209: Pay me back! - 1

Early the next morning, Jiang Ye opened his eyes blearily and habitually reached out to the side—it was empty.

"I'm really impressed..."

Last night, that woman Ye Cheng had tried to run away several times under the guise of "maintaining a sense of mystery and independence," but he had insisted on holding her in his arms as they fell asleep.

Looking at the situation now, she either snuck away at the crack of dawn, or... even worse, she might have heartlessly put on her pants and left right after he fell asleep.

He yawned, sat up, grabbed the phone by his pillow, and lazily scrolled through his Moments.

Sure enough, Monday morning's Moments were filled with "resentment"—

College classmates were complaining about their internship units being inhumane for making them work overtime on weekends, and former delivery rider brothers were cursing a certain community's stubborn security guard for not letting bikes in... every line was filled with the hardships of life.

But it was understandable. It was Monday, after all; a concentrated outburst of negative energy was quite normal.

Of course, there were also those with a more unusual style.

「99 E-sports - Feiyue: Thanks to my young uncle for the 50 yuan feeding! Had a super pleasant night with my good sister! [Heart][Heart] @Don't Be So Flirtatious 」

The accompanying photo was a slightly blurry selfie of Tian Lijuan and her pink-haired friend Lulu making peace signs at the camera, with what looked like a roadside eatery in the background.

"..."

Jiang Ye's eyelid twitched violently. He expressionlessly opened his WeChat profile page and quickly changed his name back to "Brother Ye."

As for that 50 yuan... just as his first round with Ye Cheng ended last night, he had received a weak plea for help from this Ms. Tian Lijuan—[Young Uncle, can you lend me 50 yuan? It's an emergency!]

When Jiang Ye saw the message, he tossed the phone aside without a second thought.

50 yuan wasn't much, but someone he had only met a few times and wasn't very close to asking for money right off the bat felt a bit unsettling.

Hmm? A little beauty?

What about a beauty? The first round had just finished, and he was in a state of post-coital enlightenment; even if Liu Yifei came, she'd have to wait a few minutes for him to recover.

Two minutes later, however, the phone chimed again, this time sending a photo.

In the photo, an auntie wearing an apron with "I'm fed up" written all over her face was standing by the dining table with her hands on her hips.

[Young Uncle, Young Uncle, this is an emergency! Lulu and I came out for rice noodles, and I thought she brought money...]

[The owner says we can't leave unless we pay! Young Uncle, save me!!!]

Looking at this message, Jiang Ye was silent for a few seconds.

The imagery was so strong that he could even imagine Old Tian's furious face after getting the call.

Although he felt this delinquent girl was a bit unreliable, she was Brother Tian's daughter after all. He couldn't really let her be detained over 50 yuan worth of rice noodles or alert her father, so he eventually frowned and transferred 50 yuan over.

Snapping back to the present, Jiang Ye stared at the post in front of him, feeling more and more that something was wrong.

You said "borrow," so how did it become "feeding" with you? Are you trying to play me for a fool?

He opened the chat box with Tian Lijuan and typed irritably:

【Pay me back!】

He waited for half a minute, but there was no response.

Jiang Ye curled his lip, tossed the phone aside, and got up to wash.

When he walked out of the master bedroom, Ye Cheng and Su Ning were sitting at the dining table eating breakfast, while Lin Wanxing was already fully dressed and bending over at the entrance to put on her shoes, looking ready for work.

"Morning~"

Seeing Lin Wanxing, Jiang Ye's gaze almost instinctively flicked toward her chest and then unconsciously slid toward her lower abdomen... the blood-pumping scene from the bathroom last night instantly replayed in his mind.

*Cough*, I wonder if Coach Lin groomed it herself or if it's natural... If I ask her directly, will I get hit...?

Ye Cheng and Su Ning didn't notice anything unusual about his gaze, but Lin Wanxing, being the person involved, sensed that focused, memory-laden gaze on a specific part of her body almost instantly!

Her back molars clenched instantly. She quickly lowered her head, pretending to focus on tying her shoelaces, mumbled a "Morning," and then swiftly pulled open the door and slipped out as if avoiding a plague.

Ye Cheng and Su Ning glanced at each other, then both turned to look at Jiang Ye, who was scratching his head by the master bedroom door, both feeling a bit bewildered.

"Eh? Sister Wanxing was fine just now, why did her face suddenly turn dark?" Su Ning asked, biting her spoon in confusion.

Ye Cheng also raised an eyebrow and was about to speak when Jiang Ye beat her to it: "Who knows? Cheng Cheng, did you annoy her?"

Ye Cheng: "..."

She rolled her eyes, too lazy to press further: "Are you eating breakfast?"

Seeing Jiang Ye nod, Ye Cheng went to the kitchen to serve him a bowl of millet porridge and put two buns on his plate:

"By the way, Classmate Xiao Ye, Little Su and I were discussing it, and we plan to check out a job fair in the next few days."

Jiang Ye's movement of picking up a bun paused: "Job fair? You two? Looking for jobs?"

"Yeah, Sister Juzi is mainly going to accompany me."

Su Ning nodded and took over: "My internship ends in three months. I can't keep streaming forever, right? So I wanted to look ahead and find a proper job, to work seriously."

"Sister Juzi?"

Hearing this new nickname, Jiang Ye's gaze swept back and forth between Ye Cheng and Su Ning, and he raised an eyebrow.

Something's not right!

Yesterday, these two were still subtly competing with "sister" this and "sister" that, so how did their nicknames change after just one night's sleep?

Had their relationship progressed so rapidly that they were now making appointments to find jobs together?

He frowned and looked at Su Ning: "You're not planning to stream anymore?"

"No, no, no, I'm still going to stream!"

Su Ning waved her hands repeatedly: "But after this, I plan to switch to being a part-time streamer. That way, my time will be more flexible."

She paused, noticing Jiang Ye's brow relax slightly, and added: "I've asked the Operator. Even if I switch to part-time, as long as I fulfill the required hours, the benefits the guild gives me won't change."

Jiang Ye gave an "Oh," feeling relieved.

As long as the streaming didn't stop and the broad road of cashback remained, nothing else mattered.

He took a bite of a bun and asked indistinctly: "Why the sudden thought of finding a job? Isn't things as they are now fine?"

Ye Cheng took over, stirring the porridge in her bowl with a spoon: "Little Su is about to graduate. She can't keep streaming as her main career forever, can she?"

"That's right. I was streaming before because I was in a hurry to make money to pay off debts, but now..."

Su Ning nodded in agreement: "Yeah, it's not that urgent anymore. I just thought about finding something proper to do and getting in touch with society. Otherwise, staying at home all day, I'll just become useless."

Watching the two of them chime in together with such perfect coordination, the sense of oddness in Jiang Ye's heart grew stronger.

He looked at Ye Cheng, then at Su Ning, and couldn't help asking: "What's the situation with you two? Your relationship is suddenly this good? Did you become sworn sisters this morning?"

Ye Cheng irritably shot him a glare: "What? You're not happy we're getting along? You're out there flirting and messing around every day; shouldn't I help you manage your backyard?"

"No, no, no, Sister Juzi, you've misunderstood."

Su Ning blinked and gave a sweet smile: "Big Bro and I really have nothing going on. We just hit it off, get along well, are mutually attracted, and can't help but get closer... It's definitely not the kind of relationship you're thinking of. He's always treated me like a sister."

Ye Cheng looked back, and the two smiled at each other, as if invisible electric sparks were crackling in the air.

Seeing this sarcastic and strange scene, Jiang Ye suddenly felt much more comfortable.

He picked up the second bun, no longer dwelling on this weird friendship between women: "Cheng Cheng, what about you? Are you planning to find a job too?"

"I also have to participate in campus recruitment next semester to prepare for my June internship."

Ye Cheng put a peeled egg into Jiang Ye's bowl:

"But the competition for good units in the campus recruitments organized by the school is too fierce, and I'm not interested in the average ones. I don't want to squeeze through the crowd with thousands of people. So I want to check out the job fair in advance to understand the market, making it easier to arrange an independent internship later."