To Get Married - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

December 31st, New Year’s Eve.

Adults rarely have a holiday. Unless they are homebodies or strictly managed by their families, they like to go out in groups to have fun.

Not Old Acquaintance’s business tends to be better during these holidays, though mostly after dinner time.

Although the bar had a cook and could offer some simple main dishes and snacks besides drinks, a bar is still not a restaurant. No matter how refined the environment, the menu is limited, and the prices are slightly higher than outside. Most people wouldn’t choose a place like this if they were genuinely looking to fill their stomachs.

It was now just before 6:00 PM, nearing the dinner hour, which was also the bar’s opening time for the day.

At this time, customers were sparse, and the staff were all idly wandering around.

Mu Chensan was leaning against the bar counter, his eyes gazing worriedly at the smoke-free zone in the right corner, practically wearing the words “Complex Emotions” on his face.

Behind the screen of the smoke-free zone, there should only be one employee and one small guest right now.

Yes, that’s right. His employee, the long-term resident singer Lady Man, who owed him a huge sum of money, had ignored the rules and brought a minor into the bar. The two of them were eating inside.

For this small guest, the minor yāo in the bar had lined up early. With the help of Yan Zhaomu, they had painstakingly hidden the parts of their yāo forms that they couldn’t control.

The sign outside the bar clearly stated that minors were not allowed to enter, but this person not only showed no guilt but was also enjoying the employee’s 25% discount! She ordered two covered rice dishes and a pile of snacks, and didn’t forget to ask Yan Zhaomu for a hot orange juice for her child.

The audacity of this woman, bringing her child to a bar to ask the bartender for hot orange juice!

In any other bar, a request like that would absolutely make a bartender burst out laughing in frustration.

“Look at them when they arrived, holding hands. An old one and a young one, smiling so warmly. If this weren’t my bar, I’d think I’d stumbled into a parent-child restaurant… This girl came once a few days ago and now she’s hooked. Is she going to become a regular here?” Mu Chensan sighed, holding his head in distress as he looked at Lu Yudong. “I hope no one reports us when it gets crowded tonight.”

Yan Zhaomu lowered his head, cleaning a cocktail shaker. “Anyway, the f-f-fine will fall on Elder Sister Hong.”

“Ha, ha, ha,” Mu Chensan laughed bitterly, emphasizing each syllable. “She owes me a debt that won’t be paid off for seven or eight years, and she’s already pre-paid next month’s salary. How could she possibly afford a fine? If we actually get checked, the money will still have to come from me.”

He hadn’t hired an employee; he’d essentially adopted a demanding matriarch to worship.

“What is going on with Man Shan Hong? Wasn’t she pretty cold-blooded and ruthless before?” Mu Chensan turned, leaned his arm on the bar, and looked up at Yan Zhaomu, who was wiping glasses. “The little girl is nothing more than a vessel for her soul bond. She only needs to keep her alive. Why does she care so much about her feelings?”

Yan Zhaomu: “N-none of your b-business. Stay out of it.”

Mu Chensan pouted, cracked his knuckles, and tapped the counter. “Fine, just make me anything.”

Yan Zhaomu pulled out a carton of orange juice.

Mu Chensan: “You’re taking ‘anything’ a bit too literally…”

Yan Zhaomu countered: “D-do you want it h-heated?”

Mu Chensan choked on his words. Just as he was about to change the subject, his peripheral vision caught Lu Yudong’s small head peeking out from behind the screen of the smoke-free zone. She was blinking and looking toward them.

After a brief exchange of glances, Lu Yudong jogged over, her hands tucked obediently behind her back. She looked up at Mu Chensan on the tall stool and quietly said, “Little Uncle, Elder Sister asked me to fetch you.”

“Are you done eating?” Mu Chensan asked.

“We’re finished,” Lu Yudong said. She then walked to the bar, stood on her tiptoes, and rested her hands on the counter, tilting her head at Yan Zhaomu. “Big Brother, Elder Sister said to look for you if I wanted a drink.”

Yan Zhaomu nodded, but Mu Chensan grumbled unhappily, “Wait a minute, why is Manzhu ‘Elder Sister,’ Zhaomu ‘Big Brother,’ and I’m the only ‘Little Uncle’? Do I look old?”

Lu Yudong shook her head but didn’t know how to reply. After an awkward moment, she strategically changed the subject: “Big Brother, do you have milk tea here?”

Yan Zhaomu was stunned for a moment, then shook his head. He could heat orange juice, but he really didn’t have milk tea.

Lu Yudong awkwardly murmured “Oh,” bit her lower lip, and puffed out her small cheeks.

How could a fair-skinned, thin little girl, whose features hadn’t fully developed, making such a pitiable face as if she had made a mistake, not melt one’s heart?

Yan Zhaomu: “I-I’ll g-go and b-buy some f-for you.”

Mu Chensan: “…”

“No, no! That’s too much trouble!” Lu Yudong quickly waved her hands, refusing.

“It’s nothing,” Yan Zhaomu said. He wiped his hands, put on the coat hanging behind him, and walked out from behind the bar. He left without hesitation.

There weren’t many customers at this time anyway.

The air conditioning in the bar was strong. As Yan Zhaomu went out, a gust of cold wind squeezed through the door crack, which had been open for just an instant before closing, making people shiver.

Lu Yudong looked up at Mu Chensan timidly, her hands tightly clasped together, her fingers unconsciously kneading each other, her eyes full of helplessness.

She remembered the large sign outside clearly stating “Minors Not Allowed” and “No Outside Drinks.” Now she was guilty of both. Would the Little Uncle be annoyed with her?

To avoid being scolded, Lu Yudong quickly pointed to the screen blocking the smoke-free zone and timidly said, “Little Uncle, Elder Sister is waiting for you.”

Mu Chensan asked, “What does she want with me?”

Lu Yudong shook her head. “I don’t know. She told me to play by myself for a bit and said she had something to talk about with you.”

The little girl’s eyes could never hide her feelings. Manzhu sending her away like this clearly made her a little unhappy, but she dared not say anything.

After Mu Chensan went to find Manzhu, Lu Yudong hopped onto the tall stool and sat there, dangling her legs and spacing out.

Soft instrumental music she hadn’t heard before was playing in the bar. Not far away, the two pretty server sisters were chatting and laughing together, vaguely mentioning a few names, seemingly discussing a recently popular TV show.

Lu Yudong remembered that the last time she came, one sister wore cat ears and a tail, and the other wore beautiful dragonfly wings.

She didn’t know why, but they weren’t wearing them this time.

A few minutes later, the bar door was pushed open. Yan Zhaomu had returned, holding warm milk tea.

He didn’t know what flavor the little girl liked, so he bought six different cups and placed them in front of Lu Yudong, letting her choose herself.

Lu Yudong picked a chocolate-flavored one and held it self-consciously in her hands.

Huanxi and Xiao Zhi, who were chatting nearby, quickly seized the opportunity to come over and pick two cups for themselves, then held hands and hid in a corner before Mu Chensan could notice.

Lu Yudong quietly drank a few sips of milk tea, then couldn’t help but look up and ask, “Big Brother, Little Uncle Mu and my Elder Sister have been talking for so long. Do they have a little secret?”

Yan Zhaomu shook his head.

What little secrets could those two possibly have? The spiritual energy in the smoke-free zone had been fluctuating this whole time. It was clear they were casting a spell and setting up an array to discreetly seal the yāo power on the little girl.

Manzhu was truly going to great lengths to ensure Lu Yudong could grow up like a child from an ordinary family.

But Lu Yudong didn’t know this. Her mind was filled with the casual comment Zhang Ziyun had made the day before yesterday: “Boss? I think he’s her boyfriend, right?”

“Big Brother, what do you think the relationship is between Little Uncle and my Elder Sister?” Lu Yudong asked, a little gloomily.

“Friends,” Yan Zhaomu said, continuing to wipe the glasses he hadn’t finished earlier.

Lu Yudong leaned on the bar and muttered softly, “But Elder Sister asks Little Uncle Mu for help with everything, and Little Uncle Mu is especially generous and kind to her. My deskmate saw them and said they looked compatible, like a couple…”

Before she could finish her sour remark, she heard a sound that resembled cracking glass.

Lu Yudong was startled. She looked around but couldn’t find the source of the sound. Confused, she asked, “Big Brother, it sounds like something cracked…”

“Nothing did,” Yan Zhaomu said. He paused, placed the cracked glass in a cabinet beneath the bar, and smiled nonchalantly. “Mu Chensan is a stupid asshole. No one likes him. He’s not, not good, good enough for Elder Sister Hong.”

Lu Yudong tilted her head in surprise, holding her milk tea, not daring to speak.

It couldn’t have been her imagination: Yan Zhaomu’s speech was noticeably smoother when he was insulting Mu Chensan.

After a brief awkwardness, a patch of black mist, invisible to the naked eye, slowly seeped out from the smoke-free zone, gradually approaching Lu Yudong. Little by little, it enveloped her, who was completely unaware.

Lu Yudong couldn’t help but shiver. She looked around, her eyes full of confusion.

Everything around her was normal. The bar was still playing soft music. The few scattered customers were still chatting quietly. Yan Zhaomu was still tidying his already immaculate bartending station.

But for a moment, Lu Yudong felt that something was strange, yet she couldn’t pinpoint where the strange feeling came from.

When the black mist dispersed, she instinctively breathed a sigh of relief. The invisible pressure in the air had come and gone in a hurry for her.

Manzhu walked out from behind the screen. Lu Yudong instantly jumped off the tall stool, quickly walked up to her, and grabbed her sleeve with one hand.

“Why is there milk tea?” Manzhu smiled, leaning down to take a sip from Lu Yudong’s straw.

Mu Chensan, who was following behind, instinctively took a detour.

“Big Brother went out to buy it. There are still some over there,” Lu Yudong said, pointing to the three cups of milk tea on the bar counter.

Manzhu led Lu Yudong to the bar and asked her, “What other flavor do you like? We can share.”

Lu Yudong widened her eyes and thought seriously. She then pointed to the Oatmeal Black Sticky Rice cup.

Manzhu picked up that cup, smiled faintly at Yan Zhaomu, and said, “Thank you for your effort. I’m taking Yudong inside for a tour.”

With that, she put her arm around Lu Yudong and walked inside.

“Well, that’s taken care of. Hong Hong really cares about that girl,” Mu Chensan lamented as he walked around. He had just sat down across from Yan Zhaomu when he felt a rather unfriendly gaze on him.

“Wh-what’s with that look?”

“Y-you… you also r-really c-care about Elder Sister Hong.”

Mu Chensan was startled. When he recovered, he spread his hands, looking helpless. “Do you believe me if I say I was forced?”

“I believe you,” Yan Zhaomu said. He placed the glass he had just crushed in front of Mu Chensan. “You will be careful where you step.”

The next second, the cracks on the glass spread outwards like new branches, and the moment he let go, the glass instantly shattered onto the table.

Mu Chensan held his head. “I… I will… be careful where I step…”

At the same time, Lu Yudong, the root of all the trouble, was skipping and hopping beside Manzhu, examining the design of every small partition in Not Old Acquaintance.

Manzhu explained that each section of the bar had three to eight sets of tables and chairs, and different sections featured different styles inspired by the Twenty-Four Seasonal Flowers (èrshísì fān huāxìn).

“The Elder Sister Xiao Zhi outside designed all of it,” Manzhu said.

“It’s so beautiful!” Lu Yudong couldn’t help but exclaim. She hadn’t been able to go inside and see it last time.

Soon, she followed Manzhu to the small stage in the innermost area.

It was a very simple, raised platform with several large speakers, a chair, a microphone stand, and a small song-request station.

Manzhu walked to a wall with several switches. As she flicked a switch, soft light shone down from the top of the stage.

Lu Yudong also reached out and pressed the other switches, discovering that the color of the stage lights could be changed.

So this was where Manzhu usually sang. There weren’t many places in the bar that could see this area, but Manzhu was so beautiful. Even without being the center of attention, she must have charmed many people, right?

She still hadn’t seen her sing with her own eyes.

Lu Yudong looked up, tugged on Manzhu’s sleeve, and quietly asked, “When do you usually start singing?”

“If you want to hear me, I can sing now.”

“I do!”

Manzhu smiled, lifted the hem of her skirt, and walked onto the stage. She tested the microphone’s volume.

The music playing in the bar abruptly stopped. She looked up at Lu Yudong and softly asked, “What do you want to hear?”

Lu Yudong, who had just pulled out her phone to set up the recording, raised her eyes, shook her head dumbly, and then seemed to remember something. She nodded. “Can you sing Scenes of Many Towns?”

“You like that song?” Manzhu was a little surprised. It wasn’t the kind of song a child Lu Yudong’s age would typically like.

Lu Yudong nodded. “The first time I heard you sing it, a few days ago… I just really liked it.”

Later, she had asked Zhang Ziyun to find the lyrics for her, and she had diligently copied them into a brand-new little notebook.

She still didn’t understand what the song was about, yet she liked it anyway—an inexplicable fondness.

It was like… loving every simple and quiet day and night now, loving waking up every morning and seeing the person who was best to her in this world.