Chapter 285 - 283: Overwhelmed by Favor

Chapter 285: Chapter 283: Overwhelmed by Favor

"Haha... So, you’re Lin Qiao, right? Our Nuannuan isn’t exactly the type to make friends easily. If she doesn’t take an immediate liking to someone, she usually won’t even give them a second look. To think she’s only been at her new school for a short time and has already found a good friend she approves of like you."

Gu Lihuang was thrilled by Gu Nuan Nuan’s words: ’On my dad’s side, my second uncle and aunt are the most devoted to my grandpa. After my grandpa, I’m closest to my second uncle and his family.’ He felt he could stand a little taller in front of all his colleagues. His demeanor toward Lin Qiao immediately became even warmer and more pleasant.

Lin Qiao smiled shyly. "Nuannuan is my best friend, too."

Gu Lihuang chuckled.

Gu Lihuang chuckled again before turning to Gu Nuan Nuan and gesturing at the men around them. "Nuannuan, these are all Second Uncle’s colleagues." He then paused, singling out Ye Laosan for a special introduction. "This is our host for today. He’s the one who invited us all out for the festivities. He’s the vice-foreman of my transport team, so he’s my direct supervisor. You can call him Uncle Ye."

"No, no, I couldn’t possibly accept that!" Ye Laosan exclaimed before Gu Nuan Nuan could even speak, waving his hands frantically. He looked almost panicked. "My surname is Ye, and I’m the third son, so everyone just calls me Ye Laosan. Please, Young Miss, just call me Ye Laosan."

"Uncle Ye," Gu Nuan Nuan said with a sweet smile. "You’re my second uncle’s colleague, so it’s only right that I call you that." She then turned to the surrounding group of burly men, who had gone completely silent, as if they’d all suddenly transformed into shy little girls. "Hello, Uncles," she greeted them.

Everyone looked both startled and immensely flattered. The faces of several men turned a suspicious shade of red. One of them started waving his hands, and the others immediately followed suit, rendered speechless. After a long moment, they finally stammered out, one after another, "Oh, no, no... You’re too kind, Young Miss."

"Please don’t call me Young Miss. It feels so strange," Gu Nuan Nuan said, shaking her head with an embarrassed smile. "Why don’t you just call me Nuannuan, like my second uncle does?"

"No, no—"

Unexpectedly, her suggestion was unanimously rejected. This time, their reaction was swift; they all shook their heads in perfect, rehearsed-looking unison. But aside from the word "no," none of them seemed capable of saying anything else. They just stood there with their mouths agape, grinning sheepishly. Finally, Chen Geng stepped forward, flashing his signature goofy smile. "Young Miss, we’re all just a bunch of rough blokes. We’d hate to make such a nice name sound coarse by saying it. Honestly, it feels more natural for us to just call you Young Miss."

"Exactly, exactly," the men all agreed, bobbing their heads up and down like a flock of chickens pecking at grain.

"Nuannuan, just let them be," Gu Lihuang chimed in. "I actually think ’Young Miss’ has a nice ring to it." Gu Nuan Nuan gave a helpless smile and finally relented, saying no more.

Lin Qiao, watching the scene unfold from the side, was utterly dumbfounded.

She stared in disbelief, feeling like she must be dreaming. Yet, everything was so vividly real. Her mind went completely blank, unable to form a single thought. All she could hear was a persistent BUZZING sound echoing inside her head.

"Nuannuan, are you two planning to watch the procession, too? Come on, let’s go together! With all of us big guys clearing a path for you, I guarantee no one will be able to jostle you." Gu Lihuang’s suggestion was met with immediate, enthusiastic approval. The men looked like they’d been shot full of adrenaline, nodding excitedly as they rolled up their sleeves and cracked their knuckles.

This time, Ye Laosan stepped forward, thumping his chest with assurance. "That’s right! With us around, we can guarantee the Young Miss gets a fantastic view without anyone bumping into her."

Gu Nuan Nuan shuddered at the mental image of herself and Lin Qiao being swarmed by a pack of large, burly, and mostly unfamiliar men, who would then carve a path for them into the heart of the crowd, only for them to be bombarded by strange, curious, and probing stares. ’The scene is just too beautiful to imagine,’ she thought sarcastically, feeling she couldn’t even face the idea of it. She quickly shook her head in refusal. "Lin Qiao and I were just dropping her two younger sisters off to watch the festivities. We weren’t planning on watching ourselves."

"Ohhh? It’s so lively, why wouldn’t you want to watch? Wouldn’t that be such a shame?"

’What’s an even bigger shame is that we’d lose out on some major bragging rights! Being the Young Miss’s "Flower Protectors"... just the thought of it is enough to send shivers of excitement down your spine!’

Ye Laosan wrung his hands, looking disappointed as he tried to persuade her. "But Young Miss, this only happens once a year..."

"Yeah, it only happens once a year! It’d be such a shame to miss it!" The other men shared Ye Laosan’s inexplicable sense of disappointment and loss. They stared at Gu Nuan Nuan with such intensity that it only strengthened her resolve to refuse. She shook her head again, this time with great emphasis. "It’s precisely because it’s so crowded that I don’t want to be in the middle of it. Lin Qiao and I are going to find a quiet spot up ahead to wait. We’ll still be able to see everything when the procession passes by."

The last thing Gu Nuan Nuan wanted was to become a zoo animal for everyone to gawk at. After coming up with that excuse on the fly, she realized it was actually a pretty good idea.

’So clever,’ she silently praised herself.

’Strange, why didn’t I think of such a perfect, best-of-both-worlds solution sooner?’

Gu Nuan Nuan took Lin Qiao by the hand to leave, and Lin Qiao followed obediently.

"How about just Second Uncle goes with you two? You know, for the past two or three months, I’ve managed to miss you every time you came home. I have so much I want to talk to you about. Now that you’re in school in the city, by the time you go see Grandpa on the weekend, we’ll probably be out here on a run. We’ll likely have even fewer chances to see each other in the future... And it was such a rare chance that we ran into each other today..." Gu Lihuang called out, his voice full of longing.

"Second Uncle, don’t make it sound so pathetic, okay? Don’t you have my home address and phone number? If you want to see me and you happen to be in the city, just bring Second Aunt and Gu Qian over for a visit. And if you just want to talk, that’s even easier. Just take out that card I gave you. How hard is it to call me from any one of our branch offices, breeding farms, or company-owned bun shops?"

Gu Nuan Nuan was exasperated by Gu Lihuang’s words. Then, a flicker of suspicion crossed her face. "By the way, Second Uncle, a couple of months ago, I heard Mom say you were doing so well they were planning to make you the deputy director of the big breeding farm near our hometown. How come you didn’t take that job and got transferred to this city-route transport team instead?"