Qin Jian’s lips slightly moved as he touched An Hao lightly,
"This is our section chief’s wife. You should call her ’sister-in-law’!"
An Hao glanced at Qin Jian and said airily, "Big sister, I’m not his match."
If Qin Jian had even the slightest interest in her, she wouldn’t mind playing the role out of friendship, but from his expression a moment ago, she hadn’t detected anything special about her to him.
Having lived a second life, she had approached Qin Jian with the attitude of loving and caring for him sincerely, but if he didn’t love her in this life, she would certainly not cling to him relentlessly.
However, his failure to greet her, and suddenly acting in this contradictory way, she wouldn’t stand for it!
Zhang Lanxiang was taken aback, casting a questioning look at Qin Jian,
"What’s going on here?"
Qin Jian, looking at An Hao with a slight frown and his lips pursed, was obviously unhappy.
He knew she must be annoyed because he had used her as a shield without her consent, leaving her somewhat angry.
Caught off guard, he hadn’t had the chance to explain.
"Sister-in-law, we just had a small quarrel, so she’s being a bit petulant with me," Qin Jian explained with a smile. He gently patted An Hao and, seeing that she looked at him, he signaled her with his eyes to cooperate for the moment.
"It’s normal to be petulant," Zhang Lanxiang said with a light laugh. "Qin Jian, it’s almost noon. Why don’t you bring this young lady home to sit for a while and let your battalion commander see her? He’s always worrying about you."
"Maybe another time, sister-in-law," Qin Jian replied without hesitation, since it wasn’t true after all.
The young lady seemed unwilling, too.
"That won’t do!" Zhang Lanxiang decisively interrupted Qin Jian, "Can’t I, your sister-in-law, persuade you? Must it really take an order from your section chief to make it happen?"
"Then I’ll discuss it with An Hao," he said.
"Alright, go and coax her," Zhang Lanxiang said cheerfully. "I’ll give you five minutes. I’ll be over there buying some groceries, waiting for you."
After Zhang Lanxiang left, Qin Jian looked at An Hao, who was shorter than him. Her delicate brows were raised, looking at him as if waiting for his explanation.
"An Hao, things happened abruptly just now and I didn’t have the chance to explain. Please don’t be upset," Qin Jian paused before continuing, "Could you do me a favor and accompany me to..."
"Pretend to be your match?"
"No!" An Hao rejected him decisively. "I’m not your match."
"That’s why I need your help to pretend temporarily," Qin Jian said, looking at her intently.
"I don’t want to help. Engineer Qin, you’d better find someone more capable," An Hao said, feeling somewhat upset inside. So, he really was using her as a shield.
"You have to help me with this," Qin Jian said, frowning, "I remember someone once said you should repay even the smallest kindness with a spring of gratitude."
Firstly, he needed An Hao for the peaceful days ahead. Secondly, he suddenly felt that it would actually be quite good if An Hao were his future woman.
As he said this, An Hao remembered the incident when he had helped her chase away hooligans on the street and retrieve her money.
"I already thanked you for that," she retorted. What, she wasn’t entitled to eat those sugar-coated haws for nothing?!
"That doesn’t count."
"Who says it doesn’t count!" An Hao rolled her eyes at him.
What a shameless man; how had she not noticed in her previous life?
"You yourself said it," Qin Jian’s lips twitched, "You claimed you weren’t there to thank me, but only to visit my aunt as a fellow villager, right?"
An Hao: "..." All right, she had said that.
But wasn’t that a roundabout way of thanking him?
And here she had thought he was too rigid in his actions; turns out, he was much more shrewd than she was.
Seeing An Hao speechless, Qin Jian’s lips slightly curled up, revealing a shallow smile, "Here’s a good opportunity; you can thank me now!"