First date

" What are you doing here?" Xua Ying Yue turned to look at Zou Zeming the second the three hooligans dashed past them without looking back. With a frown on her face, she turned the electric baton off before crouching down to pick up the umbrella head but then her hand touched Zou Zeming while her head bumped with his, as he too had bent double to pick up the umbrella head which she had thrown aside.

As Xua Ying Yue turned her head to look at the man who bumped into her, she could see his twinkling eyes which were laden with amusement. Though Xua Ying Yue felt a bit awkward because of this sudden closeness with a boy whom she hardly knew, she still turned her head away and stretched her hand to pick up the umbrella canopy but it was snatched just before her hand touched it.

Because Zou Zeming's hand was a bit longer and thus he was easily able to get hold of the umbrella head, he straightened up and handed it to Xua Ying Yue who took it without saying anything.

" Are you hungry? Bet you are after using so much energy," said Zou Zeming as he turned on his heels, he did not bring up the incident which took place as he walked away.

" Are you not going to ask me what happened ?" Xua Ying Yue asked suddenly after she was done fitting the umbrella's canopy back on the electric baton and then turned to look at Zou Zeming who was walking ahead of her.

For some reason she did not understand this man, he clearly did not like it when she went against the law but at the same time, he kept mum as if silently wanting to help her.

Zou Zeming paused and then turned to look at her, his usual smile was still playing on his lips as he raised a brow and remarked, " Do you want me to ask you what happened? And will you answer me correctly if I do?"

Under his questioning, Xua Ying Yue turned silent which only caused Zou Zeming to smirk even more as he said, " See? You don't want to tell me what happened just now then why should I waste my breath? Now come on, I am super hungry. Just now I thought you were getting bullied and came running."

" Why would you do that?" Xua Ying Yue asked as she fell a step behind Zou Zeming.

" Hmm?" The man turned his head to look at her in surprise and said, " Isn't it an obvious thing to do? Anyone who sees something like this happen will come to help right especially when they see someone whom they are acquainted with getting cornered by a thug?"

Xua Ying Yue fell silent as she recalled all those times when those girls whom she befriended and thought of them as friends turned their back on her one by one when Lu Biya and her group started to target her.

" I don't think so," she muttered in response causing Zou Zeming to look at her with the profound gaze once again. The one which he used when he wanted to see what she was hiding. Xua Ying Yue hated this gaze of his which was why she turned her face away and lowered her head even more which caused her long hair to cover her face as she parted her lips and then said, " You did not answer me, what are you doing here?"

Zou Zeming sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair and pointed at the bookstore which was three blocks away from the alley where they were standing and then explained, " I need some books for my presentation which is why I came to look for them here, this is a small town which is why it is not easy to get hang of what one needs… are you happy now? I am not following you to make sure that you don't stab someone to death."

" I did not think that you were following me," Xua Ying Yue stated without missing a heartbeat.

" Could have fooled me," muttered Zou Zeming as he turned his head and then found a small spicy crayfish shop. "Let's go there, you owe me a meal anyway."

" I thought I paid you back already," Xua Ying Yue retorted recalling the meal which she paid for when he helped her with Qi Qing's matter.

Zou Zeming looked at her as if she had gone mad and then said in an affronted voice, " What do you know? I was eating ice cream when I came to rescue you. Though you did not need someone to rescue you that did not mean that I dumped my ice cream to save you…how do you not owe me?"

Xua Ying Yue was speechless when she looked at the childish man in front of her. She refrained from rolling her eyes before sighing as she agreed, " Fine, let's go."

Only then did Zou Zeming smile as he followed her to the crayfish shop.

The shop which Zou Zeming chose was a small one but it was popular as it seemed to be filled with customers. The second they stepped inside Xua Ying Yue and Zou Zeming could see waiters almost flying on their feet as they served the customers.

" Woah, I knew that this place was super busy but I did not expect it to be so full," Zou Zeming exclaimed as he looked at the shop which was filled to the point where they were having trouble finding seats to sit down.

It was only when they walked past the thick crowd and arrived at the end of the shop that they saw a small table and a pair of chairs which were empty.

Zou Zeming did not waste any time taking a seat on the chair as if worried that someone would take it before him. Seeing him acting so excited, Xua Ying Yue couldn't help but ask, " You seem to be familiar with this shop?"

" I never came here before since I used to live in the city and hardly ever came to this small town as my parents were busy …but my grandfather told me that this was the restaurant where he brought grandmother for their first date which is why its name remained stuck in my head."