Chapter 24: If You Meet Someone Who Truly Understands You, She Might Just Be Your Dream Girl
Look at that short-haired girl in the blue long shirt, the one who looks really pretty. Is she secretly laughing?
Right now, Lin Yibai’s shoulders are shaking slightly, and there’s a red blush on his face because he’s trying hard not to laugh.
Please, I beg you, show me some mercy... Can you stop laughing already?
Yes, this is how Xia Changyu feels right now: completely embarrassed, with no dignity left.
He never expected that his own girlfriend... could be this... dumb?
Just look at that girl named “Lin Baiyi,” and then look back at the ridiculous things his girlfriend just said. It’s obvious who’s better!
Xia Changyu could only say, even among girls, there’s a huge difference.
He even started to wonder, if he marry Gu Xiaoxue one day, will it affect their future kids’ intelligence...?
Xia Changyu wanted to argue. “I—”
But when he saw Gu Xiaoxue and her dorm mates with their overly confident expressions, all his strength seemed to leave his body.
It was that same helpless feeling you get when talking to someone clueless. No matter how much you explain, they just won’t listen and insist they’re right.
After staying quiet for a while, he finally said, “Xiaoxue, why don’t you and your roommates go back first? It’s getting hotter in the afternoon. You should get some rest, okay?”
On the surface, it sounded like he was being caring. But really, he was just saying, ‘Please go now. Just stop giving me a headache. Okay?’
At first, Gu Xiaoxue and the others tried to act reserved. But honestly, there wasn’t much to do in the showroom area, besides enjoying the air-conditioning and playing on their phones.
Making money is a man’s job. They just needed to look pretty.
Gu Xiaoxue nodded and agreed, “Alright then, we’ll head back first. And don’t forget about tonight, okay?”
Xia Changyu: “Forget what?”
Yang Yueping rolled her eyes and cut in. “Are you dumb? Of course, don’t forget you promised to go shopping with Xiaoxue tonight!”
Xia Changyu: “……”
Right. Now he remembered. He did promise something like that. But who asked you to remind me?
Also, he’d already been completely worn out from helping set up the display booths these past few days.
He thought, ‘If only Gu Xiaoxue could understand and appreciate how hard I’ve been working... that would be nice.’
But instead, all he got was Gu Xiaoxue looking at him with hopeful eyes.
Honestly, Xia Changyu was too tired and didn’t want to go shopping at all, but he forced a smile and said, “Alright, fine... I’ll try to get home early tonight, and then I’ll go shopping with you.”
Gu Xiaoxue: “Yay!”
Yang Yueping added, “And don’t forget us too!”
Xia Changyu: “###!!” (A bunch of # symbols appeared on his forehead.)
Fine. FINE.
For Xiaoxue’s sake, I won’t argue with them.
Luckily, he finally managed to send Gu Xiaoxue and her roommates away.
With them out of his display booth, it felt like the world suddenly became peaceful and beautiful again.
Xia Changyu’s eyes naturally went back to a certain girl walking around Area E. He could finally enjoy watching a pretty girl in peace.
Well, Gu Xiaoxue was a pretty girl too. Actually, one of the top beauties in their department.
So is this what people mean by “the flower at home never smells as sweet as the wild ones”?
Xia Changyu didn’t think of himself as a playboy, but for some reason... being around Gu Xiaoxue, especially with her roommates, just made him feel really stressed and annoyed.
But the girl named “Lin Baiyi”, the one Xia Changyu was looking at, felt completely different from others.
Whether it was from their earlier conversation, or just watching her from a distance now, Xia Changyu had only one feeling from deep inside his heart, comfort.
“...If only I could talk to her, that would be great,” Xia Changyu frowned a little, looked at the ceramic crafts in his own display area, then looked again at the girl who had just returned to the front desk.
Suddenly, an idea came to him.
He waited until the afternoon, when it was closer to evening and things were less busy in the exhibit area.
Finally, Xia Changyu slowly walked over to the front desk.
Xia Changyu: “Um, hi there!”
Lin Yibai’s polite work smile had just appeared, but the moment she saw who it was, she dropped it immediately and replied coldly.
“No chatting about non-work things. Please don’t bother me while I’m working. Thank you.”
After all, you don’t give a friendly face to your love rival.
Lin Yibai honestly wanted to punch him in the face. Then throw him into an iron cage and go 1-on-1 fight to the death, problem solved!
But clearly, Xia Changyu wasn’t giving up.
He hesitated, then asked, “So... in what situation would it not be considered chatting?”
Lin Yibai replied impatiently, “If your display booth has a problem, or if you run into difficulties, we’re here to help with things like that. Got it?”
“Can I take that to mean you’re in charge of giving advice and support, to some extent?”
“That’s right.”
“Then about my display area, do you have any suggestions?”
“Nope.”
Ugh, is this love rival annoying or what?!
Are you gonna give me a share of your profit or something? No?
Then why would I help you, when you’ll just use my advice to show off later?
Helping your enemy, how stupid can you be?
But Xia Changyu wasn’t some clueless fool. In their short talk, he had already figured out what kind of things he could ask about.
To keep the conversation going, he didn’t ask for specific tips anymore, he didn’t have the face to do that.
Instead, he changed the topic. With a small smile, he said, “Xiaoxue... um, I mean, my girlfriend, and her roommates... I’m sure you heard what they were saying earlier, right?”
“What were they saying?”
Xia Changyu: “You were trying not to laugh at the time.”
Lin Yibai: “Oh!”
Now she remembered.
Xia Changyu nodded and asked, “I saw you were holding back a laugh... did you have a different opinion about what they said?”
Lin Yibai replied calmly, “Why should I tell you?”
Xia Changyu said, “Because this counts as a consultation. You don’t have to tell me, but if you can... I’d really like to hear your thoughts.”
Tell you? Tell you what?
Lin Yibai looked outside, the sunset was turning the sky red, and it was almost time to clock out.
She was tired from the whole day, and wanted to be the first to catch the shuttle bus home.
But... Fine. FINE!
Judging by how messed up this love rival looked today, he had clearly been tortured by Gu Xiaoxue’s roommates.
Lin Yibai turned away and said quietly, “About Xiaoxue... I mean, your girlfriend’s comment about selling stuff meant for November in April. Honestly, deep down, you already know the answer to that, don’t you?”
Xia Changyu: “I want to hear your view.”
Lin Yibai: “There’s nothing special to hear.”
Xia Changyu: “I just want to see if we’re thinking the same thing.”
Lin Yibai sighed and said, “Everyone knows that with overseas trade, timing is measured in months or even quarters. It’s not like you make something today and ship it tomorrow with next-day delivery...”
“...It’s late April now. If you accept a contract now and send it to the factory, you’d be lucky to get a production slot by June or July. Also, orders in overseas trade are never small. Otherwise, you don’t make a profit. A one- to two-month production time is totally normal…”
“...The earliest the customer will get the product is around October or November, just in time for the busy shopping season in foreign markets. They’re not stupid either. They’ve already calculated things like warehouse storage costs, that’s why they placed the order with you now.”
Nice!
Her analysis was perfect.
Xia Changyu looked at her with bright eyes, like he had just met someone who truly understood him.