Chapter 59: The Charm of Money

  In front of dignity and desire, after a painful struggle, I finally compromised with Qin Ke Yi, took several deep breaths, and walked towards the store of the brand she specified with heavy steps. Perhaps it was the rare experience of serving male customers in her career that brought challenges, the salesgirl saw me walking into the store and immediately began to introduce the advantages and unique features of various styles with extreme enthusiasm, and from time to time vividly described the feeling of wearing each style, making me admire her professional ethics and work ethic while also wondering if she really understood the feeling of wearing hundreds of exquisite lingerie in this house.

  "I didn't buy it for myself, so there's no need to introduce it in such detail, thank you!" I intentionally reminded the salesgirl who was enthusiastically introducing it to me.

  "It's for your girlfriend, right? No worries, just take a look and introduce it to her when you get back!" the salesgirl said enthusiastically.

  "Our conversation hasn't reached that area yet! Thank you! I... want this style!" After hesitating for half a day, I chose a style that would make Qin Ke Yi's lingerie show float in my mind.

  "What size?" When the waitress asked me this most practical question, I realized that I had forgotten to ask in my earlier haste. So I took out my phone and called Qin Ke Yi, who was hiding in a corner not far away, watching me with amusement.

  "Hey! Why are you blushing!? Haha!" Qin Ke said with a laugh over the phone.

  "Who... who's blushing? Where are you hiding? Come out quickly!" I whispered into the phone.

  "Stop stalling! How come you still haven't chosen for me?"

  "You forgot to tell me your size! You also don't allow on-site measurement, so there's no way to choose!" I said, waiting anxiously for Qin Ke Yi's answer.

  "Hey......! Why aren't you saying anything?!" Half a day had passed without hearing Qin Ke Yi's voice, so I shouted into the phone. At this moment, someone suddenly patted me on the back, and when I turned around, I found that Qin Ke Yi was already standing behind me.

  "You've finally decided to come out?"

  "Which one did you pick?" Qin Ke gave me a glance, pulled me into the house and asked, so I pointed to the style I had picked earlier for her to see.

  "Really ugly!! I didn't think you'd like such a disgusting style!" Qin Ke picked up the one I was pointing at, took a look, then looked at the price tag and pouted to me.

  "What's wrong? Doesn't it match the style of your inner wear show?" I whispered to Qin Ke Yi with a smile, and after she gave me a white eye, she continued to pick out clothes. At this time, the salesgirl seemed to realize that the final decision was up to Qin Ke Yi, so she began to introduce things to her in a unique way that only women understand.

  "I want this one!" Qin Ke said to me, holding up another piece. I took a look at the price and it was more than 200 yuan cheaper, almost the cheapest in the house.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes! Good quality and cheap price! You can save money, what's wrong with that?" Qin Ke said with a smile.

  "It's okay... you don't have to do this, the things here are a bit expensive, but I can still afford them." I hesitated for a moment and said to Qin Ke Yi.

  "I really like this one! Just this one! Wrap it up for me!" Qin Ke said with a smile to the salesgirl...

  "Kang Jian! What's wrong?" Qin Ke asked me after seeing me come out of the specialty store with a gloomy expression.

  "Nothing. Let's just go for a walk over there!" The worry that had been lurking in my mind for a long time was stirred up again, making me feel a little resentful towards Qin Ke Yi. As the young lady of a wealthy family, her life was vastly different from mine after all. I really didn't know if she could adapt to living an ordinary person's life in the future. What would become of us? Just thinking about this made me anxious about our prospects.

  "What a beautiful bag!?" Qin Ke exclaimed as soon as she saw one of the bags on display in the LV specialty store.

  "Hey, Qin Ke Yi! What a coincidence!" At this time, a couple walked over, the girl looked very familiar, seemingly also from our school. The guy appeared to be nearly 30 years old, with a rough and tumble appearance. In response to her greeting, Qin Ke Yi only gave a stiff and polite smile.

  "You guys are out shopping too?" The girl continued laughing and said to Qin Ke.

  "Is it!" Qin Ke responded with a single sentence.

  "You like this bag too? Hehe, it's good, but it's just too expensive. Your boyfriend is still a student, he can't afford it! Wait until your boyfriend starts working and has saved up enough money, he'll definitely buy one for you!" The girl said with a hint of sarcasm to Qin Ke.

  "Haha, he's going to buy it now!" Qin Ke Yi said with a smile, while secretly slipping a bank card into my hand. At this moment, the stupid struggle between two women due to their nature made me feel extremely disgusted in my heart, and as a man, this scene also slightly hurt my self-esteem. Looking at the foreman who had also become a tool for their struggle, I suddenly felt a sense of sympathy for him. After sighing "it's hard to raise beautiful women and petty men", I reluctantly walked to the payment counter... looking at the bill with an amount that made me gasp, I deeply realized that the ideological remolding work on Qin Ke Yi was arduous and long-term...

  "What's wrong with you? You haven't spoken all day!" Qin Ke suddenly said to me as we walked out of the mall.

  "Do you think it was good just now? Was it worth it?! Just to argue! And then bought such an expensive bag!" I complained to Qin Ke.

  "What's wrong with it?! She said that just to provoke me! Besides, I originally liked this bag!"

  "She's right! We're still students! There's no need to buy these luxury goods!! And you made me feel very embarrassed today!!"

  "Pathetic! How did I make you pathetic? Stop putting on that macho act in front of me! I don't need you to buy me anything!! And whether or not I have these luxury goods, I couldn't care less! As long as it's someone I like, even if we just eat mantou and salted vegetables every day, I'd be willing!!" Qin Ke said, throwing the newly bought LV bag into my arms, before turning around and leaving.

  This time, I didn't chase after Qin Ke Yi as usual. Instead, I stood still and watched her hail a taxi to leave. Our argument had already touched on the principles that I thought were important, so I needed to wait until everyone calmed down before communicating again, rather than compromising by coaxing her back. Just then, my phone started vibrating, and I picked it up without checking who was calling. On the other end of the line was a man's voice, who politely asked how I was doing before telling me that he was from Wang Ling's company, taking over from Wang Ling to be in charge of the toll system they needed. He asked if I had time to go to his place right now. After giving him an affirmative answer, I hailed a taxi...

  Standing once again in front of the office door where Wang Ling used to work, her image suddenly appeared before my eyes. Although because of her, the relationship between Qin Ke and I was tense for a while, but I never resented her. I wonder how she is doing now in Dalian? Wandering alone outside, hoping everything is fine...

  Thinking of this, I knocked on the office door and after hearing a "come in" voice from inside, I pushed the door open and walked in.

  "Hello. I am Kang Jian." Seeing a middle-aged man of medium build sitting inside, I took the initiative to introduce myself.

  "Hello! Please have a seat!" The middle-aged man warmly invited me to sit down.

  "Let me introduce myself! My surname is Wei. I look like I'm much older than you, so if you don't mind, just call me Brother Wei!" Brother Wei said with a smile.

  "Alright! Wei Ge!"

  "Don't waste your time! Let's get straight to the point! The main purpose of this visit is to tell you something. The system you designed for us, our company leaders were very satisfied with it after reviewing it, and considering we've cooperated before, so we basically decided to adopt your design..."

  "Thanks to Wei Ge then!" Due to the argument with Qin Ke Yi earlier, I suddenly felt that money was more important than ever. Hearing this news at this moment really got me quite excited.

  "No rush! Let me finish what I have to say. The day before yesterday, someone else also sent over a system design that is almost identical to yours, but at a lower price. You know we're a small company and profit matters, so after researching it, we decided to go with their design instead. Wang Ling specifically told me to take care of you guys before she left, but this was the leadership's decision and I couldn't do anything about it. That's why I asked you to come here, just to apologize." Wei Ge said with a fake smile, leaving me surprised and unsure if he was trying to pressure me into lowering our price or if there was something else going on. If what he said was true, then it would mean that someone in our workshop had leaked the information, because it's impossible for someone else's design to be so similar to ours.

  "Hmm...? Wei Ge! Never mind, I can understand you guys! This is also in line with the law of competition! But finally, I want to know who this person is?"

  "This I'm not good at revealing, but it seems like we're from the same school!" Hearing Wei Ge's words, once again proved my conjecture...

  On the way home, I kept thinking about who this person could be. The only ones participating in this design are me, Tengda and Lishunwei. Lishunwei, as a buddy for three years, is very familiar with his character, and Tengda doesn't seem to be that kind of person either, but the fact shows that it's one of them. I didn't expect that when friendship encountered money, it would become so unreliable. Thinking about the essence of my dispute with Qin Kei earlier was also caused by money, I had to recognize more deeply the unique charm of money...

  "Ah, you're back......!" As I opened the door with many doubts, a person sitting on the sofa with Qin Ke Yi at that moment quickly dispelled my many doubts...