Chapter 6 – Alarm

Ye Zhou had been getting along well with his new neighbor lately, feeling quite delighted about it.

They no longer just exchanged formal pleasantries when they met; Ye Zhou would share some amusing stories from the restaurant, and Guan Heng would mention school happenings. Their social circles were different, so logically, they didn’t have much in common. Yet, oddly enough, they got along well and often engaged in reciprocal conversation.

But that was all it was.

What Ye Zhou told Fang Ji that night wasn’t a lie; he did indeed admire Guan Heng greatly. Who wouldn’t like someone who was excellent and good-looking? Whether Guan Heng found him attractive was another matter entirely, but realistically, they weren’t suited for each other, no matter how you looked at it. The gap between them was too vast. They were only fit to be friends.

So Ye Zhou never intended to do anything more from the start. He naturally interacted with Guan Heng, maintaining a friendly distance. He even thought that if Guan Heng got another boyfriend later on, he might get to see a different side of him, and then he could figure out what was really going on.

Everyone treats their friends differently than their lovers. Ye Zhou was very aware of this.

He wasn’t foolish enough to think that what Guan Heng showed him was his true self. He wasn’t that naive.

Ye Zhou was adept at gauging the boundaries of friendship, neither crossing lines nor overstepping them. But human calculations can never match fate’s, after all, no one can predict accidents.

This day, the restaurant had just opened, and there weren’t many customers yet. A young couple came in to dine, strangers. The man was around twenty years old, his arm draped around the girl’s shoulders, looking very intimate. The girl seemed very young, perhaps not even of age, appearing to be sixteen or seventeen years old, dressed in a revealing miniskirt that exposed her white thighs.

When the restaurant wasn’t busy, servers would lead customers to spacious seats for comfort. But when the staff led the couple to their seats, the man refused to sit at the large table in the middle, insisting on sitting by the window.

The girl was quiet, looking obedient, seemingly having no objections to her boyfriend’s words, only staring straight at the server.

So they sat down by the window, huddled on the same side, the girl on the window side, the man on the aisle side, picking up the menu to order.

At first glance, the two seemed to be very affectionate, and it wasn’t strange for young couples to be cozy together.

When this couple entered, Ye Zhou was sitting behind the cash register watching the entire process. He felt something was off, this unease coming from instinct, or perhaps his experience in reading people.

The employees didn’t notice anything amiss when they took the order to the kitchen.

Ye Zhou only deliberated for less than a few seconds before calmly entering the kitchen and instructing the other employees, “I’ll deliver the food for that table.”

An employee asked, “Why? Boss.”

After all, when the restaurant wasn’t busy, the employees were idle, and it wasn’t necessary for the boss to step in personally.

Ye Zhou didn’t originally want to say anything, after all, it was just speculation, and he had no evidence. But he realized the employees’ vigilance was lacking and felt that they should be educated: “I’m only suspicious, but I think there’s something off about this couple.”

“Where is the problem?” The employees subconsciously looked towards the couple upon hearing this.

Ye Zhou immediately blocked the kitchen door, “Don’t stare. I’m uncertain, which is why I’m going to confirm it myself. I hope my guess is wrong, and nothing happens.”

Ye Zhou then explained his suspicions. Nowadays, it wasn’t unusual for girls to wear short skirts, but usually, girls who deliberately wore short skirts liked dressing up. However, this girl was dressed very plainly, wearing only flip-flops on her feet when she went out, barely made up, making it seem a bit incongruous. Of course, this point proved nothing; what made Ye Zhou suspicious was the girl’s attitude. She was too obedient, unnaturally quiet, not daring to express any opinions, as if afraid to defy her boyfriend.

Ye Zhou repeated, “I said, this is just my guess. If I’m wrong, it’s fine, let’s pretend it never happened. So when you go out later, do what you need to do, don’t keep looking at others.”

Ye Zhou always had a good rapport with people, so he hadn’t encountered much trouble since opening. Those who caused trouble were usually drunk guests in bars at night, but Fang Ji handled those, so the restaurant’s employees lacked experience in this area. After hearing Ye Zhou’s words, they hurriedly echoed in agreement.

Ten minutes later, Ye Zhou personally brought the meals to the couple. But to observe more, he wouldn’t serve everything at once, instead, he intentionally spaced it out, serving the soup and side salad first, leaving the main course for last.

The couple didn’t show any signs of abnormality. But Ye Zhou noticed that whenever he served food, the girl would deliberately look at him, lingering for several seconds, as if she wanted to say something. A normal person wouldn’t look at a waiter like that unless there was a problem.

But when the man spoke to her, she would immediately withdraw her gaze, bowing her head, as if afraid the man would notice.

Ye Zhou seemed even more certain of something, glancing at the couple’s table with the corner of his eye. The girl’s hands clasped on her lap were trembling slightly, even resisting the man’s touch.

At this moment, Ye Zhou was sure.

The girl seemed to be under this man’s control, sitting on the inner side of the table, unable to seek help or escape. He needed to find a way to help her.

Ye Zhou had a flash of inspiration, intentionally knocking over the man’s soup bowl while delivering the food, spilling the soup on the man’s clothes and pants.

“Fuck!” The man stood up immediately, cursing, “What are you doing!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Ye Zhou quickly apologized, grabbing napkins from the table to wipe the man, trying to lead him away from the table, “Let me take you to the restroom to clean up…”

Hearing about going to the restroom, the man seemed to hesitate, glancing at the girl.

The girl still had her head bowed, not daring to voice her opinion.

Coincidentally, today’s lunch soup was corn chowder, which couldn’t be cleaned up with just napkins; it needed to be washed with water. If it wasn’t for this, Ye Zhou wouldn’t have hesitated to waste a steak by pouring it on the man. After much hesitation, the man decided to go to the restroom, turning to the girl and saying, “Sit here and wait for me obediently, don’t run off.”

This sentence carried an unobvious warning tone, and the girl obediently nodded.

As the man walked toward the restroom, he scolded Ye Zhou all the way.

While leading the man to the restroom, Ye Zhou also secretly signaled to his employees, mouthing, “Call the police.”

Directly asking the girl would definitely yield nothing. Perhaps the girl had something held over her by the man, and hesitation would waste time, so Ye Zhou called the employees to report the incident faster. Even if it turned out to be a misunderstanding afterward, it didn’t matter; it was better than missing an opportunity to save someone.

Fortunately, he had already told the employees beforehand, so no further communication was needed; they understood the situation and immediately called the police.

But perhaps because the employees were facing such a situation for the first time, they momentarily neglected to avoid others while calling the police, and their voices reached the restroom, “Hello, police station…”

Man: “…”

Ye Zhou: “…”

The man was very sensitive to the word ‘police,’ his expression changing, almost immediately pushing Ye Zhou aside and rushing out of the restroom toward the outside of the restaurant, not caring about the girl left in the restaurant. His reaction confirmed that he had issues.

Ye Zhou was already in his thirties, not an easily impulsive young man. But at that moment, he actually got a sudden surge of enthusiasm and chased after him.