After deciding to give up, he started to gain popularity

A true warrior is one who dares to face the bleakness of life. Seeing that the situation could no longer be avoided, Xia Chuan Zou forced himself to look calm, and then very naturally handed over the pile of books in his hand.

As the saying goes, as long as I don’t feel embarrassed, then it’s others who are embarrassed!

Whoever feels guilty at this time will be the biggest loser!

He barely convinced himself and even found reasons for his behavior in his mind. Explanations like "I bought it for a friend" and "I was momentarily obsessed" were simply nonsense and useless. It would be better for him to just honestly admit his needs. Maybe he could even win the argument based on justice!

Of course he had good intentions, but the reality was - when she found those books, Yukinoshita Yukino just raised her head and glanced at him very quickly, as if it didn't matter to her what he was like or why he bought these books, and it even gave people the feeling that she didn't see it.

But Xiachuan Zou would not miss it. He clearly noticed it again, noticed the contempt that flashed across her eyes when she raised her head, which was exactly the same as she had in the past.

But he couldn't just rely on his feelings to determine this point, and even took the initiative to say it out loud to find fault with the other party, "You really look down on me, right?!" Otherwise, wouldn't he be no different from the bad yellow-haired guy just now? And it would also make him look even more guilty, as if he was wrong.

As a result, the rest of the time became quite torturous. While waiting for Yukino to get off work, he was very restless whether he was standing inside the store or at the door. He always felt like he was waiting to be judged and punished by his girlfriend after doing something wrong. Especially when passers-by looked at him as the door god from time to time, and then curiously cast inquiring glances at the clerk Yukinoshita Yukino, but were finally ignored by her, the feeling that "he was actually standing in the corner as a punishment" became even stronger.

Fortunately, Yukinoshita did not lie to him. She was really about to get off work. Before he had to wait for long, a smiling uncle came out from the backstage and said to her kindly, "Yukinoshita-san, you can go back and rest. You have worked hard today."

"Yes, thank you for your help, manager." Yukinoshita Yukino nodded and bowed slightly to the other party, looking very respectful to the other party.

The uncle who was called "store manager" just waved his hand. Just as he was about to say something else, he noticed Natsukawa Kanade who had been standing next to Yukinoshita. He thought he was a customer who came to buy books - in fact, he was at first, but now he was locked up for various reasons.

"Sir, is there anything you need?" The other party's attitude was very friendly, and Natsukawa Kanade couldn't ignore him, but it was also difficult for him to take the initiative to say "I'm waiting for Yukinoshita to get off work." He always felt that he would be misunderstood.

"He's waiting for me to get off work..." Yukinoshita Yukino, who was standing by, didn't have that worry. She replied to the store manager calmly, and added at the end, "He's... just my friend."

"..." Xia Chuan Zou really wanted to cover his face and complain about her again, thinking that if you bring it up on your own initiative, wouldn't it cause more misunderstanding? And what do you mean by "just"? You are wronged by being friends!

The store manager was obviously stunned for a moment, but he still had a very friendly smile on his face, but what he said made people speechless.

"I understand, I understand. It's normal among friends... Oh, it's something you young people do... It's great to be young..."

The performance seemed like he was watching for fun, which made Xiachuan Zou also happy, and his originally gloomy mood was instantly swept away.

Only Yukinoshita frowned her beautiful brows, as if she was somewhat dissatisfied with the development of the situation. However, she did not argue too much and left the front desk after saying "Then I'll go change my clothes first".

When she disappeared from sight, the store manager began to talk to Natsukawa Kanade impatiently again.

"This... little classmate? What's your name?"

"Natsukawa Kanade, you can just call me Natsukawa." Natsukawa Kanade responded honestly. After all, he was Yukino's boss.

"Oh, then... Natsukawa-san, can you tell me, have you known Yukinoshita-san for a long time?" The manager looked at him with a smile. His eyes were always squinted, which actually made it difficult for people to detect his thoughts. But Natsukawa Kanade could somehow feel it - he must want to eat melons.

As expected, the store manager's subsequent words also confirmed his idea.

"It's nothing special. I'm just curious about the extent of your relationship."

"..." Is this still nothing special? Natsukawa Kanade thought, but he also remained calm and synchronized with Yukinoshita, "We two should really be considered friends..."

If I had to say it, it should be seen as a relationship between a former pursuer and a former pursuer, but after what happened before, it was found that Yukino didn't really reject him, and she also said it herself that she acknowledged his identity as a friend, so naturally there was no problem with the explanation.

"If we've known each other... it's been quite a long time." Xia Chuan Zou nodded. Although he had only recently resumed some social contact, it had indeed been a long time since they "knew each other".

"Oh oh..." The store manager nodded, and then asked him a variety of questions, "So you are classmates? In the same class? And how did you meet?"

He looks like a nice guy, but he's surprisingly curious.

"We're from the same school, but we're not in the same class..." replied Natsukawa Zou. He originally thought that the other party had already seen through his situation, but he didn't expect that "classmate" was just a habit of speaking?

"As for how we met..." Natsukawa Kanade was a little embarrassed to say, but after all, he had basically answered all the previous questions. Wouldn't it be weird if he stuck here and didn't talk about it? So he thought about it and gave a very strange but reasonable answer: "Because Yukinoshita is very cute..."

Although his original purpose was a bit impure, in essence it was still a pursuit of beautiful things. He was not wrong to say that he liked Yukino because he thought she was super cute. He basically took action based on this impression.

"But after getting to know her, you'll feel that Yukinoshita is not just as cute as she looks on the surface. In fact, she is also a very lovely person at heart." Natsukawa Kanade nodded seriously.

She is obviously very smart and has a good memory, but she often gets lost easily; although she has extremely high personal talent and can quickly learn and master anything, her physical strength is unexpectedly weak; and she always has an inexplicable pursuit of "correctness", so sometimes she seems too stubborn and stubborn... Oh, and she always likes to be sarcastic. If it weren't for her poor size and inconsistent tone, it would be completely correct to call her a "female devil".

But all of the above are Yukino's cute points. Whenever he thinks about them, he will smile from the bottom of his heart, feeling angry, funny and happy.

Because he has experienced these things personally, he has more say now and his words are decisive.

"Yukinoshita-san is indeed very cute." The store manager across from him also nodded in agreement, and then explained to him, "Since she came to work here, the store's daily turnover has increased a lot. Some people even come to see her and buy some books as if to show off their own taste. As a result, those books that were originally unsaleable have been bought..."

"She is really smart and learns things very quickly. She was able to handle the work on her own in just a few days. She saved me a lot of effort and helped me a lot. To be honest, I always felt that it was a bit of a waste to have such a good child come to my store."

"The only problematic aspect is that Yukinoshita-san seems to have difficulty coping with this kind of service industry job and it's hard for her to smile... But it seems that there are a lot of people who like this kind of taste, right? Even as I said, there are people who don't like reading, but they run here just to read Yukinoshita-san..." As he said this, he raised his head and glanced at Natsukawa Kanade.

"..." He inexplicably felt like he was suddenly dissed.

"To be honest, Yukinoshita-san has almost become the signature of our store... I never knew that being pretty could attract so much attention."

"..." Natsukawa Kanade could sense that the store manager's tone contained not only a sense of relief that "it's a good thing that Yukinoshita could come to work in his store", but also a sense of envy for her...

Of course, what I mean is definitely not that I envy her beauty. I guess I envy the eye-catching effect caused by her beauty or handsomeness.

The store manager was really talkative. He then talked to him about a lot of random things, even wanting to tell him what happened in the store. He was really overwhelmed. He wondered why Yukino hadn't come back yet. If she didn't come back, they would have become close friends regardless of age difference.

"So I'm actually quite grateful to Yukinoshita-san for bringing some life back to my lifeless bookstore." The shop owner sighed, and then suddenly interrupted the topic again, "That's why I wanted to get to know you. I was afraid that you were the kind of guy who wanted to deceive Yukinoshita-san. But now it seems that you are a good kid, after all, not many people are willing to listen to my nagging."

"..." Xia Chuan Zou smiled awkwardly. He actually didn't want to listen to it, but he had no choice due to the situation.

"There are quite a few bad guys like this. I can still help them when they are in the store, but I can't do anything outside..." The store owner sighed, and then said meaningfully, "But since there is a 'friend' like you, I feel more at ease... You can definitely protect Yukinoshita-san, right?"

He suddenly changed to a very serious tone, which made Xiachuan Kanade begin to realize that Yukino's statement that "there are not many such customers" might be false. Combined with what the store manager said, there must be a lot of them! But maybe she was afraid that he would worry? That's why she didn't tell him directly.

And it seems that since she was a child, Yukino has been "bullied" for various reasons. Even now that she is in high school, nothing has changed, as if the world is full of malice.

"Yes, I understand." Natsukawa Kanade nodded seriously and responded to the manager, "I will always protect Yukinoshita-san. I swear on my dignity..."

In fact, he would have continued to do so even without the store manager's instructions, because he had promised her long ago that he would save her until he was no longer needed.

"Of course, please ask the store manager to take care of her when she works part-time. After all, that girl is actually... quite clumsy at times..." Natsukawa Kanade wanted to say something else, but he suddenly became embarrassed because he caught a glimpse of Yukinoshita Yukino who appeared in his field of vision out of the corner of his eye.

Of course, he was dressed in casual clothes. After all, it wasn't a school day, so there was no need to wear a uniform outside.

For Natsukawa Kanade, he actually hasn't seen Yukino in casual clothes many times, because most of the time when he asked her out, he would be rejected outright. The only way he could hook up with Yukino was to use the excuse of "picking a birthday present for a friend". That's why some of his friends can even celebrate their birthdays several times a year.

——Thanks to Natsukawa Kanade.

Today, Yukino is wearing a simple shirt with a light jacket on the outside. It looks warm, but the lower body is completely different. It is not much different from the uniform skirt issued by the school, but it is a black and white striped style. It looks ordinary, but it looks very cute on Yukino, and it can't hide her cold and unworldly temperament. It's not just like a cold flower, but a cold flower. She always gives people a feeling of being out of reach.

In short, she is a lovely Yukino-chan.

Xiachuan Kanade couldn't help but want to give her a thumbs up and praise her for her good taste in clothes, but when he looked at her calm expression, he suddenly remembered that he seemed to have said something like "Actually, Yukino is also clumsy sometimes"...

Isn't this the end?!

Xia Chuan Zou wanted to struggle, still a little bit unconvinced, and asked as if to confirm: "Uh, when did you start hearing it?"

He hoped that the other party would lie a little, or even better, tell him some good news, but Yukinoshita Yukino just glanced at him lightly, ignored him and said to the owner: "Then I will go back, thank you for your hard work."

Xia Chuan Zou: “…”

Oh no, it’s all over now. The person who said bad things behind my back has found out.

PS: I slept and slept. I really can’t hold on any longer. I feel like I’m starting to feel dazed. Damn, I have to get up at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning to go for the barbecue. Please spare me. Fortunately, I don’t have to drive this time.

Oh, I have to get up at 8 o'clock, and it's 5 o'clock now... Great, I still have 3 hours to sleep! I'm so full of sleep (mental disorder)

237. Cat Under Meow

——Yukino wasn’t as angry as he thought.

Although she hasn't spoken since she came out of the bookstore, she doesn't seem angry from the expression on her face. She even seems to not care at all about what Natsukawa Kanade said, "Yukinoshita is actually a clumsy person."

She just walked without saying a word, and it felt like she was moving alone. Xia Chuan Zou was secretly glad for this, but she also felt a little confused. If it were in the past, she would definitely have been sarcastic to him, but now she was like this... It was really hard to understand.

So he also followed Yukinoshita in silence with the same attitude, because he didn't want to provoke the other party again. It would be bad if he made her annoying again.

He didn't know where the other party was taking her, but it was always right to follow him - this thought continued until Xue No suddenly stopped, turned around and looked at him with a very puzzled look: "Why are you following me? I want to go home now."

He said something that was difficult to understand.

“……” Xiachuan Zou widened his eyes and opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a single syllable.

Huh? Isn't that... not asking him to catch up? Xia Chuan Kan was a little confused.

He recalled the look Yukino gave him before leaving the bookstore, and then she started walking straight away. He thought she meant for him to follow her... And this was not right, right? That had just happened, and she had said "Let's talk after she gets off work", but now she was asking "Why did you follow her"?

What can he say?

"..."

"Forget it, since you've come along..." Yukinoshita Yukino sighed, as if she was helpless. She pointed to the door of the apartment next to her and said softly, "Since you're here, just go up and sit down. I also have something to give you."

"Uh..." Xia Chuan Kanade was startled, but still nodded in response, "Okay... do you need me to help you up the stairs?"

He had not been idle along the way. From what he observed, Yukino's foot injury was probably not completely healed. She still walked a little awkwardly, which made people a little worried.

"..." Yukinoshita looked at him and suddenly fell silent.

Xiachuan Zou thought that she might be a little embarrassed. After all, Xuenian had always been very strong-willed, so he simply became a little more assertive.

"Well, let me help you, after all..."

"There's an elevator in the apartment, so there's no need to bother." The cold voice of classmate Xue Nu floated gently into his ears.

There is no trace of gentleness, and it is extremely cold and chilling.

"..." Xia Chuan Zou almost choked to death, and felt extremely embarrassed, "Ahem... After all, I've never been here before..."

Fortunately, Yukinoshita had no intention of laughing at him. She just pursed her lips and urged him to get up quickly. Naturally, Natsukawa Kanade followed suit.

The apartment he lives in is a little different from his. I don't know if it's because she is more picky about accommodation or because of her family, but Yukino lives in a single apartment with exquisite decoration. The infrastructure both inside and outside the apartment is very complete. Of course, what comes with it is a higher rent.

But since she is also a small wealthy woman, it shouldn't be a problem for Yukino, right? So thinking this way, Natsukawa Kanade suddenly realized something was wrong - Yukino seemed to be working part-time, right?

Because it was so common for high school students to have part-time jobs, and even he had done so for a while, he subconsciously ignored the matter. Now that he suddenly realized it, he began to wonder if Yukino was short of money recently.

Because Yukino had never worked part-time before, it was probably a sudden decision, but in his impression, she was not the kind of person who would spend money lavishly, nor would she overspend on impulse like him. And the most important thing should be that she should have a lot of pocket money and a small treasury, right?

So what did she do to end up in such a situation where she was short of money?

Xiachuan Zou was really curious, but considering their current relationship, even if he really asked, Yukino would definitely avoid him, right? After all, it was basically like this before, not to mention now - she has always been unwilling to reveal private matters to him.

"arrive."

After the elevator stopped, the two walked out and turned into the corridor at the side. After Yukino opened the door, he finally had the honor of stepping into the home of the second girl in his life who actively invited him.

Apart from Eriri, he was the only one invited to Yukino's house. Although he had actually been to his senior's house, strictly speaking that time certainly didn't count. After all, he was not invited by the other party, but he "trespassed into a private residence" on his own, so it naturally didn't count.

Although her tone is quite cold and she always gives off an aura that keeps people at a distance, Yukino is actually very attentive and considerate. She gives people the feeling of a traditional Yamato Nadeshiko and would squat down to push the slippers to him.

"It's new and no one has used it." When she stood up, her brows seemed to frown slightly.

Because his attention was always on her, Xia Chuan Zou also observed it and understood in his heart that her foot injury was still not healed, and it might become serious again because of the amount of walking today.

She really still likes to show off, Xiachuan Zou sighed to himself.

"You stay in the living room for a while. I'm going to change my clothes..." Yukinoshita pointed at the TV remote control on the coffee table, then pointed at the TV and said, "You can watch TV if you want, or just sit there in a daze. In short, you can do whatever you want, but you are not allowed to peek over here."

"I won't peek, okay!" Xia Chuan Kanade complained, "Who do you think I am?"

Yukinoshita Yukino pursed her lips and spoke clearly and coldly, "Boy."

Xia Chuan Zou: “…”

So she was waiting for him here!

He couldn't hold it in any moment, and instantly understood the subtext of her words - since you bought that kind of book, it's hard not to worry about you peeking over at her changing clothes.

To be honest, pornographic books are pornographic books, but peeping at others changing clothes is too bad! Besides, what's so good about an obviously skinny body...

"I always feel like you are thinking about something bad..." Yukinoshita frowned, still looking a little uneasy.

"It's your illusion." Xia Chuanzou curled her lips, thinking that girls' intuition was really outrageous. "Don't worry, I will definitely not peek. After all, this kind of thing must be invited by others to make sense..."

"It's better to save your sleep talking for dreams." Yukinoshita snorted coldly, then ignored him and went straight back to her bedroom.

After she left, Xiachuan Zou sat down on the sofa.

He wasn't planning on turning on the TV either, mainly because he felt a little uncomfortable in someone else's home. Besides, this was his first time as a guest, so he should at least behave like a guest, right?

Girls always take inexplicably long to change clothes. He doesn't understand other boys, but for him it is just a matter of taking off clothes and changing into clothes. The whole process would not take more than 2 minutes, and that even includes the action of throwing the worn clothes into the basket. Yukino herself is a person who pursues efficiency, and he thought she would change clothes much faster, but it turned out to be so slow, and she didn't come out of the bedroom for a long time.

Natsukawa Kanade even began to yawn out of boredom.