Chapter 78 The Singer, Oh, Singer 11

She was quite a nice Old Lady, at least she didn't think about taking advantage of her.

The Old Lady paid her own fifty, so Lin Xiangjun only needed to pay one hundred and nineteen. She now had eighty-one yuan in change on her—this was all the money she could spend in front of the Old Lady before she came up with a reasonable excuse.

Just as Lin Xiangjun was about to take the eighty-one yuan in underworld currency, her fingertips paused, and she picked up a lighter and a lollipop from the side.

“The lighter is fifty cents, the lollipop is fifty cents. That's one yuan total, so eighty yuan back.”

The owner lazily handed her the change, his eyes never leaving his phone the entire time.

Two bags of rice weighing forty catties, plus other daily necessities, seasonings, and a large bucket of oil, added up to about sixty catties. If it were the old Lin Xiangjun, even if she could lift it, walking to her front door would have cost her half her life.

But with the constitution enhancement booklet, these things felt light as a feather in Lin Xiangjun's hands, as if she were holding an apple before the enhancement.

This stuff is really useful.

“Grandma, then let's go back now...”

Before Lin Xiangjun could finish her sentence, an enthusiastic voice from the side interrupted her.

“Oh, what a coincidence! Little sister, you're shopping at the supermarket too?”

Tiger Wang lifted the plastic door curtain of the supermarket. He had a large build, and the supermarket door itself was just like a standard home entrance; his entry felt like he was forcing his way in, carrying a hint of ill-intentioned aggression.

Lin Xiangjun had a bad premonition. She gripped her things and didn't take Tiger Wang's bait, instead saying to the Old Lady, “Grandma, let's go back first. I just moved in and haven't tidied anything up yet.”

Tiger Wang blocked the main entrance, acting as if he were very close with Lin Xiangjun, and reached out to take the things from her hands.

“Buying so many things, is it heavy? Come, let Big Brother help you carry them back.”

Lin Xiangjun twisted her wrist to dodge his hand.

“These things aren't heavy, I can carry them myself. Didn't you also just move in today? You must have plenty of things to buy yourself, right?”

Tiger Wang's hand grabbed air, and a flash of gloominess quickly crossed his eyes.

This little girl doesn't know what's good for her.

If it weren't for her good luck in getting close to this Landlady...

Thinking of this, Tiger Wang put on his warm smile again, as if he hadn't heard the rejection in Lin Xiangjun's words: “It's fine, I can buy my stuff later if it's not all here. You're a young girl and the Landlady is an old woman; I can't just watch you two carry such heavy things, can I? Come, let me help you.”

The words 'ill-intent' were practically written on his forehead, yet he was still pretending to be a helpful big brother.

Lin Xiangjun dodged his hand again and put the things directly behind her back, using her actions to bluntly express her refusal.

“Find what you want yourself. If you have valuable information, you can come to me to trade. Don't spend all day trying to leech off others, right, 8097?”

The smile on Tiger Wang's face almost cracked.

What did she mean by leeching?

He was doing this to collect clues and solve the instance's mystery as quickly as possible!

This young girl had no sense of collective honor at all. No, she didn't just lack collective honor; she lacked empathy and compassion, being selfish to the extreme!

“Those are harsh words. We all came here together, so we should help each other. If you have information and hide it because you don't want to share, are you trying to get everyone else killed?”

Help each other?

It sounded nice, but his actions were truly unsightly.

When he needed her, it was 'help each other' and 'we are a collective,' but when she needed something from him, his face would change to one of mockery. Forget providing help for free; it was only a stroke of conscience if he didn't skin her alive.

Lin Xiangjun didn't want to get into a war of words with someone like him. He spoke grandiosely about great principles, while the abacus in his heart was clicking away with his own little schemes.

“If you have clues, come to me to trade, I welcome it. If you have no clues and want a free ride, then goodbye and good riddance.”

Lin Xiangjun wouldn't be morally blackmailed.

Besides, if not getting clues from her was 'forcing them to die,' then they might as well just die. Such useless people wouldn't survive long in an instance anyway.

“You...”

She didn't respond, carrying her things as she prepared to walk out.

Seeing that Lin Xiangjun had no intention of wasting words, Tiger Wang immediately grew anxious.

“Hey, hey, hey, wait, don't be in such a hurry... It's like this, Landlady, I have something to say to you.”

Tiger Wang finally revealed his purpose.

“That room of ours really isn't clean. Just after moving in, one brother is already gone. The three of us staying in that room is truly terrifying. Do you think you could change our room?”

As he spoke, he signaled Lin Xiangjun with his eyes.

We're on the same side, help us out with a few good words.

Lin Xiangjun naturally understood his meaning, but she had no desire to take up that thread.

The Landlady had some favorable impression of her, but that favor was built on Lin Xiangjun's willingness to follow her advice and the fact that she naturally fit the old woman's preferences.

It was like seeing a pretty cat on the side of the road; you call out 'kitty' twice, and the cat intelligently comes over to rub against your hand.

You would like this cat, and if you had a ham sausage on you, you'd generously share it.

But that was it.

The Old Lady didn't take advantage of Lin Xiangjun and was willing to shell out fifty underworld currency to pay for her own share, but she wasn't willing to shell out a hundred to pay for Lin Xiangjun's bill.

Similarly, the Old Lady was willing to give Lin Xiangjun some convenience, but it was limited to silent, seemingly accidental hints; there was nothing more.

What Lin Xiangjun should do was hold onto this bit of favor and seek benefits for herself without lowering that favor.

The Old Lady had already clearly expressed her dislike for the others because they hadn't followed her advice. At this time, there was no need for Lin Xiangjun to risk the Old Lady's annoyance by speaking up for them; not only would it be ineffective, but it might even make the Old Lady dislike her as well.

It wasn't worth it.

So she turned her head away and didn't look at him.

Do your own work yourself.

Didn't your mother ever teach you that?

Seeing Lin Xiangjun's 'none of my business' attitude, Tiger Wang was so angry his teeth itched.

Every time he entered an instance, who wouldn't be respectful once they heard his instance rank was 8097?

Even if they weren't subservient and groveling, they were at least responsive to every request and answered every question.

When had he ever suffered such indignity?

However, right now, there was nothing he could do if Lin Xiangjun was unwilling to help, so he could only curse her twice in his heart.

Yet he didn't dare show even a hint of gloom or defiance on his face.

After all, the Landlady was still watching him.

He was still counting on the Old Lady to give him a clean room and didn't dare provoke her anger yet.

“Landlady, look, we just moved in two hours ago and didn't mess anything up in the room. Do you think you could...”

The Old Lady snorted.

“What's the big deal? What 'clean' or 'unclean'? I just wanted you to rent a more expensive room so I could make an extra hundred yuan. What was the need for all this?”