Chapter 2 Who's Trading Your Cup of Tea?
2
Is this karma for spending five yuan of my ex-boyfriend's money?
Ning Ye wasn't curious at all about how Bian Xun knew her address.
As an employee, her information was almost transparent to him. She knew nothing about Bian Xun's situation during his years abroad.
The only thing that is clear is that her ex-boyfriend's meanness and grudge-holding nature haven't changed at all.
What's worse, she was the one who initiated the breakup back then.
Ning Ye felt a pang of melancholy about her career when her phone rang. A warm, gentle male voice came through the line:
"Dear Platinum Moon Court Black Card user, it is an honor to provide you with customized exclusive services."
Ning Ye was startled.
Is this the kind of service you'd expect for five dollars?
"With this card, you'll have unlimited spending limits and support payments in multiple global currencies; we'll provide you with exclusive lifestyle privileges, including reserved VIP lounge access at major airports, VIP viewing seats at top global sporting events, priority reservations at Michelin three-star restaurants worldwide, exclusive VIC customer experiences at top global luxury hotels, and dedicated maintenance services for your private jet and yacht; a 24-hour butler is always at your service..."
At the end of the call, the other party asked her in a gentle, magnetic voice if she needed to book a WTA tennis tournament in Abu Dhabi soon. Ning Ye was silent for a moment, then said she needed to ask her assistant about the schedule. The other party immediately expressed understanding, waited for her with a warm and welcoming tone, and gently hung up.
Ning Ye slowly stood up.
While it's infuriating to know that your ex-boyfriend is wealthy, it's also invigorating to have his fortune in your hands.
When they first met, she thought he was some kind of heartthrob from a poor family. Ning Ye was a freshman, and he was a senior; they weren't in the same department and met entirely through sharing seats in the library.
Throughout her four years of university, Ning Ye competed for scholarships every year. Whenever she didn't have early classes, she would go early to the window seat that was closest to the hot water and had the most convenient access to the power outlet.
Later, it was learned that Bian Xun's motivation was not scholarship; his family had even donated money to the school.
He grabbed the seat because of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
He's the kind of neurotic who, once he's set his mind on something, won't accept any changes.
After they got together, Xun took her to the same restaurant ten times, at the same time, in the same seats, and to eat the same dishes.
Walking side by side on the tree-lined paths of the campus, he must be on the left and she on the right, maintaining the same pace and rhythm, in order to hold hands.
They would be intimate, but only on Friday nights, and even if he went crazy, he would keep the time to a fixed duration.
When the time comes, pull it out immediately, just like Cinderella's magic wand.
Sometimes Ning Ye would continue because of his slender, firm muscles and the burning passion in his dark eyes, but Bian Xun, no matter how difficult it was to abstain, would only do it once a week.
The degree of rational self-control is also hypocritical.
Therefore, Ning Ye doesn't know how the child was born into this world.
But it must have been a Friday night.
And it involves searching and confirming what you want.
...
A complete rupture, a real rupture.
Six years after the breakup, they haven't seen each other once. To an adult, they're practically strangers; the old man in the neighborhood is less familiar with her.
The arrival of the child seemed to pull their mouths together again, reconnecting what shouldn't have been connected.
Ning Ye snapped out of her thoughts, looked down, and met the child's clear, big eyes, suddenly feeling a little ashamed.
This child looks more like Ning Ye; upon closer inspection, only the eyebrows, hair color, and nose resemble that person.
Her hair was a natural brown color, while Bian Xun's hair was thick, black, and neat. The two had warm and cool skin tones, which, when combined on the child, created a soft white color.
The child often mentions her father, but she has never taken the initiative to say that she wants to go see him.
In fact, Ning Ye had considered confronting Bian Xun about the child, even though it was awkward.
But the thought of the Bian family would cast an uneasy shadow over her otherwise relaxed and peaceful mood.
During my university years, many people talked about Bian Xun's family background with great interest. The Bian family had a long and deep-rooted presence in Beijing, and Bian Xun was the most outstanding among his generation. The family behind him was a complex and strictly regulated clan, which, by today's standards, was practically a remnant of feudalism, yet it wielded enormous and terrifying power, money, and status.
Such a family would never accept a child born out of wedlock.
If they find out, are we supposed to tell them the child is from the future?
The child will likely be kidnapped that very night for experiments.
Ning Ye had no desire to have anything to do with the Bian family anymore, especially since her relationship with Bian Xun was now worse than that of strangers.
Large companies have many informants. Just two days after joining the company, Sister Zhou couldn't help but tell her about several juicy gossip stories. One of them was about a female employee who deliberately created an opportunity to be alone with Boss Bian, only to be coldly and ruthlessly kicked out. These stories were widely circulated throughout the company.
Ning Ye was terrified. She didn't want to become any gossipmonger before she reached the position she wanted.
Of course, the most direct reason for not letting Bian Xun know is—
He has the money.
Ning Ye held the black card in her hand, pondering in her mind.
Five yuan is just a small test; raising a child will cost a lot more.
"Tomorrow, let's go look at houses first," she told the child.
Once the budget is up, the number of properties she can choose from is incredibly impressive.
The child nodded obediently after hearing this.
Normally, she would agree with whatever her mother said, but she really couldn't understand: "Mom, we have so many houses, why do we need to rent?"
Ning Ye was caught off guard by her ex-boyfriend's extravagance once again. She gasped and explained, "Because... those houses aren't ours now. If we move in, it would be considered trespassing."
"How could you have trespassed?" The four-year-old girl already had an extraordinary level of understanding. She scratched her head and said, "The Happy Home on the 21st floor of Building 5 in Rongtai New City has the password 180230."
Ning Ye was taken aback; those numbers sounded so familiar.
Isn't this... isn't this her university student ID number?
The child had an exceptionally good memory and quickly rattled off another address: "The password for the main gate of No. 17 Guanghua Mansion is 190217."
These are the days she spent with Bian Xun.
Ning Ye fell silent.
I started to reflect on why I remembered it.
"Also, there's Unit 8, Room 801 in Ningyu Garden, the password is 896085."
What is this...?
She didn't understand the meaning of the string of numbers for a long time until she led her child, who had finished eating mooncakes, to wash their hands and face, wiped away the water, and looked up at their well-proportioned and delicate figure in the mirror. Only then did she suddenly realize what it meant.
Those are her measurements...!
Ning Ye's face turned bright red.
Did they seek shelter in this building?
…
Thanks to the area defined by the children, Ning Ye successfully excluded neighborhoods where she was looking for properties.
On the first day of the long holiday, Ning Ye had already circled several residential areas around the company on the housing search map.
Wujiang Group is located in the most central location of Beijing, so the property prices are naturally high, and the rents are also relatively high.
The apartment she's looking for must primarily be convenient for her commute to work, and secondly, it must be near a kindergarten.
She was worried that no real estate agents would be working during the holiday, but to her surprise, a link popped up on the rental app and someone showed her the apartment. They even asked her if she worked at Wujiang Group, saying that many of her colleagues lived in their neighborhood.
Ning Ye paused for a moment, then decisively chose Xia Lu Community, which was 500 meters away, and there happened to be a kindergarten next to that community.
After communicating online, Ning Ye took her child and went out.
The two of them took the subway. The little girl was especially happy, holding Ning Ye's hand tightly. After going through many twists and turns on the subway, she finally found a seat and proudly offered it to Ning Ye.
Ning Ye was initially a little uncomfortable. To others, the two, who looked so alike, were obviously mother and daughter. But she had only been working for two years, and at less than twenty-five years old, she was already raising a four- or five-year-old girl. This seemed premature, inevitably leading to societal stereotypes such as "love-struck," "revolving around her husband and children too early," and "low level of education."
She made the child sit down, and stood in front of her, remaining calm despite the frequent glances coming from behind.
Two stops later, the person blocking the aisle got off the bus, and Ning Ye finally heard the whispers behind her.
"Her mother is so young! So beautiful!"
"Her child is so cute! Ahhh, hurry up and ask that question!"
"Her baby could definitely be a child model!!"
Ning Ye was taken aback. She looked down and saw the girl smiling at her with her round, dark eyes, and one of her small hands was holding up her bag.
"The child's father must be very handsome too!"
"That's not necessarily true."
"If he were really handsome, he wouldn't make his wife and kids take the subway."
Ning Ye: "..." Awkward.
After they met up with the real estate agent, they entered the residential complex to start looking at properties.
At the entrance of Xia Lu residential area, a black Maybach slowly came to a stop.
The man leaned back in the back seat indifferently, and heard Assistant Zhang turn around and say, "President Bian, please wait a moment. As you requested, Bian Ziwen's illegal contract documents are kept at my home. They are safe. I will get them right away."
Bian Xun raised his dark eyes and looked at the shops outside the residential area. "You live here?"
Assistant Zhang smiled and said, "Actually, the other residential area is closer to the company, but my child is about to start kindergarten, so we chose this one."
After he finished speaking, he suddenly remembered that President Bian seemed to dislike children extremely, so he stopped talking and got out of the car to get the documents.
The National Day holiday may have seemed calm on the surface, but undercurrents were already surging within the group, and the first wave was about to crash.
Some people's rise to power is destined to be extraordinary.
The power of the old families will be reshuffled one by one.
The man at the eye of the storm simply leaned back quietly, his cool, aloof eyes half-closed.
…
In the residential area.
Ning Ye visited several households with the real estate agent and was quite satisfied.
The building isn't very new, but the apartment is in excellent condition, much better than her current rental. The community has complete infrastructure, and the agent, seeing she had a child with her, also introduced her to the nearby kindergarten, which is a good public kindergarten.
Ning Ye is a very reliable person at work. She still needs to investigate the specifics; relying solely on what the real estate agent says isn't reliable. However, after looking around, she's already set her sights on a small two-bedroom apartment priced at 7500 yuan per square meter.
When people have a choice, they feel relaxed. Even with the agent's smooth sales pitch, she didn't immediately make a decision.
She will contribute part of the money, since she also needs to live in the house.
After walking all morning, from the north gate to the south gate, the child quietly pulled Ning Ye towards the shopping mall across the street. It wasn't until they reached the milk tea shop that she realized the child was already tired.
She let her child sit in the store while she went around to the window to order, unaware that a Maybach was slowly rolling down its window across the street.
When Bian Xun looked up, he saw her looking up at the menu.
The milk tea shop was bustling with people, including a few children. She stood in the middle, her shirt hem swaying behind her in a clean arc, like a jasmine flower that had never been dyed.
Bian Xun's gaze was indifferent, his eyes hidden in the shadows beneath his brow bone, and he gave another sneer.
Six years have passed, and she is still drinking this cheap junk food.
Ning Ye is operating in an orderly manner.
I first ordered a cup of hot milk for the child and paid with a black card from Bianxun.
Then I ordered myself a Da Hong Pao milk tea with milk foam, using my Alipay account.
While waiting for her milk tea, she recalled the early days of her acquaintance with Bian Xun, when she had made a joke about "your cup being 13".
Even after the seat-grabbing dispute ended, Bian Xun still frequently showed up. Once, they entered a milk tea shop side by side.
Once inside, he didn't order anything, just frowned at the buckets of milk and condiments. He didn't take out his phone to order, but he stood next to Ning Ye. Feeling awkward, Ning Ye had no choice but to order two drinks together first, and then ask him for a share.
Later, she found out that the young master didn't drink that kind of inferior creamer at all. Her college friends burst into laughter when they found out that she had asked Bianxun for money for milk tea, finding the whole thing hilarious.
Ning Ye couldn't remember whether he actually took her money or not.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw many pedestrians exclaiming in surprise at a luxury car parked on the side of the road. Then, she suddenly saw a face with a sarcastic expression.
Ning Ye was startled, but fortunately, he couldn't see inside the store from his angle. She grabbed the milk tea, picked up the child, and slipped out of the mall.
Your cup of 12 is for the child.
I've taken care of it for you in full.
The doorbell of the milk tea shop rang again.
A refined, tall, and impeccably dressed young man entered, instantly silencing the room. His aura of authority was undeniable, yet jarringly out of place. Light streamed down his prominent brow bone, highlighting the sculpted profile of his nose and the delicate curve of his thin lips, exuding an air of aloofness and superiority. Standing in the cramped milk tea shop, his handsomeness was almost jarring.
A few students who were chatting in the store were just admiring how beautiful the young mother was and how cute her daughter was when they were hit with a second blow, whispering and exchanging hushed screams.
Bian Xun walked indifferently to the order counter, looked at the price list, and scoffed inwardly.
She didn't fare well after breaking up with him.
The disparity in wealth has gone from a chasm to an insurmountable chasm.
While searching with a heart full of cold, mocking thoughts, his eyes precisely found one of them.
"Okay, you'd like a Da Hong Pao milk tea with 30% sugar and no ice, right..."
There's no difference; they're all garbage.
While searching for the card, the screen displayed a price of 120,000 for a cup of trash.
"?"
After a while, the aloof man in the suit left expressionlessly with a cup of milk tea. Once outside, he tossed his phone to Assistant Zhang, saying, "Check for viruses."
He's rich, not sick.
His monetary system appears to have been attacked.
Is it a business war?
A note from the author:
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[Sprinkling flowers] Here it comes~ I haven't finished drawing all the red envelopes yet, so I'll continue drawing today~
Updated before 11 AM daily
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