Xu Bin placed something under his nose and took a deep, satisfied sniff. Yao Le'er blushed deeply and snatched the item back, stuffing it into a bag. "Sister's husband, you're so weird! Why are you smelling my underwear?"
"Next time, I'll do something even weirder."
Her voice was soft and shy as she hurried down the stairs. Xu Bin followed with a hearty laugh.
When she sat down and eagerly picked up the new, beautiful sandals Xu Bin had bought for her, he gently took them from her hands.
"Let me help you put them on!"
"Alright, little Bin, serve your lady."
Xu Bin sat cross-legged on the floor, taking her delicate feet onto his lap. Yao Le'er, feeling a bit bold, extended her other foot as well.
A sudden, inexplicable thought crossed her mind, and she blurted out, "Sister, have you ever helped second sister put on her shoes?"
Her eyes widened as she waited for his response, not sure what she was hoping to hear.
Xu Bin paused, then shook his head. "I don't think so. Our schedules rarely align."
So, this was the first time he was helping a girl put on her shoes. Though he wasn't sure why, Yao Le'er felt a surge of joy.
Xu Bin took her small foot in his hands, and she giggled, ticklish. Her laugh was bright and infectious, her childlike voice sending a shiver down his spine.
Under her surprised and embarrassed gaze, Xu Bin leaned down and kissed her foot before slowly helping her put on the new sandals.
In public, she was a bit shy, but in the taxi, Xu Bin took her hand, and she smiled sweetly, complying without resistance.
Before she could say anything, her phone rang. A sweet, childlike voice came through the speaker:
"Damn it, Yao Le'er, when are you going to get a new phone? WeChat is fine; why do you insist on calling? Does calling cost money?"
"I'm getting one soon. I'm not in a rush, so don't worry about it."
Yao Le'er glanced at Xu Bin, who looked stunned, and she felt a mix of curiosity and amusement.
"Um, I'm with my... sister's husband right now."
Covering the phone, she turned to Xu Bin, a bit embarrassed. "Sister's husband, my best friend wants to join us. Can she come along?"
"Sure, that's fine."
Xu Bin snapped back to reality.
Yao Le'er cheered and quickly told her friend, "Meet us at Walmart. My sister's husband is treating us to lunch."
"Your sister's husband is the best. Love you!"
"JiaoJiao is my bestie."
Yao Le'er was thrilled, and Xu Bin smiled gently, this time putting his arm around her. She hesitated for a moment before leaning into him, her head resting on his shoulder.
Xu Bin's mind was racing, his intelligence feeling challenged.
He had tried everything to trigger the system, but it remained silent. Then, when Yao Le'er's classmate called, the system suddenly activated:
"Ding... Jumpy Breasts Little Sister Task Initiated. Generating task details."
What triggered it? He had been flirting with her for two days with no response, but a call from her classmate did the trick.
The generation process was taking forever. Would it take until the cows came home?
Xu Bin was getting impatient, like waiting for a date he had set up, excited but also anxious about what would show up.
It was the middle of the day, and the sun was scorching. Inside the air-conditioned shopping mall, Yao Le'er sipped her fruit juice happily.
She felt a pang of nostalgia, remembering the watermelon juice at school that cost only six yuan. Here, the cherry juice was fifty-eight yuan. It was extravagant, but she didn't mind spending it.
She stole glances at Xu Bin, who was engrossed in his phone, looking serious. She didn't dare disturb him, knowing he never played games and must be working.
His focused expression was handsome...
Xu Bin was deep in thought, his phone displaying a flurry of unfamiliar apps, each one opening and closing rapidly, showing him a world of financial data: cryptocurrency mining, stock markets, futures, and foreign exchange rates. It was overwhelming.
Novel copyrights, scripts, and film rights income, patent revenues—most of it in English, which he couldn't understand. But every account was opened in his name, giving him a new perspective on the world.
"Sleeping bitcoins, sleeping ethereums, sleeping stock accounts, sleeping balances."
"Due to various reasons, including death, the dormant capital in the financial system exceeds 5%, and the forgotten savings approach 10%."
"These dormant funds can be activated at any time without affecting the global money supply or financial system."
"Even if another system were to appear, it wouldn't detect them, let alone a human."
Reading the messages, Xu Bin knew the system was upset with his complaints.
He typed back, "I can't kneel to you right now, but I'm sorry. What's going on with this little sister task?"
"Ding... Jumpy Breasts Little Sister Task Generating."
The system didn't bother responding further, leaving Xu Bin frustrated.
He thought, This system is so proud. It flashed its power and then went silent. But in that moment, amidst the code, he saw something—a glimpse of what the system was doing.
There were too many variables, and it needed vast amounts of data to process. This was global data, so it was slow.
"Sister's husband, what's wrong?"
Seeing Xu Bin sigh and put down his phone, Yao Le'er finally asked.
Xu Bin smiled casually, "Nothing, just work stuff. Don't worry about it."
"Sister's husband, aren't you going to have anything to drink?"
Yao Le'er's cheeks were flushed as she asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
They had ordered two cherry juices, one for her and one for her friend. Xu Bin hadn't ordered anything and had been on his phone the whole time.
Xu Bin looked at her shy expression and teased, "I'm good, I don't drink this stuff. You enjoy yours."
Yao Le'er felt a mix of emotions, realizing she fit in with the fashionable crowd here. But Xu Bin's simple clothes stood out, reminding her of what her mother had said about Shen Ruyu and him always dressing plainly.
She had thought it was because they were poor, but now she saw it was just their nature. He spent money on others but not on himself.
He bought an expensive bracelet for her mother and Shen Ruyu, the most expensive one available. That day, he took her shopping and dining without batting an eye.
Yet, he was so frugal with himself. Yao Le'er's eyes softened, and she took his hand, saying, "Sister's husband, I only have a hundred yuan left. Let me buy you something nice, okay?"
Xu Bin was taken aback, looking into her earnest eyes and seeing the disparity between his simple clothes and the fashionable crowd. He joked, "You think I'm a country bumpkin, huh?"