14: Let's make another appointment - 4

The hot pot restaurant wasn't far away. Its decor was in the currently popular Guochao Style. Although it was already past eleven, there were still many customers.

After parking the car, the two of them walked into the shop one after the other.

The waiter greeted them warmly. Ye Cheng provided her phone number at the front desk to verify the voucher and was then led to a booth by the window.

They chose a split pot for the base—one side bubbling with red oil, the other a clear mushroom broth.

Soon, the table was covered with several plates of freshly sliced beef and mutton, tripe, duck arteries, and a variety of side dishes like green vegetables, tofu, and wide vermicelli.

Jiang Ye was indeed hungry. Once the pot started boiling, he immediately dumped half a plate of fatty beef into the red oil, his eyes fixed on the bubbling liquid as he waited for the meat to change color.

Ye Cheng, however, wasn't in such a rush. She poured herself a glass of free orange juice and took small sips. Watching his "starving ghost reincarnated" appearance, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

Once the meat was cooked, Jiang Ye picked up a mouthful with his chopsticks, swirled it in his dipping oil, stuffed it into his mouth, and let out a satisfied sigh.

As if he had just remembered something, he asked casually, "By the way, we've been chatting for so long, and I still don't know your name."

Ye Cheng took another sip of her orange juice and lightly tossed out two words: "Liu Ke."

"..."

Jiang Ye's chewing stopped instantly. He slowly raised his head, expressionlessly extended his right hand, palm up, and held it out in front of her.

"I don't believe you. Let me see your ID."

"Pfft—"

Ye Cheng couldn't hold it in and sprayed out a mouthful of orange juice. Fortunately, she turned her head in time, so the food on the table wasn't affected.

She coughed while pulling out a tissue to wipe her mouth, looking at Jiang Ye with a mix of laughter and tears. "Cough, cough... Buddy, are you... checking my household registration? Fine, fine, I'm scared of you. Actually, my name is Zhao Min."

Jiang Ye's back teeth were nearly crushed. Instead of withdrawing his hand, he pushed it forward a bit more, his tone becoming heavier.

"ID!"

"Gosh, what is wrong with you?"

Ye Cheng curled her lip and slowly wiped her fingers with a tissue. "We're all people of the world. Who uses their real name when they're out? Isn't having a name to call each other enough?"

Seeing that Jiang Ye's hand was still stubbornly extended, as if he wouldn't stop until he reached his goal, she sighed helplessly and crumpled the tissue into a ball, throwing it into the trash can.

"Fine, fine, I give up. My name is Ye Cheng. 'Ye' as in leaf, 'Cheng' as in orange. Satisfied? Do you want me to go back now and get my ID to prove my identity?"

Only then did Jiang Ye snort and withdraw his hand with satisfaction, putting a few pieces of tofu into the clear broth. "Why didn't you just say so? So much dilly-dallying."

While chewing on some meat, Ye Cheng looked at him with interest. "What about you? What's your name? I can't just keep calling you 'hey' or 'Buddy', right?"

"Zhang Wei."

Ye Cheng: "..."

Jiang Ye: "..."

The two of them stared at each other in a stalemate for two seconds before Jiang Ye sighed. "Fine. Jiang Ye. 'Jiang' as in river, 'Ye' as in wilderness. You can just call me Good Big Brother."

"What 'Good Big Brother'? Trying to take advantage of me, are you?"

Ye Cheng rolled her eyes and wrinkled her nose in distaste. "You don't look older than me. How old are you?"

"22." Jiang Ye scooped a spoonful of shrimp paste and divided it into their bowls.

"What a coincidence, I'm also 22."

Ye Cheng raised an eyebrow. "What month were you born?"

Jiang Ye looked up at her, his expression unchanged and his heart steady. "I was born on January 1st at 12:01 AM. You?"

"..."

Ye Cheng clenched her fists and decided not to get bogged down in this issue with him. She picked up her chopsticks and focused on devouring the meat. "Eat, eat! I'm starving!"

The two of them called a temporary truce and buried their heads in their respective bowls.

Jiang Ye was truly famished and worked away at his food.

Ye Cheng's eating manner was more refined, but her speed wasn't slow at all.

After eating for a while, she seemed to remember something and gently kicked Jiang Ye's shin under the table.

Jiang Ye looked up, still chewing on a piece of tripe. "What?"

"Hey, Jiang Ye..."

Ye Cheng lowered her voice slightly, her eyes sparkling. "What do you think about what I said in the car earlier?"

Jiang Ye didn't react for a moment. "What thing?"

"Just..."

Ye Cheng blinked. "I'll sell you a pair of socks every day, and you give me four... well, two hundred will do! Long-term cooperation, mutual benefit! What do you think?"

Jiang Ye frowned and subconsciously began to consider the feasibility of this.

If he could get a steady supply of socks from her, and they were all priced around 40 like today's pair, that would be 400 in cashback. After deducting the 200 for this woman, he'd have 200 left. 2,000 in ten days, 6,000 a month... That seemed... pretty good? It would be a stable income.

Although the method was a bit Pervert, for the sake of money... Just as he began to mull it over, the system's warning tone immediately rang in his mind.

[Ding! Detected host's intent for an illegal transaction. Such behavior cannot trigger the Cashback Mechanism. Please be careful to avoid this.]

The small flame that had just ignited in Jiang Ye's heart was instantly extinguished with a "pfft."

As expected, the system wasn't that easy to fool.

He immediately lost interest and waved his hand. "Not interested. No."

"Not interested?"

Ye Cheng was stunned; she hadn't expected him to refuse so bluntly. "Huh? When you got those socks in the car just now, didn't you look pretty happy? Why the sudden lack of interest?"

As she spoke, she suddenly thought of something. She looked Jiang Ye up and down suspiciously, her gaze becoming strange.

"It couldn't be... while I was upstairs changing clothes, you already took those two socks and... did something strange, and now you've cooled down?"

Just then, a waiter carrying a tray passed by and clearly heard the latter half of Ye Cheng's sentence. He snapped his head around and gave Jiang Ye a couple of looks with an extremely shocked expression mixed with sympathy and understanding.

Jiang Ye was completely overwhelmed by black lines.

He wordlessly held his forehead, feeling his temples throbbing. "Student Ye Cheng, I solemnly declare that I really don't have that kind of fetish! I simply... I simply..."

He was momentarily at a loss for words, not knowing how to explain the joy he felt when he saw the cashback arrive.

Ye Cheng bit into a piece of stuffed lotus root, blinked, and took over. "Simply took a liking to me?"

Jiang Ye's movement paused, and the fatty beef he had picked up almost fell back into the pot.

Seeing his choked-up state, Ye Cheng smiled triumphantly, looking like she had seen right through him.

"What's there to be shy about? Daring to rent a car to go to the school gates and trick Girls shows that you're naturally flirtatious, with both the intent and the guts. Although... hoo hoo hoo~~"

She laughed and stuffed a piece of tofu into her mouth, but it was so hot she had to keep blowing air, taking a while to recover.

"Even though you didn't succeed, that only shows your method was clumsy and your luck was bad. It doesn't deny your inner flirtatiousness."

Jiang Ye: "..."

He looked at Ye Cheng wordlessly. "I've just realized your mouth is so..."

"So what?"

Ye Cheng interrupted him and tried to pick up another piece of tofu. This time she had learned her lesson and blew on it for a long time first.

"Want to say I have a sharp tongue? When you finally manage to chase me one day, you'll only be saying, 'Baby, your mouth is amazing.' Believe it?"

"Clang!" Jiang Ye's chopsticks fell directly onto the table.

Holy crap!

Is this woman making sexual innuendos?! And those wheels are practically running over my face!

What exactly is her deal? One moment she's a drunkard, the next a college Girl, then a cool Girl at a nightclub, and now she suddenly turns into a veteran driver?"}],