Chapter 25: Don’t Smile at Me (2/2)

Cheng Xi, upon seeing his dejected expression, smiled. “Was he unwilling to have it?”

“Yeah.” The driver wanted to sigh. “He said that he wasn’t hungry.”

“Then let’s eat by ourselves.” Cheng Xi was indifferent towards Lu Chenzhou’s predilections. By this point, their food had arrived. Cheng Xi tried a bite: the taste wasn’t too good. It was too oily. But the portions were big, and they didn’t care too much because they were hungry.

After the owner’s wife brought the food out, she even took the initiative to ask, “Are you two here to hear about Chen Jiaman’s story?”

Given how many people there were in the little town, there were essentially no secrets in this place, and Cheng Xi was eye-catching in terms of both her attire and her looks. So no matter what she asked, people would learn about it in no time.

Cheng Xi nodded. “Yes.” She smiled at the owner’s wife. “Do you know her?”

“Of course, who wouldn’t know her in this town?”

“Then are you familiar with her?”

“Somewhat, My restaurant is right here, so I essentially know all the students who study here.”

“Then what was your impression of Chen Jiaman?”

“Nothing much. She didn’t like to talk and was always alone. Ah, what’s she to you? Why are you here asking about her? Isn’t she crazy now?”

Cheng Xi only answered her first question. “I’m the defense lawyer that the court appointed to her. Do you know whether she had good friends or classmates with whom she was close?”

“I’m not sure about that. At any rate, I always saw her alone. According to me, if she’s crazy, then she should be locked up in a mental institution; if she’s not crazy, and actually was willing to kill her own grandmother, then she should be locked up all the more. How frightening.”

Upon hearing this, Cheng Xi could only laugh bitterly. This was the stance of almost the entire town—everyone hoped that Chen Jiaman would vanish from the world, or, at the very least, never come back.

Cheng Xi kept feeling that these townsfolk’s enmity and rejection were somewhat strange because, throughout her entire time here, she heard almost no one express sympathy for the girl. It was mostly deep hatred and fear.

Cheng Xi felt very perplexed. “Despite the fact that Chen Jiaman killed someone, given her state of mind, it wouldn’t be out of place to say that it was accidental. So why are you all so afraid of her?”

The owner’s wife wanted to say more, but the owner loudly slapped the table by the counter. “Stop chatting. Can’t you smell the dishes burning in the kitchen?”

The owner’s wife quickly retreated back into the kitchen. Cheng Xi turned around, and saw the owner smile at her. “The women here are generally quite timid; please don’t pay them any attention, Ms. Lawyer.”

Such an explanation was pushing it a little bit, but Cheng Xi didn’t comment on it any further. She could see that the owner didn’t want her to continue pursuing this thread of conversation, even to the point of forbidding his wife from speaking any further.

After eating, Cheng Xi didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she decided to wait until school was over. Perhaps, if she was lucky, she would be able to meet one or two students who knew, or rather, were familiar with Chen Jiaman.

But Lu Chenzhou’s hunger was also problematic. Luckily, just as she was leaving the restaurant, she saw an old lady pushing a small pushcart and selling roasted sweet potatoes. The small charcoal-cooked sweet potatoes gave off an enticing aroma from far away.

She ran over to buy a few, but when she returned, she found that Lu Chenzhou had gotten out of the car at some point, and was smoking not far away from the car. His posture was very handsome; one hand was grasping the cigarette, the other in his shirt pocket, a small indent between his eyes, and his expression ultimately cool. From afar, he seemed just like a mountain stream in a distant forest, shrouded in an aura of mystery.

Cheng Xi waved the roasted sweet potatoes in front of his nose. “Do you want some?”

Lu Chenzhou didn’t even glance at it.

“Are you worried about it being dirty? Cheng Xi smiled, took one out of the bag, and slowly peeled it. “The nature of clean freaks is to like dirty things. This potato looks gray and patchy, black and dirty, but once you peel off the outer layer of skin, the inside is sweet and tasty—won’t you try it?”

Saying this, she held out the now peeled sweet potato to him, smiling.

Lu Chenzhou didn’t take it, instead looking critically at her. “Don’t smile at me,” he said calmly, “When you smile, you look repulsively ugly!”

”……”

Just as she was about to take her hand back, Lu Chenzhou lowered his body and bit the proffered sweet potato that she had peeled.

He swallowed one bite and then commented somewhat distastefully, “It isn’t sweet enough.” After saying this, he took another bite. The small sweet potato that Cheng Xi had peeled was finished off in just two bites.

And he even ate it very elegantly; after he was done, his mouth was clean and stainless.

Cheng Xi thought to herself, This is a patient, don’t bother bickering with him. Just as she was about to ask if he wanted more, her gaze suddenly turned sharp, and she pulled him aside.

A big splash could be heard, and then Cheng Xi suddenly found that her back was damp, and her body chilled to the core.

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