57: bicycle

Jiang Ye returned home and threw himself heavily onto the bed, sprawling out like the character for "giant." He stared at the ceiling and sighed silently.

To lu or not to lu, that is the question.

This was truly a philosophical question, especially for a young man holding over eighty thousand yuan in cash and feeling as though he had the strength of an ox surging through his body.

Actually, after parting ways with Ye Cheng at the entrance of K11, it wasn't that he hadn't entertained other thoughts.

With eighty-three thousand yuan in his pocket, it would be a flat-out lie to say his heart didn't stir at all.

He held his phone and stood in the biting cold wind at the mall entrance for a full ten minutes, his fingers scrolling across the screen for a long time.

Although he had no experience and no connections—a standard "theorist"—as the saying goes, money makes the world go round.

He figured that even if he might hit a few pitfalls and pay some "tuition" early on, as long as he was willing to invest the capital and try a few more times, he would eventually find a place he liked and get what he wanted, right?

In the worst-case scenario, if all else failed, he could just rent a BMW again and stake out the entrance of Shengyin, couldn't he?

However, after hesitating for a long time, he finally raised his hand to hail a taxi and chose to go home.

It wasn't that he had a strong sense of morality; it was mainly... out of some inexplicable respect for his "first time."

Scientific research shows that a man's first time... okay, science doesn't study that, but anyway, it's very meaningful.

And now, having been sprawled on the bed for nearly half an hour, the restlessness in his body and the conflict in his heart hadn't subsided; instead, they had become even clearer because he had nothing to do.

His mind flashed between Ye Cheng's sly gaze and warm touch when she was being mischievous under the dining table, then to Yaoyao's sweet "Brother" in the livestream room, and even to the profile of Su Ning seriously picking out a gift in the Versace store today... Eh?

Wait!

Have I gone crazy from holding it in? Aren't Yaoyao and Su Ning the same damn person?!

"Damn it!"

Jiang Ye irritably ruffled his hair. To distract himself and disperse the messy images in his head, he simply picked up his phone and opened TikTok.

Speaking of which, it had been 13 days since he activated the system on the 26th.

But that seemingly simple "gentleman mission"—collecting personal items from three goddesses with a score of 85 or higher—was still stuck at (2/3) on the progress bar.

Although the time limit was one month, which seemed generous, the system description also stated that he had to complete at least two missions every month to avoid punishment.

To be safe, he had to get the last item done as soon as possible.

"Sigh, where should I go to farm this last 'Goddess Fragment'?"

Jiang Ye smacked his lips and listlessly swiped his finger across the screen.

As it turned out, with that casual swipe, the big data pushed precisely, and the first livestream room that popped up was "Wen Yus Girlfriend."

The mics were quite lively; Yaoyao, Zhi Xia, Sweet Girl, and Minnie—several people he recognized—were all there.

To save money, he didn't enter the livestream room but stayed at the entrance like a "lurker," listening to what was happening inside.

The Girls seemed to be chatting about movies.

Zhi Xia's voice was lazy: "Eh? Sisters, any good movie recommendations lately? I feel like there's nothing to watch."

"The big blockbusters have to wait for New Year's Day or the Spring Festival season. There doesn't seem to be anything good right now."

Yaoyao's voice sounded quite relaxed: "Watching old movies is also good. A few days ago, I re-watched all of Stephen Chow's classics, and they're still so funny!"

Minnie shared: "I just finished watching Big Hero 6 yesterday. Wow, Baymax is so cute! The plot is also quite heartwarming. Highly recommended!"

Zhi Xia seemed to want to agree: "Oh oh, I also..."

"Hmm?"

Before she could finish, she was interrupted by a slightly puzzled voice—it was Sweet Girl: "How 'able' is the 'landing'?"

"..."

The mics instantly fell into an eerie silence.

Jiang Ye, who was drinking water, almost sprayed it all over his brand-new phone screen. Forcing himself to swallow resulted in a coughing fit, and the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.

"Holy crap... these streamers..."

While wiping his mouth, he said speechlessly, "Can they actually see the visitor list at the entrance? They can even drive on this kind of road? Is she freaking calling me out?"

In the room, Zhi Xia was clearly rendered speechless by this sudden high-speed drift and scolded irritably:

"Sweet Girl! With your attitude, when will you ever find a Big Spender? You turn the steering wheel into the gutter at every opportunity. The Big Spenders aren't even as dirty as you. When chatting, it's hard to tell who's flirting with whom. Do you know what bashfulness is? What subtlety is? Even if you know everything, you have to act shy in front of the Big Spenders. Let them enjoy the sense of accomplishment from guiding and conquering you. That's what makes them feel good, you understand?"

Yaoyao immediately chimed in, seizing every opportunity to solidify her "high-EQ streamer" persona:

"Exactly! My Brother Ye said he likes my shy and somewhat innocent look."

Zhi Xia: "Right, if you can't learn from Yaoyao, at least learn from Minnie! I'm really fed up with you. Sometimes a Big Spender tells a slightly suggestive joke, and you turn around and tell an even dirtier one. How is that going to work? It'd be a miracle if you got any tickets!"

After being lectured by the two, Sweet Girl was unhappy and retorted, "Pfft, I'm not learning from Minnie! At most, I'm just dirty-minded and like to talk. Minnie, she..."

Zhi Xia, in front of her computer, felt her heart tighten. She instantly moved her mouse to hover over Sweet Girl's avatar, ready to "manually mute" her at any moment.

Fortunately, Sweet Girl seemed to know that the following words couldn't be said on the public mic. She slammed on the brakes, coughed, and switched to a more "euphemistic" direction:

"Ahem... I really can't learn from Minnie! Last time she went to ride a spinning bike, she only rode for ten minutes, but the sweat..." she smacked her lips: "When she got back, the seat had to be aired out for several days. I just can't do that~"