She must have noticed Chen Xiao looking, as she gave him a slight nod.
Chen Xiao felt a little awkward. 'She can't possibly think I'm trying to dodge the debt, can she?' After all, he hadn't gone to pay her back last night, and it wasn't a good time to explain.
He saw her eating with two other young women. They were wearing matching uniforms, so they were probably colleagues. They were all beautiful, but sitting next to her, they were instantly outshone.
"Don't stare. A woman that beautiful isn't for guys like us," Wang Jing whispered to Chen Xiao.
Chen Xiao didn't dare to look anymore, feeling a pang of guilt. 'Who knows what she must be thinking of me right now.'
Little did they know, the beautiful women were also talking about them.
"Did you guys hear those two handsome guys at the next table? An office job with a base salary of 4,000 yuan... and for a man, at that. It must be hard for him to even support himself on that kind of income. Making a living really isn't easy these days!"
"Yeah, just because they work in an office doesn't mean anything. Their income is lower than ours as sales associates. A top seller like Xiangjun can pull in over 10,000 a month!"
The most beautiful of the women said nothing, seemingly lost in thought.
"Bro, I've been meaning to give you a suggestion back at the office. We're in sales, so we need to be a little more mindful of how we dress. Look at you—you're still wearing casual sportswear from your school days. It's not really professional."
Chen Xiao nodded. He was aware of it too. Before, he couldn't afford to be picky about his clothes, and for the past couple of days, he just hadn't had the time. He could probably squeeze in some time today to pick out a few new outfits. Now, when he went to the malls in Jiangzhou, as long as he stayed out of the luxury boutiques, he could pretty much buy whatever he wanted without even looking at the price tag.
His wallet was full, and so was his confidence.
The women at the next table finished their meal and were preparing to leave. Chen Xiao said to Wang Jing, "Wait for me a sec, I have to take care of something."
Then he hurried after them. Wang Jing was dumbfounded. 'Holy crap, Chen Xiao's got some serious balls!'
"Hey, wait up!" Once outside the restaurant, Chen Xiao quickly called out to them. But since he didn't know her name, all he could do was shout, "Hey!"
Thankfully, they turned and saw Chen Xiao. One of them said, "Another one asking for a WeChat contact. No need to guess, he's definitely here for Xiangjun. Let's bounce and not be a third wheel."
The other one added, "Of course he is. When does anyone ever pay attention to us when we're with Xiangjun!"
The woman they called Xiangjun saw Chen Xiao as well and stopped, letting her two colleagues walk on ahead.
When he caught up, he saw his neighbor had stopped to wait for him. Her bright, wide eyes were fixed on him, unblinking.
Chen Xiao said sheepishly, "Um, sorry about yesterday. I got back really late and didn't want to disturb you."
She nodded but didn't say anything.
"I don't think I ever got your name."
"Zhao Xiangjun."
Chen Xiao gave her a meaningful look. Zhao Xiangjun, being quite perceptive, said, "My parents chose it."
Chen Xiao quickly replied, "I didn't mean anything by it. In fact, you're much more beautiful than the historical Xiangjun."
Zhao Xiangjun gave him an odd look. Chen Xiao felt like she was thinking, 'What's wrong with this guy?'
"So, uh, would it be okay if I added you on WeChat? I can transfer the money to you that way."
"Didn't you have an insufficient balance?" Zhao Xiangjun asked, puzzled. Just yesterday, he'd said his balance was too low and that he'd get cash, but now he was offering to do a WeChat transfer.
"Oh, I linked my bank card."
"Hm, okay. You don't have to add me. I'll just show you my payment code."
It seemed she wasn't one to add strangers on WeChat casually. She opened her payment code, entered 2,000 yuan, and held it out for Chen Xiao to scan.
Chen Xiao scanned the code and tapped to pay... Payment failed.
"..."
"..."
Chen Xiao stared blankly at Zhao Xiangjun, only to see her wearing an I-knew-it expression. 'She must think I'm just putting on a show,' he realized. 'That I felt obligated to offer since I ran into her, but I don't actually have the money to pay her back.'
"Chen Xiao, right?" she said. "Did linking your bank card not work? It's okay, don't worry about it. I'm not in a rush for the money. You can just pay me back after you get your commission."
Zhao Xiangjun put her phone away. Not only did she not call him out, she even gave him an easy way out of the embarrassing situation.
'But that's not it at all!' Chen Xiao was filled with a sense of injustice. As Zhao Xiangjun turned and walked away, he quickly looked down at his phone to find the problem. He finally realized his phone bill was overdue. A message from that morning had warned him that his service credit had been exhausted, suspending his outgoing calls—which of course meant his data was cut off too.
"Hey, uh, Zhao Xiangjun, wait a second!" Chen Xiao hastily called after her as she walked away.
She turned back, her bright, wide eyes full of doubt, as if to say, 'What now? I already gave you an out. Are you going to keep up this act?'
"Uh, my phone ran out of credit, so..."
"Oh, I know. It's fine," she said. "Just pay me back when you get your commission. There's no rush." 'It's all just excuses anyway,' she thought. 'Ran out of phone credit, bank card not linked... what's the difference?'
Seeing her turn to leave again, Chen Xiao blurted out, "Hey, could you pay my phone bill for me? Once my data is back on, I can transfer the money to you!"
Zhao Xiangjun spun around, staring at Chen Xiao in utter shock. He instantly read her expression: 'Could someone really be this shameless? It's one thing not to pay me back, but now he's trying to scam me into paying his phone bill?'
"Don't get the wrong idea! My phone really is out of credit!" Chen Xiao explained frantically.
"No need to explain. I believe you," Zhao Xiangjun said, though her thoughts were racing. 'I believe his phone is out of credit, I just can't imagine how someone gets to a point where they can't even afford to pay their phone bill. No wonder a grown man like him couldn't pay the 2,000-yuan management fee. It all makes sense now. If he can't even afford a 200-yuan phone top-up, how could he possibly have 2,000?'
"Phone number."
"138..."
"There, I added 300 for you. That should be enough," she said. "Chen Xiao, everyone runs into hardship, but it's always temporary. As long as you work hard, you'll eventually see the clouds part and the moon shine through. Keep your head up. Just pay me back when you get your commission. As for the phone bill... just consider it a little something to help you out."
'Wait, what's that supposed to mean?' Chen Xiao froze for a second, then it dawned on him: she thought he had scammed her into paying his phone bill. "Zhao Xiangjun, don't go yet! I have the money, I'll transfer it to you right now!" he said hurriedly.
This time, however, Zhao Xiangjun walked away without a single glance back.
Leaving Chen Xiao standing there, utterly mortified. This was a massive misunderstanding.
He restarted his phone, and his data connection was restored. But the beautiful woman was already gone. 'Whatever,' Chen Xiao thought. 'I'll just pay her back when I get home.'
Seeing him return looking dejected, Wang Jing chuckled. "So, how'd it go, bro? Did you get the beauty's WeChat?"
Chen Xiao shook his head.
"See? I told you. A woman on that level is out of our league. Rich guys are probably lining up for her. She wouldn't even bother giving guys like us a second glance."
Chen Xiao shook his head again. 'Zhao Xiangjun really isn't like that.' Although she had an icy exterior that kept others at a distance, her actions over the past two days proved she was actually a very kind-hearted person. Her coldness was just a facade.
"Don't be so stubborn. We can barely support ourselves on our monthly salary. What do we have to offer to support her expensive tastes? You can't get together and expect the girl to spend her money on you, can you?"
Chen Xiao thought to himself, 'Funnily enough, she actually did just spend money on me.'