Mobile Phone, Gold, Young Girl

"Chuanchuan, I'm off to the club."

After school in the afternoon, Ye Chuan packed up his things early and left campus right after saying goodbye to Luo Xi.

Today, he needed to buy a SIM card for Lan Xiaoke, but he also had other errands to run.

Passing by a phone store, Ye Chuan glanced at the sign and walked in.

"I need a data plan SIM," he said as soon as he entered.

"ID card and a hundred yuan," the shopkeeper replied without looking up, sliding a selection of numbers across the counter.

"Mm." Ye Chuan handed over his ID, and after purchasing the SIM, he picked a number and activated it.

The shopkeeper took a look and chuckled. "Ending in 4444? Guess you youngsters really go for these kinds of numbers."

Ye Chuan smirked. "It's not for the living anyway."

The shopkeeper: "?"

Why does this guy sound so creepy?

"Also, get me two phones—good quality, no lag," Ye Chuan added, then paused. "No, make it three. The third one should be the best you’ve got."

The shopkeeper glanced at the phone in Ye Chuan’s hand before pulling out two BlueMi models.

"As for the best one in the store," the shopkeeper said, "that’d be the Apple Pro Max, 256GB."

After a beat, he added, "Ten grand."

"Never mind then," Ye Chuan said.

The shopkeeper wasn’t surprised—Ye Chuan, with his student vibe and BlueMi phone, clearly wasn’t the target customer. But the next moment, Ye Chuan spoke again.

"Make it 1TB. 256GB isn’t enough for photos. And the two BlueMis—highest storage for those too."

The shopkeeper blinked. "We don’t support installment payments here."

"Straight scan," Ye Chuan said impatiently.

"Apple’s fourteen thousand, the two BlueMis three thousand each—total twenty grand."

"Twenty grand? Fine." Ye Chuan swiftly scanned the payment and left with his purchases, leaving the shopkeeper utterly bewildered.

Outside, Ye Chuan looked at the bags in his hand and stashed them directly into his backpack space—no need to carry anything himself, which was undeniably convenient.

Continuing down the street, he spotted a jewelry store.

After a moment’s thought, he walked in.

"Looking for something?" a sales assistant asked as soon as he entered.

"I’ve got some gold here. Wanted to see if you could make a bracelet out of it." Ye Chuan reached into his pocket and placed the gold he’d obtained from his adventures on the glass counter.

The assistant led him to a workshop in the back, where a goldsmith listened to Ye Chuan’s request to turn the fragments into a bracelet.

"Plain band, right?"

The goldsmith weighed the gold on a scale, then frowned. "Kid, this gold’s weight is off."

Ye Chuan paused. Off?

"It’s not 999 purity," the goldsmith said, testing it under a machine before pointing at the reading. "Not the purest. Where’d you get this?"

"Family heirloom," Ye Chuan said offhandedly.

Still, the purity wasn’t too low—just a slight discount for 95% gold.

"Heirloom?" The goldsmith rubbed the metal but didn’t press further.

"Add some more gold to it, then do a silver-wrapped gold finish. Just tell me the price."

Silver-wrapped gold?

An unusual request, but the goldsmith didn’t ask why. "Any other specifics?"

"If possible, engrave 'LX' on the inside."

"Got it. What’s the size?"

Ye Chuan didn’t know bracelet sizes. "No idea. Will height and weight work?"

"Sure."

"168 cm, around 50 kg."

"Then 56 it is."

The goldsmith got to work, and about two hours later, Ye Chuan had his finished piece.

"Added some gold, plus labor—total ten grand," the goldsmith said. "Purity’s solid, and you watched the whole process. Feel free to test it."

"Fine." Ye Chuan paid and left the store, satisfied.

Spending money felt pretty good.

……

With no classes in the afternoon, Ye Chuan was home by a little past five.

The apartment was quiet as he set his things down and slumped into a chair. Suddenly, a ghostly pale female face emerged from the wall beside him.

"Yoooooooo~~~ Back so soon, kiddo?"

Ye Chuan: "..."

Could you not be so terrifying?

Seeing Lan Xiaoke popping her head out of the wall, Ye Chuan suppressed the urge to roll her into a ball and yanked her out instead. "If you come out like that again, I’ll knock your head sideways."

"Mean."

"Hm?" Ye Chuan raised his voice.

"Ah, forgive me, Lord Ye!" Lan Xiaoke floated behind him, massaging his shoulders with an exaggeratedly fawning expression. "Sooo… did you get me a phone?"

"Yep." Ye Chuan pulled out the BlueMi. "Here."

"Woo-hoo!" Lan Xiaoke somersaulted midair in excitement.

"SIM’s already in. Need me to show you how to use it?"

"Nah, I’ve been hiding in the vents watching students use smartphones all day." She waved him off, as if it were child’s play.

But soon, she hit a snag.

Facial recognition didn’t work for her.

The front camera couldn’t detect her face.

After fiddling with it for a while, she silently turned off the feature.

As Lan Xiaoke played with her phone, Ye Chuan asked, "By the way, what about your family?"

After all these years, wasn’t she curious?

"Dunno. Dead, probably?" she replied casually.

"That’s awfully nonchalant."

"If they’d treated me well, I wouldn’t have choked to death on instant noodles," Lan Xiaoke muttered, her playful mood dimming. She brushed aside the bangs covering one eye and drifted toward her room.

"I’m heading back."

"Mm."

Once she was gone, Ye Chuan took the other phone and knocked on Bai Qianshuang’s door. "Qianshuang."

"Just come in," her voice sounded from inside.

Pushing the door open, he found Bai Qianshuang reading.

He glanced at the title—

The Art of Communication.

"You’re… reading this?" Ye Chuan asked.

Bai Qianshuang nodded expressionlessly. "There’s much to learn."

"Like what?"

"Closer terms of address facilitate better interaction." She pondered for a moment before looking at him. "Husband, are you hungry?"

Ye Chuan: "?!"