We Barely Know Each Other, but I'm Living with a Stone-Faced Mechanic! - Chapter 30

“Come on, hurry.” Tao Ying kept urging him along.

Qin Zheng found it amusing. “What are you hiding from?”

“Didn’t you hear?” She jogged as she looked back to explain. “That guy with the yellow hair was one of my blind dates. His hair was pink back then.”

Qin Zheng had no response.

Why hadn’t the man dyed it green instead? At least that would have suited the occasion.

They finally made it outside the shooting club. Tao Ying’s hand was a little cold, which made Qin Zheng’s dry, warm palm feel especially noticeable around it.

She released him awkwardly. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Qin Zheng took out his car keys. “Hungry?”

Tao Ying shook her head. “Not particularly.”

There was something she could not understand.

“What are you standing there for? Let’s go.” Qin Zheng gave her a light push between the shoulder blades.

She tipped her head up to look at him. “Don’t you think something is strange?”

He raised a brow. “What?”

“I keep unlocking former blind dates in the most inexplicable places, and somehow you’re always…” Tao Ying pointed through the air at his chest. “…right there with me.”

Qin Zheng said nothing.

She glanced at him. “Why aren’t you answering?”

Qin Zheng cleared his throat. “Ms. Tao, do your standards for a husband really include full benefits, including social insurance and a housing fund?”

Tao Ying fell silent.

He really did know how to mention the one thing she did not want to discuss.

She turned and walked away. Under the fierce sun, she frowned and hurried toward the car in tiny, rapid steps.

Qin Zheng unlocked it remotely and called after her, “What kind of walk is that? Are you performing opera?”

Tao Ying huffed, ignored his sharp tongue, and stepped up into the passenger seat.

She had the energy to glare again, and her face had come alive. Qin Zheng decided the trip had been worth it.

He climbed in after her, took two packets of crackers and a bottle of water from the glove compartment, and handed them over. “Eat something for now. I’ll find the nearest mall.”

Her expression softened as she accepted them.

She opened a packet and offered him a cracker. “You should have one too. It’s still a long drive back into the city.”

While fastening his seat belt, Qin Zheng caught the cracker straight from her fingers with his mouth. He tossed back his head and crunched into it like a wolfhound lunging for food.

“Don’t you have hands?” Tao Ying arched a brow and shot him a sidelong look, heat rising into her face. “Your mouth… touched my fingers.”

“Sorry.” Qin Zheng smiled with suspicious innocence. “Both hands were busy with the seat belt.”

Tao Ying rolled her eyes. “Why are we going to a mall? If you want lunch, we can eat anywhere.”

“I dropped my electric razor and broke it. I need a new one.”

She said nothing more. Once the car turned onto the main road, she took out her phone and posted to Moments.

Naturally, she used the photo Qin Zheng had taken.

After posting, she put her phone away and remarked, “I’ve lived in Lincheng this long and never knew there was a shooting range here.”

“Not just anyone can open a club like this,” Qin Zheng said. “I know the owner. In China, you can only play around with the smaller stuff. If you want to shoot large-caliber firearms, you have to go abroad. They can’t get approved here.”

Tao Ying’s eyes moved thoughtfully. Shu Ran would probably enjoy it.

She could bring her sometime. The only drawback was the distance.

Qin Zheng navigated to the nearest mall.

It was Saturday, and business was reasonably brisk. They had arrived after the lunch rush, so the restaurants on the top floor were not crowded.

Qin Zheng walked ahead, then suddenly stopped and turned. “What do you want to eat?”

Tao Ying pointed at a Hunan restaurant.

“It’s very spicy. Are you sure?” Qin Zheng pointed at his own throat. “Can your throat handle it?”

Her attention abruptly wandered. Why was his Adam’s apple so prominent?

“Ms. Tao?” Qin Zheng waved a hand in front of her eyes. “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing.” She blinked quickly. “Let’s go in.”

“I said it’s spicy. Are you sure you want to eat there?”

The server outside smiled. “We have non-spicy dishes too.”

Fine. Qin Zheng made an inviting gesture to Tao Ying.

The two of them could not eat much, so he ordered three dishes, along with corn-and-pork-rib soup and fried glutinous rice cakes with brown sugar.

He had already asked for everything to be only mildly spicy. Even so, Tao Ying could barely handle it when the food arrived.

It was genuinely delicious, though. However much it burned, she could not resist taking another bite.

“Stop eating. Your whole forehead is covered in sweat.” Qin Zheng ladled her a bowl of rib soup. “Have this.”

Tao Ying sniffed. Her lips were bright red and parted as tears gathered in her eyes.

He passed her a tissue. “I told you it was spicy before we came in. You insisted.”

She wiped her eyes and lowered her head to drink several mouthfuls of soup.

After the day’s excitement, her appetite had finally returned to normal.

When Tao Ying had nothing to buy, she was not particularly fond of browsing stores.

After lunch, she and Qin Zheng went straight downstairs to a men’s specialty store.

While he chose a razor, her phone chimed several times in a row.

Shu Ran had sent a voice message asking where she had gone, followed immediately by another.

“Did you go by yourself?”

Tao Ying held down the voice button and replied, “I went with Qin Zheng.”

Shu Ran answered, “Something’s going on with you two. His name has been coming out of your mouth awfully often lately. Don’t tell me living together has made you fall for him.”

Tao Ying paused. “What nonsense are you talking about?”

“I know he isn’t your type, but those gentle, refined men are far too bland. I think you could stand to adjust your standards a little.”

Tao Ying gave a quiet scoff. “I don’t want to.”

“Don’t want to do what?”

Qin Zheng had finished his purchase and caught the last words as he reached the entrance, so he asked without thinking.

Tao Ying turned. “Done shopping?”

“Mm.” He nodded. “You still haven’t answered me. What don’t you want to change?”

As they walked away together, Tao Ying said, “Shu Ran told me to change my standards for a partner. I said I didn’t want to.”

Something occurred to Qin Zheng, and he gave an irritating little laugh. “Didn’t you say the man only had to be a normal person?”

The dead memory rose from its grave to attack her again.

Back when she met Dr. Zhao at his shop, Li Meili’s phone call had irritated her so badly that she had tossed out that remark without thinking. Qin Zheng had remembered it all this time.

“I’m joking. Just joking.” When Tao Ying ignored him again, he moved closer of his own accord. “Ms. Tao, what kind of man do you actually like? Call it gossip and satisfy my curiosity.”

Tao Ying did not want to answer, but Qin Zheng refused to let it go and kept asking.

Finally worn down by his endless pestering, she glanced back over her shoulder. “Not someone like you, anyway.”

Qin Zheng went silent.

“What did I do to offend you?” His expression cracked for a moment before he caught up. “Ms. Tao, you should have some conscience. I took you out for the day.”

“I’m not bad-looking, am I? And I can cook. Plenty of girls at your university come to my shop with something other than repairs on their minds.”

“Don’t slander the students.” Tao Ying walked faster, heading straight toward the outdoor parking lot after leaving the mall.

Qin Zheng’s vehicle was parked not far from the exit. She stepped over the low barrier and reached it.

Qin Zheng laughed in exasperation. With one long stride, he caught her arm and used a little force to turn her around.

With a thud, he planted one hand beside her ear, bringing them face-to-face.

“Ms. Tao, I run an auto repair shop, but I get at least four or five electric scooters a day. Why do you think that is?”

Tao Ying had nothing to say.

Some time ago, a female student’s scooter had broken down outside his shop.

Qin Zheng had fixed it for her while she was there. After that, it had spiraled out of control, with one student after another using scooter repairs as an excuse to see him.

“I’ll report the issue to the university administration as soon as I get back.” Tao Ying tried to slip away sideways, but Qin Zheng barred her with his other arm.

“Ms. Tao…” His smile was all teeth, and he wore the shameless look of a rogue who would not move until he got an answer. “Tell me. Why aren’t you interested in me?”