Chapter 34: What a Small Town

At the state-owned restaurant, Nan Qiao peeked inside but didn’t see any sign of Shen Nian.

So, she simply placed her order and sat down at the only unoccupied large round table in the hall.

Her arrival drew quite a bit of attention. At this hour, most of the patrons at the state-owned restaurant were workers from nearby factories. There were plenty of young men around, and seeing such a pretty young girl, they couldn’t help whispering among themselves, trying to figure out who she was.

When Bai Kaixuan showed up, he immediately spotted a young guy from their steel factory eager to approach Nan Qiao to strike up a conversation.

Quickening his pace, Bai Kaixuan pretended not to notice the guy from his factory and instead greeted Nan Qiao.

“Hey, why aren’t you eating at home today? Your uncle and aunt keep talking about you all the time.”

Nan Qiao looked up, slightly surprised.

Was this man treating the state-owned restaurant like his own headquarters? She seemed to bump into him every time.

“I can’t just keep freeloading meals at your place, right? But do you always eat here?” she asked.

“Not always. I’m on another blind date. A family setup—just having a meal to get acquainted. And the restaurant’s close to the steel factory,” Bai Kaixuan replied sheepishly in a lowered voice.

“Well then, don’t let me hold you up.”

Seeing he had things to do, Nan Qiao didn’t push the conversation.

“There are a lot of guys here trying to talk to you. If you don’t want to be bothered or someone gives you a hard time, just shoot me a look—I’ll take care of it. I’ll be sitting over there,” he said, lowering his voice and gesturing toward another spot in the restaurant.

“Alright. Thanks,” Nan Qiao nodded politely.

Seeing her agree, Bai Kaixuan stood up and walked over to the window to place his order.

Just as he turned around, he pretended to finally notice the young guy who had wanted to approach Nan Qiao. “Hey, you’re Leng Weiguo from the workshop, right? What are you doing just standing there? Go eat!”

The young man had already hesitated the moment Bai Kaixuan appeared. Now, realizing that the pretty girl was actually a relative of Director Bai, he became even more flustered.

So when Bai Kaixuan suddenly addressed him, it caught him completely off guard.

“Ah… Director Bai… What brings you here?” he stammered, instantly regretting his question.

“What else would I be doing here besides eating? What kind of question is that? You go eat too—stop hovering around here,” Bai Kaixuan said with a bit of annoyance. Seriously, what kind of foolish kids were these, even daring to hit on his cousin?

“Y-yes, I’ll go eat right now. Director Bai, enjoy your meal,” Leng Weiguo quickly muttered and scampered back to his table.

Seeing him return, the rest of the workers at the steel factory all started asking him questions.

“Weiguo, what’s going on? How does Director Bai know that girl?”

“From what I heard, she seems to know him too. Director Bai even asked her why she wasn’t eating at home… They must be relatives,” Leng Weiguo said, a little crestfallen. Just when he saw such a beautiful girl in town, she turned out to be completely out of his league.

“She looks like one of the sent-down youth, not someone from around here.”

“Probably.”

“Even if she is a sent-down youth, if she’s related to Director Bai, we don’t stand a chance anyway.”

“Forget it. Let’s just eat. We don’t get to gather like this often. Thought we could sneak off work this afternoon. But running into Bai Kaixuan just ruined it. Eat fast,” Leng Weiguo sighed, clearly dejected.

Meanwhile, Nan Qiao, who was dining alone, had ordered braised chicken with mushrooms and a bowl of rice. Just as the food was served, she heard Shen Nian’s voice at the door.

“Qiao Qiao, I knew you’d be here!”

Looking up and seeing who it was, Nan Qiao’s cold face softened into a smile.

But the moment she noticed the five people behind Shen Nian—Dong Jiayan, Su Mu, Wang Yuman, Leng Zhuoran, and Jiang Haihe—her smile froze.

In fact, there was even a hint of annoyance.

It was lunchtime, and aside from the round table she sat at, the hall seemed completely full.

Sharing a table was normal under such circumstances, but these particular people…

Nan Qiao’s brows furrowed even more tightly.

“Qiao Qiao, can you watch my things for a sec? I’m going to order,” Shen Nian said, placing his bamboo basket on the seat beside Nan Qiao before heading to the counter.

Leng Zhuoran also placed his things down beside Shen Nian’s and asked Nan Qiao to keep an eye on them.

Nan Qiao didn’t mind. She’d gotten along quite well with both Shen Nian and Leng Zhuoran during their work shifts lately, so she agreed.

As for the others—Nan Qiao didn’t even spare them a glance.

The round table was large enough to seat ten, but Nan Qiao really didn’t want to share her mealtime with these people. They completely killed her appetite.

“Qiao Qiao, can we sit with you?” Su Mu asked in a sweet tone as Nan Qiao focused on her food.

Nan Qiao didn’t want to respond. The table belonged to the restaurant, not her. Sharing was inevitable. But that “Qiao Qiao” just rubbed her the wrong way.

“Comrade Su, I believe I told you before—either call me Comrade Nan or Nan Qiao, didn’t I?”

Su Mu flinched slightly at Nan Qiao’s icy tone, but still tried to salvage the moment. “Sorry, Nan Qiao. I’m just used to it.”

Nan Qiao rolled her eyes internally. Used to it? How long have we even known each other?

“Nan Qiao, can we sit here?” Su Mu asked again, unwilling to give up.

“Whatever. It’s not my table,” Nan Qiao replied flatly, though she made no move to remove the bundle sitting on the chair beside her.

Sharing the table was already the limit. Sitting next to her? Absolutely not.

Seeing that she had no intention of moving the bundle, Su Mu placed her own things on the chair one seat over instead.

The rest of the group did the same, then went to order their meals.

“Was this seat saved for me?” came a playful voice as Sheng Yanchuan picked up the bundle next to Nan Qiao and held it in his arms, grinning.

He had overheard the exchange between Nan Qiao and the others and was quite pleased to hear her rejecting them.

Nan Qiao, however, couldn’t help but curse inwardly at the sound of his voice. This town really is small! How do I keep running into him?

She picked up a piece of chicken and popped it into her mouth, glancing at Sheng Yanchuan. He wasn’t in his all-black outfit from the small courtyard this morning.

Now, he wore a white shirt and dark blue trousers, his sleeves rolled up to reveal strong, muscular forearms.

He looked clean and sharp.

“Have you eaten yet?” she asked, ignoring his teasing tone.

“Not yet. I just finished my work and figured it was about time for you to eat, so I came to find you. Do you want anything else? I’ll go order,” Sheng Yanchuan said as he glanced at the single dish in front of Nan Qiao. He figured she must have held back from ordering more because she was alone and didn’t want to waste food.

“I also want sweet and sour pork and sautéed three vegetables,” Nan Qiao’s eyes lit up like stars when she heard that. She had wanted to order those earlier but decided against it since she was by herself. Now that Sheng Yanchuan had come, it worked out perfectly.

“Wait here,” Sheng Yanchuan responded. Seeing her smiling so sweetly lifted his mood as well.

By the time Sheng Yanchuan returned after placing the order, the rest of the group had already taken their seats. Su Mu was watching him intently as he picked up Nan Qiao’s things and sat down beside her.

His gaze was like a knife aimed at Sheng Yanchuan—he wished he could rip him to shreds. A country bumpkin like him from the village—how dare he?!

But seeing that Nan Qiao didn’t object, Su Mu felt a tinge of despair. Somehow, Nan Qiao had changed a lot lately…

“Brother Sheng, you came too? Finished with your errands for the day?” Shen Nian asked cheerfully when he saw Sheng Yanchuan sit down.

“All done. I’ve got nothing planned for the afternoon,” Sheng Yanchuan replied, though his gaze never left Nan Qiao. Pouring water and refilling cups for her, he didn’t miss a beat. The rest of the sent-down youths began to pick up on the subtle hints between the two, but no one said anything. They all had their own thoughts and silently acknowledged the ambiguous atmosphere between them.

As the dishes were served, everyone focused on eating the food in front of them.

Seeing so many people at the table, Nan Qiao didn’t want to keep eating the dishes Sheng Yanchuan had ordered. She only took one bite of each when no one was paying attention, savoring the taste before returning to her own chicken stew with mushrooms.

Sheng Yanchuan chuckled at her sneaky little moves.

Ignoring what the others might think, he continued putting food into Nan Qiao’s bowl nonstop.

He didn’t care what anyone else thought—as long as his wife ate well, that was all that mattered.

Nan Qiao looked at the growing pile of food in her bowl and, although pleased, felt a bit troubled by all the staring eyes around them.

Guesses were one thing, but once it became obvious, it turned into a different matter altogether.

Thinking for a moment, she said, “Let’s swap. You should try this too,” and scooped some chicken into Sheng Yanchuan’s bowl using a clean spoon.

Of course Sheng Yanchuan knew what she was thinking. Smiling, he agreed and started eating.

At this table, everyone—except Jiang Haihe—was fairly well off. Wang Yuman and Dong Jiayan ordered together, so the cost was shared. Most people had meat dishes on their plates, except for Jiang Haihe, who had only ordered a simple bowl of noodles.

He claimed he wasn’t very hungry, but only he knew the real reason.

As he stared at the dishes filling the table, none of which were his, his desire to win over Shen Nian grew stronger.

Sheng Yanchuan was clearly clinging to Nan Qiao. Otherwise, how could he afford to eat at the state-owned restaurant so often? And that watch on his wrist—definitely not a local brand. If it weren’t for Nan Qiao, how could he have such things?

If Sheng Yanchuan could cozy up to Nan Qiao, then why couldn’t he, Jiang Haihe—with looks and education on his side—win over Shen Nian?

Everyone at the table had their own thoughts while eating.

At the next table, Li Weiguo and the other workers had been glancing their way ever since Shen Nian and the group walked in.

They weren’t sure earlier if Shen Nian was a sent-down youth, but the way the whole group looked confirmed it now.

One after another, they looked soft-skinned and scholarly. Their accents and clothes made it obvious they weren’t locals. They had to be educated youths.

“Which commune are they from? Why are they all so good-looking?” someone whispered.

“Who knows? Look at the guys—they’ve got that bookish air about them. Can they even handle farm work? Think they can lift a hoe?” a burly man scoffed.

“Whatever. Just look at the food they’re eating—you can tell they’re not short on money.”

Looking at their own table’s dishes and then glancing back at the others, Li Weiguo couldn’t help but grumble with jealousy, “A whole table of factory workers can’t even compete with a table of sent-down youths in terms of food…”

“Be grateful. At least we don’t have to deal with sun and rain every day, digging around in the fields for a bite,” someone else said.

“Well, that’s true,” another replied. They sighed for a bit before changing the topic and stopped paying attention to Nan Qiao’s group.

Because Shen Nian and the others had arrived late, Nan Qiao finished her meal first and obediently stayed seated to wait.

On the other side, Bai Kaixuan finished his meal and turned to his blind date, saying:

“Let me introduce you to someone. She’s the daughter of my uncle’s friend, here in town as a sent-down youth.”

Jia Kaimei nodded, following Bai Kaixuan to Nan Qiao’s table. Since his uncle was the director of the steel factory, she figured any introduction he took this seriously must involve someone from a good family, so she also composed herself accordingly.

“Nan Qiao, have you finished eating?” Bai Kaixuan’s voice came from behind her. Nan Qiao turned her head and stood up when she saw him approaching with his date.

“Yeah, I’m done. You’re heading out?”

“Yeah, we’re about to. Let me introduce you—this is the daughter of a friend of my uncle’s. Nan Qiao, this is… my friend Jia Kaimei.”

When it came time to introduce Jia Kaimei, Bai Kaixuan suddenly found himself unsure how to phrase it, stammering slightly.

He had a good impression of Jia Kaimei, but since it was their first meeting, no title felt quite appropriate.

Nan Qiao understood at once and greeted the girl with a cheerful smile. “Hi, Sister Kaimei. I’m Nan Qiao. I just recently came here for my rural assignment.”

Jia Kaimei found Nan Qiao’s sweet looks and bright smile a bit overwhelming and blushed slightly. “Hello. I work as a nurse at the town hospital. If you’re ever around, we can hang out.”

“Sure! I’ll definitely come find you sometime.”

“Want to visit my uncle’s place with me this afternoon? He should be at the factory,” Bai Kaixuan asked.

Nan Qiao thought for a moment and replied, “I’ll pass for now. I still have things to do back in the village. Please send my regards to Uncle Bai for me.”

Her older brother would be visiting soon, and since she rarely got days off, she wanted to prepare some preserved food to bring him.

“Alright then, we’ll get going. You all enjoy your meal.”

“Okay.” Nan Qiao nodded and exchanged goodbyes with Jia Kaimei before sitting back down.

“Qiao Qiao, is Comrade Bai on another blind date?” Shen Nian asked, full of curiosity as soon as Nan Qiao sat down.

“The last one didn’t work out. This one looks pretty nice,” Nan Qiao replied casually and then dropped the subject, resting her chin in her palm as she waited for the others to finish eating.

Meanwhile, Sheng Yanchuan had been brooding ever since Bai Kaixuan appeared. Only after hearing it was a blind date did he breathe a sigh of relief and resume eating.

As long as Nan Qiao didn’t like the guy, he didn’t care about the rest.

After exchanging greetings, Bai Kaixuan and Jia Kaimei left. As they passed by Li Weiguo’s table, they noticed he was still peeking toward Nan Qiao’s group.

With a somewhat annoyed tone, Bai Kaixuan said, “What are you staring at? It’s already late—finish your meal and get back to the factory.”

“Right, right, I’m going now,” Li Weiguo replied with a sheepish laugh, full of resentment he dared not show.

After all, Bai Kaixuan’s uncle was the factory director…