Chapter 106
Tang Yin was still confused about the whole thing as she walked away- didn’t she see the guy with a sports car earlier? How was it even possible that he’d put up a stand?
He was a high schooler, too- just like her! How did it make sense for a student in school to marry, was that even legal? Tang Yin rubbed her eyes, thinking that perhaps she’d been too tired the past two days… Maybe she was hallucinating, that Lin Yi was quite the asshole, too. There was no way she would’ve bumped into him in a place like this.
Though, Lin Yi or not, that guy from earlier was a total jerk! She was the one who’d wanted the dress, and he’d just walked by snatching it away before she even agreed on a price with the vendor! What a jerk!
Tang Yin was still pissed about the whole thing as she walked back to her mother, her head lowered. She had planned to get herself some new clothes, too…
“Ah-!” Tang Yin froze in her tracks, almost hitting someone. She raised her head only to see Lin Yi smiling at her. “Wh-what are you standing here for? To scare people?”
“To give you the dress!” Lin Yi said as he put the dress in front of Tang Yin’s face.
“Wasn’t that for your wife?” Tang Yin frowned, not quite understanding what Lin Yi meant.
“Haha, that’s just a haggler’s trick- there’s no wife or anything, it’s just to expose the price he got it at.” Lin Yi said with a shrug. “You didn’t know how to haggle at all, you know? The guy was killing you with his prices, that’s why I decided to help.”
“Oh……” Tang Yin slowly understood- so it was all a story he’d fabricated for the sake of haggling? So he… bought the dress for her? Tang Yin started getting angry again upon considering the possibility, who did Lin Yi think he was, gifting her a dress? She’d never accept it coming from his hands! There’d be tons of boys doing that if she asked for it at school! Though, she really didn’t prefer doing something like that.
“Here, take it.” Lin Yi said as he pushed the dress towards her.
“I don’t want your stuff, go get a refund for it.” Tang Yin said coldly, already moving on.
“Who said anything about giving it? Pay up, it’s forty five kuai you know!” Lin Yi said, amused.
“Eh?” Tang Yin paused- was Lin Yi asking her to pay for it? Wasn’t he here to get her to like him, giving her gifts and all that? Why would he be asking her for money?
Was he trying to make fun of her? Tang Yin didn’t know what to do- she wanted to just leave and ignore the guy, but she really did like that dress! She liked it to the point where she was actually considering buying it for two hundred, despite the vendor being a jerk and all!
Thinking things through, Tang Yin supposed that she’d still be buying the dress since Lin Yi wasn’t planning to just give it to her… Yes, it was her money! What did it have to do with him?
She pulled her purse out at the thought. There was only two hundred kuai in it- her monthly allowance. She pulled our a fifty kuai note and handed it to Lin Yi. “There!”
Lin Yi took the money without saying anything, going through his pockets for a while before finally pulling four one kuai coins out. “Don’t have enough change- can I owe you one kuai?”
“Hmph!” Tang Yin only grabbed the coins from Lin Yi before grabbing the dress as well, leaving without so much as a word.
“Why’s she so mad..? What did I do?” Lin Yi flicked at the fifty kuai note a bit before stuffing it into his pocket. He then headed back to the food street.
Tang Yin calmed down a little as she walked, realizing that Lin Yi’s attitude wasn’t really typical of rich boys chasing after her… He wasn’t trying to force himself on her, or follow her around relentlessly… Was it a new method he’d thought up? Playing hard to get, only to show up every once in a while to demonstrate his gentlemanly nature..? Hmph!! So that’s what it is!! Tang Yin stomped her foot on the ground upon remembering Lin Yi’s actions today- she’d almost fallen for it! Him asking her for money must’ve been on purpose, as well! He wanted to get her to lower her guard, so that he could get closer to her!!
Tang Yin wanted to throw the dress on the ground and stomp out her rage towards Lin Yi, but decided that she’d rather keep the dress.
“That’s a nice dress, Yin!” Mrs. Tang said with a smile as Tang Yin returned. She noticed her daughter paying attention to that dress a long time ago- it wasn’t just one or two days. She decided to encourage her because of that; the girl obviously found it too expensive.
“Yeah……” Tang Yin responded faintly as she stuffed the dress into her bag.
“How much did you spend? Did you haggle?” Mrs. Tang asked, missing the expression on Tang Yin’s face.
“Forty five.” Tang Yin replied dully.
“Forty five? Seriously? Wasn’t the vendor selling it for two hundred? How’d you get that price?” Mrs. Tang said, very startled.
“A jerk helped me haggle it down!” Tang Yin said, getting angrier by the second. “Let’s not talk about this, mom- here, I’ll help you with that.”
Mrs. Tang only shook her head at the outburst. She didn’t know who the jerk Tang Yin mentioned was, but shouldn’t she be thanking the person if he’d helped her haggle? Why would he be a jerk, anyway?
Lin Yi turned the corner and found Mengyao and Yushu at the fried mushroom place. The two were just wrapping up as Mengyao raised her head, spotting Lin Yi walking over with a big-ass pair of jeans in his hand. “Eh?!”
Yushu raised her head as well upon hearing Mengyao’s surprised call.
“Woah, Shield Guy- where’d you get those big pants?” Yushu asked curiously as she pointed at the pants Lin Yi was holding.
“Got it over there. Does it look good?” Lin Yi asked as he put the pants in front of his legs.
“……” Mengyao only curled her lips. “You look like a bad person with that on.”
“There was this thing I read back in grade school! You look like an ‘old french thug’!” Yushu added with a nod of her head.
“……” Lin Yi was speechless. “Jeez, something’s wrong with you guys. I spent fifteen kuai on this, you know?”
“……?” It was Mengyao’s turn to be speechless.
Yushu giggled quietly, a hand over her mouth. Only someone like Lin Yi would do something like that. “Okay, let’s go home! Shield Guy, maybe you can show us how you look with those pants on since you like them so much! You can’t put them on right now, yeah?”
“What’s so interesting about him putting some pants on? Are you in heat, Shu?” Mengyao said as she pinched at Yushu.
“I thought you would want to see it.” Yushu blinked innocently as she looked at Mengyao. “I saw how surprised you were when Lin Yi came over with those pants you know…”
“…….” Mengyao didn’t bother explaining- this girl had way too many dirty thoughts. Explaining something like this would only worsen things…
psst… theres a third chapter…
*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes
*[12.47 to 13.07]: don’t ask me about the tree sap