“Qiao Qiao, I’m bankrupt.”
The knife and fork touched the porcelain plate with a very soft clink.
Qiao Mai looked up, watching He Sinians calmly cut the Wellington steak on his plate, her hand holding the knife and fork freezing mid-air.
The memories belonging to the original owner had just finished merging in her mind; she hadn’t even had time to swallow the top-grade black truffle in her mouth.
Here it comes!
She had just finished reading half of this dog-blooded web novel and smashed her phone two days ago, only to crash right into the book today—and coincidentally, right into this very scene.
This damn scene of pretending to be broke had arrived!
Qiao Mai tried her best to steady herself. The original owner had crashed and burned right here.
Upon learning that He Sinian was bankrupt, the original owner directly hit him with a combo of poured red wine and a tight slap across the face, then left haughtily.
As dashing as her exit was, her ending was just as miserable.
A week later, the original owner’s fake socialite identity was exposed, the large luxury flat she had tricked out of him was repossessed, she was saddled with massive debts, and she was eventually dragged off to the underworld to die a miserable death.
She absolutely could not repeat the original owner’s old path!
Although the bags and jewelry He Sinian had given her had all been sold off, she still had a 300-square-meter large flat in the city center that she had conned out of him. She might as well go all-in on the act, take it to get a mortgage loan, casually invest it, let the interest compound, and she’d be a genuine wealthy woman.
As for her fake socialite identity? Heh, as long as she didn’t chicken out, pretending until the day she died would make her a real socialite.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” He Sinian put down his knife and fork, leaning back against the chair. “He’s Corporation’s capital chain has broken. I’m penniless now and even carrying tens of billions in debt.”
Qiao Mai pinched her own thigh hard, her eyes instantly misting over with a layer of water.
She dropped her knife and fork, grabbed He Sinian’s hand resting on the table, and choked out with just the right amount of trembling voice: “Did you think I was the kind of woman who could only share the good times and not the hardships? How could you carry something as big as this all by yourself?”
He Sinian clearly stiffened for a second, trying to pull his hand back, but failed.
His gaze was very calm, as if he were just casually mentioning an unimportant matter.
“It’s nothing. It’s just that I probably won’t be able to buy you things like before, and we won’t be able to come to Michelin-starred restaurants either.”
Qiao Mai sneered inwardly.
What a great act.
She clearly remembered that He Sinian currently had nine figures in liquid cash alone. The so-called broken capital chain was just him transferring a portion of his assets to overseas accounts while conveniently closing a few shell projects to put on a show for outsiders.
But she couldn’t call him out.
With a face full of sincerity, she said, “It doesn’t matter. We’ll just buy less from now on.”
Before she finished speaking, feeling it wasn’t enough, she quickly corrected herself: “No, we won’t buy anything at all from now on. What’s bankruptcy? We can just start over from scratch. Don’t worry, I can support you from now on.”
The knife He Sinian was using to cut his steak hovered in mid-air, pausing for a beat before he set it down.
The look in his eyes as he gazed at her changed—it was no longer that kind of casual condescension, but rather like someone re-evaluating an item they had misjudged.
Qiao Mai was crystal clear about the situation—the two of them were in a purely physical relationship, having been together for only half a year, with zero shared hardships or emotional ties to speak of.
In He Sinian’s view, a bed partner like Qiao Mai had nothing in her eyes except money.
That was why her saying those three words, “I’ll support you,” carried such a critical blow.
“You’ll support me?”
“Right!” Qiao Mai answered decisively and firmly.
Are you kidding? With a large flat in hand, what’s wrong with supporting a down-and-out handsome guy?
Besides, this man was actually a top-tier tycoon worth tens of billions; throwing in a little emotional value now would yield a hundredfold return later.
She was more than willing to support him!
To show her sincerity, she heroically patted her chest and said, “I’ll treat this meal. Don’t be afraid, even if the sky falls, I’ve got you covered!”
He Sinian looked at her with a complex expression and ultimately fell silent.
Having successfully hooked a golden thigh, Qiao Mai cheerfully went to pay the bill.
“Hello, that’s 9,600 in total. Will you be paying by card or cash?”
Qiao Mai almost failed to keep her composure; she only had a little over 10,000 left in total across her cards!
“What, is the money not enough?” He Sinian asked deliberately, watching her grit her teeth.
“Of course not, I was just wondering which card to use.” Qiao Mai bit down hard on her back teeth and scanned the code to pay.
Watching her balance instantly plunge to four digits, her heart was bleeding.
But for the sake of her long-term money-making master plan, she endured it.
As the sages say: If you don’t risk the child, you can’t catch the wolf.
Let’s just consider these 9,600 as her angel-round investment.
Thoughtfully hailing a ride-hailing car for He Sinian, Qiao Mai relied on her memories, took the subway, and navigated through twists and turns to finally return to the urban village slum where she rented a room.
Why didn’t she go live in the large flat?
Because her foundation was lacking—in short, she was scared.
Afraid… that once she moved in, she wouldn’t have the heart to mortgage it anymore.
Besides, the hard-nosed persona of an independent wealthy heiress living alone that the original owner had desperately tried to maintain meant she had never actually moved in.
If she moved in now, she was afraid of breaking character.
The shabby little room was messy, and the air was a mixed blend of cheap perfume and sewer odor—Qiao Mai felt her nose was suffering a critical hit and hurriedly put on a mask.
The small room was piled high with various takeout packaging and cosmetics, and even the bed the original owner slept on was stuffed with knock-off bags bought on Pinduoduo for 9.9 yuan with free shipping, along with a few haute couture dresses she had to return to the rental company tomorrow.
Qiao Mai sighed resignedly.
Although she was just a working-class corporate cog herself, she still had certain quality-of-life standards and simply couldn’t stand filth and chaos, so she rolled up her sleeves and started cleaning up directly.
Busy until 11:00 PM, the place was finally somewhere you could step on.
She didn’t rest either, quickly digging out the property ownership certificate for that 300-square-meter apartment.
This was prime real estate in the core of the city that everyone dreamed of; its market value was easily worth half a small target (50 million).
Too bad she couldn’t keep it.
No, she couldn’t look anymore, or she wouldn’t be able to bear pawning it off.
Tomorrow, she would go to the bank to inquire about the mortgage loan process.
Going by the current market conditions, getting a mortgage loan of 20 million absolutely wouldn’t be a problem. Once she got the money, she’d immediately dump it into the booming new energy sector, and it would double in less than a year.
By then, even if He Sinian really decided to break ties with her, she could still live a carefree life relying on that money.
As for right now? She still needed to secure this golden thigh first.
Suddenly, her phone vibrated.
Jenny, a member of the pooled-socialite chat group, sent a voice message and specifically tagged her.
“Qiao Mai! Are you dead? When are you going to pay your 500-yuan balance for our shared afternoon tea at the Bulgari Hotel? And that Dior dress you wore, the six of us chipped in for that, and the rental company is chasing us for dry cleaning fees! Don’t even think about welshing on your debt!”
Lisa also chimed in with a sarcastic jab: [Yeah, hurry up and pay! If you don’t pay up, we’re going to blast you online so no one will hang out with you anymore!]
Qiao Mai glanced at it and didn’t rush to reply.
In the past, these people wouldn’t have dared to use that tone with her.
Now that they were acting so arrogant, they must have heard the news about He Sinian’s bankruptcy.
Right on cue, someone else in the group sent a message.
I heard He’s Corporation ran into trouble recently, their capital chain broke, and they’re about to be liquidated. Qiao Mai, you better hurry up and fleece him, or you’ll end up with an empty basket in the end.
Jerry directly issued an ultimatum: Qiao Mai, I’m warning you, if you don’t pay up by tomorrow, I’m going to post about you wearing knock-offs on Weibo and Xiaohongshu and completely ruin your reputation online!!
Only then did Qiao Mai reply: What’s the rush? So what if he’s bankrupt? As long as I keep him steady and make him fall madly in love with me, once he makes a comeback, I’ll cover all your pooled purchases from now on.
The group instantly erupted into chatter, filled entirely with sarcastic mocks directed at her.
Qiao Mai snorted coldly: “A bunch of idiots. This is called buying the dip.”
To give today’s performance a perfect finishing touch, she opened WeChat and found He Sinian’s profile picture.
She transferred 1,000 to him.
Accompanied by a voice message: “Darling, this is my allowance for this month. Take it first for emergencies. Don’t feel stressed—as long as I have a bite to eat, I won’t let you go hungry.”
She only had 1,560 left in total, yet she gave him 1,000 without a moment’s hesitation.
Qiao Mai tossed her phone face-down on the bed and closed her eyes to praise herself.
She truly was the most thoughtful and considerate girlfriend in the entire world.