Chapter 32: The Comeback

While a few people exchanged pleasantries, others gradually arrived, with Uncle Huang coming last. Since he was a scrap collector, his clothes were unremarkable, and the summer heat made him smell stronger. The waiter assumed he was a beggar, covered his nose, and tried to shoo him away. “Shoo! No begging here!”

Uncle Huang was both embarrassed and annoyed. “Hey, young lady, how can you talk to people like that?”

“I talk like this!” Li Luo snapped back.

She stepped forward to defuse the situation. “He’s my uncle. He’s here to eat.” She pressed a coin into the waiter’s hand. “Please treat him well.”

The moment the waiter held the coin, it was as if the world brightened. His expression immediately changed. “Ah, ah, okay, right this way, please.”

Uncle Huang noticed Li Luo’s intervention and muttered angrily about the waiter’s flip-flopping attitude. After sitting down, he added, “This girl has a good temper. Even after seeing that, you still gave money.”

Li Luo raised her eyebrows slightly. “You don’t get it. When we eat here, the dishes are brought out by the staff. What if we offend them and they spit in our food afterward?” She had read about things like this in the news.

“We could eat somewhere else!”

Li Luo replied, “The food on these nearby streets is the best.” They were out of options.

The men drank while Li Luo focused on eating.

Yu Gang tried to toast her, “Li Luo, have a drink.” If she got drunk, he could take advantage. With her fair skin exposed, she was definitely more delicate underneath, and he wanted to keep his hands off the fat around her mouth.

Li Luo shook her head. “I can’t drink today. I’ll toast with tea instead to celebrate our smooth cooperation.”

It was Saturday. If Qin Xinyi happened to come back and sit in the courtyard, she might smell the alcohol on her and report it to the elders. Li Luo didn’t want to be caught.

“There’s no toasting with tea! Drink!” Yu Gang barked like a commander.

Uncle Huang frowned. “She’s just a little girl. What happens if she gets drunk?” He felt anxious for her among all these ruffians.

Seeing Li Luo’s annoyed expression, Liu Erwang quickly added, “We’ll drink ourselves.”

“Not enough? I’ll order two more bottles,” Li Luo said generously.

Everyone cheered. These were eight-yuan-a-bottle wines—something they normally wouldn’t touch except as gifts.

Yu Gang’s plan was ruined, so he frowned and downed his glass.

Li Luo, watching her diet, put down her chopsticks early and occasionally joined the conversation—sometimes about business, sometimes about life experiences.

Meanwhile, Qin Jun rode a bike to pick up Qin Xinyi from school. Sitting behind him, Qin Xinyi spotted a familiar figure through the restaurant’s large window. “Big brother, stop!” she urged.

Qin Jun slowed down.

Qin Xinyi jumped off and ran to the window, confirming it was Li Luo.

She hadn’t seen her for twenty days, and Li Luo had lost a lot of weight.

Her behavior was bold—seven or eight men at the table, and she was the only woman, chatting and laughing freely.

Qin Xinyi waved frantically at Qin Jun and whispered urgently, “Big brother, come quickly!”

Qin Jun walked over calmly.

Qin Xinyi pointed toward Li Luo. “Look at Li Luo! Sitting with all those men, and there are bottles of alcohol on the table. Oh my gosh, she even took a cigarette someone handed her! She probably isn’t shy because no one here knows her. Good thing you didn’t marry her—otherwise, who knows how many times she’d have cheated on you!”

Qin Xinyi went on and on.

Qin Jun was stunned. Was that fair-skinned, beautiful woman really Li Luo? “Doesn’t look like her,” he thought. The chubby girl from before was completely different.

“It’s her! Last time I told you to look at her, but you didn’t. Now look—she’s thin and unrecognizable. Go home and tell our grandparents.” Qin Xinyi commanded.

Qin Jun agreed after a moment.

Inside the restaurant, Li Luo handed the cigarette to Uncle Huang.

When she turned slightly, her peripheral vision caught Qin Xinyi and Qin Jun, and her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.

Qin Jun left first. Qin Xinyi stayed behind a tree at the restaurant entrance, watching her.

So the people earlier had already gone home to inform the elders? How interesting.

Li Luo calmly continued eating with the others.

When most of the food was finished, Uncle Huang suggested leaving. “I still have to check the factory, so I won’t stay.”

“Take care,” Li Luo said, standing to see him off. As she passed the counter, she picked up some appetizers and settled the bill.

Four bottles of wine cost thirty-two yuan, a serving of chicken nine-point-eight, and fish… a total of thirty-nine yuan sixty.

The cashier’s abacus clicked furiously.

Li Luo said, “Two more bottles of wine, please.”

“All right!”

After paying, she told Liu Erwang and the others, “I also ordered a few more dishes earlier, and the bill’s settled. I have other matters, so I won’t stay. Consider these two bottles of wine my apology.”

“Big sister lives up to her name—efficient in everything she does,” Liu Erwang said drunkenly. He had also made a lot of money following Li Luo recently, so he flattered her shamelessly.

Li Luo laughed.

Qin Xinyi’s sharp eyes saw Li Luo take out a thick stack of bills and hand over two bottles of Maotai for the group to continue drinking.

That money must belong to her uncle. Otherwise, why would she spend it so freely?

Damn Li Luo, using her uncle’s money to act rich.

As Li Luo left, Qin Xinyi confronted her. “Li Luo, who are those people?”

“None of your business.”

“Ugly, immoral! No wonder my brother didn’t want you—he saw right through you! Poor uncle wasted his money!” Qin Xinyi raged.

Li Luo calmly shot back, “I’m not ugly, nor am I immoral. Your brother didn’t want me because he cares about looks. I should thank him—if he’d married me, I wouldn’t have this freedom.” She walked away.

Qin Xinyi blocked her.

Li Luo dodged around her. Qin Xinyi cornered her again. “I won’t let you leave.”

Li Luo ran, and Qin Xinyi chased her.

While running, they heard someone shouting, “Robbery! Robbery!”

Across the street, a short, stocky man was holding a handbag. His hair streamed backward from running. Clearly, he was the thief.

Qin Xinyi froze in fear.

Li Luo seized the moment, kicked the man, knocking him to the ground, then quickly restrained him and retrieved the bag.

The owner, a middle-aged woman in fine clothes with delicate features, arrived soon after. She checked the bag and found everything intact, letting out a sigh of relief. She handed Li Luo a voucher. “Young lady, just a token of my gratitude—please accept it.”

Li Luo looked closely. It was a voucher for two pounds of meat. Nowadays, meat could be bought without a voucher, but it was expensive. Using a voucher cut the price by more than half, making it a kind of luxury. Two pounds wasn’t trivial. She waved her hand politely. “No, really, it’s unnecessary.”

“Use it, use it.”

“Really unnecessary.”

Li Luo eased her grip slightly. The thief struggled and tried to escape but was caught in time by the patrol.

“Thank you so much, young lady. If not for you, I’d be ruined. I’m the accountant at my workplace—the bag contained wages I just collected from the post office.” The woman was terrified but deeply grateful.

Li Luo waved it off. “No need to thank me. Next time, bring someone with you when collecting money.”

“Ah… I definitely won’t go alone next time.”