Peninsula: Starting with a silly childhood friend!

Chapter 146 Vinegar-Scented Peach

"what?"

When Zhou Ziyu heard Liu Baiyuan's words, she was stunned for a moment, not understanding what her older brother meant.

Seeing this, Liu Baiyuan's eyes showed a hint of speechlessness. This guy had been spouting such eloquent advice about relationships at the Seoul Tower, almost making Liu Baiyuan think he was a bit of a jerk. But now he seemed like a completely different person, and it was so obvious he still hadn't noticed...

"Didn't you notice that he was acting strangely towards you?"

"Is there?"

Upon hearing Liu Baiyuan's words, Zhou Ziyu gently stroked the soft fur of the puppy in her arms for a short while, as if she were reminiscing.

"Never mind, you'll find out soon enough."

Looking at Zhou Ziyu's appearance, Liu Baiyuan also showed a hint of helplessness. After saying one sentence to her, he didn't say anything more.

Kim Jun-hyuk won't let this go so easily. He definitely has another plan. We just need to expose him in front of Chou Tzu-yu when the time comes.

Soon, Zhou Ziyu and Liu Baiyuan followed Jin Junhe into the pet hospital.

Actually, this isn't a place that needs to be kept secret. It's mainly a pet hospital that serves as a rescue station, so there are often volunteers who come to help out. Zhou Ziyu is one of them.

However, she had always come with Yoo Jeong-yeon before.

Since it's a rescue station, it naturally needs to be transparent, so there are no secret locations.

However, since it's late now, there aren't many people here. If it were daytime, it would be quite lively.

As for Zhou Ziyu and the other volunteers, they didn't have any professional skills, so they couldn't directly participate in the rescue. At most, they could only help feed them, give them a bath, or clean their dormitories.

"Hey, Ziyu, these are all the kids who came here during this time."

Kim Jun-hyuk led Zhou Ziyu to an isolation ward. There were only a few cats and dogs there, but most of them were quite afraid of people. They had just ended their life as strays and had sensed the malice from humans before being brought here. So they were still very wary of strangers.

He took out his phone and saw that it was a call from one of his cronies. A hint of impatience flashed in his eyes, but he suppressed his temper and said to Tzuyu with a slightly apologetic tone, "Um... Tzuyu, I'm going to take this call."

"Okay, Junhyuk oppa, you can go ahead and do your thing."

Chou Tzu-yu nodded, responding politely, before looking back at the cats and dogs around her with affection in her eyes.

As for Liu Baiyuan, he watched Jin Junhe leave with a somewhat guilty look on his face and a hint of doubt flashed through his mind. If he had some private phone call, he wouldn't need to leave like that.

He glanced at Chou Tzu-yu before leaving, which made him suspicious.

Combined with the slight unease that arose in his heart when he looked at him just now, Liu Baiyuan slowly moved to the doorway.

Whether it was an unexpected surprise or something else, Kim Jun-hyuk simply went out to answer the phone, and Liu Baiyuan could easily hear what he was saying.

"What are you doing? I have important business to attend to, I don't have time to go out drinking with you guys!"

"Of course, it's because Chou Tzu-yu came."

"Damn it, I told you I knew him, but you wouldn't believe me!"

"I haven't gotten it yet. Once I do, I'll definitely bring it to meet you guys. At that time, I'll not only give you autographed photos, but I'll also give you a few concert tickets!"

Listening to Kim Joon-hyuk's eloquent speech outside the door, Liu Baiyuan's gaze gradually turned cold. Sure enough, this man was just like him...

Exactly the same.

However... he was even worse than he had imagined. He thought the other party was just interested in Tzuyu's debut as an artist, but he didn't expect there to be a "gift-giving" segment. He was really using other people's face to be generous with his own money.

Liu Baiyuan turned his head to look at Zhou Ziyu, who was kneeling on the ground. Although she was wearing a mask, it was still easy to see that the smile on her face was so innocent.

She came here to volunteer simply because of her deep love for small animals. Such a kind-hearted person could not tolerate the man outside the door having any ulterior motives, not to mention that he also had some special feelings for Chou Tzu-yu.

Thinking this, he slowly opened the barrier and stepped outside, quietly looking at the man whose back was to him.

Perhaps it was Liu Baiyuan's gaze that was too sharp, but Kim Junhyuk seemed to sense something, the hairs on his neck standing on end, a sudden panic gripping his heart. He turned his head and, sure enough, the man Zhou Ziyu had brought was leaning slightly against the wall, his eyes filled with a hint of pressure as he looked at him...

"I'll stop here for now."

Kim Jun-hyuk felt a bad premonition. After saying that sentence into the phone, he hung up immediately, then put on a smile again and said, "Aniyaseiyo, is there something you need?"

Although he had a forced smile on his lips, he could only hope that the other person was just looking for the restroom.

"Don't pretend anymore, I heard everything."

Liu Baiyuan had no interest in playing games with him and directly exposed his pretense.

Upon hearing Liu Baiyuan's words, the latter was also taken aback. His expression changed several times before finally settling into a calm demeanor. He looked at Liu Baiyuan and said, "Yes, I do like Ziyu."

"No, you don't like Tzuyu."

The moment he finished speaking, Liu Baiyuan retorted. Being a man himself, he knew him all too well.

In contrast, after hearing Liu Baiyuan's words, Jin Junhe paused for two seconds, then couldn't help but scoff, saying, "What do you mean? Do you think you know better than me whether I like her or not?"

Seeing his appearance only strengthened Liu Baiyuan's conviction. He stepped forward, his expression unchanged, but his aura grew stronger.

"You like Tzuyu, so you never had this thought before she debuted. You like Tzuyu, so after learning of her successful debut, you started intentionally trying to get closer to her. You like Tzuyu, so in your phone call just now you only treated her as..."

"It's become a doll you can show off, something to pat yourself on the back," is this what you like?

Liu Baiyuan didn't speak in a high-pitched tone, but his imposing manner instantly overwhelmed Jin Junhe. Liu Baiyuan, who was already almost half a head taller than him, moved closer and closer, causing Jin Junhe to subconsciously start to back away, trying to create distance between himself and the man in front of him.

He swallowed hard, his eyes starting to dart away.

"Face yourself honestly. You don't like her. You just see her as a tool to brag about to your friends."

At this point, a hint of disgust flashed in Liu Baiyuan's eyes.

Using other people's feelings as a source of pride, he thinks even playboy Kim Chan-bin is far better than him.

Ultimately, Jin Canbin simply changed girlfriends frequently, but he never used his girlfriends as something to brag about or as a tool. In fact, he gave each of his girlfriends a considerable breakup fee.

Apart from that, there's nothing about him that makes people grit their teeth, and he's clearly inferior to someone like Kim Jun-hyuk.

Kim Chan-bin: You'd better be praising me...

"Ziyu won't be with you, and she'll never be with someone like you. If you don't repent and insist on harassing her, I'll make you truly regret your decision. Do you understand what I mean?"

Upon hearing Liu Baiyuan's words, Jin Junhe's throat suddenly went dry. He swallowed hard, nodded, and his voice trembled slightly.

"Inside..."

The instant Kim Jun-hyuk finished speaking, almost simultaneously, the notification sound of the Dumb System rang in Liu Baiyuan's mind: "Ding! Zhou Tzuyu's favorability +1!"

"Ding! Chou Tzu-yu's favorability has increased..."

Hearing these notification sounds, Liu Baiyuan immediately understood that the fact that he was able to collect Zhou Ziyu's favorability at this time meant that the "black-hearted" chocolate was probably listening quietly behind him.

Ultimately, the mute system's favorability rating remained at thirty points.

Progress bar: 30%.

Originally, Chou Tzu-yu's favorability rating was only 23 points, but unexpectedly it increased by 7 points.

Liu Baiyuan slowly suppressed his slight surprise, took a deep look at Jin Junhe, and then turned back to the isolation room.

The first thing he saw was Chou Tzu-yu squatting in front of several puppies. Looking at Chou Tzu-yu's slightly crooked back of the head, he couldn't help but smile slightly.

This little girl probably doesn't know that she's already discovered it.

"Tzuyu, it's getting late, let's go."

"Inside."

Without any hesitation, Zhou Ziyu followed Liu Baiyuan outside. This time, she was completely different from the respectful demeanor she had shown towards Jin Junhe. She didn't even say goodbye when she left.

As Kim Jun-hyuk watched Zhou Ziyu about to leave, he instinctively opened his mouth to say something, but upon seeing Liu Baiyuan beside her, the words he wanted to say were stuck in his throat, and he dared not utter a sound...

Soon, the two walked out the door, and it wasn't until they got back into the car that Chou Tzu-yu finally spoke again.

"Brother Bai Yuan, thank you."

Upon hearing this, Liu Baiyuan, while fastening his seatbelt, said to her, "You're welcome. I already told you, your friend is acting strangely towards you."

"We're not friends..."

'

Actually, Tzuyu and he weren't very familiar with each other. He was a veterinarian here, and Tzuyu often came to volunteer. Over time, they got to know each other, but that was all they knew.

The two originally didn't have much interaction.

Thinking about it now, it's true what Liu Baiyuan just said: before her successful debut, Kim Junhyuk really didn't have much contact with her, but after her debut, he was indeed much more enthusiastic towards her.

However, she hadn't even understood her brother's hint, which made her feel a little embarrassed towards Liu Baiyuan.

"Whether or not they are friends, it's best to avoid associating with people like that in the future. They'll do anything to save face in front of their friends. It's risky to even consider someone like that as a friend."

"Okay, I'll do whatever my brother says."

Chou Tzu-yu nodded her little head, her eyes crinkling into slits with a smile.

Liu Baiyuan and Zhou Ziyu went to a convenience store and bought some snacks as a "lucky charm" for going home. She hadn't forgotten what her sisters had told her when they were at the gym. If she didn't bring these back, she would definitely be nagged by her older sisters again.

Before long, Liu Baiyuan drove up to the TWICE apartment building again. Just as Liu Baiyuan stopped, he thought Zhou Ziyu would hurry downstairs to go back to her dorm, but to his surprise, Zhou Ziyu was leaning against the car window looking at the window of their dorm on the second floor.

"What's wrong?"

Confused, Liu Baiyuan asked, "We're already back at the dorm, why aren't we heading back? Instead we're watching..."

What's going on with the window?

Chou Tzu-yu did not answer him, but simply continued to watch quietly.

It's normal that Liu Baiyuan didn't know, since he had never been to their dormitory. But as someone who had personally witnessed the juicy gossip from the window, she naturally knew that this window was something that absolutely had to be guarded against.

If you want to do something, of course you have to eliminate the dangers first.

Fortunately, nothing seemed amiss at the moment, and Zhou Ziyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to Liu Baiyuan and said, "It's nothing, I was just looking."

Chou Tzu-yu kept a little secret; of course, it was impossible to tell him everything.

Liu Baiyuan gave an "oh" and didn't investigate further. However, just as he was about to unbuckle his seatbelt and get out of the car to see Zhou Ziyu off, she spoke first, saying, "Brother Baiyuan, don't get out."

"Um?"

Liu Baiyuan was stunned for a moment, not understanding what she meant, but just as he turned his head, he suddenly felt a wetness on his cheek.

Immediately following that, a familiar fragrance wafted into his nostrils.

"There's a lipstick mark on your face, Brother Bai Yuan, you'd better wash your face when you get home~"

Zhou Ziyu smiled slyly, then opened the car door and got out. After waving to Liu Baiyuan, she ran into the apartment building without looking back.

Liu Baiyuan gently touched the spot where Zhou Ziyu had just kissed him, glanced at the rearview mirror, and sure enough, a not-so-obvious pink lip print was sitting on his cheek.

Watching Chou Tzu-yu's retreating figure, he could only smile helplessly in the end.

After Zhou Ziyu returned to the second floor, Liu Baiyuan started the car and drove towards home.

Inside the dorm, Tzuyu had just opened her door when she called out to her older sisters, "Unnies, I'm home!"

"Oh my!"

"Kamsahamnida~ Tzuyu!"

"So much food!"

Seeing Tzuyu bring back a large bag of snacks, the rest of TWICE got excited. But strangely, Momo, who is usually the most enthusiastic about these things, was unusually calm today, her eyes not even glancing at the snacks.

Instead, he stared straight at Chou Tzu-yu.