"Then I'll like Grandma and Grandpa a bit more from now on."
"Tell them more stories and let them travel more in the future."
Unlike his younger sister, He Zhixin had been doted on by his grandparents since childhood; thus, his relationship with them was particularly close.
Even though his grandparents would sometimes quarrel with his father, and their relationship wasn't great, it didn't affect his love for his grandparents.
His parents and his eldest uncle had all told him that they simply disagreed with the grandparents and that any conflicts would be resolved by the adults. The arguments happened because they didn't want to compromise and do something against their will, so it was inevitable to have some disputes and reason things out.
As a result, He Zhixin and He Zhiyao were quite used to scenes like the one that had just occurred in the restaurant, where the adults banged on the table and argued; they just felt that the grandparents were being a bit unreasonable.
Today was another day when their eldest uncle and father had to reason with the grandparents.
Tian Chengcheng, who was several years older than them, found this all too familiar. While eating her snacks at the scene, she simultaneously sent real-time updates to Lai Zhiyun, live-texting the drama so she could enjoy the scene as well.
"Chengcheng, why are you still playing with your phone?" He Xiuxiu saw that Tian Chengcheng was constantly on her phone and frowned.
"I'm chatting with Sister Zhiyun."
That evening, both her eldest uncle, younger uncle, her mom, and aunt had their moments clashing with the grandparents. She definitely needed to let her cousin know about it.
Her eldest uncle was quite reliable.
"Good, tell Zhiyun to steer clear of Du Jiahao, that disgusting creep, and not to treat him like he's important, to avoid making herself sick."
"Sure." Tian Chengcheng promptly agreed, typing into the chat box while walking.
"Watch out for the steps ahead, mind your footing." As mother and daughter were focused on the phone, He Xiuxiu's husband, Tian Song, timely reminded them from behind.
"Got it."
As they spoke, the group reached their cars, and He Yannian, who was trailing behind, quickly came forward. "Get in the car first; I've made reservations for dinner."
It was already dark, and they were all still hungry.
Shortly, three cars left the He Family manor one after another. The gate remained open until the cars disappeared into the dim night, and then the heavy steel doors slowly closed.
...
The drama at the He Family manor had come to an end.
Lai Zhiyun watched the excitement through the barrage of WeChat messages from Tian Chengcheng.
Enjoying the spectacle online, she felt a tinge of schadenfreude, yet warmth from the care and support of her family members. Along with the schadenfreude, she felt comfort in her heart.
Now that Old He had been so supportive, she should also make a gesture. She decided to cook him lunch the next day.
The next day, Lai Zhiyun got up at 8:30 a.m.
It took her ten minutes to wash up, and then she drove for twenty minutes to the market.
She preferred visiting the market over the supermarket.
Because the latter had more of a human touch, and there were lots of delicious foods in the area, she could shop and have breakfast – perfect in two words!
By nine o'clock, the market's peak hours had passed. The crowd thinned out, and parking spaces were available. At this time, parking was convenient, and there was no need to queue for breakfast.
After parking the car, Lai Zhiyun got out with her bag, closed the car door, and looked up to suddenly see a somewhat familiar face in her line of sight.
Zhou Liao.
Through the clear glass windows, their eyes met.
She saw him, and he was looking right at her.
What a coincidence!
She'd just sent him a polite rejection the day before, and now they'd run into each other.
Awkward, right?
Actually, it was okay.
She's always been easy-going. As long as she didn't feel awkward, the awkwardness was on the other person. So, she didn't think about changing her plans for breakfast.
Before going to bed the previous night, she had already decided to have rice noodle rolls with fresh meat and steamed beef brisket with rice noodle threads. For this reason, she deliberately parked on the side of Liji Rice Noodle Roll Shop, intending to head straight there.
Ding ding—
Her phone sounded twice, receiving a new WeChat message.
Separated by the glass wall, Zhou Liao pointed to his phone, signaling to Lai Zhiyun to check the message.
[Zhou Liao: Have you had breakfast yet? Just bumped into you, let me treat you to breakfast.]
Lai Zhiyun: "..."
She had intended to go in for breakfast, but she hadn't planned on having you pay.
However...
She found him quite pleasant to look at, and she wasn't averse to Zhou Liao's invitation.
After entering the shop, Lai Zhiyun sat down opposite Zhou Liao.
"Such a coincidence, I didn't expect to run into you here," Lai Zhiyun said with a perfunctory smile and made small talk.
"I'm off today. My mom ordered some beef balls from the market here and asked me to pick them up, so I'm having breakfast along the way," Zhou Liao said with a smile, explaining.
"Oh, have you... ordered yet?"
Lai Zhiyun noticed a cup of soy milk in front of Zhou Liao but no tableware, unsure if he had ordered yet.
"Not yet. You order first," Zhou Liao said, pushing the menu to Lai Zhiyun.
Lai Zhiyun glanced down at it symbolically.
In fact, she was quite familiar with this shop and didn't need to look at the menu to order.
"Young man, is this your girlfriend? You've been sitting here for almost half an hour; turns out you were waiting for your girlfriend, huh? You have good taste, she's very pretty," said the waitress warmly with a smile, "What would you like to eat, young lady?"
Lai Zhiyun looked up upon hearing this, facing the waitress's enthusiastic smile, "What would you like, miss?"
So it wasn't a chance encounter? Zhou Liao was actually waiting here for her?
Lai Zhiyun paused, slightly shaken.
"Have you not decided yet?" the auntie checked with Lai Zhiyun, then looked over at Zhou Liao.
"It's settled, I'll have the fresh meat rice noodle roll, and the steamed beef brisket with rice noodles," Lai Zhiyun quickly recovered, and then she asked Zhou Liao calmly, "How about you?"
"Same as you."
"Alright, two orders of fresh meat rice noodle rolls, two orders of steamed beef brisket with rice noodles, please wait a moment."
The waitress gestured broadly, jotting a few marks on the order sheet, then left the sheet behind and turned to leave.
Zhou Liao: "..."
Lai Zhiyun: "..."
The two exchanged glances, and then Lai Zhiyun was the first to look away.
"Auntie must have misunderstood," Lai Zhiyun tried to ease the atmosphere.
She thought to herself, sitting in the shop didn't necessarily mean he was waiting for someone, maybe he just wanted to space out on his own, to daydream.
Besides, she hadn't informed Zhou Liao of her coming here today, so how could he possibly have been waiting for her?
For a moment just now, she had perhaps been a little self-flattering.
"Misunderstood what?" Zhou Liao raised an eyebrow slightly, his relaxed and candid demeanor hiding any brief panic deep inside, "Misunderstood that you are my girlfriend? Or that I was specifically waiting for you here?"
"Otherwise? Aren't they all misunderstandings?" Lai Zhiyun retorted.
"I was waiting for you," Zhou Liao shot straight to the point, "I've seen you around here before, and since I happened to be coming this way today, I thought I'd wait and see if I could bump into you again."
Lai Zhiyun: "..."
Met before?
She had no recollection of it.
"When?" Lai Zhiyun asked after a moment of thought.
It had been a while since she last came to this market.
"Last month."
"Oh."
"..."
And then, there were no follow-ups.
With one word, the conversation ended.