บท 67: Almost Choke Her to Death

The vehicle stopped at the sidewalk and Li Qin Yao then led Zhang Yu Han to an alley. After a two minutes walk, they arrived at a barbecue place.

A man in his late forty walked over to greet them. Once he saw Li Qin Yao, his expression brightened up. "Young Miss! You're here! It has been a long time since the last time I saw you." The owner of the restaurant greeted her with enthusiasm.

Zhang Yu Han glanced at the woman beside him as he followed her and the boss towards a vacant table. He then, sat quietly as he watched Li Qin Yao catching up with the owner before she placed an order.

"Do you want to add anything else?" Li Qin Yao said as she handed over the menu card to him.

After adding another two dishes to their order, the owner walked inside and ordered one of his staff to prepare the food quickly.

"You are very familiar with this place?"

Li Qin Yao smiled as a young boy put down a jug of warm water on the table. While grabbing the jug and pouring the water into the glass, she turned to Zhang Yu Han and said, "You can say that. I used to live around here with my mother before she decided to move to B City. Back then, we used to come here a lot. The owner was our neighbor."

Zhang Yu Han swept his gaze around to take a good look at the place where Li Qin Yao frequently visited while she grew up. Though the place was not that big, the surrounding was clean, and the owner and staff were friendly. Despite the late hour, the restaurant was half full of customers.

It wasn't long until the young boy returned, but this time, with a tray of raw ingredients.

Li Qin Yao was about to grab the meat and put it on the grill, but Zhang Yu Han had taken them and arranged the ingredients on the grill. The meat sizzled and the aroma wafted around. Looking at the way his hands moved swiftly to pick the strips of meat and lay them on the hot grill, her lips curved into a smile.

"You seemed quite good at this."

"Well," Zhang Yu Han raised his head and looked back at the grill once his gaze met with hers. "You do know how my grandfather loves barbecue. He was the one who taught me how to grill food."

"You went out to a barbecue place with your grandfather a lot?"

Zhang Yu Han chuckled. "No. My grandfather loved the barbecue so much that he had an outdoor grill. He always tried different recipes, grilling meat and games in his backyard since I was a kid. Well, Miss Li, if he happens to invite you to a barbecue at his place, you shouldn't decline his invitation. He is a great cook."

Li Qin Yao laughed, thinking that she was not close enough to Zhang Yu Han's grandfather to be invited to his house, while Zhang Yu Han was silently making a plan that perhaps he could use his grandfather to get close to Li Qin Yao in the future.

Even if his grandfather should not be eating too much meat, Zhang Yu Han thought that if he could use this excuse to spend time with Li Qin Yao, he will allow his grandfather to eat a little bit more.

But, once the thought that the girl in front of him had a boyfriend crossed his mind, Zhang Yu Han's expression turned grim. He had seen her with her boyfriend a few times. It was clear that the two had a good relationship.

His movement paused when he recalled the last time he had saw Li Qin Yao with her boyfriend. He was having dinner with his grandfather and happened to see her arguing with her boyfriend. Though he did not know what they were arguing about, Zhang Yu Han could see that it was an intense argument. Since that day, he had never stumbled upon the two of them together.

A frown appeared on his face as another thought flashed to his mind. However, Zhang Yu Han immediately dispelled that thought. Maybe he liked her a bit too much that he started to wish for something unhappy for her.

It didn't take too long for the meat to cook. Zhang Yu Han picked up the first strip of meat and placed it on Li Qin Yao's plate.

Looking at the way the meat was cooked to her liking, Li Qin Yao thanked him before she clipped it with her chopsticks, swirled it around the dipping sauce and after blowing at it twice, she put it into her mouth.

"Good?" Zhang Yu Han asked.

However, Li Qin Yao had zoned out momentarily as she savored the familiar taste of meat and the dipping sauce around her mouth. Hearing his deep baritone voice so close to her, Li Qin Yao looked at the man in front of her and started coughing.

Zhang Yu Han started to panic upon seeing her situation. He stood up immediately to pat her on her back. Then, he picked up the glass of water and placed it into Li Qin Yao's hand. "Have a drink."

Li Qin Yao took a few mouthfuls of water and soon, her coughing stop. She took a deep breath to calm down. "I'm alright. Thank you."

"You should be careful. Eat slowly," Zhang Yu Han said and returned to his seat.

She lifted her head and was aggrieved. Li Qin Yao did not choke from her food because she was too greedy. She was enjoying her food just fine until he decided to talk to her. His voice almost caused her to choke to death. Although she was blaming him internally, Li Qin Yao knew that it was not Zhang Yu Han's fault.

When Li Qin Yao noticed the concerned look on his face, her anger immediately went away. "I'm fine. Don't worry." Her gaze moved towards the hot grill and once she saw that the meat was cooked, Li Qin Yao picked up the meat before they burned and placed them on Zhang Yu Han's plate. "You should eat too."

Zhang Yu Han stared at the food on his plate before he picked up his chopsticks and started to eat silently. He stole another glance at the girl who was typing a message on the phone across him and noticed that her cheek had turned pink due to the hot temperature. He stared at her in a daze for a few more seconds before he looked away and took a deep breath to calm down.

Not too long ago, Wei Jun Hao had warned him that if he had no intention of snatching Li Qin Yao away from her boyfriend, he will only end up getting hurt, trying to get close to her.

Even if he knew that he would end up getting hurt, Zhang Yu Han had no intention of keeping away from Li Qin Yao or trying to steal her away from her boyfriend. Even if he will never have the chance to like this girl openly, Zhang Yu Han thought that he was contented with his current situation.