"You helped me pick out the car — consider this my thank-you. Get whatever you want; it's on me."
"I just tapped around on an iPad for a bit, I barely did anything," Xu Lu said with a smile. "You really don't have to."
I'm just being polite. Please don't take that literally.
Chen Qi caught her thoughts and pressed on. "Configuring a Ferrari takes real brainpower. You tackled a genuinely difficult task for me — I absolutely have to thank you."
"Well... when you put it that way, I suppose I can't refuse. Let's go explore."
While doing her makeup at noon, Xu Lu had noticed she was running low on skincare products. She led Chen Qi straight to the La Mer counter.
La Mer was a high-end brand under the Estée Lauder umbrella — and priced accordingly. Xu Lu had bought it before, but only two or three times. Because of her job, she went through cosmetics and skincare at an above-average rate, and even with a monthly salary over 20,000 yuan, she couldn't sustain La Mer as a habit. Her apartment was a small unit she'd bought with a mix of family support and her own savings — and 4,500 yuan in mortgage payments came out every month without fail.
But if Chen Qi was paying, she was going to pick the good stuff. A guy like this clearly wasn't hurting for money.
"Welcome to La Mer."
A salesgirl greeted them warmly. Chen Qi and Xu Lu made for a striking pair — he was handsome, she was beautiful, and both were dressed head-to-toe in luxury brands. Clients like these, you could tell at a glance.
La Mer. Chen Qi had been here with Li Ting a couple of months back. He'd gritted his teeth and spent 3,000 yuan on a bottle of body lotion for her. That month, he'd survived on plain noodles for over twenty days in his rented apartment.
The salesgirl was about to step forward when another colleague held her back.
"I'll take this one. She's a friend of mine."
Zhou Yali came walking over. The moment Xu Lu saw her, something dropped in her stomach.
Of all the places to run into her. Just my luck.
"Soft Boss, score?" Chen Qi asked quietly.
The system responded: Charm rating 89. Relationship count: 38.
Chen Qi had noticed a pattern — girls with charm ratings above 80 almost never had a relationship count below three. Someone like Xu Lu, beautiful and with minimal history, was genuinely rare.
"Lu Lu! It's been forever!" Zhou Yali walked up with a wide smile, grabbing Xu Lu's hand like they were the closest of friends.
"Yali, I had no idea you worked here."
"Just a few months now. Is this your boyfriend? He's so handsome."
Please don't tell me he's another pretty face who's all talk.
Zhou Yali's charm rating didn't reach 90, so Chen Qi couldn't hear her thoughts — which was probably just as well. He would have been genuinely surprised to learn that Xu Lu had once been played.
Xu Lu's ex-boyfriend had been a fake rich boy. His family had some money — enough to run a small company — and the Porsche he drove was actually the company car, purchased as a tax write-off. Ask him to buy a bag worth twenty or thirty thousand, and he'd drag his feet for half a day, going on and on about how much he loved her and what a sacrifice he was making — until Xu Lu was so touched she forgot what she'd asked for.
Then one evening at a Michelin-starred restaurant, the two of them racked up a bill over 8,000 yuan. When the check came, he discovered his family had frozen his credit card. Xu Lu ended up paying. The next day, she couldn't reach him.
The relationship between girls can never be read from the surface. Xu Lu and Zhou Yali looked warm and close — in reality, they were each other's worst enemies.
Back in high school, they'd been the two most beautiful girls in the entire school, and fate had put them in the same class. Each ran her own circle; each found the other insufferable — no specific reason, just pure mutual dislike that had calcified into something permanent.
The story about Xu Lu's ex had gotten out somehow — nobody knew how — and Zhou Yali had found out about it. She'd proceeded to make pointed, suggestive remarks in the class group chat.
This woman. Just seeing her face makes me nauseous.
But what do I even say? If I say he's my boyfriend and he gets annoyed about it...
Chen Qi had seen how this worked. A lot of wealthy guys deliberately avoided labeling relationships — they kept their options open, floating between various beautiful women. The moment you defined something, you lost the moral high ground if you kept playing the field.
But Chen Qi had heard Xu Lu's thoughts. He knew exactly what was going on between these two "friends."
Girls. Genuinely terrifying. She clearly loathes this woman — and they're standing there holding hands.
"Hi. I'm Xu Lu's boyfriend."
Chen Qi introduced himself before anyone had to ask.
[Xu Lu's favorability +1. Current favorability: 21.]
Xu Lu blinked. He'd said it himself, without being prompted. She hadn't expected that — but it helped her enormously. At least right now, she had her pride.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Zhou Yali — Lu Lu and I went to high school together."
"Lu Lu, this one's even better-looking than your last one."
That b—— seriously just said that.
Between men and women, as long as nobody asks, nobody volunteers information about their exes. It's just how it works.
"Well, of course," Chen Qi said. "Someone as beautiful as Lu Lu — anything less wouldn't do."
The moment those words left his mouth, Xu Lu wrapped her arm around his.
The soft warmth of her closeness sent a faint electric feeling up his arm, but Chen Qi kept his composure. Li Ting had been attractive too — and while they'd never gone further, this kind of physical proximity was familiar enough.
He steadied himself and turned to Xu Lu.
"Lu Lu, take your time picking. I'll go sit over there for a bit."
Sure. Let's see if you use 'something came up' as an excuse to disappear.
Zhou Yali didn't know what Chen Qi was actually worth — she assumed he was just posturing in front of Xu Lu.
Xu Lu, on the other hand, wasn't worried he'd run out on the bill. But she wasn't going to go wild either.
Yesterday's 100,000-yuan bag had been entirely his idea — she hadn't said a single word about it. Today, if she started picking freely at a La Mer counter, 50,000 to 60,000 could vanish in minutes. She didn't want him thinking that just because he was paying, she'd throw all restraint out the window.
"Go rest, big brother. I'll look on my own."
By now, Xu Lu had started calling him gēge — older brother — a term that in this context carried something between affection and playful flirtation.
Zhou Yali put on her most professional smile and began walking Xu Lu through the full lineup: toners, body lotions, eye creams, serums.
"Lu Lu, your boyfriend clearly isn't short on cash. Why not go for the full set?"
I'd love to — but what if he thinks I'm a gold-digger?
Chen Qi had settled onto a nearby couch and was scrolling through TikTok. He filtered for local livestreamers.
The mind-reading ability only worked face-to-face — no use for streamers broadcasting from the other side of the country.
"Come on, is there not a single one with a low relationship count?"
This was the era of fast everything. Social norms had relaxed, people treated romance more casually, and it showed. Ten minutes of browsing — never mind charm ratings — and not one of the female streamers had a relationship count below seven.
Maybe I should swing by the university district sometime. He knew college students these days could be just as complicated, but there were plenty of good-looking girls around campus. Worth a shot.
Chen Qi stood up from the couch. Xu Lu was in the middle of testing samples.
"Lu Lu, found anything you like?"
"She'd like the La Mer Luxe Collection — the gold set," Zhou Yali answered for her.
Witch. I hadn't said a word. Are you deliberately trying to sabotage me?
Xu Lu stayed quiet and watched to see how Chen Qi would react.
"The Luxe Collection — how much is that?" Chen Qi asked.
"It's normally ¥28,000, but we have a promotion right now, so it's ¥22,800."
Over twenty thousand yuan for four little bottles you could fit in the palm of your hand. No wonder they called it luxury skincare — this was out of reach for most people.