Chapter 29: 29, a considerable age, and still friggin' unemployed

Sun Xinyi and Zhao Yingying were both wom with strict body managemt, so neither of them had large appetites, hce they didn't order too much.

Soon, the dishes were all served, and the three chatted while eating. Although Yang Hao didn't eat anything high in calories, this experice of hotpot still satisfied him mtally.

"Xinyi?"

"Is that really you, Xinyi? This is such a coincidce!"

A man holding a dish of dipping sauce suddly stopped beside their table and th exclaimed Sun Xinyi's name with a look of surprise.

From his voice, one could tell this surprise was guine.

Yang Hao subconsciously glanced at the man, who was in his late twties, quite tall, roughly a 80 cm like himself, with above-average looks and wearing a Nike tracksuit, looking quite ergetic.

"Qin, what a coincidce."

Sun Xinyi greeted the man, whose name was Qin Fg, and he was her sior from three years above at college.

They had both worked part-time as fitness coaches at the same gym, and he had pursued her for a while, but Qin Fg wasn't her type.

"Yingying is here too."

Qin Fg knew Zhao Yingying; he had tried to please her best frid while pursuing Sun Xinyi, but ultimately, he didn't win her over.

Zhao Yingying gave a slight nod, a kind of greeting.

"And this is?"

Qin Fg's gaze th fell on Yang Hao; a man dining with Sun Xinyi and Zhao Yingying could basically be one of two possibilities, either Sun Xinyi's boyfrid or Zhao Yingying's boyfrid, or perhaps a suitor of one of the two.

"This is Yang, a frid of mine and Yingying's."

"Yang, this is my sior, Qin Fg."

Sun Xinyi briefly introduced them.

"Hello."

Yang Hao greeted him politely.

"Yang, hello."

Qin Fg also called him 'Yang,' following Sun Xinyi's lead, and th cheerfully asked, "Yang, you don't mind if I join your table, do you?"

"I'm an old frid of Xinyi and Yingying."

"Uh, this meal is on me..." Sёarch* The NôᴠelFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

In fact, Qin Fg had never giv up pursuing Sun Xinyi, he had ev st her a WeChat message last week inviting her out, but she had declined, citing work reasons. So, seeing her by chance today, he didn't want to miss the opportunity to curry favor.

"I'm fine with it; you ask the ladies."

Yang Hao said, waving his hand indiffertly.

"Since Yang has no objections, neither do I."

Zhao Yingying spoke up first, her agreemt was with a hidd inttion.

Obviously, Qin Fg was here for Sun Xinyi, so his joining would mean four people could pair up nicely.

She would focus on Yang Hao, and Qin Fg would focus on Sun Xinyi.

They wouldn't interfere with each other, otherwise her frid, who surpassed her in every respect, would be too overwhelming. Although she was acting like she and Yang Hao were just ordinary frids, if this yang started showing off his wallet, she feared her frid might not be able to resist.

"Yang, th I'll be intruding."

"I'll go say hi to my colleagues; they're about to finish up over there anyway."

Qin Fg nodded courteously at Yang Hao and th quickly took his dipping sauce and left.

Meanwhile, Sun Xinyi gtly pinched Zhao Yingying's thigh: "Yingying, why did you agree to him!"

"The man is deeply devoted to you; don't reject him from a thousand miles away!" Zhao Yingying teased with a chuckle.

Sun Xinyi responded with a roll of her eyes, having likely guessed Zhao Yingying's thoughts.

But she thought Zhao Yingying was thinking too much; as for now, she only considered Yang Hao a good older brother. At 4, she wasn't ready to become anyone's stepmother.

A momt later, Qin Fg came back smiling. He asked the waiter for a set of utsils, his gaze sweeping over the table, noticing that they had ordered very little and nothing particularly expsive.

He thought to himself that this old man was a bit stingy, not willing to spd money wh taking a lady out for a meal.

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"Yang, Xinyi, Yingying, what would you like to eat? I'll order it. This meal is on me, no one fight over it!"

Qin Fg said quite gerously.

"I'm on a diet rectly, just ask them."

Yang Hao waved his hand dismissively.

"Oh, Xinyi, Yingying, th it's your turn."

Qin Fg nodded slightly but couldn't help mocking inwardly, thinking that the old man was really good at finding excuses to save money.

"Just order whatever you like!"

"Xinyi and I won't eat much either," Zhao Yingying said.

"Okay th!"

Qin Fg ordered a serving of layered tripe, a portion of smooth beef, and a portion of handmade shrimp paste, which were among the more expsive dishes at Haidilao, but the total cost was just over a hundred.

Although Haidilao claims to be high-d, its prices are only mid-range, about thirty to forty perct more expsive than an average hot pot restaurant, but affordable for the average worker.

"Xinyi, how's it going at Bolli?"

After ordering, Qin Fg started chatting with Sun Xinyi.

"It's okay," she replied indiffertly.

"I'm pretty close with Old Zhu, I'll talk to him later and ask him to look after you a bit."

Qin Fg started name-dropping, the most low-level bragging tactic. If you're truly impressive, you don't need to mtion others to bolster your own stature.

And the "Old Zhu" he mtioned was the very person Sun Xinyi didn't like.

Zhu Honggang's full name, the personal training supervisor at Bolli Fitness Cter, had dubious relationships with several female clits, and he still had the nerve to pursue Sun Xinyi.

"No need," she said.

"It's quite good now," Sun Xinyi said, shaking her head slightly.

In fact, Qin Fg was just making conversation; although he knew Zhu Honggang, they didn't have much of a relationship.

"Ah, the economy hasn't be great this year, ev courses ar't selling well. Last month I barely sold fifty thousand."

"The other coaches in the store only sold a total of two hundred and t thousand."

Qin Fg seemed to be complaining, but he was actually showing off. As the personal training supervisor at a gym, he received a higher commission than ordinary coaches and also got a cut from the total store sales, plus income from class fees and the like, adding up to almost thirty thousand a month.

Of course, this wasn't a steady income; the norm was usually betwe t and twty thousand a month.

His way of humblebragging was something outsiders wouldn't understand because they didn't know the commission structure in their industry, but Sun Xinyi could definitely figure it out.

So his words were actually telling Sun Xinyi that he was now earning thirty thousand a month.

And Xinyi was well aware of m's bragging tactics, as m who pursued her oft resorted to such tactics. Having se it so oft, she had become numb to it; she was ev tempted to retort: You make thirty thousand a month, what's that to me!

Besides, do you know, Yang, sitting next to you, spt over thirty thousand just on courses and membership cards yesterday, th another fifty thousand on a bag, and drives a car worth over a million.

An income of thirty thousand a month is indeed a lot compared to the average worker, but what is there to show off in front of a tycoon like Yang!

"Yang, where did you make your fortune?"

Seeing that Sun Xinyi didn't gage, Qin Fg tactfully dropped the topic and turned to chat with Yang Hao.

In his view, there are two ways to raise one's value: one is to elevate oneself, and the other is to use others to elevate oneself.

He had already tried elevating himself, but the effect wasn't very pronounced.

So he was ready to try the second method, to raise his own value through a stark contrast.

Yang Hao, who had spt over a decade in the catering industry and se all types of people, saw right through the young man's inttions.

Young people, after all, like to show off in front of girls they fancy; it's understandable.

So Yang Hao cooperated and said, "I'm currtly unemployed and at home."

"Uh..."

Qin Fg was tak aback, not expecting to actually come across a pushover.

Getting on in years and still damn unemployed, no wonder he's so stingy wh inviting a lady out!