The Beauty Said She Has A Secret Crush On Me - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“Heping Square Station, arrived. Passengers alighting, please prepare to exit in advance.” The emotionless electronic female voice interrupted Zhuang Lu’s thoughts. She followed Wen Zhuo and the short girl off the bus at this stop, even though the Korean restaurant she wanted to go to was two stops further. It was just a strange impulse.

The three people entered the Huang Ji Braised Pot restaurant one after the other. Zhuang Lu deliberately chose a table parallel to theirs.

A waiter handed over the menu. “Today is the birthday of our boss, Ms. Huang. If your last name is Huang, you can get a 50% discount by showing us your ID.” Before Zhuang Lu could answer, she heard the short girl next door call out in a cutesy, saccharine voice: “My last name is Huang! How great! Here is my ID, ma’am, please take a look.” Zhuang Lu glanced over and saw the waiter at the next table, who looked about thirty, frown, but she professionally checked the ID.

Zhuang Lu casually ordered a dish, then quietly began observing Wen Zhuo. Wen Zhuo was very gentlemanly, rinsing the utensils for the girl with hot water and then pouring her a cup of barley tea.

Zhuang Lu also poured herself a cup of barley tea. Blowing away the steam, a sip of the hot tea soothed her agitated mind. Zhuang Lu had never considered herself ugly or fat; on the contrary, she thought skinny people weren’t attractive at all, except for the goddess-like Wu Nianxi. Naturally, this included the cute “Little Huang” in front of her. Little Huang was indeed pure and adorable, but those stick-like legs under the table were genuinely unsightly! Zhuang Lu moved her gaze back to Little Huang’s face. Her features were not as outstanding as the beauty Wu’s.

Little Huang took a sip of barley tea, smiling sweetly, her large eyes curving into crescents. “If it snows this winter, can you take me to take snow pictures?”

Wen Zhuo finished cleaning his own chopsticks and said seriously: “I can, but meteorologists predict a warm winter this year, so it might not snow.”

“Ah!~ I’m unhappy!” Little Huang pouted, her expression a bit exaggerated, but because she was good-looking, it was still pleasant to the eye.

Wen Zhuo’s biggest hobby in his spare time was photography. He often appeared in various corners of the school with his Canon 5D Mark II.

Once, when Zhuang Lu’s class organized a barbecue on Baizhu Island, Zhuang Lu, as a veteran foodie, was no longer invisible. She disliked how others barbecued, so she took over. The enticing aroma attracted her classmates, who seriously tried to recall her name, then called it out with various attitudes to ask for a share of food. Zhuang Lu reluctantly parted with a few skewers, blood dripping in her heart, and then chose a spot to savor her spoils.

From a distance, she saw Wen Zhuo and several photography club members taking pictures in a small grove. A very skinny girl was wearing a pure white strapless long dress, her black hair flying in the air with her movements. Wen Zhuo’s handsome face was obscured by the SLR camera, but the exposed half was still full of charm.

In a subsequent Beijing University photography competition, that photo won an award. The skinny girl could faintly be seen wearing a white strapless long dress, but her arms were crossed, the lines clean and hard. She slightly raised her head, looking straight ahead. The early summer sun reflected in her eyes, carrying an indescribable gentle quality. The blurred large aperture and warm color exposure made people instantly remember that emotion.

Later, it was rumored that the girl in the photo was Wen Zhuo’s girlfriend, but since the girl never appeared by his side again, the rumor faded away.

Zhuang Lu guessed that perhaps Little Huang’s acquaintance with Wen Zhuo was also through photography.

She then heard Wen Zhuo say with a smile: “The club is organizing a shoot in Cangshan next month. Are you going?”

“Climbing mountains is the most tiring thing. I don’t like it. Beautiful photos are enough. Why climb a mountain?”

Hearing this, Zhuang Lu got goosebumps from the girl’s overly delicate manner.

“Forests have their own kind of beauty,” Wen Zhuo said.

Little Huang pouted again, “Then you have to say I’m pretty.”

Wen Zhuo just looked at Little Huang gently without speaking.

Little Huang looked at Wen Zhuo, pouted. “Are you even dating me? You don’t try to please me at all.”

Zhuang Lu’s hand, gripping the teacup, was itching. She felt that if Little Huang said “人家” (a cutesy term for oneself) one more time, she wouldn’t be able to resist throwing the cup.

But Wen Zhuo didn’t seem to mind. He said rather ambiguously: “Aren’t you the one who likes me?”

“Hmph!” Little Huang squealed.

“I like you a little too,” Wen Zhuo finished the second half of the sentence unhurriedly.

Perhaps fate didn’t want to watch Zhuang Lu suffer from this public display of affection. Her braised pot arrived first, and the waiter, standing beside her to prepare the seasoning, blocked her view of the next table.

The transparent pot was placed on the induction cooker. Various vegetables were added, topped with a layer of thick, fragrant seasoning, then Zhuang Lu’s favorite chicken, duck, and beef, followed by another layer of sauce. The lid was closed, and she watched the ingredients slowly cook. This process was as beautiful as day replacing night, and warmth replacing cold. Zhuang Lu’s tiny eyes narrowed in satisfaction at the gradually emerging aroma. Her attention was no longer entirely on the conversation at the next table, where the boy and girl were merely testing each other, talking about topics that weren’t very interesting.

Wen Zhuo was not a talkative person. He didn’t boast but was a good listener, and the few things he did say were perfectly measured—more would be deliberate, less would be superficial. Little Huang, however, was a talkative person, and her voice was not as sweet as her appearance suggested but rather sharp, which Zhuang Lu disliked. Faced with the choice of filling her ears with Little Huang’s voice or enjoying the delicious food, Zhuang Lu naturally chose the latter.

Before Zhuang Lu could even finish the duck feet in her pot, she heard an angry man’s voice from the next table. “D*mn it! You’re messing around with someone else behind Boss’s back again!”

Zhuang Lu, holding a duck foot in her mouth, quickly looked over. She saw a man with a scar near his eye looking angrily at Little Huang. Beside him was a woman dressed sexily, watching the scene with an expression of amusement, her gaze falling on Wen Zhuo with an unspoken interest.

Little Huang trembled under the man’s stare, her voice soft and weak. “No, it’s not. We are just ordinary friends. I didn’t do anything, Brother Shan, please don’t tell Brother Yan.”

That’s good, she stopped referring to herself cutely. Zhuang Lu immediately picked up another duck foot, chewing on it while watching the drama.

Brother Shan’s gaze was fierce, clearly unconvinced. “You little slut, I told you that if you cheat again, I’ll cripple you.” With that, he raised his large hand, ready to strike.

The customers in the restaurant all looked over, but no one spoke. The waiter didn’t dare to step forward. Zhuang Lu couldn’t stand seeing a woman being hit and was about to stand up to intervene, but she saw Wen Zhuo frown, ready to stop the man. However, the woman beside the man intervened first. “A’Shan, it’s best to let Brother Yan handle Brother Yan’s woman. Don’t do this; affecting socialist harmony in public is not good.” Then she smiled at Little Huang. “Let’s talk outside. Handsome boy, you come out too.”

The man nodded, raising his hand to grab Little Huang.

Wen Zhuo, however, grabbed the man’s aggressive arm.

“You motherf***er…”

“A’Shan,” the woman’s light voice carried a hint of sternness.

The man glared fiercely at Wen Zhuo, sneering as he let go, and strode out of the restaurant. The woman smiled very flirtatiously, threw a wink at Wen Zhuo, and also walked out gracefully. Little Huang clung tightly to Wen Zhuo like a clinging vine, “We’re just ordinary friends, ordinary friends!”

Wen Zhuo looked at Little Huang without joy or sorrow, finally sighing and patting the hand Little Huang was clutching to comfort her. “Please let go first.” Then, he didn’t look at Little Huang again, calmly went to the counter to pay the bill, and walked out while the trembling waiter said, “Welcome next time.”

The people in the restaurant only started discussing after the people involved had left.

“I really don’t know what these young people today are thinking. Can’t even eat a meal in peace.”

“That guy is going to be miserable. I don’t think those people are easy to mess with.”

“Brother Shan, I’ve heard of him. He’s a man of the underworld.”

Zhuang Lu stood up, leaned over, and asked the middle-aged man who spoke, “Big brother, the underworld, does that mean the mafia?”

The middle-aged man was evasive, “More or less, more or less.”

Zhuang Lu couldn’t care less about the delicious food she had just started eating. She nimbly rushed to the counter to pay. Just as she turned to leave, she turned back and said to the waiter who was about to say, “Welcome next time”: “Please pack up my table, including the side dishes that haven’t been served yet. I’ll come back to get them later!”

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