182: Money-saving tips - 1

Two hours later, at the B1 level atrium of MixC City.

"Little Brother! Eat, drink, and play to your heart's content! Little Sister Su will swipe the cards for you!"

Su Ning waved her hand heroically and snapped open her cardholder, fanning out six credit cards in an impressive display.

Watching this scene, Jiang Ye couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Acting so overbearing—anyone who didn't know better would think there were hundreds of thousands in there.

On the way over, the drama queen had already managed to reveal her entire hand through a series of "talking to herself" and "muttering."

CMB 8,000; SPD 4,000; Ping An 6,000; CITIC 2,000; Guangfa 5,000; Everbright 3,000. Her total credit limit was only 28,000. Adding the 3,000 from Huabei, it totaled exactly 31,000 yuan—just about the same as the commission she was due to receive tomorrow.

No wonder she was feeling so confident right now.

Of course, if one included those online loans like Jin Tiao, Weilidai, and Jiebei, her available credit would definitely be more than that, but Jiang Ye didn't intend for her to touch those.

Although he didn't understand them well, he vaguely knew those things had high interest rates and deep traps; touching them too much was bad for one's credit score.

Two months ago, a college classmate had his contact list blasted because he messed around with small loans; the social death was so bad he practically vanished from the face of the earth, even leaving the class group chat. He didn't want Su Ning to go down that path.

Jiang Ye smacked his lips, his gaze scanning the surrounding restaurants.

Mhm, he'd start with food and drink to get her used to the rhythm and price points of "consumption upgrades." This way, when they went to buy clothes and shoes later, she wouldn't subconsciously pick only the cheap items, leaving him unable to drop hints.

"Oh, Little Sister Su, after walking for a bit, I'm thirsty!"

"Orders received!"

Su Ning immediately entered character. Like a soldier receiving an order, she gave a salute on the spot and trotted off toward the nearby beverage area.

Jiang Ye watched as she passed by Mixue Ice Cream & Tea and Tianlala without stopping, finally diving into "Nayuki's Tea." He nodded in satisfaction.

Not bad, the starting point wasn't too low.

A few minutes later, Su Ning ran back holding two cups of milk tea, handing one to Jiang Ye.

"Little Brother, here! Their signature drink, nong mo xiang coconut milk tea!"

"Oh! Thanks for the hard work, Little..."

Jiang Ye took it with a smile, casually glancing at the notification bar in his mind. His face instantly darkened.

[Ding! Detected that the host has received a proactive gift from Su Ning: one cup of nong mo xiang coconut milk tea. System-evaluated value: 25 yuan. Triggered 1000% cashback. Special scenario discount deducted (Buy One Get One Half Off). Obtained 125 yuan.]

Jiang Ye: "..."

His eyelid twitched violently. He looked down at the milk tea "valued" at 125 yuan in his hand, then looked up at Su Ning, who was happily sipping her own cup with an innocent face.

"Little Sister Su... this milk tea... if I'm not mistaken, it should be 25 a cup, right?"

Su Ning let out an "Eh?" and blinked in surprise. "How did you know, Little Brother? Do you drink their tea often?"

Jiang Ye felt like the corner of his mouth was about to cramp.

In his heart, it was as if ten thousand alpacas were stampeding past. There were so many things to complain about it felt like a volcanic eruption, yet he had nowhere to vent.

It was perfectly reasonable for someone to buy the second cup at half price, and he hadn't specified what he wanted to drink; he couldn't find any fault.

But... but!

How the hell did she manage to so accurately hand him the half-priced cup out of the two?!

Suppressing a mouthful of blood, he sat down on a nearby bench in a bad mood and set the milk tea aside.

"I'm hungry! I can't walk anymore! I want to eat something!"

"Little Brother, we just got here..."

"I don't care! Anyway, I'm just hungry. I won't have the strength if I don't eat something!"

"Uh..."

Su Ning looked around, her gaze locking onto a burger joint. She pointed. "Then... Little Brother, should I go buy you a burger? To tide you over?"

Jiang Ye looked in the direction she was pointing. It was a shop specializing in handmade American burgers. This kind of shop's pricing was already a notch higher than ordinary fast-food joints, let alone being located in a place like MixC City.

He gave a light hum, which counted as tacit permission.

Seven or eight minutes later, Su Ning returned carrying two kraft paper bags printed with the shop's logo. She handed one to Jiang Ye, clicking her tongue.

"Wow! Little Brother, these burgers are so expensive. One costs 68! My god!"

Jiang Ye rolled his eyes internally.

Expensive?

It's good that it's expensive!

If it's not expensive, how can I farm high cashback? If I don't get cashback, where will the money come from to support you? If I don't support you, how can you buy such expensive burgers?

He reached out to take the bag and subconsciously looked at the system notification bar. He almost couldn't stop himself from crushing the burger inside into a pancake.

[Ding! Detected that the host has received a proactive gift from Su Ning: one Smoked Hand-Pulled Beef Burger. System-evaluated value: 68 yuan. Triggered 1000% cashback. Special scenario discount deducted (Group Buy). Obtained 198 yuan.]

Jiang Ye: "..."

Looking at the glaring "198 yuan" in the system prompt, and comparing it to the 680 yuan cashback he should have gotten from the original 68 yuan price, he felt his heart bleeding.

Was his own system afraid he'd be deceived by this woman? The details in the prompt were so thorough!

He wordlessly glanced at the two cups of cola Su Ning was carrying and reached out. "One of the colas is mine, right?"

Taking it and looking—great, this time it didn't even trigger a system prompt. It was probably a freebie that came with the burger.

"Little Sister Su..."

Jiang Ye sighed, trying to drop a subtle hint. "Tell me... if a burger is bought through a group deal, would there be a difference in ingredients compared to one bought at full price? Like, maybe the meat patty is smaller, or they give less sauce?"

Su Ning was currently biting into her burger. Hearing this, she was stunned for a moment, then confidently waved her hand.

"No way! You're overthinking it, Little Brother. Everything is the same! I often..."

Halfway through, seeing Jiang Ye's raised eyebrow, she couldn't help but scratch her head.

"Uh... probably... not? Did you... taste something, Little Brother? That can't be right? I think it tastes pretty good?"

Jiang Ye: "..."

Taste my foot! You're going to be the death of me sooner or later!

He couldn't be bothered to beat around the bush anymore and finished the burger in a few bites.

To be fair, the burger did taste quite good. The patty was thick and juicy, and the bread was soft. It was just... that unique thrill of "getting a bargain" from group deals in the past—why had it vanished today, replaced by a sense of annoyance?

After finishing the burger, Jiang Ye downed the cola in one go. He felt a bit full, but for the sake of his "great money-making enterprise," he could only grit his teeth and stomp his foot.

"I want something sweet after eating something salty! Now if only someone could get me some ice cream..."

"I'll do it, I'll do it!" Su Ning responded immediately, trotting off to buy it.