Part 2 of Chapter 63
This chapter is brought to you by Heemi, thanks for the ko-fi! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･
Please Like Her 14 – Male and Female Leads + Casting for ‘Evil’ (No In-Play Version)
There was still a long line in front of the cake shop.
But today was quite cold, and there were fewer people in line compared to before.
Shang Lu rubbed her hands, sighed, and waited for another ten minutes before it was her turn.
It was a bit of a shame that the mango flavor was already sold out, so Shang Lu had to buy several pieces of other flavors as compensation.
At the moment when she saw that the mango cake was sold out, Shang Lu even regretted not picking up the cake that Shang Mu bought that night. The things one can’t have drive one crazy.
The mango-filled cake was the best cake from this shop, and even she had developed a liking for mango because of it. Shang Mu never ate sweet things, so that piece of cake from before must have ended up in the trash.
D*mn! Such a waste of delicious cake!
Shang Lu held the cake and stood at the intersection, then called Chi Yan, waiting for him to come by car.
And at this moment.
A little girl’s crying could be heard.
“Wuwuwu… Mom, I want to eat the peach cake.”
The mother seemed exhausted and reasoned with her, “It’s not that Mom won’t buy it for you, it’s already sold out. How about we buy a different flavor?”
“No! You promised to buy the peach flavor! Mom is a liar!” The little girl cried louder and sat down on the ground.
The line of people waiting was still long, and complaints arose.
In front of everyone, the mother felt embarrassed and reached out to hit her daughter, “Didn’t I wait in line with you? What can I do if it’s sold out? If you don’t want to eat, then don’t! Let’s go home!”
As the mother spoke, she tried to lift her daughter off the ground by grabbing her collar.
But this time, the girl lay directly on the ground, refusing to move.
The mother, who had waited in line for so long, seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown. She slapped her daughter repeatedly, saying, “Get up! Get up quickly!”
The girl’s crying became even more heart-wrenching.
Shang Lu couldn’t bear to watch any longer. She walked over and reached out to stop the mother’s slaps on her daughter.
She held up a small cake box and waved it in front of the girl, asking, “What do you see here?”
The girl sobbed, but her voice sounded happier, “Peach… cake…”
“Yes,” Shang Lu half-squatted next to her and asked, “Do you want it? Can you sit up, and we can talk?”
The desire for this cake made the little girl get up from the ground, and she looked at Shang Lu with teary eyes.
Shang Lu wiped away her tears and then said, “Sister can give you this cake, but you need to find something in exchange, okay?”
The little girl nodded.
Shang Lu said earnestly, “Sister loves snowy days the most. If you find a snowman for Sister, this cake will be yours.”
The little girl was puzzled for a moment and then said, “But it’s not snowing now.”
Shang Lu deliberately turned her head away and didn’t look at her. “I don’t care. You promised me a fair trade. If there’s no snow, you’ll have to figure something out.”
The little girl couldn’t think of a solution and started crying again.
And Shang Lu asked her, “Did you intentionally not give me snow? Is it because it’s not snowing now? Did Mom intentionally not buy you peach cake? No, it’s because the cake was sold out by others. So, is Mom still a liar?”
The little girl thought for a moment, then shook her head softly and whispered, “Mom is not a liar, and I’m not a liar either.”
“That’s right.” Shang Lu patted her head and asked, “You’re in kindergarten now, right?”
The little girl nodded.
Shang Lu asked her again, “Since Mom is not a liar, what should you say to Mom now?”
The little girl looked at her mother and said softly, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said Mom is a liar.”
The mother standing nearby heard this and tears welled up in her eyes.
Shang Lu stood up and looked at the mother, saying, “See, she understands, right? Speak nicely. She’s still very young, and she learns a lot from you.”
“I know,” the woman choked up, “I won’t do it again. Thank you.”
Because of the recent stress from life and work, she had been impatient with her daughter.
Shang Lu handed the peach cake to the little girl and ruffled her hair, saying, “Since you have apologized to your Mom, this is a reward for the good child.”
The child’s mother quickly said, “Thank you so much. Let me pay you.”
“No need,” Shang Lu waved her hand and refused, pointing to a car not far away on the roadside, “My friend is here. I have to go. You should go home early too.”
Shang Lu said goodbye to the little girl with a wave of her hand.
The little girl raised one hand, holding the cake, and waved her other hand to bid farewell to Shang Lu.
After Shang Lu got into the car, she leaned out halfway again and placed the other two cakes in the back seat before fastening her seatbelt.
Chi Yan had been watching for a while and asked, “You seem to get along particularly well with children.”
From the moment she first mentioned Ruanruan, to bringing home Xiao Mi, and now the little girl today.
“Maybe little girls can’t resist a gentle beauty like me,” Shang Lu cupped her own face with one hand, leaned closer to Chi Yan with a flirtatious look, and showed a self-indulgent expression.
“That’s enough,” Chi Yan said, then handed her two cups of milk tea, “Have one, and the other is for Xiao Mi.”
“Okay.” Shang Lu took them and immediately inserted a straw. Out of habit, she brought the cup towards Chi Yan’s lips for the first sip.
As she made this move, both of them froze at the same time.
Because this isn’t a fruit or cake, it can’t be shared casually.
There’s only one straw for the milk tea.
In an instant, Shang Lu’s hand didn’t know whether to retract or not.
If she didn’t retract, should Chi Yan continue to drink it as if nothing happened?
Retracting it seemed a bit strange too.
So Chi Yan naturally pushed her hand away, saying, “Drink it yourself; it’s not to my taste.”
Shang Lu held the milk tea again and couldn’t help but look out the window.
The little girl who had just cried was holding a cake in one hand and her mother’s hand in the other. They seemed to be on their way home.
Shang Lu suddenly remembered Chi Yan’s question from last time.
—”Do you like children?”
At that time, she denied it.
Because she hadn’t really been around children before. Now that she had seen more of them, she found them all very cute.
So Shang Lu looked at Chi Yan and said seriously, “I take back what I said last time. I do like children, especially little girls; they are so well-behaved and cute.”
“Oh?” Chi Yan glanced at her and continued driving, half-jokingly asking, “So how many do you want to have in the future?”
This question made Shang Lu think again.
For a long time.
She took a sip of her milk tea and answered softly, “I probably won’t have children in this lifetime; I wouldn’t make a good mother.”
No one had ever taught her what a mother should be like.
This was a completely missing part of her life, and it seemed that she could never learn it.
“Then don’t have them,” Chi Yan took over her words, stopped the car at a red light, looked at her, and said seriously, “Let’s raise Xiao Mi well.”
Shang Lu instinctively wanted to nod, but her movement hesitated.
Were they going to raise Xiao Mi together?
Could this be considered another kind of family?
Realizing that she had such a strange thought, Shang Lu took another sip of her milk tea and didn’t say anything more.
But her heart seemed to beat a little faster for no apparent reason.
Soon, the car arrived at the entrance of Xiao Mi’s school.
They waited for ten minutes, and then the school bell rang.
Xiao Mi, carrying her backpack, walked out, and the moment she saw Shang Lu sticking her head out of the car window, she started running towards Shang Lu.
After Xiao Mi got on the car, Shang Lu handed her a milk tea and said, “Brother Chi Yan waited in line to buy this. Try it and see if it’s good.”
“Thank you, Brother Chi Yan,” Xiao Mi said before accepting the milk tea. She took a sip and exclaimed, “It’s really delicious!”
“Yeah, I think so too,” Shang Lu said, looking at Xiao Mi’s backpack on her shoulder. Shang Lu reached out and took it down, saying, “Let your shoulders rest for a while.”
Xiao Mi nodded obediently, but then couldn’t help but glance at her backpack that Shang Lu had placed to the side.
Shang Lu noticed her little movement and asked, “What’s wrong? Did you put something important in this backpack?”
Xiao Mi nodded and then said somewhat shyly, “We had a handicraft class, and the teacher had us make some necklaces and rings.”
Shang Lu was curious, “Really? What do they look like? Let Sister see.”
I’m loving the ML. He doesn’t come from a tragic background, he never forces his way on the FL, he was ready to back down when she was resolute in that scumbag, but still supported her and kept contact with her, he didn’t abandon her, instead of pushing forward and court her immediately after the “break up” he reclaimed his place in her life, he respects all her decisions, he tries his best making her happy but by not being super obvious it shows he doesn’t expect anything from her, he has expectations yes, because he loves her but, he knows her personality, he knows her struggles and is happy just being with her without that annoyance (Jiang Yi), he is genuinely happy that she is developing in her career, that she is having more friends, that she is healing from her childhood. He doesn’t try to put pressure on her in any way, if she wants kids he’ll probably give them to her (if she wants him to, obvs), if she doesn’t want kids that’s completely fine, they already have a great little sister to take care of, he’ll be with her for the rest of their lives. But he is not a doormat either, he banters with her, he get possessive of her, he takes care of her, he replaced the sadness of her family with himself, he takes advantage of those little empty spaces in her heart to take root for himself. I love it
Maybe he also scared that her previous relationship with that Jiang leave some kind of trauma that make her resistance to romantic relationship. So he thinks it’s better to stay as friend