Chapter 504: Lantern Festival
Qing Yu squeezed through the crowd and hooked her arm through Zhao Dong's.
"Senior, have some of this! It's super sweet!" Qing Yu said with a giggle, offering her half-eaten candied hawthorn to Zhao Dong.
Beside them, Dai Ruyu's gaze practically turned to ice.
Zhao Dong quickly waved his hand. "I don't really like sweets. No, thank you."
"Alright…" Qing Yu nodded dejectedly and popped the candied hawthorn back into her mouth. "Let's go deeper inside and look around. It's so lively in there!"
While eating her candied hawthorn, she pulled Zhao Dong further into the fair. Zhao Dong let himself be passively pulled along. Thankfully, Dai Ruyu said nothing and simply followed them quietly, allowing Zhao Dong to breathe a sigh of relief.
Soon, the bustling environment had all three of them immersed in its cheerful atmosphere. Looking at the surrounding lanterns, Zhao Dong, for once, took out his phone to capture the beautiful moment.
For some reason, the farther he walked, the more Zhao Dong found himself growing fond of these simple, warm moments.
As they walked on, Zhao Dong spotted a stall selling candied hawthorns.
"Qing Yu, the ones over there are huge! How about I buy one for you?" Zhao Dong said with a smile as he turned around.
But he froze.
All he saw beside him was a surging tide of people. Where was Qing Yu?
Did we get separated?
Zhao Dong's first instinct was to call her, but then he remembered the awkward presence of Dai Ruyu and decisively put his phone away.
With so many people coming and going, she must have just gotten separated in the crowd. Besides, she's a grown woman and incredibly strong. It's not like she could actually get lost.
So, Zhao Dong put his phone away and chose to wander around on his own. Of course, he wanted to be with Qing Yu, but he really couldn't stand Dai Ruyu's stare.
As he walked, a man suddenly shoved past him, bolting forward through the crowd.
"Damn it! What's your problem, running through a crowd like this?" Zhao Dong couldn't help but curse aloud.
However, the next moment, a woman's anxious cry came from behind him.
"My bag! My bag! Thief! Somebody, stop that thief!"
A thief?! No wonder that guy looked so shifty and was running that fast!
Zhao Dong was already annoyed with the man. Hearing he was a thief, Zhao Dong didn't hesitate for a second. He lunged forward, pushed through the crowd, and chased after him.
The man was just an ordinary person. It only took a few moments for Zhao Dong to catch up and send him sprawling with a kick.
"Don't hit me! Don't hit me! I was wrong! I was wrong!"
The thief, it turned out, was a total coward. He held the bag up and immediately begged for mercy, which stopped Zhao Dong's raised fist in mid-air.
Zhao Dong snatched the bag with one hand and hauled the thief to his feet with the other.
CLAP, CLAP, CLAP…
A round of applause broke out from the surrounding crowd.
"He's a hero! A hero!"
"Wow, that guy's so handsome!"
The crowd cheered.
At that moment, the woman who had lost her bag rushed over. Panting, she looked at Zhao Dong's back and said, "Thank you… thank you so much…"
"It's nothing, just happy to help."
Zhao Dong smiled and turned his head.
When he turned around, however, both of them froze.
"Ding Lan?"
"Zhao Dong!?"
Standing before him, clutching her chest and catching her breath, the beautiful woman in the long dress was none other than Zhao Dong's ex-girlfriend, Ding Lan.
Zhao Dong frowned and turned to the thief. "If I ever catch you again, you're dead!"
"Yes, yes! I won't, I swear! I'll never do it again!"
"Scram!" Zhao Dong snorted and kicked the thief away.
There are too many people here; it's not practical to call the authorities. Besides, they can't do much about petty thieves like this anyway. They'd just lock him up for a few days, and he'd be back out stealing again. And it's not like I can kill him just for stealing something, can I?
After sending the thief on his way, Zhao Dong turned and handed the bag to Ding Lan.
Ding Lan took the bag, her face flushing with embarrassment. She looked down, at a loss for words. Zhao Dong felt awkward as well, unsure how to start a conversation. The last time they had seen each other was at the hotel in the Provincial City. The memory of that intimate encounter made it hard for either of them to face the other.
In the end, it was Zhao Dong who broke the suffocating silence. He glanced around and forced a smile. "What a coincidence. Are you here for the lantern festival too?"
"Heh, yeah. You too?" Ding Lan asked awkwardly in return.
This is painfully awkward.
"Yeah," Zhao Dong said just as awkwardly. "So, uh… are you here by yourself? Didn't Zhang Shaowen come with you?"
At the mention of Zhang Shaowen, Ding Lan's expression grew reserved. She lowered her head and mumbled, "Zhang Shaowen had to work overtime tonight. He couldn't make it."
Zhao Dong didn't know how to respond to that, so he just said, "Oh."
The air thickened with awkwardness again.
Just as Zhao Dong was about to make his excuses and leave, a woman in the crowd called out Ding Lan's name.
"Lan Lan! Lan Lan, where are you?"
"I'm over here!" Ding Lan waved.
The next moment, a middle-aged couple appeared before Zhao Dong. It was Ding Lan's parents, Wang Haixia and Ding Deyou. Zhao Dong was surprised to see them, and they were equally stunned to see him.
Zhao Dong asked in a low voice, "Didn't your parents get divorced? Why are they together again?"
Ding Lan quickly explained in a whisper, "They were, but they've reconciled. My mother used to despise my father for being incompetent, but now he's working as a contractor, has built up a lot of connections, and made good money. You could say he's had some success. So my mother got back together with him."
Heh, materialistic as ever. Zhao Dong sneered inwardly.
Wang Haixia, having recovered from her shock, yanked Ding Lan behind her. Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "Lan Lan! What is the meaning of this? I told you to make a clean break with this poor boy. Why are you getting mixed up with him again? What would Shaowen think if he saw you?"
Ding Lan didn't dare defy her mother, meekly lowering her head without a word.
Ding Deyou sized Zhao Dong up. Seeing his plain clothes and remembering he was Ding Lan's ex-boyfriend, his eyes filled with disdain.
He demanded, "Kid, what do you do for a living?"
Zhao Dong's brow furrowed. This old bastard is unbelievably rude, asking me that right off the bat.
Although annoyed, Zhao Dong thought about what happened with Ding Lan last time and felt a little indebted. He couldn't just disrespect her father.
So, he replied calmly, "I do a little business."
"Heh, a little business?" Ding Deyou scoffed. "Do you even know what business is? I bet you think pushing a little cart around to sell boiled skewers counts as 'doing business'!"
"Isn't that the truth?" Wang Haixia said, snuggling up to Ding Deyou fawningly. "My dear Ding here contracts his own projects now. He's made millions, but even he doesn't dare call himself a businessman. And a poor boy like you has the gall to boast about being in business? You've got some nerve, putting on airs like that!"
Then, Ding Deyou added with a humorless smile, "Kid, I know you still haven't given up on my daughter. Fine. Who can blame you? My Lan Lan is beautiful and highly educated, and she comes from a good family. You're simply not good enough for her."