Jiang Ruoqiao went ahead and accepted it. “What’s this?”

Lu Yicheng replied, “A hair-drying turban.”

“I know that. I can see that.” Jiang Ruoqiao glanced up at him. “I’m asking where it came from.”

Lu Yicheng touched his nose and explained in an unhurried tone, “Actually, a lot of supermarkets run this kind of promotion—once you’ve spent a certain amount, you can exchange your receipt for household items. This supermarket does the same. The amount you spent today happened to meet the threshold, so I exchanged it for a hair-drying turban. You should be able to use it, right?”

Jiang Ruoqiao made a sound of acknowledgment.

She raised her head to look at him, and couldn’t help swallowing back a smile. The supermarket was busy with people coming and going, they were standing in a brightly lit spot, and listening to him explain the supermarket’s redemption rules with such earnest seriousness gave her a strangely touching feeling—like the warmth of everyday life made tangible.

Hmm.

How did that saying go? One good turn deserves another.

Even if this hair-drying turban was only a redeemed gift.

Jiang Ruoqiao had been at a loss for what to do with the facial cleanser the sales associate had foisted on her. Now it suddenly had a use. She rummaged through her bag and found the tube of men’s facial cleanser, then held it out to him. Her eyes were bright, her pupils taking on an amber hue in the light—very pretty. “Then this is for you. I don’t know if you can use it.”

Lu Yicheng seemed genuinely taken aback.

He looked at her, but didn’t reach out to take it.

Jiang Ruoqiao felt a twinge of awkwardness, but still made a point of explaining herself. “The sales associate practically forced this on me as a gift. It’s men’s facial cleanser so I can’t use it, and I didn’t know what to do with it. If you want it, take it. If not, forget it.”

Lu Yicheng still hadn’t said anything.

Lu Siyan, standing to the side, helpfully undermined her. “She didn’t force it on you at all. That auntie clearly said that if you didn’t want the facial cleanser, you could have a toothbrush instead.”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “??”

Lu Siyan, aren’t you supposed to be her number one fan? What’s gotten into you today?! You’re supposed to be on Mom’s side!!

She absolutely had to defend herself. “I’m not stupid. Do you know how much a toothbrush costs versus how much this facial cleanser costs? Any sensible person would choose the more expensive gift.”

That was simply the truth. A toothbrush was only a few yuan, but this tube of facial cleanser was worth several dozen yuan.

Of course she’d choose the facial cleanser! Whether she could use something she’d gotten for free was a separate question—but if you could get it, you should!

She seemed to have gotten a little flustered, and moved to take the facial cleanser back, muttering, “Fine, forget it if you don’t want it.”

But Lu Yicheng reached out and took the tube of facial cleanser, saying quietly, “No sense wasting it.”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “……”

Since they’d run into each other, they’d also have to part ways eventually. Jiang Ruoqiao had already separated out the items—the overwhelming majority of what had been bought was for Lu Siyan, with only a small portion for herself. Lu Yicheng glanced at her shopping bag and hesitated before asking, “Is it heavy? Do you want me to drop Siyan off first, then bring your bags over?”

Jiang Ruoqiao looked up at him.

She wasn’t sure whether he genuinely meant it or was just being polite.

But anyone with eyes could see her things couldn’t possibly be heavy.

Just two sets of personal care products, a small box of sugar-free yogurt, and a handful of muscat grapes.

How heavy could that be? Lu Siyan could have carried it and walked briskly.

“It’s fine, it’s very light.” Jiang Ruoqiao replied. “I can carry it back to the dorm on my own.”

Lu Yicheng acknowledged this with a sound.

They parted ways at the supermarket entrance. Jiang Ruoqiao headed left, while Lu Yicheng, shopping bag in one hand and Lu Siyan’s hand in the other, headed right.

The setting sun stretched their shadows long behind them.

Jiang Ruoqiao quickly made her way back to the dorm.

She had been monitoring the forum all day. Her group of friends had been remarkably effective—the impact of this whole affair on both her and Lu Yicheng had been reduced to a minimum through everyone’s combined efforts. What people were now focused on was no longer whether the “playing both sides” accusation was true, but rather… whether Lu Yicheng could successfully win her over, and whether Lu Yicheng and Jiang Yan were going to come to blows. Some people had even written essay-length analyses and speculations on the topic. The direction of public opinion had clearly shifted.

So, by now, marketing had also become a popular way to make a living.

It seemed like whether something was true or false no longer mattered. Whoever controlled the narrative controlled the “truth”—and the money.

Jiang Ruoqiao had once been deeply absorbed in all of this herself. It was through promoting herself that she’d achieved her current level of success, accumulating a considerable number of followers. But after reading the original story and going through this whole incident, she felt she couldn’t allow herself to become consumed by it. This was also the firm reason she refused to let her future path drift toward becoming an influencer. Without connections, without backing, it was all just a castle in the air. Just like in the original story—the supporting character’s carefully cultivated account was targeted and hacked, her account permanently banned overnight. Years of so-called career-building: to capital, it was nothing more than a single word. One word was all it took to destroy everything.

Now she finally understood that saying: capital is the root of all evil.

In the original story, the supporting character’s years of hard work were obliterated without a second thought, and everything that followed—work, life, all of it—went catastrophically wrong. And it all traced back to a single thing: she had once dated a certain person, and that person had also once liked her in return. That became her original sin.

Jiang Ruoqiao’s way of thinking about it now was equally blunt.

If anyone came looking for trouble, she’d chop off their claws.

On the other side, in the rented apartment.

Lu Yicheng hadn’t had proper classes these past few days, leaving him with a great deal of time—including enough time to cook for Lu Siyan.

After the two returned home, Lu Yicheng began sorting through the things Jiang Ruoqiao had bought and organizing them by category.

There was fruit. Lu Yicheng glanced at them—all expensive varieties. There were muscat grapes, some kind of melon that also looked expensive, and bayberries the size of ping-pong balls.

There were snacks. Lu Yicheng felt a headache forming. How was he supposed to bring this up—that children really should eat less of this kind of food with trans fats?

There was also toothpaste.

The toothpaste that had caused Lu Yicheng’s breathing to quicken at checkout—Jiang Ruoqiao had bought two tubes for Lu Siyan.

Lu Siyan clutched the toothpaste tightly. “Mom bought this for me. It’s orange-flavored. Mom said her toothpaste is also orange-flavored, so after we brush our teeth, our mouths will have the same taste as Mom’s.”

Lu Yicheng heard this and his hand clenched.

Beyond these things, Jiang Ruoqiao had also bought some food—chicken wings, tomatoes, potatoes, and other vegetables…

Wait—what was the deal with the body wash and shampoo?

Lu Yicheng couldn’t make sense of it. How had she ended up buying these? It wasn’t as if they were out at home, and whenever these things ran low, he would go and restock.

Lu Siyan watched him standing there with the shampoo in one hand and the body wash in the other, and without missing a beat said, “Mom said your shampoo contains some kind of… I don’t really know what, but anyway, Mom said this one is better, and it’ll make your hair as smooth as hers.”

“Mom said your body wash was also very cheap, and the scent is too bargain-bin. She said she’s never even heard of that brand—it’s some really obscure, random brand.”

Lu Siyan rummaged around and found a box with very elegant packaging, then announced triumphantly, “Mom bought this one for me! She said it’s children’s shampoo and body wash!”

Anything labeled “children’s formula” was never going to be cheap.

Lu Yicheng pressed a hand to his forehead in resignation. Buying it for Siyan was fine enough, but for him…

He had a vague sense of her reasoning.

She probably felt that since he’d bought her breakfast and hadn’t accepted money for it, she wanted to compensate him in some other way.

Honestly…

Lu Yicheng didn’t even notice that a faint smile had settled over his face.

Lu Siyan chattered on at length, introducing everything, but the whole thing really came down to one central point: My mom is the best shopper in the world. I love everything Mom buys more than anything else! Mom loves me the most!!

Eventually he got thirsty.

Lu Yicheng’s ears were granted a brief reprieve.

After Lu Siyan finished his water, he went to the bathroom.

In the narrow living room, Lu Yicheng was left alone. His gaze wandered, perhaps unintentionally, toward the shopping bag. He hesitated for a while, and then finally reached in and pulled out that tube of men’s facial cleanser.

He had actually used facial cleanser before—of course not something he’d bought himself, since he would never buy something like that on his own. It was just that on a few occasions when Du Yu and Wang Jiangfeng had gone out to buy some, they’d picked up a tube for him too, and he’d paid them back.

He didn’t care about brands.

And he definitely wouldn’t study the packaging on men’s facial cleanser.

Yet at this moment, this person who normally considered every second of his time precious sat there, with an air of near-complete focus, reading the ingredients and instructions on the back of the tube word by word—as carefully as if he were reading an academic paper.

Right as Lu Yicheng was absorbed in his reading, the sound of a toilet flushing came from the bathroom, followed by the door opening.

Lu Yicheng reacted like someone caught in the act of something shameful, as though what he held in his hands was some dangerous object. He hastily shoved the facial cleanser back into the shopping bag.

But the flustered expression on his face hadn’t fully retreated.

Fortunately, Lu Siyan paid absolutely no attention to him.

—