Chapter 66: Don't Want to Pay?

Bao Jing grabbed the railing with one hand and held her with the other, his bare upper body muscles smooth, every bulge just right, his narrow, sharp brows and eyes deliberately softened, his brown pupils filled with her reflection: "Don't be scared, we're all here."

Ye Xi'an gave a bitter smile and nodded; she truly didn't want to go through that again.

"San Huan East Station has arrived; please disembark in order, do not crowd."

Ye Xi'an looked at the San Huan ahead; compared to the First Ring full of tech buildings, the Second Ring packed with houses, the San Huan resembled a metallic protective shield covering the city's outskirts.

Every building and skyscraper was forged from an extremely high-density alloy; at certain angles, one could still see a strange shimmer on its surface.

Not only the walls, but even the windows were made of special material; earlier, when Ye Xi'an was on the train, she noticed the train passed through a tunnel, and if she wasn't mistaken, that should be a wall, a wall separating the city from the Free Zone, meaning that whenever danger comes, the Free Zone and the Slum can be arbitrarily discarded.

This is also why males need female protection; only by entering the rings does it mean safety.

If there were no females, their income would not cover expenses, gradually they couldn't afford it, and eventually they'd end up outside the Free Zone.

Walking along the street, the group entered a breakfast shop and ordered several baskets of steaming hot soup dumplings.

Lin Zhi Jing wanted to pay, but Ye Xi'an stopped him: "This morning you already treated Bao Jing and them to breakfast, or rather because you escorted me and Bao Jing and got stuck here, these days it's my turn to treat you to a meal."

After saying that, Ye Xi'an quickly stood up and paid; although she hadn't spent much time with Lin Zhi Jing, she still had some understanding of his temperament.

Put simply, Lin Zhi Jing is like the typical male chauvinist on Earth, a true male chauvinist, though he sometimes likes to force things, when faced with a matter he actually steps up, rather than just liking to let others follow his wishes while he does nothing.

Furthermore, Ye Xi'an, with a slight headache, looked up at Lin Zhi Jing; she still didn't quite understand why he liked her.

If she kept letting someone who likes her pay for meals for her three husbands, that would be too strange.

Lin Zhi Jing watched Ye Xi'an's ever-changing expression, couldn't resist lightly poking her full forehead, and almost instantly left a faint, light red mark.

"What are you thinking about?"

Ye Xi'an guiltily shook her head: "Nothing, just wondering when the buns will be ready."

As soon as Ye Xi'an finished speaking, the boss came over with a steaming hot bamboo steamer.

Layers of bamboo baskets held swirling mist, the fresh aroma filling the room.

Lin Zhi Jing opened the steamer and, offhand, reached to pick one up for Ye Xi'an.

"No need, no need, I'll do it myself," Ye Xi'an pushed away Lin Zhi Jing's hand that was about to pick food for her, took up her chopsticks, and picked one to put on her plate.

When she ate it, the fragrant, silky broth rolled around in her mouth, the bun skin was also smooth and thin, Ye Xi'an happily narrowed her eyes, it was really delicious~

Ye Xi'an was happily eating, but Lin Zhi Jing was somewhat unhappy; his gray pupils sank, he stared silently at his hand that had been pushed back, and when Ye Xi'an was about to pick a second bun, he said: "If you're uncomfortable because I had you mark me, you can pretend that day never happened."

Ye Xi'an's motion of eating the soup bun stalled, her toes curled and gripped the shoe sole, she rubbed hard, head down, not knowing how to respond to Lin Zhi Jing.

Bao Jing saw all this, he looked somewhat unhappily at Lin Zhi Jing: "Lin Zhi Jing, are you being too full of yourself? Not eating the bun you picked means you're uncomfortable?"

"Or could it be that An'an loves us too much and is deliberately avoiding suspicion?"

Hearing "too much love for them," Lin Zhi Jing's brows knotted together, even Ye Xi'an suddenly looked at him; "loving them too much" what's that, also too cheesy.

"An'an, I'll pick one for you to eat," he said, and Bao Jing picked a crystal-clear, translucent soup bun for Ye Xi'an, one hand propping his face, smiling brightly as he tilted his head to look at her; that smile made Ye Xi'an feel the uncanny valley effect.

Yi Yang saw that and also rushed to help pick a bun for Ye Xi'an.

"Honey, I'll also pick one for you, I'll get you the biggest."

The soup buns in Ye Xi'an's plate piled higher and higher, about to spill over; she quickly stopped the overly excited Yi Yang: "Okay Yi Yang, these are enough for me."

"But there are still so many," Yi Yang said, somewhat regretfully looking at the remaining several baskets of soup buns; if not eaten now, they'd get cold and not taste good.

"What are you worrying about, Doctor Lin hasn't eaten yet," Ji Jiangci sat upright, quite gentlemanly asking Lin Zhi Jing: "Doctor Lin, do you need me to pick one for you?"

Lin Zhi Jing expressionlessly replied no, casually picked a few and shoved them into his mouth, hastily finishing breakfast.

Leaving the breakfast shop, Ye Xi'an looked at the big and small stores, fell into confusion; there were too many things to buy, for a moment she actually didn't know what to get.

Ji Jiangci saw Ye Xi'an's worry, the corner of his mouth curled into a confident smile; he was really good at this kind of thing.

He took Ye Xi'an's hand and headed straight to a clothing store, walking and saying his plan: "We'll buy clothes first; we can't let Bao Jing keep going shirtless, or later when we run into females we'll get beaten."

"After buying clothes, we'll go to the supermarket to buy some daily necessities: kitchen knives, cutting boards, iron pots, water dispensers, toothbrushes and cups, towels, bathrobes, towels, slippers, washbasins, foot basins, butt basins, bath basins, wash...."

"Stop stop stop," Ye Xi'an said, her head feeling big.

Ji Jiangci was interrupted by Ye Xi'an; his long, swift legs suddenly stopped and turned, Ye Xi'an didn't react in time and lunged straight into his embrace, her petite nose bumping against his solid chest muscles.

It hurt; her nasal passages instantly turned sour, she stepped back a step, painfully covering her nose, Bao Jing rushed over, gently taking away her hand that was covering her nose; fortunately there was no bleeding.

He let go of Ye Xi'an, shoved Ji Jiangci with blame: "Ji Jiangci, what's wrong with you! Suddenly pulling An'an to walk so fast, then suddenly stopping, you bumped into An'an, and didn't even look!"

Ji Jiangci said nothing, just stared at Ye Xi'an: "Why did you make me stop? Are you.... not wanting to pay?"

"Before having no money was fine, but now we have money; could it be that Ye Xi'an is still like before, just wanting to recklessly waste money? He had thought she had changed."

"No," Ye Xi'an said, not understanding why Ji Jiangci would think that; these things are for everyone's shared use, the money is with her, how could she not want to pay: "I just want to tell you, you don't need to tell me, just buy whatever you want."