When school let out at 3:00 PM, Zhou Meng passed by classmates who were laughing and joking around, followed the crowd out of the school gates, and stood in a corner by the entrance, scanning her surroundings.
She didn’t seem to spot any familiar cars.
Even if there were cars that looked somewhat similar, the people inside weren’t the familiar black-haired young man.
Sun Zhen hadn’t come?
She gripped the strap of her schoolbag with one hand and glanced at her phone.
[Five minutes ago]
[Sun Zhen: I’m at the entrance.]
He’d already arrived.
The entrance…
Zhou Meng looked up and carefully observed her surroundings again.
Besides the students trickling out of school in twos and threes like a school of fish, there were also scattered snack stalls and stationery shops around the school. Someone was buying snacks at the convenience store across the street, and a tall clerk in an apron stood by the register, using tongs to serve grilled sausages to a customer.
…Wait.
Sun Zhen had indeed already appeared.
He hadn’t deliberately made a show of driving his car over—instead, he was just standing inconspicuously inside the convenience store across the street, selling grilled sausages.
…Selling grilled sausages.
Zhou Meng initially thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but after looking more carefully, her intuition grew stronger and stronger. She couldn’t help but tighten her grip on her bag strap, hesitated for a moment, and walked into the convenience store.
“Ding-dong—” The automatic doors slid open, and the door chime rang out.
The tall clerk, wearing a cap and tied apron, stood by the register. His face was hidden behind a mask, but his eyes curved like crescent moons as he smiled:
“Welcome~”
Zhou Meng: “…” What is this guy doing?
This is a public place, right??
Could it be that Sun Zhen was the second Work King??
Pretending not to recognize him, she slowly moved to a corner.
The other customers didn’t notice anything unusual at all. A customer naturally walked up to the register with a picked-out bread loaf: “I’ll take these.”
“Sure.” Sun Zhen, fully in character, scanned the customer’s items. “That’ll be 18 yuan total. Thank you for your patronage.”
This is so surreal…!!
Zhou Meng barely waited until the customer left the store before approaching the register.
“Sun Zhen?” Zhou Meng whispered. “What are you doing?”
“Helping watch the shop?”
He said it so casually, using the tongs to pick out a grilled sausage.
“Here, my treat.”
“Thanks…” Zhou Meng instinctively accepted his offering, and it wasn’t until the sausage was right at her lips that she snapped back to reality: “No, that’s not the issue.”
“This shop’s sausages have a pretty good production date—I checked~”
“That’s not the issue either.”
Zhou Meng stared at him for a couple of seconds, feeling a bit unaccustomed.
The first time they met, he’d been wearing a trench coat with his head lowered, so she hadn’t really noticed. After that, Sun Zhen had always been sitting in the car when they met… so this was actually the first time she’d taken note of his appearance.
The black-haired young man wore a loose shirt with the apron tied snugly around his waist. He was very lean, and the muscles visible on his forearms were well-defined. Even with the mask on, he exuded the vibe of a handsome guy.
And his height… he was so tall.
She was already quite tall for her age, but she only came up to Sun Zhen’s shoulder… just how tall was this guy?
That said, he seemed to like hunching his back and lounging around lazily. Now he had his hands tucked into his apron pockets, looking very…
Cat-like?
A really big one.
Sun Zhen’s dark, glossy eyes fixed on her, and he suddenly reached out, pressing his black-gloved palm onto the top of her head and ruffling her hair.
“??” Zhou Meng: “What are you doing?”
“I look good in an apron, right?”
Sun Zhen hooked his mask down with one hand, revealing a beaming smile. When he bent down to lean closer, it was almost dizzying.
Zhou Meng said demurely, “Not bad… Your popularity’s going to go up.”
“Haha, that’s good then.”
Even as he spoke to her, Sun Zhen had already whipped off his apron and cap at lightning speed, pulled a jacket out of nowhere, and vaulted over the counter.
He fished a five-yuan bill from his pocket and placed it on the counter, then slung one arm around her shoulder and guided Zhou Meng out of the store:
“But we gotta make a quick getaway—the real clerk’s coming back from restocking.”
Zhou Meng: “?” Clerk?
Just as she followed Sun Zhen out the door, the sound of the side door opening rang out from the convenience store. A clerk drenched in sweat pulled a cart in: “Ah, there’s so much to restock today… Huh, why is the door open?”
…So he’d been impersonating the clerk?!
Zhou Meng tightened her grip on the sausage skewer and instinctively quickened her pace: “Run, quick?”
“Hahaha.”
Sun Zhen noticed her speeding up and actually laughed. His black-gloved hand scooped her up, tucking her into the crook of his arm. “No problem~”
His thighs tensed, and he suddenly burst into motion.
“Whoosh—”
“W-Wait—” This speed—
This is way too much!
This has left reality behind!
Zhou Meng felt both her feet leave the ground as Sun Zhen carried her up a wall in a few steps and began sprinting across the rooftops.
“Aaah—?!”
The young man’s trench coat almost completely enveloped her. When Sun Zhen hugged her and leaped down from the building, Zhou Meng couldn’t help but clutch tightly at his shirt.
Her hair flew completely backward in the wind, exposing her forehead, as the wind howled past her ears.
The only things she could feel were the weightlessness, the scent of laundry detergent pods on her shirt, and the warm hand on her shoulder.
“That’s too high—?!”
“Hahahaha.”
Sun Zhen laughed crisply, holding her as he landed lightly on the ground like something out of a comic book.
…
When her feet finally touched the ground, Zhou Meng braced one hand against the car door, weakly covering her mouth.
[Are you okay, Xiao Meng?] The Light Orb was so startled it popped out, frantically bouncing on top of his head, forgetting that Sun Zhen couldn’t see it: [This guy is way too reckless, you know! Idiot!]
“Zhou Meng?” Even Sun Zhen couldn’t help bending down to look at her face from the side: “Still alive?”
“Ugh…” Zhou Meng lifted her head slightly: “The sausage… is about to come back up…”
Sun Zhen: “…”
Light Orb: […]
Light Orb: […Don’t eat while running, you know!!]
“Pfft, ahaha—” Instead, it was Sun Zhen, bent over looking at her, who hung his head and couldn’t hold back a laugh, his entire weight pressing onto Zhou Meng: “You ate a sausage in that kind of situation? Ha, hahaha… oh man, I really can’t with you—”
“What’s wrong with that… you’re too heavy… get up.” Zhou Meng said weakly.
Her back couldn’t straighten at all—this guy didn’t look fat but he was actually so heavy…! Was he all muscle?
“Got it.” Sun Zhen straightened up, casually grabbing a bottle of water from the car with his other hand, twisting the cap off with a flick of his fingers, and handing it to her: “Want some?”
Zhou Meng took a couple of sips and calmed down:
“Why did you just walk in and put on someone else’s work uniform?”
“Hmm.”
Sun Zhen thought for a moment.
“…When I first went in to buy something, there was no one around. I noticed the work uniform on the shelf and picked it up to take a look. Just then a student came in, said he was really hungry, and asked me to hurry up and give him a sausage…”
Sun Zhen made a gesture: “I kindly helped out a—little bit.”
Getting mistaken for a store clerk, finding it amusing, and just going along with it, huh.
Sun Zhen naturally putting on the apron and helping out at the register in the store…
“…”
No, it was so natural that she didn’t find anything wrong with it at all…!!
Nothing this person did seemed strange.
She couldn’t let his values influence her…!
“Anyway, let’s go to the workplace.” Zhou Meng capped the water bottle: “We don’t have much time left today, right?”
“OK.” Sun Zhen straightened up and casually opened the door for her: “Get in.”
After she sat down, Sun Zhen didn’t immediately go to the driver’s seat. Instead, he bent down, trying to keep eye level with her.
“Oh, right.”
“Sorry for making you feel unwell just now. I’ll be more careful next time.”
His black hair fell forward with the bending motion, making his face look even younger, but his pitch-black eyes held an unusual expression.
“Oh…” Zhou Meng blinked: “You don’t need to apologize for something like that.”
“No.”
Sun Zhen shoved his hands into his pockets, still wearing that sweet smile, but his tone carried something unusual: “We’re partners. I also have an obligation to make you like me.”
An obligation to make her like him…
Engaged in suspicious work, with suspicious methods… and yet he actually held such an innocent belief.
What he meant by “partner” was probably different from “colleague.”
It seemed better to speak cautiously at a time like this.
Zhou Meng weighed her words, and only after he sat in the driver’s seat did she speak up to confirm: “You mean we should be mutually satisfied?”
“Something like that?”
“Then,” Zhou Meng hesitated, but her curiosity won out: “Are you satisfied with me?”
Under her gaze, the black strands of hair cast a slight shadow over the young man’s perfect face.
“Hm?”
Sun Zhen’s black eyes curved, his pupils shifting toward her, revealing a smile.
“Can’t you tell?”
A partner relationship—if either side isn’t satisfied, you switch partners… that was the rule.
With a pleasant air, he placed both hands on the steering wheel, smiling softly.
“I really like you. If it’s you, Zhou Meng.”
“…”
…Oh.
Zhou Meng slowly blinked again.
“Thank you.” Her lips couldn’t help but curl up, her mood feeling a bit light and floaty: “You have good taste.”
Although his methods were suspicious, he had a very handsome face, spoke sweetly, was tall, and based on his actions just now, he was also very capable… He must be the type many people would like.
“Specifically, what do you like about me?”
Sun Zhen answered instantly: “The sausage.”
Zhou Meng: “Let’s switch partners.”
She admitted she had been too hasty just now—she took back her earlier assessment.
“Haha, are you embarrassed?” Sun Zhen smiled as he turned the steering wheel with one hand, smoothly driving out of the alley, “But I really like it. How should I put it—it’s that—”
His fingers lightly brushed together, two fingers coming together then parting:
“—’I want to play with you.'”
“With you, Zhou Meng, I feel that way.”