"Boss, do you have any pork offal?"
The man's voice was loud and clear, even carrying a hint of hostility.
Lu Ying subconsciously looked up, and just then the person turned his head to look at her, and the two made eye contact.
"Lu Ying?!" The man was quite surprised.
“...Du Zheng,” Lu Ying replied, a beat late.
Du Zheng spoke first, "You...are you shopping with your daughter?"
The man's gaze lingered on the little bundle of flesh beside the woman's legs.
The little girl was chubby and fair-skinned, with a pigtail tied on top of her head. A strawberry accessory was placed in the center of the pigtail, and three butterfly-shaped hair clips were placed around the pigtail.
The little girl was chubby and very fair-skinned.
She had a high ponytail tied on top of her head, with a strawberry accessory in the center. There were also three butterfly-shaped hair clips around the ponytail, like little butterflies landing on her hair.
She was wearing a bright red vest dress with a fluffy tulle skirt, which made her round little dumpling look like a red apple.
The moment Lu Chuqing saw the man's face, the shock in her eyes almost showed.
She didn't remember seeing this man when she was young in her past life, but when she went to find Lu Ying later, the woman's husband at the time was this man!
Oh shit!
She cursed inwardly.
"Yeah, I just happened to be off work, so I brought my daughter out to play and buy some things while I was at it," the woman replied casually.
After searching through her wallet, Lu Ying realized she was still missing a one-yuan note. She had no choice but to put the change she had taken out back and hand the shopkeeper a fifty-yuan note.
"Boss, change."
The shopkeeper was just waiting for her to pay. As soon as the money was handed over, he immediately grabbed it and put it in the drawer, then started looking for change.
Du Zheng noticed that Lu Chuqing's gaze towards him was not good, and he was a little puzzled.
Apart from that night, he had never seen this little brat before. Why did he seem to dislike him so much?
Thinking about his own thoughts, he curled his lips into a kind smile, squatted down, and extended his hand to Lu Chuqing, "Little girl, do you still remember your uncle?"
Lu Chuqing dodged the man's hand and quickly hid behind Lu Ying, tugging at her clothes and whispering, "Mom, I'm scared, I want to go home."
The shop owner promptly pulled out two yuan and handed it over. Lu Ying took the money, picked up the little dumpling, and looked at Du Zheng apologetically, "I'm sorry, my daughter is usually at home and is afraid of strangers."
The man awkwardly withdrew his hand and stood up, looking at the woman with a smile, "It's nothing, she's just a kid, she's easily frightened."
At this moment, the shop owner shouted at the man, "Pig heart, pig lungs, pig intestines, what would you like to order?"
Seeing this, Lu Ying said, "You go ahead with your work, we need to go back too."
Du Zheng wasn't about to let this opportunity slip by. He turned to the shop owner and said, "I'll pass for now, I'll come back to buy it later."
Turning around to catch up with the woman, he asked, "Are you riding a bike? How about I give you a ride?"
There was only a small truck parked in front of the store, not even a bicycle. Du Zheng knew perfectly well that Lu Ying hadn't ridden a bicycle.
Lu Ying doesn't really want to be around men. Having just gotten divorced, she's now somewhat averse to men.
Unfortunately, this Du Zheng was her old classmate, and he had a crush on her for many years.
She really felt awkward whenever she saw him.
She was about to refuse without thinking, but the man spoke first.
"I noticed there weren't many cars parked around here, so I figured you probably didn't ride your bike here."
As he spoke, he pointed to the small truck, "This is the boss's truck. I drive it for him to haul goods. I can give you a ride."
“It’s getting hot now, and it’s inconvenient for you to go back while carrying a child and a lot of things. Driving is faster and won’t take much time.”
Du Zheng told her everything, but he was afraid that Lu Ying would refuse.
Upon hearing this, Lu Ying stopped herself from uttering the words of refusal.
Du Zheng is somewhat right.
She was also with Lu Chuqing. She was able to walk back under the scorching sun, but she was afraid that the little dumpling wouldn't be able to handle it.
Hesitating for a moment, just as the words of agreement were about to slip out, the little figure in his arms suddenly pointed to a spot not far away and shouted.
"Mommy, Mommy! There's a place selling Barbie dolls! I want to buy a Barbie doll!"
Both the man and the woman were taken aback. Following the little dumpling's hand, they saw another boutique with a small shelf set up at the entrance, filled with colorful dolls and figurines.
"Well..."
Before Lu Ying could speak, Lu Chuqing said directly to Du Zheng, "Uncle, we're not going back yet. Mom wants to buy me a Barbie doll! We won't disturb your work any longer, bye-bye!"
Then, shaking the woman's neck, he said, "Come on, Mom, let's go buy Barbie dolls!"
Lu Ying had no choice but to say goodbye to Du Zheng, "Thank you for your kindness, but I still need to take my daughter to buy toys, so I won't take up any more of your time."
"I'll be going now."
Watching the woman say goodbye, Du Zheng, though unwilling, could only suppress his feelings. "Alright, then drive carefully, see you later."
The woman turned and left, and a hint of irritation appeared on the man's brow.
He paused for a moment, then turned and walked back towards the cooked food he had just eaten.
"Boss, half a pound of pig lungs and half a pound of pig intestines!"
The shop owner glanced at the same man and saw it was the same person from before. He got up, took a knife, and started cutting the meat, asking as he weighed it, "Want some cut?"
Du Zheng glanced at the cold dishes, then picked up some more and said, "I won't cut them. I'll cut them myself when we get back."
The shop owner didn't say anything, weighed the items, and said, "Both items are half a catty, totaling sixteen."
As she took the cold dishes the man handed her, she was about to put them on the scale when she heard him say, "I'm buying this stuff from you. The cold dishes only cost a few dollars, consider it a free gift!"
"Hey!" the shop owner protested. "Cheap is cheap, but you can't just give it away for free!"
“We’re just running a small business, we don’t make much money. This bag of yours is at least half a pound, worth three or four yuan!”
"It's just a little bit of vegetables, and I'm buying so much stuff from you. Why do you need money? Just give it to me!" the man said shamelessly.
The shop owner was also taken aback by the man's shamelessness and said bluntly, "You only bought a small amount of stuff! That woman with the baby just now bought forty or fifty yuan worth of things, and she was even polite when I gave her a hard-boiled egg as a gift! You're a grown man and you're being stingy!"
The boss was quite shrewd; after saying that, he added, "Why don't you take the rest of the large intestine, weigh it, and I'll treat this cold dish to you for free."
The remaining piece of large intestine wasn't much, just a little over half a pound, which was enough to buy a cold dish.
Being called stingy made Du Zheng's face turn ugly. He gave up the cold dishes, threw the sixteen yuan he had prepared into the glass, and walked out with the pork offal.
After stepping outside, he remarked, "They're so stingy in business, I wonder who's being so miserly!"
Upon hearing this, the shop owner's chubby face trembled with anger.
"This is truly an eye-opener! It's the first time I've ever seen someone try to take advantage of another!"
"No wonder women don't want to talk to him, he's such a stingy man!"
The shop owner, being an experienced person, immediately noticed that Du Zheng's gaze towards Lu Ying was not pure.
Seeing the cold dishes already packed up and all mixed together, the shop owner angrily cursed, "What a stingy person who loves to take advantage of others!"
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