The sun rose in the east and set in the west. By the time Xing Luo woke up, it was already noon.
She opened her phone and saw a message from her best friend Lin Yuan.
[The restaurant has your favorite jumping frog. Come over and eat when you’re up.]
The System had treated Xing Luo well—although it hadn’t given her a good family in this world, it had given her two wealthy best friends.
One was Yu Yan, who owned the largest bar in the entire capital.
The other was Lin Yuan, who had a chain of clothing stores across the capital.
Xing Luo groggily sent a voice message: “Give me a moment. I just woke up.”
[No need to dress up. The store has plenty of new clothes—come over and try them on.] Lin Yuan replied.
[Okay.]
After washing up, Xing Luo casually threw on a dress and headed to Lin Yuan’s store.
She went to Lin Yuan’s flagship store on Ninghai Road.
That location had prime foot traffic and the best business.
When she arrived, the jumping frog was already set out on the office table.
“Come on, eat.” Lin Yuan set out the bowls and chopsticks. “After you eat, try on the new styles we just got. I’ll take some photos to put on our official website—saves me from hiring a model.”
“Okay.” Xing Luo smiled.
“A famous radio host modeling for our store? Sales are definitely going to skyrocket.” Lin Yuan grew more excited by the second, as if a pile of cash was about to smack her right in the face.
Xing Luo took a bite of the bullfrog. It was her favorite—medium spice—and it was satisfying.
Lin Yuan, meanwhile, was hissing from the heat beside her.
“So you’re still with Jiang Yichen?” Lin Yuan took a sip of water. “When are you breaking up? Let me be real with you—chasing men is the most pointless thing these days. Chasing money is what matters.”
“From now on, you can model at our store, and I’ll give you a cut. You won’t have to keep reading Jiang Yichen’s moods anymore.”
Xing Luo smiled faintly. She picked up a piece of bullfrog and ate it expressionlessly.
“Soon.” Xing Luo gave the same answer as always.
“What exactly are you waiting for? If you’re breaking up, do it cleanly. It’s just one sentence.” Lin Yuan pressed.
“Help me find a place, if you have time. Nothing too big—a one-bedroom is fine. Preferably somewhere Jiang Yichen would never set foot.”
If Xing Luo was going to break up, she’d have to move out of that small apartment. Jiang Yichen might not come looking for her, but what if he did?
“You can stay at my place.” Lin Yuan said. “It’s close to the radio station.”
Just as Lin Yuan finished speaking, a series of urgent knocks sounded from outside the door.
The door opened. “Store manager, there’s someone here causing trouble.”
Lin Yuan turned around warily. “Who?”
“Miss Song of the Song family.”
Xing Luo knew who this Miss Song was—she was Ji Yan’s close friend.
Lin Yuan threw down her chopsticks and gritted her teeth. “She’s here again. Does she never get tired of this?”
Xing Luo knew that the Song family’s young lady often came to pick fights—either claiming the clothes were poor quality, or saying she’d tried them on at home and didn’t like them and wanted a refund.
Lin Yuan had refunded her every time, but she still relentlessly demanded compensation for emotional distress. If she didn’t get it, she’d threaten to blow things up online.
Lin Yuan had a soft temperament. To keep the peace, and because she truly couldn’t afford to offend the Song family, she’d paid up.
After Xing Luo found out, she told Lin Yuan to call the police, but Lin Yuan always said to let it go—money spent to ward off disaster.
“Stay here and eat. I’ll handle it.” Lin Yuan said.
Xing Luo glanced at Lin Yuan, then set down her chopsticks. “I’ll go with you.”
Song Xi was picking a fight with Lin Yuan, and at the root of it all, it was because of Ji Yan.
She wanted to stand up for her best friend. Wasn’t Xing Luo doing the same?
When Xing Luo and Lin Yuan walked out, Song Xi was sitting at a table leisurely sipping tea.
She glanced at Lin Yuan, the corner of her mouth curling into a malicious smile.
Then her gaze drifted to Xing Luo behind Lin Yuan.
The corner of her mouth twitched.
“Miss Song, what can I do for you?” Lin Yuan asked with a smile, forcing patience.
Song Xi pointed at the bag of clothes at her feet. “These aren’t the clothes I tried on yesterday. I suspect your staff gave me counterfeit goods.”
Lin Yuan: “Miss Song, everything our staff bagged for you was exactly what you tried on yesterday. There’s no way they swapped in different clothes to fool you.”
Song Xi slammed her teacup hard onto the table. “I said it’s wrong, so it’s wrong. This simply isn’t what I tried on yesterday.”
Lin Yuan was furious inside, but she kept a smile on her face. “Then we’ll refund your money.”
Better to avoid trouble than to court it. Lin Yuan didn’t want to argue with her any longer.
“That won’t do. Your kind of despicable behavior—I will definitely expose it to the public.” Song Xi refused to let it go.
“Selling counterfeit goods means you owe me ten times the price.” Song Xi leaned back in her chair, eyebrows raised smugly.
Lin Yuan couldn’t hold back anymore. “Miss Song, can you please show some evidence?”
“I have evidence.” Song Xi pulled the clothes out of the bag and handed them to Lin Yuan. “Take a look. Are these the clothes you had me try on yesterday?”
Lin Yuan took the clothes and had a staff member bring over the store’s stock for comparison.
Indeed, many details differed from the store’s clothes—but unless you looked closely, you wouldn’t notice.
It seemed Song Xi had come fully prepared this time.
“The same?” Song Xi curled her lips into a smile. “Pay up.”
“Miss Song, swapping it out deliberately isn’t really appropriate, is it?” Lin Yuan’s smile faltered. “You just grabbed some random piece that copies our designs, came to our store demanding compensation—you can’t do people like this.”
Song Xi slammed the table hard and shot up from her chair. “You’re saying I swapped it? Where’s your proof? This is clearly a dress bought from your store. If you don’t believe me, check the surveillance footage. See if I didn’t buy it from your shop yesterday.”
“And you say I bought it from somewhere else—what proof do you have?”
Song Xi had indeed bought the dress from another store and swapped it. So what? They couldn’t trace it.
Since Xing Luo had made Ji Yan unhappy, she wouldn’t let Lin Yuan have it easy either.
She was betting Lin Yuan wouldn’t dare call the police. In the past, whenever she caused a scene, Lin Yuan always paid up. This time would be no exception.
Song Xi held her head high, arms crossed over her chest. “No proof, then pay up. I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, and neither do you.”
Just then, Xing Luo walked slowly from behind Lin Yuan toward Song Xi.
“Miss Song, at 2:35 PM the day before yesterday, you bought a dress from a shop called Lingering Love. The delivery address was your villa on Yuning Road.”
“The dress you bought is exactly the one you brought today. That shop specializes in copying popular designs on the market, then making slight alterations.”
Xing Luo spoke unhurriedly.
“Don’t make wild accusations without evidence.” Song Xi’s eyes darted away. “What proof do you have?”
“You want proof?” Xing Luo looked at Lin Yuan. “Call the police. Let them handle it.”
Song Xi let out a cold laugh. “Go ahead. Who have I, Song Xi, ever been afraid of?” But her hand gripping the strap of her bag trembled slightly.
Lin Yuan picked up her phone.
“Fine, fine.” Song Xi pressed down on Lin Yuan’s hand, her tone softening by a notch. “Calling the police over something this trivial? Isn’t it embarrassing? Refund plus one-for-one compensation, and I’ll leave.”
She couldn’t let this blow up. If her father found out, she’d be grounded again.
She’d only come today to vent on Ji Yan’s behalf—she hadn’t planned on anything more.
She just hadn’t expected Xing Luo to be here.
In the past, when Xing Luo wasn’t around, she’d always gotten the money smoothly.
“We’ve been speaking to you politely the whole time—you’re the one twisting the facts.” Xing Luo spoke again. “Call the police.”
Song Xi was genuinely panicking now. She forced a smile. “I must have been mistaken.”
She snatched the dress from Lin Yuan’s hands and stuffed it into the bag. “This really was bought from your store. I made a mistake.”
With that, Song Xi turned to leave.
“Half a month ago, you bought a diamond necklace worth ten million at an auction. If your father found out about that, what do you think he’d think?” Xing Luo’s tone was light, as if it were a trivial matter.
Song Xi halted mid-step. She slowly turned back to look at Xing Luo. She’d been fully disguised at that charity gala—how could anyone have recognized her?