An 80s female translator was spoiled rotten by a rough and jealous man.

Chapter 224
Meng Youyou raised her hand and glanced at her watch. Shan Muchen noticed this and asked, "Are you going home? I'll take you."

"Okay, thank you." Meng Youyou quickly agreed. She wasn't the type to always show off or pretend to be capable when she didn't. When necessary, it was wise to seek help from others.

“When you went inside to make the call, I went outside to check. I didn’t see anyone suspicious. Maybe they lost track of you while they were following you, or maybe they sensed something was wrong and retreated in time.” Shan Muchen also stood up. He was much taller than her and looked down at her as he spoke.

"Based on your description, we still can't determine their motives. Are they committing crimes randomly while moving around? Or are they specifically targeting you?"

Meng Youyou nodded, indicating that she understood.

Dan Muchen walked to a black bicycle parked by the courtyard wall, patted the seat with one hand, turned to her and asked, "Want to ride the bicycle?"

Meng Youyou laughed, "Do you think I can choose my mode of transportation?"

……

The alleyways in the old hutongs are sometimes wide and sometimes narrow. Bicycle wheels roll over the bumpy and potholed road surface. The bluestone road that you can see at a glance looks like teeth gnawed by time, with dark brown moss growing at the gaps.

Under the dim streetlights, a man and a woman walked side by side. The man pushed his bicycle on the outside of the path, while the girl walked slowly on the inside. Their shadows fell on the ground as two long, parallel lines.

Suddenly, Meng Youyou's shoe heel sank into a dent, causing her to stumble, twist her wrist, and fall uncontrollably to one side.

The man walking beside Meng Youyou reacted quickly, suddenly letting go of the handlebars and nimbly grabbing her arm.

“The roads in the alley are older than both of us combined, and the surface isn’t very smooth, so be careful.” After she regained her footing, Shan Muchen quickly withdrew his hand and continued, “But I recently heard that the government is planning to renovate them.”

Meng Youyou stopped and moved her right ankle. Shan Muchen also stopped and waited for her, lowering his eyes and asking, "Is your foot alright?"

"It's nothing." Meng Youyou tossed and turned her feet, bouncing slightly in place as if to prove it.

"How many years have you lived in this alley?" Meng Youyou asked as the two continued walking.

“I don’t live here often. This is my grandparents’ house, which is over fifty years old. When I was little, I would stay here for a longer period of time each year. Later, I went to university and joined the army, so I came here much less often.”

As they were about to leave the alley, they ran into a family of four walking towards them from the opposite direction. When the two groups met face to face, a middle-aged woman in a striped dress suddenly called out to them, "Fatty."

Who is this person calling? Meng Youyou was still wondering when she heard someone beside her reply from afar, "Aunt Cao, where have you been? Why are you back so late?"

"There was a fireworks show at Willow Park tonight, so my family went to check it out. We took a quick look, but it wasn't anything special, so we came back."

The middle-aged woman's gaze swept over Meng Youyou, who was walking on the inside, a few times with a hint of scrutiny. The tone of her gaze was friendly, so Meng Youyou didn't feel uncomfortable. "Oh my~ Fatty, you're dating now? You've even brought him home to meet your grandparents. How's it going? Good things are just around the corner, right? Don't forget to invite your auntie to the wedding banquet."

Dan Muchen quickly turned his head to look at Meng Youyou's expression. Their eyes met, and the girl simply smiled gently at him, as if to say: It's okay, I don't mind, I can just explain.

Shan Muchen withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the person opposite him. "Aunt Cao, you've misunderstood. We're just ordinary friends, not the kind of relationship you're thinking of."

The woman realized she had made a mistake and quickly apologized to the girl: "Girl, I'm just a quick-tongued person and I like to talk nonsense. Please don't mind me."

Meng Youyou smiled and shook her head at the person.

After the family had passed, Meng Youyou asked, "Your nickname is Fatty?" Her surprise was palpable; she found it hard to reconcile the tall man in front of her with such a nickname.

"Yes, I was quite chubby when I was little. Later, when I went to high school, I exercised every day by running and playing basketball, and that's how I lost weight."

Meng Youyou seemed to have thought of something and laughed out loud. After amusing herself for a while, she joked, "Shouldn't there usually be a 'white moonlight' female classmate in these inspirational youth weight loss stories?"

"What do you mean?" Shan Muchen asked, puzzled. "He's a chubby kid who's been chubby since he was little. When he got to high school, he started having crushes and fell for a pretty girl in his class. But because he was chubby and lacked confidence, the girl didn't notice him. So, in order to win the heart of the girl he liked, he decided to lose weight and amaze everyone."

Upon hearing this, Shan Muchen laughed and said, "Then you might be disappointed. I lost weight back then simply because I couldn't run fast in basketball when I was fat. I hadn't grown tall yet, and I was short and fat. People said that when I ran, I looked like a succulent winter melon moving around the basketball court."

Upon hearing this, Meng Youyou couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Looking at the girl's smiling eyes and bright teeth, which were so beautiful, Shan Muchen suddenly understood why King You of Zhou was willing to light the beacon fires to amuse the feudal lords, just to win a smile from a beauty.

He continued, "Whenever we play basketball as a team, if there are too many people, I don't get to play. I can only be a substitute or do logistics, running errands to buy everyone soda and popsicles."

Dan Muchen shrugged slightly and said in a tone that was half-serious and half-helpless, "There's nothing I can do. I want to play basketball and I don't want to just be a substitute, so I can only try to lose weight."

Meng Youyou laughed for a while before stopping, banishing the image of a "running succulent winter melon" from her mind, and commented, "It's also very inspiring!"

After a pause, Meng Youyou said to the person next to her, "You're not quite what I imagined."

"Really? How is it different?"

"The time I met you at my house, you seemed like a quiet, reserved person, not as talkative and humorous as you are now."

"When I first saw you, I was a little embarrassed and didn't know what to say," Shan Muchen scratched the back of his head. "And I felt like you didn't really like me, so I was even more at a loss for words."

"Huh?" Meng Youyou exclaimed in surprise, "Why would you think that?"

Meng Youyou carefully recalled her behavior that day and then asked, "Was it because I stayed in my room alone for a long time and went upstairs quickly after eating?"

Shan Muchen paused for a few seconds, then said, "That's part of the reason."

Meng Youyou explained earnestly, "I was in a bad mood during that time, so I seemed a bit cold. If this caused you any misunderstanding, I apologize."

"..."

They chatted as they walked, and before they knew it, they had reached the alley entrance. Shan Muchen stepped into the car, one foot on the ground, turned his head to look at her, raised his chin towards the back seat, and said, "Get in."

It only takes a dozen minutes to cycle from the alley to the government compound. Meng Youyou sat on the back of the bicycle, the early summer night breeze blowing across her face, a little hot and a little cool, mixed together, making her feel very comfortable.

As they came to a long downhill slope, the girl's bright red skirt fluttered in the wind, and the evening breeze blew into the thin fabric of the man's jacket, making his white sails bulge.

Shan Muchen escorted the person to the gate of the compound. Before saying goodbye, he didn't forget to give them a final word of advice: "I've thought about it, and I still feel that after what happened tonight, we can't let our guard down. Perhaps you can talk to Vice Minister Meng and tell him to be more careful, even on his way to and from get off work. Safety first."

Meng Youyou replied softly, "Okay, I will tell my dad. Thank you for your concern."

"Okay, then... goodbye, you can go back now. I'll leave after I see you go inside."

Meng Youyou waved to the person, "Goodbye."

After walking a few steps, she heard someone calling her from behind: "Yo yo!"

Meng Youyou turned around and heard him ask, "May I call you that?"

Meng Youyou nodded, her smile bright: "Of course, that's what my friends call me."