Mu Jinyu led Lin Qiaoxia out of the Hongmao Pharmaceutical Hall, and after taking a few steps, he noticed that her hand was very cold and still slightly trembling.
He understood that the girl must have been frightened by what he had just said.
"Scared?"
Mu Jinyu turned his head toward her and noticed that she was staring ahead with an unfocused gaze, her eyes filled with a trace of fear.
Hearing Mu Jinyu's words, Lin Qiaoxia's long, delicate eyelashes trembled lightly; her lips moved several times, but she did not speak.
Mu Jinyu noticed that her small hand had become even colder. He smiled faintly and said, "Do you think I am very scary, and that the gambler is somewhat pitiful?"
"Um..." Lin Qiaoxia mustered her courage and replied softly but still didn't dare to look at Mu Jinyu, nor did she dare to pull her hand back from his warm palm.
Mu Jinyu said, "That kind of person doesn't deserve any sympathy. Just think about it – if you were here alone to collect the debt today, what would he have done?"
Lin Qiaoxia pursed her lips, her eyelashes fluttered, and she kept silent.
Mu Jinyu glanced at her and said, "If you're lucky, you'll just get a beating and be chased away. If you're unlucky and they notice how pretty you are... ha ha..."
Mu Jinyu did not finish his sentence, but Lin Qiaoxia understood what he meant.
Her face suddenly turned pale.
The small hand held in Mu Jinyu's grasp also became colder and trembled slightly.
Patting Lin Qiaoxia's hand gently, Mu Jinyu said, "That's why I say, he's not worth your sympathy at all. Originally, I hadn't even planned to settle scores with him, but he insisted on bringing disaster upon himself. Chopping off one of his fingers might just make him come to his senses and repent. By then, he might even thank me!"
After finishing, he added, "And besides, I didn't instruct that Xiao Jian to chop off his finger to feed to the dogs. He can still take it to the hospital for reattachment surgery. Honestly, I am too kind..."
After listening to Mu Jinyu's words, Lin Qiaoxia also came to a realization; Liu Zhiqiang might not end up with a permanent disability, at worst his spirit might be a bit broken.
And for someone as addicted to gambling as him, that might just be the wake-up call he needs to stop gambling altogether.
Having realized this, Lin Qiaoxia's pale face gradually regained some color.
The small hand held in Mu Jinyu's palm no longer trembled.
"I'm sorry, just now... I thought of you as..." Lin Qiaoxia turned her head, looking embarrassed as she spoke haltingly.
"It's fine as long as you understand," Mu Jinyu looked at her and smiled faintly, saying, "I told you all this because I was afraid you'd scare yourself and resign as soon as we got back to the company."
"I won't..." Lin Qiaoxia shook her head repeatedly.
Mu Jinyu did not say much more. Looking at the time, it was already past eleven in the morning, so he smiled and said, "Come on, let's go find a place to eat. After that, we can go report our achievements at the company."
"Um." Lin Qiaoxia hesitated and then nodded obediently.
Mu Jinyu was not picky; he simply chose a small restaurant by the roadside and went in.
He had a big appetite, and immediately ordered a lot of food from the menu.
Handing the menu to Lin Qiaoxia, Mu Jinyu said, "Order whatever you like."
Lin Qiaoxia glanced at the prices on the menu, her color paled slightly, then hesitated and said in a low voice, "Are we going Dutch, or paying for our own?"
Mu Jinyu was slightly surprised to hear this.
In this day and age, most girls less beautiful than Lin Qiaoxia, going out to eat with a guy, wouldn't even think about going Dutch or paying separately. They would naturally, as a matter of course, expect the guy to pay.
Girls like Lin Qiaoxia were really rare.
Upon giving it a bit of thought, Mu Jinyu guessed that her pride was probably strong; she didn't want to just casually accept meals from others, but perhaps because she didn't have much money in her pocket, going Dutch wasn't favorable, so she opted to pay only for what she ordered.
"Let's just pay for our own!" Mu Jinyu didn't insist on treating, and said casually.
Upon hearing this, Lin Qiaoxia breathed a sigh of relief, then ordered a bowl of rice and a dish of scrambled eggs with tomatoes.
That altogether cost ten yuan, which she found quite distressing.
After all, she usually spent just a few yuan on several steamed buns to fill her stomach.
Cheap and cost-effective.
Mu Jinyu took back the menu, saw what Lin Qiaoxia had ordered, furrowed his brows, but said nothing, then ordered a few more dishes and handed the menu back to the waiter.
While waiting for the food, Mu Jinyu chatted with Lin Qiaoxia off and on.
Soon, the waiter began bringing the dishes they had ordered to the table one after another.
Steamed grouper, black pepper beef fillet, braised pork, stone pot fish, scrambled eggs with leeks, salt and pepper king oyster mushrooms…
Seeing so many dishes come out, Lin Qiaoxia furrowed her brows slightly and said softly, "You ordered quite a lot, didn't you? Can we finish all this?"
"We should be able to finish it." Mu Jinyu replied nonchalantly.
In truth, if he were to let himself go, he could definitely finish it all, but he said it vaguely to be considerate of Lin Qiaoxia.
"Oh." Lin Qiaoxia responded and added, "If you can't finish, remember to pack it up, don't waste it."
She didn't like taking advantage, so naturally, she wouldn't offer to help finish the food.
If she were that kind of person, she wouldn't have suggested paying separately at the start but would have ordered a lot, silently eaten everything, and when it was time to pay, she would have just clung to her seat.
Mu Jinyu smiled and said, "I don't like to take leftovers. They aren't fresh and don't taste good."
"Oh." Lin Qiaoxia responded softly, a trace of conflict appearing between her brows, hesitating whether to eat the remaining dishes if Mu Jinyu left quite a bit unfinished.
Eating them would make splitting the bill awkward, wouldn't it?
But not eating them would be wasteful...
Lin Qiaoxia swallowed a mouthful of rice, nibbling on the end of her chopsticks, clearly uncertain.
Mu Jinyu didn't pay her any mind and just kept eating heartily, quickly finishing a bowl of rice and then calling the waiter for another, continuing to eat.
Before long, while Lin Qiaoxia hadn't yet finished, Mu Jinyu had polished off most of the dishes on the table.
"I'm full."
Mu Jinyu said, patting his stomach and smiling contentedly.
Strictly speaking, he was only about eighty percent full. If he continued to eat, he could have completely cleared the table.
Lin Qiaoxia had only eaten half her rice and was somewhat stunned as she nibbled on her chopsticks.
It turned out he really could eat a lot, which explained why he ordered so much food.
However, despite his capacity, there were still many dishes left on the table…
Like the steamed grouper that Mu Jinyu tried but didn't finish; the braised pork he had a few pieces of but didn't finish; the scrambled eggs with leeks he did finish; and more than half of the black pepper beef fillet was left...
Wouldn't it be a shame not to pack them up and take them home?!