But...
But.
This wasn't her money.
No matter how much she liked money, she couldn't just take someone else's for no reason. Her mother said: don't take advantage, don't be greedy, and life will go smoothly.
Qi Sui blushed, closed her eyes, feeling that her mother's reasoning was really testing her. She tried her best to resist the temptation of those five bills, stuffed them back into Lin Shanghuai's hand, and reluctantly refused:
"This... I can't accept it."
Lin Shanghuai narrowed his eyes, glanced at her coldly, and said:
"Enough. Stop acting. Take it and get out."
But Qi Sui was stubborn. She was as stubborn as a mule. Leaning in, she stared wide-eyed, as if to show she was the person in the world who liked money the least. She stared at the cold Young Master Lin and said unsatisfied:
"I'm! Not! Acting!"
She grabbed Lin Shanghuai's hand, shoved the money in, and even squeezed his fingers into a fist around the five bills. Then she covered his hand with both of hers and said loudly:
"I don't want it! This isn't my money! Young Master Lin, weren't you going to make it up to me? Go ask Brother Chen Ping to return my money, and I won't say anything! If you keep this up, I'll... I'll go out and tell everyone you kicked me and hit me, that you're no good!"
Lin Shanghuai's headache got worse.
In fact, even if this inexplicable woman ran outside and said Lin Shanghuai was going to beat her to a pulp, the people outside would probably come to help without hesitation. Unfortunately, she was too stupid to realize that.
He looked down at the two hands that seemed to want to crush his arm, and directly pulled away.
Her lack of interpersonal distance made him very uncomfortable. Lin Shanghuai had to harden his tone, as if he was overwhelmed by her pestering and reluctantly conceded:
"Fine, fine, fine! Can you stop yelling?"
"That Chen Ping you mentioned? Who is he? Where is he? What does he do here? I'll have someone beat him up. Just a hundred yuan? Don't you want more?"
His mind was already flashing with a hundred ways to make this Chen Ping die without a burial place, just to get rid of this big trouble quickly.
Qi Sui, however, was scared. She grabbed him tightly and said nervously:
"No! No! Can't hit people! Just... gently, make him give me the money. We're going to get married! Can't hit people!"
"Married."
As soon as the word came out, Lin Shanghuai visibly froze. Slowly, with a sense of impending storm, he said:
"You... are marrying him?"
It only got stranger.
The beast deep in his heart seemed ready to break free completely.
This felt inexplicable.
"Then why did you come to me? He's your fiancé. Shouldn't you just ask him directly?"
Lin Shanghuai pulled his arm away, his face returning to calm and indifference, looking detached as he watched the troubled country girl.
Qi Sui counted on her fingers, looking distressed:
"I want to, but Brother Chen Ping won't give it back. He said he would keep it safe for me, and something about doing business to make big money. But I just want my money."
"Ha."
Lin Shanghuai gave a noncommittal snicker.
Since this country girl came here, it meant that this Chen Ping guy was at Wanzi Qianhong, either as a security guard or a waiter. And for someone like that, the way to make money was simple: gamble at the card table, win big one day, and have money to spend. A gambler like that probably didn't have a single cent in his pocket.
Lin Shanghuai had seen many of his kind.
But now, he had no interest in warning this dumb, brainless country woman. Lin Shanghuai folded his arms, his tone lazy and cold:
"Fine. I'll help you. Chen Ping, right? Come back next Monday. I'll get your money back, so you can marry him with peace of mind."
When he said that, Qi Sui's round face lit up with a happy smile, her wet eyes curving into crescent moons. She looked so cute and lucky. She didn't catch the underlying meaning of his words at all, and just thanked him:
"Thank you, Young Master Lin. You're the best person I've ever met."
Her innocence was a natural naivety untouched by society's harshness. She had no idea what kind of rotten person sat before her, nor did she know she might be stepping into a bottomless dry well.
But for now, Lin Shanghuai just stared at that face, slowly enunciating:
"Don't bother. You don't need to praise me. I owe you, so I'll repay you."
--------------------
Author's note: A dry well. Xiao Lin really is a dry well. It felt funny writing this.
Men also have leg-crossing syndrome, and the probability is even higher than for women in childhood. Xiao Lin suffered from the lack of early childhood education back then~
I'm late today (kneeling down)(crying for forgiveness).