Chapter 27: Heart-Pounding, April Fool's Day (Part 5)

Because it was rare to see this person smile, Zhou Xiaoru maintained the motion of biting her steak, so infatuated she was about to drool.

At this moment, the person opposite her kindly reminded her.

"Your drool is about to fall," he said, the corners of his mouth curled in a smile, his movements deft as he cut the food on the plate in front of him.

Before the drool could fall, Zhou Xiaoru pulled herself together in time and placed the steak back onto the plate.

Then, she forced herself to swallow a large mouthful of saliva.

Feeling somewhat frustrated inside, she thought, forget it; Jiang Bufan was right, she was a crude person at heart and couldn't learn how to put on airs.

What's more, she and this person were no longer a couple, so what was the point of pretending?

Right! She had to be herself! To hell with gentleness and elegance!

Thinking this, the fork she had stuck into the steak was yanked out by her...

She glared at the handsome man opposite her, whose eyes were filled with smiles, and then, once again, fiercely stabbed her knife and fork into the steak.

As if what lay on that plate wasn't steak, but a "Scumbag Gu" brand human meat patty!

Gritting her teeth, she asked, "What are you smiling at?" When they were dating before, she'd asked him to smile more often, but he wouldn't do it even if it killed him.

Smiling now? What was so funny?

Yet the handsome Gu just kept a smile on his face, earnestly cutting the food on his plate.

In just this short while, the steak on that plate had already been neatly cut into small pieces by him.

Then, he picked up the napkin beside the table to wipe his hands and pushed the plate in front of him to the other side.

Zhou Xiaoru frowned, like a cute, dazed kitten, staring with round eyes at the plate pushed toward her...

What was this act? Did he do this when eating with Su Poyang too? He wasn't using her for practice again, was he?

Gu Liyan, however, looked at her with a gentle expression, then reached out his long arm and moved the plate of steak, which still had the fork stuck in it, over to his side.

Looking at the dazed, round face opposite him, the man felt a sudden urge to reach out and pinch it.

Seeing that she was still staring at him, he couldn't help but urge her.

"Eat quickly; weren't you in a hurry to eat just now?"

Only then did the person who had been dazed for a long time retract her gaze and shift her focus to the plate that had been swapped.

Looking at the neatly cut food, she muttered to herself again...

Didn't this guy have a mysophobia before!

When they were dating, he never ate from the same bowl as her, let alone used the same set of utensils.

But now he...

She couldn't help but secretly look at him again...

At this moment, the man opposite had already cut into the steak she had just been abusing and was putting it into his mouth, one small piece at a time...

Although she hadn't bitten it just now, she had come so close...

That steak must have been covered in her saliva. He was actually eating it anyway?!

Her face felt inexplicably numb; Zhou Xiaoru couldn't figure out what this guy was trying to do.

Thinking that, in any case, the task Su Poyang had given her was considered complete, she might as well eat quickly.

She picked up her fork and started eating impatiently, treating the high-end steak in front of her as if it were her favorite oden fish balls...

Stuffing them into her mouth one after another.

Seeing that she didn't reject the food he had cut, Gu Liyan couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth again.

Just then, the foreigner who had been playing the violin on the other side walked over.

The two people dining at the table both looked in unison at the person standing by their table.

This was a middle-aged foreign man wearing a black tailcoat, with white hair and blue eyes.

He first nodded politely to signal, then spoke to Gu Liyan in English.

"Sir, would you like to order a song, for your girlfriend?"

(Sir, would you like to order a song for your female companion?)

After listening, Gu Liyan first glanced at Zhou Xiaoru opposite him with a smile in his eyes.

Zhou Xiaoru was frowning, still recalling what the foreigner had said, struggling to identify and translate it.

By the time she finished identifying it, Gu Liyan had already spoken, "Have you ever heard of Liang Zhu in China?"

"Of course!"

"Okay, let's get started."

Zhou Xiaoru understood this subsequent conversation immediately, and before the foreigner could start playing, she hurriedly interrupted.

"Wait a second!"

The foreigner thought she wanted to change the song, so he took the violin he had just placed on his shoulder back down, waiting for Zhou Xiaoru's next words.

Gu Liyan was also curious about what this girl wanted to do.

Zhou Xiaoru's way of thinking was different from ordinary people, and the points she focused on were even more different from others.

Although she hadn't understood that English menu just now, she could still read the Arabic numerals marked for the prices.

The price of this steak wasn't cheap; she didn't know how much money this meal would cost. She didn't want to owe this guy too many favors; if things went wrong, she might have to pay him back later.

This foreigner had suddenly come over to play a song for them; even with her appendix, she knew it must cost money.

At this moment, the man opposite and the foreigner standing there were both waiting for her to continue.

Gu Liyan saw her tangled expression and wondered if she was calculating some muddled account again.

He couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Don't you like Liang Zhu? You can tell him directly what you'd like to hear."

Faced with such a gentle offensive from a handsome man, the words Zhou Xiaoru said next instantly shattered the handsome man's dignity all over the floor.

She whispered to the person opposite, "You didn't even ask how much it costs before ordering randomly; is money at your house not worth anything!"

After finishing, Mr. Gu opposite her could no longer hold it back; he turned his face away, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

Zhou Xiaoru, however, looked completely bewildered, "What are you laughing at again?"

At the surrounding tables, people dining would cast curious glances from time to time.

The women seemed jealous; that such a handsome man would only smile at one woman was truly something to be envious and jealous of.

At this moment, Zhou Xiaoru simply asked the foreigner directly, "How much?"

This is universally understood, right? How much money!

The foreigner hadn't expected that after she had thought for so long, she was just asking for the price.

This girl was truly humorous.

With a smile, he made a gesture...

He held up two fingers, making a 'V' sign.

But in Zhou Xiaoru's eyes, this meant two thousand!

She cursed inwardly! So expensive! Is this robbery!

Gu Liyan opposite her had stopped laughing by now, and the look in his eyes as he watched her had changed again.

If it were any other man, he would surely feel that asking like this was very embarrassing.

But Gu Liyan did not think so; although he did not fully understand Zhou Xiaoru, he had been to her home and knew she came from an ordinary family.

His aunt was married in the county town where Zhou Xiaoru lived and even lived in the same residential complex as her family; both families knew each other and had a good relationship.

Back when they were dating, he had discovered that Zhou Xiaoru was very frugal; when he bought her a woolen coat that cost over a thousand, she nagged him about it for half a semester.

Perhaps Su Poyang was right; girls like Zhou Xiaoru were indeed rare these days.

It was a pity he hadn't treated her well back then.

Thinking about it now, regardless of his original intentions or whether he liked her, he shouldn't have hurt a girl like this.

Thinking of this, a sense of guilt arose in his heart, and when he looked up again, there was an extra trace of heartache in his eyes as he looked at Zhou Xiaoru.

Now, Miss Zhou felt even more bewildered!

What on earth was this guy thinking? What did that look mean?

Then she heard Gu Liyan speak, "No matter how much it costs, I'm paying. Order something you like, don't waste the person's time."

Since the big golden turtle Gu had said so, would it be pretentious if she refused again?

Actually, deep in Zhou Xiaoru's heart, another voice was screaming.

'Can we not order this song? The money for this song could be saved and given to me!'

But screaming was one thing; how could she actually say such a shameless request out loud?

She thought to herself, if this guy wants to show off, let him do it once; after all, men need to save face in public.

But after she finished saying which song she wanted to order, she didn't know if she had even slightly considered someone's face.

Regarding such overly artistic things, Zhou Xiaoru had always lacked interest, so she casually blurted out a song title.

"Then let's have 'Don't Look at Me, I'm Just a Sheep'."

After she finished, the man opposite her had a darkened handsome face...

Seeing his expression change, Zhou Xiaoru remembered what she had just said.

*Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf* was the cartoon her little nephew watched every time he went to her house, so she had heard the song enough to sing it.

She thought it was catchy and quite nice...

She looked at the foreigner still waiting on the side, thinking that perhaps he hadn't heard of it.

She quickly changed her tune, "Then how about 'The Most Dazzling Folk Style'?"

"......." The man still had a dark face.

"Little Apple?"

"......."

"Uh... 'Can't Afford the Hurt'?"

"........"

"........"

Watching the changing expression on his face, Zhou Xiaoru didn't dare to speak anymore; it wasn't that she was a loser, it was just that when asked to order a song, the first things that came to mind were these divine songs that had already reached Mars.

Gu Liyan realized deeply at this moment that for so many years, he had truly underestimated this girl's true 'strength'.

The foreigner on the side was still standing there, looking at the interaction between the two at the dining table, completely confused.

At this time, Gu Liyan turned his head again and apologized politely to the foreigner.

"I'm sorry. Please come to Liang Zhu. Thank you!"

"OK!" The foreigner, who had been waiting for a long time, finally got the answer and started playing immediately, fearing the girl in the seat would change her mind again.

The melodious tune rang out in the restaurant once more, simultaneously drawing the attention of others.

Zhou Xiaoru just treated this as a minor, harmless interlude.

She went back to eating on her own, and by now, she was already wondering in her heart if she could get full.

In her view, this steak was about the same as cat food; how could it fill her up?

It seemed that before she even got off work, this steak would already be digested.

She still had a very important task later.

She still had to witness the scene where Su Poyang proposed to this guy...

Just thinking about that scene...

Tsk tsk tsk...

Goosebumps, scattered all over the floor...