Chapter 21: How About You Buy Me

"Go on, tell me your story." Xu Heng found a marble ball that looked agreeable.

"Why should I tell you!"

Liu Yiyan didn't have a deep impression of Xu Heng. It was true that Xu Heng was the top student in their class during high school, but he had a very blunt personality, was dull, and was also reticent.

Once, a little girl in the class who liked him took a math problem to ask him how to solve it, and he just expressionlessly explained the solution process to her, finally adding, "Such a simple problem, don't come ask me next time."

Ever since then, everyone knew that this top student in the class had a somewhat eccentric temper, so no one was willing to get close to him.

Liu Yiyan had sat on the marble ball at the entrance of their alma mater for so long, having thought that Cui Tianhua would come back to find her, and also having thought that a passing acquaintance might recognize her, but she never expected that the first person to find her would be Xu Heng.

It couldn't be said that the two had zero interaction, but it could only be said that they were completely unfamiliar; she had no reason to pour her heart out to a high school classmate who was practically a stranger.

"Yo, still a bit arrogant, and you're already crying like a tabby cat. If you don't want to talk, I'm leaving. I suppose no one else is willing to listen to your grievances anyway."

Without another word, Xu Heng stood up and patted the dust off his backside, looking like he was about to leave immediately.

"You..." Liu Yiyan still wanted to maintain her "big star" airs, but thinking that Xu Heng might truly be her only straw to clutch at, her tone had to soften, "Don't go, okay..."

"If you'd been this obedient earlier, would I have needed to scare you?" Xu Heng rolled his eyes and said crossly.

"That's not it... it's just that you speak too harshly~" Liu Yiyan pouted and said, looking aggrieved.

"The point is, what you showed before was exactly what I said."

Xu Heng's one sentence left Liu Yiyan speechless.

She sighed slightly: "My family member has stomach cancer. We only barely scraped together the surgery fees after selling the house in Tong City, but we can't afford the subsequent chemotherapy costs."

"So you thought about selling yourself?"

"How can you call that selling!"

Xu Heng nodded: "Right, it should be called an equivalent exchange. But from what they say, aren't you a big star? You should have the ability to earn this much money, right?"

"What big star." Liu Yiyan shook her head with a bitter smile, "That was all made up by me to fool you guys. In my freshman year, I only appeared in one short video, and the total screen time was only about ten seconds. The money I earned wasn't even as much as the living expenses and tuition I'd already spent."

Art students have high expenses; Xu Heng was clear on this point. After learning the truth, he asked again: "Then what's going on with you and Cui Tianhua?"

"Cui Tianhua knew my family was having some difficulties, so I made a... um... deal with him. I'd be his girlfriend, and he'd give me money."

So it was being kept, not selling—though it wasn't much different, just the distinction between long-term and one-off.

"Then why didn't you go through with the 'deal' instead of hiding here and crying secretly?"

"He thought it was too expensive."

"..."

It was a good thing Xu Heng wasn't drinking water, otherwise he definitely would have choked on it because of her.

He didn't keep her because he thought it was too expensive? This was the first time he had heard of such an absurd thing.

"How much money did you ask him for?"

Liu Yiyan held up a peace sign.

"Twenty thousand?"

"Two hundred thousand."

Xu Heng covered his forehead: "Then you deserve it."

Being scolded by him like that, Liu Yiyan's tears started falling again: "My family already has one hundred and thirty thousand in debt at the hospital. Two hundred thousand would just pay off that debt and only be enough for my mom to have a few rounds of chemotherapy."

"I'm not scolding you because you asked for such a high price, but because you went to Cui Tianhua to ask for this two hundred thousand."

"What do you mean." Liu Yiyan was stunned for a moment.

Seeing that she still didn't understand, Xu Heng said speechlessly: "Cui Tianhua's dad is the chairman of Tongjin, that's true, but that doesn't mean he is the chairman of Tongjin. He still relies on his dad for money right now. How much do you think his dad gives him a month? With two hundred thousand, wouldn't it be better for him to go to Guantang Second Road and find a thousand young ladies to play emperor? Why would he have to pick you? You should have started by asking for a lower price, then slowly asked for more after you got close to him. If he truly liked you, maybe you two could have made it to the marriage stage, and then you could wait for him to inherit the family assets, divorce him decisively, and take half—wouldn't that be financial freedom?"

A rich second generation does have the word 'rich' attached, but there's still the 'second' part. Only when that 'second' part is gone and they become a tycoon are they truly wealthy.

Otherwise, why do all the 'tea-girls' like to find wealthy forty-year-old bosses to be their 'spare tires' and young twenty-year-olds with a little money to be their 'backup tires'~

As for Cui Tianhua... looking at him, being able to pull out a hundred thousand or so would count as him being "frugal in his daily life."

Xu Heng was teaching Liu Yiyan how to be a 'tea-girl' on one hand, while on the other, he felt amused by the low level of the women of this era.

Compared to those king-level 'tea-girls' of later generations who had been tempered and forged through all sorts of trials, these bronze-level 'tea-girls' were simply like pure little white flowers.

And being pointed out like this by Xu Heng, Liu Yiyan finally knew where her "mistake" was, and her expression turned even paler.

But what could she do now that she knew?

It was all too late. Cui Tianhua felt she was asking for the moon and directly rejected her offer. Even if she went back to beg him with her tail between her legs, he might not necessarily pay her any mind.

And if she didn't pay off the hospital debt this week, the hospital would stop her mother's chemotherapy, which was scheduled every three weeks. Her mother's physical condition could not handle an interruption to the treatment cycle for the time being.

"Do you have any other relatives? Borrow some money to get through this first."

"No, I've already borrowed from all the relatives I could."

"What about your father's side? Borrow from some friends or something."

"He ran off abroad years ago. Only my mom and I are left at home."

"A family misfortune indeed. Why not try crowdfunding online?"

With no relatives and no friends, Xu Heng really couldn't think of any other way for her.

His own life had been, at most, a bit ordinary, but he had never encountered poverty or being buried in debt.

One could only say that compared to those at the very bottom, being ordinary was a kind of privilege.

Xu Heng comforted her a little and prepared to leave, but just then, Liu Yiyan suddenly grabbed his sleeve tightly.

"Little sister, our story is finished, you aren't going to forbid me from going home, are you?" He said helplessly, "Regarding your situation, I have expressed my deepest sympathy..."

"Xu Heng."

Liu Yiyan stared at Xu Heng with an expression like a starving stray puppy looking at someone holding a ham sausage on the side of the road, which made him feel a bit creeped out.

"How about you buy me."

"?"

Xu Heng was stunned for two seconds, then his expression changed from astonishment to a frown, and he asked uncomprehendingly: "Do you think I can come up with two hundred thousand?"

Liu Yiyan nodded desperately.

"No, where did you see that I look like a rich person?" Xu Heng spread his hands, standing before her with his arms open like a clothes hanger, "The designer brands I'm wearing are all high-quality knockoffs."

"But your watch is real," Liu Yiyan pointed at the 100,000-value Patek Philippe on his left wrist, "I saw it when I was renting watches today; the appearance and texture are exactly the same as yours."

Xu Heng smacked his lips, not expecting that the high-quality knockoff he claimed to have would become his biggest flaw.

"Then what makes you think I would make a deal with you?" He narrowed his eyes and asked with a smile.

"Because you kept staring at... staring at... staring at here," Liu Yiyan gestured embarrassedly at the two great mountains above her abdomen, then pleaded softly, "Two hundred thousand, I'll be your lover for one year, no, two years! Is that okay?"

"How can you slander my innocence out of thin air!"

Xu Heng's face was still quite thick-skinned; he retorted without changing his expression, while simultaneously scanning Liu Yiyan up and down.

Two hundred thousand for two years—to be honest, given Liu Yiyan's beauty, this price was low.

If she weren't in urgent need of money, she wouldn't have to demean herself like this.

After a long while, Xu Heng sighed: "I was wrong, your level is quite high."

"Huh?" Hearing the unfamiliar term, Liu Yiyan fell into a state of confusion again.