I dare not get so close to you
The next day, Zhou Jun often woke up on the sofa in the private room. The sofa was too small, and his neck was extremely uncomfortable after sleeping there all night.
Zhou Jun often got up, put his hands on the back of his neck and pressed them to relieve the soreness.
And so, Zhou Junchang stepped out of the private room and saw Xu Li still fast asleep. He then glanced at the clock on the wall—6 o'clock sharp, half an hour before the shop opened.
Zhou Junchang had planned to go home last night, but because of Xu Li's actions, it was too late to get a taxi, and he had to get up early to guard the shop tomorrow morning, so he simply found an empty private room and slept on the sofa for the night.
Zhou Jun often turned around and went to the restroom, quickly washed his face, and then returned to the bar to prepare for work.
After a while, Zhou Junchang looked at Xu Li again. She seemed to be still fast asleep. He thought to himself: What should I do if she is still not awake when it is time to open the store?
We can't let people coming and going see her sleeping.
Sure enough, by 6:30, Xu Li still showed no signs of waking up. Zhou Jun walked over to Xu Li and gently patted her face with the back of his hand: "Xu Li, are you sober yet?"
"..."
The other party did not respond.
Zhou Junchang continued to pat Xu Li persistently, even increasing the pressure.
To everyone's surprise, Xu Li not only didn't wake up, but also turned over irritably, turning her face to the other side.
Zhou Jun clicked his tongue impatiently.
After a while, Xu Li stopped moving and seemed to be sleeping even more soundly.
Zhou Junchang no longer cared whether Xu Li was awake or not. He took off the blanket from Xu Li's body, reached out and grabbed Xu Li's arm, trying to pull her up.
The moment Zhou Junchang's hand touched her, Xu Li seemed startled and jumped up from the sofa, slapping him across the face.
It made a crisp "snap" sound.
Zhou Jun was stunned by the slap. Xu Li usually looked frail, but the slap was surprisingly heavy.
Zhou Junchang never expected that his kind gesture of waking Xu Li up would result in her slapping him for no reason.
Zhou Junchang tilted his head to one side, and soon five clear finger marks appeared on his face. He gritted his teeth and glanced at Xu Li in that position, as if to say, "Explain yourself."
Xu Li was stunned for a moment before realizing what she had done, staring blankly at her hands.
In her sleep, Xu Li vaguely felt someone touch her. Out of instinct, she slapped them first.
Xu Li looked at Zhou Junchang, unaware of his intentions, and asked him, "What are you going to do?"
Zhou Jun often heard Xu Li angrily questioning him, and laughed out loud in exasperation: "What am I doing? Do you want everyone who passes by to see you sleeping here?"
Xu Li glanced at the wall clock and realized that it was time to open the shop.
Xu Li then lowered her hand and took a few deep breaths to stop her body from trembling.
Zhou Junchang wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that Xu Li was a little too nervous about this behavior, as if something terrible had happened and she was terrified. However, he was so annoyed by Xu Li's slap that he didn't think about it anymore.
Xu Li knew that Zhou Junchang meant well, and also knew that she had overreacted.
Fearing that staying too long would expose something, Xu Li quickly apologized and turned to leave.
Zhou Junchang looked at Xu Li's back and laughed out loud in anger.
**
There's a lot going on at the shop during the day, so Zhou Jun often doesn't have time to worry about anything else.
During his lunch break, Zhou Junchang remembered that he had been slapped for no reason that morning, and he felt inexplicably angry, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
At this moment, a waiter came upstairs to find Zhou Junchang and said that there was a commotion upstairs.
Tian Guang Hall and the bar are both owned by Zhou Ji. Zhou Ji has been away these past few days, and he has instructed his subordinates to contact Zhou Junchang if they need anything.
The gist of it is that someone stayed here last night, got completely drunk, and couldn't find their wallet this morning. They said it was lost here, but after checking the security footage, they still couldn't find it, and now they're saying it must have been stolen.
This kind of thing is not surprising. Bars are places where all sorts of people mingle, and it's common for hooligans to cause trouble for no reason.
After drinking and sleeping in, some people say they've lost their wallets, some say they've lost their phones, and some even say they've lost a person.
When Zhou Jun went upstairs, he could hear Xu Li arguing with someone from afar.
Xu Li kept saying "I'm sorry" and "I'm sorry".
"She's so good at apologizing, why didn't she apologize properly this morning?" Zhou Jun often wondered.
Xu Li's tone was no longer as angry as it was in the morning; it sounded no different from usual. Thinking of this, Zhou Junchang was not angered by the scoundrel first, but by Xu Li.
Xu Li forced a smile, her mouth almost stiff from smiling, but she still said in a gentle tone, "Sir, I'm really sorry, we haven't seen any lost wallets here yet. We can register it first, and we'll contact you when we find one."
"Who knows if your store will take it themselves? Anyway, even if you find it, you don't have to contact me." As she said this, she sat down, looking like she didn't want to leave.
"Sir, that won't happen. There are surveillance cameras. We'll contact you as soon as we find out."
Upon hearing about the surveillance footage, the thug's voice grew even louder: "What the hell is your surveillance system? Didn't it just not capture anything?"
"gentlemen……"
The thug seemed to have another idea: "If the security cameras can't capture it, then they must be very familiar with this place. Maybe it was someone from your store who stole it. They can't earn much working here, so they start targeting customers!"
Xu Li wasn't known for her good temper, but she couldn't afford to lose it due to her job. However, she still felt uncomfortable hearing this, and her brows furrowed involuntarily. Her tone became somewhat sharp: "Sir, it's best not to jump to conclusions without evidence. It's possible that you already lost it when you entered our store."
Xu Li gave him face, saying that he lost it outside, otherwise they would say that he didn't have a wallet at all and was just trying to extort money from him.
The thug didn't realize that Xu Li had given him face. When Xu Li's tone changed from gentle to soft, he started shouting again, "I lost my wallet here, and you're blaming me for it. I bet you've already divided up the wallet."
After saying that, she pointed at Xu Li and said, "Did you take it too? It doesn't look clean, and who knows if your hands and feet are clean either."
Upon hearing this, Xu Li could no longer maintain her smile, as if something had been exposed, and she began to panic.
"Sir, we can sue you for defamation if there is no evidence."
Zhou Junchang's voice appeared at this moment.
If they had arrived a second later, Xu Li almost wouldn't have been able to hold on.
Perhaps seeing that the boy who came didn't seem like someone to be bullied, the thug's voice wasn't as unrestrained as before.
Xu Li didn't know how Zhou Junchang resolved the situation later. When she came to her senses, she only heard Zhou Junchang about to call the police.
Seeing that the situation was not working in his favor, the hoodlum began to awkwardly try to smooth things over.
In the end, they exchanged contact information, promising to contact him when the wallet was found, and also gave him a six-month discount card before the scoundrel finally left.
Zhou Jun often saw Xu Li sitting on the sofa with a blank look in her eyes when he returned to the store, and he didn't know what she was thinking.
Xu Li didn't speak to Zhou Junchang, and Zhou Junchang didn't go to find Xu Li either. Zhou Junchang was still thinking about the "slap" that morning. Although he wasn't a petty person, he still felt a little uncomfortable being slapped for no reason.
If Xu Li hadn't come to Zhou Junchang himself to apologize properly, this matter would never have been resolved in Zhou Junchang's eyes.
Zhou Junchang was still confidently thinking about it in the morning, but in the afternoon Xu Li said she would treat Zhou Junchang to dinner.
When Xu Li walked up to Zhou Junchang in her high heels, Zhou Junchang didn't even look up; she pretended he hadn't seen her.
Xu Li asked him, "When will you finish today?"
Zhou Junchang still didn't look up.
Xu Li initially thought it was because her voice was too soft, but then she realized that there weren't many people in the store yet, and her normal speaking volume was still audible. Moreover, even if her voice wasn't loud, the sound of her high heels walking over should have been heard by Zhou Junchang.
Zhou Junchang did it on purpose; he just didn't want to look up.
Xu Li knew she was in the wrong, and after leaving in a hurry this morning, she thought she should definitely go and apologize properly.
But nothing went right today. My head was already spinning from drinking, and when I woke up I hit someone. Then I ran into that scoundrel. One thing after another, and I was so annoyed.
Now that she has finally calmed down, she thinks she should apologize to Zhou Junchang for what happened this morning, and also thank him for helping her deal with that scoundrel at noon.
Who knew that Zhou Junchang didn't want to pay attention to her at all. He didn't say a word, didn't even look up, and treated her like she was invisible.
Xu Li stood there for a while, and feeling that Zhou Junchang still showed no sign of acknowledging her, she simply went to the bar, placed her hand on the plate that Zhou Junchang was washing, and teased, "Busy man, so busy that you don't even have time to say a word."
Zhou Junchang then looked up at her and retorted, "I wouldn't dare get this close to you."
The implication is that he's afraid of being slapped by you.
Xu Li was a little embarrassed and didn't know what to say for a moment. She blinked her glasses several times and said shyly, "I'm sorry for what I did to you today, so I came here to apologize."
Zhou Junchang looked at Xu Li, but Xu Li, feeling guilty, didn't dare to look into his eyes and kept her gaze straight ahead. Suddenly, Zhou Junchang's mind flashed back to the expression on Xu Li's face after she slapped him that morning, and the way that thug said she was "not clean." He felt something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why.
Xu Li looked at Zhou Jun, who was lost in thought, and then looked up and waved her hand in front of him: "Are you free tonight?"
Because he was lost in thought, he didn't react immediately after being interrupted, and simply replied with a "Mm".
"Then it's settled."
Zhou Junchang realized that when he agreed to Xu Li's request, he felt a slight pang of regret, and his brows furrowed slightly.
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