"Chuanfeng."
"Can I come over and help you?"
Zhang Jingyi twisted the hem of her shirt, looking somewhat nervous, as if she was deathly afraid he would refuse. She quickly added, "I'm really good with numbers, and I know how to cook and wash dishes at home. I'm very, very quick at doing things."
Her voice was soft and sweet, her expression earnest, and she even took a step forward, ready to start working the moment he gave the green light.
"Holy shit!"
That was Wang Yaofa's most direct internal reaction at that exact moment. He wished he could drag the entire school over to watch. Their goddess was asking Liu Chuanfeng for a favor, and practically filing an application for it. If any other guy had run into this, his mouth would be splitting all the way back to his ears.
With things standing like this, who could possibly say their street stall was embarrassing?
Yet Chuanfeng being Chuanfeng, he looked almost reluctant, even waving a lazy hand. "No, no, we're a joint-stock business here, and the accounts are already settled. If I bring you on, wouldn't I have to pay you a salary?"
"Things would get too messy to sort out later."
What the hell?
Wang Yaofa thought he must have misheard. The campus goddess volunteers to come and help, and you're actually thinking about paying her?
Wait.
Pangzi suddenly wanted to slap himself across the face. He was clearly too deeply influenced by his old man—he truly had the blood of a capitalist flowing in his veins. The very first reason he objected to Chuanfeng's decision was because why should they pay her!
Wang Yaofa felt so tainted.
Yet he also felt he was right. Before Zhang Jingyi could speak, he blurted out loudly, "What money? Who cares about money?"
"Chuanfeng, you've been corrupted."
"Huh?"
Liu Chuanfeng froze. How had he been corrupted? Zhang Jingyi's gaze shifted over to them as well. At that moment, she felt Wang Yaofa must be on her side. There was a look of expectation in her eyes; after all, he was Chuanfeng's tight bro, the kind of guy who even went to the restroom together. If he helped her speak up, she ought to be able to stay.
Ever since the day they filled out their college applications, she had regretted summoning up the courage to confess her feelings to Liu Chuanfeng in front of a huge crowd.
People always said that once friends confessed, if it worked out they became a couple, and if it didn't, they couldn't even remain friends afterward.
They had known each other for many years, and Liu Chuanfeng had always taken good care of her. She had held a crush on him since she was a kid, and even her parents used to tease her when they were bored, saying that if the two of them ended up together later on, they wouldn't even have to worry about mother-in-law and daughter-in-law issues.
After the college entrance exams ended, she had debated whether to confess. When she mentioned the idea to her deskmate, her deskmate egged her on relentlessly. The reasoning was simple: they were about to graduate from high school, and they wouldn't even be going to the same university afterward, so she might as well lock it down now.
When she told her deskmate she was afraid of being rejected, her deskmate had looked at her with sheer disbelief, lecturing her in utter speechlessness: she was the campus belle, for goodness' sake! If she was going to confess to a guy, which guy in his right mind would ever turn her down?
Hearing that, Zhang Jingyi instantly grew confident. Right, she was the campus belle! Even Sun Qianyao had to rely on daily styling and all sorts of social networking just to barely match her popularity. Thinking along those lines, her confidence surged.
Yet she got rejected. In that split second, a sudden sense of inferiority washed over her. She had no idea where things went wrong, and moreover, his reason for the rejection still left her completely baffled: What did he mean by "she's a good girl, and I can't afford to provoke her"?
She had searched online for answers, but nothing seemed to fit. The crucial part was that ever since the confession, Liu Chuanfeng seemed to have vanished from her social circle entirely.
His QQ status remained permanently offline. She tried sending a few cute emoticons, but got no reply. In the class chat group, where everyone was chattering away, he didn't respond to anything either. It wasn't until last night, when someone in the group started discussing his stall near the construction site by the school, that she managed to track down the time and showed up uninvited.
She didn't know if he was avoiding her because of the confession, but she felt she needed to be brave. Even if the confession failed, she had to salvage their friendship. As long as they were still friends and still in touch, she figured she'd always have a chance. If she couldn't even receive messages from him anymore, that would mean truly zero hope left.
She might be pure, but she wasn't a complete fool who understood nothing.
"How am I corrupted?"
Liu Chuanfeng looked a bit perplexed. He simply didn't want her to come and wanted to keep a certain distance—how could that possibly be tied to the word "corrupted"?
"You are corrupted, though."
The flesh on Wang Yaofa's face jiggled with every nod. His expression conveyed confirmation and absolute certainty: "She's coming here to help out for free purely out of classmate, friend, and childhood-sweetheart ties."
"Just look at how pure and sincere a heart that is."
"And you actually wanted to sully it with filthy lucre."
"Tell me, aren't you corrupted?"
"Yeah, Wang Yaofa makes a good point."
Zhang Jingyi nodded beside him, offering him a grateful look before turning to Liu Chuanfeng. "I'm volunteering to help for free. I don't want you to pay me."
Liu Chuanfeng blinked, looking first at Pangzi, then back at the innocent-looking campus belle.
The imagery of the blood-sucking boss and the bright-eyed, foolish college student had materialized right before his eyes at this very moment.
Free labor?
Liu Chuanfeng had to admit that in this particular arena, he simply couldn't hold a candle to Pangzi. A capitalist's blood was truly pitch black, and apparently, it was hereditary.
Still, having the campus belle around came with plenty of perks. First, it wouldn't be quite as overwhelming. Second, with her standing right here, she would draw in a massive amount of attention—the campus belle effect was no joke.
"All right, then."
Since things had reached this point, it wouldn't look good for Liu Chuanfeng to keep refusing. Maintaining a normal relationship with her would be fine; there was no need to make things so awkward just because of a confession.
"What do I need to do?"
Hearing Liu Chuanfeng agree to let her stay, Zhang Jingyi finally breathed a sigh of relief, a smile blooming across her face. That smile made the summer sunshine seem all the brighter. Who knew that bright eyes and pearly whites could actually have a dazzling effect?
Liu Chuanfeng glanced at her twice. Under the harsh sunlight, her cheeks were slightly flushed, which instead added a touch of gentle allure.
"Just hand out lunch boxes and collect the money later."
"Did you put on sunscreen?"
"Don't go getting sunburned. The sun is still pretty vicious around here."
"I did."
Zhang Jingyi smiled and nodded. Did this count as a form of care on his part? A hint of self-reproach stirred in her heart—if she'd known, she would have brought a bottle along. He had gotten quite a bit darker from the sun these past couple of days, though it only added to his masculine charm.
After 11:30, the workers began getting off their shifts in batches, most of them heading straight toward the tricycle. Everyone was already familiar with the routine, and they had their cash ready: "One meal and a glass of black tea."
"Hey, how come there's a little missy here today?"
"Ain't she a looker?"
"Your girlfriend?"
After so many days, the workers had grown familiar with Liu Chuanfeng and the guys, sometimes even cracking off-color jokes. But a girl this gorgeous definitely couldn't belong to that chubby kid—they didn't match at all.
That was completely out of the question.
"Uncle, not yet."
Zhang Jingyi retrieved a lunch box and a glass of black tea from the cart, handing them over with a poised, graceful smile. She naturally accepted the paper money from the worker's hand, checked it to make sure it was correct, and dropped it into the small plastic bucket used for cash. The entire sequence of movements flowed as smoothly as running water, completely effortless.
Wang Yaofa watched in astonishment from the side. He had been working here for days, and he had never been that slick.
Still, he quickly let it go. He really wasn't cut out for manual labor; he was born to be a boss.