Chapter 190 - Thoughts of a Young Lady
Lin Yi’s abilities were wasted on bullying street vendors.
Zhang Biaogan’s actions, however, had crossed his bottom line- he wasn’t too sure how the Tangs were doing, but it was clear that they were nowhere near well-off. Their absent father was enough for Lin Yi to make a guess…
What Biaogan was doing, on the other hand, was blatant bullying- it was only reasonable then for Lin Yi to give him a taste of what that felt like.
“What’er you still sitting here for? You want me to buy you dinner?” Lin Yi asked Biaogan, who was still sitting on the floor.
Biaogan forced a smile on his face as he quickly got up. “Nono, I wouldn’t dare… I’ll leave, I’ll leave right now……”
With that, Biaogan got up and ran off as fast as he could after picking his coin box up, ignoring everything else.
The barbeque woman and the skinny man were also packing their stuff up- it was time for a change in business.
“You okay, aunty?” Lin Yi asked as he walked toward a confused Mrs. Tang.
She simply couldn’t catch up with the sudden change in development.
“I-I’m fine…… I’m fine…” Mrs. Tang said, snapping back into reality- Biaogan was running his mouth right in front of her eyes moments ago… but he wasn’t here anymore.
And all that had happened because of this young man here. So what if Biaogan was a tyrant- there were even bigger ones other than him around.
Tang Yin, on the other hand, had her head lowered, and she wasn’t quite sure what to think or say- from a model student’s perspective, she couldn’t agree with Lin Yi’s way of handling things… But it was indeed true, at the same time, that Lin Yi’s method was the most appropriae one for the situation.
After all, it was certain that Biaogan wouldn’t be bothering them anymore, but one question remained… Why did Lin Yi do this? Why would he want to help her family out? She ‘understood’ it perfectly in her heart: he wanted to have a good impression on her, he wanted her to like him by doing stuff like this…
As cliche as it might sound, even Tang Yin had to admit the effectiveness of an approach like that. At the very least, Lin Yi wasn’t as much of an asshole in her eyes anymore… He was only an asshole to bigger jerks, but that was it…
Just like that, Lin Yi’d barged into her life permanently, and it didn’t seem very possible for her to get rid of him anymore… How was she supposed to face him from now on?
Should she continue her mockery of him? Should she continue giving him the cold shoulder? Tang Yin couldn’t bring herself to do it- she knew that herself. She wasn’t a heartless person, and despite Lin Yi’s intentions, it was true that he’d helped her and her family, at the end of the day…
As a result, the only route left for Tang Yin was to run- Lin Yi’s status and position put her on guard, and she locked her feelings once more as she remembered what Fen had been through, sealing herself off once more…
Lin Yi looked at Tang Yin’s lowered head, not thinking much of it. “Aunty, I’m actually just here to ask about the weekend… When should we come over? Tang Yin didn’t give any details, so I wanted to make sure…”
“Saturday morning, then… You can come whenever you’re free- we live in the slums, third house in Grass Alleys.” Mrs. Tang said, regaining her composure as her gratitude showed on her face. “Lin Yi, we really have to thank you for what you did today… I don’t know what the two of us would've done if you hadn’t shown up… We’d just get bullied without being able to fight back……”
“Haha, that won’t happen again.” Lin Yi said with a laugh. “Well, me and Xiaobo are leaving- see you guys on Saturday, aunty.”
“Nono, please, sit- Aunty will get you something to eat……” Mrs. Tang, naturally, wouldn’t let Lin Yi leave just like that- she had to thank him in some way.
Mrs. Tang was really starting to like Lin Yi now- he had the tyrannical side young masters had, but was actually quite reasonable as well! As terrifying as his darker side may be, Mrs. Tang found him to be very easy-going with people he knew well.
“It’s getting pretty late, we’ll pass this time- let’s leave it for Saturday! We’ll be there on time.” Lin Yi’s phone had vibrated in his pocket earlier- it was probably a text from either Mengyao or Yushu, and Lin Yi had to get back to them as quickly as possible.
“Alright then…” Mrs. Tang said after Lin Yi insisted. “Yin, see your friends out!”
“Ok……” Tang Yin nodded unwillingly, walking after Lin Yi with her head still lowered.
“Ah……” A faint smile formed on Lin Yi’s lips as he turned to leave with Xiaobo. Tang Yin, on the other hand, just walked behind them silently- Lin Yi wondered what she was thinking about.
“It’s okay, you can go back if you don’t wanna.” Lin Yi said, a little amused as he looked at Tang Yin.
“I didn’t say that.” Tang Yin hmphed softly. “T...Thanks for earlier……”
“Was just passing by- I’d probably help out if it was someone else too……” Lin Yi said, adding a ‘probably’ to the statement. He probably wouldn’t help if it were someone else, in actuality…
After all, he couldn’t just butt into everything- he might as well go and put on an ultraman or spiderman costume if that were the case.
Naturally, Tang Yin wasn’t buying what Lin Yi was saying- why would a young master like him even bother if it weren’t her he was saving? Her debts toward Lin Yi were piling up, and Tang Yin couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable at that fact……
“You really wanna go out with me?” Tang Yin asked as she raised her head at Lin Yi all of a sudden.
“Ah?” Lin Yi blinked at Tang Yin, evidently not expecting those words to come out her mouth.
It took Tang Yin quite some courage to get a question like that out- Lin Yi had involved himself with her family at this point, and Tang Yin wanted to make sure what Lin Yi’s intentions actually were.
She put on a strong-willed front, but her heart was filling up with guilt and shame- it wasn’t a surprise that a girl’s face would heat up after throwing out a question like that. Fortunately for her, Lin Yi wouldn’t be able to see the blush on her face at night.
Tang Yin was panicking enough in the first place, and she treated Lin Yi’s ‘ah’ as him admitting it.
“Do your parents know? Will they agree to this?” Tang Yin continued with another question before Lin Yi even answered her first one properly.
Tang Yin had seen what Lin Yi had done for her family, after all, and she couldn’t quite grasp what her feelings towards Lin Yi were at this point- there was some hate in there, but also something special……
“My parents?” Lin Yi blinked again, pausing at the question- who were his parents? Even he didn’t know that… Old Lin did say he was an orphan…
Lin Yi’s pause registered as hesitation in Tang Yin’s eyes, and her fragile heart of a young lady tensed as it killed off the spark that had just taken place…
The guy was just playing around after all… He’d never planned anything for the two of them, nor had he told his parents about this… He was never planning to spend his life with her, so what was she still struggling for?
another month! Let's start it off strong :D
cough cough back to 21 chaps. theres still the goal thing, but ill do that after my patrons get charged (uk, that whole unpledging thing...)