Chapter Forty-Four: Without Even Batting an Eye
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“What? You actually dare entertain the thought of laying a hand on me!”
Zhou Xiaoli’s cheeks had flushed crimson with anger. She glared coldly at him and said, “Remember this: I absolutely will not let this matter go!”
With that, she turned around and stormed back to the classroom.
“Anytime,” Lin Tian replied, looking utterly unconcerned.
If he were being honest, he actually disliked their homeroom teacher, Jiang Qingqing, even more.
That woman was practically his lifelong nemesis. Every time, she was either suppressing him or on her way to suppressing him.
The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became. “Damn! She makes herself sound so righteous. I refuse to believe she doesn’t have any dirt on her!”
A new idea suddenly occurred to Lin Tian.
After school that afternoon, Long Yuqing and Lin Tian left the campus together.
“Hey, do you have a QQ account?”
“A QQ account?” Lin Tian looked bewildered. “What’s that?”
“Oh, it’s the account you use to log into QQ games. Don’t tell me you really don’t have one?”
Long Yuqing stared at Lin Tian in disbelief as he nodded. She clicked her tongue. “Wait, don’t tell me you don’t even have a phone?”
“I do. I have one.” As he spoke, Lin Tian pulled his small, exquisitely crafted iPhone 4S from his pocket and waved it at her. “See?”
“Uh…”
Long Yuqing pursed her lips and fell silent.
She had known for a long time that Lin Tian had grown up in poverty, but she had never imagined it was this bad…
What era was this? He was still using an iPhone 4S.
Suddenly, she said, “Little Tian, are you free right now?”
“Yeah,” Lin Tian replied.
“Good.” Long Yuqing nodded and tugged him by the arm toward the side of the street. “Then come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“Oh, stop asking. Just follow me!”
Long Yuqing did not explain herself.
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Lin Tian followed her through a long, narrow street. After walking for several minutes, they finally stopped in front of a mobile phone shop.
Seeing this, clever as he was, Lin Tian immediately understood. He hurriedly waved his hands. “No, no, forget it.”
Long Yuqing ignored him completely and dragged him inside, saying, “It’s already this day and age, yet you’re still using a phone like that. You’re unbelievable! I really can’t stand watching this anymore!”
“Even so, you didn’t have to bring me here…”
“Oh, don’t be so polite. Just consider it a belated New Year’s gift from me!”
As they spoke, the two of them reached the counter.
Long Yuqing called out, “Excuse me, could you come over here for a moment?”
A woman in a work uniform came over. She first sized them up, then asked politely, “Are you two looking to buy a phone?”
“He is.” Long Yuqing gestured toward Lin Tian, then asked, “Which iPhones do you have in the price range of a little over a thousand yuan?”
“Ah, there’s no need to get one that expensive…” Lin Tian said, wincing a little.
Although he now had more than enough money to spend, he had lived through hardship. He still felt reluctant to spend lavishly.
“Oh, honestly…” Long Yuqing shot him an annoyed look before turning back to the saleswoman. “Please show us what you have.”
The saleswoman was quite efficient. Before long, she took several boxes from a drawer.
She then removed the phones from their boxes and began introducing them one by one.
“This is the 11 Pro. It has a fully enabled A13 processor and 256 gigabytes of storage. The price is only 1,300 yuan.”
“This one seems a little outdated. Let’s see what else you have.” After taking a look, Long Yuqing quickly shook her head and rejected it.
The saleswoman continued recommending phones.
“In that case, you could also consider this 12 Pro. It has a fully enabled A14 processor and 256 gigabytes of storage. The price is only 1,800 yuan.”
“Not good enough. It’s still a little old.” Long Yuqing continued shaking her head. “How much are the 13 and the Mini version here?”
“Please wait a moment.”
The saleswoman bent over and searched through the cabinet.
Soon, she straightened up, holding an elegant box in each hand. “This is the Mini version. It has an A15 processor, whose performance is still quite good by today’s standards, along with 256 gigabytes of storage. It only costs 2,000 yuan.”
Long Yuqing examined it and gave her verdict. “It looks quite nice, and the condition is pretty good. The only issue is that the battery is a little small, so it may not be quite suitable. Let’s take a look at the 13.”
By this point, the saleswoman had already begun to lose patience. However, she merely knitted her brows and endured it.
“As for this model…”
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After finishing her introduction of the phone in her hands, Long Yuqing finally nodded in satisfaction. She turned to Lin Tian and asked, “Do you like it?”
“I do. It looks great, though it’s pretty expensive,” Lin Tian replied.
He had never imagined that a phone could sell for more than 2,000 yuan. It seemed almost absurdly expensive.
“Then that settles it!”
With that, Long Yuqing took out her phone, scanned the payment code, and paid without the slightest hesitation.
The entire process was smooth and effortless, without a moment of delay.
The saleswoman immediately put aside her earlier impatience. A warm smile returned to her face as she enthusiastically packed the phone and its accessories, even including a charger.
Afterward, afraid that the two students might not know how to use it, she thoughtfully prepared to teach them.
“No need. I’ve used this type of phone before, and I know how to register the ID and everything else, so you won’t have to trouble yourself,” Long Yuqing said, curling her lips.
After all, she used a new iPhone model every year. She was probably no less familiar with them than the saleswoman.
“Welcome back anytime!”
“Sure, thank you.”
After offering a brief reply, the two of them left the shop.
Out on the street, Lin Tian could not help asking, “The phone cost more than 2,000 yuan. How come you didn’t seem to feel the slightest bit of pain paying for it?”
“Tch, a little over 2,000 isn’t that expensive. Besides, I didn’t know you liked using iPhones. Otherwise, I have a 16 Pro at home. If I’d known, I would have brought it to school and given it to you. Then you wouldn’t have had to use this old model.”
There was not even the slightest trace of concern about money in Long Yuqing’s voice.
At that moment, Lin Tian realized that her family background was certainly far from ordinary.
At the same time, he felt a little depressed. Why were most of the close friends he met always like this? Was he destined never to meet anyone with the same fate and experiences as himself?
He walked along absentmindedly, seemingly unable even to hear Long Yuqing calling out to him.
“Hey, are you sleepwalking again?”
Seeing that he was staring blankly ahead, Long Yuqing hurriedly patted him on the shoulder and urged him, “Hurry up and run!”
Lin Tian snapped back to his senses. Before he could understand what she meant, he instinctively began running as well.