Chapter 17 chapter 17 Young men like them...

Zhuang Youkai has eaten at many Michelin restaurants around the world. Even when he was studying in the UK, he didn't mess around with the food. Who would have thought that one day he would eat a roadside stall at the corner of a small town.

The freshly boiled wontons floated on the water one by one. After scooping them up while they were still hot, they added dried shrimp, seaweed and seasonings, and the fresh fragrance immediately spread. Zhao Manzhi held the small bowl and took a deep sip at the tip of her nose. She couldn't wait to stir it with a spoon, scooped up a wonton, and was about to pass it to her mouth, but seeing Zhuang Youkai with his arms folded and motionless, she brought it to him: "Boss, try it, it's very delicious!"

"Even the flavor of the soup is blended, what's so delicious about it?" Zhuang Youkai frowned and hid back, "Eat yours, don't bother me."

Zhao Manzhi complained for the wontons, "You haven't even eaten it, but you make a conclusion about it? Isn't that too arbitrary."

"If you can see it with your own eyes, why bother to try it? Only idiots would waste their time and energy on things that are not worth it."

"But some things and some people are different from appearances and preconceived perceptions." She withdrew her hand little by little and put the cold wonton into the soup, "Just like you, you are not as unkind as you seem."

Lu Qianning on the side laughed, "What do you mean, Miss Zhao?"

"Well..." If she said this, would Zhuang Youkai feel offended? She looked into his eyes as if asking for his opinion, and after getting his tacit consent, she slowly spoke, "When I saw you in the car, I felt that you were in a bad mood today, and I thought it was about work. But in the cheongsam shop, you said you wanted to make a cheongsam for your mother. I think it is probably related to your family."

She stirred the spoon, "When I was a child, my grandmother would cook bubble wontons for me, and I was very happy every time I ate them. When she left, she told me that if I missed her, I should eat bubble wontons, and I wouldn't be sad, but she never thought that it was because that was her taste that I was happy when I ate it." 

"Later, I didn't dare to eat bubble wontons for a long time. I was afraid that I would miss her as soon as I ate it. Until one day when I ate it by chance, I remembered the warmest moments when I was with her in the past, and then I understood that what my grandmother meant was that I should be happy when I miss her, and not feel regretful." 

"I don't know if you are missing your mother today, and I don't know if the way of eating wontons works for you, but I want you to know that your relatives must want you to be happy, not sad when you think of them." 

After saying that, Zhao Manzhi pushed the bowl of wontons in front of Zhuang Youkai forward again, and then buried her head in eating her own, without any of the sharp words just now. 

Lu Qianning had already eaten several, and while eating, she sighed, "It's really good, Akai, you try it." 

If it weren't for special circumstances, Zhuang Youkai's three meals were very regular. It was mealtime, and he was busy for a long time. He was really hungry. Looking at the wontons in front of him, there was no reason to refuse. 

He hesitated to scoop up one, blew it and put it into his mouth. After chewing and swallowing, he quickly scooped another spoonful and ate it. 

Seeing Zhuang Youkai like this, Zhao Manzhi curved the corners of her mouth imperceptibly, and when she retracted her gaze, she accidentally met Lu Qianning, who reached out from under the table of the stall and quietly gave her a thumbs up. 

It was already evening when they returned to Shanghai. 

Zhao Manzhi got off the car at the intersection, thanked them politely, and watched them leave. 

As soon as they turned the corner, Lu Qianning said, "It seems that Miss Zhao's wontons are delicious. You look much more relaxed today." 

"What does it have to do with her?" 

"Akai, sometimes you are too stubborn and can't let go of your face." How could Lu Qianning, who almost watched him grow up, not know that Zhuang Youkai has always been ashamed to show his true feelings, and that he could indulge Zhao Manzhi like this, which meant tacit approval. 

Zhuang Youkai's expression was gloomy, and he tilted his head to look at the neon lights flying outside the car window, and said nothing. 

Feeling offended, Lu Qianning was silent for a long time, then picked up another matter to talk about, "Miss Peiying will come to see you in a few days, and she has already called me." 

"Sister Ying? Why didn't she call me directly?" 

"At that time, you were at a member event, and so many media channels were broadcasting it live. Of course she knew she couldn't find you." The old housekeeper smiled, "She will be going to Singapore soon, so she came to see you before she left." 

Zhuang Youkai closed his eyes, and his eyebrows, which had been relaxed, became wrinkled again. He took a deep breath, "So, she really wants to marry that old man." 

"Miss Peiying will scold you for hearing this." 

"I just think it's a pity." 

"Then why not, try to persuade her at dinner in two days." " 

Forget it, it will seem like I'm taking advantage of her." Zhuang Youkai sat up a little straighter and unbuttoned a button on his suit, "When will she come?" 

"She will arrive the day after tomorrow night and will be back in five days. It's just in time to complete this year's store inspection target." 

"Okay, you check the itinerary with Sussie and make a simple plan. Sister Ying will come to take care of the household affairs, so we won't mobilize the company's manpower." 

"Understood." 

* 

Zhao Manzhi took out her cell phone as she walked home and prepared to call Fang Ling. Before she found the number, she heard her voice from behind: "Manman!" 

Fang Ling came out of the convenience store carrying a small bag of snacks. Zhao Manzhi looked at her and frowned slightly, "Didn't I tell you that you don't need to bring anything when you come to my place? But you always buy some gifts for meeting me." " 

It's just some snacks." 

"Yes, it's just some snacks. Why make so much trouble?" Zhao Manzhi pulled her, "When Accountant Fang makes a lot of money, I will blackmail you." 

"People say that all successful accountants will eventually go to Tilanqiao for further studies. Are you saying this because you're hoping for my good or not?" 

"How could I not wish you well!" Although she was just talking nonsense with Xiao Ling, Zhao Manzhi knew that she was a thoughtful person and would think too much about such issues, so she quickly explained, "Then we will develop in accordance with the law, and a gentleman should make money in a proper way, right?" 

Fang Ling lowered her eyes and smiled, not dwelling on these two jokes. Zhao Manzhi had been away on an emergency business trip for more than a week, and the two of them had a lot of other things to talk about. 

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but think of the scene she saw through the convenience store window again. A luxury car that rarely appeared in the narrow streets of the old district of Shanghai was parked on the side of the road, and a young and beautiful girl got out and said goodbye to the people in the car with a smile as beautiful as a flower. 

She didn't see clearly who was sitting there, but intuitively, she knew that he was either rich or noble, and Zhao Manzhi was so polite, so he must be from a prominent family. 

Fang Ling opened two boxes of lemon tea that she had just bought at the convenience store, handed one to Zhao Manzhi, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Manman, did you take the high-speed rail back from Sucheng? You got here so soon, I thought I would have to wait a little longer." 

"No, my boss sent me back." Zhao Manzhi took a sip. Even though she was used to the taste of Hong Kong Island, this sip of lemon tea still made her feel bitter to the bone. "There is a spare key to this house. Why don't you keep it with you so you don't have to wait for me outside all the time." 

"I'm fine. I came here just to pick something for you." 

They returned to Zhao Manzhi's rental house, and Fang Ling helped her put the food into the snack cabinet with ease. "Your boss, is he the young master you complained about to me before?" 

Zhao Manzhi hummed, "It's him. Young Master Zhuang is a little moody, but when he's in a better mood, he's really nice. He occasionally gives me a ride." 

Fang Ling nodded, "That's good. I was really afraid that you would argue with him and waste your internship opportunity."

"Not really, not really, I still know what's going on." Zhao Manzhi thought she was just too concerned, "Actually, we did argue before, because of a little misunderstanding, and we talked it out later."

She also mentioned the incident with Wang Huainan after the quarrel with Zhuang Youkai.

"Oh, so that suit--" Fang Ling's mind was quick, and she connected the dots immediately, "So you brought up Chen Muchuan in front of Zhuang Youkai?"

She clicked her tongue twice, "Then Chen Muchuan is really a bit like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, an egg hitting a stone."

Zhao Manzhi was amused by her serious analysis, "I know you're good at Chinese, why did you comment on this? You don't know how arrogant he was when he asked me, and I was forced to bring up Chen Muchuan."

Is she really unwilling to admit defeat? Or does she want to tell him that she can't be looked down upon in terms of feelings?

"He's a favored child of heaven and is used to being arrogant. You are the same. Why do you have to be so serious about it?" Fang Ling said calmly. "Besides, I think it's not good for you to always show off about Chen Muchuan. It will be so unpleasant for others to say about him in the future. It

's like you are keeping him hanging."

"I'm not keeping him hanging. It's his ghost that's still lingering around. You know that, Xiaoling." "Just because I know it doesn't mean everyone knows it. To outsiders, it looks like you are flirting with Chen Muchuan while..." At this point, she fell silent. "Forget it, let's not talk about this."

"Xiaoling, you've seen me reject Chen Muchuan so many times. I don't care if others say unpleasant things, but you can't think like that. I, we are good friends." Zhao Manzhi felt a little blocked in her chest. "And what's wrong with my boss? It's just a casual chat, and you think so much about it." 

Fang Ling looked at her. Her porcelain-white skin was flushed with anger. Even if she was angry, her expression was restrained and beautiful. She turned her face away and pretended to scroll through her phone as if nothing had happened. Various app interfaces flashed before her eyes 

, but she couldn't focus on anything. There was also an entry for "Zhuang Youkai" in the search history. She had already experienced what kind of background this young man with a net worth of hundreds of billions had, and what kind of handsome appearance he had. The better he was, the less she wanted to hear Zhao Manzhi's boasting. 

Those were all fate's preference for good-looking faces. 

Fang Ling curled up her fingers, and her nails dug deep into the flesh. She hesitated for a long time before going to the nail salon to do this. It was very similar to the one Zhao Manzhi had done before, but on her hands, it didn't seem so eye-catching. 

"It is precisely because we are friends that I remind you. The reason you can't break up with Chen Muchuan is because you say you reject him but you think it's good to be friends with him, right? If it were me, I wouldn't even be in the group with him this time." 

She took a deep breath, locked her phone, raised her face to look at Zhao Manzhi, and said, "Also, young men like them are the most frivolous with feelings. If you accept a little favor, you will slowly fall into it. They can date you, but can they really marry you? Manman, I'm really saying this for your own good. The truth hurts--" 

"Okay, Xiaoling." Zhao Manzhi interrupted her. "I know you are doing this for my own good, but apart from the fact that Chen Muchuan loves fishing and speaks without boundaries, his ability and sense of responsibility are fully qualified as a group parent. Even if it weren't for this, he is also quite competent as a friend. Do I have to stop associating with him just because of some groundless rumors? Besides, he was the first person to ask me to be in the same group, and he was the one who set up this situation, so there is no other reason why he and I are in the same group. It was simply because he asked me, and I also wanted to lead new students. Then I told him that if he couldn't find the right person, he would consider me, and he agreed." " 

Then there's the matter of my boss. How did you think of this? I like him, but he may not like me. Besides, before, it was because he misunderstood that I wanted to cling to him to get to the top, so I had to explain that someone was pursuing me." She finished speaking in one breath, a little out of breath, "You said I wanted to marry him, I'm afraid you don't want to marry him yourself." 

Since Fang Ling and Zhao Manzhi knew each other, she knew that she was sharp and extremely sharp, but the first time she was stabbed by her words, she felt sour and bitter, and tears rolled down. 

"I'm trying to persuade you out of kindness, why do you say that? You know I'm not worthy, yet you still joke with me!" 

Before Zhao Manzhi could react, she lowered her head, wiped her face, stood up, and hurriedly slammed the door and left.