I was approached by a cat-eared girl.

"You got beaten up on a blind date and that counts as a work injury?" Chen Shuo asked in surprise. "Is your department really that humane?"

“…”

After a moment of silence, Nie Xi said, "...Anything related to her counts as work."

Chen Shuo knew exactly who this guy was referring to as "her." He picked up an apple from the fruit basket, peeled it, and asked, "Why would she beat you up for no reason? Just because you went on a blind date?"

"Ah."

"What's the reason?"

"Blind date."

"I knew it was a blind date, and I was saying, 'Can you please stop spitting out words one by one?'"

Just as the apple was peeled, Nie Xi reached out to take it, but Chen Shuo stuffed it into his mouth, took a bite, and then silently pulled his hand back.

"Don't just answer my questions. Explain the situation clearly and concisely, including all the causes and consequences."

"..." Nie Xi didn't say anything, but glanced at the fruit basket on the ground. He hadn't eaten a single bite since his blind date at noon and was very hungry.

"I'll peel it for you, you can say what you want." Chen Shuo finished the apple in a few bites, then picked up another one and started peeling it for him.

She misunderstood...

Nie Xi's opening line was these four words: "I bought things from your online store and sent them to her for almost a year. She thought I was pursuing her in this way. After she found out that I was going on blind dates with other people, she was probably resentful or felt deceived, or maybe for some other reason. In short, she became angry and embarrassed."

"So it was love."

"is it?"

"Isn't that right?" Chen Shuo handed him the peeled apple and then picked up another apple to start peeling it.

"So when she was about to hit you, you didn't quickly explain?"

“I explained, but she didn’t listen and just said that I was playing with her feelings.”

"I don't think the word 'playing with' is used well; it's easy for people to misunderstand it."

"...That's what I said back then too."

"?"

Chen Shuo was stunned for a moment, then said after a moment of silence, "Okay, let me deduce what happened. Did she take you out of the coffee shop and not beat you up directly, but just ask you for an explanation?"

After your explanation, she still didn't hit you. She might have hesitated for a moment, or maybe not, but she said something like, "So you were just playing with my feelings." Then you said, "Playing with feelings isn't a good word; it's easy for people to misunderstand." Is that when she started hitting you?

“…” Nie Xi remained silent for a long time before nodding without saying a word.

"You deserved that beating, but our online store shouldn't take the blame for it," Chen Shuo said with a closed eye.

At a time like this, he still has time to correct someone's word choice. The person is already angry, so he's just asking to get beaten up.

In addition, this guy speaks slowly and deliberately, with a kind of pretentious rationality, and he even uses honorifics. For example, "Miss Su, I think you don't use the word 'play' very well, as it can easily lead to ambiguity."

If he pushes up his gold-rimmed glasses while speaking, it's like doubling the blow. Even if you're not angry, you can't help but want to punch him.

“If I were her, the first thing I would do is take those gold-rimmed glasses off your face and smash them on the ground to pieces.”

Chen Shuo pointed to his perfectly intact glasses on his nose, "The fact that you can wear your glasses properly now means that you didn't push them up when you were talking, so you do have some sense."

"..." Nie Xi wisely remained silent, just quietly munching on his apple. He was a little at a loss for words.

He usually carries several pairs of glasses in his pocket, and the pair he's wearing is the one he just got recently.

"Tell me, what are you thinking?"

What are you thinking about?

"Since she beat you up because of the blind date, it means that your pursuit over the past six months has been effective. Hard work pays off, and she was finally moved by your sincerity. It was worth it for you to buy her gifts every day, and it was worth it for our online store to stock up on so much inventory."

Chen Shuo patted the cast on his leg and said, "You deserved the beating. You might even turn this into a blessing in disguise and marry her as your wife."

“…” Nie Xi looked at him without saying a word.

"Don't you want it?" Chen Shuo raised an eyebrow.

Did I ever pursue her?

"It seems not." Chen Shuo chuckled, almost forgetting that back then, when Xiao Niezi had a conflict with Su Yu, he gave him a bad idea: to send a gift to apologize, and also to clear out some inventory in Xiao A Miao's online store.

This is a mess.

"But then again, now that you have a stable job, my aunt's only wish is to have a grandson. She's been urging you to get married every day, so your path to blind dates is basically blocked."

As for finding someone else to be your girlfriend, let's put aside whether your personality is even capable of handling it. I reckon even if you did find a girlfriend, the outcome would only be worse than it is now.

As he spoke, Chen Shuo leaned forward and lowered his voice, saying, "Why don't you think about how to bring that Su Yu home as your wife? Come to think of it, she's not so bad. She just has a bad temper, what's so scary about that? She's not like she can eat people..."

As they were talking, the door to the ward behind them was suddenly pushed open. Chen Shuo stopped talking and turned around to look. He saw Su Yu coming in from outside with a cold face, carrying takeout food in her hand.

The thought that this woman was the culprit who injured my brother, and now she's pretending to be a good person by bringing food, is unbearable.

Chen Shuo couldn't help but slap the bed and suddenly get up. "Um, I suddenly remembered that I left in a hurry and forgot to turn off the gas. You guys are busy, I have to hurry home and turn off the gas."

"..."

Chapter 218 I'll Go Tranquilly to You

As Chen Shuo left the ward, he closed the door behind him and peered through it to listen to what was happening inside. However, he was surprised to find that hospital doors were soundproofed so well these days. After listening for a long time, he could only vaguely hear voices inside, but he couldn't make out what they were saying at all.

The corridor was bustling with people, and the smell of disinfectant was everywhere. People kept casting strange glances at him, and he couldn't hear clearly. He wanted to go in and check on the situation, but he didn't have the courage.

Chen Shuo muttered to himself, "Good luck to you, little tweezers. I'll come see you again tomorrow," and then turned and went downstairs without lingering.

I took a taxi back from the hospital, and it was already past nine o'clock at night. I opened the door with my key, and it was pitch black. The living room was quiet and empty with the lights off.

Chen Shuo looked around but didn't see Bai Xiaoqi, so he took out his phone from his pocket and called her.

The call connected, and all I could hear on the other end was a slurping sound, "Where have you been all night?"

"There's a ramen shop right at the entrance of the residential area. I'm eating ramen here. Do you want to come?"

"Where would I get noodles during the Lunar New Year... Oh, a ramen shop? Never mind then, bring me a serving when you come back, with extra chili."

The halal participants wearing those little hats on their heads seem to not celebrate the New Year. Every year when every household is celebrating the Spring Festival, they still do their own thing and don't fit in at all.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shuo sat on the sofa playing on his phone. About ten minutes later, Bai Xiaoqi came back with a bowl of ramen. She took a large bowl from the kitchen, poured the noodles into it, and pushed it in front of him, saying, "Eat up."

"That ramen shop doesn't even have takeout containers?"

"Yes, but it costs an extra dollar, which I don't think is worth it."

"Next time you can say that you didn't want the plastic takeout box because you wanted to protect the Earth's environment. I'll definitely respect you for that."

Chen Shuo was already used to her stinginess. He casually said this and then broke open the disposable chopsticks to start eating noodles. Bai Xiaoqi threw the plastic bag of noodles into the trash can, ran back and snuggled up to him, and then suddenly sniffled.

"What's that smell on you? It's so awful."

"...The smell of disinfectant in the hospital." Chen Shuo pulled up his collar and sniffed. After spending half a day in the hospital, he was bound to get the smell of disinfectant on him. He had been smelling it for a long time and his nose had gotten used to it, but it was a bit irritating for Xiao A Miao, especially since she had a very sensitive sense of smell.

"Oh..."

Bai Xiaoqi exclaimed "Oh!" in realization, then pressed herself closer to him, asking, "What happened to that guy with glasses? He was fine when we ate together last month, so why was he suddenly beaten up and hospitalized?"

"This is a rather complicated matter. I'll explain it to you slowly after I finish eating."

Chen Shuo finished his noodles in a few bites, even drinking the soup clean. Afterwards, he patted his stomach and began to ramble on, "In short, this is a tragedy caused by a blind date, understand?"

“I understand. If you secretly go on blind dates behind my back, I’ll definitely be very angry and then I’ll beat you up.”

Chen Shuo was speechless. "Young lady, don't keep talking about beating people all the time. You're either beating me or threatening to beat me up. Don't you have anything else to do? Besides, why would I go on a blind date for no reason? And why would I go secretly behind your back?"

"I was just saying."

“Talking about it won’t work, it’ll make you seem like you don’t trust me. My punishment is to do one page of your math workbook.”

"I won't do it."

"Hurry up and do it. This is to teach you a lesson so you won't keep threatening to beat me up every day. Besides, Dr. Nie's hospitalization is a work-related injury, and his company will reimburse him. If you beat me up and send me to the hospital, we'll have to pay for our own treatment, and no one will reimburse us, do you understand?"

I'll go easy on you.

"...Thank you so much."

Well, so he didn't listen at all.

Chen Shuo took the large bowl to the kitchen to wash it, and then picked up his pajamas and headed to the bathroom.

"I'm going to take a shower now, and I hope to see you working hard on your problems when I come out."

"I won't do it!"

She spoke loudly, but after Chen Shuo went into the bathroom, Bai Xiaoqi still reluctantly took the coffee table...

When Chen Shuo came out after taking a shower and wearing his pajamas, he saw her hunched over the coffee table doing her workbook. Chen Shuo was quite pleased with this, but not so pleased with her expression.

"Don't look so gloomy. I'm doing this for your own good. You're lazy to begin with. If I don't keep you in check, you're destined to be illiterate for life. It's okay to take a day off occasionally if you don't want to study, but you can't take a day off every day. You need to strive to graduate from elementary school as soon as possible."

"I'm not lazy, I'm just too lazy to do the problems. Otherwise, I would have finished all these workbooks in one day and shown you."

"Then make one for me to see."

"Do you think I'm stupid? Once I finish writing them, you'll definitely buy new ones, and then I'll have to do them again. That means I'll have to do so many questions. So I'll do them little by little so you won't have to buy me new ones."

"..."

For some reason, Chen Shuo actually felt that what she said made some sense.

"Hurry up and do your problems, you smart girl. Is studying something to be so petty?"

"Hmph." Bai Xiaoqi snorted and ignored him, continuing her battle of wits with the math problems.

Chen Shuo was sitting next to her, about to start typing, when he suddenly remembered something, leaned over and licked her little face.

"What are you doing?" Bai Xiaoqi wiped the drool off her face, turned to look at him, and her brows furrowed slightly.

"Oh, I read online that cats are somewhat neurotic animals. If they are disobedient, you can lick their butts, and they will consider you their lifelong love. If you lick them a few more times, they will submit to you. I don't think licking their butts is appropriate, so I thought I would try licking their faces first, but obviously licking their faces doesn't work."

"?"

A question mark slowly appeared above Bai Xiaoqi's head. She covered her buttocks and moved to the side, deciding to stay away from this pervert.

"Hey, what do you mean by that? I was just saying, I'm not really going to lick your ass, why are you covering it up?"

"..." Bai Xiaoqi stared at him without saying a word. She no longer trusted this person. This guy had a history of such behavior. He said he wouldn't do it last time, but he still kissed and licked her indiscriminately.