Qin Shu's personality was such that he preferred not to meddle in other people's affairs.
However, when his childhood friend rushed over, he had no choice but to follow.
They saw Su Jun repeatedly apologizing, but the other party was unyielding: "I spent 400 yuan here. Just for one meal? What's wrong with taking some back to taste?"
Su Jun said, "I'm sorry, but the buffet items cannot be taken out."
"I paid for it, dammit."
The childhood friend chimed in, "If you can afford 400 yuan, then spend it. If you can't, don't try to punch above your weight."
"What, you think spending a bit of money makes you God? If everyone was like you, taking this and that, next time there'd be nothing left to enjoy."
The man, embarrassed and angry, raised his hand to strike the childhood friend.
But Qin Shu was right there, and there was no way he'd let that happen. He firmly grabbed the man's arm and said, "I'm calling the police."
The other party, being a coward, saw the situation and left, cursing under his breath.
The childhood friend said, "What a jerk."
Su Jun, not expecting customers to stand up for him, was touched and said, "Thank you both."
Qin Shu's childhood friend said, "Don't let them upset you. You find idiots like that everywhere."
Su Jun wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "They're indeed rare. Let me pack some of our Shine Muscat grapes for you!"
Their fruit was exceptionally sweet, with a unique floral aroma, and very delicious.
Each grape was even larger than a one-yuan coin, making for a truly satisfying eating experience.
The taste was even better when chilled.
The childhood friend wanted them but pretended to be modest, saying, "Oh, there's no need, we didn't really do much!"
Su Jun smiled and said, "Wait here, I'll go get them right away!"
He then returned with two bags of fruit and handed one to each of them.
Qin Shu looked at Su Jun and said, "It wasn't your fault. Why did you apologize to him?"
Su Jun was taken aback, quickly realizing he was referring to the earlier incident. Su Jun said, "I didn't want to cause trouble."
Their Starry Sky pop-up store had always attracted a lot of attention, and he didn't want to risk having the incident posted online and affecting the entire business due to mishandling the situation.
After all, apologizing was just a matter of moving his lips.
Qin Shu looked at Su Jun without speaking, his face showing unprecedented bewilderment.
He could sense that all the employees exuded confidence and gentleness from within.
No wonder everyone wanted to come here for the experience.
After returning home and having some barbecue skewers with his childhood friend outside, Qin Shu went inside.
This short period had stirred up more emotions in him than the entire previous year.
It was already 9 PM when he called Shen Wei.
He worried it might disturb her rest, but he couldn't help himself.
When he called, Shen Wei answered immediately.
Qin Shu asked, "Does your previous offer still stand?" Referring to the job offer.
Shen Wei said of course: "If it's convenient for you, you can come tomorrow!"
"Alright!" This time, Qin Shu agreed even more quickly.
Early the next day, he arrived at the Starry Sky Kindergarten.
His emotions were incredibly mixed.
It was only after entering the kindergarten that he understood the source of this complexity.
Because he had never really liked children.
In his mind, children were the embodiment of little devils.
Crying at inappropriate times, making noise, and using various means to attract adult attention.
And precisely because they were children, there was no way to hold it against them.
When he first came to his father's house, there were several children who frequently broke his things.
As an illegitimate child, he didn't even have the right to be angry, which led to his intense dislike of children.
He must have been bewitched.
Why would someone like him come to work at a kindergarten? He couldn't even understand it himself.
But since he was already here...
Shen Wei had instructed him to go straight to complete the onboarding process upon arrival.
After finishing, he found that Shen Wei hadn't arrived yet, so he waited outside. Soon, a soft little child hugged his leg.
Qin Shu looked down to see a chubby little girl. The child reached up with her short little arms: "Up."
Chef Liu quickly ran over, saying, "NiuNiu, don't bother others. We've talked about this before, remember?"
They didn't know who their child took after.
She couldn't resist any handsome young man she saw.
Every day at the kindergarten, she recognized countless "older brothers."
When she met a good-looking male teacher, she would cling to them, wanting to be held.
Qin Shu stiffened a bit, feeling uncomfortable, but after a moment's thought, he still picked up the child.
The little one knew exactly what to do, burying her entire face in his chest.
Her chubby little hands wrapped around his neck.
The milky scent wafted straight into his nostrils.
If every child were like this little angel,
He might not dislike children anymore.
NiuNiu loved being held more than anything.
Especially by handsome young men.
She would look up at Qin Shu and giggle secretly.
Children, especially girls this age, become incredibly cute no matter what they do.
Qin Shu asked, "Where do you want to go?"
NiuNiu said, "To the kitchen."
She was young, and every time she went to the kitchen, the uncles and aunties there would give her some treats.
So, under NiuNiu's guidance, Qin Shu quickly found the kitchen.
Sure enough, everyone gave them each a prepared sausage and other snacks.
This time, he benefited from the child's presence.
After they finished eating, NiuNiu, familiar with the routine, said, "Don't tell grandpa, he's been urging me to lose weight." The child spoke in her sweet, childish voice.
"Okay," Qin Shu said, then looked at NiuNiu.
NiuNiu seemed to realize something. Girls are conscious about their figure from a young age, so she sucked in her protruding little belly hard, making it suddenly flatten.
Qin Shu couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Children could be so adorable after all. He immediately said, "You're not fat at all!"
Hearing this, NiuNiu promptly let her round little belly out again: "I don't think I'm fat either!" Finally, humming happily, she asked Qin Shu to take her back to the classroom.
Shen Wei returned just in time to see this scene.
She hadn't expected Qin Shu, who usually didn't like children much, to be so good with NiuNiu.
After sending NiuNiu back to the classroom, Qin Shu felt a bit empty inside.
When he turned around and saw Shen Wei smiling at him, he felt a bit embarrassed and said, "This child is quite adorable."
Shen Wei said, "NiuNiu is indeed very cute!"
Since she arrived, she had been worrying her brother to pieces.
Her brother was a typical sister complex.
Every day, his biggest concern was finding NiuNiu.
NiuNiu was always either in this handsome guy's arms or that handsome guy's arms.
Netizens jokingly referred to him as the most pitiful brother in history: "This little kid is only a few years old, yet his heart is already so burdened. What if he grows up and gets lured away by some bad boy? His brother would surely cry himself to death!"
Shen Wei shared these little anecdotes with Qin Shu.
Qin Shu couldn't help but smile: "Indeed, I would cry myself to death."
Shen Wei hadn't expected him to play along with this.
It seemed Qin Shu wasn't as cold and unfeeling as the rumors suggested.
