Lin Chu had originally planned to wait until they were alone to explain that he wasn't some kind of thug.
But at this point, he decided against explaining.
He had to be practical about it.
This persona of a young punk was actually more intimidating to her and her mother than being an ordinary small-time boss.
"You're my woman now. Don't go flirting with other guys, you hear me?"
Lin Chu said menacingly, finding this kind of 'role-playing' to be quite interesting.
'Back in school, I was always a good student.'
'I can't believe that now, at 24, two years after graduating and starting work, I've done a complete 180.'
However, Lin Chu suddenly recalled a motivational article he'd once read—all the top dogs who clawed their way up from the bottom had a bit of a gangster vibe. They might seem all smiles on the surface, but the moment you mess with their interests, they'll turn on you in a heartbeat.
'The successful people I met when I was making sales calls all seemed pretty much the same.'
'That gangster vibe.'
'In this dog-eat-dog world, it often comes down to who has lower morals and more cunning tactics.'
"Mm, I won't," Jiang Ya said, looking aggrieved.
"Hand over your phone. I'm going to check it and see if you've been flirting with other guys," Lin Chu added.
'This feels pretty damn good,' he suddenly thought.
'This used to be a privilege reserved for women.'
She was on the verge of tears. "I haven't! I really haven't!"
Lin Chu held out his hand and looked at her.
She timidly handed her phone over.
Lin Chu actually opened it and scrolled through her chat history. It was completely clean, just as she'd said. She did have a lot of games downloaded, though: *Honor of Kings*, *PUBG*, *Anipop*... all kinds of them.
After checking her WeChat history, Lin Chu moved on to her TikTok.
He saw she had a dozen or so videos on her TikTok, mostly just slideshows of her prettiest photos.
Her DMs, however, had blown up, showing 999+.
She hadn't replied to a single one.
Lin Chu was quite satisfied.
'What a good girl.'
She'd had this phone for several years. It was a Xiaomi with a cracked screen, and it got a little laggy when she used it.
After a moment's thought, Lin Chu said, "Come on, let's go get you a new phone."
"Huh?"
She had been a bit sullen. Even though there was nothing on her phone, she'd felt controlled.
But she never expected Lin Chu to offer to buy her a new phone.
"What do you want?"
She glanced at Lin Chu's face and whispered, "Anything is fine, really."
"What do you mean, 'anything is fine'? Don't embarrass me. You're getting the best one."
Lin Chu said tyrannically. He led her into a phone store, and about ten minutes later, they walked out with a new iPhone 15 Pro Max.
She was so happy she felt like she was walking on air. And then, Lin Chu took her to a hotel.
...
Jiang Ya wasn't lying.
She had never been with anyone before.
Lin Chu didn't particularly have a thing for virgins—after all, none of his ex-girlfriends had been—but he still felt a sense of deep satisfaction in that moment.
Lu Ming had once said that you had to go to schools to find the good girls.
At that moment, Lin Chu couldn't agree more.
And he was once again reminded of how good it feels to be rich.
Feeling a bit hungry, Lin Chu called the front desk. Before long, two steak dinners were brought up to their room.
As they ate facing each other in their high-floor room at the Wanhao Hotel, gazing out at the blue sky and white clouds while enjoying the tender, juicy steak, Jiang Ya felt that this was the life she had always dreamed of.
She held her phone screen out for Lin Chu to see.
Lin Chu glanced over and saw that she had pinned him to the top of her WeChat chat list.
His contact name was: Brother Lin.
He smiled and playfully toyed with her leg with his foot, making her face flush a deep red.
...
Ye City was a romantic place—a coastal provincial capital and a holiday resort.
Lin Chu tallied up his cash on hand. He had considered buying a place here, but there were purchasing restrictions for non-residents, so he decided against it.
'With my money, it's not like I'll ever be without a place to stay.'
For someone like him now, staying in five-star hotels every day was a perfectly reasonable expense.
After a solid week at the Wanhao, Lin Chu felt he had imparted all his wisdom to her.
Jiang Ya had only taken a week off from school, and she was already two days over her leave. She had to go back.
The path to a woman's soul, it turned out, really was through her body. Especially for a girl experiencing love for the first time. In the car ride to her university, she cried the entire way, tears silently streaming down her face as she lay in Lin Chu's arms.
Stroking her hair, Lin Chu felt a pang of tenderness for her.
"Go on now. I'll see you next week. Either you can fly to Peng City, or I'll come see you."
"Be good..."
After a few more words of comfort, Lin Chu warned her, "Remember what I told you. If I find out you've been up to something... heh."
With red-rimmed eyes and a pout, she kissed him resentfully, giving him a playful but firm bite.
Lin Chu pushed her head away. "And another thing. If anyone gives you trouble, you call me immediately. I'll fucking end them. You're my woman; I'm the only one who gets to push you around."
'These lines are so cringe,' Lin Chu thought. 'I've changed. I don't even recognize myself anymore.'
'It's like I've really become a punk.'
'Then again, having a bit of that gangster vibe isn't so bad.'
Her tears finally stopped. With sparkling eyes, she nodded, a look of profound security on her face.
"I... can I post a picture of you, and a photo of the two of us, on my feed?" she asked pleadingly before getting out of the car.
"Go for it."
Lin Chu sighed, suddenly feeling a dull ache of frustration. He recalled that none of his ex-girlfriends, aside from his first love, had ever posted about him.
'This world is so damn absurd.'
'The girlfriends I was serious about never even made our relationship official on their feeds.'
'And yet, in this... unconventional arrangement, she couldn't wait to show it off.'
When they arrived at her university, she got out of the car and watched him drive away, fresh tears starting to fall.
Lin Chu, meanwhile, headed straight for the airport to fly back to Peng City.
...
「On the plane.」
Overcome with boredom, Lin Chu decided to take stock of his finances again.
He currently had 2.1 million.
It might not seem like a huge number, but it went a long way. He could basically buy whatever he wanted without looking at the price tag.
'I've only got two million, and I'm already acting like this?'
'So how twisted must those guys worth hundreds of millions, or billions, or even hundreds of billions be on the inside?'
'Morality is just a tool to keep the weak in line,' Lin Chu thought, shaking his head with a small, wry smile.
Naturally, he'd bought a first-class ticket.
The seat enveloped him in comfort.
The flight attendant served him while kneeling.
A thought suddenly struck Lin Chu as he watched the scene.
'What the hell?'
'So flight attendants have to kneel for their job.'
'No way. Little Yaya can't do this job in the future. Who the hell could stand seeing that?'
'She can only kneel for me.'
Luckily, she still had a year until graduation, so there was no rush.
According to her, the competition among students at her school just to get an internship with an airline was incredibly fierce. In other words, people had to fight for the chance to kneel.
Besides, regular flight attendants weren't even qualified to work in first class; you needed at least a few years of experience for that.
Mulling this over, Lin Chu sighed and drifted into a deep sleep.
He woke up as the plane was landing in Peng City. Outside, the sky was completely dark.
He had over a dozen unread messages and three missed calls on his phone.
The messages were mostly from Jiang Ya. She told him she'd posted on her feed and wanted him to see, and also let him know she'd gotten back safely.
The missed calls, however, were from Liu Junfeng.
Lin Chu called back.
Liu Junfeng: "Bro, I'm doing a whole roast lamb at my place tonight. You in? Don't blame me for the short notice, it was totally last-minute. I couldn't figure out what to have for dinner, so I decided to throw a party."
"Sure thing, I'm in," Lin Chu laughed. "My plane just landed. It'll probably take me an hour to get to your place."
"No problem, no problem at all! The lamb's not even close to being done yet, so just head on over."
"We'll be waiting for you."
Liu Junfeng said cheerfully before hanging up.
Lin Chu couldn't help but shake his head and smile.
'Unbelievable.'
'Can't figure out what to eat for dinner, so might as well throw a party and roast a whole lamb...'
...
Hopping into a taxi, Lin Chu told the driver, "Sir, could you stop at a Maotai store first? I need to buy a case of liquor."
'I definitely need to buy a car tomorrow!'
'This is way too inconvenient.'
...
...