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Chapter 373: Chapter 373 I don’t like eating steamed buns.
"This place is quite close to my branch store, I will take you to have roasted sweet potatoes! They’re really tasty, my dad cooks them." Tong Yao hadn’t seen her parents in a few days and she missed them.
"Sounds great!" Wang Chun hadn’t met Tong Yao’s parents yet and she thought it would be better to bring gifts when visiting elders, "Should we buy some tea or health products for them? I didn’t prepare anything as I didn’t know we would meet them."
"Oh, you don’t need to buy anything! My parents don’t care for that. The street up ahead is where our store is located. Let’s just head straight there."
As Tong Yao dragged Wang Chun towards the store, Wang Chun couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. She thought it was impolite to meet elders for the first time without a gift. Seeing Tong Yao refusing to let her buy one, she reluctantly compromised, saying softly, "Next time I will definitely buy presents, you can’t stop me then."
Tong Yao grinned and said, "Next time I’ll bring you to my place for a meal, my mum is a great cook."
"Sure!" Wang Chun agreed by nodding her head. With a personality as kind as Tong Yao’s, her parents must be enlightened and good-hearted people.
As they were just about to reach the store, a raggedly dressed man with a begging bowl in hand blocked Wang Chun’s path, "Please help, spare me some money! I haven’t eaten for two days."
Tong Yao saw that the man was physically fit and of working age. At first glance, he didn’t seem to be really poor and starving, so she said, "I’ll bring you two steamed buns later."
The man instinctively responded, "I don’t like steamed buns."
Seeing that Tong Yao is not easily fooled, he turned to Wang Chun and stretched out his hand, "Please, I’d appreciate any amount."
Tong Yao let out a sarcastic laugh, tried to pull Wang Chun away, but she was moved by the man’s pitiful look. She couldn’t leave him like this, she opened her purse and gave the man five yuan, "Go and buy some food with it!"
Instead of leaving, the man collected the money and continued to stare at Wang Chun’s bulging purse, his eyes lighting up. "I have an eighty-year-old bedridden mother and a mentally-challenged daughter-in-law at home. Can you please spare a little more?"
Seeing the man not appreciating her help, Tong Yao pulled Wang Chun in an attempt to leave, "Don’t bother with him anymore, five yuan is enough for his family to eat steamed buns for a whole day."
Wang Chun just couldn’t leave him like this, "Tong Yao, he looks really pitiful, let’s give him a little more money!"
Just as Tong Yao was about to speak, the man unexpectedly snatched Wang Chun’s purse and bolted away. She instinctively chased after him, but, as there were already some people chasing him before her, he vanished from sight.
Wang Chun was left stunned by what just happened, she didn’t understand why a beggar would steal money. Was it because she gave too little or too slowly?
Seeing her still in the state of shock, Tong Yao thought she might have been scared, and expressed her concern, "Achun, are you okay?"
"I’m fine." Wang Chun shook her head while she came to her senses, "But why did he steal my purse?"
There were several hundred yuans in her purse. This was quite a sum of money for ordinary people, but to Wang Chun it was a small amount, and she didn’t mind it.
She simply didn’t understand why the man chose to bite the hand that fed him. She was planning to give him more money.
Tong Yao didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, "That man was perfectly fine and fit for work. As long as he’s willing to work hard, he won’t have to beg. When I said I’d buy him steamed buns, he even had the gall to say he doesn’t like them. Can you imagine that? Someone who has been starving for two days will still be picky! He’s probably a professional beggar. He saw that you seem like a kind-hearted person, which is why he kept asking you for money. As for stealing, he did it so smoothly, he must be used to doing such things."
Wang Chun was in awe of Tong Yao’s astute insights. "Tong Yao, you’re so smart!"
Wang Chun’s adoration made Tong Yao laugh, "I was just conjecturing, it wasn’t until he stole your money that I confirmed it."
At this moment, Wang Chun’s bodyguard suddenly walked over, "Ma’am, this was an organized act, someone intentionally blocked me from chasing him, so I didn’t manage to catch him."
This was the first time Tong Yao met Wang Chun’s bodyguard face-to-face. He was a regular-looking man in his thirties with dark skin, a robust build, and obviously trained in martial arts. Zhao Wenkai really does care about Wang Chun to have located such a bodyguard to protect her secretly.
Wang Chun said softly, "It’s okay that he wasn’t caught. Only a few hundred yuan in the purse. It’s just inconvenient to replace the ID card that was in there. It will be a bitter experience that taught me a lesson!".
Tong Yao:...
Only a few hundred yuans???
Sigh!
That’s a difference resulting from a variant upbringing.
"Let’s go to the store and have some baked sweet potatoes to calm ourselves."
As they reached the store, Yaohui was crouching down packing sweet potatoes to a child. Tong Yao purposely shouted,"Hey, boss, two roasted sweet potatoes please."
"Just a moment, I will..."
Yaohui instinctively replied, but halfway through his sentence, he suddenly realized something. He lifted his head up. Seeing Tong Yao, he put on a fake stern expression.
"You child."
Ever since Yaohui started selling sweet potatoes, he’s been seeing a lot of young people and children. Gradually, he became more cheerful and outgoing than before.
Tong Yao pulled Wang Chun in front of her, smiling as she introduced, "Dad, this is Achun, the friend I’ve mentioned to you before."
"Hello, uncle." Wang Chun quickly greeted Yaohui.
Seeing that his daughter had brought a friend, Yaohui instantly changed his attitude and nodded with a smile, "Good, good, good. You two go inside and rest for a bit, I’ll prepare the roasted sweet potatoes for you."
"Tong Yao." Wen Yun came out of the store as she saw her daughter arrived. Without waiting for Tong Yao to introduce her, she looked at Wang Chun and asked, "Tong Yao, is this the Achun you mentioned before. She is really pretty."
"Hello auntie." Wang Chun quickly greeted her. At the same time, astonished, Wang Chun said, "Auntie, you look so young!"
Wang Chun wasn’t paying compliments, compared to people of her age, Wen Yun was indeed young and elegant, a woman clearly raised in a well-educated and prosperous family.
Moreover, her husband must be treating her very well for Wen Yun to retain such grace and beauty at her age.
That’s why Tong Yao is so beautiful.
"This child knows how to speak." Wen Yun was delighted and invited Wang Chun into the store, "Come in and sit. It’s warmer inside. Wait for your uncle to bring in the sweet potatoes."
Yaohui nodded, "That’s right. You two go in and rest while I bring the sweet potatoes."
Tong Yao was somewhat spoilt and had hardly any friends growing up. Finally having one who seemed polite and well-behaved, both Wen Yun and Yaohui treated Wang Chun as if she were a child, careful and polite, worried that they might slight her.
Watching this, Tong Yao was a little jealous. 𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
