“Clothes here aren’t cheap!”
Jiang Qi casually picked up a T-shirt and glanced at the price tag. “Are you sure you want to buy this for me?”
Zhang Fan, wearing a bathrobe, casually scanned the clothing before her. In the past, she wouldn’t have dared to even step inside a place like this, let alone buy clothes here.
“A life is priceless. I can’t let you help me and then have you spend your time and clothes on top of that, can I?”
Zhang Fan smiled, her tone neither forced nor pained—she seemed perfectly calm.
“Then I won’t hold back!”
Jiang Qi’s eyes flickered. From Zhang Fan’s attire and the dog she kept, he had already gotten a pretty good idea of her financial situation.
A shopping trip here would probably cost her half a month’s salary, or even more.
He couldn’t quite bring himself to do it, so he only picked the cheapest set. With a figure and looks like his, he’d look good even in a burlap sack.
Zhang Fan had originally wanted to tell him not to hold back and to pick something that fit well, but when she saw him come out of the fitting room, she burst out laughing.
A physique like that could truly pull off anything.
“Not bad!”
She thought about how she had really missed out on so many wonderful things in life. Her best years had been wasted on that family that sucked the marrow from her bones and drank her blood.
“The restaurant seems to have started. How about we eat before we leave?”
“Let’s go!”
The two hit it off immediately and headed straight for the restaurant.
The restaurant here operated almost around the clock, but there were intervals between when new dishes were brought out. Right now, a new round had just begun.
The two grabbed their trays and set off in different directions. When they returned to the table, they discovered that the food they had each chosen was almost identical.
A small bowl of fruit salad, and then nothing but meat piled high.
No staples, no dessert, not even a single plate of vegetables.
“Don’t you girls usually eat pretty healthy to keep your figures?” Jiang Qi looked at the amount of food on Zhang Fan’s tray—comparable to his own—with some surprise.
“I… I can’t get fat!”
Zhang Fan smiled guiltily. She would never admit that she only ate blanched vegetables because she had no money. Besides, she really couldn’t get fat. With that much work, how could she possibly get fat?
Jiang Qi smiled knowingly and said nothing more, diving into his food.
Both of them focused entirely on the food. It was clear that Jiang Qi wasn’t a picky eater—even if he came across something slightly unappetizing, he would quietly finish it.
As it happened, Zhang Fan was the same.
She only took a small portion of each dish. The first round was really just a tasting process.
Eating is like that—when your companion has a good appetite, you end up eating more too. Before long, the plates in front of them were completely cleaned off.
“Come on, come on, eat this!”
For the second round, their preferences were once again surprisingly in sync. Jiang Qi brought over a huge plate of oysters, making Zhang Fan wonder if he had just emptied the entire pot.
“That many?” Zhang Fan also loved oysters, but she could never get any.
“This is nothing!” Jiang Qi raised an eyebrow smugly. “I could have gotten some last time, but the guy in front of me took two big plates and wiped out the whole pot!”
He picked up an oyster and handed it to Zhang Fan. “When you eat at a place like this, you can’t be polite with people. If you’re polite, you don’t get to eat!”
Zhang Fan laughed. It seemed her personality still had room to grow—after all, she could never bring herself to empty an entire pot like that.
That would take way too much courage!
The meal stretched on for over two hours, and the restaurant had stopped serving new dishes.
The two leaned back in their chairs, content smiles on their faces.
“Oh, it’s already this late. Won’t your family have something to say if you go back now?” Jiang Qi pressed the button on his phone to light it up and glanced at the time—it was almost eleven at night.
The moment the words “your family” reached her ears, Zhang Fan’s heart sank.
What family did she have?
Maybe one—right now lying in a hospital, her fate unknown. That was Da Huang.
At the thought, a wave of sorrow instantly washed over her.
How could she have cast that aside and been here, eating and drinking to her heart’s content with someone else?
Seeming to realize he’d said the wrong thing, Jiang Qi quickly tried to comfort her: “It’s okay, don’t worry! First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll go with you to the hospital to see her, alright?”
“Huh?” Zhang Fan looked at Jiang Qi in surprise, then realized she might have misunderstood, and gave an awkward smile: “Thank you! But you have your own things to do—running back and forth would be a hassle. No need!”
“I’m unemployed, what things do I have to do? I can just spend the night here today!”
Jiang Qi casually picked up his drink and took a sip: “What about you? Do you still need to go home?”
The rest lounge at the bath center was not somewhere Zhang Fan could sleep comfortably—it was noisy, full of snoring, and possibly even smelly feet. But getting a private room felt a bit awkward too.
Still, staying here for the night would indeed be much more convenient. She could wake up tomorrow morning and walk straight to the pet hospital to see Da Huang.
“You said you’re staying here, so of course I have no choice but to stick with you through thick and thin!”
The two exchanged a smile. Not many words passed between them, yet being together felt perfectly comfortable—nothing like strangers who had only met a few hours ago.
In the rest lounge, the lights were off. It was past midnight now, and the sound of snoring had already begun to drift through the air. More people sat quietly in their own spots, watching movies.
Jiang Qi looked around and finally found two empty seats next to each other in the middle section. He waved for Zhang Fan to come over.
“This spot’s pretty good—fairly quiet.”
“Yeah!” Zhang Fan took the blanket Jiang Qi handed her and sat down gently on the leather recliner.
The recliner was fairly spacious, with just the right softness. There was also a small side table where you could order drinks or tea.
Jiang Qi didn’t seem to have such needs. He casually picked a movie, put on his earphones, pulled out his phone, and started scrolling intently.
Zhang Fan tilted her head and glanced at him. Handsome, brave, kind, not talkative, not a quiet bore either… Indeed, when you’re rich, everyone you meet is a good person.
That sounded a bit odd. Let her rephrase:
It should be—ever since she awakened the System, it felt like her luck had improved too.
After a day of busyness and a full stomach, once her whole body relaxed, she quickly fell asleep.
Beside her, Jiang Qi laughed while scrolling through videos: “Hey, did you see this? They’re calling you a moral guardian!” He held up the video he’d found, wanting to show Zhang Fan, but when he turned his head, he saw she had already fallen asleep.
Jiang Qi looked at Zhang Fan’s sleeping face, blinked, then gently removed her earphones and tucked the blanket around her.
“Buzz… buzz… buzz…”
The phone in Zhang Fan’s palm vibrated. Afraid of waking her, Jiang Qi quickly picked it up.
It was an unfamiliar number with no contact name saved. Maybe just a spam call.
Jiang Qi thought for a moment, then hung up the phone. Immediately after, the screen displayed a full page of missed calls and unread messages.
Strangely, all these calls and messages were from numbers without any saved contact names.
Maybe someone was looking for her?
Looking at Zhang Fan sound asleep, Jiang Qi thought for a moment, then placed the phone back into her hand.
Perhaps what those videos said about Zhang Fan being a “brother-supporting fanatic” was very likely true.