System: 【Host, I’m obviously a cute bird. Host, you can’t launch personal attacks against me…】
Lin Zheng: A rooster? Where’s the rooster? A hen, you mean!
System: 【Host, stop pretending to be stupid. 001 knows your IQ isn’t low!】
Lin Zheng: It is low! My IQ is so low it’s sunk into the dust!
System: “……”
It finally understood the helplessness the male lead felt whenever he couldn’t outargue his host.
The host was way too good at being unreasonable!
Lin Zheng: Chubby, don’t you have something that can check the male lead’s disgust level?
The system weakly replied: 【No. The male lead is the protagonist of this world and has the protagonist halo. We systems can’t control him!】
Lin Zheng was extremely disappointed.
So this doesn’t work, and that doesn’t work. What use are you?
The system held up its little hands and nervously rubbed its fingers together: 【I’m still useful. I can help the host eavesdrop, peek… I can do all that!】
Lin Zheng: …
Silence was her scream tonight.
She would have to think carefully about how to make Gu Yanche hate her.
In short, relying on the system wasn’t going to work.
She would have to rely on herself, stand on her own feet, and rise up by her own efforts!
After finishing her argument with the system, Lin Zheng realized that Gu Yanche had carried her into a shopping mall.
He had carried her all the way there, and passersby were staring.
One girl complained to her boyfriend, “Look at that guy’s boyfriend! Learn from him! Not only can you not carry me, you’ve never even given me a piggyback ride!”
The boyfriend impatiently replied, “I’m your boyfriend, not your servant! If you don’t want to date me, then break up!”
The girl froze for a moment before crying, “Fine, let’s break up! Get lost!”
She ran away, while her boyfriend walked in the opposite direction.
Neither of them looked back.
Lin Zheng took note of that.
Next time, she could say, “Get lost!” Or make some unreasonable demands and annoy Gu Yanche to death.
But Gu Yanche simply quickened his pace and carried her farther into the mall.
Lin Zheng hurriedly climbed off his back, feeling a little embarrassed.
There were so many people watching!
Gu Yanche pursed his lips. “You’re not angry anymore?”
Lin Zheng suddenly leaned toward him and blinked her sly eyes.
“I’m not angry—”
“Just kidding!”
Gu Yanche: “……”
Lin Zheng asked, “Why did you bring me here? Are you trying to take advantage of the opportunity to date your ex-girlfriend?”
Gu Yanche didn’t answer. Instead, he asked her, “Didn’t you say you don’t have any summer clothes?”
He had kept only a few hundred yuan from his bonus because he wanted to buy her some pajamas.
But he’d been too busy these past few days and hadn’t found the time.
Lin Zheng thought about it.
And thought about it again.
She couldn’t come up with anything to argue back with.
She could only squeeze out one sentence:
“Fine. At least you have a conscience.”
Looking at his girlfriend’s chubby little face scrunched up in thought, Gu Yanche couldn’t resist reaching out and pinching it.
So soft.
So cute.
“What are you doing!”
Lin Zheng jumped up and slapped the back of his hand.
“Try that again and I’ll jump up and hit you in the knees!”
Gu Yanche couldn’t help laughing.
Lin Zheng seemed to have eyes on the back of her head. She turned around and saw his handsome face smiling.
Holy crap!
He was way too good-looking!
She put on a fierce expression.
“What are you laughing at? Never seen a beautiful woman before? How ignorant!”
Gu Yanche smoothed down the two stray hairs sticking up from the top of her head.
“Mm.”
Lin Zheng jumped away.
“Don’t touch my head! Haven’t you heard? A woman’s head isn’t supposed to be touched. If you touch it too much, you’ll never amount to anything!”
The corner of Gu Yanche’s mouth twitched.
“Don’t be superstitious.”
Lin Zheng: “……”
Gu Yanche remembered that Lin Zheng had always insisted she was a conservative woman, which was why she wore long sleeves and long pants even in summer.
She also rarely went outside, preferring to hide in the bedroom with the air conditioner running.
She was much better like this.
More active, more lively, and more accepting of different clothes.
Gu Yanche took Lin Zheng to buy summer clothes.
The clothes in the mall weren’t cheap. An ordinary outfit cost five or six hundred yuan.
Lin Zheng didn’t even try anything on. She merely looked at the prices, and her thrifty nature immediately emerged.
Her chubby little face was full of pain.
“Holy crap! That’s way too expensive!”
Were they selling clothes or what?
This was clearly an attempt to take her life!
Gu Yanche grabbed her and persuaded her.
“We’ll use our savings. My salary will increase soon, too. We can afford it.”
“The quality here is decent. Just wear these for now. I’ll buy you better ones later.”
Although he was poor, that didn’t stop him from thinking the clothes here were mediocre.
The salesgirl who heard him criticizing the clothes in her store: “……”
The man was handsome enough.
Could he be some kind of scammer who deceived young girls?
She smiled and said, “Miss, your boyfriend wants to buy you clothes. We have lots of styles, and the designs are quite new. Why don’t you take another look?”
She then recommended several of the most expensive pieces.
“This one, this one, and this one would all look great on you!”
“Why don’t you try them on and see how they look?”
“Your boyfriend is so nice. I’m sure he’s willing to spend money on you!”
Lin Zheng finally caught on.
That’s right!
It wasn’t her money being spent!
They were emptying Gu Yanche’s wallet!
She and Gu Yanche said in unison:
“Try them!”
The salesgirl quickly brought the clothes over and sent Lin Zheng into the fitting room.
The first outfit was a cool short skirt with matching accessories, revealing Lin Zheng’s long, fair legs.
“Wow! Your legs are gorgeous!”
“This looks so cool and stylish on you! It’s perfect!”
“It’s really beautiful!”
“This is the first time I’ve seen someone wear this outfit so well!”
“It looks like it was tailor-made for you!”
The salesgirl praised her extravagantly.
Although her tone was somewhat exaggerated, the outfit really did look good.
Who would have thought that this young woman not only had a beautiful face but an amazing figure as well?
She had curves in all the right places.
Even the salesgirl was envious!
Gu Yanche didn’t take his eyes off her.
“Buy it.”
Lin Zheng came out wearing the second outfit.
She hadn’t even looked in the mirror yet when she heard Gu Yanche say:
“Buy it!”
“Buy it!”
The word Lin Zheng remembered most clearly afterward was buy.
She muttered, “You’re not even a domineering CEO anymore, yet you’re still acting like one.”
Under the salesgirl’s radiant smile, Lin Zheng and Gu Yanche bought ten summer outfits, spending more than thirty thousand yuan.
Half of their savings were gone.
She knew it wasn’t her money, but Lin Zheng still felt as though a chunk of her flesh had been cut away.
It definitely wasn’t because she was stingy.
It was her virtuous tradition of being thrifty and managing the household calling out to her!
As soon as Gu Yanche picked up the clothes, Lin Zheng grabbed him and ran.
“Run! Let’s get out of this money-eating place!”
Seeing his girlfriend’s heartbroken expression, Gu Yanche knew she hated spending money.
It was because he wasn’t earning enough.
He couldn’t even afford a few mediocre outfits without making her feel this way.
He promised, “I’ll make more money in the future.”
Lin Zheng headed outside.
“We’ll worry about the future when it gets here!”
Gu Yanche said, “We haven’t bought pajamas yet. You don’t have any pajamas—”
Without even turning her head, Lin Zheng dragged him along.
“I do! I bought two pairs myself when I went shopping. Only ninety-nine yuan. Super cheap!”
“The mall is a money-eating place. We still need to save our money for rent, utilities, groceries, and rice!”
“You haven’t even reached a million yuan a month yet. In the future, we’ll still have to buy a house, buy a car, and raise children. We have to plan our spending carefully…”
The corners of Gu Yanche’s lips lifted slightly.
From his girlfriend’s description, he could already see their future together.
He would earn money to support the family.
She would stay beautiful.
Their children would run around causing trouble…
They had bought so many clothes that the two of them took a taxi home.
As soon as Lin Zheng got home, she collapsed onto the bed and didn’t want to move.
Gu Yanche tied on a little bear apron and began preparing dinner.
Tonight, he made two dishes and a soup: tomato and scrambled eggs, spicy beef, and loofah, mushroom, and sliced pork soup.
Everything looked good and tasted even better.
Lin Zheng ate without even lifting her head.
“Gu Yanche, your cooking keeps getting better and better!”
“Even if you get fired someday, you can still go to people’s homes and cook for them to make money. Or you could open a little restaurant. With cooking skills like yours, we’ll never starve!”
“This mushroom soup is so fresh and sweet! So good! So good!”
“The tomato and eggs are delicious! So appetizing!”
“The beef is so tender!”
Lin Zheng gave Gu Yanche a thumbs-up.
“You turned this subpar beef into a perfect score!”
“This family really can’t do without you!”
Nearby, the system was getting anxious.
【Aiya, Host, leave some for me! The leftovers have been getting fewer and fewer these past few days. I want to taste the male lead’s cooking too…】