Accidentally Pursued The Female Lead (GL) - Chapter 8
Shen Mian displayed the epitome of pitifulness, and Xie Qiaoyu, who had been harboring doubts, softened her heart and nodded in agreement.
Xie Qiaoyu picked up her discarded high heels and followed behind Shen Mian towards the exit.
Reaching the door of Shen Mian’s room, Shen Mian asked Xie Qiaoyu to go downstairs first, as she wanted to change her clothes.
Xie Qiaoyu said, “Okay.”
Afraid that Xie Qiaoyu would have to wait too long, Shen Mian didn’t even bother to put on makeup, taking only two minutes to change her clothes and head downstairs.
She had swapped her dress for denim shorts and a chiffon white batwing-sleeved shirt. Her loose hair was also pinned up with small metal clips, creating a casual and comfortable look.
As she descended, Xie Qiaoyu happened to look towards the stairs, her gaze landing on the youthful and radiant Shen Mian.
Shen Mian rushed over. “Sister Qiaoyu, I’m ready. We can go now.” Then she turned to Wang Feng, who was wiping something to the side, and said, “Aunt Wang, I won’t be home for dinner tonight. Please tell Mom, Dad, and Elder Brother.”
“Alright, Miss. Be careful.”
“Don’t worry, Aunt Wang. I’m very safe with Sister Qiaoyu. Nothing will happen.”
It was upon hearing this sentence that Xie Qiaoyu finally noticed something strange about Shen Mian.
This was clearly only their third meeting, yet Shen Mian seemed to trust her a lot, and the familiarity in her tone was as if they had known each other for many years.
“…”
It was six o’clock in the afternoon, the sky was bright, and the air was thick with the muggy heat characteristic of summer.
Xie Qiaoyu’s car was clean and tidy, filled with the light scent of jasmine.
Fastening her seatbelt, Shen Mian casually brought up a topic. “Sister Qiaoyu, my driver’s license will be coming soon. I’ll drive you around then.”
Xie Qiaoyu didn’t respond but asked, “What do you want to eat?”
She couldn’t really let a child treat her to a meal.
“Eat…” Shen Mian changed the subject. “I’ll use the navigation.”
After saying that, she tapped her phone a few times, and the navigation voice began to speak.
Forty minutes later, the car stopped in front of a narrow and cluttered snack street.
Looking at the familiar street, Shen Mian excitedly directed Xie Qiaoyu, who was about to park. “Sister Qiaoyu, there are quite a few people here. Let’s park a bit further away.”
Xie Qiaoyu glanced outside the car and asked, puzzled, “Eat here?”
No matter how she looked at it, Shen Mian didn’t seem like someone who would come to a night market.
“Yeah! It’s super delicious here!”
Although Xie Qiaoyu knew there was a night market in the city, she didn’t know its location and had never been there.
What’s more, the location of this night market was almost in the suburbs.
But how did Shen Mian know the place? And looking at her familiarity when entering the address on the software and giving directions on the way, it was as if she came here often.
Looking at the girl’s back, who was already glued to the window as if wanting to get out immediately, and listening to the bustling sounds outside the car, a hint of curiosity was also piqued in her heart. The car slowly drove towards a parking spot on the roadside in the distance, and Xie Qiaoyu nodded. “Okay.”
The two got out of the car and walked towards the night market. As they got closer to the snack street, the surrounding crowd gradually increased.
The crowd was dense, and Shen Mian and Xie Qiaoyu were squeezed apart several times.
When the two reached the first stall in the night market, Xie Qiaoyu felt her wrist being grabbed. Looking down, it was Shen Mian’s hand encircling hers.
As Xie Qiaoyu wanted to pull away, Shen Mian seemed to sense her intention. The grip on her hand tightened, and she turned her head to mutter, “There are too many people… I’m afraid of getting lost…”
Xie Qiaoyu had no choice but to stop trying to pull her hand away.
In her heart, she thought that Shen Mian was indeed still a child.
Seeing that Xie Qiaoyu had acquiesced, Shen Mian ran towards the stall. Without even looking at the menu pasted on the small cart, she said directly, “Brother Wang, give me…”
The stall owner, called Brother Wang, was stunned when he saw that the person calling him was a beautiful woman, and one he had never seen before. But then he heard the things this beautiful woman was ordering, some of which weren’t even on the menu, and immediately understood that this was a good customer.
Smiling, he said, “Girl, you’ve gotten even prettier. I almost didn’t recognize you.”
In her previous life, after the Shen family went bankrupt, the three siblings had moved to the vicinity of this street. Her two elder brothers worked outside and only returned late at night. She couldn’t cook and was terribly hungry, so she would go out and wander the streets.
Brother Wang’s stall sold both fried skewers and grilled skewers.
She had walked here and used the only five yuan she had on her to buy some food from Brother Wang. Perhaps she looked too pitiful eating, because after she finished, Brother Wang had treated her to more than ten yuan worth of fried skewers.
After that… she became Brother Wang’s little helper. She worked with Brother Wang until midnight every day, just for that bite to eat.
Until she went to prison, two days before she died, Brother Wang had even visited her…
Shen Mian felt a little guilty. A month had passed since her rebirth, but she had only just remembered him. But indeed, it was still that person; his habit of saying whatever came to mind was getting more and more outrageous.
This was clearly her first time meeting him in this life, okay?
Shen Mian secretly rolled her eyes, but said, “Brother Wang, you’ve also become a lot more handsome.”
After saying that, feeling a bit thirsty, Shen Mian said, “Let’s go buy a drink next door first, and we’ll come back in a bit.”
After speaking, she prepared to pull Xie Qiaoyu away, then turned her head and added, “Oh right, one of them without chili.”
Everything she had just ordered was in double portions. If she didn’t remind him, he would definitely sprinkle on a lot of chili.
Brother Wang: “Alright, beautiful.”
Xie Qiaoyu was just about to say she didn’t want chili when Shen Mian pulled her away again before she could even open her mouth.
And just like that, Xie Qiaoyu was pulled by Shen Mian through the crowded street.
The hawking cries from the stalls on both sides of the street, the chatter and laughter of the surrounding people, and the various food aromas mixed in the air all failed to attract Xie Qiaoyu’s attention.
She looked at the hairpin behind Shen Mian’s head, closely following Shen Mian’s steps. No matter how many people passed by in either direction, neither of them lost the other.
After buying drinks, Shen Mian timed it well with Brother Wang. When they returned to the stall again, the grilled meat skewers that had been cooking first were just ready.
Shen Mian took two portions of meat skewers, handing the one without chili to Xie Qiaoyu.
Xie Qiaoyu took it, feeling puzzled as to how Shen Mian knew she didn’t eat spicy food, while putting the skewer in her mouth.
Shen Mian also took a big bite and looked at Xie Qiaoyu. “Is it delicious?”
The meat was fresh and fatty but not greasy. Combined with cumin and other seasonings, the taste was endlessly satisfying.
Xie Qiaoyu chewed and, after swallowing, smiled and said, “It’s very delicious.”
“Actually, I was worried you wouldn’t like this place on the way here.”
“Why?”
“It’s too crowded and noisy here.”
Xie Qiaoyu shook her head. “This is what gives it a sense of life.”
At this time, everything Shen Mian had ordered was cooked. Shen Mian skillfully took a plate from the side, pulled Xie Qiaoyu along, and sat down at a table behind the small stall.
After placing everything she was holding on the table, she picked up a string of meatballs, took a bite, and said, “Sister Qiaoyu, can you tell me about yourself?”
Coming to a strange and lively environment made Xie Qiaoyu feel like opening up tonight. Hearing Shen Mian’s question, she replied lightly, “I was just fired from the hospital.”
Sure enough! Shen Mian exclaimed inwardly.
Then she heard Xie Qiaoyu continue, “So I’m very grateful to Mr. Shen.”
“My… brother?” What did this have to do with her elder brother?
“Yes, after being fired, I was drinking at a bar and happened to run into Mr. Shen.
Mr. Shen, after learning I was unemployed, invited me to be your tutor.”
Ran into her brother? Wasn’t it written in the novel that she ran into Lu Jingchen?
However, female lead, wouldn’t you have plenty of job offers coming your way if you wanted any job? Don’t tell me that just because my brother is nice to you, you…
Wait!
Shen Mian suddenly thought of a very serious problem. Since her brother had found a job for Xie Qiaoyu, and Xie Qiaoyu had agreed…
Could it be that in the future… Xie Qiaoyu would fall in love with her brother???
Shen Mian shivered. It wasn’t that she didn’t want the two of them to be together, but she just couldn’t imagine Shen Zhixing having someone he liked and Xie Qiaoyu becoming her sister-in-law.
“Sister-in-…”
Pei!
Shen Mian had been thinking too seriously and almost blurted it out.
Seeing Xie Qiaoyu looking at her in confusion, Shen Mian shook off her imagination. “Sister Qiaoyu, have you seen Lu Jingchen? You know, the one who held the banquet last time.”
Shen Mian asked tentatively, thinking that if Xie Qiaoyu had also encountered Lu Jingchen, there might still be a reversal of the plot.
Xie Qiaoyu nodded. “Mm, he was with Mr. Shen.”
Huh?
What were those two sworn enemies doing together?
Putting this question aside for now, Shen Mian asked, “Didn’t he say anything to you?”
Xie Qiaoyu: “Not in person, but after I agreed to be Mr. Shen’s tutor, he did contact me and asked me to be his private doctor, but I refused.”
“Why?” Shen Mian wanted to know what had made Xie Qiaoyu change the plot herself.
“Because I’m more familiar with you, Xiao Mian.”
Shen Mian was drinking her beverage with her head down. Hearing Xie Qiaoyu’s words, she looked up and met a pair of bright, sparkling eyes.
The summer breeze blew past, carrying with it the scent of Brother Wang’s frying oil. Xie Qiaoyu’s loose hair by her ears was lifted by the wind, swaying leisurely beside her cheeks.
The current Xie Qiaoyu was one who hadn’t yet been hurt by Lu Jingchen.
She was currently maintaining the kind and gentle persona from the early part of the novel. She hadn’t yet become the silent, unsmiling person she would be later because of Lu Jingchen.
Although she eventually married Lu Jingchen and had children with him at the end of the novel, the incident where Lu Jingchen hurt her became a nightmare that haunted her daily.
Looking at Xie Qiaoyu eating fried mushrooms, a thought suddenly flashed through Shen Mian’s mind:
Protect these starry eyes, so they won’t become dim and lifeless.
After considering this, Shen Mian put down the skewer in her hand and called out seriously, “Sister Qiaoyu.”
“Mm?”
“Have you heard a gossip from the past few years? It’s about Lu Jingchen.”
Although Xie Qiaoyu didn’t know why Shen Mian kept bringing up Lu Jingchen tonight, she didn’t want to spoil her mood and replied, “What is it?”
Shen Mian coughed heavily, cupping her hand to her mouth in a curved shape. “Lu Jingchen has a fiancée who is currently abroad but will be returning soon.”
Xie Qiaoyu nodded. She hadn’t heard about this. But for someone like Lu from the Lu family, having a fiancée was a very normal thing.
“And then…”
Shen Mian spoke again.
Xie Qiaoyu looked over, only to hear Shen Mian lower her voice.
“I heard someone saw Lu Jingchen go to the andrology department some time ago.”
Don’t believe rumors, don’t spread rumors.
So everything Shen Mian said was true.
Lu Jingchen had indeed gone to the andrology department, but only to visit an elder…
She also hadn’t said that Lu Jingchen went to the andrology department for treatment. It all depended on how Xie Qiaoyu interpreted it.
As Shen Mian had hoped, her half-said words indeed caused Xie Qiaoyu to misunderstand.
Xie Qiaoyu: “?!”
Good heavens, this was indeed a big piece of gossip.
With the fiancée about to return, the fiancé went to the andrology department…
If this news got out, the Lu family’s old man would probably be furious beyond measure.