Rebirth: CEO's Sweetheart Reaches the Life Pinnacle!-Chapter 52 - 50: Zhou Rou’s Brother

"Li Si, look at your second aunt’s brother’s wife, she’s a decent person. By seniority, you should call her ’aunt’ too. Help put in a word, see if we can arrange for her to get a job there! Don’t worry, if it works out, you won’t miss out on a proper thank-you!" Zhang Meihua’s thoughts turned to her brother’s girlfriend. Because they hadn’t bought a house, their plans to marry before the New Year were postponed.

If she gets to work at that place, the job’s easy and pays well. Work there for half a year or a year, and they’d definitely be able to afford a house.

"Second Aunt, I really can’t make this happen. When Aunt got in, it was already an exception. You’ve got to ask—they assess everything over there!"

Li Si rejected her outright. What kind of joke was this? She’d met that woman—lazy, loves to eat, doesn’t like to work, and creates all kinds of trouble. Were they hiring an employee or inviting a walking headache?

"Come on, Li Si, how do you know it won’t work if you haven’t tried? What if it does? If they can hire your aunt, there’s no way my brother’s wife isn’t qualified. You haven’t seen her, so you don’t understand—she’s really pretty."

Zhang Meihua sounded a little dissatisfied. What was the big deal? It’s just a restaurant; how hard could it be to get a job there?

"Second Sister-in-law, it’s probably unlikely they’ll hire now. But after the New Year, it should be possible. This New Year, plenty of people have left, and some probably won’t come back after holiday. A restaurant that size will surely be hiring. How about this—when the time comes, I’ll talk to Manager Cui for you? Wouldn’t it be better if I could help recommend her?"

Aunt chimed in. She felt Manager Cui treated her differently—he’d pay her openly once, and secretly transfer another deposit to her card. Introducing one or two people shouldn’t be an issue.

"That’d be perfect; I’ll wait for your good news then. You’re the best—getting a job really changes everything, even the way you speak!"

Zhang Meihua’s face lit up with a radiant smile. Tomorrow, she could go back to her family and share the news—so much pride she’d feel.

Li Si watched as the two of them worked in tandem, nearly making her burst with frustration. Her aunt left her completely speechless; it was so exhausting! Whatever, she’d mention it to Uncle Cui when the time came, and leave it at that if it didn’t work out.

Unable to stand their behavior any longer, Li Si hurriedly finished her meal and returned home by bus.

She wiped her dad’s photo and placed fresh fruit in front of it, clasping her hands together devoutly, silently praying in her heart: wishing him happiness and well-being in his next life.

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Bai Shasha had finished visiting all the relatives she needed to for New Year greetings, and she invited Li Si out to hang out, saying Zhou Rou would be there too. Li Si didn’t think much of it and arrived at the agreed location—a local barbecue restaurant.

Entering the private room, Li Si saw that aside from Bai Shasha and Zhou Rou, there was a fashionably dressed, average-looking man sitting there as well.

"Li Si, you’re here! Sorry, I ran into my brother at the door, so I invited him to join us. Hope you don’t mind?" Zhou Rou walked up to her warmly, holding her arm affectionately as she explained in a sweet voice.

"Oh, not at all. Uh, hello!" Li Si was pulled into the spot between Zhou Rou and her brother and responded somewhat insincerely. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

"Hello, you must be Li Si. You’re really beautiful! Let me introduce myself—I’m Zhou Gang, currently working in Beijing!" Zhou Gang wasn’t the sunny type. His slightly slitted eyes gave him a shadowy appearance, and when he mentioned working in Beijing, his face brimmed with superiority.

Li Si took one look at his style and disliked it immediately. She shot Bai Shasha a questioning glance, to which Bai Shasha gently shook her head.

Since they had ordered ahead of time, the dishes started arriving not long after she sat down.

"Li Si, try this chicken head. The flavor here is great! I know the owner here—we’re buddies. If you come here next time, just drop my name!"

Li Si frowned irritably. "Sorry, I don’t eat that."

"Oh, come on, bro. Li Si doesn’t like chicken heads. If you’re trying to chase her, you’ve got to know her tastes first!" Zhou Rou teased with a smile as bright as a flower. Both Li Si and Bai Shasha froze at her words.

"Ah, then have some of this sausage. Girls all love these things, don’t they?" Zhou Gang enthusiastically placed some in Li Si’s plate.

"Zhou Rou, you eat this instead. I already had dinner." Li Si immediately took the skewer and dumped it onto Zhou Rou’s plate. Then she stood up. "I’m going to the restroom—you guys enjoy."

In the restroom, she scrubbed her hands, growing angrier the more she thought about it. What on earth was Zhou Rou up to?

Before long, Bai Shasha joined her in the restroom under the pretense of needing to go. "What’s Zhou Rou’s deal?" Li Si asked, irritated.

"Who knows? What’s this all about? She called me and said she’d seen you eating with a friend at a private dining spot one day. Said she wanted to invite you for a meetup, and you didn’t agree," Bai Shasha vented her own grievances. "Had I known it’d be like this, I wouldn’t have come!"

"That day I was with an older brother. How would I arrange to meet her? Unbelievable!"

"Older brother? Since when do you have an older brother? How come I didn’t know about this? Are you hiding something, huh?" Bai Shasha quickly picked up on the slip.

"I’ll tell you about it later. But seriously, what’s with today?" Li Si ran her hand irritably through her hair.

"She called me, told me that after the New Year, we should all get together, and asked me to let you know. Then, just now at the restaurant entrance, she happened to bump into her brother, insisted on introducing us to him as friends, and joining us for dinner!"

"And then... you agreed, and now here we are..." Bai Shasha shrugged, also baffled.

Li Si was equally confused, but one thing was for sure—she really didn’t like Zhou Gang’s behavior.

The two chatted some more, realizing they had been gone long enough to seem impolite, and returned to the room together.

Back in the private room, Zhou Rou was sitting there alone; Zhou Gang had vanished.

"Where’s your brother?" Li Si asked.

"Oh, he realized you all seemed uncomfortable with him here, so he left to meet up with friends. He had plans in this area anyway, just happened to stop by and wanted to meet my close friends," Zhou Rou explained with a smile.

Li Si exchanged a glance with Bai Shasha, both of them feeling relieved.

"Li Si, what happened to that Brother Leng who went with you to my workplace the other day? You sure have a lot of admirers! What about that handsome guy surnamed Yin? What, no contact anymore?" Zhou Rou asked casually as she continued snacking on skewers.

"He went back to Beijing. I mean, it’s the Lunar New Year—of course, people want to celebrate with their families!" Li Si tasted a couple of chicken wings. They were decent, though a bit salty.

"Ah, they’re both from Beijing? No wonder—they’ve got that aura you just don’t see in men here in North City!" Zhou Rou continued asking with growing curiosity.

"Who are you talking about? Li Si, I know about Yin, but where’d this ’Brother’ come from?" Bai Shasha finally figured out bits and pieces.

"Oh, he’s someone I recognize as an older brother. A nice person who’s helped me out," Li Si said, not wanting to elaborate, especially since Brother Leng had made clear he didn’t like others knowing too much about his life.

"Li Si, how did he help you? What makes him so great? Tell us—you can’t hide things from friends like us!" Zhou Rou said as she wiped her mouth with a napkin and continued with a barrage of questions.

"Nothing serious—just something small. Anyway, are we here to hang out or gossip about others? Can we talk about something else already?" Li Si grew more and more uncomfortable, especially since Zhou Rou’s behavior and mannerisms were becoming increasingly out of character to her.