"The sound of clapping..." resonated sharply, shaking people's eyes. Li Meier trembled, her hands covering her crimson cheeks in disbelief as tears welled up in her eyes, watching Flower Yan, who remained expressionless. Shangguan Ning took a step back, releasing his hold, his eyes scanning between Li Meier and Flower Yan. It was his first time witnessing a "fight" between women up close. Initially, he couldn't bear to see Flower Yan being bullied, but now he didn't know how to treat or view Flower Yan. Being dominant didn't seem appropriate; his arms weren't as thick as he thought. Being weak and easily bullied was also an illusion, especially looking at her intense, diamond-like eyes.
Li Meier's previous actions completely infuriated Flower Yan. She had initially intended to ignore her like a pesky fly, but now she squinted her eyes and chuckled, "Next time, it won't be settled with just two cups of coffee and two slaps. I happen to know certain things about you from your time in the orphanage. Like the time in middle school when you came back from school very late, with something on your body..." This information was something Flower Yan had recently learned when she overheard the conversation between the orphanage director and another orphanage director while delivering money to her own orphanage.
"Don't say it, please, don't say it!" Fear spread in circles in Li Meier's eyes, and her trembling body seemed to be terrified to the extreme.
Seeing Li Meier's fearful appearance, Flower Yan's anger from earlier finally subsided a lot. "Whether you say it or not depends on your future behavior. Just a friendly reminder, next time, don't wear a faded bra. Originally pink, now one side is yellow and the other is blue, which doesn't match your beautiful face!" Flower Yan seemed to have seen Li Meier's bra through her clothes just now. She wondered how she kept seeing what was inside other people's clothes. The ensuing dizziness interrupted her deeper thoughts, and she leaned on the table, closed her eyes for a few seconds before gradually feeling better.
Feeling unwell, Flower Yan no longer looked at Li Meier, who had been tormented by her words, with her embarrassed face, protecting her chest, avoiding eye contact with people, and turned to Shangguan Ning, who had wanted to help her just now, to express her gratitude sincerely.
Pointing at Li Meier, she said to the nearby waiter, "Today, she's treating. Any losses from just now, you can settle with her." After saying that, she didn't forget to give Li Meier a threatening look. It was this look that made Li Meier, who was about to retort, swallow her words back down.
In an extremely embarrassed state, Li Meier stared straight at Flower Yan's back and muttered to herself, "How could she know about that thing? How could she possibly know that my bra has faded and deformed? The director promised her not to tell anyone." The events of that year were nightmares that Li Meier wanted to get rid of but couldn't. In her imposing manner just now, she was actually not showing her inner anxiety, inferiority, and fear. Perhaps only by appearing strong on the surface could she shield herself from the unease in her heart.
As they reached the door, Flower Yan heard Li Meier's words and sweetly turned her head back to smile at Li Meier. After paying the bill and walking out, not feeling reassured about a woman feeling unwell walking alone, Shangguan Ning saw her quirky appearance and involuntarily smiled.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
"Are you feeling unwell? Let me take you to the hospital for a check-up."
The inexplicable concern puzzled Flower Yan, wondering why Shangguan Ning suddenly cared so much about her. She shook her head with a faint smile, "Thank you, Mr. Ning, but I'm fine now."
"Oh, then you probably haven't bought what you wanted to buy yet, right? Let me accompany you." Seeing Flower Yan empty-handed, Shangguan Ning guessed that she hadn't bought what she wanted yet. In fact, his tone did not allow questioning but autonomy.
Although Shangguan Ning had helped her just now, she didn't like going shopping with an unfamiliar person, especially a man. "No need to trouble you. I'll just buy a bottle of sunscreen on the second floor. You probably have things to do, so I won't bother you." Faced with something she didn't want to do, Flower Yan usually ignored others' intentions and straightforwardly refused.
Hearing Flower Yan's rejection again, Shangguan Ning's face inexplicably darkened. This was the first time since he went abroad that he felt such a sensation from a woman's rejection.
After a moment of gloominess, Shangguan Ning was stirred by the desire to conquer a man. "A few months ago, I almost got into a car accident because of a woman outside a orphanage. She even said the car had problems and wanted me to pay for the repairs!"
"I remember. So what?"
"The car is fine, I just wanted to give someone a gift and hoped Miss Hua could help me pick it out." Shangguan Ning awkwardly coughed twice to cover up, thinking to himself that this woman was quite straightforward in her speech. Could it be that his years of being ascetic had caused his charm to decline?
With the conversation reaching this point, Flower Yan was reluctantly pulled by Shangguan Ning straight to the cosmetics store. She couldn't help but wonder why he didn't treat her as an outsider. It felt awkward for a man to accompany a woman to buy makeup.
Sneaking a glance at Flower Yan's sulking expression, Shangguan Ning felt she looked especially cute. Through several chance encounters and the information he had heard from Cheng Cheng recently, he was continuously touched by her frankness, optimism, occasional depth, and sometimes pure childlike innocence. It wasn't deep, but it did leave a mark on his heart.
Shangguan Ning was surprisingly cheerful at the moment. He had bought things for women and paid before, but this time, although the money wasn't as much as before, he was particularly happy to buy something for Flower Yan, to show his presence.
As Flower Yan changed from her aggressive and ruthless demeanor towards Li Meier to a sweet, sincere expression of gratitude towards the salesperson, and politely declined their enthusiastic recommendations for other products, Shangguan Ning's heart swelled with admiration. He learned from Shangguan Ning that Flower Yan felt sorry for the salespeople, who had to do this to earn a few extra coins every month.
Knowing her clear-cut feelings and her considerate nature, Shangguan Ning suddenly had the thought of letting Flower Yan enter his life.
"Why are you so eager to pay? Honestly," Flower Yan held a beautifully packaged makeup set in her hand, following behind Shangguan Ning as they headed to the third floor. All the way up, Flower Yan was almost cursing. She had just finished selecting her sunscreen and was about to pay when she realized that Shangguan Ning had already paid. Shangguan Ning's eagerness puzzled Flower Yan and also annoyed her to death.
Hearing Flower Yan's discontented voice, Shangguan Ning simply said, "This thing is only a few hundred yuan, not expensive. Besides, I'm taking up your time to accompany me shopping, so consider it my way of apologizing." If he hadn't realized that Flower Yan wasn't the type to buy things purely for practicality, he would have bought her the most expensive one. Being able to buy things for her suddenly made him feel cheerful.