SES Chapter 164 Part 1

Chapter 164

It was a little after 2 p.m. The train would reach Chuxiong the next morning at nine. In other words, from now until they met up with Cao Yanhua again, there were roughly eighteen to nineteen hours left.

Luo Ren asked for Mu Dai’s opinion:
“We can drive. I know you’re in a hurry, and I’ll try not to be slower than the train—but let me say this upfront: if I get tired, I’ll rest. If I’m hungry, I’m stopping to eat. My goal is to get you there safely. I’m not risking anything just to save a little time.”

Mu Dai felt that was only natural. “Okay.”

Then she asked, “Why do you have to go just with me?”

There was no one else in the car—it seemed Yan Hongsha and Wan San had also been sent off by him.

Luo Ren smiled. “Just wanted to talk to you.”

—Just wanted to talk to you.

Mu Dai was secretly delighted.

Thinking back, even though she had seen Luo Ren often over all this time, opportunities to be alone together were rare. They’d never even had a proper date. She often imagined what it would feel like to put on beautiful makeup and meet him, what it’d be like to shop at a supermarket together, or to sit side by side in a movie theater.

He’d even said he’d take her to climb a snow mountain, and then the two of them ended up falling into that pit instead. Though… considering what happened in the pit… well, that more or less counted as progress.

Eighteen or nineteen hours—Luo Ren must have a lot he wants to say.

They went to the supermarket first to buy food. Even though they were quick about it, they still pushed a cart together, which, in her heart, fully counted as “shopping as a couple.”

The aisles were narrow. They pushed the cart together, stopping and going. Luo Ren would occasionally ask, “Do you want this?”

If she nodded, he grabbed it effortlessly. Unlike when she went to the store alone, anything placed too high required her to hop repeatedly to reach it.

They turned a corner, passing the kitchen supplies section. Knives, pots, spices—Mu Dai never looked at these. But surprisingly, this time her feet slowed, and she peeked at the salt bags and vinegar bottles. A thought suddenly flashed through her mind:

—If I live with Luo Ren someday, we can’t order takeout every day. We’d need pots and pans at home, and the basic seasonings. Back when I worked at Aunt Zheng Li’s restaurant, my knife skills were pretty good. I could at least manage a couple of simple home dishes…

When she came back to herself, she found Luo Ren had also stopped and was watching her with clear amusement.

Mu Dai actually blushed and stammered, “Let’s… go.”

She hurriedly pushed the cart forward. Behind her, Luo Ren asked, “Are you thinking about getting married?”

“Huh?” Mu Dai froze.

Luo Ren walked up, wrapped an arm around her waist.
“I once heard people say: when a young woman who loves beauty suddenly takes interest in kitchen supplies, she either wants to become a chef… or she wants to get married.”

Mu Dai gave a dry laugh. “No, no, no… I was just thinking whether Master Zheng’s restaurant even has a full set of seasonings…”

“Master Zheng should thank you. Since the restaurant opened, you’ve never stepped into the kitchen even once. Now, eight hundred miles away, you’re suddenly worried about his spices.”

Mu Dai’s face flushed bright red. “You’re welcome! You’re welcome!”

Luo Ren held back his laughter. He really wanted to kiss her twice, but people kept walking by, so he let it go. Then he asked, “Should I prepare a gift to take over there?”

“No need,” Mu Dai answered instantly. “Master won’t care for that.”

Once they were on the highway, everything settled into a comfortable quiet. Neither of them spoke, but Luo Ren found the atmosphere oddly pleasant. Sometimes he only had to glance over, and Mu Dai would open his water bottle and hand it to him. When he finished, she would twist the cap back on—always keeping the bottle in her hands, water inside sloshing gently with the car’s movement.

This stretch of highway was distinctive—lanes separated by fences thickly planted with greenery. From afar, a single slender white blossom poked stubbornly through the leaves, trembling in the sunlight before brushing past the speeding car.

It felt like the right moment to begin.

Luo Ren kept his eyes on the road. He didn’t look at Mu Dai.

“That time, I was in the Philippines. I’d fallen out with my family, torn up my passport, and refused to go back. Acted on impulse, and it caused endless problems later.”

Mu Dai knew the earlier part of the story. She understood this was the continuation, so she listened quietly.

“I made myself an illegal overstayer, and on top of that, ran out of money fast. I was starving, couldn’t hold out anymore, so I finally swallowed my pride and looked for a way to feed myself. Guess what job I found?”

“Bodyguard?”

Luo Ren chuckled. “You give me too much credit. Dishwashing.”

To the Philippines, he was completely a foreigner—no connections, no legal status. He could only trade labor for pay. He washed dishes in a small Chinese restaurant, and even that was mostly done in secret—a cramped, greasy backroom where dirty water mixed with dish soap flowed past his feet.

“People like that—quiet, hardworking Chinese—they were the easiest targets. Some gang lowlifes would come by to extort money, threaten people, and even grope the women. One day, I was so furious I grabbed a pot and charged out—one against three.”

The ever-cool Luo Ren with his perfect knife-throwing aim… had once rushed out of a kitchen swinging a pot?
Mu Dai wanted to laugh, but her heart tightened. “Did they beat you up badly?”

“You think I’m that useless?”

He had been beaten black and blue, but the other three had it worse. He didn’t know how—back then, he had no formal training—just a lot of rage and that one pot. Somehow, he managed to knock all three down.

“And then?”

“The boss was too scared to keep me. Said I caused trouble and it’d bring more problems. If the gang reported him to the police and they found out I was overstaying illegally, he would be in big trouble. So he paid me two extra weeks’ wages and kicked me out.”

Looking back, the scene was like something out of a movie. It was raining. The boss handed him a huge black umbrella on the way out. When he opened it, he realized it was broken—rain pouring both outside and inside. One rib was snapped. Pathetic, just like his situation.

He barely got into an alley when someone stopped him.