Hearing Shen Yujing's words, the shop assistant became flustered but still tried to maintain composure, saying, "Don't joke like that."
Shen Yujing looked at Song Yi, clearly exasperated, "She thinks I'm joking? Do I look like I have nothing better to do?"
Murong Huan also said with a bright smile, "His surname is Xu. If you don't believe it, you can directly ask your mall's manager to come over."
The shop assistant's face instantly turned pale, and she immediately apologized, "Dear customer, please don't be angry. I... I didn't mean to. It's all my fault. Please come in!"
"Tch." Shen Yujing shook his head disinterestedly, waiting for Xu Che to handle the situation.
However, Xu Che merely shook his head, tugged at the dog leash in his hand, and said quietly, "Let's go."
Song Yi and Murong Huan exchanged glances, including Shen Yujing - all three had confusion in their eyes.
Just like that... he's letting it go completely?
Shen Yujing couldn't stand it anymore and called out, "Hey Xu Che, what kind of good guy act are you putting on?"
Others might not understand Xu Che, but Shen Yujing had practically grown up with him. He wasn't the type to take things lying down; at most, he'd just show some restraint.
Could it be that because Song Yi was here, Xu Che was pretending to be kind and gentle in front of her? How fake could he be?
Murong Huan chimed in, "Even if you don't want to fire her, you should at least manage this store and improve the mall's management system or security work."
Even the little dog, still lying on the ground, gave a couple of soft barks at the shop assistant who had just scolded it, as if disagreeing with Xu Che's approach.
"You're mistaken. This is his property, it has nothing to do with me," Xu Che said calmly, bending down to pick up the reluctant dog, and walked forward. "Besides, something rotten to the core might as well go bankrupt soon."
Song Yi pressed her lips together slightly, hearing from Xu Che's words that his relationship with his family didn't seem very good.
Murong Huan blinked her eyes, looking at the items in her hands, "We're pretty much done shopping anyway, so where should we go now?"
Looking at Xu Che's retreating figure, Shen Yujing touched his chin with his free hand and said, "Since we've got nothing better to do, why don't we—follow Xu Che!"
Song Yi: "?"
Murong Huan: "?"
Song Yi: "Are you some kind of stalker?"
Murong Huan: "I don't want to."
Five minutes later.
Xu Che stopped walking and turned to look at the three trailing behind him, asking, "What are you doing?"
Song Yi: "Uh..."
Shen Yujing answered brazenly, "Just happening to go the same way! This mall belongs to your family, right? Why do you care so much?"
Murong Huan: "It is his family's mall."
Shen Yujing: "..."
He'd spoken without thinking.
So Shen Yujing had to change his tune and admit, "It's just that you seemed unhappy, could you tell us what's wrong so we can cheer up a bit?"
Song Yi: "..."
She elbowed Shen Yujing in the stomach, causing him to bend over and step back in pain.
Song Yi lifted her head, smiled at Xu Che, and pointed at Shen Yujing, "He's worried about you, but he'd rather die than say it properly. Please excuse him."
Shen Yujing snorted coldly, staring at the back of Song Yi's head, and couldn't help but tug at her ponytail, "Hey, don't make things up."
What was she doing? Did she think she was being clever, saying such nonsense?
Song Yi turned back and glared at him.
Shen Yujing immediately let go and crossed his arms, looking at Xu Che, still asking, "Hey, are you really okay lately?"
Earlier at the pet shop entrance, Shen Yujing hadn't figured it out, but now he understood.
It was almost time for Uncle Xu's birthday, and every year during this period, Xu Che's behavior would become very strange.
For example, when they were children and the Shen family was still neighbors with the Xu family, strange sounds would come from the Xu household during these days.
Like a woman's crying, a man's roaring and scolding, from arguments to physical fights - the worst times even required police intervention.
Usually, young Shen Yujing would go to the Xu house to provoke young Xu Che, but during this time, the Xu family's servants would block him at the door. The entire Xu household seemed to become a forbidden zone, not allowing anyone to enter or leave.
Shen Yujing had once puzzledly discussed this issue with his mother.
It should be noted that Mrs. Shen's level of gossip and information-gathering ability in this area rivaled that of the neighborhood aunties' chat group.
But faced with this question, Mrs. Shen had shaken her head without answering, only saying, "It's such a pity, both children are innocent."
Although Shen Yujing never really understood what was going on with the Xu family, he just remembered not to look for Xu Che to fight during this time period.
"It's nothing," Xu Che only answered Shen Yujing with these two words.
At this moment, there was a candied hawthorn fruit stand beside him.
So Xu Che turned back to look at Song Yi, pointed at the candied hawthorn fruits, and asked, "Would you like some?"
"Huh?" Song Yi was stunned for a moment, but due to her love for food, she instinctively nodded, "Sure."
Murong Huan protested, "Hey Xu Che, what's the deal? We've known each other for over ten years! I want some too!"
Shen Yujing: "Then I want some too! Don't try to exclude me! No way!"
Xu Che didn't respond but still bought four sticks of candied hawthorn fruits.
The candied hawthorn fruits came in three sizes - large, medium, and small. Only one large one was left in the cabinet, with the remaining three being medium-sized.
Xu Che handed medium-sized ones to Murong Huan and Shen Yujing, then looked down at the two sticks in his hand.
One large and one small, the contrast was stark.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Xu Che still handed the large one to Song Yi.
For some reason, from the first time Xu Che saw Song Yi, he thought she had the look of someone who really enjoyed sweets, so every time they met, he couldn't help but give her different candies.
Even her cheeks were fair and clean with a bit of baby fat, looking soft like cotton candy.
At this moment, Song Yi had already bitten into the first candied hawthorn.
Her cheek bulged on one side, clearly protruding and moving up and down as she chewed, just like a little hamster.
If he could pinch it, it would probably feel nice.
When he realized he had such a strange thought, the young man quickly shifted his gaze away from Song Yi's face.
Xu Che said, "You can leave your things with the staff on the third floor, they'll help you deliver them directly to Saint Slee."
Although Xu Che disdained acknowledging himself as that person's son and never viewed his possessions as his future inheritance, doing a favor for friends was still acceptable.
For Murong Huan, while the young lady enjoyed the shopping process and thus preferred to do things herself, she now felt her hands were tired, and since Xu Che could help them, there was no need to have the driver come up later.
Except for the water cup she bought for Jiang Yiheng - that she wanted to give to him personally!
After the other items were deposited, Murong Huan seemed to think of something and looked at Xu Che, asking, "By the way, Xu Che, our school is about to hold its anniversary celebration soon, and there are some open invitation spots available. Would you like to come?"
Xu Che answered, "We'll see."
"Then I'll save one for you," Murong Huan was the type to act on her thoughts immediately, and after speaking, she took out her phone, "Thanks for the candied hawthorn, why don't we take a group photo?"
Xu Che instinctively raised his hand to cover his face but lowered it after hesitating for two seconds.
Although Song Yi didn't understand why they needed to take a group photo at this moment, she wouldn't refuse Murong Huan over such a small matter, so she held up the candied hawthorn with one hand and obediently made a peace sign with the other.
"Pfft—"
Shen Yujing burst out laughing, "What kind of pose is that? It was popular ten years ago."
Song Yi was already used to Shen Yujing's inability to say anything nice and couldn't be bothered to respond to him.
Shen Yujing walked to Song Yi's other side, put on a serious expression, and even kept his hands straight at his sides.
Song Yi then mocked him, "How are you any better than me?"
Shen Yujing, who usually never let anyone have the last word, didn't argue back this time.
However, at the moment when Murong Huan pressed the camera button, Shen Yujing suddenly lowered his head and bit into the half-eaten candied haw that Song Yi was holding. His other hand draped over her shoulder, and he pinched her cheek from the other side, creating what could be considered an intimate pose between them.
Song Yi's eyes widened in pain as she turned to look at Shen Yujing, her face full of astonishment.
The scene froze at that moment.
In the next second, Song Yi used her left hand, which had been making a peace sign, to smack Shen Yujing's forehead hard. "If you have a death wish, just say so."
Only then did Shen Yujing remove his hand from pinching Song Yi's cheek, casually biting off the remaining half of the candied haw.
Song Yi became even more exasperated, reaching out to smack Shen Yujing's forehead again to vent her frustration. "You're stealing my food now? Are you part dog or something, Shen Yujing!"
Shen Yujing couldn't understand why she would gently pat Hang Feng's head, yet always be so aggressive with him.
So Shen Yujing stood on his tiptoes and took several steps backward, practically wearing the words "you can't reach me" on his face.
Song Yi was infuriated by his childish, grade-school-level antics, so she jumped up to try to hit his head.
With that jump, however, she nearly twisted her ankle upon landing, and due to momentum, Song Yi stumbled forward several steps.
Shen Yujing instinctively reached out his hand to steady Song Yi.
Song Yi thought desperately to herself, surely she wasn't about to fall right into Shen Yujing's arms?
Oh heavens, oh earth, these unavoidable romantic clichés...
Wait, who grabbed her?
A strong hand gripped Song Yi's arm, while another hand extended in front of her body, providing double insurance against her falling forward.
Oh? She avoided it!
Song Yi turned her head in surprise to find Xu Che standing beside her, having calmly executed this series of movements.
Shen Yujing became irritated and stepped forward to swat away Xu Che's hand that was blocking Song Yi's waist. "Where do you think you're putting your hands? Let me tell you something! Don't you dare get handsy with her!"
"Oh, is that so?" Xu Che lowered his head to look at Song Yi's face, reaching out to gently brush his fingertip against the obvious red mark that contrasted with her surrounding fair skin.
The sensation was even softer than he had imagined, and the temperature at his fingertip seemed to suddenly rise, causing Xu Che to quickly withdraw his hand.
The young man's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed, and then he looked at Shen Yujing with amusement, asking: "Shen Yujing, have you figured it out yet? Who's really the one bullying her?"
At this moment, the blonde youth's eyes were filled with undisguised anger. He grabbed Song Yi's wrist and pulled her directly to his side.
Xu Che had no intention of competing with him at this point.
Shen Yujing looked at Song Yi, and after hesitating for a few seconds, he obediently lowered his head and placed her hand on top of it. His voice became pitiful as he said softly, "Go ahead and hit me, hit me all you want, okay?"
"But you have to promise that once you're done hitting me, you won't be angry anymore."
