Chapter 683 It was even more awkward. After finishing their work, Zhou Zhe and Zhao Rui changed their clothes and walked out of the back door of Xinweiju. The cold wind at night seemed to blow away some of the dizziness.
Zhou Zhe nudged Zhao Rui with his elbow and exclaimed in amazement: "I thought this case was solved. No wonder Lu Qingyang is so indifferent to everyone, especially those girls who come up to him... Good man, with such a beautiful wife hidden at home, how could he care about anyone else!"
Zhao Ruishen nodded in agreement, and the confusion and speculation in his mind about his cousin Zhao Wanqing suddenly became clear.
He let out a long "Oh" and dragged out the tone, with a kind of sudden enlightenment and ridicule in his tone: "I finally understand, so this is what is going on, a beautiful woman in a golden house, absolutely.
No wonder he remained indifferent even when a beautiful girl like his cousin took the initiative to invite him to dinner, and he insisted on dragging a group of people to the cafeteria... It turned out that there was already a "leader" in his family.
Zhao Rui stepped onto the second handlebar, Zhou Zhe skillfully jumped onto the back seat, and was about to pedal away when the door curtain of the back kitchen was lifted.
"Wait a moment!"
Liu Xiaohua quickly chased out, holding an aluminum lunch box in her hand and breathing slightly.
The cold night air blew out a small cloud of white mist in front of her.
She walked to the bicycle and stuffed the still warm lunch box into Zhao Rui's hand without saying anything: "The kitchen steamed some buns tonight, and there are a few extra. Take them back and have them for breakfast tomorrow morning. You don't have to queue up in the cafeteria."
She spoke a little fast, her eyes lingered on Zhao Rui's face for a moment, then she moved away unnaturally, her fingers subconsciously pinching the edge of her apron.
Zhao Rui was stunned for a moment. The heavy lunch box in his hand exuded the warm aroma of a mixture of noodles and meat.
He subconsciously thanked her: "Ah? Oh... Thank you, Xiaohua."
"Let's go, go to bed early." Liu Xiaohua didn't say anything else, waved her hand, turned around and trotted back to the kitchen. The door curtain fell, covering her figure.
Zhao Rui carefully sandwiched the lunch box between the handlebars and the front bar and pedaled the bicycle.
Zhou Zhe sat in the back seat, holding onto the springs under the seat. After riding for a while, he suddenly leaned forward and whispered in Zhao Rui's ear, his voice filled with uncontrollable mischief and surprise: "I say... this little girl Xiaohua, could she be interested in you?"
The handlebars of the bicycle shook violently.
Zhao Rui seemed to be burned by these words. He almost dropped the handlebars. His heart skipped a beat for unknown reason and his ears felt hot. Fortunately, he couldn't see clearly at night.
He feigned composure, stiffening his neck and retorting, "What nonsense are you talking about! They're just some leftover buns. They're kindhearted and see how hard we're working! Stop imagining things!"
Zhou Zhe laughed in the back seat, clearly unconvinced: "Good intentions? Good intentions, why did you only give it to you and not to me? I worked all night too! And didn't you see how she was just now? She was too embarrassed to even look at you when she spoke... Tsk, Brother Rui, you're so charming! I didn't realize you had such charm?"
"Get lost, get lost, if you keep talking nonsense I'll kick you off and walk back on your own."
Zhao Rui's face was hot and he cursed fiercely, but his feet couldn't help but pedal faster. The night wind blew past his ears, but it couldn't blow away the sudden and chaotic heat in his heart.
…
After returning to the dormitory, Zhao Rui put the box of still warm buns on the table, but he didn't feel as righteous as he had felt on the way.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was amiss. Liu Xiaohua was usually very kind to his family, but it seemed...she was a little special to him. She'd always ask if he'd eaten enough, occasionally give him a sample of a new dish she'd made, and today, she'd even chased him out and given him a box of steamed buns.
He hadn't thought much about it before, thinking it was just a show of care between colleagues, but now that Zhou Zhe had pointed it out, and thinking back on the details, the feeling had completely changed.
Zhao Rui felt a little confused.
He had no experience in dealing with this kind of thing, and his first instinctive reaction was to keep his distance.
What if I really misunderstood, or what if the other person didn't mean that, wouldn't it look stupid if I got too close?
And...his mind is now filled with his father's hope that he will concentrate on his studies and enter graduate school in the future, and he really can't spare the mind to think about anything else.
So, in the next few days when he went to work at Xinweiju, Zhao Rui's behavior changed unconsciously.
He no longer went into the kitchen for no reason like he used to and joked with Liu Xiaohua.
When eating, try to sit with Zhou Zhe or other guys, and don't sit alone next to Liu Xiaohua.
Liu Xiaohua handed him something again. He took it, said thank you and walked away quickly, his eyes a little evasive, not daring to stay any longer.
His speech became polite and brief, revealing a deliberate sense of alienation.
Liu Xiaohua was such a sensitive and delicate girl that she almost immediately sensed something from his sudden change.
At first, she thought Zhao Rui was in a bad mood because of something going on at home, and she even took the initiative to ask: "Zhao Rui, what happened these past two days? Is everything okay?"
Zhao Rui was like a cat whose tail was stepped on, waving his hands repeatedly: "No, no, no, I'm fine. I'm a little busy with studies. Yes, I'm busy with studies."
After saying that, he slipped away under the pretext of wiping the table.
Liu Xiaohua looked at his back as he almost fled in panic, and her heart sank slowly.
She is not stupid. On the contrary, after spending a long time in the kitchen, a place full of social interactions, observing people's expressions is the most basic thing for her.
Zhao Rui's evasive gaze, polite tone, and deliberately maintained distance...
She quickly thought of the night when she chased him out to deliver buns and Zhou Zhe's smiling eyes.
Was it because of this? Did he notice something? Or was he just… troubled?
Liu Xiaohua felt an indescribable sense of grievance and loss in her heart, but more of it was a sense of understanding and sudden chilling clarity.
She silently took back the new sauce that she had intended to give to Zhao Rui to try, turned around and put it back in the innermost part of the seasoning cabinet.
In the days that followed, Liu Xiaohua quietly changed her attitude.
She no longer took the initiative to leave any food for Zhao Rui, no longer paid special attention to whether he had eaten enough, and the communication between them at work became businesslike. The smile on her face that always had a hint of warmth became much more restrained in front of him, and she became as polite and indifferent as other guys.
She was just a small waitress, and it was indeed unacceptable for her to get too close to a gifted person like Zhao Rui.
After Zhao Rui realized it, he didn't feel any better, but felt even more uncomfortable.
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