Chapter 76: Keep It for Me First

The sharp pain at the back of his neck made the young man’s face scrunch up as he instinctively shrank his neck backward.

Song Yue looked over—it was Lu Huaishen.

And Zhou Ye, who had just squeezed in.

Seeing the two of them, she silently loosened her clenched fists.

The six lackeys finally reacted. Their eyes widened as they shouted anxiously, “Boss!”

They clenched their fists, ready to strike, but then they saw their boss in the other party’s hands, his neck firmly gripped.

Looking again at these two people, their aura seemed anything but ordinary.

Not daring to act rashly, they could only issue threats. “Let go of our boss! Our boss is—”

“Shut up!” the young man barked, cutting off his subordinate’s words.

The lackey immediately shut his mouth.

“Misunderstanding,” the young man said hastily. “It’s all a misunderstanding.”

He looked at Song Yue. “Comrade, the one grabbing my neck… that’s your man, right?”

Before Song Yue could reply, he quickly added, “Oh my, comrade, you should’ve said earlier that you had a man~”

“Sorry about that, comrade,” the young man apologized repeatedly. “Brother, misunderstanding, all just a misunderstanding~”

Lu Huaishen glanced at Song Yue, silently asking for her decision.

Song Yue’s voice was calm. “Let him go.”

Lu Huaishen flung his hand. “Scram.”

The young man staggered back a few steps before landing on the ground with a thud.

“Boss!”

His six lackeys shouted in unison and rushed over, fumbling to help him up.

Once steadied, the young man immediately looked up, wanting to see who had grabbed his neck.

When he saw Lu Huaishen, he froze for a moment, his mind going blank.

Holy shit.

Since when did the Cripple Mountain Commune have a man better-looking than him?!

And that presence…

Lu Huaishen’s eyes darkened when he saw the man still standing there.

The young man jolted, shivering all over before hastily dragging his lackeys out of the restaurant.

Lu Huaishen and Zhou Ye only retracted their gazes once the troublemakers had left and turned back to Song Yue.

“Big—” Zhou Ye nearly slipped up, quickly correcting himself. “Comrade Song, are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Song Yue shook her head lightly and stood up. “Tell me what you want to eat, I’ll go order.”

“No need, Comrade Song,” Zhou Ye quickly said. “I’ll do it.”

With the boss right here, how could he let Comrade Song go order?

He immediately asked, “Comrade Song, do you want anything else? I’ll get it together.”

Song Yue didn’t answer but instead walked toward the ordering counter. “I’ll take a look first.”

Seeing Song Yue leave first, Zhou Ye hesitated.

He wouldn’t dare follow along. Instead, he quickly glanced at his boss.

Lu Huaishen stepped forward and followed Song Yue.

At the counter, Song Yue looked at the breakfast prices posted in the restaurant.

Without turning her head, she said, “Comrade Zhou, you go ahead and order. I’ll see what I want.”

A calm voice came from behind her. “Two large bowls of meat sauce noodles.”

Song Yue: “…”

Awkward.

It turned out to be Lu Huaishen following her—she had thought it was Zhou Ye.

“I’ll have a meat bun,” Song Yue said quickly, preparing to hand over her meal tickets and money to the server. “Here—”

But just as she extended her hand—

Lu Huaishen’s hand reached over, gripping her wrist.

The next second—

Lu Huaishen handed the money to the server. “No need for change.”

The server took the money.

Only then did Lu Huaishen release her.

Song Yue: “…”

She, who hadn’t gotten the chance to pay, turned to look at Lu Huaishen. “Comrade Lu, you helped me just now. I wanted to treat you to breakfast as thanks, and now you won’t even give me the chance?”

Lu Huaishen’s voice was indifferent. “Comrade Song, there’s still plenty of time. Opportunities like this will come again. No rush.”

Song Yue: “…”

That again!

Last time, when she tried to pay him back for medical expenses at the well, he had said the same thing.

Now that the money was already paid, arguing was pointless.

She’d just have to be faster next time.

“Fine,” Song Yue nodded. “Alright.”

The two received their food.

Lu Huaishen carried both bowls of noodles. Song Yue wanted to help by carrying one.

But Lu Huaishen was faster—he picked them up and walked away, leaving her with, “You’ll burn yourself.”

Song Yue looked at Lu Huaishen’s retreating figure, then at her lonely meat bun…

Sigh.

She had military experience too—how could she lose to him every time?

She carried her bun back to the table.

Zhou Ye saw the bowl of noodles placed in front of him and grinned. “Thanks, Boss.”

Thanks to Comrade Song, he actually got served by the boss for once.

The three sat down.

Zhou Ye and Lu Huaishen ate their noodles.

Song Yue nibbled on her meat bun.

One small bowl of noodles in, she was already full.

But… with Zhou Ye and Lu Huaishen eating across from her, just sitting there doing nothing felt a bit dumb.

Eating at least gave her something to do.

Zhou Ye brought up the earlier incident. “Comrade Song, who were those guys just now?”

Song Yue shook her head. “I don’t know either.”

“After I separated from you two, I was heading toward the restaurant when two of them started following me. I think they saw me enter and then ran off to get their boss.”

Lu Huaishen looked at her. “You haven’t seen them before?”

Meeting his gaze, Song Yue shook her head. “Never.”

Lu Huaishen frowned slightly.

Zhou Ye thought for a moment. “Then they probably saw that you looked unfamiliar, pretty, and didn’t seem like a local—so they targeted you.”

Song Yue nodded thoughtfully. “That sounds about right.”

The conversation seemed to hit a dead end.

Silence fell over the table.

Zhou Ye saw that his boss had his head down, focused on eating, without saying a word.

He: “…”

Boss, come on! This is a rare chance to interact with Comrade Song. Say something! Build rapport!

Thinking this, Zhou Ye sneakily kicked Lu Huaishen under the table.

And surprisingly—

After getting kicked—

Lu Huaishen spoke. “After breakfast, what are you doing?”

“I’m heading to the post office to pick up a package,” Song Yue replied.

Lu Huaishen: “Mm.”

Zhou Ye: “…”

Boss, what are you “mm”-ing for?!

Shouldn’t you ask if the package is big? Heavy? Does she need help carrying it?

There were so many ways to keep the conversation going, but Boss had to go and pick the one phrase that ended it!

“Mm.”

“MM!!!!”

Zhou Ye was about to lose it!!

Internally, he ranted about his boss.

Song Yue asked, “What about you two? Have you finished your business?”

Lu Huaishen: “The pharmacy isn’t open yet. We’ll have to go back later.”

“Has the medicine been working?”

Lu Huaishen: “Mm, just like you said.”

Song Yue: “Mm.”

Zhou Ye: “…”

Excellent.

Another promising conversation shut down just like that.

He really didn’t get it.

Back at the hospital, hadn’t Boss been quite talkative?

Why had he become so awkward after just a few days?

Song Yue got to the point. “By the way, about the medical expenses from before—”

She reached for her money.

Lu Huaishen set down his chopsticks and interrupted her. “Keep it for me first.”

Song Yue: “?”

Zhou Ye, shocked: “!!!!”

Was Boss finally making his move?!