“That’s a total of 102 dollars, I took off the extra two dollars, thank you for your patronage.”
After the salesperson finished speaking, she looked at me intently.
Honestly, there was nothing wrong with me paying. Let’s ignore everything else, there’s still the fact that I owe him thousands of dollars of salary when Xiao Qin copied the Bible.
However, the salesperson doesn’t know any inside information. If I paid without saying a word, it would establish the fact that I was Xiao Qin’s boyfriend.
So I put on a scowl towards the salesperson.
It meant: “What are you looking at! I’m not this crazy girl’s boyfriend, I’m just an ordinary cla.s.smate! Go ask her for the money!”
The salesperson did not shy away from my gaze and stared back, as if to say: “You aren’t even willing to spend 100 dollars, why are you dating? Hurry up and pay! How embarra.s.sing would it be for your girlfriend if you don’t pay!”
Suddenly I kind of understood why Shu Zhe was always lacking money.
As it turns out, a boyfriend not only has to provide strength labor, but also act as an ATM!
When I was hesitating, I felt someone poking my thigh with their fingertips.
Who else could it be? With a slightly lowered his head, Xiao Qin was pretending to look in another direction. In one hand, she was holding a shopping bag, and in the other hand, she was holding a piece of paper that was folded several times. On the paper, revealed the dearly loved Chairman Mao.
Using the counter as shelter, she tried to hand the bill to me from an angle where the salesperson could not see.
Why are you being so superfluous! Are you worried that I have no money, so it would be embarra.s.sing to be stared at by the salesperson? If you are so worried, can’t you just hand over the money directly to the salesperson? Why do you have to pa.s.s it through me!
Do you want me to pay for you (even if it is taken from your wallet), even if the salesperson mistakenly thinks that you are my girlfriend, how would it benefit you? Do you think this is a vote? Once you have enough people to support you, you would be my girlfriend?
Seeing that I ignored her Chairman Mao, Xiao Qin looked up and started to whistle to attract my attention. She still held a corner of the banknote and waved it slightly. The movement somehow reminded me of a swimming carp.
Don’t be foolish! I won’t accept it! It’s not that I’m not willing to spend money on you. What I’m worried about the views of others after I spend money on you!
Suddenly, I remembered the black credit card that Ai Mi had given me before.
I’ve never used it for so long, I just forgot about it… Let me take a look, and it’s still in my wallet!
I might as well use this card! In this case, I’m not spending money on you, but it’s the salary that Ai Mi gave you for copying the Bible!
This card was really cool to the touch! What metal is it made from!
I handed the credit card to the salesperson. She was obviously stunned and looked it over in her hands several times.
What? You’ve never seen it before? There are tons people who come and go in this large shopping mall. There should be a lot of credit cards that pa.s.s through.
Xiao Qin saw that I used a credit card and felt a bit surprised. Then she shoved Chairman Mao back into her pocket.
The expression on her face seemed a bit embarra.s.sed, but it was quickly replaced by sweet bliss.
Don’t misunderstand! This is your salary! I don’t want any relations with you! Economic relations are not good either!
The salesperson had already swiped the card on the machine. She frowned and took out a pen for me to sign.
Ah, I was careless. Although a credit card does not require a pa.s.sword, it was necessary to provide a signature. Whose name should I sign!
Sign Ai Mi’s name? Or did she use the name of Ai Mi’er when she made this card? Also, her signature should be in English!
I still remember that Ai Mi said that her mother made this card for her. Then, should I actually sign her mother’s name? Where can I go to meet her mother!
She’s always so forgetful! Ai Mi is definitely a garbage teammate! What should I do now?
I suddenly remembered, Xing Xing once told me that verification on signatures for credit cards in China was not very strict. Once he bought something, he deliberately signed as “grey wolf” in cursive and it still pa.s.sed.
Ok, if that’s the case, I can also use cursive! What should I write? Let’s write Adidas! Since I had some sports equipment from Adidas, it’s one of the few English words I can remember!
Right before I started to sign, the phone on the counter rang.
The salesperson picked up the phone skillfully. “h.e.l.lo, this is the Flamingo Undergarments Store…”
The person at the other end of the phone said a few words, and the salesperson’s face changed.
“It’s for you.” The salesman handed me the phone in confusion, and I also received it with doubt.
“h.e.l.lo?”
There was a low-pitched voice from a middle-aged man in the phone.
“Please forgive me for my presumptuous question: Did you pick up this credit card?”
Eh? Was this the bank that issued the credit card? Did they call me directly because I wanted to fake the signature? Something’s not right! I only thought about it, there was no fait accompli, does your machine act as a polygraph!? Your illegal technology is too incredible!
“I’m the a.s.sistant Director of American Express for Internal Affairs in China. My surname is w.a.n.g. You can call me Commissioner w.a.n.g. Please forgive me if my guess was incorrect. But, according to the conversation I just had with the saleswoman, the one who accompanied you, shouldn’t be Miss Ai Mi?”
“If you accidentally picked up this card, please wait 15 minutes, we will send someone to pick it up, I hope you can cooperate.”
Although he used honorific words when he spoke, his a.s.sertive statements and his matter of fact tone made me very unhappy.
“Hey, for what reason are you saying I picked up this card? If I don’t cooperate with you, what can you do?”
Commissioner w.a.n.g was silent for a moment.
“Sir, the credit card you used is not an ordinary credit card. It’s the AmEx Centurion card (TN: or AmEx Black Card) that can only be used by a very small number of extremely successful people. Some people call it the ‘King of Cards’. Not anyone who wants one can apply. They must pa.s.s our qualifications and then invitations would be sent out – so we have a comprehensive grasp of the customer’s information.” (TN: It seems you need to spend upwards of $150,000+ USD a year and have a salary of $1M+ USD a year or something to even be considered, or something like that there are no actual numbers)
The implication is that he doesn’t know me, so I can’t be the owner of the credit card.
“Even if you were Miss Ai Mi, she does not fully satisfy the invitation requirements by herself. The reason why she has usage rights to this card is because we accounted for her mother.”
“The conditions are strict because the cardholders also enjoy the same treatment, as long as they hold it, no matter where in the world, they will enjoy the full service of our company. Of course, you must be a legitimate user…”
I suddenly realized that the reason why Commissioner w.a.n.g talked so much was actually because he was delaying time.
But because I didn’t actually steal it, I wasn’t worried. On the contrary, I was a bit excited to see the outcome.
After a while a few dozen muscular men would surround me, wouldn’t it be comedic once they realized they came for nothing?
I was more interested in the benefits of this credit card than the banker thugs who will come soon.
I covered the speaker and asked the salesperson who had stood still for a while:
“What’s the AmEx black card? Have you seen it before?”
The salesperson blinked as if she just woke from a dream with the cold card still gripped in her hands.
“Really… Is this really an AmEx black card? I’ve only heard of it before but never seen it. Even among the Hong Kong movie star, it seems that only Tony Leung has used it…”
She held her breath and attentively re-examined the black card. Her focused eyes was like gollum looking at the ring.
“This feels really cool. I heard it was made of t.i.tanium…”
The salesperson said in admiration.
Suddenly she had a blank look. She probably recalled that I might not be the legal owner of this card. Maybe she will also be arrested after a while?
“Ye Lin cla.s.smate, what’s the matter? Is there any trouble?”
Xiao Qin asked me with a slight tilt of her head.
“Nothing, I can deal with it!”
I replied, then stopped covering the speaker on the phone.
“Hey, Commissioner w.a.n.g, you did a pretty good job at delaying time!”
The other end hesitated for a bit, “Sir, you are very smart, why do you have to do stupid things? Our staff will arrive in 5 minutes. Please cooperate and hand the black card to them. I have already informed the Henderson building security, if you tried to escape now, you will be intercepted.”
I looked behind me with the corner of my eye, and there were two beefy black-clothed security guards staring at me.
The jokes been going on for long enough. It seems it’s time to tell the truth. It would be bad if I get beaten by a crowd later on.
I smiled and told w.a.n.g Commissioner that this card was loaned to me by Ai Mi. If he doesn’t believe me, he can call her cell phone.
Maybe it was the phone number I mentioned was exactly the same as the one recorded in the customer profile. Commissioner w.a.n.g asked me to wait for a while and got in touch with Ai Mi with another phone.
Although Commissioner w.a.n.g desperately lowered the volume, because he didn’t want me to hear the conversation between him and Ai Mi, but Ai Mi didn’t cooperate with him at all. Her ultra high frequency sharp voice kept going on and I could even feel her anger from here.
On the phone, Ai Mi unleashed a torrent of abuse at Commissioner w.a.n.g.
I vaguely heard a few words that were spoken loudly:
“I can lend my card to whomever I want! Why do you guys care! I’ll ask my mother to hire a lawyer to sue you guys!”
“Yes! I lent it to him! His name? Can’t you ask him yourself? Don’t you guys value customers first? Now, he’s your customer, so go serve him!”
“What’s his relation to me?… Probably a manservant, no, he’s my steward! Ah! d.a.m.n, I have an urgent matter here, I can’t speak with you anymore!”
“In short, regardless of what he bought, just pretend I bought it! If your service is not good, just wait for the subpoena!”
When w.a.n.g Commissioner came back to talk to me, I heard that he had licked his lips multiple times.
“Sorry, sir, can you tell us your name if it is convenient?”
I think that it was not easy for him to be scolded by Ai Mi. I didn’t make it anymore difficult for him and just told him the truth.
“Thank you, your basic information has been recorded, and we will treat you as a customer with the same rights as Ms. Ai Mi er, and provide you with quality service.”
“In order enjoy the company’s services, I will explain it to you: there is no overdraft limit for the black card, you can use it freely within the scope permitted by law, and you can sign your own name when you need a signature. The company’s customer service department is located all over the world. If you have any personal problem at all, you can ask for help and we will do our best to meet your requirements.” (TN: Apparently you can ask them for any request lol)
After he finished speaking, he gave me a phone number and said that I can contact him directly.
Because Ai Mi threatened to sue him, he was extra careful and apologized to me. The mall security was quickly called out by the department manager. It seems that the company was quite efficient.
Finally, I finally used the so-called “King of Cards” to buy a 100 dollar bra for Xiao Qin.
Was it a bit of an overkill? When the salesperson returned the card to me, it seemed that she exhausted all her strength.
The loan was settled and Xiao Qin happily took the shopping bag and walked out of the store. As for the black card with no overdraft limit and the ability to buy a plane, she seemed disinterested and didn’t ask where I got it from.
She stared at the shopping bag in her arms, sometimes would blush, sometimes would grin foolishly, and immersed herself into her own world.
When I put the t.i.tanium black card into my wallet, I couldn’t help but think: Ai Mi really gave me something unthinkable!
Can you just casually give someone such an expensive card? Is she not afraid that after I find out I have no overdraft limit, I’ll buy an aircraft carrier and drive it around the Diaoyu Islands?
Actually, I was a little embarra.s.sed that she placed so much trust in a complete stranger.
I made a vow that I will not use this card to satisfy my own greed. Today was only to pay Xiao Qin’s salary and in the future, this card will only be used in matters related to Ai Mi.
It’s not that I have a high level of consciousness. I just think that if I spend too much money on myself, I will be looked down upon by the American girl as a Celestial Empire person.
I don’t know why, but I didn’t want to be looked down on by Ai Mi, as if I cared about my position in her mind.
After walking out of Henderson Building, Xiao Qin smiled and asked if I could send her home. If I sent her home, she would wear the new bought underwear for me.