Chapter 350: 350 Thanks

The two tables were adjacent, and the man was seated right behind the two girls, very close. A pot of boiling hotpot broth was hurled towards him, and at the same time, also splashed towards them.

They realized the danger as it struck, both utterly shocked, but everything happened too quickly, and they couldn’t dodge in time.

Just then, sensing the danger ahead of time, Chen Xu grabbed a coat from beside him and, with a forceful swing, covered their heads with it, blocking the scalding soup that splashed their way.

“Ah–”

The man, drenched in the oily broth, cried out in pain, jumping up from his seat, his face a mix of terror and anger.

The hotpot restaurant was warm, and as they were eating hotpot, nobody wore too many clothes when they walked in. He was only wearing a shirt which was now soaked, and his face and neck visibly red from the burns.

As for the woman sitting opposite him, the one who had triggered the conflict, she jumped up scared and backed away a few steps. It took her a moment to remember that her child was still sitting in the adjacent baby chair, and she hurriedly pulled the child aside.

The child, only one or two years old, terrified, started bawling loudly.

At that moment, the waiter, who initially wanted to come over and mediate, was terrified and quickly grabbed the man who was violent, fearing he might do something even more outrageous.

Such an incident left everyone in the hotpot restaurant in shock.

“Are you all right?”

Chen Xu retrieved the coat and casually laid it back on the neighboring seat.

Both girls were visibly shaken. If Chen Xu hadn’t acted promptly and used his coat to shield them, the hot soup could have disfigured their faces–an unimaginable horror for girls so concerned with their looks.

“We’re okay, thank you for just now.” The first to recover, rather timidly, was the girl named Xiao Yin. After assuring herself that she was unharmed, she promptly thanked him.

The other girl, Shasha, was still staring in that direction, wondering aloud, “What grudge could there possibly be?”

A pot of boiling hotpot broth thrown onto someone is no joke; it’s definitely a burn.

The man who started the altercation had charged in, swearing a few words, then suddenly acted. The two girls and Chen Xu were talking and hadn’t paid much attention, unaware of the conflict between him and the others.

But Chen Xu heard it; the agitated man had come up and immediately demanded why the woman, who was with the child, wasn’t answering her phone. Clearly, the two were a couple, the man had been calling the woman who, instead of answering, chose to talk on the phone with another man and her child present.

The woman impatiently responded, and her husband exploded, suddenly striking. That led to this terrible accident.

Chen Xu didn’t elaborate further; these kinds of domestic issues, he preferred not to delve into.

Shortly after, the people at the next table left, and what might happen next was anyone’s guess.

Everyone in the shop was discussing the incident, all sorts of comments being made.

The whole distraction had slowed down the meal service greatly, and Chen Xu and the others had to wait a bit longer before all their dishes were served.

After finishing their meal, the two girls insisted on paying the bill as thanks for him saving them earlier.

Chen Xu didn’t refuse. In saving them, his coat had gotten dirty, smeared with oil and chili, which was tough to clean. His suit, costing tens of thousands, was ruined, and that genuinely pained him; letting them treat was no big deal.

Besides paying the bill, they also invited him to join them in the afternoon.

After some thought and clarifying where they wanted to go, he agreed.

Both girls were beautiful and well-mannered, and neither had unpleasant personalities–Shasha was outgoing, bold, and loved to joke, while Xiao Yin was more timid and often shy, though polite and meticulous.

Having such companions to talk with wasn’t bad.

They toured Beijing for the afternoon, and Chen Xu declined their invitation to dinner, opting to take a taxi back to his hotel. Before parting, they agreed to meet the next day to climb the Great Wall.

…

The two girls were staying in a budget hotel and had booked a double room. After a day of walking, they were tired; upon returning to the hotel, they collapsed on their beds and started editing their photos on their phones.

“Hey, what do you think about that uncle?” Shasha quickly edited her photos and posted them to her social circle, then suddenly asked.

“What do you mean by ‘what do I think’?” Xiao Yin, still scrolling through her phone, retorted.

Shasha rolled over, lying next to her, and said, “I think he’s a nice person, but just looks a bit ordinary.”

“Is that so?” Xiao Yin posted her photos and remarked, “I think he’s a bit stingy.”

“What?”

Xiao Yin explained, “Look at what he wears, all branded, he must be quite wealthy. We offered to treat him to lunch, and he didn’t even hesitate.”

Xiao Yin felt a bit indignant and added, “Being frugal is a virtue. Besides, it shows he has no ulterior motives towards us.”

Shasha playfully teased her, saying, “You wish he had some motives, right?”

“If he had no motives, that would mean we aren’t charming, and how could we accept that?”

Xiao Yin rolled her eyes, uninterested in the conversation, and said, “I’m going to take a shower.” Turning to leave, she added before entering the bathroom, “I think he might already have a girlfriend; you better give up on that idea.”

Shasha responded, “You’re talking nonsense. I’m not interested in him.”

“Really?” Xiao Yin threw out the remark and closed the bathroom door.

Shasha sat and browsed her phone, suddenly discovering something as if she had found a new continent. She ran to the bathroom door, knocking hard, and exclaimed, “The incident at the hotpot restaurant has gone viral.”

“What went viral?”

The bathroom door opened, Xiao Yin, drying her hair with a towel, asked.

“The thing that happened at noon, look.”

Xiao Yin looked at her phone and saw the incident at the hotpot restaurant. Watching the man being splashed all over again was still somewhat frightening.

“Look, there we are. The uncle reacted really fast,” Shasha, focusing on a completely different aspect from hers, remarked as the video captured them at the neighboring table just when Chen Xu used his clothes to shield them from the soup.

On a second viewing, Xiao Yin also noticed and couldn’t deny that, had it not been for Chen Xu, they too would have been victims.

Shasha remarked, “We really should thank him properly.”

Xiao Yin responded, “I’d like to, but he didn’t appreciate our lunch invitation.”

“You’re not holding a grudge because he didn’t value your invitation, are you?”

Xiao Yin replied irritably, “What’s there for me to lose face over? It’s not like I was the one who invited him.”

Shasha replied, “Anyway, we’ll have another chance tomorrow. Didn’t he agree to go climb the Great Wall with us? Let’s invite him to lunch then.”