Chapter 10

Yu Na carried home the heavy barbecue.

She turned on the lights, put the barbecue on the dining table, took out her laptop, and found a recently popular TV drama.

The TV drama played in the background.

She picked up her phone, opened the parents' WeChat group at school.

In the member list, she found Xiao Chen's WeChat ID. This time, she didn't hesitate again, because she had a legitimate reason.

She bought so much barbecue in order to take this chance to pay him back for the meal.

If she still owed him money after paying too little, it would seem somewhat deliberate.

But this barbecue meal cost him nearly 200 yuan. With no familial relation between them, she should pay him back in full, both morally and reasonably. Otherwise, she would be taking advantage of him.

Of course, she was just comforting herself, giving herself a way out.

In fact, she had ulterior motives.

After the friend request was sent out, Yu Na turned off the ringtone of her phone and put it aside, not daring to check it.

Adding him on WeChat right before dinner resulted in her losing her appetite for the barbecue.

She only ate a few skewers before she was full. She put the remaining barbecue in the fridge, then picked up her phone which was tossed aside.

She opened it expectantly, only for that expectation to plummet the next second.

WeChat was quiet, he had not accepted her request yet.

Yu Na instantly lost all excitement.

She put her phone back in her room, took her pajamas and went to take a shower.

After the shower, she was too lazy to check her phone. She thought since he said he was busy, he definitely wouldn't be looking at his phone anytime soon.

Until drowsiness came, she picked up her phone to take a look. She suddenly found that Xiao Chen had added her an hour ago.

But he didn't say anything.

Yu Na's breath hitched.

She didn't take the initiative to chat with him either. Instead, she directly transferred 200 yuan to him. Then very arrogantly sent a message: 【Meal Expense】

Xiao Chen replied very quickly this time.

Yu Na had just put her phone down when the screen lit up again.

She couldn't help but pick up her phone ungracefully.

But she saw a refund notification—the 200 yuan was refunded in full.

Xiao Chen: 【I said it was my treat.】

Yu Na tapped on the screen: 【But it was too expensive.】 Xiao Chen: 【......】

What the hell.

He only replied with ellipses!

Damn!

Yu Na was so angry she didn't reply again. Instead, she opened his Moments. But his privacy setting hid posts from over 6 months ago.

In the past six months, he had only reposted one link.

"......"

How boring.

......On the weekend, Yu Na made an appointment to go shopping with Lin Shu'an.

Now whenever Lin Shu'an accepts an ad endorsement, her income can easily reach seven digits.

After marrying Han Chengxun, she has been self-employed.

And after Han Chengxun quit his job, he and a college friend founded a game studio. Last year they developed a new game which became instantly popular online after launch.

The little couple were very rich and blissful.

It was as if two gods had descended to earth to experience the wonderful human world, anyone who saw them would be envious.

Yu Na held Lin Shu'an’s arm, and subtly probed: “What about the others?”

Her implication was very obvious.

Because they didn’t have many mutual friends, only Xiao Chen and Han Chengxun were relatively familiar mutual friends.

Lin Shu'an naturally understood her meaning. She said Xiao Chen started out in finance, but didn't last long before quitting.

Xiao Chen’s father was the founder of S Group. In recent years its development has been very ambitious. The group’s hotels and affiliated resorts are spread across Asia, and expanded into the European and American markets last year.

After Changwan S Hotel opened, Xiao Chen’s father had him follow an old master to learn management.

Xiao Chen was very serious. In the face of some old foxes he was fearless. He was eloquent, hardworking, started from the bottom to learn step by step. With talent and effort combined, he smoothly climbed up the ladder.

Now he is mainly responsible for management here.

Xiao Chen's father wanted him to eventually take over S Hotel Group.

Yu Na exclaimed, "He's so low-key... S Hotel is one of the top luxury hotel brands in China!"

"I was fooled by him at first too." Lin Shu'an said. "It was Han Chengxun who told me."

They both studied in the UK for their bachelor’s degrees. Xiao Chen never bought any luxury goods.

He only traveled frequently, and the gifts he brought back never exceeded 30 pounds.

He created a image of a poor young master, and enjoyed this persona.

Lin Shu'an whispered to her, "Do you know why he kept such a low profile?"

"Why?"

"Because he was afraid of others borrowing money from him."

"......"

The air conditioning in the mall was very strong. The two laughed loudly, bending over.

Especially Yu Na, she painfully clutched her stomach. "This reason is too absurd! He could have just refused to lend money!"

"You know him too. Old softy, he doesn't know how to refuse people."

That’s true.

That guy Xiao Chen really doesn't know how to refuse others.

That's why when Yu Na was almost dragged home by her dad, he bravely stood up to speak for her.

That's why when she took advantage of him and asked him to pretend to be her boyfriend, he also agreed. And that night they had barbecue, when she used him as a shield again, he also said he understood.

Yu Na asked, "So why doesn't he pretend anymore now?"

Lin Shu'an: “...Emmm, maybe he grew up and realized that foolish generosity would only harm himself. Now he's Nouhuru·Chen!”

Yu Na was amused again by her exaggerated manner.

At the same time, she suddenly realized that although she had known Xiao Chen for so long, they lost contact for several years in between, so her understanding of him was less than she imagined.

She only knew that he was a very good person, a very kind and enthusiastic person.

But she didn't know about his family, his social circle.

If Lin Shu'an hadn't told her, she still wouldn't have known to this day that Xiao Chen came from such a wealthy family.

......Back home, Yu Na sprawled on the sofa, her thoughts suddenly pulled back to their graduation ceremony in college.

Xiao Chen said he would come back to China in the future. He didn't want to delay her.

He also said that he was just an ordinary person who could not give her what she wanted, and could not afford any responsibility.

Every sentence seemed to emphasize that he was just an ordinary person.

At that time, she actually believed it.

Damn! The heir of S Hotel Group was passed off by him as an ordinary person.

Awesome.

He probably pretended to be poor so hard that even he believed it himself.

But then again, S Hotel’s peak was in recent years. The speed of development was quite astonishing. It was only in recent years that it firmly established itself as one of the top hotel groups in China.

Although it was decent in the past, the brand awareness wasn't there yet. The influence was there but couldn't compare to now.

And he made such an effort to create the image of a poor young master, so it was understandable back then.

......The "cooling rain" started to fall since Sunday. By nighttime, the rain intensified.

Yu Na’s bed was right next to the window in her bedroom.

After taking a shower, she blew her hair dry, sat cross-legged on the bed, facing the window.

The raindrops pattered heavily against the window, splashing water everywhere.

Yu Na checked the weather and saw heavy rain forecast for tomorrow too.

She had a flash of inspiration and sent a message in the parents' group: 【Official evening self-study starts tomorrow. Because there is heavy rain, please prepare umbrellas or rain gear for your child in advance.】

Their class parents' group would chat casually from time to time.

But Xiao Chen never said anything from beginning to end.

The parents' group had just chatted in the afternoon. When it became quiet again in the evening, Yu Na sent out her message. The parents’ group livened up again.