What Are Your Tastes? chapter 47

The Stranger Girl

Most of the shops on Art Street were related to stationery, along with bookstores and craft shops, none of which interested Zhou Yanchuan. He was only here to accompany Lu Yunchu and perhaps carry some things for him.

However, after entering one of the shops, his eyes were unconsciously drawn to two items on the shelf and he walked closer.

Lu Yunchu carefully selected items, not noticing Zhou Yanchuan’s movements for several minutes. When he looked up again, he found Zhou Yanchuan foolishly smiling at a pair of wooden dolls.

This shop had only a few handicrafts, and wooden dolls were among them. Their shapes were not particularly special, with simple lines and chubby bellies, exuding a rustic charm.

Lu Yunchu walked up behind him, and Zhou Yanchuan still hadn’t noticed, still staring at the dolls with joy.

“They’re quite cute,” Lu Yunchu whispered in his ear.

“Oh,” Zhou Yanchuan glanced at what he was holding, “Done shopping?”

“Mm.”

“Let’s go.” Zhou Yanchuan turned around again to look at the “chubby dolls.”

But Lu Yunchu stopped, saying to the clerk behind the counter, “Excuse me, I’d like to have these dolls, too.”

Zhou Yanchuan was taken aback. “Are you buying these?”

Lu Yunchu turned to ask him, “How about putting them in your house?”

“You want to give them to me?” Zhou Yanchuan was not slow-witted and immediately understood what he meant. It must have been his own fascination that had given Lu Yunchu the idea. “No need, I was just looking.”

He rarely bought decorations himself and didn’t have that kind of thought. If he found something he liked, he usually just looked at it in the store.

“I think they’re nice,” Lu Yunchu said, “They’d look good in your house, on a sideboard or a liquor cabinet.”

“Really?” Zhou Yanchuan hadn’t thought much about decorating his room; he had several cabinets at home but hadn’t put much on them. Hearing this made him feel a little moved. “Then I’ll buy them, you don’t need to spend any more money.”

“It’s okay,” Lu Yunchu showed his payment code first, “Consider it a thank you for spending the New Year with me.”

What had happened on New Year’s Eve seemed to have faded from Lu Yunchu’s memory, emotions had returned to clarity, and Zhou Yanchuan thought back, still feeling unnatural, as if a special chemical reaction had occurred.

Finally, he accepted the “thank you gift” Lu Yunchu gave him and walked out of the store together.

The setting sun in the west collected the last hint of warmth, the light of day was dimmed.

“Kid, where’s your home?”

Just as they walked out of the southern end of the alley, they ran into a young man with a somewhat unsteady demeanor, chatting up a little girl. The girl looked about six or seven years old and, out of fear, shrank into the corner without saying a word.

“Hey, Uncle is really a good person–“

“What kind of good person are you?” Zhou Yanchuan stepped forward, blocking the little girl.

The security of the university city area was relatively assured, and this person shouldn’t be a kidnapper, but there was still a possibility of fraud. There were two nearby elementary schools, and some idlers would take advantage of children’s innocence to cheat a little money or property.

The young man hesitated and stepped back a step, asking, “Do you know each other?”

Zhou Yanchuan glared silently at the other person, and Lu Yunchu also walked up. The girl showed a certain trust in them, hiding behind Lu Yunchu.

The man thought he had guessed right and casually said, “I just saw her alone here without any adults, so I came to check on her.” After speaking, he retreated two more steps and then turned around and quickly fled.

Most likely a scammer.

After he had walked away, Lu Yunchu asked the little girl, “Why are you alone on the roadside?”

The girl didn’t have such a heavy guard against them and hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth, “My tutoring class just ended, and my mom said she was a little late, so she asked me to wait downstairs.”

Behind her was a four-story building with a restaurant on the first floor, and outside the windows of the second floor hung a sign saying “Blue Eagle Mathematics.”

Zhou Yanchuan couldn’t stop complaining in his heart. Nowadays, parents are quite something. This child was at most in first grade, yet even during winter vacation, she had to come out for extra classes. It’s not just about the extra classes; they also didn’t pick her up on time. In this freezing weather, she could only wait on the roadside.

Lu Yunchu glanced around. The hygiene conditions of the nearby small shops were rather average, while across the street diagonally was a McDonald’s. He whispered a few words to Zhou Yanchuan.

Zhou Yanchuan nodded and suggested to the girl, “Would you like to come with us to McDonald’s for a drink? You can use my phone to call your mom and tell her to come across the street to find you.”

She hesitated again, gripping the strap of her backpack with her right hand, unsure whether to agree or not.

“It’s okay. If you’re worried, you can wait here. Just don’t tell strangers about your home situation,” Zhou Yanchuan handed his phone to her, “If you trust us, you can make a call.”

She stared at the phone for a while, finally nodded, and took it.

They crossed the street with the girl and placed their order. While Lu Yunchu waited at the counter for the food, Zhou Yanchuan sat with the little girl by the window facing the street. This spot was the most convenient for observing the outside, so they could spot her mother as soon as she arrived.

Seeing the girl relax, Zhou Yanchuan started a conversation with her, “If your mom is busy, what about other family members? Can’t they come pick you up?”

“Uncle,” she playfully blinked, “you told me not to tell strangers about my home situation.”

Zhou Yanchuan was momentarily speechless, then chuckled helplessly, “You’re right, Uncle spoke too much.”

“It’s okay, I know you’re not bad people,” she said, “My parents are divorced, and my grandma doesn’t get out much because of her bad leg.”

“I see.” With her revealing her family situation, Zhou Yanchuan had nothing more to say. It was already a sensitive topic, and being unmarried without children himself, the complexities were hard to unravel and not suitable for comment.

Lu Yunchu returned with orange juice and fries. The little girl’s attention was diverted, and she chatted lively with them while drinking her orange juice.

“Uncle, you look like a TV star,” she said to Lu Yunchu.

“Thank you.”

“With such long hair, how long does it take?” She touched the small braid clumsily tied on her head, looking at him enviously.

“Probably about half a year.”

“Uncle, why are you guys out here?”

“We’re just out shopping,” Zhou Yanchuan answered this time. He noticed the girl was quite outgoing, only showing strong caution towards strangers.

As they finished their drinks, the sky darkened. Zhou Yanchuan thought about calling the girl’s parents again, but before he could, the girl stood up and waved in a certain direction ahead, “Mom!”

Zhou Yanchuan casually turned his head and saw a figure outside the floor-to-ceiling window, his smile freezing on his lips.

Liu Qingru had entered.