Chapter 166: 159, a butt-load of debt, a butt-load to repay (begging for monthly tickets)
Li Manni now can't even clearly distinguish her feelings towards her former brother-in-law.
At first, she admired and was grateful to her brother-in-law, but after her sister divorced him, she felt a hint of guilt.
Although she wasn't the one who had abandoned her husband and child, she felt ashamed on behalf of her sister, Li Manshu, because her brother-in-law had been kind to their family.
So, out of a sense of gratitude, she did her best to help her brother-in-law, cooking meals or taking care of Xixi.
Later, when her brother-in-law turned his fortune around, she became the one being helped...
"After I pick them up, I'll ask for their opinions," Li Manni said.
"Okay, let's leave it at that for now."
Yang Hao agreed verbally, and after leaving the social media operations center, he sent an invitation message to his mother-in-law, Kang Huizhi.
Despite the divorce from Li Manshu, he had no intention of changing his in-laws, so hosting them properly was still necessary.
If it wasn't for the fact that Li Manshu was likely going to the station to pick them up tonight, he would have gone himself.
Kang Huizhi had always been very satisfied with Yang Hao as a son-in-law, and she sided with him over the divorce, so after receiving his message, she immediately agreed to meet.
Of course, Kang Huizhi was unaware that her ex-son-in-law had become wealthy; she was simply looking forward to seeing him to offer some comfort and to see Xixi.
At the same time that Yang Hao and Kang Huizhi were exchanging messages, he received another message from Yu Jiujiu. Lan, who had just been promoted by Huang Qing, inquired if he had time for lunch together.
Yang Hao wasn't aware of Huang Qing's arrangement, but he happened to want to have a talk with Yu Jiujiu.
Given that she had now become his exclusive Blue Buff, whether in work or in life, he needed to make arrangements.
So Yang Hao accepted Yu Jiujiu's invitation.
At noon.
The two of them met at a small noodle house.
The location was chosen by Yang Hao.
This noodle house was a place he often ate at when he delivered food. It had been a long time, and he somewhat missed their offerings.
Yu Jiujiu, dressed casually, presented a completely different feeling from her time at Foot Bath City. She wore a black thin sweater with jeans. Though the clothes were obviously inexpensive, they appeared decently stylish thanks to Yu Jiujiu's good figure.
Futhermore, she had added half-frame glasses as an accessory, making it impossible to associate her current image with that of a Foot Bath Town Technician.
Instead, she seemed more fitting of the term "White Moonlight."
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"The boss transferred me to another position, did you talk to her about it?"
Once seated, Yu Jiujiu got straight to the point.
"I just mentioned it in passing."
"What is the new position?" Yang Hao was quite curious about how Miss Color arranged it.
"It's a job that didn't exist in the store before, assistant to the service department manager, with a monthly salary of fifteen thousand!"
"I feel a little uneasy about taking this money," Yu Jiujiu confessed.
Hearing this, Yang Hao smiled, thinking that Miss Color was quite daring to arrange a position with a salary of fifteen thousand a month.
"What about your thoughts? Do you still want to stay at Foot Bath City?"
"Or, is there something else you want to do?" Yang Hao fired off a series of questions.
Upon hearing these questions, Yu Jiujiu frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "Last night was voluntary, we don't owe each other anything."
Yang Hao smiled and nodded, "That's true."
"However, I hope we can maintain this kind of relationship."
Yang Hao candidly added another line.
Yu Jiujiu's eyebrows twitched slightly; she was quite conflicted about what kind of relationship she had with Yang Hao. In her view, last night was a spontaneous act facilitated by the atmosphere.
They weren't even in a relationship, at most, they were card buddies.
One-night card buddies, to be precise!
And her invitation to Yang Hao was actually to inquire about the job transfer since it made her somewhat uneasy.
But now, Yang Hao was suggesting maintaining this type of relationship.
In other words, he wanted to turn a one-night card buddy into a more permanent one.
Yu Jiujiu naturally had a good impression of her old classmate, or else there wouldn't have been a story last night.
But this was not quite the life she aspired to.
Her original plan was to pay off her debts, provide her brother with a cochlear implant, and then find a normal job to start over.
Ding!
A random mission has been triggered: [Yu Jiujiu's Wish]
Yu Jiujiu's greatest wish is to pay off her debts and then provide her brother with a cochlear implant.
Go help her fulfill her wish!
Mission reward 1: Sign Language Skill (S-grade)
Mission reward 2: Lip-reading Skill (S-grade)
The System's voice suddenly rang out.
Yang Hao was already accustomed to such rhythms, he only paused for a moment, then he looked at Yu Jiujiu and asked, "Your brother's accident and treatment cost a lot of money, right?"
"Yes."
Yu Jiujiu nodded. Her brother had been hit badly and stayed in the ICU for a week, which alone cost over ninety thousand, and the total medical expenses were close to two hundred thousand.
Aside from a small part of her savings, most of this money was borrowed from credit cards or loans by Yu Jiujiu.
She still owed over fifty thousand that wasn't paid off!
"You still have debts, right?"
Seeing that Yu Jiujiu didn't volunteer the information, Yang Hao had to ask.
"Mm."
Yu Jiujiu nodded again, but didn't mention the amount of debt.
At this point, the waiter brought over the noodles and side dishes they ordered.
Yang Hao didn't continue the conversation right away but started eating the noodles. Having been on a diet for a long time, it had been ages since he had any noodles, so even a bowl of plain noodles tasted delicious to him.
When he had almost finished eating, he continued the earlier topic, saying, "I'll pay off the debt!"
"Also, I've heard that cochlear implant technology has become mature. We can get one for your brother, and I'll pay for it!"
"Ah??"
Yu Jiujiu, who was also eating her noodles, was taken aback, her mouth gaping open.
What surprised her was not just Yang Hao's statement.
It was that both issues he mentioned were matters close to her heart, the two things she cared about the most at the moment.
"Better not!"
"I can't just take your money for nothing."
After a moment of stunned silence, Yu Jiujiu gently shook her head.
Although these were things she very much wanted to do, she felt that accepting the money would completely change the nature of their relationship.
From poker buddies to a kept relationship.
If they were just poker buddies, their status was equal. But in a kept relationship, it becomes a dependency!
"If you really are troubled by it, think of it as me lending you the money," Yang Hao said.
Years of experience in the food service industry had given Yang Hao a remarkable ability to read people, and he was usually very accurate.
His impressions from high school, combined with his recent interactions with Yu Jiujiu, allowed Yang Hao to determine that she was a very stubborn person.
She tended to adhere strictly to principles and liked to get to the bottom of things.
Such people often have great resilience, belonging to the kind of 'die-hard' character.
So, for her to comfortably accept Yang Hao's "charity" was something unlikely for her to do.
Yu Jiujiu furrowed her brows, deep in thought.
If it didn't involve her brother's cochlear implant, she would have refused without hesitation.
But now, she truly couldn't bring herself to say no.
"Then lend me three hundred thousand, and I'll write you an IOU!"
After a long silence, Yu Jiujiu finally spoke up.
Yang Hao shrugged with an indifferent look: "Can do."
"Send me your bank card number."
Yu Jiujiu nodded and edited her bank card number in the Weixun app and sent it to Yang Hao.
A moment later.
Yu Jiujiu received a bank notification for a money transfer.
But upon seeing the amount transferred, she was stunned once again.
Yang Hao had actually transferred a whopping one million!!
"This..."
Yu Jiujiu opened her mouth, hesitating, "That's too much, I only need three hundred thousand!"
Yang Hao laughed and waved his hand: "I hear a good imported cochlear implant costs three to four hundred thousand, and there are even more expensive ones."
"If we're going to do it, we should get the best!"
"And as for the money, well, I trust in your ability to pay it back!"
While Yang Hao said this, he felt somewhat guilty inside. Although he hadn't been able to convert Yu Jiujiu into an NPC, he still had twenty million Blue Buff maintenance funds.
To be giving her this money under the guise of a loan seemed sort of underhanded to him.
But Lan felt anxious!
This made him feel like some sort of swindler!
However, there was no other choice. He couldn't very well tell Yu Jiujiu: You're now my exclusive Blue Buff with twenty million in exclusive funds to spend!
So, this favor, I'll have to hold onto it for System myself.
As for paying back the money, don't even think about it!
Yang Hao would only let Yu Jiujiu's debts accumulate more and more, until she completely lost hope of paying them back.
Then it'd be: a heap of debt repaid in one fell swoop!
Content to be his Lan, replenishing his buff once a week, and maybe even burst some Gold Coins, Lip-reading Skill or something!