Both Pairs of Shoes Are Fake

Originally, Su Bai knew absolutely nothing about the field of women's clothing.

There was nowhere for him to learn about it anyway. In middle and high school, he was immersed in his studies. Whenever he had free time, he would play games or go to forums to passionately flame other bros. How could he know anything about women's clothing?

In college, it was even more so; he indulged himself every day.

It was purely because he had many female friends. Seeing their outfits every day, he naturally picked up a thing or two.

"Balenciaga shoes are quite expensive. It seems one of these girls has pretty good taste," Chu Mingzhe commented.

"I think it's more likely they're just following trends... They probably saw the new winter styles on Little Red Book and bought them immediately. They might even be paying in installments."

"Sigh, why do girls nowadays like to overspend? Isn't it better to stay within your means?" Chu Mingzhe sighed. "I see Leilei doing it too, often taking out loans to buy anime merchandise. I feel like it's unnecessary."

"By the way, where is your girlfriend?"

"Oh, she already went back. She slept it off last night, and her cold is gone today."

Chu Mingzhe felt this was probably a blessing in disguise. The crazy girl only tormented him for a day yesterday and didn't continue today. It gave him some breathing room to focus on enjoying the drama surrounding Xue Tao.

Su Bai felt this girl was a bit baffling. Maybe this was just how "landmine" girls were, with their unpredictable tempers.

Truth be told, Old Chu's girlfriend was quite normal when she wasn't acting crazy... Damn, that sounded like a load of nonsense.

Anyway, let's try the shoeprint deduction method first.

Su Bai couldn't be bothered to step forward himself, so he sent a message to Xia.

He asked her to first check what kind of shoes the two women were wearing.

At this moment, Xia Lin was smilingly watching the two girls argue their cases.

To be honest, from her perspective, this was a typical dispute between young girls, and it would be hard to determine who was completely innocent.

Fortunately, Xue Tao hadn't notified his parents.

Xue Tao was probably afraid of getting scolded by his parents. Plus, with his own pocket money, paying the medical bills upfront wasn't a problem, so he kept them in the dark.

Actually, they should have been notified; that was the rule.

But they had to sort things out first.

Seeing the message Su Bai sent her, a gratified smile touched the corners of Xia Lin's lips.

What a smart younger brother!

Her gaze shifted from her phone screen to the shoes of the two girls.

Her expression froze.

Hey, no way, sis!

How could they be wearing the exact same shoes!

They were actually wearing the exact same style of Balenciaga studded boots. You couldn't make this up.

Honestly, Xia Lin thought these boots were quite ugly...

She just didn't understand why fashion bloggers on Little Red Book had been highly recommending them lately.

That was Little Red Book for you. Occasionally, it would spark some bizarre trends, like some damn social experiment. It was hard to judge.

Sigh, they finally came up with a way to crack the case, but it turned out to be useless.

Refusing to give up, Xia Lin mentioned it to them, carefully observed their boots, and even took photos.

But they still looked exactly the same.

Then, the two women resumed their endless free-for-all arguing...

...

"Hiss, looks like we need to change our investigative approach."

Seeing the photos and messages sent by Xia, Chu Mingzhe sighed.

"Wait, I think there's still a chance."

Su Bai stared at the photos and examined them closely.

Looking at Su Bai's serious expression, Chu Mingzhe couldn't help but wonder: could Brother Su Bai really be a master in the field of luxury goods?

It seemed plausible. Even after Su Bai's wealth was revealed, he mainly wore streetwear brands, focusing on design.

But given his financial resources, it wouldn't be surprising if he knew about luxury items.

However, many design details weren't things you'd understand just by buying a lot as a rich person.

Rich girls were one thing; women were naturally passionate about this. Rich guys were a different story. Many second-generation rich kids who had been buying luxury goods for years actually didn't know much. If you asked them about hero builds in a video game, they could babble for half an hour, rigorously arguing why Sylas absolutely had to build Stormsurge or the whole game would be screwed.

But if you asked them about luxury goods, they'd probably just say, "I don't know, it looked okay, so I just grabbed it."

Su Bai seemed to be an exception. Ah, as expected of Brother Su Bai with his high tastes. He was completely different from a nouveau riche like Xue Tao.

"Look here. It's the same sole pattern on the back side. If you look closely, it's not hard to see that Liu Yuanyuan's pair has a wavy pattern, while Huang Ran's has a zigzag pattern."

"Huh? Holy crap, it's true! Brother Su Bai, you're a god! You actually noticed that!" Chu Mingzhe was genuinely impressed. "So why is there a difference? Could it be..."

The answer was obvious.

"One of them is genuine, and the other is a fake!" Chu Mingzhe pushed up his glasses. There is only one truth!

Su Bai's mouth twitched into a smirk. "Wrong. Both pairs are fake. The genuine ones have a pattern of overlapping nested triangles."

"..."

Although it sounded hilarious, it actually made perfect sense. Was it strange for vain women mixed up with Xue Tao to wear knockoffs?

Comparing the photos of their soles with the shoeprint on Xue Tao's pants, the answer was clear.

Liu Yuanyuan was the one who kicked him.

As expected, the ex-girlfriend kicked a bit harder.

After learning the truth, Xue Tao let out a long sigh of relief. "I knew it! I didn't think Huang Ran would do that to me. Liu Yuanyuan really is a vicious woman. Breaking up with her was the right choice!"

"Congratulations, you've escaped a sea of suffering." Su Bai congratulated him anyway, even though he didn't think Huang Ran was a good person either.

An undergraduate student who already knew to go to the neighboring university to fish for rich guys was definitely scheming. She looked obedient now, but who knew what would happen in the future.

Furthermore, Su Bai had scanned Huang Ran's personal information with his system, and the number in the relationship history column was honestly quite high.

You could say she was very experienced.

He didn't know how long this girl would stay well-behaved with Xue Tao.

In short, the rest of the matter had nothing to do with Su Bai. Now that they had successfully determined who should pay the medical bills, the rest would be left to Xia to coordinate.

Handling this kind of thing was a piece of cake for Xia Lin.

That was the good thing about a gentle older sister figure. Matters that would seem tricky and troublesome to ordinary students were handled effortlessly by Xia Lin.

She had seen far too many big scenes.

Within a large family, any random equity dispute in a subsidiary company was a hundred times more disgusting than this trivial mess.

Although Xia Lin's parents supported her living a relaxed life and pursuing her own path, her basic capabilities had still been perfectly cultivated. This was the so-called refinement of a wealthy heiress.

Compared to those ignorant rich girls who went abroad to study—which actually meant fooling around and causing trouble with shady people—Xia Lin's temperament was truly vastly superior.

Su Bai returned to the vicinity of the school. He first dropped off his luggage at the Ascott, then went to the laboratory to check on Shengsheng and Yaya.

As a result, right after arriving at the lab, he saw Li Xingya secretly looking at strange things on her computer.