]" href="#" cla.s.s="btn-wi btn-next disabled" dpmb="yes">It was a Friday, and quite a few young couples were out shopping, eating, and watching movies.
Yang Wei and Qi Xiao Yan stood together in the HoneyPeach store, the clerk before them demonstrating the many new features of the HoneyPeach 10.
When she thought back to her brand-new HoneyPeach 9S, her heart ached. "I still don"t want to buy such a expensive phone. What if I lose this one too...?"
"Are you going to keep running around so late at night?" Qi Xiao Yan asked, giving her a sidelong glance. He put the white phone back into its box. "Please wrap this up for us."
"Of course," the salesman a.s.sented with a smile. "If you will please step over here to pay?"
He walked in the direction she had indicated. Following along behind him, Yang Wei saw him pa.s.s his card to the cashier. Her eyebrow leapt up. "Why are we using your card?"
Qi Xiao Yan tilted his head and gave her a pointed look. "Have you gotten your salary yet this month?"
Yang Wei: "..."
"I"ve got some savings!" She lifted her chin. He had indeed generally covered most of their living expenses. In the last year, her own salary hadn"t changed much; it was just enough for her to take care of a small white face1A male escort. A paid companion. A gigolo. You know. :)!
"Please sign here," the cashier pointed. Qi Xiao Yan withdrew his gaze, picked up the pen, and quickly signed his name.
Yang Wei glanced at his characters, beautifully written as always. She pursed her lips, picked up her new cell phone, and walked out of the store.
Upon arriving at a shop selling women"s handbags, Qi Xiao Yan glanced over and went inside again. Yang Wei now understood that he had come here just to buy things for her... or should she say, he had come here just to be taken advantage of?
She glanced at the logo above the store. This brand sold medium-priced bags, but there were a few that she couldn"t afford even with a month"s salary. As the saying goes, you learn from your mistakes, and she had just realized that the value of the wallet was the wallet itself.
From the counter, she picked out a wallet in cherry blossom pink. Tapping her fingertip on the gla.s.s, she asked, "Can you take this out for me?"
"Of course! Please wait a moment." The sales clerk opened the cabinet and took the wallet out. Yang Wei studied it. The color was lovely, the leather was good, the hand-painted cherry blossoms were tasteful, and most importantly, the price was relatively reasonable.
This way, the tragedy of having nothing to put into a wallet after buying one wouldn"t occur, and there would be no grief about losing the wallet itself if one was robbed again.
Yang Wei was very satisfied. "I"ll take it."
"Thank you for your patronage. Please pay over here."
Upon seeing Qi Xiao Yan coming forward to pay for this one as well, Yang Wei reprimanded, "Mr. Qi, we are divorced. It"s not a good idea to spend your money like this."
Qi Xiao Yan glanced in her direction, then silently paid the bill.
She stressed it to him again upon leaving the store. "I"m taking this as a loan. When I get my salary, I"ll pay you back." Well, a month"s salary might not be enough.
He turned into the next door restaurant, which served light refreshments. "Let"s first have dinner."
"Hey, are you even listening to me?" Yang Wei followed him in with a frown.
It was peak lunch period and the store was so busy that there was hardly any room to be found. Fortunately, the table beside them had just left, so Yang Wei s.n.a.t.c.hed the chance to sit down. Soon a waiter came over to clear the table. Qi Xiao Yan handed the paper bag in his hand to her. "You sit here while I order. What would you like to eat?"
Yang Wei looked at him. "Why suddenly in a mood to eat out?"
"Are you going to go home and cook? I saw your refrigerator - it only has one tomato and half a head of cabbage."
Yang Wei: "..."
Then you can go back to the dormitory by yourself!
She looked at the menu on the table and said in one breath, "I want a bowl of red oil dumplings, a bowl of sweet water noodles, a helping of broken heart jelly, a bowl of cold noodles, four fried dumplings, two steamed dumplings, and a pineapple cake."
Having taken all this in, Qi Xiao Yan left without turning a hair. Yang Wei wondered if he had actually managed to remember all of that?
There was quite a line for ordering, so she took out her newly-bought phone and began to play a game. Today she had worn the black line skirt she had bought last shopping trip, and it was paired with a white shirt with fluffy cap sleeves. It all overall a slightly retro design, and since her seat was not far from the door, she drew many looks from pa.s.sersby.
She had just connected to the store"s WiFi and downloaded an app when she heard a strange male voice coming from the opposite side of the table. "Lovely lady, are you here alone?"
Yang Wei looked up at the young man. He had a crew cut, a blue shirt, and was quite fair-skinned. She blinked, but before she could speak, Qi Xiao Yan approached. "Sir, were you acquainted with my wife?"
Blue Shirt immediately looked embarra.s.sed. He looked back at Qi Xiao Yan, then back at Yang Wei, as if asking for confirmation. She gave him a tiny smile. Blue Shirt paused, rubbed the back of his head, and then smiled. "Ahahaha. I"m sorry to have bothered you." He hurried back to a table by the window.
Qi Xiao Yan sat down across from her. "Not bad at all. You emit pheromones just sitting here."
She smiled at him. "You"re not so bad yourself." In the table in the corner, three high school girls were laughing and whispering between themselves while stealing glances at him.
Looking at her finger, he asked, "Where"s your wedding ring?"
Yang Wei was dazed a moment, then took a sidelong glance at his hand. "I left it at home." Now that she thought about it, it was true that after she can taken it off she had once again begun getting hit on.
Though she thought that he would say something more, he ended the topic.
As the waiter set their refreshments on the table, Yang Wei observed them carefully. Seeing only two fried dumplings, she smiled triumphantly at Qi Xiao Yan. "I ordered four fried dumplings."
"There were only two fried dumplings left. I ordered another dish of steamed dumplings for you."
Just as he said that, the waiter brought the steamed dumplings over. Yang Wei scowled and picked up her chopsticks. "Nothing for yourself?" She had ordered all of the dishes currently on the table.
Qi Xiao Yan picked up his own chopsticks and placed a steamed dumpling into a bowl. "I"m obliged to help you finish the rest."
Yang Wei"s heart leapt inexplicably. Though the words he had just said were common words, when they came from Qi Xiao Yan"s mouth it was as if he was speaking tender words of love.
She buried her head silently into her food. Remembering that he did not like spicy food, she reached out for the cold noodles and the broken heart jelly. Qi Xiao Yan took a look at the red chilli in her bowl and grimaced. "Doesn"t your stomach hurt?"
"Not at all, this is delicious." Yang Wei looked up and blinked at him. "Do you know why this is called broken heart jelly? Because everyone who eats it cries. Want to try?"
"...You should eat it all, since you like it so much."
"No, no, good things should be shared! Don"t be polite." Yang Wei carefully picked up a piece of jelly and held it before Qi Xiao Yan. He stared at it for a while, then opened his mouth and ate it.
Yang Wei was dumbfounded. Holy c.r.a.p, Professor Qi actually ate it! She had just been kidding around! This stuff was super spicy...
She swallowed all the bean jelly in her mouth and carefully observed Qi Xiao Yan"s expression. He coughed a few times, covering his mouth, while his face turned from red to white and back again. His usually cold eyes were flushed with water.
Yang Wei m.u.f.fled her laughter, took out her new phone and took a photo of his face. "Professor Qi, you really cried! What a broken hearted expression!"
Qi Xiao Yan: "... "
He picked up a fried dumpling with his chopsticks and ate it, trying to get rid of the spicy taste in his mouth. Placing the plate of pineapple cake in front of him, Yang Wei suggested, "Try eating something sweet to crush it."
Qi Xiao Yan gave her a silent look, but his eyes were still red, like a humiliated, angry rabbit.
Yang Wei put away her phone and continued happily consuming jelly. Meanwhile, Qi Xiao Yan took five minutes to recover. He picked up a napkin from the table and wiped his mouth. "I"m full."
His voice was still a little hoa.r.s.e. Yang Wei laughed to look at him, "Are you full of chilli? Ah, Professor Qi, so it"s true that you"re super easy to raise! Just one bean jelly"s enough for every meal."
He frowned. "Is your stomach made of t.i.tanium?" How could she eat something that spicy without getting an ulcer?
Yang Wei squinted at him. "Is your stomach made out of tofu?" Just one little jelly transformed him into a rabbit.
... All of a sudden, rabbit sounded delicious.
Yang Wei swallowed her drool, cleaned out the rest of the food on the table, and returned home on the Qi Xiao Yan special taxi service.
"Sleep early." After he had finished talking, he drove off without a second glance. Yang Wei smirked at his taillights and skipped upstairs. Upon getting home, she threw her things onto the sofa and fell in headlong.
Comfortably stretched out, she felt for her new wallet, opened the box, and took it out. There was a card inside one of the card slots. Thinking that it might be an introduction to the brand or something like that, she took it out, but when her eyes fell upon it, the light in them chilled.
Did stores put silver bank cards into the wallets of their customers nowadays? She didn"t think so!
She frowned, staring at the card. The number was familiar... Wait a minute! Wasn"t this Qi Xiao Yan"s bank card?
In the solitary self-isolation of this rainy, snowy, coronavirus world, all I can give you to while away the boredom/poverty are extra chapters. Take care of yourselves!