Chapter 191: We’re all different!
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
Shao Hua’s father no longer tried to bully Zhang Fan in Chinese chess. There was no need for such a thing. Zhang Fan was always exhausted when coming here after work. Zhang Fan also had more and more authority in the family now. Although he usually remained quiet, he was really reliable with his words as well as deeds. He wasn’t reckless like how young people usually tended to be.
After Zhang Fan washed his hands and face, Shao Hua applied some skin lotion on him. Usually, Zhang Fan didn’t like to do such things, as he couldn’t be bothered, but now that he had a girlfriend, his quality of life had elevated greatly. He was no longer single!
Before going back to the living room, Zhang Fan took this chance to secretly kiss Shao Hua on the mouth. He had been so busy for the past while, and hadn’t been able to accompany Shao Hua out for quite a long while already. Zhang Fan felt rather bad about this. Shao Hua never asked anything of him. She was already acting like his wife. Every single piece of clothing that Zhang Fan owned was something that Shao Hua had purchased for him. Shao Hua would also do things such as change the blankets to thick blankets in winter and light blankets in summer. Zhang Fan didn’t have to worry about a thing. He had never even considered switching blankets according to the weather before.
“Annoying! Be careful that my dad will see you! Annoying! You made my hair messy again.” Shao Hua lightly pushed away Zhang Fan. She also wished that he could accompany her more, but this was the nature of his work. What else could be done? What she could do was not put any burden on Zhang Fan, so that he didn’t need to concentrate on smaller matters. She was worried that if he had to concentrate too much on other things, he might make a mistake while treating a patient, which would be bad!
“Zhang Fan, are you hungry? If you’re not hungry yet, have some watermelon first!” Shao Hua’s father was quite proud. Although the farm secretary had given the watermelon for Zhang Fan’s sake, it had been in the name of coming to visit him!
“Yes, Zhang Fan, have some watermelon first. Let me make one more vegetable dish.” Shao Hua’s mother also came out of the kitchen.
“Okay. Ma’am, no need to busy yourself. Let’s all eat some watermelon together. You can make the vegetable dish later!” Originally, Zhang Fan was going to the kitchen to get a knife to cut the watermelon, but Shao Hua’s mother did so first. “Hurry and rest up on the sofa. I heard from Mr. Zhao in our apartment that you often need to stand for several hours in a row while performing surgery. That’s truly such hard work. It’s even longer than any standing punishment for children! Even a teacher will only punish a student for one class period!” Shao Hua’s mother chatted on for a while before turning back to go into the kitchen when she saw that her husband seemed to want to say something.
“My mother really loves to hear gossip about the hospital now. Before, all she knew was that there was internal medicine and surgery, but now she even knows when there are surgeries scheduled at the hospitals!” Shao Hua commented while chuckling.
“She’s concerned about me!”
“She’s just trying to show off!” Shao Hua’s father complained in a small voice while looking in the kitchen’s direction.
“What is this? It’s so large, and you put it on the sofa.” Shao Hua asked Zhang Fan about the case on the sofa.
“Oh, this is medical equipment that a merchant loaned to me. There’s also a small additional gift.” Zhang Fan handed the small gift box to Shao Hua. He then carefully opened up the medical equipment case.
Shao Hua’s father also looked over because he was curious. When Zhang Fan opened up the case, he found that the case had been designed quite scientifically in a staircase style. Even though the case didn’t seem large, it really could contain many things after being opened up.
“No wonder it was so heavy,” Zhang Fan muttered to himself.
On the uppermost layer was a stethoscope which was completely black. Although it appeared ordinary, Zhang Fan felt that it had to be expensive when he held onto it. It really felt too good. It was likely made out of some high-quality material. Behind the stethoscope, on the uppermost layer, were some small and common items of medical equipment, such as a stopwatch, ruler, and so on.
The second layer was more special. There were all sorts of surgical knives and forceps large and small. They were all low-gloss. Zhang Fan picked some up and felt their weight. The weight was extremely appropriate for him. There were even protective goggles included.
On the third layer, meanwhile, there was an electrotome.
Shao Hua’s father glanced over the medical equipment, and said, “This case is really high-tech. It didn’t look large, but it actually contained so many things.” He wanted to go and touch the electrotome, but then he thought of something as he instead touched his own neck!
“Sir, feel free to pick it up. This isn’t light at all.” Zhang Fan noticed this, but pretended not to see. He didn’t know what medical equipment Shao Hua’s father wanted to see, so he gave the entire case over to him.
Shao Hua’s mother also came over and saw all the complex medical equipment, so she commented, “A surgery requires so many different things? No wonder there’s stories of how careless doctors sometimes forget their medical equipment in a patient’s stomach. Isn’t this way too much?”
“Haha, it’s alright.” Zhang Fan chuckled without explaining anything. Shao Hua’s mother didn’t require an explanation, as she was simply making a comment.
Although Shao Hua’s father took the case of medical equipment, he decided against touching anything inside. “It is quite heavy indeed.” He then lightly placed the case on the table, and even especially on the center of the table. He definitely wouldn’t be so careful with it all if it wasn’t medical equipment! In a way, this was an ordinary person’s respect for the doctor profession!
“You should hurry and put this stuff away! It looks scary!” Shao Hua said as she saw only scissors and knives.
“Look at what you’re saying. It’s all lifesaving medical equipment. According to the ancient customs, this entire case is something you could burn incense to!” Shao Hua’s father was dissatisfied with his daughter’s tone.
“Hurry and come eat some watermelon! It really looks nice. The inside is quite red. I wonder if it’s sweet or not!”
Even if winter watermelons could be really sweet, one wouldn’t be able to enjoy them as much as in summer, since watermelons were much more suitable for eating in that hottest season. “Sigh! We don’t have enough people in our family. We can’t even finish a single watermelon!” Shao Hua’s father sighed. Few of his former coworkers still played Chinese chess. Instead, they were all busy accompanying grandchildren! Shao Hua’s father also wanted a grandchild, but he was too embarrassed to say that out loud.
“You have so many problems.” Shao Hua’s mother rolled her eyes at him before saying, “What’s this little box? Don’t get any watermelon juice on it.”
“Oh, this is an additional little gift. Open it up and see what’s inside.” Zhang Fan didn’t really care about this, because the box was so light.
“Lipstick!” Shao Hua opened up the box to discover two tubes of lipstick inside!
“Oh! That’s perfect, you can use it!” Zhang Fan now had zero interest in this!
“This lipstick doesn’t seem to be cheap!” Shao Hua said as she checked the lipstick.
“How expensive could it even be?” Zhang Fan understood nothing about lipstick, hence his question.
“This is Dior lipstick. One lipstick probably costs several hundred yuan! Let me go check the price on the internet. If it’s more than 100 yuan, let’s give it back to them. There’s no need to accept something so expensive.”
“Okay!” Zhang Fan agreed.
Shao Hua ran back to her room and searched for the lipstick on the internet for quite a while. “This particular type doesn’t exist!” Shao Hua said as she turned the lipstick around and around after checking on the internet.
“Could it be fake?” Zhang Fan mentioned the first thing on his mind.
“Let me go ask Jia Suyue. She’ll definitely know!”
“Oh! Okay!”
Shao Hua and Jia Suyue were best friends. However, their different family and financial circumstances caused the two of them to have different outlooks on spending money. Shao Hua was more similar to Zhang Fan. Both of them believed in spending money practically. Meanwhile, as Jia Suyue had grown up in a rich family, she wanted only the best, no matter if it was in life or in romance.
Recently, she finally got a boyfriend. Apparently, he was the son of a small mine’s owner. He had just returned from studying abroad. Jia Suyue had invited Shao Hua many times to meet her boyfriend, but Shao Hua had been busy studying accounting recently and hadn’t had the time. Thus, Shao Hua and Jia Suyue hadn’t seen each other for a long time already. Since Zhang Fan wasn’t busy today, Shao Hua wanted to go see her best friend Jia Suyue. She and Jia Suyue had grown up together as childhood friends, after all.
“Yueyue, are you busy today? How about Zhang Fan and I treat you and your prince to a meal?”
“Sure! Sure! I was going to get angry at you! It’s been so long since I last saw you!”
“I’ve been busy studying, as you know. I’ll treat you to a really good meal today!”
“Western food?”
“Hot pot!”
“Stingy.”
Here in Chasu City, a medium-sized city in the border province that would be considered a small city elsewhere in China, Jia Suyue’s conditions could be considered as the cream of the crop. However, Jia Suyue preferred to stay at home all day without trying to get a boyfriend or going out with other friends. This made her parents really worried. They tried to introduce so many outstanding youths to her, but not a single attempt succeeded!
This was simply a cultural trait of China. Chinese parents would place a great deal of emphasis on their children’s marriage. If their children didn’t get married and have children in a timely manner, the parents would feel as if there was something missing.
Jia Suyue’s father had a meal together with a small mine owner a while back. The two men discussed their children during the meal. When Jia Suyue’s father heard that the other party’s son happened to be single and had just returned from studying abroad in England, the two fathers immediately agreed to set up their children together on a date.
The small mine owner’s business could be described as medium-sized. In Chasu City, he would also be considered to be amongst those with the highest level of income. After becoming rich, he had a peaceful divorce with his original wife, and then got married to a female actress in Chasu City’s drama troupe. He then had a son late in life with the actress.
No mine owner would be a good person considering the nature of how they made their money. However, his son really had too much of a kind and gentle personality. Thus, the mine owner didn’t count on his son being able to inherit his mining business. He felt that it was unlikely his son would be able to maintain it, and that it might even bring catastrophe upon his son. He had made plenty of money already, so he brought his son back from England and spent some money on obtaining a government position for his son.
Jia Suyue’s boyfriend was named Le Jie. He had studied art appraisal in England. His personality and looks were both similar to his mother’s—he was tall, handsome, and especially gentle. Jia Suyue fell in love with Le Jie at first sight, for she viewed him as the prince that she had been dreaming about.
Le Jie’s aura, speech, and behavior were all gentlemanly. Ever since young, he had always been the obedient type because his father was really domineering. Le Jie and Jia Suyue officially entered a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship with each other after going out on a few dates.
Shao Hua told her parents where she was going, and then headed out with Zhang Fan. “Jia Suyue is in a relationship now! Don’t you argue with her over anything today!” Shao Hua especially made sure to tell Zhang Fan this in the car.
“Of course not! I definitely won’t try to anger her!” Zhang Fan was actually wondering what type of brave man would be able to handle the spoiled princess Jia Suyue!
The restaurant they chose was a newly opened buffet-style hot pot restaurant. It was fairly expensive, but it was still cheaper than western food would be in China. Shao Hua had chosen this place because this was her first time inviting her best friend’s boyfriend over to a meal.
“Hua!” Jia Suyue seemed even more beautiful than before due to the influence of love. She saw Shao Hua from far away and swiftly came up to hug the latter. Jia Suyue then said, “I was getting angry at you!”
“Okay, okay! I know I was in the wrong. Hurry and introduce us!” Shao Hua looked at the young man who was standing next to Jia Suyue.
“Le Jie! This is my best friend, Shao Hua. This is Zhang Fan, Shao Hua’s boyfriend.”
Shao Hua looked Le Jie over. He was about the same height as Zhang Fan. Le Jie had a nice aura about him, although his aura seemed rather soft.
Zhang Fan offered his hand to Le Jie for a handshake. The four then entered the hot pot restaurant together. Shao Hua secretly whispered to Jia Suyue, “He’s so handsome! I bet you’re feeling pressure now. His skin is probably whiter than yours!” Shao Hua joked with her best friend.
“Heehee! Yeah, I’m even starting to use his skin care face masks. They’re really effective. I’ll introduce those products to you later!”
Le Jie had a rich upbringing as well as time spent studying in England. He was also someone who really loved art and seemed so gentlemanly. He didn’t talk much, and simply silently sat there while listening to the two women chatting with each other. He and Zhang Fan had very little in common to talk about. Zhang Fan didn’t understand Le Jie’s preferred topics, while Le Jie wasn’t interested in Zhang Fan’s preferred topics.
Not long after they all sat down, they heard someone saying, “Doctor Zhang!” The voice sounded really happy to see him! Zhang Fan turned around, and saw to his pleasant surprise that Zhu Bing and Lu Renjia had also arrived here for a meal.
Zhu Bing had been the one to call out to Zhang Fan. They had just recently worked together to save a pregnant woman at another hot pot restaurant a while back. When that incident made the news, both Zhu Bing and Lu Renjia had been rewarded by their bosses. However, Zhang Fan hadn’t received any special reward, because his job as a doctor was already to save lives.
“Section Chief Lu!” Jia Suyue was also acquainted with Lu Renjia. Jia Suyue’s father also had a good relationship with Lu Renjia’s father, although the two women themselves were only at an acquaintance level of friendship.
Shao Hua, Lu Renjia, and Jia Suyue chatted a little with each other. Zhang Fan then suggested, “Let’s all eat together. It’s also livelier to eat hot pot with more people.” Zhang Fan really liked Zhu Bing.
“Is that alright?” Lu Renjia asked.
“Of course it is. Since we’re friends already, let’s eat together,” Shao Hua answered.
“Then let’s eat together?” Lu Renjia looked over at Zhu Bing. The two of them were still at the stage of getting to know each other. Zhu Bing was an excellent policeman. He managed to notice just from a few clues that Lu Renjia was currently single. What was the advantage of him being a policeman? He was willing to be shameless and patient. After quite a lot of effort on his part, he had finally succeeded in being able to invite Lu Renjia out for a meal together, just the two of them. Since the two of them worked in different cities that were several hundred kilometers apart, they typically didn’t have much time to spend together. Zhu Bing was now traveling the roads so much just for his chances to see her!
The three men sat together on one side of the booth, while the three women sat together on the other side. No matter their birth status, all the young people present here counted as outstanding youths. The atmosphere was also quite nice with so many people.
The three women all had different styles. Jia Suyue was coquettish, Lu Renjia was icy and haughty, while Shao Hua was the honor student type. Although none of the three were outstanding beauties, they were all good-looking enough to attract attention. Meanwhile, the three men also had different styles. Le Jie seemed soft and gentlemanly, Zhu Bing seemed wild and rough, and Zhang Fan seemed to be steady and reliable.
The three women mostly discussed beauty and makeup products with each other. Of the three men, Zhu Bing and Zhang Fan were the only ones who talked, while Le Jie mostly listened! Zhu Bing was really talkative, and told Le Jie about the previous hot pot restaurant pregnant woman incident. Maybe Zhu Bing was really bored with his usual policeman life, for he was really excited as he talked about this incident.
After the meal was over, Jia Suyue recommended that they all go to karaoke together. This was simply how human interactions and making friends in society was like. Nobody would be able to get away from human interactions. No matter if you were rich or poor, cutting yourself off from the society would be unhealthy!
Jia Suyue loved to sing. She was also pretty skilled at singing. Shao Hua had no interest in karaoke, but she also had nothing against it. Lu Renjia was more special as she rarely came to such an entertainment venue. She usually went to more private clubs instead.
Jia Suyue was really in her element here at the karaoke place. She knew how to sing every song on their list. It seemed like such a pity that she didn’t try to become an idol. Zhu Bing drank some beer, Le Jie drank dry red wine, the three women drank iced wine, and Zhang Fan drank water! Since everyone but Zhang Fan was now drinking, the atmosphere became even livelier.
Pretty women would always attract attention anywhere that they went. Lu Renjia needed to go to the bathroom. Zhu Bing wanted to follow her, but Lu Renjia didn’t allow him to do so, as she was embarrassed! However, Zhu Bing knew that places like a karaoke bar would have too many people of all sorts around.
Zhu Bing smoked a cigarette outside of their karaoke room as he watched Lu Renjia head to the bathroom. After Lu Renjia finished using the bathroom and started washing her hands at the shared sinks which were outside the bathroom, an incident occurred. This was because Lu Renjia’s aura was a complete mismatch for the karaoke bar, which caused her to attract even more attention than usual.
A young man who had his sleeves rolled up to reveal a tattoo bumped his crotch against Lu Renjia’s butt as she was washing her hands. Her attractive and curvaceous figure had caused this hoodlum who was quite drunk to only start thinking with the lower half of his body.
Lu Renjia noticed what he did, and instantly turned around and slapped him. “You bastard!”
“Oh, you’re spicy! I like your type,” replied the tattooed hoodlum in a flirtatious manner as he licked his lips.
Lu Renjia almost vomited at seeing this because of how disgusted she was. She immediately turned to leave, but the hoodlum grabbed her wrist. Lu Renjia was about to slap him with her other hand again, but she was only an average weak woman. She was unable to fight off this man who had nefarious intentions!
“You smell good!” The tattooed man put his face closer to Lu Renjia’s face as he squinted and sniffed.
“Hurry and let go of me, you bastard!”
Although it was rather noisy in the karaoke bar, Zhu Bing had been paying close attention to the bathroom area. He faintly heard that something seemed to be wrong, so he hurriedly ran over. When he saw a tattooed man trying to molest Lu Renjia, Zhu Bing’s eyes almost popped out in anger. He swiftly ran over and used a lightning fast kick to instantly knock over the hoodlum right next to the sink. Zhu Bing truly put a lot of strength into his kick, reaching the point where the tattooed hoodlum was unable to stand up again.
“Hurry and leave!” Zhu Bing immediately pulled Lu Renjia away. Although Zhu Bing wasn’t afraid of trouble, he was afraid for Lu Renjia’s sake! Hoodlums like these would either be drunkards or high on illegal drugs. Zhu Bing wasn’t in his police uniform at the moment, so he knew that he would be unable to scare other hoodlums off.
Unfortunately for them, as they were walking off, they ran into several more people dressed in the same way as the previous hoodlum. Zhu Bing swiftly pulled Lu Renjia away, but before they could walk far, they immediately heard angry shouts and the sound of chasing from behind them. “Hurry back to the karaoke room and call the police! No matter what, don’t come out of the private room! Hurry!” Zhu Bing then pushed Lu Renjia away.
He then turned around to face the gang of hoodlums!
Chapter 191: We’re all different!
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
Shao Hua’s father no longer tried to bully Zhang Fan in Chinese chess. There was no need for such a thing. Zhang Fan was always exhausted when coming here after work. Zhang Fan also had more and more authority in the family now. Although he usually remained quiet, he was really reliable with his words as well as deeds. He wasn’t reckless like how young people usually tended to be.
After Zhang Fan washed his hands and face, Shao Hua applied some skin lotion on him. Usually, Zhang Fan didn’t like to do such things, as he couldn’t be bothered, but now that he had a girlfriend, his quality of life had elevated greatly. He was no longer single!
Before going back to the living room, Zhang Fan took this chance to secretly kiss Shao Hua on the mouth. He had been so busy for the past while, and hadn’t been able to accompany Shao Hua out for quite a long while already. Zhang Fan felt rather bad about this. Shao Hua never asked anything of him. She was already acting like his wife. Every single piece of clothing that Zhang Fan owned was something that Shao Hua had purchased for him. Shao Hua would also do things such as change the blankets to thick blankets in winter and light blankets in summer. Zhang Fan didn’t have to worry about a thing. He had never even considered switching blankets according to the weather before.
“Annoying! Be careful that my dad will see you! Annoying! You made my hair messy again.” Shao Hua lightly pushed away Zhang Fan. She also wished that he could accompany her more, but this was the nature of his work. What else could be done? What she could do was not put any burden on Zhang Fan, so that he didn’t need to concentrate on smaller matters. She was worried that if he had to concentrate too much on other things, he might make a mistake while treating a patient, which would be bad!
“Zhang Fan, are you hungry? If you’re not hungry yet, have some watermelon first!” Shao Hua’s father was quite proud. Although the farm secretary had given the watermelon for Zhang Fan’s sake, it had been in the name of coming to visit him!
“Yes, Zhang Fan, have some watermelon first. Let me make one more vegetable dish.” Shao Hua’s mother also came out of the kitchen.
“Okay. Ma’am, no need to busy yourself. Let’s all eat some watermelon together. You can make the vegetable dish later!” Originally, Zhang Fan was going to the kitchen to get a knife to cut the watermelon, but Shao Hua’s mother did so first. “Hurry and rest up on the sofa. I heard from Mr. Zhao in our apartment that you often need to stand for several hours in a row while performing surgery. That’s truly such hard work. It’s even longer than any standing punishment for children! Even a teacher will only punish a student for one class period!” Shao Hua’s mother chatted on for a while before turning back to go into the kitchen when she saw that her husband seemed to want to say something.
“My mother really loves to hear gossip about the hospital now. Before, all she knew was that there was internal medicine and surgery, but now she even knows when there are surgeries scheduled at the hospitals!” Shao Hua commented while chuckling.
“She’s concerned about me!”
“She’s just trying to show off!” Shao Hua’s father complained in a small voice while looking in the kitchen’s direction.
“What is this? It’s so large, and you put it on the sofa.” Shao Hua asked Zhang Fan about the case on the sofa.
“Oh, this is medical equipment that a merchant loaned to me. There’s also a small additional gift.” Zhang Fan handed the small gift box to Shao Hua. He then carefully opened up the medical equipment case.
Shao Hua’s father also looked over because he was curious. When Zhang Fan opened up the case, he found that the case had been designed quite scientifically in a staircase style. Even though the case didn’t seem large, it really could contain many things after being opened up.
“No wonder it was so heavy,” Zhang Fan muttered to himself.
On the uppermost layer was a stethoscope which was completely black. Although it appeared ordinary, Zhang Fan felt that it had to be expensive when he held onto it. It really felt too good. It was likely made out of some high-quality material. Behind the stethoscope, on the uppermost layer, were some small and common items of medical equipment, such as a stopwatch, ruler, and so on.
The second layer was more special. There were all sorts of surgical knives and forceps large and small. They were all low-gloss. Zhang Fan picked some up and felt their weight. The weight was extremely appropriate for him. There were even protective goggles included.
On the third layer, meanwhile, there was an electrotome.
Shao Hua’s father glanced over the medical equipment, and said, “This case is really high-tech. It didn’t look large, but it actually contained so many things.” He wanted to go and touch the electrotome, but then he thought of something as he instead touched his own neck!
“Sir, feel free to pick it up. This isn’t light at all.” Zhang Fan noticed this, but pretended not to see. He didn’t know what medical equipment Shao Hua’s father wanted to see, so he gave the entire case over to him.
Shao Hua’s mother also came over and saw all the complex medical equipment, so she commented, “A surgery requires so many different things? No wonder there’s stories of how careless doctors sometimes forget their medical equipment in a patient’s stomach. Isn’t this way too much?”
“Haha, it’s alright.” Zhang Fan chuckled without explaining anything. Shao Hua’s mother didn’t require an explanation, as she was simply making a comment.
Although Shao Hua’s father took the case of medical equipment, he decided against touching anything inside. “It is quite heavy indeed.” He then lightly placed the case on the table, and even especially on the center of the table. He definitely wouldn’t be so careful with it all if it wasn’t medical equipment! In a way, this was an ordinary person’s respect for the doctor profession!
“You should hurry and put this stuff away! It looks scary!” Shao Hua said as she saw only scissors and knives.
“Look at what you’re saying. It’s all lifesaving medical equipment. According to the ancient customs, this entire case is something you could burn incense to!” Shao Hua’s father was dissatisfied with his daughter’s tone.
“Hurry and come eat some watermelon! It really looks nice. The inside is quite red. I wonder if it’s sweet or not!”
Even if winter watermelons could be really sweet, one wouldn’t be able to enjoy them as much as in summer, since watermelons were much more suitable for eating in that hottest season. “Sigh! We don’t have enough people in our family. We can’t even finish a single watermelon!” Shao Hua’s father sighed. Few of his former coworkers still played Chinese chess. Instead, they were all busy accompanying grandchildren! Shao Hua’s father also wanted a grandchild, but he was too embarrassed to say that out loud.
“You have so many problems.” Shao Hua’s mother rolled her eyes at him before saying, “What’s this little box? Don’t get any watermelon juice on it.”
“Oh, this is an additional little gift. Open it up and see what’s inside.” Zhang Fan didn’t really care about this, because the box was so light.
“Lipstick!” Shao Hua opened up the box to discover two tubes of lipstick inside!
“Oh! That’s perfect, you can use it!” Zhang Fan now had zero interest in this!
“This lipstick doesn’t seem to be cheap!” Shao Hua said as she checked the lipstick.
“How expensive could it even be?” Zhang Fan understood nothing about lipstick, hence his question.
“This is Dior lipstick. One lipstick probably costs several hundred yuan! Let me go check the price on the internet. If it’s more than 100 yuan, let’s give it back to them. There’s no need to accept something so expensive.”
“Okay!” Zhang Fan agreed.
Shao Hua ran back to her room and searched for the lipstick on the internet for quite a while. “This particular type doesn’t exist!” Shao Hua said as she turned the lipstick around and around after checking on the internet.
“Could it be fake?” Zhang Fan mentioned the first thing on his mind.
“Let me go ask Jia Suyue. She’ll definitely know!”
“Oh! Okay!”
Shao Hua and Jia Suyue were best friends. However, their different family and financial circumstances caused the two of them to have different outlooks on spending money. Shao Hua was more similar to Zhang Fan. Both of them believed in spending money practically. Meanwhile, as Jia Suyue had grown up in a rich family, she wanted only the best, no matter if it was in life or in romance.
Recently, she finally got a boyfriend. Apparently, he was the son of a small mine’s owner. He had just returned from studying abroad. Jia Suyue had invited Shao Hua many times to meet her boyfriend, but Shao Hua had been busy studying accounting recently and hadn’t had the time. Thus, Shao Hua and Jia Suyue hadn’t seen each other for a long time already. Since Zhang Fan wasn’t busy today, Shao Hua wanted to go see her best friend Jia Suyue. She and Jia Suyue had grown up together as childhood friends, after all.
“Yueyue, are you busy today? How about Zhang Fan and I treat you and your prince to a meal?”
“Sure! Sure! I was going to get angry at you! It’s been so long since I last saw you!”
“I’ve been busy studying, as you know. I’ll treat you to a really good meal today!”
“Western food?”
“Hot pot!”
“Stingy.”
Here in Chasu City, a medium-sized city in the border province that would be considered a small city elsewhere in China, Jia Suyue’s conditions could be considered as the cream of the crop. However, Jia Suyue preferred to stay at home all day without trying to get a boyfriend or going out with other friends. This made her parents really worried. They tried to introduce so many outstanding youths to her, but not a single attempt succeeded!
This was simply a cultural trait of China. Chinese parents would place a great deal of emphasis on their children’s marriage. If their children didn’t get married and have children in a timely manner, the parents would feel as if there was something missing.
Jia Suyue’s father had a meal together with a small mine owner a while back. The two men discussed their children during the meal. When Jia Suyue’s father heard that the other party’s son happened to be single and had just returned from studying abroad in England, the two fathers immediately agreed to set up their children together on a date.
The small mine owner’s business could be described as medium-sized. In Chasu City, he would also be considered to be amongst those with the highest level of income. After becoming rich, he had a peaceful divorce with his original wife, and then got married to a female actress in Chasu City’s drama troupe. He then had a son late in life with the actress.
No mine owner would be a good person considering the nature of how they made their money. However, his son really had too much of a kind and gentle personality. Thus, the mine owner didn’t count on his son being able to inherit his mining business. He felt that it was unlikely his son would be able to maintain it, and that it might even bring catastrophe upon his son. He had made plenty of money already, so he brought his son back from England and spent some money on obtaining a government position for his son.
Jia Suyue’s boyfriend was named Le Jie. He had studied art appraisal in England. His personality and looks were both similar to his mother’s—he was tall, handsome, and especially gentle. Jia Suyue fell in love with Le Jie at first sight, for she viewed him as the prince that she had been dreaming about.
Le Jie’s aura, speech, and behavior were all gentlemanly. Ever since young, he had always been the obedient type because his father was really domineering. Le Jie and Jia Suyue officially entered a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship with each other after going out on a few dates.
Shao Hua told her parents where she was going, and then headed out with Zhang Fan. “Jia Suyue is in a relationship now! Don’t you argue with her over anything today!” Shao Hua especially made sure to tell Zhang Fan this in the car.
“Of course not! I definitely won’t try to anger her!” Zhang Fan was actually wondering what type of brave man would be able to handle the spoiled princess Jia Suyue!
The restaurant they chose was a newly opened buffet-style hot pot restaurant. It was fairly expensive, but it was still cheaper than western food would be in China. Shao Hua had chosen this place because this was her first time inviting her best friend’s boyfriend over to a meal.
“Hua!” Jia Suyue seemed even more beautiful than before due to the influence of love. She saw Shao Hua from far away and swiftly came up to hug the latter. Jia Suyue then said, “I was getting angry at you!”
“Okay, okay! I know I was in the wrong. Hurry and introduce us!” Shao Hua looked at the young man who was standing next to Jia Suyue.
“Le Jie! This is my best friend, Shao Hua. This is Zhang Fan, Shao Hua’s boyfriend.”
Shao Hua looked Le Jie over. He was about the same height as Zhang Fan. Le Jie had a nice aura about him, although his aura seemed rather soft.
Zhang Fan offered his hand to Le Jie for a handshake. The four then entered the hot pot restaurant together. Shao Hua secretly whispered to Jia Suyue, “He’s so handsome! I bet you’re feeling pressure now. His skin is probably whiter than yours!” Shao Hua joked with her best friend.
“Heehee! Yeah, I’m even starting to use his skin care face masks. They’re really effective. I’ll introduce those products to you later!”
Le Jie had a rich upbringing as well as time spent studying in England. He was also someone who really loved art and seemed so gentlemanly. He didn’t talk much, and simply silently sat there while listening to the two women chatting with each other. He and Zhang Fan had very little in common to talk about. Zhang Fan didn’t understand Le Jie’s preferred topics, while Le Jie wasn’t interested in Zhang Fan’s preferred topics.
Not long after they all sat down, they heard someone saying, “Doctor Zhang!” The voice sounded really happy to see him! Zhang Fan turned around, and saw to his pleasant surprise that Zhu Bing and Lu Renjia had also arrived here for a meal.
Zhu Bing had been the one to call out to Zhang Fan. They had just recently worked together to save a pregnant woman at another hot pot restaurant a while back. When that incident made the news, both Zhu Bing and Lu Renjia had been rewarded by their bosses. However, Zhang Fan hadn’t received any special reward, because his job as a doctor was already to save lives.
“Section Chief Lu!” Jia Suyue was also acquainted with Lu Renjia. Jia Suyue’s father also had a good relationship with Lu Renjia’s father, although the two women themselves were only at an acquaintance level of friendship.
Shao Hua, Lu Renjia, and Jia Suyue chatted a little with each other. Zhang Fan then suggested, “Let’s all eat together. It’s also livelier to eat hot pot with more people.” Zhang Fan really liked Zhu Bing.
“Is that alright?” Lu Renjia asked.
“Of course it is. Since we’re friends already, let’s eat together,” Shao Hua answered.
“Then let’s eat together?” Lu Renjia looked over at Zhu Bing. The two of them were still at the stage of getting to know each other. Zhu Bing was an excellent policeman. He managed to notice just from a few clues that Lu Renjia was currently single. What was the advantage of him being a policeman? He was willing to be shameless and patient. After quite a lot of effort on his part, he had finally succeeded in being able to invite Lu Renjia out for a meal together, just the two of them. Since the two of them worked in different cities that were several hundred kilometers apart, they typically didn’t have much time to spend together. Zhu Bing was now traveling the roads so much just for his chances to see her!
The three men sat together on one side of the booth, while the three women sat together on the other side. No matter their birth status, all the young people present here counted as outstanding youths. The atmosphere was also quite nice with so many people.
The three women all had different styles. Jia Suyue was coquettish, Lu Renjia was icy and haughty, while Shao Hua was the honor student type. Although none of the three were outstanding beauties, they were all good-looking enough to attract attention. Meanwhile, the three men also had different styles. Le Jie seemed soft and gentlemanly, Zhu Bing seemed wild and rough, and Zhang Fan seemed to be steady and reliable.
The three women mostly discussed beauty and makeup products with each other. Of the three men, Zhu Bing and Zhang Fan were the only ones who talked, while Le Jie mostly listened! Zhu Bing was really talkative, and told Le Jie about the previous hot pot restaurant pregnant woman incident. Maybe Zhu Bing was really bored with his usual policeman life, for he was really excited as he talked about this incident.
After the meal was over, Jia Suyue recommended that they all go to karaoke together. This was simply how human interactions and making friends in society was like. Nobody would be able to get away from human interactions. No matter if you were rich or poor, cutting yourself off from the society would be unhealthy!
Jia Suyue loved to sing. She was also pretty skilled at singing. Shao Hua had no interest in karaoke, but she also had nothing against it. Lu Renjia was more special as she rarely came to such an entertainment venue. She usually went to more private clubs instead.
Jia Suyue was really in her element here at the karaoke place. She knew how to sing every song on their list. It seemed like such a pity that she didn’t try to become an idol. Zhu Bing drank some beer, Le Jie drank dry red wine, the three women drank iced wine, and Zhang Fan drank water! Since everyone but Zhang Fan was now drinking, the atmosphere became even livelier.
Pretty women would always attract attention anywhere that they went. Lu Renjia needed to go to the bathroom. Zhu Bing wanted to follow her, but Lu Renjia didn’t allow him to do so, as she was embarrassed! However, Zhu Bing knew that places like a karaoke bar would have too many people of all sorts around.
Zhu Bing smoked a cigarette outside of their karaoke room as he watched Lu Renjia head to the bathroom. After Lu Renjia finished using the bathroom and started washing her hands at the shared sinks which were outside the bathroom, an incident occurred. This was because Lu Renjia’s aura was a complete mismatch for the karaoke bar, which caused her to attract even more attention than usual.
A young man who had his sleeves rolled up to reveal a tattoo bumped his crotch against Lu Renjia’s butt as she was washing her hands. Her attractive and curvaceous figure had caused this hoodlum who was quite drunk to only start thinking with the lower half of his body.
Lu Renjia noticed what he did, and instantly turned around and slapped him. “You bastard!”
“Oh, you’re spicy! I like your type,” replied the tattooed hoodlum in a flirtatious manner as he licked his lips.
Lu Renjia almost vomited at seeing this because of how disgusted she was. She immediately turned to leave, but the hoodlum grabbed her wrist. Lu Renjia was about to slap him with her other hand again, but she was only an average weak woman. She was unable to fight off this man who had nefarious intentions!
“You smell good!” The tattooed man put his face closer to Lu Renjia’s face as he squinted and sniffed.
“Hurry and let go of me, you bastard!”
Although it was rather noisy in the karaoke bar, Zhu Bing had been paying close attention to the bathroom area. He faintly heard that something seemed to be wrong, so he hurriedly ran over. When he saw a tattooed man trying to molest Lu Renjia, Zhu Bing’s eyes almost popped out in anger. He swiftly ran over and used a lightning fast kick to instantly knock over the hoodlum right next to the sink. Zhu Bing truly put a lot of strength into his kick, reaching the point where the tattooed hoodlum was unable to stand up again.
“Hurry and leave!” Zhu Bing immediately pulled Lu Renjia away. Although Zhu Bing wasn’t afraid of trouble, he was afraid for Lu Renjia’s sake! Hoodlums like these would either be drunkards or high on illegal drugs. Zhu Bing wasn’t in his police uniform at the moment, so he knew that he would be unable to scare other hoodlums off.
Unfortunately for them, as they were walking off, they ran into several more people dressed in the same way as the previous hoodlum. Zhu Bing swiftly pulled Lu Renjia away, but before they could walk far, they immediately heard angry shouts and the sound of chasing from behind them. “Hurry back to the karaoke room and call the police! No matter what, don’t come out of the private room! Hurry!” Zhu Bing then pushed Lu Renjia away.
He then turned around to face the gang of hoodlums!
