The 20th blind date

  "Hello, is this Miss Yan? I've arrived, when can you get here?"

  A young man in a neat suit stood on the square of a large department store with a constant flow of people, dialed the black and white screen mobile phone in his hand, and asked softly to the other end of the phone.

  The young man was about twenty-four years old, of medium build and ordinary appearance, with a palm-sized scar on his cheek that extended all the way down to his neck, which looked a bit frightening when viewed closely.

  He has been standing in the square for nearly an hour.

  He was wearing a suit that had been pressed to perfection, slightly faded from washing, but it was clear that it had been carefully maintained and looked clean and tidy. A pink silk tie was knotted around his neck, and on his feet were genuine leather shoes polished to a high shine, making his not particularly tall figure look neat and powerful.

  "Almost there, stuck in traffic now, just wait a bit." A calm and gentle female voice came from the other end of the phone, with some rustling sounds in the background, as if she was chewing on something.

  "Haha, it's okay, take your time, the traffic in Liuyue City is really frustrating." He smiled and showed understanding, but before he finished speaking, a busy tone came from the other end of the phone.

  He hung up the phone and continued to stand patiently in the square, bored watching passersby. The pedestrians on the road couldn't help but secretly cover their mouths and laugh when they saw him standing so solemnly waiting for someone in the square, and he responded with a kind smile one by one.

  After waiting for about half an hour, the phone in his pocket rang. He took it out and answered it, and a woman's voice came from the other end: "Where are you? I've already arrived."

  "Do you need me to pick you up?"

  "Never mind, I'm at a western restaurant, just come over."

  "Oh, okay, which Western restaurant are you at? Could you tell me the name of the restaurant?"

  "Love at first sight."

  "Alright, I'll be right there."

  He hung up the phone and looked around, his eyes immediately fell on a large neon sign that read "Love at First Sight".

  This is a three-story Western restaurant with high-end luxurious decoration and floor-to-ceiling windows offering panoramic views.

  A young man entered the restaurant and was led by the waiter to sit next to a fashionably dressed woman sitting at the most conspicuous and comfortable window seat on the third floor.

  Sitting on the windowsill sofa is a slightly chubby girl, about 1.6 meters tall, weighing around 60 kilograms, with a slightly sunken nose, wearing a pair of sunglasses that cover half her face, having a plump and round face, with some freckles and acne, her hair dyed coffee-colored, slightly curly, the clothes on her body are very fashionable, a blue dress, with a white gold necklace with a heart-shaped pendant around her neck.

  Next to her, there was a classic LV handbag, inside the handbag, there was a brand new white Apple mobile phone, the girl had earphones in her ears, listening to music while shaking her head to the beat.

  She doesn't have that kind of stunning appearance, but looking at her outfit, it's quite fashionable, and you can tell she's a trendy girl who keeps up with the latest fashion.

  "Hello, is this Miss Yan?" The young man asked politely.

  The fashionable woman took off her headphones and frog mirror sunglasses, stood up, looked him up and down from head to toe, and nodded.

  The young man stretched out one hand: "Nice to meet you, I'm Zhen Mingsu."

  ……

  Sitting opposite the girl, Zhen Ming began to scrutinize the girl in front of him intentionally or unintentionally.

  The girl named Yan Li was someone he met on a dating website called "Emotional Match", they chatted online for only a few days before deciding to meet in person and see how things go.

  This is already his twentieth blind date.

  He doesn't look handsome, and his figure isn't the kind that makes girls feel safe at first glance, but his facial features are regular, except for the burn scar on his face, which is particularly eye-catching.

  As soon as he met the girl's eyes, he knew he wasn't her cup of tea. However, since he was already there, he didn't mind chatting with her, as long as she wouldn't come up with some lame excuses like "my house is on fire", "I forgot to feed my dog" or "there's an emergency at work" and rush off.

  The girl flipped through the menu a few times, and the prices on the menu were not very affordable, it was a price that would make people secretly calculate what to order.

  "Are you allergic to shrimp?" The girl flipped through it very casually, seemingly unaware of the price difference between these dishes.

  "No, I usually like eating seafood, but since the Japanese nuclear radiation, I rarely eat seafood products now."

  "What they say on the newspaper and TV, you also believe? I never watch news. Even if it's true, it's the Japanese who will die first. The sign of this restaurant's lobster is quite good," the girl said casually flipping through the menu, "Do you drive?"

  "No, I came by bus."

  "Oh, then let's have some drinks, what would you like?"

  "I'm fine, what would you like? Just order whatever."

  "People who say 'whatever' are actually the most not whatever." The girl said, beckoning to the waiter. The waiter standing by bowed slightly and took note: "Three servings of king prawns, two servings of New Zealand black pepper beef, three servings of caviar sauce, another bottle of wine, and for dessert after dinner, two servings of triple-ball ice cream in strawberry, vanilla, and orange flavors."

  The girl said, turning her head and looking at Zhen Ming bitterly: "Do you want anything else?"

  Zhen Ming smiled wryly and shook his head: "No need, I don't eat much."

  The girl handed the menu back to the waiter and said, "That's it, hurry up."

  ……

  A three-person Western meal, two of which went into the girl's mouth. More than half a bottle of red wine was consumed, but the girl's face didn't turn red at all. Seeing her finish three balls of buttercream cake in less than two minutes, with an unsatisfied look on her face, Zhen Ming asked: "Is it enough? Do you want another serving?"

  The girl shook her head: "I'm on a diet, can't eat too much. Red wine is fine, another bottle would be great, it's good for girls' beauty, and if we can't finish it, we can take it back."

  As he spoke, he took out a tissue from his LV handbag and handed one to Zhen Mingsu. After wiping his mouth, he took out a pack of cigarettes from the bag and asked, "Do you smoke?"

  "No, I don't smoke." Zhen Ming shook his head. The girl took one herself and lit it with a diamond-studded ZIPPO lighter, taking a deep drag, exhaling slowly, and asked him, "Do you mind if I smoke?"

  "It doesn't matter, many of my friends around me also smoke and I'm used to it, but I've heard that smoking is bad for a girl's skin."

  The girl said with a nonchalant expression: "If men don't smoke or drink, what's the fun in life? What's the point of living so long? By the way, who helped you come up with your name? Is your fate bitter?"

  "Hehe, everyone who hears my name for the first time asks me this. My name was given to me by the director of the orphanage where I lived when I was a kid. The director picked me up from the gate of the orphanage when I was only three months old and weighed less than 10 pounds. Maybe the director took pity on me, so he gave me this name."

  "Are you an orphan?" The girl was somewhat surprised and blew out a smoke ring: "Didn't think of changing your name?"

  "I think it's fine, after the dean passed away, this name is the only memory she left me, I never thought of changing it."

  "Oh, have you gone to college?"

  Zhen Ming shook his head and said, "I didn't attend, I started working after graduating from junior high school. However, I did take the college entrance exam, but for some reason, I didn't end up going." The girl looked at him with disdain and said, "A third-rate university, not attending isn't a big deal, it's better to start working early. Nowadays, many university students are not even as good as migrant workers. What do you do now? Is your income decent?"

  "I've done a lot of jobs, glass manufacturing, lathe forging, decoration, pipe repair, electrical work, appliance repair, carpentry, transportation driving... as long as I get paid, I've almost done it all. No choice, for survival. Now the environment is a bit better, working in a factory, doing mobile phones, responsible for product inspection, very relaxing, eight hours of work every day, overtime is quite free, counting overtime pay and bonuses, monthly salary is around over 3,000 yuan, the boss is pretty good, recently there might be a raise, if I work diligently and do some overtime, it's no problem to earn 4,000 yuan per month."

  The girl frowned slightly: "I think it's okay if a man doesn't have a house or a car, the most important thing is to have ambition, to have the spirit of looking at this mountain and thinking that one is higher, to make people see hope, to make people feel that he is a stock with potential. Those men who are satisfied with their current situation and don't strive for progress, girls don't like them. I think you can't be content with a monthly salary of 4,000 yuan."

  Zhen Ming bitterly nodded his head.

  The girl suddenly asked: "You don't have a big man's chauvinism, do you?"

  "What aspect are you referring to?"

  "It's just that women should be at home taking care of their husbands and children, doing household chores, every day is either taking care of the kids or serving men."

  "This is not the case, I think it's great that women have their own careers. Plus, I don't have the economic ability to support a family right now. If my partner can have a stable job and share the pressure with me, I think that's a great thing. Also, since I was young, I didn't have parents, so I've been doing household chores myself, and I'm actually happy to do them."

  The girl said, "Nowadays, there are not many men who think like you. What I hate most is those men who have no ability but still hold a lot of masculine ideas. In today's society, which advocates for gender equality, why should household chores be left to girls? Why do men just sit on the sofa with their legs crossed watching TV and reading newspapers?"

  "Haha, the kind of man you're talking about is basically extinct now. Nowadays, men are all like grey wolves, doing all the household chores, washing their wives' feet and massaging their backs when asked to. If they're not happy, they'll even kneel down to control the TV remote or do laundry. They don't even get to sleep in bed! On this point, I have a different opinion from you."

  The girl burst out laughing and glanced at Zhen Mingxi with a hint of surprise, saying: "I didn't expect you to have a sense of humor. What are your hobbies usually?"

  "Like swimming, surfing the internet, watching movies, reading books, playing piano and so on."

  "You still play the piano, I used to learn it from my mom when I was younger, but I thought it was boring and stopped going after a few lessons. It's quite simple, if I were to learn now, I'd already be in music school by now, unfortunately, I'm not interested in learning instruments. Do you play the piano or guitar?"

  Harmonica