Chapter 9: A Good Sucker

The insinuation behind this message was even more obvious.

Anyone who wasn't a fool could tell what this message meant.

"She wants me to go find her?"

Zheng Qian hesitated for a moment, but ultimately sent a "Goodnight" and didn't reply to Qin Xueli's message again.

...

Shangri-La Hotel.

After showering, Qin Xueli wiped her wet hair with a bath towel while repeatedly refreshing her phone.

Throughout this time, she kept waiting for a knock on the door from Zheng Qian, but when Qin Xueli saw the message he sent, she felt quite unsettled.

Just two words: "Goodnight"?

She had hinted at it so clearly to Zheng Qian, did he really not understand? Did he really not grasp what she meant?

It meant, you can come over and sleep with me tonight!

Room 9694 at the Shangri-La, come find me!

You asked me out shopping, wasn't it because you wanted to sleep with me?

Now, I've skipped countless steps in between and given you this opportunity to succeed.

And you, you just sent a "Goodnight"?

What did that mean?

It was a roundabout way of rejecting her.

Qin Xueli really couldn't figure out this man, Zheng Qian, anymore.

Some of his actions tonight didn't seem like things the Zheng Qian she knew before would be capable of doing.

She couldn't figure out how Zheng Qian had suddenly become so rich.

She felt some regret.

Back at the mall, even when Zheng Qian refused to let her buy clothes, she should have insisted.

Why hadn't she been willing to spend a few hundred yuan back then?

It wasn't until later, when they entered the bar and he casually spent over two hundred thousand on drinks, that she realized things weren't that simple.

Zheng Qian was relatively honest, even a bit cowardly.

In her eyes, he was the kind of man with no backbone who could be easily manipulated.

She could utilize Zheng Qian's liking and Favorability toward her to do whatever she wanted, acting as she pleased.

Qin Xueli had been working for three years and was tired of playing around.

If things went smoothly with Zheng Qian, and since he now had some money in his hands that could satisfy her material life, he was still a decent marriage prospect.

But such a good man had been lost by her own doing.

It was now past two in the morning, and she didn't know which of her three best friends had taken Zheng Qian away.

Or was it that latecomer who surpassed the rest, Jin Lu?

Qin Xueli felt the latter was more likely...

The more she thought, the more annoyed she became.

In the end, she simply stopped thinking about it, threw her phone aside, and burrowed her head into the quilt.

...

At this moment, Zheng Qian also received a message from Jin Lu.

"Just finished, is Young Master Zheng asleep?"

"No."

"Where are you now?"

"Just wandering around on the road, sobering up."

"Send me your location."

Zheng Qian sent his location.

Ten minutes later, an electric scooter slowly drove over and stopped beside him.

"Get on."

"You're picking me up on this?"

"Don't drink and drive, don't drive if you've been drinking."

Zheng Qian nodded.

What she said seemed very reasonable; the dangers and risks of drunk driving were extremely high.

Jin Lu was wearing a sports tank top, her willow-like waist slender enough to be held in one hand.

Sitting in the back seat, a patch of her fair, exposed skin was visible on her waist.

Zheng Qian had an urge to reach out and give it a squeeze.

The two arrived at a restaurant.

It was the only one open on the entire street, and there were quite a few customers; business seemed to be very good.

"Boss, one serving of chives with scrambled eggs, one serving of braised oysters with red dates, one serving of turtle stewed with beef, and another serving of pickled yam."

Good grief, were all these dishes for kidney enhancement?

Was she worried Zheng Qian wouldn't be able to perform tonight?

"Why are you treating me to a meal?"

Zheng Qian tossed out the question in his mind.

"I saw you have money and wanted to get to know you."

Jin Lu didn't shy away at all, straightforwardly stating her thoughts.

It didn't sound like a lie.

But Zheng Qian figured that Jin Lu was the type of woman who couldn't be bought with money.

At the very least, she couldn't be won over with conventional methods of pursuing girls.

Like most people, Zheng Qian didn't have a good impression of nightclub women.

"Although I smoke, drink, have tattoos, hang out at bars, and love clubbing, I am a good girl."

If someone said this to Zheng Qian, he wouldn't believe a word of it.

However, Jin Lu was the exception.

From the moment he dropped that set of 'Great Divine Dragons' and Jin Lu's Favorability didn't increase at all, Zheng Qian had been stunned by her.

He could guarantee that Jin Lu was not a nightclub woman of the same ilk as Xinxin or Angela.

"Who isn't rich among those who play at Red Rose?"

Zheng Qian's subtext was, why him out of everyone?

"Because you're richer, hahaha."

Jin Lu laughed, laughing very naturally.

Zheng Qian couldn't refute this answer.

Casually spending over two hundred thousand at Red Rose—even a boss with a net worth of ten million wouldn't dare to spend like that.

Jin Lu was telling him now that she only wanted to get to know him because he was rich.

Zheng Qian didn't know whether it was better to believe her or not.

Or was she casting a wide net to catch more fish?

When the restaurant owner was serving the dishes, Zheng Qian had a sudden inspiration and stopped him.

"Boss, does she often invite men here to eat?"

The owner was stunned for a moment, then looked at Jin Lu.

Jin Lu was also stunned; she hadn't expected Zheng Qian to ask that.

She waved a hand at the restaurant owner: "You can go first."

The restaurant owner left straight away.

Jin Lu got up from across the table and sat beside Zheng Qian.

"Do you think that because I drink with clients at the nightclub, I'm that kind of dirty, loose, and money-grubbing woman?"

Zheng Qian was silent for a moment: "I actually don't think that at all, I was just curious."

He had actually prepared himself to have boiling water splashed in his face just now.

Jin Lu extended a slender, jade-like finger and lifted Zheng Qian's chin.

"You're curious, are you?"

Zheng Qian was now forced to tilt his head back, nodding three times in succession.

Immediately after, Jin Lu leaned into Zheng Qian's ear and whispered:

"Then, come home with me tonight."

"The night is long... I'll tell you all about it."

There was hot breath against his ear as she spoke.

A wave of lust suddenly ignited in Zheng Qian's lower abdomen.

Oh, this...

Is she this direct?

Even more direct than Qin Xueli.

Okay.

Zheng Qian liked her more and more.

But the Favorability above her head made Zheng Qian start to suspect that the system had malfunctioned.

[ Current Favorability: 10 points ]

Her smile, her seduction, her hints—in Zheng Qian's eyes, they all seemed so natural.

Was this faked?

It didn't seem like it.

But the Favorability didn't change at all, which could only mean that Jin Lu's level was extremely, extremely high.

If she hadn't experienced dozens of men, how could she have this kind of temperament and state of mind?

"Then how about we go now?"

Zheng Qian was a bit impatient.

"Why are you in such a rush? We have to fill our stomachs first; what will you do if you're hungry?"

Jin Lu laughed.

Zheng Qian was indeed eager.

When the dishes were served, Zheng Qian didn't care if he was hungry or not, he just started wolfing down the food...

Jin Lu was right; since he had already decided to spend the night at her place, it didn't matter if they ate for a little while longer.

Besides, he needed to finish these kidney-strengthening dishes to have more energy for tonight's activities.