The Question of Whether They Were a Match

While Liu Chang'an and Zhou Dongdong sat motionless on the sofa, Zhou Shuling called to ask if they wanted her to bring back some late-night snacks, and naturally, she answered yes.

"Girl, pack five skewers of lamb testicles, ten skewers of lamb liver, two pounds of lamb chops, and a pot of lamb offal soup." Zhou Shuling said to the waiter.

"Okay, the takeout boxes are two yuan each."

"Okay."

Sitting opposite Zhou Shuling was her distant aunt, Zhao Yanhua. Hearing that Zhou Shuling had packed so much, she exchanged a glance with the young man next to her, picked up her teacup, and took a sip.

"It's my treat today," Zhou Shuling said quickly, noticing Zhao Yanhua's expression.

"No way, I'll do it, it has to be me." The young man, Qian Longzhong, Zhao Yanhua's son, immediately waved his hand.

Zhao Yanhua quickly tugged at Qian Longzhong's arm under the table.

"No, that won't do. It's been so long since I've seen Aunt Zhao and Longzhong. How could I let you spend money on us?" Zhou Shuling said reproachfully. "Don't be so formal."

"Alright, we'll treat next time. Don't try to take it. This child... is still so polite; that's not a good thing." Zhao Yanhua patted Qian Longzhong beside her playfully. "Next time, just pay the bill directly."

"Okay, okay." Qian Longzhong looked at Zhou Shuling and nodded repeatedly.

Zhou Shuling smiled slightly.

"Was that your boyfriend who answered the phone just now?" Zhao Yanhua asked tentatively.

"How could that be?" Zhou Shuling couldn't help but laugh when she thought of Liu Chang'an's seemingly perpetually bedridden appearance. Not knowing how to explain, she simply said, "He's our downstairs neighbor. He used to live in the same apartment as me. We were like family, living together often and eating together. Dongdong spent more time at his place than at home."

"Does he have a girlfriend?" Zhao Yanhua asked, still feeling uneasy.

"Yes, there is." Zhou Shuling couldn't help but praise, "That little girl is really pretty, and tall too, like a model."

Qian Longzhong said with a smile, "I don't think you'll be as pretty as Little Ling."

"Yes, yes." Zhao Yanhua was happy to see that her son had finally come to his senses. Since their divorce three years ago, Qian Longzhong had not been able to get over it. Unexpectedly, upon seeing a photo of his distant cousin Zhou Shuling, whom he had not seen for many years, he was moved.

"How can I compare to them?" Zhou Shuling waved her hand.

"Your conditions aren't good enough? You have your own house, your own career, and Dongdong is in school, so I don't have to take time off work to take care of her." Zhao Yanhua was quite satisfied with Zhou Shuling's conditions.

"It was all borrowed money."

"How much did you borrow?" Zhao Yanhua hadn't found out this, so she asked cautiously.

"A few hundred thousand, I guess."

Zhao Yanhua was startled and instinctively grabbed Qian Longzhong's hand.

At this moment, the waiter brought over the packaged late-night snack. Zhou Shuling took her phone and went to the cashier to pay. Zhao Yanhua pulled Qian Longzhong to the door to wait for Zhou Shuling.

"She owes such a large sum of money, and Old Madam Liu didn't mention it at all," Zhao Yanhua said indignantly.

"Two hundred thousand is still several hundred thousand, and nine hundred thousand is still several hundred thousand. The difference is significant," Qian Longzhong said with some concern.

"I think you should just give up on this idea. She's divorced, has a child from a previous marriage, and owes hundreds of thousands in debt. No matter how beautiful she is, marrying her would only bring you trouble!" Zhao Yanhua felt extremely distressed.

"How about I date her first and see? If she really owes a lot, we can break up later. Anyway, I'm a man, I can't afford to lose out," Qian Longzhong said, still somewhat unwilling to give up.

"Even if you owe 200,000, is that a small amount? Do you really need to test me like this?" Zhao Yanhua said, then turned around and found Zhou Shuling standing right behind her.

"Little Ling... we..." Qian Longzhong hurriedly tried to explain.

"My current shop makes a net profit of over 100,000 yuan a month, and no one is pressuring me to pay back the money I owe. I'm using it all for business, and I should be able to pay it all off before the Chinese New Year this year," Zhou Shuling said with a nonchalant smile.

"That's great!" Zhao Yanhua exclaimed, feeling both embarrassed and overjoyed.

"Ten thousand a month, that's a million a year?" Qian Longzhong exclaimed, speechless. "Little Ling, with a business this big, you need someone to help you out..."

"No need," Zhou Shuling interrupted Qian Longzhong's self-recommendation, laughing, "I know what you mean, but with my qualifications..."

"It's alright, it's alright. We in Longzhong have also been divorced, but we don't have any children. That's perfect! I'll definitely treat Dongdong like my own granddaughter." Now that she knew what he meant, things became easier to say. Zhao Yanhua affectionately took Zhou Shuling's arm.

"You misunderstood. What I meant was, with my circumstances, how could your family be a good match for me?" Zhou Shuling pulled her arm away, shaking her head with a smile.

"You..." Qian Longzhong looked at Zhou Shuling in surprise.

Zhao Yanhua was even more fiery. Zhou Shuling, who had always been gentle and mild-mannered, said something today that showed absolutely no mercy.

"What are your qualifications? How come I'm not good enough for you? You're just a divorced slut..." Zhao Yanhua couldn't help but burst into a tirade.

Qian Longzhong quickly pulled Zhao Yanhua back, fearing that Zhao Yanhua would completely anger Zhou Shuling. Such a woman... his family was indeed not good enough for her. However, even a strong woman can be won over by persistence. He didn't want his mother to ruin things beyond repair.

Zhou Shuling ignored Zhao Yanhua and Qian Longzhong, turned around and walked out of the late-night snack shop. She didn't stop until she reached the corner, then looked back to make sure Zhao Yanhua and Qian Longzhong were out of sight. Finally, she couldn't help but gasp for breath, then touched her cheek. It turned out that slapping these people in the face without any scruples was such a satisfying thing.

This is so much fun!

It's practically flying!

Zhou Shuling hurriedly hailed a taxi, returned to her neighborhood, and, carrying a late-night snack, went to Liu Chang'an's house. She placed the snack on the coffee table in front of the sofa and immediately told Liu Chang'an about the important thing she had done that day, as if she were excitedly announcing a good news event.

This was indeed a big deal for Zhou Shuling. It was the first time she had ever been so confident in breaking off all pretense. In the past, she would have maintained appearances for both sides no matter what, only letting her emotions show when she was alone, feeling sad or comforting herself to relieve her feelings.

"Not bad, here's a reward of a string of sheep testicles for you." Liu Chang'an patted Zhou Shuling on the shoulder with satisfaction and handed her a string of sheep testicles.

"I won't eat this, it smells awful," Zhou Shuling refused with disgust.

"Do you think I'd casually invite someone to eat lamb testicles? You're disrespecting me," Liu Chang'an threatened.

Zhou Shuling forced herself to eat a little, but couldn't eat anymore, so she gave it back to Liu Chang'an, saying, "How annoying! I really can't eat anymore."

Liu Chang'an was just teasing her, and laughed, "Why the sudden change of heart today?"

"Didn't I learn it from you? I was so angry listening to them talking. I was thinking that since they're relatives, I should just let it go, but somehow I just thought, if you were in this situation, you definitely wouldn't act like this, you would... you would... you would have a falling out with them..." Zhou Shuling watched Liu Chang'an eat lamb testicles and smiled sheepishly, "I feel so good about it now."

"It will be like this from now on." Liu Chang'an nodded. "A woman can only be weak in front of her man, because her man will protect her because of her weakness. As for others, they will only bully you if they see you as weak."

"But he has to be a good man." Zhou Shuling also had her own opinion.

Liu Chang'an agreed.

"Is the bed finished?" Zhou Shuling looked at the pile of wooden planks standing in the corner; he seemed to have put away all the other tools and such.

"It's done. I'll take it upstairs and assemble it after I finish my late-night snack."

"That's wonderful, she's really looking forward to her own little bed."

"Um."

The reason why a certain important figure has no presence is well known and will not be discussed here.

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