They Really Were Playing Push and Pull

After Chen Lu parked the car, he reached over to help Liang Zhirou unfasten her seat belt. Blushing, she hurriedly shook her head and indicated that she could do it herself.

He didn't insist. Instead, he opened the door and got out with a satisfied smile.

He knew Liang Zhirou was bound to feel embarrassed.

The reason he had tried to help her despite knowing that was naturally to interrupt her train of thought.

This silly girl was slow to react, and Chen Lu wasn't about to give her a chance to think things through.

A few seconds later, the girl got out timidly, looking at Chen Lu with an inexplicably guilty expression.

She really didn't like refusing Chen Lu's requests. She had simply been too nervous just now.

Although she felt she hadn't done anything wrong, she still regretted it a little.

Chen Lu didn't mind at all. He smiled and said, "Let's go."

It wasn't a weekend or a holiday, so the mall wasn't very crowded at this hour. Most people were gathered in its various restaurants.

The two walked side by side, looking for an escalator.

People handing out flyers approached them from time to time. Liang Zhirou had handed out flyers herself and knew how hard it was for them, so she carefully accepted one every time.

Chen Lu, having seen Liang Zhirou hand out flyers, also abandoned his usual habit of taking them only when he felt like it and started accepting every one offered to him.

Before long, their hands were stuffed with restaurant flyers, and they had no choice but to turn around and find a trash can to throw them away.

"Should I buy you something too?"

On the escalator going up, Liang Zhirou turned around and said softly.

Standing one step ahead of Chen Lu, she was just the same height as him at that moment.

She could look right into his eyes.

Chen Lu smiled.

"Let's talk about it after you get paid for your next class."

He hadn't refused.

After all, by then, she would know exactly how much she had earned from her last class.

Chen Lu wanted her to develop this way of thinking sooner: you couldn't save your way to wealth. The effort spent thinking every day about how to scrimp and save to the utmost was better spent improving yourself and earning more money.

Besides, mental work paid far more than waiting tables at a hotpot restaurant or handing out flyers, and it was less tiring too.

Even if Liang Zhirou worked herself to exhaustion handing out flyers all day, she definitely wouldn't earn as much as she did in an hour of tutoring.

Once she got started, and this silly girl earned a few hundred yuan an hour a few more times, she would understand which direction she should develop in without anyone telling her.

If he told this silly girl, who had seen so little of the world, some things directly, she wouldn't be able to understand them all at once. He had to boil the frog slowly.

That way, she would also understand them more thoroughly.

Liang Zhirou stared blankly at the smiling Chen Lu, naturally unaware of how much he had been thinking.

She just hadn't expected him to agree so readily. A little pleased, she turned around and began recalling his usual style of dress.

She was so absorbed in thought that she didn't notice the escalator carrying her to the end. She only felt her foot slip, and before she could react, she panicked and fell backward.

Somewhat exasperated, Chen Lu reached out an arm, caught her, and gently pushed her onto the level floor.

"Pay attention," he said softly.

Actually, even if you stood still and waited for the escalator to push you onto level ground, you wouldn't fall. Panicking would only make you lose your balance.

Chen Lu knew that perfectly well, of course, because he had tried it as a child.

At first, he had thought waiting for the escalator to push him up was pretty fun. After he got a sound beating, he no longer thought so.

"Oh..."

Liang Zhirou's heart was still racing. For a moment, she didn't know whether to be scared or embarrassed first.

She increasingly felt at ease by Chen Lu's side.

Chen Lu seemed capable of solving anything. When they walked, he would also deliberately stay a little behind her, keeping an eye on her and watching for anything unexpected.

Thinking of this, the girl quietly looked up at Chen Lu's profile again.

Chen Lu was now focused on the clothes around them. He had a little experience shopping at malls, but not much.

Every time, his mother and Chen Mo had dragged him along.

Chen Lu was a little troubled.

If the clothes were too expensive, this silly girl definitely wouldn't accept them, but cheaper ones weren't necessarily nice.

He didn't know how long it would take to find something with both a price and a style they were happy with.

Still, they had shopped for groceries together before, and now they were shopping for clothes at the mall together. It felt quite novel to Chen Lu.

They had seen plenty of couples out shopping along the way. To outsiders, he and Liang Zhirou were probably one of them.

Chen Lu walked over to an ivory French-style long dress and asked Liang Zhirou, "How about this one? Do you like it?"

He knew Liang Zhirou's personality well, so he hadn't even considered clothes that showed too much skin.

If he coaxed her some more, Liang Zhirou might wear them for him in private, but that would defeat his original purpose in buying her clothes.

Liang Zhirou walked over slowly. Instead of looking at the dress first, she stole a glance at the price.

588...

"It doesn't look good." The girl shook her head.

Chen Lu sighed softly. "Let's go look at something else."

He then took Liang Zhirou on a leisurely stroll through the shops. If he had been with Chen Mo as usual, he would have been crying for his parents by now, but for some reason, he didn't feel tired at all today.

But Liang Zhirou thought many of the items they picked out "didn't look good," whether they were T-shirts or dresses.

Chen Lu patiently accompanied her a while longer, until they came to a pale green long dress. This one wasn't as flashy, but its fabric and workmanship were clearly much better.

The sales assistant at this store was quite enthusiastic and quickly came over.

"Is it for your girlfriend? You have a wonderful eye, sir. This style really suits your girlfriend's figure."

The sales assistant was young, with a gentle smile, and was quite good with words.

Chen Lu turned to the girl beside him. "This one isn't very eye-catching."

Liang Zhirou continued pretending to look at the dress and stole a glance at the price.

Why does this one cost over six hundred...

That's enough for so, so many meals of pork ribs.

It is quite pretty, though...

The girl looked at it carefully for a while before finally looking away, a little reluctant.

"It doesn't look good. Let's look at something else," Liang Zhirou said with a hint of distaste.

Chen Lu smiled wryly. "Try it on."

"Huh?" Liang Zhirou looked at him, somewhat puzzled.

"We've been looking around for so long. Maybe you don't think it looks good because you haven't tried it on," Chen Lu said earnestly. "Trying it on doesn't cost anything. If you still don't like it afterward, we can pick something else."

Unable to win against Chen Lu, Liang Zhirou had no choice but to nod.

Chen Lu watched the girl enter the fitting room, then promptly turned and walked away, leaving the sales assistant utterly bewildered.

She thought of the scumbags in TV dramas who ditched their girlfriends like that.

But Chen Lu soon returned, carrying a shopping bag.

He put the receipt in his pocket, handed the garment to the sales assistant, and said gently, "Sorry to trouble you, but could you say later that this T-shirt came with a buy-one-get-one-free deal?"

The sales assistant stood there stunned for a moment. Then she seemed to understand something and nodded blankly.

Soon, the girl came out timidly.

She wore a pale green, fitted-waist long dress, her long hair cascading down her back like a waterfall. Her slender waist and slim figure were on full display.

Even with her head bowed low, the girl was captivating, and her towering peaks made it impossible to look away.

Chen Lu had always known Liang Zhirou had a good figure, but he had never imagined such a graceful form was hidden beneath the loose white T-shirt she usually wore.

"Doesn't it look good?" Chen Lu said with a smile.

Liang Zhirou felt her cheeks grow hot. "N-no, it doesn't," she mumbled.

She didn't know whether Chen Lu was saying she looked good or the dress did.

Although the more she looked at the dress after putting it on, the more she liked it, the price was still beyond her range.

She slowly raised her head, hoping Chen Lu would hurry up and finish looking so she could change out of it.

But Chen Lu suddenly said, "This is the one."

??

The girl froze.

That's not what we agreed...

Chen Lu tricked me again...

Liang Zhirou looked up at him, pouting slightly and feeling a little aggrieved.

Chen Lu smiled at her, thinking, Do you think I can't tell you like it? But what he actually said was, "It's a good deal. The store's running a buy-one-get-one-free promotion."

Liang Zhirou blinked her bright eyes when she heard that, unable to process it for a moment.

Just then, the sales assistant hurried over to smooth things over.