It was not until Jiang Mian took the formal dress and went into the changing room that Ye Zhou, who had just enjoyed a free show, was still making muffled snorting and chuckling noises.
Song Qichen turned his head expressionlessly.
Being swept by Song Qichen’s chilly gaze and feeling a shiver run down his back, Ye Zhou hurriedly waved his hands. “Pfft, no no, boss, don’t look at me. You’re creeping me out. I promise I won’t… heh… I won’t laugh anymore. Really, really. Believe me.”
Seeing this, Song Qichen slowly turned his head back.
By now, Ye Zhou had more or less laughed enough. Looking at the man’s side profile, handsome to the point of not seeming mortal, he suddenly bumped him with his shoulder.
“Are you really not interested in her at all? This is the first girl you’ve ever brought to EU…”
Song Qichen: “……” ‘I think you’re itching for a beating.’
Instantly understanding the meaning in Song Qichen’s eyes, Ye Zhou hurriedly zipped his mouth shut again. Once Song Qichen was truly angered, the next few months of his life would definitely be plunged into deep misery and suffering.
Just then, Jiang Mian, who had swiftly changed into a pure black spaghetti-strap evening gown, pushed the changing room door open directly. Because she had dropped one earring while changing, she was walking out while putting the earring back on.
“Miss, look over here!”
Ye Zhou called out to her with great enthusiasm.
Hearing this, Jiang Mian, who had just stepped in front of the full-length mirror, instinctively turned her head. Her slightly wavy black hair lazily traced an arc in the air. The bright overhead lights spilled down over her, making the line of her shoulders and neck appear even more fair and jade-like. Her whole person looked as if she had just been peeled out of an eggshell, black and white interwoven, the striking beauty hitting one head-on. Even someone as worldly and experienced as Ye Zhou could not help but have his breath catch.
The other people in the studio had long since been stunned.
As for Song Qichen…
Ye Zhou could not help turning his head to glance at the man beside him, only to see that this reincarnated monk of nine lifetimes did not have the slightest change in his expression or gaze.
Fine then. The world of a big shot really was fundamentally different from that of ordinary mortals like them.
Aside from money, there was probably nothing else in this world that could make Song Qichen’s heart beat any faster.
‘Tsk.’
After clicking his tongue, Ye Zhou looked at the dress Jiang Mian was wearing. For some reason, the more he looked at it, the more something felt off. The tailoring was quite good, and the design was not bad either, but that fabric…
“Boss, what’s going on? The clothes this miss is wearing look way too much like curtain fabric to me!”
Ye Zhou voiced his confusion.
He did not expect that the moment his words fell, he would see his boss turn his head and give him an approving smile.
‘No, wait. What are you approving here?’
“It’s exactly what you think.”
Ye Zhou: “……” ‘Good lord. I can only say, good lord.’
“This outfit, don’t tell me you personally…” made it?
Before Ye Zhou could finish his sentence, Song Qichen seemed to have already guessed what he was about to say and let out a light hum in response.
Ye Zhou: “……”
‘Just to save money, big brother, there really is nothing too unhinged for you to do, is there?’
Ye Zhou’s mood became a little complicated.
The young man slowly turned his head and saw that, at some point, the girl who had just been spinning around in front of the mirror looking stunning had slipped on a pair of gloves the same color as her dress. And honestly, her sense of aesthetics was really quite good. With the whole set matched together, the charm became even richer. She looked like a Hong Kong–style beauty who had stepped straight out of a movie.
One word. Stunning.
It was just that those gloves looked strangely familiar.
No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than he saw that the miss seemed to notice that something was not quite right with the gloves.
Suddenly remembering where the gloves had come from, Ye Zhou’s heart jolted. He hurriedly called out a reminder, “Miss, those gloves were a new red carpet design specially customized by Blue Jade Studio for Best Actress Jiang Ying. Be careful…”
Before he could finish speaking, there came a ripping sound.
Having found the loose thread and without even using any force, only to see the gloves split open on their own, Jiang Mian: “……”
Song Qichen, who took a couple of quick steps forward but was far too late to stop it: “……”
“I didn’t do it on purpose…”
Jiang Mian was rarely this embarrassed.
She swore she really had not done it intentionally. When she had accidentally seen the gloves in the changing room just now, she had thought they were part of the same set as her dress. She had not expected them to belong to someone else.
Song Qichen: “……”
‘Did the gloves split?’
‘No.’
‘I split.’
Catching a glimpse of his boss’s expression, which looked like the end of the world, Ye Zhou, who had not seen any major emotional fluctuation from him in many years, failed to hold it in.
“Pfft!”
“Heh heh, it’s fine, it’s fine. Miss, don’t blame yourself too much. What is a sponsor for? A sponsor exists precisely for dealing with things like this. Even if these gloves start at five figures, he’ll pay for them. He… has money, pfft…”
Song Qichen: “……” ‘Five figures, huh. Heh, you are really trying to take my life.’
*
Downstairs at the EU studio, Jiang Mian, dressed up beautifully, walked beside Song Qichen with her hands clasped behind her back, carefully studying his expression.
“Oh come on, don’t be mad anymore. I didn’t do it on purpose. You’re a grown man, don’t be so petty.”
Seeing that Song Qichen’s brows were furrowed so tightly they looked like they could crush a mosquito, Jiang Mian tried hard to coax him.
Song Qichen: “Heh.”
“If you keep talking in that sarcastic tone, I’m going to get unhappy.”
Song Qichen: “Hmph.”
“How about we talk about something cheerful instead? Do I look pretty dressed like this? I’ve never dressed up like this in my life. Thanks!”
Song Qichen: “Oh.”
“Hey, do you like how I look like this?”
Song Qichen: “Is it important?”
“Of course it is. After all, you’re my sponsor. The preferences of my dear sponsor are the only thing this little canary of yours strives for.”
Jiang Mian said with a grin.
Song Qichen: “Heh.”
“Stop heh-ing at me.”
Jiang Mian spoke up with a threat. It had been many years since anyone had dared provoke her like this. The last one had been the zombie emperor who deliberately triggered a zombie siege. By now, grass on that thing’s grave was probably a full meter tall.
Song Qichen: “Heh. Heh.”
Losing money had caused President Song to lose his sanity.
‘Oh wow. My short temper is really acting up.’
Unable to hold it in, Jiang Mian stepped forward and rammed her shoulder straight into Song Qichen, who was about to walk ahead.
Off you go.
Song Qichen was knocked forward, his whole body pitching ahead.
Jiang Mian had not expected herself to use that much force. When she tried to grab him back, it was already too late. She could only watch helplessly as he stepped straight into the landscaped greenery, nearly falling flat on his face.
Jiang Mian: “!!!”
Song Qichen: “……” ‘Jiang Mian!’
The man turned his head, eyes practically spitting fire.
Jiang Mian: “……” ‘Time to run.’
Song Qichen chased after her directly, but with his physical condition, how could he possibly be a match for Jiang Mian.
At the same time, Ye Zhou stood by the window, having watched the entire scene from beginning to end. Propping his chin up with one hand, the corners of his mouth lifted high.
For some reason, he simply felt that this scene looked both interesting and warm.
It had been so many years since he had seen such vivid expressions appear on his boss’s face.
He and his boss had grown up together in an orphanage, the Nanshan Orphanage, a place notorious for being old, rundown, and cramped, with a remote location to boot. There were many people in the orphanage, and relying solely on government subsidies, they could barely get enough to eat.
His boss had been smart since childhood, exceptionally smart. Back when the rest of them were still ignorant kids, playing with mud and messing around, his boss, at just nine years old, had already learned how to sell popsicles to help subsidize the orphanage.
Back then, the orphanage had a director they loved dearly, a director who truly doted on them. Unfortunately, the world was just that unfair. Good people did not live long.
That wonderful director fell ill with breast cancer. In order to earn money for her treatment, his boss, despite his young age but remarkable intelligence, began a life of doing odd jobs everywhere to make money.
Collecting trash, selling popsicles, helping as a kitchen hand at snack stalls, hauling bricks, cutting hair, sewing clothes at garment factories, making handmade soap, and even carrying water at tourist attractions.
As long as it was a job you could think of that made money, it seemed like he had done it all.
The only thing left was selling himself by the pound.
Unfortunately, no matter how desperately he struggled, the director still passed away.
Back then, all of them kids cried until they nearly passed out. Yet only the boss acted as if nothing had happened, continuing to earn money as usual.
Fate always loved to toy with people. In the second year after the director’s death, his boss was taken back to the Song family of Yanjing, the wealthiest family in the capital. It turned out he was the only son of the prestigious Song family.
When they were young and ignorant, they thought that because the boss did not cry, he truly was not sad. They had even blamed him for being cold-blooded.
Looking back now, it was clear that being unable to cry was the more serious illness, because the illness was lodged deep in the heart.
That was why, even now that he was so rich, the boss still had an extremely pathological obsession with money.
Under normal circumstances, he was like a perfectly functioning money-making machine. Aside from making money and saving money, there seemed to be nothing in this world worth his concern.
Seeing him like this now felt really good.
He also hoped that in the future, his boss, who had grown accustomed to being alone and solitary since childhood, would have someone by his side, someone to support him and walk with him through the rest of his life.
The corners of Ye Zhou’s mouth lifted even higher.
*
Meanwhile, the two people who, in Ye Zhou’s heart, were supposed to support and rely on each other were standing there, one looking at the other, the other looking at the electric scooter.
“You’re planning to… take me to the banquet on this?”
Jiang Mian: absolutely speechless.
“I’m dressed up this beautifully, and didn’t you keep saying we were running out of time, running out of time? I’d say you’ve got plenty of time. You’re even planning to hit the road on an electric scooter!”
Jiang Mian started speaking in a deliberately sarcastic tone.
“Actually, electric scooters are pretty fast too…”
Song Qichen tried to struggle a bit.
He had to struggle. He had just lost five figures.
Five figures!!!
Song Qichen felt his heart bleeding profusely.
Besides, if the two of them took a taxi from here to Banshan Club, it would cost no less than five hundred. Late was late. He did not really have anything to say to those people anyway. Eat the food, take the gifts, and that would be it.
“Let’s take a taxi,” Jiang Mian suggested.
“No!”
Jiang Mian: “……”
Song Qichen: “……”
“Wait, I’ve got a solution!”
Just as the two of them were locked in a stalemate, another interesting idea popped into Song Qichen’s clever little head.
Ten minutes later.
Assistant Xiao Yan stared at the fuel money and depreciation fee his boss had left behind.
His motorcycle. His “wife,” ahhh!
And also, that girl just now was ridiculously pretty. How did she end up liking President Song of all people?
Sob sob.
Downstairs, looking at the sleek, smooth-lined motorcycle in front of her, a flicker of fondness flashed through Jiang Mian’s eyes.
Seeing Song Qichen about to put a helmet on himself, Jiang Mian immediately pressed down on his hand and said earnestly, “How about I ride instead?”
Song Qichen: “??”
Jiang Mian: “I’m pretty good at riding motorcycles.” ‘In one go I can run down four or five zombies.’
Song Qichen: “I think…”
Hearing this, Jiang Mian directly raised her index finger and lightly pressed it against his lips. “I don’t want what you think. I want what I think. That’s it. Listen to me.”
Song Qichen: “……”
With a trace of doubt, he sat down on the back seat of the motorcycle.
The very next second, there came a vroom vroom vroom.
The motorcycle shot forward without warning, and Song Qichen’s soul went flying out with it.
That saying about the body running ahead while the soul chases after from behind. This was exactly what it looked like.
Thirty minutes later, Banshan Club.
Jiang Mian: “Wooohoo, damn that was satisfying. So? My skills. Aren’t they top-notch?”
Jiang Mian gave a thumbs-up.
He survived…
On the other side, Song Qichen, pale-faced and dazed, finally staggered off the life-taking motorcycle. With trembling hands, he braced himself against a roadside tree trunk, his legs shaking, his mind left with only one single thought.
Perhaps, some money really is not meant to be saved.