Phi-Fic Chapter 147 You're really not going tonight!
Chapter 147 You're really not going tonight!
"what!"
Xian Zuling was completely stunned. She looked down at the money in her hand, her face blank and flustered: "Why...why are you giving me money? I...I don't want it...I can't accept it..." She was holding a hot potato and was eager to push it back.
Ye Fan calmly said, "This is payment. After all, you spent the whole night with me, acting as my secretary. I can't let you do it for nothing!"
Xian Zuling shook her head vigorously, her cheeks slightly flushed: "No, no, no! I'm not your secretary! Besides, I'm here because I can't get into the school and I need your help. I didn't do anything, how can I take your money? I can't accept this money!"
Her pride made her instinctively resist.
Seeing her stubbornness, Ye Fan sighed and changed his approach: "Consider it a nominal fee. I might really need a secretary in the future, and I think you're quite suitable. Let's settle it like this for now."
He spoke casually, as if he were arranging something trivial.
"Huh? Fee for being listed as a 'name'? What...what does that mean?" Xian Zuling was even more confused.
"What I mean is, I own a company and I do need an assistant or secretary. I think you're a good candidate, so I'm reserving you for now. Consider this 200 yuan as an advance payment for your name."
Ye Fan made up a story with a straight face, trying to make the money seem more legitimate.
Xian Zuling looked at Ye Fan's calm face, but a wave of bitterness welled up in her heart.
She had actually guessed it.
He must have seen her meager meal card balance during the day and realized her predicament, so he helped her in this way.
What secretary, what nominal fee—it was all just a carefully crafted, well-intentioned lie to protect her self-esteem. What a...good person.
This silent thoughtfulness made her nose suddenly tingle, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears.
He was such a good person, so at that moment her nose felt sore and her eyes were a little wet.
Ye Fan hesitated for a moment, then decided to just say it directly: "Let's put the money aside for now. The important thing right now is..."
He paused, looked directly into the eyes of the ancestral spirit, and said clearly, "You really can't go back tonight."
"ah!!"
Like a thunderclap exploding in her ears, Xian Zuling froze instantly, her voice suddenly rising several decibels, sharp with disbelief: "Why? Didn't you just say you'd find a way? You lied to me?"
Overwhelmed by immense disappointment and a sense of betrayal, her budding gratitude was instantly drowned out, and tears welled up uncontrollably.
Ye Fan spread his hands, his face clearly showing innocence and helplessness: "Miss, I said I would try to find a way, not that I had a way! And look up..."
He pointed to the quiet, dark, deserted street and the distant, tightly closed school gate: "It's past 1 a.m.! I'm a boy! Even if I had superhuman abilities, at this hour, I can't possibly sneak you, a girl, back to your locked dormitory building without anyone noticing! The dorm supervisor has already locked the doors and gone to sleep, and there's no one at the dorm office. Tell me, how am I supposed to get in?"
"Wow--!!!"
The last shred of psychological defense of the ancestral spirit completely collapsed.
The fear, grievances, and helplessness that had been suppressed all night burst forth like a torrent. She no longer cared about her image and, like a lost child, burst into tears on the empty street, her shoulders shaking violently and large tears rolling down her cheeks.
Ye Fan was also helpless. He felt that he was also innocent. She had been unable to get in ever since she first went back.
He rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.
His experience told him that any words of comfort at this moment would only add fuel to the fire, making her cry louder and feel even more wronged.
The wisest thing to do is to let her cry it out.
He stopped looking at her and walked to the corner of the steps of the convenience store next door, where he plopped down. Then he took out his phone, the screen illuminating his expressionless face. He started chatting with Xu Yunshu, Xie Wanning, and the others as his fingers flew across the keyboard.
On the street late at night, only the girl's suppressed, intermittent sobs, the faint light from the boy's phone screen, and the occasional crisp sound of tapping the screen created an eerie silence.
He knew that if he tried to comfort a crying woman at this moment, she would only cry harder and louder.
Only after she has cried enough, and then offer timely comfort, will the effect be maximized.
After a while, the ancestral spirit's cries gradually changed from wailing to sobbing, and then from sobbing to suppressed whimpering. The shaking of its shoulders also slowed down, clearly indicating that it had cried until it was exhausted and had released its emotions.
Ye Fan then put down his phone, stood up, walked over to her, and his voice returned to its previous calmness, even carrying a hint of barely perceptible gentleness: "Are you done? Have you cried enough? Have you cried all your tears? Stop crying and let's talk now."
Xian Zuling raised her red and swollen eyes, looking at him blankly and aggrievedly, tears still clinging to her long eyelashes, and sobbed softly, "Talk...talk about what?"
Looking at her pitiful appearance, Ye Fan smiled faintly, with a hint of helplessness: "Let's talk about what to do next."
When Xian Zuling heard Ye Fan say this, hope was rekindled in her heart. She didn't really know what to do.
She sniffed hard, trying to stop her sobs, and replied urgently, her voice thick with nasal congestion, as if grasping at a straw, "Mmm!"
Looking at her red and swollen eyes and bewildered expression, Ye Fan smiled with a helpless yet mischievous grin: "Alright, now, pick up the money on the ground, okay?"
"what!"
Upon hearing this, Xian Zuling exclaimed "Ah!" and then looked down. Sure enough, he only had one hundred in his hand; the other one was nowhere to be found.
She panicked instantly. One hundred yuan! That's one hundred yuan! For her, one hundred yuan could buy her a lot of food at the school cafeteria for a long time.
She looked around frantically, her gaze anxiously sweeping over the ground beneath her feet, the steps beside her, and even the cracks in the roadside. She was so anxious that she paced back and forth, her nose starting to sting, and it looked like she was about to burst into tears again.
Ye Fan sighed inwardly: This visual impairment... she really has the "capital" to back it up; she can't even see her own toes when she looks down...
He spoke up promptly, with a hint of exasperation in his teasing: "Xian Zu Ling, are you a little nearsighted? The money's right next to your right foot!"
Upon hearing this, Xian Zuling quickly took a small step to the right, and sure enough! The bright red hundred-yuan bill was lying quietly beside the curb.
She immediately bent down to pick it up as if it were a treasure, carefully held it in her hands, and gently blew away the fine dust on it under the light of the street lamp, looking very fond of the hundred-yuan note.
However, she then put the two banknotes together and stubbornly handed them to Ye Fan, her voice low and trembling almost imperceptibly: "This money... I... I really can't accept it."