Reborn in the 80s: Everyone Falls For Me
Chapter 317 - 316: Matchmaking (3 more)

Chapter 317: Chapter 316: Matchmaking (3 more)

"Xiao Rou?" Xu Zhiqiang finally noticed Chen Xiaorou following behind Xu Niannian.

He frowned and said, "Sis, there’s no need; doesn’t she still have to make Butter Sauce? If she comes down to teach me, who will make the Butter Sauce? If I don’t know how, I can ask Second Uncle."

Xu Niannian: "..."

Actually, she couldn’t tell right away whether Xu Zhiqiang was rejecting Chen Xiaorou or was he completely clueless?

Xu Niannian instinctively looked towards Chen Xiaorou, and it was obvious that Xu Zhiqiang’s words left Chen Xiaorou feeling down.

The two hands hanging in front of her intertwined nervously, fidgeting.

She did not dare to lift her head to look at Xu Zhiqiang, nor did she dare to refute his words.

Xu Niannian shook her head helplessly, "We already have a lot of Butter Sauce., Xiao Rou and Du Wenwen make it every day. It’s just a sauce, and the store doesn’t use that much. Du Wenwen is responsible for preparing the broth, so it’s fine. Xiao Rou, you come down to teach him for a while, and you can go back up when it gets too busy, it’s okay."

Upon hearing this, Xu Zhiqiang didn’t say anything else.

"Thank you, Sis," Xu Zhiqiang said gratefully;, his sister really considered everything for him.

"Okay, then Xiao Rou, you stay here with Zhiqiang. As for the living arrangements, let Zhiqiang take care of it."

After speaking, Xu Niannian turned to leave; she had no intention of being a third wheel here.

As Xu Niannian walked away, Chen Xiaorou suddenly became nervous and subconsciously called out to Xu Niannian, "Niannian, you..."

Before she could finish, Xu Zhiqiang interrupted her. He frowned and said, "Why are you bothering my sister? She’s very busy every day. If it’s not important, don’t disturb her for no reason. If you have anything, you can tell me."

His reprimand-like words instantly made Chen Xiaorou’s face turn red, "No, it’s nothing."

Xu Zhiqiang "hmm"ed, then noticing she had brought nothing with her, asked, "You didn’t bring any clothes to change into, did you?"

Chen Xiaorou instantly felt embarrassed. Xu Niannian hadn’t mentioned staying for a few days when she brought her along.

Naturally, she hadn’t packed any clothes.

She could only awkwardly lower her head, "No, I didn’t bring any."

Chen Xiaorou had never been so nervous speaking in front of Xu Zhiqiang before.

The main reason being that after so many days apart, Chen Xiaorou kind of missed him, and almost every day she thought about the days when they would be out early and back late together.

It hadn’t been long since they’d seen each other, but it felt to her as if many years had passed.

Suddenly seeing him, her excitement turned into a feeling similar to stage fright, making her nervous and anxious, and she even stuttered when she spoke.

Xu Zhiqiang sighed, "Let’s go, I’ll find you a couple of sets of clothes to change into."

Listening to Xu Zhiqiang speak, Chen Xiaorou’s cheeks burned so hot, she couldn’t even hear clearly what he was saying and just stood there in a daze.

So much so that Xu Zhiqiang had already walked to the door and realized Chen Xiaorou hadn’t moved.

He stopped in his tracks and looked at Chen Xiaorou in puzzlement, "Aren’t you coming?"

Chen Xiaorou still kept her head down, not hearing him.

Helplessly, Xu Zhiqiang walked over to her and flicked her on the forehead with his finger.

Quite hard at that.

Chen Xiaorou covered her head in pain and cried out "Ow!" Tears were even flicked out, and she looked at Xu Zhiqiang with teary eyes, "What are you doing?"

"Are you coming or not?"

Seeing that she was in so much pain that tears were nearly coming out, Xu Zhiqiang realized he might have been too forceful.

He frowned, annoyed at himself for not controlling his strength, and said, "Let me have a look?"

As he spoke, he had already taken Chen Xiaorou’s hand, pulling it away from her forehead.

Upon inspection, she had indeed been flicked too hard; her forehead had turned red.

Had he really been that forceful? Xu Zhiqiang furrowed his brow.

When Xu Duoyu and Xu Erhong were disobedient, he would often flick their foreheads like that.

But aside from shouting noisily each time, they never really turned red like this.

After pondering, Xu Zhiqiang guessed that perhaps girls’ skin was a bit more delicate.

Or maybe his two brothers were just too thick-skinned.

As Xu Zhiqiang mused, he didn’t realize that some time had passed, and all this time, he had been holding onto Chen Xiaorou’s hand.

Chen Xiaorou had forgotten about the pain, all her senses focused on the hand held by Xu Zhiqiang.

His fingers were long and strong, and although they were thin to the point where one could feel the bones, his hand wasn’t unpleasant to look at.

On the contrary, his hand was very handsome.

It even seemed nicer than hers.

Unbeknownst to him, he also leaned closer to Chen Xiaorou and blew gently on her forehead.

The cool breeze on her forehead didn’t dissipate the warmth on Chen Xiaorou’s face; instead, it made her feel even hotter.

Zhiqiang... Zhiqiang was blowing on her forehead!

Chen Xiaorou kept her eyes tightly shut, not even daring to open them to look at him.

She could feel that Xu Zhiqiang was very close, very close to her.

She was so close that if she merely tilted her head up a bit, his lips would press against her forehead.

Unfortunately, she could only harbor such thoughts secretly in her heart.

Chen Xiaorou was even so nervous that she dared not move at all, stiff as a block of wood.

Xu Zhiqiang blew on it seriously a few times, only to find it still red. He frowned, "I’m sorry, I think I was too forceful."

"No, it’s okay," Chen Xiaorou said, her head snapping up a bit too reactively.

As she lifted her head, she accidentally bumped into Xu Zhiqiang’s chin, eliciting a pained hiss from him.

"Are you, are you okay? I didn’t do it on purpose," Chen Xiaorou looked at Xu Zhiqiang with concern.

Xu Zhiqiang, rubbing his chin and shaking his head, said, "It’s nothing."

He smiled faintly, "Consider it payback."

When Xu Zhiqiang smiled, it was very attractive, his clear and bright laughter as if it could reach into the depths of someone else’s heart, bringing warmth.

Chen Xiaorou stared at him in a daze.

"Let’s go, I’ll take you to get some clothes," Xu Zhiqiang said, his pain fleeting.

He didn’t seem to dwell on it.

With her face blushing the whole time, Chen Xiaorou followed Xu Zhiqiang, and it was only after the two had left that Xu Niannian poked her head out from the adjacent corridor.

Tsk tsk, it seemed that there might be a chance for her Zhiqiang and Xiaorou.

Xu Niannian had been secretly observing from this spot just now.

She had seldom seen Xu Zhiqiang care about any girl like this, even worrying about whether she had clothes to change into.

"Tsk tsk tsk, this is getting interesting."

Above the head of Xu Niannian, Xu Erhong’s head appeared, asking curiously, "What’s getting interesting? Niannian, what are you hiding here for?"

The sudden voice startled Xu Niannian, and she jumped up, her heart racing so fast as if it were about to leap out of her chest upon being discovered eavesdropping.

With her leap, she bumped right into Xu Erhong’s chin.

Xu Erhong yelped in pain, covering his chin, "It’s dislocated, it’s dislocated."

"Uncle Er, why are you here?" Xu Niannian, caught between laughter and tears, hurried over, "Let me have a look..."

While dislocation was unlikely, given it was an upward bump,

Xu Erhong still bit his tongue, swelling up terribly.

As a result, he sounded like he had a speech impediment for the entire day, mumbling and grumbling.

Apart from Liu Guimei and his mother, no one could understand what Xu Erhong was saying.

*

After leaving Chen Xiaorou in Xu Zhiqiang’s care, Xu Niannian returned to the county town.

But on her way back, she suddenly encountered a strange man.

Xu Niannian recognized this man, or more precisely, she had seen him before, but couldn’t really say she knew him.

It was the same man she had almost bumped into at the bank entrance.

Because of his extraordinarily handsome features and the excessively chilly aura about him,

Xu Niannian had a deep impression of him.

She had not expected such a person to appear in a small mountain village like this.

On the way from Xu Niannian’s hometown to the county town, one had to pass through several villages.

Xu Niannian encountered this man in one of those nearby villages.

This strange man was none other than Ye Xiangtian.

When Xu Niannian saw him, she found him talking to a burly man who, despite appearing like an old farmer in dress, clearly wasn’t.

Xu Niannian’s attention was drawn to these two men because, as she rode past on her bicycle, the burly old farmer gave her a sharp look,

a glance far too penetrating to belong to that of a peasant.

Xu Niannian was not naive; she didn’t really think the man was just a simple farmer.

After a glance, she pretended everything was normal and continued riding forward, yet someone wasn’t willing to let her go.

"Wait a moment."

The cold voice abruptly rang out, just as Xu Niannian was cycling past them.

Xu Niannian stiffened, estimating her chances of escaping on her bicycle.

Clearly, it was zero.

These two men clearly had extraordinary abilities; how could they possibly fail to catch up with her bicycle?

After a quick mental calculation, Xu Niannian stopped her bike, turned her head, lifted her lips into a light smile, and feigned innocence, "Do you gentlemen need something from me?"

"’Gentlemen’? Heh..." The man dressed as a peasant but with a burly stature scoffed coldly, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The path Xu Niannian was on was not a main road but a narrow country lane.