Chapter 89 - GROCERY SHOPPING WITH A CELEBRITY

With a malicious grin on my face, I told him about our date spot, "We're going to Hypermart in Sanli Street. I need to restock my fridge."

"Wait, is there a good restaurant near there? I'm new in this city, so I don't know much."

"No, just a supermarket," I replied nonchalantly. 

"Let me guess, there is a restaurant on top of that supermarket? Wow, you have an expensive restaurant on top of a supermarket building? Or is it like a mall?" 

"No, it's just one building, a big supermarket with a lot of discounts, so we have to go there."

…

"What?!" Alexander Priest couldn't believe what he just heard. I giggled and repeated, "Let's go to Hypermart in Sanli Street. I need to restock my fridge."

…

"You're taking your chance of dating someone like me, a man who has dated tons of A-list celebrities, and make him accompany you to do groceries?!" Alex asked, full of shock and surprise. 

I shrugged, "Why not?"

'Besides, I've literally asked a mafia lord-Esque businessman to accompany me buying groceries. I even ask him to buy groceries again the next time he wanted to visit me. There is no way I'm going to feed him with my hard-earned money!'

Alexander Priest was stunned silly, and then he sighed while stepping on the gas, "Fine, Secretary Shi, you're truly unbelievable."

"Oh, come on. I don't even have enough money to eat some fancy stuff. Besides, cooking your own food is healthy!" I protested. 

"If it's just because of money, I can take you to the most expensive restaurant in this city, we can eat there for the whole year, and it will just be my pocket money," Alex said shamelessly. 

"Hmph, do you think I'm a leech woman who will accept any offer from a random man? I will only accept it from my boyfriend or husband!"

"Then be my—Ugh, fine!" Alex sped up his car to Sanli Street. It didn't take long until they arrived, and Alex's car immediately attracted people's attention.

"See? You should be grateful that you're in the same car with me," Alex said proudly. I rolled my eyes silently and opened the car door. 

"W—Wait, at least say a thing!" Alex hurriedly opened the car door and pressed a button on his car key to lock it. He followed me to the supermarket. He was stunned when he saw the big supermarket for the first time.

"Surprised?" I asked. 

Alex nodded and said, "Well, I mean. I never know that people actually sho manually like this. At least for me, everything is ready and available. We still have delivery service for food too, right?"

"This is the first time for you to enter a supermarket?!" I asked. Even Meng Bao wasn't that clueless. And I was sure that Meng Bao was a lot richer than Alex.

"I… guess?" Alex replied. But from his body language and dumb expression, it was clear that he never actually entered this kind of place. 

"I can't believe this," I massaged my temple and pointed the trolley near the entrance. "Take one of those. We need it."

"Wait, you're going to order me like this?! Hey, I may tolerate you a lot, Secretary Shi. But you're still my subordinate—"

"We're out of the office right now, don't call me Secretary Shi. Just call me Shi Ying or Ying Jie," I replied.

"Ying… Jie?" Alexander Priest was silent for a moment, and then he repeated it again, "Ying Jie…"

"Yeah, yeah, now you know that I'm your senior. I'm a year older than you. So you should listen to your Jie's word. Go and take that trolley!" I ordered Alex, who was still confused.

He scratched his head because it didn't feel right. But he still took the shopping trolley and obediently followed me. "Ying Jie…" he repeated for the third time.

"What?" I replied while choosing which aisle will be our first target. 

"Ying Jie…"

"WHAT?!" I yelled at Alex, who kept on repeating my name over and over. "What do you want? Stop calling me. I'm still searching for a good price here!"

"Nothing, it just feels nice to say. It's like a sweet paste with a bit of sour in it," Alex said. "Whenever I call you Ying Jie, it makes me want to call you again and again."

"Aish, you're talking nonsense," I rolled my eyes while checking the price of a pack of butter. "50 YUAN FOR ONE PACK?! ARE YOU SCAMMING ME?!"

I yelled out of shock. I put the butter back immediately and then walked away while pulling the trolley, "Let's go. Who wants a 50 Yuan butter? That's crazy!"

"Huh, crazy?" Alex pondered. "Is that really expensive? My parents and Xiao Meng's parents are close friends and good business partners. My mom stocked our butter from Xiao Meng's farm in Switzerland. The cost is like uh… 450 Swiss franc or around 500 dollars for each pack."

"… you bought a 500 dollars for a pack of butter?" I asked.

"Uh-huh, it's a good price for such high-quality butter," Alex shrugged while pushing the trolley.

…

Okay, I had two questions for him that I kept inside because I didn't want trouble with Meng Bao's true identity as Yang Menghuo. 

One, how could you buy 500 dollars for a small pack of butter?! It's just butter. I can make it by myself on my parent's farm!

Two, I didn't know that Meng Bao has a literal dairy farm in Switzerland! What kind of rich kids' talk was this?!

'Damn you, rich people.'

I cursed in my heart, cursing both Alex and Meng Bao. 

We walked further until we reached the red meat stall. I checked on some meat and checked on the price. I sighed and turned away.

"What? Why are we turning away? You don't want meat?" Alex asked. 

"Too expensive, I don't have enough money for it," I said nonchalantly while checking the fish. 

"Eh, expensive? Let me just buy it for you then," Alex said, which I refused. 

"No, no need. I'll just buy something else."

"Ying Jie, why do you keep refusing my goodwill?" Alex suddenly confronted me. I spared him a glance and then sighed.

"I'm not refusing your goodwill. I appreciate it. But really, I don't need your money. I have my own."

Alex scratched his platinum blonde hair. He seemed confused over something, "Then, what can I do to impress you? What's the point of a date when you're not even impressed with me?"

I paused after Alex said that, and my mind traveled back to Meng Bao. It actually made me question what Meng Bao was doing to get me in love with him for such a short time.

'Is it because of money?' I pondered. Then denied it, 'No, definitely not money. I'm attracted to him before I even know that he is the rich billionaire/totally business mafia Yang Menghuo.'

'Is it because of his looks? Honestly, Meng Bao is very handsome. He has a perfectly symmetrical face and has that soothing charm around him that made me want to cuddle him, hehe~ but definitely not about his looks either.'

'If it's only about his looks, the first thing I will do is to ship him with another handsome man and make them my OTP ship, fujo style!' 

As I kept pondering about it, I sensed a flash from my left side. I darted my eyes and saw a woman took a picture of Alex and me. 

Then I looked around and realized that many people, especially women, took out their phones and recorded Alexander Priest.

I mean, even with Meng Bao, I still saw many people silently recording him because he really had the face of a model.

But Alexander Priest's platinum blonde hair and overall handsome face attracted way too much attention.

"Let's talk somewhere else. There are too many people recording you right now," I said.

"Huh? Then what's the problem?" Alex said nonchalantly. "It's usual, right? I'm used to getting recorded since I was a kid, so something like camera flashes and crowd of people gathering around me isn't a new thing."

…

"Well, Mr. Alexander Priest, you're in here with me, a totally average-looking woman in her late twenties. Do you think they won't insult you for being blind? You're currently dating a totally average-looking woman!" 

"Average looking?! What the—You're not average looking at all. You're a beauty, definitely my type!" Alex exclaimed loudly. Really, he didn't even stutter when he said that.

My face went red in shame. I could sense some people glaring at me, reeking with their obvious jealousy. I pulled Alex's hand and pulled the trolley with the other.

"W—Whoa, slow down, Ying Jie. Are you that eager to do it? I thought you want to do grocery shopping first—"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled at Alex. His remark didn't help at all. Few more people continued recording, even went as far as following us. 

"Damn it, let's just leave now," I said.