The next morning, Su Nuo got up first.
She steamed some frozen buns and shaomai.
After breakfast, the two of them went downstairs and headed off to work separately.
The manager of the milk tea shop happened to be standing outside.
The moment she saw Jiang Jingye, her eyes widened.
Pulling Su Nuo aside, she teased, “Not bad, Nuonuo. Your boyfriend is that handsome? When are you getting married? Have you met each other’s parents yet?”
Su Nuo’s cheeks warmed, and she answered vaguely.
The manager glanced again at Jiang Jingye’s uniform and quietly asked, “Your boyfriend is… Special Police? His presence is way too intimidating!”
Su Nuo shook her head.
“No, he’s a security guard.”
The manager froze for a moment before smiling knowingly and saying nothing more.
Inwardly, she thought that a milk tea shop employee could never be a match for Special Police anyway.
She had simply been dazzled by how handsome he was.
“Nuonuo, it’s your turn to hand out flyers and attract customers today.”
“Okay, got it.”
The manager had her change into the brand’s pink mascot outfit and applied some light makeup for her.
Su Nuo was already beautiful by nature.
The soft and adorable outfit only made her sweet features stand out even more.
Standing at the street corner handing out flyers, she quickly attracted a lot of attention.
Before long, a line formed outside One Milk One Tea.
That afternoon, inside the security booth.
Liu Zhisheng walked in carrying two cups of One Milk One Tea milk tea and set one down in front of Jiang Jingye.
“Try it! There was an insanely long line today!”
Jiang Jingye glanced at the logo on the cup and raised an eyebrow.
“Why didn’t you buy your usual brand?”
“Well, I heard the girl handing out flyers there was especially pretty, so I went to check it out. That girl is seriously gorgeous! Her face, her figure… she doesn’t belong in a milk tea shop. She belongs on television.”
Liu Zhisheng sighed in admiration.
“A lot of people asked for her WeChat today, but she said she had a boyfriend and turned every one of them down. Pretty principled girl. Though who knows if she’d still hold out if a rich, handsome guy showed up.”
Jiang Jingye was just about to respond when a notification suddenly popped up on his game screen.
Account permanently suspended due to suspected use of cheating software.
Immediately afterward, the customer who had placed an order began arguing with him.
“What happened? Were you cheating? My account got banned too!”
“Don’t you have any professional ethics at all…”
“Refund me! Refund me!”
At that point, the group owner stepped in and calmed the customer down.
At the same time, he instructed Jiang Jingye to issue a full refund.
Jiang Jingye had no choice but to comply.
Unwilling to accept it, he asked about the appeal process to restore the account.
The group owner explained that his rank had climbed too quickly, which had triggered the platform’s review system.
There were no shortcuts.
All he could do was wait.
The group owner also promised to contact him again once the account was reinstated.
Just like that, his source of income was gone.
Jiang Jingye felt stifled.
Without money, he could not buy the laptop.
And Su Nuo would have to keep going to that shady internet café every night.
“You’re way too impatient. Who works as hard as you do? Wasn’t earning two hundred yuan a day enough? You had to make two thousand? If the officials weren’t going to ban you, who else would they ban?”
Liu Zhisheng tried to comfort him.
He talked endlessly.
Unfortunately, it was completely ineffective.
Finally, after enduring the rest of the shift, Jiang Jingye got off work and headed toward the milk tea shop.
As soon as he reached the intersection, he saw a long line stretching from the entrance of the shop all the way down the street.
At the front of the line stood Su Nuo.
Dressed in a pink mascot costume, she smiled as she handed flyers to passersby.
The setting sun had tinted her cheeks rosy red.
She looked so adorable it was almost dazzling.
Jiang Jingye had never expected that the “pretty girl” Liu Zhisheng had been talking about was Su Nuo.
…
It was almost time to get off work.
Su Nuo gathered up the remaining flyers and returned to the shop to change clothes.
The manager laughed.
“From now on, I don’t think I’ll dare assign flyer duty to you so casually. Around noon, every branch within three kilometers sent over their supplies, and now we’re nearly out again! This is the first time our store has ever been overwhelmed with orders.”
Another coworker chimed in.
“It’s all because Su Nuo is too pretty. She brought in so many customers.”
Su Nuo smiled.
“The manager’s promotional event was the real reason it worked.”
Then she waved goodbye.
“I’m off work now. Everyone worked hard today.”
The moment she stepped out of the shop, she spotted Jiang Jingye waiting by the roadside.
Noticing the groceries in his hand, her eyes lit up.
She ran over happily.
“What are you doing here? What are we having for dinner tonight?”
The setting sun shone across her face.
Her smile was dazzling.
Seeing how happy she was, Jiang Jingye swallowed the words he had wanted to say.
“Steamed fish, braised pork, stir fried cabbage, and seaweed egg soup.”
“Three dishes and a soup again!”
Su Nuo bounced excitedly.
“We’re finally living the good life! But how do you know how to cook? Didn’t you never cook before?”
“Maybe it’s talent.”
The answer made Su Nuo laugh.
But Jiang Jingye was not joking.
His ability to learn was exceptionally strong.
Cooking was not difficult for him at all.
The two of them walked home together.
After turning a corner, they unexpectedly ran into Xu Jiayi and Fu Sili, who had come to check on the store.
The four of them locked eyes.
The air instantly became silent.
This was the first time Jiang Jingye had met Xu Jiayi and Fu Sili since going bankrupt.
Su Nuo could feel the coldness radiating from him.
The atmosphere immediately became tense.
The phrase “when rivals in love meet, hostility fills the air” perfectly described the situation.
It was Xu Jiayi who broke the silence first.
Smiling at Su Nuo, she said, “Nuonuo, today’s sales explosion was all thanks to you.”
Su Nuo scratched her head awkwardly.
“It was the manager’s promotional planning that worked well.”
Watching the unexpectedly friendly interaction between Su Nuo and Xu Jiayi,
Jiang Jingye realized that this sort of customer attraction activity might become a regular occurrence.
“Promotional planning?”
His expression darkened as he looked at Xu Jiayi.
His tone was unmistakably displeased.
“A milk tea shop sells drinks, not nightlife entertainment. What kind of skill is it to attract male customers using a woman’s appearance?”
Xu Jiayi’s face immediately alternated between pale and flushed.
She hurriedly explained.
“No! That’s not it! The store’s outfit wasn’t revealing. People liked how cute Nuonuo looked. It’s not what you’re thinking!”
“If it’s not what I’m thinking, then what is it? Can you honestly say your shop would have exploded with orders today if it weren’t Su Nuo?”
He disliked seeing Su Nuo dressed like that and smiling at strangers.
Very much so.
Su Nuo was shocked that Jiang Jingye was actually showing displeasure toward Xu Jiayi.
This was supposed to be the woman he loved most…
But after another thought,
men only lost their composure in front of the people they cared about.
“Jiang Jingye, stop.”
She tugged lightly on his arm, trying to calm him.
“Jiayi didn’t mean it that way. Everyone in the shop takes turns handing out flyers. It just happened to be my turn today.”
Fu Sili raised an eyebrow slightly.
In a gentle tone, he said, “Mr. Jiang, I think you’re being overly sensitive. It’s only a small matter.”
Su Nuo instinctively agreed.
“Exactly. It’s just a small thing. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?”
Jiang Jingye looked at her defending Fu Sili.
His expression darkened like ink.
All he could think about was the way Su Nuo used to stare at that Alipay profile picture and smile foolishly.
Without saying another word, he turned and walked away.
Su Nuo froze for a moment before quickly apologizing to Xu Jiayi and Fu Sili.
“I’m sorry. He’s in a bad mood today. Please don’t take it personally.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
Xu Jiayi waved her hands repeatedly.
Watching Su Nuo’s retreating figure as she ran after Jiang Jingye, she turned to Fu Sili.
“Sili, all the employees take turns with flyer duty. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to exempt only her, would it?”
Fu Sili reached out and gently ruffled her hair.
His tone was patient and guiding.
“None of us expected Su Nuo handing out flyers to produce such excellent results. From a business perspective, you could raise her salary and make customer outreach her primary responsibility.”
“You need to understand that physical attractiveness is already a scarce resource. We shouldn’t take advantage of Su Nuo simply because we’ve established a rule. Of course, all of this should only happen if Su Nuo agrees to it herself.”
After listening carefully, Xu Jiayi nodded seriously.
“We can’t exploit an employee’s appearance as a resource! I’ll remember that!”