Leaving the previous store, Mu Lin walked to a less crowded shop. Inside, there were only a couple of sales associates, but their smiles seemed more sincere than the last store.
"May I assist you?" the saleswoman asked Mu Lin with a smile.
Mu Lin shook her head faintly, "No, thank you. I'd like to look around myself." She preferred to shop without anyone else around.
"Alright then, just call me if you need any help," the saleswoman didn't press further.
In their line of work in such a large mall, they meet countless people every day. Everyone has their own personality and temperament. Some people like to be fawned over, which makes them feel distinguished. However, many others do not like to be followed; in fact, they preferred this type of customers who might seem unapproachable but would not cause unnecessary trouble or infringe on their dignity.
Such is the sorrow of life.
To the saleswoman, Mu Lin belonged to the latter type, but she didn't seem difficult to deal with.
Mu Lin often wore a shallow smile, appearing mild but not overly familiar. Such people might be challenging to deal with, but they were the most comfortable type for most people.
...
"Alright, we'll stop here." A woman of refined beauty, poised and noble, announced.
Yes indeed, she was a lady of nobility, or more precisely, a young lady from a dignified family.
Upon hearing this, her two companions who trailed behind her, carrying large and small shopping bags, exchanged looks and sighed once again.
They indeed disliked accompanying their young aunt on shopping trips. This was more laborious than manual labor.
The doorbell chimed.
Upon entering the store, the woman quickly walked over to the clothing rack. As for her two companions, as soon as they stepped into the shop, they retreated to the resting area and sat down.
Ahh... My feet are about to give out.
One of them complained while massaging his calf and sighing one breath after another.
However, the next moment, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Hey, hey, hey… Cencen, look, that girl over there is the same one from earlier." Zhou Yujun excitedly pointed towards the cashier.
"If you call me Cencen once more, I'm going to kill you. Do you not remember?" Zhou Yicen stared at him sharply. This boy has been prancing around with the title of "older brother" just because he was born two minutes earlier than him, continually playing around with his name. He wanted to kill him.
Zhou Yujun and Zhou Yicen were first cousins. Their mothers were pregnant and gave birth at around the same time, but unfortunately, Zhou Yujun had come out of his mother's womb two minutes earlier and had been lording over Zhou Yicen until now.
Hearing the grinding sound of teeth nearby, Zhou Yujun rolled his eyes in annoyance, "It's been 20 years, and you still haven't killed me." At most, they would have a minor fight.
Seeing the other's cold gaze still fixated on him...
"Alright, alright, I'll stop calling you that from now on," Zhou Yujun appeased insincerely, "But first, lift your head and look forward."
"Well, well, well, it must be fate!" He grinned wolfishly with an unveiled brazenness.
Zhou Yicen looked up, and spotted the delicate light-blue figure immediately. He remarked coolly, "I didn't expect to run into her so soon." Indeed, it was quite a coincidence.
"Let's go introduce ourselves." Zhou Yujun could hardly wait. He shot up and headed towards Mu Lin, with Zhou Yicen following close behind.
"Hello, Miss. My name is Zhou Yujun. May I have the pleasure of getting to know you?" His tone was full of self-obsession.
Mu Lin never thought she would be approached in such a manner.
After accepting her card and clothes from the cashier, Mu Lin turned around and glanced at him. Then, she declined indifferently with three words, "No, you may not," which caused the Zhou Yicen, who had just arrived, to burst into laughter.
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
Subconsciously stepping away from an impending kick, Zhou Yujun groped his handsome face, doubting for the first time the appeal of his good looks.
What's going on? Could it be his charm was diminishing?
Ignoring the clownish state of the other guy, Mu Lin retreated a step, slipped past the two guys, and left them a tasteful rejection that piqued their curiosity.
"She does seem hard to approach." Zhou Yicen murmured to himself, then returned to the waiting area, leaving a certain fool standing there questioning his existence.
Being born two minutes late was indeed a lifelong regret.
...
When they returned home that evening, both of them collapsed onto the sofa like dead bodies.
They admired their young aunt's immense power, which could exhaust people to near death within minutes.
"So young and so useless," scoffed their aunt Zhou Fanzhi, who remained graceful despite it all.
It was just a shopping trip, but every time they returned as if they had escaped death, she could only shake her head at the scene.
At her derisive comment, Zhou Yicen and Zhou Yujun chose to ignore her.
Women were indeed terrifying.
"Back already?" Zhou Jiansheng, who had just descended the staircase, chuckled at the sight of the three on the sofa. "Were you enslaved again?"
A barefaced rhetorical question.
Upon hearing the new arrival's voice, the two men, who were lying leisurely, immediately straightened their bodies and respectfully greeted, "Grandpa."
Zhou Fanzhi stood up to support Zhou Jiansheng to the sofa while gracefully smiling, "Dad, you seem overly joyful today. Did something good happen?" Zhou Jiansheng was usually meticulous in his dealings. The fact he didn't reprimand the two "corpses" and actually made a joke of it spoke volumes about his excellent mood.
"Yes, I met this interesting young lady." Every time Zhou Jiansheng thought of Mu Lin, he inexplicably felt very pleased.
"If she managed to catch your eye, she must be pretty remarkable," Zhou Fanzhi commented, curious about what kind of girl could cause her father to feel such joy. It was indeed rare.
"Oh, definitely. Most notably, her medical skills, besides, I haven't uncovered them fully yet, they should be exceptional." Zhou Jiansheng anticipated that he would witness these skills in a day or two.
"She studies medicine?" The two men said in unison. Subconsciously, they thought of the girl they had met in the afternoon.
"Yes, and more importantly, Chinese medicine." To be honest, there were already few who practiced Chinese medicine, and even fewer among women. Compared to modern medicine, Chinese medicine was considerably harder to master.
"That is indeed rare," Zhou Fanzhi replied, now understanding why her father liked her so much.
"Yes," Zhou Jiansheng nodded. After dinner, he couldn't wait to go out and chatter away with an old buddy. He simply couldn't afford to wait any longer.
He must hurry to share this exciting encounter with his old friend!