10: Socks - 2

Hmm... Jiang Ye stroked his chin, his eyes flickering.

It's just doing a mission, nothing shameful!

This woman has a habit of taking off her shoes when she gets in the car, so it's perfectly reasonable and logical that she might accidentally lose a sock or take it off because she felt uncomfortable while drunk, right?

Yes, perfectly reasonable!

After convincing himself, he first glanced around warily, confirming that it was late, quiet, and no one was paying attention. He leaned over, held Ye Cheng's ankle, gently lifted her leg, hooked his finger onto the sock opening, and softly pulled down—

A short sock was pulled off.

He casually stuffed the sock into his jacket pocket, then immediately submerged his consciousness into his mind to check the mission panel.

[Monthly Gentleman Mission: Collect three items of clothing worn by different women with Charm values above 85. (1/3)]

The progress bar had indeed changed from 0 to 1!

Jiang Ye felt a burst of joy. It seemed this seemingly Pervert mission wasn't too difficult to execute after all!

As long as the target was right, there were always more solutions than problems!

Relaxing, his gaze unconsciously drifted back to Ye Cheng's bare left foot.

Honestly, this woman's feet were quite beautiful.

Her feet were small, the arch curved gracefully, the toes were round and neat, and her skin looked fair and delicate even in the dim light. If only...!!!

Damn it!

Jiang Ye!

What are you thinking?

He woke up with a start and severely scorned himself internally.

It must be a side effect of the mission!

Damn the System, its intentions are wicked! It actually wants to use this method to corrupt this old man's Dao Heart!

Jiang Ye was instantly furious!

To express his outrage at the System's evil intentions and to punish himself for his momentary wicked thought, he suddenly reached out and, with a “slap”—

He gripped Ye Cheng's smooth left ankle.

Hmm, slightly cool and delicate... quite soft.

Jiang Ye helped her reposition her leg, returning her to her previous sleeping posture.

Sleep, sleep! I'll have a good talk with this woman tomorrow!

He lay down on the seat, closed his eyes, and began calculating tomorrow's “compensation” rhetoric in his mind.

Any normal person, seeing the state of those pants and considering the “worth” of his bmw 5 series, wouldn't think five hundred yuan was too much compensation, right?

A tenfold rebate means five thousand!

Sure enough, this old man's plan is flawless!

Hmm... but Plan B could be optimized further... In the future, I could specifically stake out bars and KTVs late at night, wait for drunken Girls to mistake my car, then induce them to throw up all over me and the car, and then righteously extort them... Filled with infinite anticipation for a beautiful future, Jiang Ye gradually fell into a deep sleep.

————

At six o'clock the next morning, his biological clock woke Jiang Ye up promptly.

He groggily stretched, sniffed, and a sour, musty smell of old cotton cloth slowly entered his nostrils.

Something seemed to be sticking to his face, tickling him.

He subconsciously reached up to scratch his face, grabbed the object, and opened his eyes in confusion.

Oh, it's a sock... “...?”

“...!!”

Damn it!

Why is it a sock?!

Who the hell put a sock on my face?!

Jiang Ye looked at the somewhat familiar short sock in his hand and instantly sobered up considerably, memories from last night flooding back like a tide.

He quickly reached into his jacket pocket and sure enough, pulled out the other one.

Case closed!

It was the one from last night... Wait, where is she?

Only then did Jiang Ye realize with a start that the passenger seat was empty; the woman named Ye Cheng had left at some unknown time.

He quickly got out of the car, walked around it once, and peered toward the entrance of the building, but didn't see a single soul.

Jiang Ye's heart immediately sank.

My compensation money! My great rebate plan!

He pulled open the car door in annoyance, ready to lament the decline of public morality and ancient virtues, but his attention was caught by the passenger sun visor.

On the vanity mirror of the sun visor, a clear combination of letters and numbers had been written.

Is this... lipstick? A WeChat number?

Jiang Ye clicked his tongue, his mood instantly brightening.

Good thing this Girl still had some conscience and didn't just run off.

He took out his phone, opened WeChat, entered the number, and sent a friend request.

The other party's WeChat name was “A Very Big Orange,” and the profile picture was a round, bright yellow orange.

While waiting for the request to be accepted, he sent a WeChat message to Station Master Wang Dali: [Station Master, I have a slipped disc, the pain is severe, and the doctor recommended bed rest, so I need to take a month off. [Crying][Crying]]

His experience of losing all his money buying lottery tickets last year taught him that one must always have a backup plan in life.

If this “eating soft rice but demanding hard payment” plan didn't yield results after a month, he could at least go back to delivering food and wait for the System's talent refresh next year.

Just after sending the WeChat message, his phone vibrated—the friend request had been accepted.

Jiang Ye habitually clicked into the other party's moments.

It was set to the common three-day visibility, and the only post visible was a short five-character message posted around ten o'clock last night:

“Hate show-offs the most!”

Jiang Ye rubbed his nose and thought back.

He picked up Ye Cheng last night, around ten o'clock, right? He wondered who had angered this woman with their showing off while she was drinking.

He returned to the chat interface, his finger hovering over the keyboard, deliberating on how to start the conversation.

Should he start politely with “Hello?”, or should he challenge her with “You threw up all over me and then just ran off?” or maybe just pretend to be angry and ask, “What's the deal with the sock on my face?”... Wait, why pretend to be angry... Just as he was weighing his words, the other party sent a message first.

A Very Big Orange: [Little Pervert?]

Jiang Ye: “...”

So, do people who black out remember what happened around them after they fall asleep?

Jiang Ye stared at those three words, sinking into deep contemplation and a hint of guilt.

He didn't know how to reply immediately, so he decided to pretend he hadn't seen it.

After a while, the other party sent another message.

A Very Big Orange: [I think I threw up on you yesterday. How much was your clothing? I'll compensate you.]

Seeing the word “compensate,” Jiang Ye's eyes instantly lit up, but unfortunately, this message was also difficult to reply to.

He wasn't sure if the System would categorize quoting a price directly as “solicitation,” thus invalidating the rebate.

To be safe, he still needed to guide the other party to give the money “actively” and “voluntarily.”

Jiang Ye: [Forget it, no need. But you really can vomit; the pants and shoes are ruined, I just threw them away.]

He deliberately emphasized the severity of the loss, hoping to trigger the other party's guilt and motivate her to pay proactively.

After sending the message, Jiang Ye held his phone, holding his breath, anticipating the other party replying with “How can that be! I must compensate you! Name your price!” or simply transferring the money.

However, what he received was—

A Very Big Orange: [Alright then, I'll give you those Socks. Thanks, handsome~ (Smiling face)]

“...”

Jiang Ye glanced at the Socks on the passenger seat beside him, his mouth twitching.

He suppressed the urge to curse, his fingers rapidly typing out a line: [Beautiful, want to grab dinner tonight? We can chat?], but he stopped halfway through.

The other party was clearly playing dumb now.

If he showed too much eagerness, he could easily go from being the reasonable party to the nagging party, putting him at a disadvantage.

Once the initiative changed hands, forget about getting her to spend money voluntarily; he'd be lucky if she didn't treat him like a Simp.

He deleted the text he had typed and tossed the phone back onto the passenger seat.

Forget it, haste makes waste.

In the future, he could find another chance to “bump into” her near Taian Building or the Conservatory of Music, slowly cultivating “feelings.” Taking things slow is the way to go.

Jiang Ye forced himself to calm down, restarted the car, and prepared to find a steamed bun shop to appease his grumbling stomach.

While driving away from Taian Building, he once again submerged his consciousness into his mind, intending to withdraw the remaining 300 yuan from the System account to WeChat.

But when he saw the balance in the System account, he was stunned.

[System Account Balance: 420 yuan]

Huh? How did it become 420?

He withdrew 200 last night, so there should only be 300 left, right? Where did this extra 120 come from?

Confused, he clicked on the transaction history and clearly saw the latest entry from a few minutes ago:

[Received a gift from Ye Cheng: One pair of cotton short Socks (used). System assessed value: 12 yuan. Triggered 1000% rebate, received 120 yuan.]

Jiang Ye shook his head, both amused and frustrated, as he drove the bmw 5 series into the morning traffic, heading toward the nearest steaming steamed bun shop.