Inside the restaurant, the two women looked on with pained expressions as Xu Yun swiped his card, successfully paying the 120,000 yuan bill.
Then, the system's voice sounded in his mind.
[The Host indulged his desire for fine food and wine as he pleased. Reward: 300,000 yuan in cash.]
'Another 180,000 yuan earned.'
After experiencing this a few times, Xu Yun was already used to it.
'With the system, he'd never have to worry about running out of money in this life. The more he spent, the more he would have!'
He wasn't even a ten-millionaire yet, but Xu Yun was already starting to feel a bit numb to the concept of money.
It really was just like that famous quote from a certain Mr. Ma—
What is money? I'm not interested in money.
'Of course, that's only if you're not short on cash!'
As they were about to leave, the manager of Crane Garden came over personally.
Although the minimum charge for a private room here was a steep 20,000 yuan, most customers only spent around 30,000 to 40,000 per meal, or 50,000 at the higher end.
But this Mr. Xu, with a party of three, had spent 120,000 yuan right off the bat!
This was a potential major client for the restaurant, not just some ordinary rich person.
'I wonder which young master from the Forbes list he is.'
So, upon hearing that they were leaving, the restaurant manager quickly brought over three exquisite parting gifts.
He gave one to each of the three of them.
They looked quite exquisite and not at all cheap.
He also gave them three membership cards, making them VIPs who could get priority reservations for private rooms from now on.
The next time they came to dine, they could drink without having to order, just having it brought out.
After leaving the restaurant, Xu Yun took out his phone and started booking a private car for them.
Seeing this, Li Jinshu asked in surprise, "You don't have a car?"
"No," Xu Yun said with a smile. "Even if I did, we've all been drinking, so we couldn't drive."
"Oh, that's true. I forgot about that."
Li Jinshu gave an awkward smile and said, puzzled, "I just find it strange that a rich guy like you doesn't have his own car."
"I'm not a rich guy."
Xu Yun said frankly, "Otherwise, I wouldn't be just a junior employee at the company. If it weren't for Sister Su, I'd be getting bullied to death by my manager every day."
"..." Li Jinshu rolled her eyes at him, not even wanting to bother with a retort.
'If you don't count as a rich person, then what does that make us?'
'Beggars?'
'Or something even lower than beggars?'
Su Mu stood to the side, silent and not saying a word.
'Because just a few days ago, everything Xu Yun had just said was still true.'
'But recently, ever since he called off his wedding, he seemed to have really changed.'
'He would treat the whole company to coffee for no reason, and when Manager Li tried to cause trouble, he no longer put up with it or backed down.'
'The biggest change was that he himself had become more confident, and he now spoke with wit and humor.'
'Also, when he looked at me, his gaze was no longer timid.'
'She even noticed that sometimes, he would show a look of appreciation.'
'That kind of look usually only appeared when the strong looked upon the weak.'
"The car is here."
Xu Yun said with a smile, "Get in. Text me when you get home safe."
"How thoughtful."
Li Jinshu teased, "I didn't expect you to be such a nice guy."
"Don't insult me."
Li Jinshu: "???"
Xu Yun said irritably, "Don't you know that 'nice guy' ranks even lower than a simp?"
"Pfft!"
Li Jinshu couldn't help but laugh. "It's fine. In my book, a rich nice guy is number one."
"Let's go," Su Mu urged after getting into the car.
"Oh."
After seeing Su Mu and Li Jinshu off, Xu Yun didn't go straight home. Instead, catching a whiff of himself, he sent a WeChat message to Ning Qian, the sales associate from before.
Xu Yun: [Are you at work?]
He waited for two minutes, but when she didn't reply, he decided to just go to a nearby mall and buy a couple of outfits.
But shortly after he got into his car, she responded.
It was a direct voice call.
Ning Qian: [Mr. Xu, sorry about that. I was just helping a customer pick out clothes and didn't see my phone. What's up?]
Employees weren't allowed to use their phones during work hours, but as long as they were in a surveillance blind spot, they would still occasionally take them out to check messages.
After she saw Xu Yun's message, she immediately used the excuse of going to the bathroom to hide and reply.
Listening to her voice, Xu Yun replied: [It's nothing, I just wanted to ask if you were at work.]
Xu Yun said it was nothing, but Ning Qian, the sales associate, didn't think so.
'A man texting her at night for no reason... What could he possibly want?'
'He couldn't just be looking for a simple chat, right?'
'You'd be too naive to think that.'
'Although she had been the one to proactively add him on WeChat and was mentally prepared for this, she didn't expect it to happen so soon.'
Ning Qian: [I'm at work, so it's not convenient right now. How about...]
Xu Yun cut her off: [Okay, got it. Bye.]
Ning Qian: [Huh?]
She hadn't even finished speaking. Staring at the disconnected call, she was a bit dumbfounded.
At that moment, there were no customers in the store, so everyone was relatively free.
Ning Qian had just returned to the shop floor in a bad mood when another female sales associate walked over.
She teased with a smile, "Ooh, who was that messaging you just now? You were in such a hurry to call them back."
"No one, just a friend."
"Do you take me for a three-year-old?"
Wang Shengmei said disdainfully, "It couldn't be that guy they were talking about last time, could it? Did he ask you out? Or did he shoot you down?"
Ning Qian: "..."
"You don't really think that just by relying on him, you'll be able to surpass me and become the sales champion this month, do you?"
She happened to be off that day, on vacation.
When she came back, she heard that some guy had bought over a hundred thousand yuan worth of stuff from Ning Qian in one go, and it made her furious.
Because with that sale, their sales figures were now nearly the same.
The crucial part was, someone said they even saw Ning Qian proactively getting the guy's WeChat.
'If she really managed to land a major client, it would be a serious threat to me!'
Fortunately, today was the last day of the month, and seeing that the man hadn't shown up again, she felt much more at ease.
'But on second thought, it made sense. It was already good if most clients came to buy something once a month.'
'After all, they weren't selling cabbages here, that people could come and buy every day.'
Wang Shengmei mocked her with feigned kindness, "Don't say I didn't warn you. Men are very shrewd. Don't end up failing to sell anything and giving yourself away for free."
With that, she walked away smugly.
"..." Ning Qian.
Another female clerk came over and consoled her, "Ning Qian, don't pay any attention to her. She just holds onto a few clients by sleeping with them, and acts all high and mighty in front of us every day."
"It's fine. What can I do? She's the sales champion every single month," Ning Qian said with a bitter smile.
'Although she was also furious at the other woman's mockery and really wanted to prove her wrong, in the end, becoming sales champion still came down to performance.'
'Making harsh threats without the ability to back them up would just make me the clown!'
'All she could do was endure it.'
That's why sometimes, it's not being looked down upon by others that stings the most, but being looked down upon and given trouble by people who are clearly on the same level as you.
This was also why she had suddenly, on the spur of the moment, decided to add Xu Yun as a friend that day.
It was the first time she had ever done something like that.
But she had no choice. Many of the sales associates around her, both male and female, did the same thing—all for sales, all for commission.
If she didn't do it, she wouldn't be able to compete with the others and wouldn't make any money.
She used to be unwilling, but she slowly came to accept it. To make more money, you have to give some things up.
'I'm just a clothing salesperson, what's the point of being so reserved!'
'As long as I have money, and I can live well and my family can live well, then that's all that matters.'
'Besides, this Mr. Xu is much more handsome compared to those other old uncles.'
'I can just treat it as a one-night stand. It wouldn't be a loss for me.'
"It's a shame that client of yours from the other day didn't come back."
her colleague said with some regret. "Otherwise, this month's sales champion would have definitely been you, and she wouldn't be able to act so arrogantly."
Ning Qian: "..."
'Just now, when she saw Xu Yun's message, she thought she could seize the opportunity, coax him into buying some more clothes from her, and make a last-ditch comeback.'
'But after she excitedly called him back, he hung up on her after she said just one sentence.'
'Was it because I didn't reply to his message in time?'
It was like having a bucket of cold water thrown in her face, extinguishing her last hope.
Just as Ning Qian's heart was filled with despair, she looked up and saw a familiar figure walk into the store from outside.
It was Xu Yun, who smiled at her and said, "I just finished dinner, so I came over to find you and buy a few new outfits."