time to harvest peaches, Lu Yongkang would pick some that were just ripe and let her secretly give them to the teacher. Some were a little too ripe and would ooze juice if touched. The ones that were hard to sell were given to her to share with her classmates so that no one would suspect anything.
She eased the pain on her tongue and said half-jokingly, "You know what, I distributed them to the whole class back then. If those classmates who have already made it big had such good memories as you, I could have shared in their good fortune!"
"Haha," the man chuckled softly, adjusted his glasses, and changed the subject, "Well, I was in a rush that day and forgot to ask what your daughter's name is. If you don't mind, could you tell me?"
Lu Ying was eating tripe when she was suddenly bitten by a Sichuan peppercorn, and her tongue went numb instantly.
The man opposite seemed to find it abrupt, and added, "Your daughter is quite adorable. It's been years since I've seen you, and you have a daughter now. I'm being pressured to go on blind dates since I came back..."
The woman took a sip of warm water to calm herself, a knowing smile on her face, and pointed to the small pot in front of Du Zheng, "Your soup has boiled dry."
The man had to stop talking and raise his hand to ask the waiter to add more soup.
While waiting for the soup to boil again, Lu Ying put down her chopsticks and looked at the man opposite her, who was also looking at her.
"Du Zheng." This was the first time she had called him by his name since they met.
The man crossed his arms, rested his elbows on the edge of the table, looked directly at the woman, and maintained his usual gentle smile. "Yes, I'm here."
Lu Ying suddenly felt that drinking water alone was not enough, and she needed something sour to cleanse her greasy stomach.
She hesitated for a moment before speaking, “As you saw that day, my fiancé was a scoundrel who loved eating, drinking and having fun. When my daughter had a high fever in the middle of the night, he was still out drinking himself into a stupor. I didn’t have any skills and couldn’t find anyone to help me, so I had to carry her to the clinic by myself.”
"Perhaps God took pity on me and let me meet you when I was all alone. I am truly grateful for your help that day. If it weren't for you, I might have had to carry my daughter for a long time to get her medical treatment. I am sincerely treating you to this meal today, otherwise I would feel bad about it."
"What I mean by saying this is to let you know how grateful I am for your help that day. You don't need to feel embarrassed that I, a woman, am treating you to dinner, otherwise I won't be able to sleep tonight, old classmate."
The woman opposite him had a polite smile and spoke in a calm, unhurried tone, without any emotion.
Du Zheng looked at her, his gaze quickly sweeping over her upper body across the table opposite him without making a sound. He crossed his hands, took a sip of the now-flattened Coke with his right hand, put it down, and then spoke.
“I heard you got divorced,” he said directly.
Lu Ying's smile froze for a moment.
The man's expression remained gentle, but his narrow eyes behind his glasses stared directly at me with an undeniable intensity.
She heard Du Zheng say, "Lu Ying, because of the peach you shared with me back then, I'm still single."
"So, could you give me a chance and consider me?"
After that, Lu Ying couldn't eat any more hot pot.
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