Chapter 17 Meal Money

After leaving the gold shop, Yu Ziqing first deposited 10,000 yuan into his card, and then slowly strolled home.

It was almost noon when I got home.

Having recently made some money, Yu Ziqing was thinking of going to a small restaurant for lunch to order some dishes to improve his life. Just as he was thinking about which small restaurant near his neighborhood to go to, his phone rang.

When I answered the phone, Qian Mengqi’s sweet voice came through.

“Ziqing, are you coming home for lunch?”

The beautiful woman’s sweet voice and wifely tenderness brought Yu Ziqing no warmth or daydreams, only goosebumps all over his body.

“Speak, what is it?” Yu Ziqing asked bluntly.

“Well, I’m cooking right now, and I was wondering if you need an extra portion?” Qian Mengqi’s voice was still very sweet.

Yu Ziqing was slightly tempted upon hearing this. Yesterday at noon, when the three of them had lunch together, Qian Mengqi had been speaking in a professional tone, instilling in Yu Ziqing and Shen Shitong the concept of eating healthily at home. She said that even the most particular restaurants just rinsed the vegetables with water, that much of the pork was from dead pigs, and that the oil was gutter oil…

However, thinking of Qian Mengqi’s youthful and handsome face, as well as her firm and beautiful breasts that had left a shadow on him, Yu Ziqing felt that even being poisoned in a restaurant would be better than eating at home. So, his hesitation was fleeting, and he immediately and decisively refused, “No, I’ll eat out.”

“What? Eating out is very unhygienic. There’s dead pig meat, gutter oil, pesticide residue…” Qian Mengqi rattled off a whole bunch of things, making Yu Ziqing feel nauseous and instantly lose his appetite.

However, he still stuck to his principles, preferring to starve rather than go home and eat the food cooked by Qian Mengqi. Who knows what this woman’s true intentions are?

“I know all that, but I still want to eat out. If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up,” Yu Ziqing said.

“Hey, hey, how can you be so dense? People are giving you advice and showing you so much concern, how can you just ignore it?” Qian Mengqi seemed to be getting angry, and her voice was no longer sweet.

“Hehe, that’s just how I am.” Yu Ziqing was unmoved by either soft or hard approaches.

On the other end of the phone, Qian Mengqi was so angry that she gritted her teeth. However, after glancing at the vegetables and a crucian carp that she had painstakingly washed on the kitchen counter, she finally showed a defeated expression and said weakly, “Fine, I’m scared of you. At most, I’ll charge a little less, twelve yuan a meal.”

Yu Ziqing was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then suddenly realized. So, all this time, this woman wanted to open a restaurant at home and make money off him, her only customer.

However, to be fair, after Qian Mengqi said that, Yu Ziqing was greatly relieved.

However, Yu Ziqing liked to tease this woman, since she had been so assertive from the start. So even though he had already decided to go home for dinner, and even though the number in his bank account had reached five figures and was about to approach six figures, he still said half-deadly, “It’s so expensive. I only pay five yuan for a fast food meal outside.”

“What? You’re comparing the home-cooked dishes prepared by the top chef in Zhejiang Province to fast food from outside?” Qian Mengqi’s sharp, angry voice came through the phone.

Yu Ziqing quickly moved the phone away a little, then said into the receiver, “Never mind then, I’ll go get fast food. I have to say, I like that taste.”

Qian Mengqi was furious, wishing she could smash her phone to pieces. However, considering that this long-term client could bring her “considerable” income, she had no choice but to swallow her anger and said, “For the sake of my roommate, I’ll charge you eleven yuan.”

Six pieces!

“No, um, ten and a half dollars, that’s the lowest I can go.”

Seven pieces!

“No, it’s not enough to cover my material costs.”

“Eight pieces.”

“Does my hard-earned fee only amount to one dollar?”

“Okay, nine dollars. Any more than that and I’d rather eat fast food from a roadside stall than go home and be your guinea pig.”

“What?! I’m telling you, you can insult my person, but you absolutely cannot insult my cooking skills!”

……

After another round of bargaining, the final price was nine and a half yuan.

Remembering how Qian Mengqi angrily hung up the phone, Yu Ziqing felt much better and strode home.

As soon as Yu Ziqing reached the stairwell, he smelled the rich aroma of braised crucian carp, and his stomach rumbled. He thought to himself, “Just judging by the smell alone, this woman’s cooking skills are comparable to Fatty’s. It’s a pity she’s so stingy. Otherwise, sharing an apartment with a beautiful girl who has a great figure, a pretty face, and can cook so well would truly be an enviable life.”

Thinking to himself, Yu Ziqing pushed open the door and saw Qian Mengqi busy in the kitchen, wearing an apron. Looking at her focused expression, glistening beads of sweat on her pretty nose, and her handsome face flushed, a certain chord deep within Yu Ziqing seemed to be suddenly plucked. However, he immediately remembered this woman’s “dark” side and nipped the inexplicable stirring in the bud.

It’s best to avoid her altogether.

“It smells good, so it shouldn’t be poisonous enough to kill anyone!” Yu Ziqing said casually as he walked into the house.

Qian Mengqi’s eyebrows shot up slightly, but then relaxed. She glanced back at Yu Ziqing and said, “It’ll be ready soon. You can wait in the living room for a bit.”

Yu Ziqing had figured it out. When it came to money, this woman could become a Ninja Turtle, and her service awareness was also quite good, which Yu Ziqing appreciated.

With his legs crossed, watching TV for a while and then glancing at Qian Mengqi busy in the kitchen, Yu Ziqing finally understood the true meaning of the saying “money talks.” He felt great and thought that he should extort a good beating from that guy called Tiger in the battle three days later.

The food was served quickly.

Sitting alone at the same table in a small restaurant, with the beautiful woman across from him staring intently into his eyes, Yu Ziqing felt quite uncomfortable.

“Could you please stop staring at people like that? I’ll pay you,” Yu Ziqing said.

“You think I enjoy staring at your pretty face? I want to hear your opinion,” Qian Mengqi said irritably.

This was the second time Yu Ziqing had been called a gigolo, and this time it was a woman. He was incredibly annoyed and was about to say that it wouldn’t poison anyone, but seeing Qian Mengqi’s slightly nervous expression, he finally couldn’t bear it and nodded, saying, “Not bad.”

Upon hearing this, Qian Mengqi finally breathed a sigh of relief, then revealed her true colors, squinting her eyes into crescent moons as she stared at Yu Ziqing.

“Do you see any room for price increases?”

Yu Ziqing almost spat out the food in his mouth. This woman really lived up to her name, surnamed Qian; she could always steer the conversation back to money.

“Not considering it at the moment!” Although Yu Ziqing felt that there was indeed room for the price of the food to increase significantly, and he was not short of money at the moment, he still firmly rejected the idea.

Upon hearing this, Qian Mengqi was not discouraged; instead, her eyes lit up, and she said, “So you’ll consider it in the future?”

“Even if your surname is Qian (meaning money), you don’t need to be obsessed with money. I think you should just marry a rich man,” Yu Ziqing suggested earnestly.

“Do you think I don’t want to? But these days, not many rich people are good! Actually, you’re not a bad person, it’s a pity you don’t have money, otherwise I might consider it,” Qian Mengqi said.

“When you’re quiet, you’re actually quite charming, like a virgin, but when you get going, you’re like a wild rabbit. Otherwise, I might consider you,” Yu Ziqing said without backing down.

Qian Mengqi clearly filtered out the second half of the sentence, and proudly raised her beautiful chin, saying, “That’s right, I am known as the number one beautiful nurse at Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital.”

Yu Ziqing smiled dismissively and said, “You’re the number one money-grubber! By the way, do you really need money urgently? You’re always obsessed with money.”

A fleeting hint of affection flashed in Qian Mengqi’s eyes, before she immediately retorted, “I just like money, is that so wrong?”