Chen Cheng did not yet know that Zhou Lin was going to move into Ode to Joy. Ever since he saw Zhou Lin's profile, Scum's interest had noticeably waned, and he hadn't taken it to heart.

Of course, if the opportunity arose, he wouldn't mind doing some roleplay with Sister Lan.

Sister Lan would play the doctor. Scum wanted to play the patient.

Scum drove the ferrari with one hand, the top down, letting the hot summer evening breeze blow over him.

"Hmm? Zhu Zhe?"

Chen Cheng muttered to himself as he watched Zhu Zhe walking dejectedly along the sidewalk on the side of the road.

Without thinking much, he gently pressed the accelerator and sped up to pull over near her.

"Beep beep~"

Chen Cheng honked the horn and shouted, "Zhu Zhe."

Zhu Zhe, whose mind was elsewhere, heard someone call her name and finally snapped back to reality. She turned her head in the direction of the voice, "Chen Cheng?"

"Sister Zhu, heading home?" Chen Cheng waved at her, signaling for her to get in the car.

"Heading..." Before Zhu Zhe could finish her sentence, she felt several probing gazes from those around her and quickly walked over, opened the door, and got in the car.

Scum's new car was quite eye-catching in the busy city center.

Once Zhu Zhe sat in the car, Chen Cheng smiled and pointed to the seatbelt, saying, "Sister Zhu, what's wrong? You don't seem very high-spirited."

"My younger brother and sister arrived, and I just settled them into a nearby hotel."

Chen Cheng remembered this matter when he saw her, so he didn't say anything.

When it came to other people's family affairs, no matter how good the relationship was, it was best not to meddle.

Besides, at most, he and Zhu Zhe were just acquaintances who nodded to each other—a normal relationship.

After sighing, Zhu Zhe squeezed out a smile and continued, "Chen Cheng, I also have to thank you. The place you helped find is very suitable."

If she hadn't mentioned it, Chen Cheng would have almost forgotten that the house Zhu Zhe was acting in was something he had asked Old Tan to help find.

Mostly, he hadn't asked about it; Old Tan's subordinates had dealt with Zhu Zhe directly.

"It's a small matter. I'll take you to thank the actual owner some other day," Chen Cheng said with a wave of his hand and a smile.

After Zhu Zhe fastened her seatbelt, Chen Cheng drove back unhurriedly.

Neither of them spoke.

After a long while, Zhu Zhe sighed, breaking the deadlock, "Sigh~"

She glanced at Chen Cheng and said with a bitter smile, "I've truly tasted what it's like to have no say because of my low status."

"Just because they see me as a cleaner, they can openly doubt the hospital I recommended to their faces."

"They weren't even willing to pretend or give me some face by waiting until I left to look it up."

"Also, they are both university students; they are knowledgeable."

"But what about these two? From the moment they arrived at the train station until just now, they've been asking me for money, both directly and indirectly."

"Yet they don't even mention how to repay the money I've spent supporting their university education all these years. It seems they've wasted their education."

"University doesn't teach you how to be a decent person," Chen Cheng said, shaking his head with a smile.

Nowadays, the idea of universities 'teaching and nurturing' is somewhat of a joke.

Whether one actually studies or not depends on personal conscientiousness, let alone 'nurturing people'.

Chen Cheng continued, "Your younger brother and sister are adults now. What you're doing now is nothing wrong. Blindly tolerating them will only fuel their laziness and greedy desires."

Heh~

Zhu Zhe gave a bitter laugh, "Actually, from the beginning, I could have imagined how my younger brother and sister would treat me, but now that they've really done it, I still feel quite hurt."

"Really, it's very painful."

Chen Cheng shook his head; this was really like raising pigs and developing feelings for them.

"Just now, I didn't want to stay with them for even a moment. I just wanted to get them settled quickly and then escape..."

The car stopped at a traffic light.

Listening to Zhu Zhe pour out her heart, Chen Cheng was staring blankly at a barbecue stall on the side of the road.

He was hungry. He had been busy going to see Teacher Ouyang and hadn't eaten dinner, even though it was almost 11 PM. His stomach was currently growling in protest.

Zhu Zhe saw that Chen Cheng hadn't made a sound for a long time and turned her head to look at him.

Seeing him staring blankly at the barbecue stall, the corners of her mouth curled into a slight smile; so he could be a foodie too.

"Chen Cheng, how about we go eat barbecue? My treat. You don't have to get up early tomorrow, right?" Zhu Zhe suggested.

Chen Cheng turned his head blankly, only to see Zhu Zhe nodding faintly.

"Sure," Chen Cheng readily agreed.

Originally, he had planned to go back and have Ye Zhenzhen cook him some noodles; it was rare for Dr. Ye to be home in the evening.

But since a beauty had invited him, he might as well let Dr. Ye play with her research papers.

Chen Cheng turned the steering wheel, made a U-turn, and parked the car on the side of the road near the barbecue stall.

He got out of the car and found a random spot at the barbecue stall.

"Boss! Boss!"

Chen Cheng waved his hand and shouted loudly for the boss.

"Coming~ Coming right up."

The barbecue stall owners were a young couple. The man was lean, estimated to be a bit over 1.7 meters tall, with a pompadour hairstyle. If it weren't for the smoke and fire, he would probably be a handsome young man. The woman was wearing a mask, so her face couldn't be seen clearly, but her figure was excellent.

"Boss, what would you like to eat?" The landlady asked in a Sichuan-accented Mandarin, handing the menu to Chen Cheng.

Chen Cheng took the menu and scanned it roughly.

"Ten skewers of pork belly, four chicken wings, ten skewers of lamb kidneys, five skewers of green pepper and pork intestine, one saury, two... and two bottles of beer."

Chen Cheng quickly ordered everything he liked from the menu, not being polite to Zhu Zhe at all.

"Boss, we don't have beer here," the landlady said with a troubled expression.

Chen Cheng looked at the "Lai Dian BBQ" sign on the tricycle. That was true; for these mobile vendors, having two sets of small chairs was already pretty good. A small tricycle really couldn't carry heavy and bulky items like beer.

"Help us buy two bottles, then," Chen Cheng said with a smile, looking at the landlady and pointing to a convenience store not far away.

Looking at Handsome Chen's face, the landlady inexplicably agreed, "Alright then."

Chen Cheng waved his hand. The landlady smiled and nodded at the Great Handsome Guy, turned around to relay the order to her husband, and then walked toward the convenience store.

"Also, get two bottles of Wang Baoji," Chen Cheng called out to the landlady, as if remembering something else.

Zhu Zhe watched Chen Cheng's bold manner, as if she had discovered a new world, and chuckled.

"Giggle~"

"Sister Zhu, is there something worth being happy about?" Chen Cheng asked, looking at Zhu Zhe with a smile.

"Nothing, I just didn't expect you to eat at a barbecue stall. And you have quite a down-to-earth vibe; you don't have the air of someone in a high position at all."

"Why can't I eat at a barbecue stall? And what is the 'air of someone in a high position'?" Chen Cheng asked, feeling somewhat confused.

"Well, you driving that car to eat at a roadside stall is very incongruous." Zhu Zhe smiled and turned her head to point at the car parked on the side of the road.

"Sister Zhu, that's a preconceived stereotype. I don't accept it," Chen Cheng laughed.

"I also came from the streets, alright? I'm not some prince or princess who doesn't eat common food."

"Ah?" Zhu Zhe was suddenly surprised.

She had always thought Chen Cheng was like Ye Zhenzhen, a second-generation rich kid who had been well-protected and well-educated since childhood.

Chen Cheng raised an eyebrow and explained, "I also come from an ordinary background. My family wasn't poor, but it wasn't wealthy either. I was just lucky; I made some money trading pancakes a few years ago."

"Ah? Is trading pancakes that profitable?" Zhu Zhe asked suspiciously.

Chen Cheng smiled, "If you're lucky, you get models in high-end clubs; if you're unlucky, you go out to sea to work."