Chapter 74 – Meal for Two
I spoke while pulling Shu Sha and walking under the gutters to avoid the rain.
The entire street had an uniform gutter system, and the rain fell down to our side, like a waterfall. Occasionally one or two drops splashed on our bodies, which made us shiver.
Being dragged by me, Shu Sha was ashamed and anxious: “What… what are you doing? Under such big rain, where are you going to take me?”
I was pretty gleeful.
“I’m taking you there because it’s raining! Don’t be embarrassed, it’s so cold outside, I’ll take you to some place warm!”
As I finished my sentence, I used my chin and pointed to the signboard of Shangdao cafe not far away.
After I pointed out our destination, Sha Sha’s body trembled and she started struggling to break free.
It was odd, so I stopped to look at her. I saw that Shu Sha’s face was flushed red, and I wasn’t sure if she was tired or angry. She looked at me with eyes full of fear and hatred.
Isn’t that too exaggerated? Are you that scared of having a meal together?
I was very puzzled and took another look at the signboards in the distance. Was there anything special? Isn’t it just Shangdao Cafe? Next to it was “From Taiwan, pure and fragrant”…
Suddenly I realized that the Shangdao Cafe signboard was not the closest one to us. In front of it, the neon signs of Home Inns was significantly larger and more conspicuous!
That was a holy place for lovers! Every day numerous men and women would come here to be intimate!
Crap! I just said that there was a good place to keep warm and don’t be embarrassed. Wouldn’t the class leader misunderstand it as I want to rent a room with her at a hotel!
I panicked, and the force exerted by my right hand lessened. The class leader hurriedly pulled away her fingers, leaving only an umbrella in my hand.
Her movements were greatly exaggerated, and she almost slipped. After she finally stabilized herself, she started walking back along the gutters. After taking a few steps she would turn around and look back, afraid that I would run after her.
Her eyes were full of fear and disappointment. She felt that she was almost fooled by me.
She walked silently to the end of the rain gutters. When she passed by the pet hospital, she didn’t go in. Maybe she felt that she was almost coerced into opening a room with me, so she didn’t know what kind of expression to use to face Dr. Zhao and Xiao Ding.
Since the class leader no longer had an umbrella, she could only stand under the rain gutters, silently gazing at the scenery and passing vehicles.
Her eyes were a bit red. A few raindrops hit her face, and dripped down like tears of sadness.
I don’t know if it was because of the cold or the traumatic experience, the class leader held her elbows to her body and shivered.
The cold wind blew gently, moving the young girl’s long hair. The class leader must have mistakenly thought that she was almost lured into a wolves den, and now she was shocked, angry, afraid, and hateful. She was now standing alone on a street corner, hoping that a hero would fight through the storm to come and save her.
I’m sorry, I’m not a person of justice, I’m the wolf, but I was wrongfully accused.
However, I had responsibility in why the class leader misunderstood. I acted impulsively, and didn’t explain properly.
So I adjusted my attitude and prepared to go and apologize. Loud Mouth repeatedly urged me to apologize anyway.
I tried my best not to make too much sound as I walked, but as I took a step, the class leader turned around and glared at me.
She seemed to be saying, “If you come over, I’ll take you down with me!”
I wasn’t worried about the fact that the class leader may be carrying explosives, but that she would be scared and flee away in the rain.
So I spread out my arms to show that I didn’t have any intentions of attacking. I also shook the umbrella, which meant that I just came to return the umbrella.
I finally moved near the class leader, yet she still maintained alertness. It was as if she was standing at the edge of a cliff, and if the enemy made any movements, she would immediately jump off.
Before I even had time to open my mouth, the class leader spoke first:
“Was this how you tricked Xiao Qin?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Stop pretending to be stupid!” The fear in the class leader’s eyes turned into anger. “You use a girl’s weak point, use tears to confuse them, do everything you can to seem like a gentle person. Then you wait until they lower their defense, and you half-forcibly have a relationship with them!”
“I always thought that you just loved to fight. I didn’t expect you to be ten times worse! No, a hundred times worse! A thousand times worse!”
“It’s hard to imagine what terrible things you have done with Xiao Qin and other girls that I don’t know of!”
“I don’t want the umbrella you touched. Take it and leave. Go as far as possible! I don’t want to see you again!”
The more she spoke, the more excited she became. This time she actually started crying, not for herself, but for the other girls who fell into my grasps.
I was really moved by the class leader. You have heart for the good of the public. Which scoundrel made you this mad? I’ll personally find this scum and beat him up!
I didn’t retort, just stood there and let the class leader scold me. When she was tired, and wanted to stop and take a breather. I would take out the Shangdao cafe coupon and show it to her.
“Are you tired from the scolding? Are you hungry? I have a coupon for a meal for two. I just wanted to ask you to go and eat with me. It was my fault for not clearly telling you, sorry.”
Half of this “sorry” was for the sake of Loud Mouth’s promise.
The class leader looked at the coupon with a look of skepticism and looked at the shop in the distance. After seeing the Shangdao Cafe’s signboard behind the signboard of the Home Inn, she finally realized that he may have misunderstood.
She was embarrassed that she scolded me so much before. But she still had some suspicions.
“I’m not going, go by yourself.”
The class leader finally said coldly.
“Also, return my umbrella.”
What? You don’t think the umbrella I touched is dirty anymore? Although my hand didn’t touch Xiao Qin and a large number of girls as you have thought, but I have definitely touched something that you think is disgusting!
I thought the class leader was trying to act brave. You can see that the rain wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. Even if you had an umbrella, your shoes and trousers would would inevitably be drenched. Besides, since your brother and his girlfriend are enjoying themselves, how can you go home and eat plain noodles, is that even nutritious? If it wasn’t for the sound of the rain, I’m guessing I would probably hear the sound of your stomach rumbling?
But this time, I can’t force her anyway, I could only outwit her.
According to what Loud Mouth and Shu Zhe said, I can probably guess that the class leader was a person who was a housekeeper, she would always be frugal and avoid waste, and I knew that she was very sympathetic to the weak.
So I swayed the coupon and said:
“I bought this coupon online for 88 dollars and it expires tomorrow. Since I’m going to use the coupon today anyways, I’ll tell the waiter to serve the meal for two. Whatever I won’t finish will go to waste!”
The class leader seemed to be very sensitive to the word “waste”. When she heard it, she blinked as if she had been stung by a bee.
I continued to say:
“I heard from my dad that there were many civilians in North Korea who can’t get any food. A female doctor who escaped said that Chinese farmers feed their dogs better than what she usually eats. Of course, this has nothing to do with us. Anyway, since we were born in socialist China, we have an abundance of food, so even if I waste half a table of food, you have no responsibility as the class leader.”
I made sure to heavily enunciate the words “waste” and “responsibility” .
The words I said left the class leader speechless. She saw that the downpour wasn’t going to end anytime soon, and I still had the umbrella. After careful thought, she found that there was no better choice.
In the end, she had to admit defeat and say: “Fine, I’ll go with you.”
The Shangdao Cafe was newly opened by Xing Xing’s relative. The store was new, clean, and tidy. Twenty tables were separated by winding railings, creating relatively independent spaces.
The color of the table was black tone with white wavy patterns. It was quite elegant. It seems that Xing Xing’s relative had a good sense of esthetics. Unlike the other Shangdao Cafe where I’ve been to, the table was painted in a shitty yellow color. The teapot covers were also shaped like breasts. That time, Dad took two teapot covers, one in each hand, and asked if it reminded me of anything while smiling obscenely.
However, I took a closer look and found that the table was not black and white. It was just a piece of glass on a shitty yellow table. There was a black and white tablecloth pressed under the glass. It really irritated me.
The tablecloth was very long and draped to the ground. Maybe you can cover your legs when you ate, to prevent food from falling on the ground.
It was almost seven o’clock, and there were a lot of customers in the cafe, most of them were probably held in by the heavy rain.
Four-person desks were all taken. We were seated at a two-person desk near the bar. Fortunately, it was fine other than being a bit narrow.
The class leader sat across from me, with a cautious posture. Whenever someone gazed over, she would lower her head, hiding her face.
I handed the coupon to the waiter and told them to serve our meals. The class leader didn’t say a word. I thought she was acting strange.
“Hey, I’m inviting you to eat, not inviting you to fight. Why do you keep looking down?”
The class leader hesitated and spoke her fears: “What if I was seen by an acquaintance…”