Arriving at Pinglu Street.
It was only eleven o'clock now, far from the busiest time for the market, but there were already quite a few people at the street entrance, men, women, old and young.
—"I miss you very much in Pinglu."
Seeing this classic street sign that wasn't there last night, Lin Li couldn't help but laugh. Many people were taking pictures with it.
Then he had to take one too.
"Goodbye driver, drive safely, wish you prosperity."
When the ride-hailing car that brought the four of them left, Bai Bufan, who had just been warmly bidding farewell to the driver with a gentle face, instantly turned cold.
He took out his phone and started giving the driver a bad review.
—"I'll teach you to say I look average! I'll teach you to say I have a good heart! I'll teach you to say I'm going to cram school!"
Getting closer, one could hear the tapping sound of Bai Bufan pressing the screen too hard, as well as his gritted teeth and sinister whispers that seemed to come from hell.
"Didn't you say you'd give a good review?"
Lin Li, who had just taken a silly photo with the street sign, came over and asked with a smile.
Bai Bufan looked up, smiled, and began to chant:
"As a person with people-pleasing tendencies, I just thought of a way to exercise sincerity and courage.
From today on, when a driver asks me for a good review, unless the service is really good enough that I want to give one, I will directly say, 'Sorry, I don't want to,' and then get off.
I will never again say 'okay, okay, okay' when they ask for a good review, but ignore it after getting off."
Lin Li: "?"
Fuck, the teacher says hello, he calls him classmate Bai.
"Bufan, I have high hopes for you. When 6G comes out, you must be the beneficiary!" Seeing Bai Bufan's realization, Lin Li patted his shoulder in gratification and encouraged:
"As long as you are stubborn and say your purpose is just to make interesting videos, and then copy some code from open-source websites and claim you wrote it yourself, tens of millions of fans are just around the corner."
"Okay, I will work hard." Bai Bufan nodded heavily.
Everyone mocks Cyber Dingzhen, but everyone wants to be Cyber Dingzhen.
"Yingbao said she'll be here in a few minutes. Let's go buy something to drink first, I'm a bit thirsty."
Ding Sihan put down her phone, turned around, and said to the three of them.
"Sure, let's go." The three had no objections.
"Lin Li, Bai Bufan, what do you two want to drink?"
The four of them walked into Pinglu Street from the entrance. After a few steps, they saw a shop selling fruit drinks and milk tea.
"Yingbao has already sent me what she wants. What about you two? I'll order them all together."
Ding Sihan asked Lin Li and Bai Bufan again.
"Anything is fine for me." Bai Bufan didn't care.
"I'm not drinking." Lin Li shook his head.
"Not drinking? Why not? Aren't these the fruit teas you like?"
Ding Sihan looked and saw that Lin Li hadn't brought any drinks with him this time, so she asked in confusion.
"I no longer accept fruit teas. They are of low status, shameless, and too promiscuous. They don't deserve to enter my stomach." Lin Li shook his head.
Ding Sihan: "?"
Starting to speak nonsense again.
"What do you mean promiscuous? You boys even spread dirty rumors about fruits, so disgusting!" Ding Sihan was surprised and threw a punch of justice.
"Hehe, dirty rumors?
The ignorant always have inexplicable confidence. As the top student in the grade, Dingzi, I naturally know a lot of knowledge you don't.
Listen carefully to what I'm about to say—oranges are a cross between mandarins and pomelos, lemons are a cross between oranges and limes, limes are a cross between citrons and pomelos, grapefruits are oranges plus pomelos, tangerines are oranges and mandarins...
Do you understand now? The citrus family is basically all bastards. These bastard peasant drinks—
Let me ask you, does a fruit drink covered in the smell of dust, smoke, and alcohol deserve me, who smells like soft, sweet little cakes all over?"
Ding Sihan, Qu Wanqiu, Cashier: "(；☉_☉)?"
Bai Bufan suddenly realized, and instantly changed his face, looking solemnly at Ding Sihan: "Ding Sihan, no need to order for me, I'm not drinking either. I suddenly remembered that my status is also very noble."
"..."
When the surprise faded, Ding Sihan rolled her eyes, then sighed deeply, ignoring these two idiots.
These two probably know to run home when it rains. If they get thirsty later, they'll buy water themselves.
Looking at the trend-follower Bai Bufan, Lin Li was extremely disdainful, sneered, and teased: "Bufan, do you know what I usually use to wash my hair?"
"What do you use?" Bai Bufan looked at Lin Li.
"Stancome."
"Oh~~ I know, I know, I usually use egg drop soup too~" Bai Guowei heard this and immediately followed suit: "I only use this, and it has to be soup made from eggs laid by an old hen of the Plain White Banner in Nansang. If I use anything else to wash my hair, I cough!"
"Bai Bufan, oh Bai Bufan, can't you have a mind of your own?" Looking at Bai Bufan who was still following the trend, Lin Li scolded with a smile, hating iron for not becoming steel: "Can't you look up to Voldemort?"
"Eh? What's up with Voldemort?" Bai Bufan was surprised.
"As far as I know, Voldemort has a very strong mind of his own. He has never been led by the nose by anyone." Lin Li gave a thumbs up, expressing his praise.
Bai Bufan: "..."
Don't say it, really don't say it.
But—
"Voldemort doesn't even have a fucking nose! Who could lead him by the nose!" Bai Bufan roared.
"Actually, sometimes, agreeing with whatever others say isn't necessarily a sign of lacking a mind of one's own,"
Qu Wanqiu and Ding Sihan were listening to their comedy routine, and Qu Wanqiu joined the conversation here:
"Yingbao has very soft ears. Whatever we say is good, she'll buy it. Wherever we say is fun, she'll go play there a few days later. Do you think she lacks a mind of her own? Wrong, she has money!"
"Are they really that soft?" But Lin Li seemed to have caught the wrong point, shaking his head: "I don't believe it unless she lets me touch them."
Qu Wanqiu: "?"
"Go find her and touch them yourself. To be honest, with you, whether it's before or after today, as long as you're shameless enough, she'll blush a few times and then give in to you, hehe." Qu Wanqiu smiled.
"Okay, I'll find a chance to try." Lin Li was very receptive to advice.
"Lin Li, the opportunity has arrived," Qu Wanqiu glanced at her phone and raised her chin at Lin Li: "Yingbao said in the group that she's here. Go bring her over. We'll pretend we're very busy and didn't see the message."
"Okay." Lin Li nodded, checked his phone to confirm, and walked alone towards the entrance.
Passing through the crowd, Lin Li searched with his eyes, and then fixed on the figure leaning against the stone bollard at the intersection.
Chen Yuying was looking down and swiping her phone screen, probably waiting for everyone in the group to reply. Her waist-length hair, which she usually wore straight, was curled into lazy arcs at the ends today.
The curtain bangs on her forehead were obedient and perfectly matched, dancing gently with the wind.
A cyan mid-collar knit sweater wrapped around her slender neck, and the crossbody chain bag strap created an undulating contour on her chest. The light khaki long skirt was lifted into gentle folds by the autumn wind, revealing the pristine curves above her ankle socks.
Lin Li: OVO.
Fuck, oscilloscope, I always feel that the things Yingbao hasn't said are really not small.
Damn it, I'm being a creep again, bah bah bah.
There is a saying that life does not lack beauty, but lacks the eyes to discover beauty.
But Lin Li didn't agree with this saying now. Life doesn't lack eyes to discover beauty either. As long as it's beautiful enough, who wouldn't discover it?
Looking around, as long as they weren't pedestrians rushing with a strong purpose, men, women, old and young, would more or less glance at the young girl.
Even Helen Keller would have noticed her for three days if she came.
There was a couple, and the guy was secretly looking at Chen Yuying.
Bro, the look of liking someone can't be hidden, but you better hide the look of liking many people well.
Wait, why are people looking at me? What are you looking at me for, appreciate Yingbao.
Wait, is the girl in the couple looking at me too? Fuck, you two are a match made in heaven, lock it in, wish you a long and happy life together.
Looking down and seeing the message finally replied to in the group chat, Chen Yuying looked up towards the entrance/exit. When her amber pupils reflected the young man walking towards her through the crowd, her eyelashes trembled slightly, and her eyes suddenly brightened.
The corners of her mouth naturally curled up unconsciously, and a strand of hair that the wind and she had been holding together gently slipped down.
Chen Yuying also trotted quickly towards Lin Li. After meeting, the two walked side by side.
Chen Yuying's gaze lingered on Lin Li's hair, a change impossible not to notice, with a smile on her lips.
"How is it?" Lin Li raised his eyebrows and asked proactively.
"Lin Li, did you get fatter?"
Chen Yuying shifted her gaze to Lin Li's eyes and body, tilted her head, and didn't answer directly.
"Fatter? No, my figure is clearly the golden ratio as always, the dream model for sculptors, absolutely perfect, a man among men, the most masculine of males..."
Lin Li was always shameless, starting to chant and act crazy, even doing a few fitness poses.
"But," the smile in Chen Yuying's eyes deepened, staring straight at Lin Li and asking back:
"According to Ximen Qing's Three Laws, the greater the mass, the greater the attraction. Your attraction has increased, are you really not fatter?"
Lin Li: OVO!
Fuck, shouldn't these words of praise come from my mouth? Baby, have you learned this ability too?
But, is it really this satisfying to be praised like this?
Yingbao, you must be thrilled to death when I praise you like this usually.
As for why it was Ximen Qing's Three Laws, when Lin Li was storytelling at the sports meeting, because of Chen Yuying's sudden appearance, he had to cuckold Newton.
Those who forgot this, go to the kitchen and stir-fry two dishes for Tianxian, and take two hundred yuan.
It seemed Chen Yuying also remembered this, and this kind of encrypted communication between the two made the corners of Lin Li's mouth curl up even more.
It's flirting!
"Alright, Class Rep, since you put it that way, then I must have gotten heavier." Lin Li nodded, then smiled at Chen Yuying, returning the favor: "Class Rep, then I feel you've gotten heavier too."
"Really, where."
Chen Yuying reached out and twirled a strand of hair, subconsciously standing straighter, showing off the outfit she had carefully matched and dressed up in, expecting his praise.
Even just a simple "looks good" would make one jump for joy.
"Belly, feels like you have a little belly." Lin Li pointed at her flat lower abdomen, lying through his teeth, "Hmph, you must have eaten at least three catties of rice last night, right?"
Chen Yuying: "?"
So it's literally getting heavier?
"I did not! Lin Li, you're so annoying!" Angry Yingbao used the Angry Iron Fist.
MISS.
The young girl's fists were practically tickling.
After punching Lin Li's shoulder a few times, Chen Yuying slightly turned her head away, this was the full extent of her annoyance.
It's fine, she'll coax herself better in a moment, so Lin Li didn't repent for his sins, but took the opportunity to look at Chen Yuying's profile.
Mainly the ears, white and small.
The earlobes must be cold and soft, no problem, but the base of the ear feels like it would be 'tree tree' (soft and tender). Was Qu Wanqiu lying to me, bad thing.
"So Lin Li, why did you specifically go get your hair done today?" Chen Yuying indeed coaxed herself better within a few seconds, turned her head, and asked curiously.
Seeing Lin Li's gaze moving along her left ear, she glared at him again.
Lin Li: "I called my mom yesterday and felt a bit sorry for her, I'm showing filial piety."
Chen Yuying: "?"
"The body, hair, and skin are received from parents. Treating my hair well is equivalent to treating my mom well." Lin Li explained, "The money I used to style my hair was specially withdrawn from my mom's pension account."
This is his way of smiling.
Oh, filial piety.
"...Does Auntie know you're showing filial piety like this?" Chen Yuying's laughter poured out along with a sigh.
"Filial piety is a duty, why flaunt it, I didn't tell her." Lin Li waved his hand modestly:
"Filial piety is like underwear, everyone has it and wears it, but if someone deliberately wears it outside to show others, then there's a problem, except for Superman. Class Rep, do you think I'm right? Applaud if you understand."
"R-right?" Chen Yuying said somewhat unconfidently.
But she didn't applaud.
"Then that's right." Lin Li smiled lightly. Seeing Chen Yuying puffing her cheeks slightly and looking at him with some dissatisfaction, he continued to explain with a smile:
"Passing by the barbershop in the morning, I had a sudden whim to experience it. Who can refuse becoming more handsome? Didn't you curl your hair too, Class Rep?"
A gentleman uses his mouth and not his hands, but Lin Li is a petty man, so he even used his hands while talking.
The ends of her hair were smooth and silky, making one want to sink all five fingers into it.
"Alright." Lin Li wasn't wrong, so Chen Yuying didn't dwell on it.
Walking a few more steps, they saw the three people outside the drink shop. Chen Yuying waved and went up to them.
"Yuying, you look so pretty today, where did you buy these pants?"
"I'll send you the link later, it's not expensive, and your outfit looks great too..."
The classic commercial mutual praise segment.
If girls had a lie detector on their heads when they spoke, the world would be very interesting, Lin Li thought.
"Did you touch them?" Qu Wanqiu sneaked up and opened with very perverted content.
"No." Lin Li shook his head.
"I see." Qu Wanqiu nodded, then called out "Yingbao" in a pinched voice, rushed up and cupped Chen Yuying's cheeks with both hands, her fingers moving uncleanly around her ears, and then looked provocatively at Lin Li.
Cuckolded again, Lin Li sighed, pinched Bai Bufan's butt, and treated it as venting.
Bai Bufan didn't resist. He should let him play less with Wang Ze in the future, this reaction is wrong.
I'm starting to ship us a little bit.
"Why aren't you two drinking?" After understanding the situation, Chen Yuying asked Lin Li.
"There will definitely be other things to drink while strolling around here. Buying milk tea now means we won't have a choice later, and wasting it is bad." Lin Li shrugged and said.
Bai Bufan widened his eyes. So you didn't really despise fruit tea as a bastard drink, you actually had a reason.
"Right, that's what I thought too." So Bai Bufan also nodded heavily.
Ignoring Lin Li's disdainful gaze.
With the girls' drinks bought, the five of them officially started strolling through the market.
The stalls on both sides of Pinglu Street were relatively conventional, nothing fancy. The ones Lin Li found interesting last night were all by the river after exiting the street, where the space was larger and there were more varieties.
There were quite a few stalls selling clothes right now, but the girls basically just glanced at them and passed by without stopping.
It wasn't that they despised street stalls, mainly because the style and design of these clothes didn't match them at all. Some were simply fabric shops, and the people who would go in to browse were generally older.
Moreover, you couldn't try on clothes. If you really wanted to buy, it was better to go to a mall.
What could attract the girls to stop were those stalls selling accessories and dolls.
"Lin Li, what are you always looking at the ground for? Don't bow your head, the crown will fall."
Bai Bufan and Lin Li naturally weren't interested in these. Seeing the girls picking happily, Bai Bufan, who was about to talk to Lin Li, noticed Lin Li kept looking down and asked in confusion.
"I'm thinking, the earth has 70% ocean and 30% land, so where did the other 30% ocean and 70% land go?" Lin Li said casually.
Of course Lin Li wasn't thinking about this. He was just looking to see if anyone had dropped any valuables on the ground to help his "Metal" progress bar.
"30% of the ocean was buried by dirt, and 70% of the land was flooded by water." Bai Bufan gave an answer.
"Then you're very smart." Lin Li praised perfunctorily.
Then he sighed, holding a payment sign hanging on the tarpaulin, with a WeChat payment QR code on the front and an Alipay payment QR code on the back, and lamented:
"Bufan, I suddenly miss the days when everyone still used cash. Now it's all electronic payments. It's convenient, but it lacks a lot of human touch."
Of course, the human touch wasn't important, mainly there was less money on the ground, so far, Lin Li's harvest was one coin, nothing more.
Bai Bufan looked at Lin Li speechlessly:
"No, Lin Li, even if you are an eighteen-year-old geezer, how many years of the cash-dominated payment era have you fucking experienced? What the fuck are you being sentimental about here."
"Hehe."
However, Bai Bufan looked at the payment QR code in Lin Li's hand, suddenly pinched his chin, hesitated, and spoke: "But, eh, Lin Li."
"Hmm?"
"Do you think, using the heads of black people and white people to build a Jingguan (skull pyramid), could it be made into a payment QR code?" Bai Bufan asked.
Lin Li: "(；☉_☉)?"
Lin Li was sweating yellow beans now: "Theoretically it's possible, but Bai Bufan, don't you think you're being a bit too cruel?"
"Lin Li, you—"
"Obviously you only need black people's heads. Their heads are white once peeled, why use white people's heads, it's expensive and troublesome." Lin Li continued to finish his sentence,
"Two dollars, two dollars, black people's only cost two dollars~"
Bai Bufan, who had just heard the first sentence and wanted to question Lin Li for pretending to be a big-tailed wolf, broke out in a cold sweat after hearing the rest:
"Bro, my bad, you're the one with the business mind."
(End of Chapter)