Chapter 196: Becoming an Old Man

Huang Ying jumped in surprise, "Tell... her? Can she accept it? I’m afraid..."

In her mind appeared an image of a fierce-faced wealthy woman storming over, grabbing her hair, slapping her while cursing, "Vixen! How dare you steal my man? I’ll kill you!"

This thought made her shiver all over; she had just thought Li Yan could decide, and she could accept it. But now thinking again, it seems quite inappropriate; if his wife knows, it surely won’t end well...

"Just joking with you. If you’re willing to compromise to be with me, I will, of course, do my utmost to protect your safety. This is not just from bad people but also includes gossip, including my wife coming to find you. As long as she can’t accept you, I will certainly keep it hidden so you won’t get hurt."

"Hmm..." Huang Ying agreed, still feeling anxious. She wasn’t sure whether she considered herself as having stolen someone’s man, but ultimately, she was destroying someone’s family—playing a shameful role!

Seeing Huang Ying’s lack of enthusiasm, Li Yan drove a bit faster. He didn’t have any specific idea of shopping; usually, he didn’t shop much with girls, but he had some experiences with Yurong and Li Jie in the H City mall. He guessed Huang Ying might not buy expensive items while shopping, probably just necessities from the supermarket.

Looking at her jacket, though it fit well, the quality was ordinary, likely a fifty-yuan find from a night market, and it seemed worn for years. Only because it was cleaned well, and she was naturally pretty and matched it well, it didn’t appear too shabby.

But Li Yan considered her his woman, naturally wishing she could live a bit better. Although he saved over a hundred thousand for her, he believed until her mother and brother urgently needed money, she wouldn’t use a penny, he contemplated buying her two sets of clothes.

Driving to a pedestrian street, Li Yan first found a place to park, then went together with Huang Ying to the pedestrian street.

Because it was a holiday, it was bustling with people; Huang Ying rarely had the chance to shop and was affected by the lively environment, improving her mood.

"Have you been here before? Familiar?" Li Yan wasn’t very familiar, walking aimlessly with her.

"Yes, during school, when I had time, I’d come to hang out with classmates." Huang Ying interned luckily at Paradise Group, and later stayed on fortunately. Sadly, though she was luckier in employment than others, overall, she was unlucky, never having a few days of ease.

During university, to lessen her mother’s burden, she ran several tutoring jobs; actually, her weekends rarely allowed shopping. At Paradise Group, things improved somewhat, unfortunately, later her mother got sick, becoming increasingly serious until hospitalization. Then, she didn’t have the time or mood for shopping. Once her mother went abroad for treatment arranged by Mortal Fund, she gradually revived, starting to study accounting...

"Are you sure only during school? Before in the sales department, weren’t most colleagues girls? Didn’t you shop with them?" Li Yan roughly understood her situation, casually asking.

Huang Ying smiled, feeling no embarrassment with Li Yan: "Shopping with them is pressuring. They earn high incomes, mostly going to exclusive brand stores, uninterested in normal or miscellaneous brands, and big markets. They invited me at first, but later found the discussions unfitting; the famous brands they discussed, I hadn’t heard of or recognized many."

Li Yan found it amusing; those high-income sales girls did bring Huang Ying along, but likely as a foil, perhaps to show off and fulfill a vain satisfaction. Finding she didn’t recognize the luxury brands they flaunted, except the most common, they had to explain to her; not only did it reduce the thrill of showing off, but it became dull and tiresome.

He once heard Xu Ping talk about similar experiences; Xu Ping said he only read online novels, while a literary friend liked showing off Nobel-winning books, which, except those learned in school, he hadn’t heard of. After several bewildering attempts, the literary friend found it tedious.

"True, staying true to oneself is good. Using exterior packaging for vanity or confidence building is the sign of lack of self-confidence. Take Zhang Yurong, for example; she goes to work daily in professional attire without wearing luxurious accessories, never ignored by anyone in the company or while meeting clients."

"Makes sense... but besides her status, Zhang always has impressive qualities, not comparable to ordinary people."

"That’s true too. Haha! You should still know more about brands and luxury goods." Li Yan laughed.

"Huh? No need, right? I don’t have much chance to encounter them nor am I interested, don’t need to understand these." Huang Ying quickly shook her head, irrespective of Li Yan’s spending capacity; she couldn’t let him spend excessively on her.

"I’m serious. With Jie Rui’s expansion, you’ll engage at higher levels. Even if you don’t care personally, knowing more helps identify others’ outfits. Why do women like buying brands? One reason is to receive compliments, recognition, or envy. Knowing more ensures when engaging for flattery, you won’t start ill-advised or awkwardly misfire." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Oh... I understand." Hearing about this for work socializing, Huang Ying agreed seriously.

"Let’s go, let’s find a luxury brand store to check out now."

"Now...?"

Huang Ying felt a bit guilty. When it came to high-end brand stores, she wouldn’t dare to go in alone, let alone browse or try on clothes. Even with Li Yan by her side now, she still felt uneasy, as if she wasn’t someone who was meant to wear luxury brands.

"Yeah. How about we buy a couple’s outfit?" Li Yan was aware of some high-end luxury brands, but he didn’t have an in-depth knowledge of them.

"Couple’s outfit?" Huang Ying couldn’t help but purse her lips and smile, "You, wearing a couple’s outfit... does that suit you?"

Li Yan was taken aback for a moment, then realized that couple’s outfits were often favored by young people. At his age, being nearly thirty, wearing a couple’s outfit with Huang Ying seemed a bit out of place. He didn’t mind and laughed, "What? Do you think I’m getting old?"

"No, no..."

The two were joking as they arrived at the entrance of a luxurious boutique. Just then, a young man and woman walking from the opposite side almost bumped into them.

"Sorry about that." Although they didn’t actually collide, Huang Ying politely apologized.

"Oh? Huang Ying?" The two people across from them seemed a bit annoyed but the woman unexpectedly recognized Huang Ying.

"Tao Lin?" Huang Ying also recognized her, a bit surprised. "It’s you, long time no see."

"Yes, long time no see. Our Cinderella now has a boyfriend? Met her Prince?" Tao Lin asked with a smile, also glancing at Li Yan beside Huang Ying.

Li Yan inferred from her demeanor, which was not as warm as Huang Ying’s and the fact that she hadn’t introduced the man next to her or asked if they knew each other, that Tao Lin and Huang Ying’s relationship was perhaps casual, certainly not close friends.

Hearing her words, Huang Ying felt a little awkward but gave a tacit acknowledgment without much introduction. Still, she politely asked, "Are you shopping? How many days off do you have?"

"How many days off doesn’t matter, does it?" Tao Lin couldn’t hide her smugness, "My man’s got his own company, not very big but quite free. And you? Still at... Paradise Group?"

She used to envy Huang Ying and others who managed to get into Paradise Group, but now she feels she’s doing better. After asking, she quietly added, "Why did you find an old man? Struck gold?"

Li Yan heard her words, and couldn’t help but be amused. In terms of physique and body shape, he was in excellent condition, always at his peak. However, he never particularly took care of his face, and being nearly thirty, he wasn’t exactly a baby-faced or fair-skinned man. With Huang Ying, he indeed appeared quite a bit older, but he wouldn’t be considered an old man, right? Come on, for male celebrities, their thirties are often when they really shine.

Huang Ying slightly frowned, "He’s not old..."

"So, he’s a wealthy man?" Tao Lin glanced at the luxury brand store, "Are you here to shop at this place? Nice taste! We’re about to go in here too. Haha, our former Cinderella finally found her match and became a phoenix. Shall we go in together?"

Her first sentence was, of course, intentional; the latter revealed her true intention. With her current knowledge of fashion, she could easily spot that the clothes Li Yan was wearing were off-the-rack. As for Huang Ying, needless to say, her coat seemed like the one she used to wear in college. If she really found a rich man, could she still look so shabby? It looked like today was just for window-shopping, broadening horizons!

For her, having the spending power and being able to flaunt in front of Huang Ying was quite a thrill.

Back in school, Tao Lin had always been rather open. At that time, Huang Ying had multiple tutoring jobs, and naturally didn’t have much time to build relationships or participate in activities with other students. They couldn’t understand Huang Ying’s struggles, and jokingly called her Cinderella. Coincidentally, despite being busy with tutoring, Huang Ying never fell behind in her studies and comprehensive abilities. When Paradise Group came to the school for internships, she managed to get in, and was lucky to be placed at the headquarters, which made many other girls who failed the recruitment quite envious.

"Uh, we..." Li Yan initially dragged Huang Ying to say they’d visit a luxury boutique. Now, standing at its entrance and being mocked by Tao Lin, Huang Ying felt even more insecure and wanted to say they were just passing by.

But Tao Lin didn’t give her a chance to back down, insisting on using her as a foil, pretending to be enthusiastic, "You guys are from Paradise Group, right? Big company! You must be wealthy, surely frequenting places like this. Show me around, won’t you?" (To be continued. For more, please log on to www.qidian.com, support the author and genuine reading!)