abcnovels
Chapter 216 - 216: The Strange Couple in the BBQRestaurant
Chapter 216 - 216: The Strange Couple in the BBQRestaurant
Chapter 216: The Strange Couple in the BBQRestaurant
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation | Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Sure, I’ll treat,” Su Xuan said with a smile.
Barbecue it was. Conveniently, there was a barbecue restaurant right next to
the mall.
With the big stuffed dog in her arms, feeling the softness of its plush fur, Zhao Ruoxi felt like she was surrounded by fluffiness. When she heard Su Xuan wanted barbecue, they went straight for it. No hesitation.
“Let’s go, we’ll have a meal,” she said.
“You agreed that the loser would treat, but it seems you’re trading me a big stuffed animal, so let’s go eat barbecue!” Su Xuan replied.
As they sat down to order, Su Xuan purposefully glanced around. He didn’t want any incidents to happen like last time when they were dining. Today was an important day for him.
Zhao Ruoxi, sitting across from him, looked at him with curiosity. What are you up to, Su Xuan?”
“Just checking the menu. Take a look and see if we need to order anything else,” Su Xuan replied.
“How about we order more meat?” Zhao Ruoxi suggested. She didn’t pay much attention to portion control, she was one of those people who never gained weight no matter how much she ate. Adding Su Xuan to the equation, she thought ordering more meat would be a good idea.
Su Xuan didn’t object. If they don’t order more food, he might not get full.
“Okay, let me order an extra serving of pork belly and one of beef,” Su Xuan said casually.
“Speaking of which, I haven’t tried this restaurant before. We can give it a shot,” he added. “If it’s good, we can come again next time.”
His words sounded casual, but Zhao Ruoxi felt a flicker of something in her heart. Was he already thinking about the next time they would meet? She lowered her head, pretending not to have heard anything, and called the waiter over to order.
She couldn’t help but wonder when Su Xuan would bring up the matter she expected him to discuss. After all, she didn’t believe that he had simply invited her out for lunch today. At least…
At some point, he had to say it, right?
She had initially thought Su Xuan might bring it up during lunch. But since she was the one treating him, and she had chosen the restaurant, did that mean he was waiting for the right moment? Su Xuan couldn’t help but wonder about her reaction.
Was something wrong with this girl’s response?
“Hey, can you speed it up a bit?” Su Xuan commented. “I invited you out for barbecue, and you’re taking forever. It’s so annoying!”
“If I knew you’d be this slow, I might as well have gone with someone else!” he added impatiently. “Hurry up! I’m almost out of food, and you haven’t even finished grilling. Isn’t this frustrating?”
Just as their food arrived, they heard an angry outburst from the neighboring table. Su Xuan and Zhao Ruoxi couldn’t resist looking over.
There was a slightly overweight woman sitting at a table not far from them, with a mountain of grilled meat in her bowl. In front of her sat a frail-looking man who was rapidly grilling the meat. Almost everything he cooked ended up in the woman’s bowl, and he hadn’t had a bite himself. Yet, the woman was complaining that there wasn’t enough for her to eat.
The other diners around them showed expressions of disgust towards the woman’s behavior, but no one asked the restaurant owner to intervene. Instead, they occasionally glanced over, as if watching a show.
“They come here often, and our regulars are used to them,” the server explained, noticing Su Xuan and Zhao Ruoxi’s puzzled expressions. “We’ve been open for three years, and they’ve been coming for over two. The woman wasn’t this heavy before, but it seems she had an illness, and that’s how she changed.”
“As for her boyfriend, he’s been by her side all these years. Her temper got worse, but he…”
“So now, when we see them, we don’t bother to interfere.
“The girl just speaks a bit loudly during meals, but she’s normal after that… “Sorry for the disturbance. Let us treat you to some grilled meat as a gesture of goodwill,” the server said, offering to bring them something extra.
Su Xuan and Zhao Ruoxi quickly declined, not feeling that the situation was affecting their meal. Besides, the other diners were also customers of the restaurant, and it wasn’t the establishment’s fault. There was no need for the restaurant to foot the bill.
“No need, this is fine,” Su Xuan quickly replied. “They haven’t affected us at all.” Even so, the server continued to apologize profusely before finally leaving them alone. After their dishes arrived, they couldn’t help but share a smile as they looked at each other.
“You go ahead,” Su Xuan said as he grilled the first batch of meat with the tongs and shared it between them.
Zhao Ruoxi placed a piece of toast on the edge of the grill and remarked, It s been a while since I had grilled toast. I kind of miss it.
“I remember there used to be a fried food stall near our school, and they made the best toast,” Su Xuan reminisced.
As they chatted about childhood snacks, the nearby woman finally finished her meal. Then they overheard her boyfriend saying, “She’s only like this during meals.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I’ve had another episode…” she exclaimed.
Upon hearing this, the man who had relaxed after putting down his tongs reached out and gently held her hand. He spoke lovingly, “It’s okay. You became like this because of me in the first place. Besides, I find you cute when you’re eating. I really enjoy watching you eat. Let me take care of the rest. Shall we go back?”
Seeing their interaction, Zhao Ruoxi withdrew her gaze and couldn’t help but feel a bit sentimental. “From the sounds of it, this girl became like this because of her boyfriend…”
“Their relationship seems really good. I envy them,” she remarked.
Su Xuan immediately lifted his head upon hearing this. “It’s better not to envy them.”
Zhao Ruoxi looked puzzled. Some things were best left unsaid, but…
“This couple is a bit strange, let’s not discuss them further.”
While everyone else was admiring the strong bond between this couple, with the girl having gained so much weight and yet her boyfriend still standing by her side, Su Xuan sensed something amiss. He noticed a red glow emanating from the girl’s boyfriend, different from the previous red dots. This man had no sin value, and that’s precisely what made Su Xuan uneasy. He trusted the system, but he trusted his own instincts even more.
Zhao Ruoxi looked at Su Xuan with a puzzled expression.
She knew Su Xuan was a police officer, and his intuition about certain cases was quite strong. After all, he had caught many thieves in her area before. So when she heard Su Xuan’s words, any doubts she might have had about the situation disappeared, and she immediately trusted his judgment.
“So, how about we chat about where to go after we finish our meal?” she swiftly changed the topic.
This was precisely what Su Xuan had wanted to discuss earlier. The unexpected turn of events had derailed his plans for a confession during the meal.
??By the seaside?” Su Xuan suggested. “The weather is nice today. Would you like to take a walk by the beach and see if we can find some small fish and shrimp?
I even brought salt and rice.”
As soon as these words left his lips, Zhao Ruoxi looked up in surprise. “So, it seems you’ve already planned to take me to the seaside!”
“Great, then let’s go for a stroll by the seaside. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there,” she replied. Even though there was a beach in their own county, her busy work schedule had kept her from visiting..