Chapter Ninety-Two: Seeing in a New Light

Liu Xiaoli and Li Yong were both utterly stunned.

Li Yong, in particular, stared at the money on the table with squinted eyes, his own eyes nearly falling out of his head.

Zhang Can said indifferently, “There’s sixty thousand here. I only brought sixty thousand. Take it. When you see Xiaoqin and our parents, just give it to them as you like. Say you saved it yourselves, say whatever you want. As long as it makes Xiaoqin happy, that’s enough.”

Liu Xiaoli’s eyes reddened. The Zhang Can she had once thought she knew so well had now become blurred and indistinct in her mind. Only now did she realize that she had never understood him at all, never truly known what kind of man he was.

Li Yong froze for a moment, then hurriedly snatched Liu Xiaoli’s bag and, in two quick motions, stuffed the bills from the table into it. He glanced left and right. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he finally let out a breath of relief and whispered, “Never flash your wealth.”

Zhang Can naturally did not care about his behavior. Once the waitress brought the food, he immediately invited Liu Xiaoli to eat.

Liu Xiaoli still felt awkward and at a loss, but she was much better off than before. So long as money appeared before her parents, everything would be easier to handle. It was just that this face had been given to her by Zhang Can, and that made her feel uneasy. Back then, she had never put Zhang Can in her eyes. Even when they met last time, she still had not felt there was anything different about him. Yet in a sudden turn, he had risen so high above her that her heart churned violently.

Looking at Li Yong beside her only made her even more irritated. The two men were from completely different worlds: one a rich young master, the other a poor country bumpkin. What she had always pursued was wealth, splendor, and the luxurious life of ease. But the situation now was the exact opposite. Their positions had been reversed; one stood in the heavens, the other on the ground, and yet Li Yong was still so disgracefully dependent on the face Zhang Can had given them.

Then she looked at Zhang Can again, and the more she looked, the more he seemed shrouded in mist, impossible to see through. Calm, steady, as immovable as a mountain. His clothes were no different from before, not some extravagant brand, and yet Liu Xiaoli could feel it: his bearing had changed. It was no longer the same.

Perhaps it was all because of money. Perhaps Zhang Can had really become rich. Money really could transform a person’s temperament entirely.

The chicken cutlet, salad, and fruit all tasted wonderful, but by then Liu Xiaoli had lost all appetite. Her mouth was dull and flavorless, and everything was because of Zhang Can, and perhaps even more because of the hopeless Li Yong.

When Zhang Can saw that Liu Xiaoli had finished the meal and even drunk her coffee, he took out his phone to check the time. Then he motioned to the waitress and said, “Miss, the bill!”

Li Yong tactfully kept quiet, head lowered as he smoked, though one hand was gripping the money bag tightly.

“Sir, the total comes to one thousand one hundred and thirty-seven yuan,” the waitress said as she came over with the bill and handed it to Zhang Can.

Zhang Can took another bundle of cash from the bag, counted out twelve notes, and tossed them onto the bill. “Keep the change.”

At once, Li Yong stood up, pulling Liu Xiaoli to her feet as well, and smiled. “Xiaoli, let’s go!”

The waitress bowed quickly and thanked him. “Thank you, sir. Please take care.”

By the roadside, Zhang Can casually hailed a taxi. Li Yong and Liu Xiaoli got into the back seat, while he sat in the front beside the driver. Just as he was about to say to go to the City Hospital, his phone rang.

It was Liu Xiaoqin calling. Zhang Can hurriedly pressed answer.

“Xiaoqin, have you gotten off the plane?”

Liu Xiaoqin’s voice was a little excited. “We’ve arrived. We were going to go straight to the hospital, but my father said he wanted to stay one night first at the place where you’re living, and not rush to the hospital. He said as soon as he sees a hospital, he gets upset and scared. My mother said the same thing, so we went back to the place first. Are you at the shop? I haven’t called my sister yet to tell her!”

Zhang Can laughed softly. “That works. Then stay at home for one night and go tomorrow. There’s no need to rush today. Have you all gotten home yet? ... Xiaoqin, I need to tell you something... well, let’s talk about it later. I’m heading back right now. I’ll be there soon.”

Only after Zhang Can hung up did Liu Xiaoli ask in surprise, “Xiaoqin... is she here?”

Though she had avoided her family for so long, she still cared about them in the end. Knowing she was about to see her sister and parents, Liu Xiaoli could not help becoming excited. Human nature is kind at first; it is only the traces of life that change it.

“Driver, to Tianxin Square.”

After tossing out those words, Zhang Can fell silent. He slowly considered how he should speak later. As for Liu Xiaoli’s matter, it would be better to conceal as much as possible. The story he shared with her in the past should remain buried deep in his heart. Digging it up would serve no purpose. People do change. For example, overnight, he had already become someone who no longer loved that woman who had once occupied his dreams.

Liu Xiaoli and Li Yong both quieted down as well.

Zhang Can’s sudden appearance, in any case, had been too abrupt, too mysterious. And the things he had done after appearing only made them view him more strangely. As for his claim that he had a decent job dealing in antiques, they still had their doubts. Even if he did work in antiques, how could he possibly earn that much? Enough to casually take five hundred thousand for medical expenses, and toss sixty thousand to them for face?

And then there was the Tianxin Square he had just told the driver to head for. That was the bustling center of the southern district, full of office towers. If there were residential apartments there, whether for rent or for sale, the prices would be astronomical. One apartment there could buy three or four in the suburbs. If Zhang Can really lived there, then even if he was renting, the price could not possibly be cheap.

Li Yong had often visited the commercial streets around Tianxin Square. There were all sorts of real estate agencies there, and even from the road one could see signs listing studio apartments for more than two thousand five hundred, even three thousand a month. He did not know whether Zhang Can actually lived there, or whether he was taking them there to buy something.

In the past, both Li Yong and Liu Xiaoli had gone to Tianxin Square to buy clothes and wander the streets, but they had always taken the bus. If traffic was not heavy, the bus ride took about an hour. Now, however, in a taxi taking the shortest route, they arrived in just twenty minutes.

Zhang Can paid the fare, then beckoned to Liu Xiaoli and Li Yong. “Come on, this way.”

The direction he took was neither the commercial pedestrian street nor the supermarket and club area, but International Tower, the landmark building of Tianxin Square.

Could he really be living up there?

Liu Xiaoli was filled with doubt. The night she had last seen Zhang Can, he had still been in the village where she lived. If he had recently made money, what kind of money could come so quickly?

Unless he had won a huge lottery prize, or was involved in drug trafficking.

Liu Xiaoli’s heart tightened. Zhang Can had better not have done anything illegal. No matter what, she did not want him to drag her sister down too. After all, she was already beyond saving; her sister was still a good girl, still an innocent girl.

When they entered the lobby of International Tower, both Li Yong and Liu Xiaoli became somewhat dazed. The place where people lived here was simply beyond anything they could have imagined. But even now, the two of them still could not bring themselves to believe that Zhang Can really lived here.

Inside the elevator, Zhang Can pressed the button for the seventeenth floor. There were six or seven other people in the elevator, men and women alike. Several of the men kept glancing at Liu Xiaoli because she was beautiful, though the supermarket uniform she wore was especially conspicuous.

Liu Xiaoli knew it herself, and lowered her head to fuss with her hands. Li Yong had always treated Liu Xiaoli as part of his own face, because she was pretty, and he had never thought she would embarrass him. Yet at this moment, he suddenly felt a little ashamed. He rubbed his chin and edged away, squeezing himself into a corner of the elevator, pretending he had nothing to do with Liu Xiaoli.

Only Zhang Can was completely unconcerned. The people living on this floor were not truly wealthy. The truly rich bought their own homes; who would come here to rent? Living here was merely a way of saving face, the sort of place some office worker on a modest salary would choose. Except for him, perhaps he was the only exception.

With a ding, the elevator doors opened. Zhang Can was the first to step out, then turned back and said, “We’re here.”

Liu Xiaoli walked out with tightly clasped hands, while Li Yong darted out with his head lowered. Only after the elevator doors shut behind them did he let out a long breath and fan at the area beneath his neck. “So hot, so hot.”

In truth, the elevator and the corridor were both under central air conditioning, and the cooling was strong. How could it possibly be hot?

Zhang Can pointed to the door of Unit A. “Here. We live here.”

As he stepped forward, he heard the door of Unit B next door make a sound. The door opened, and the beautiful Su Xue came out, smiling as she looked at Zhang Can. “Zhang Can, oh? Guests? Is it convenient at home? My water dispenser broke, so I came over to borrow a cup of water!”

Damn it.

Completely shameless. Zhang Can could practically swear that her dispenser was not broken. She had only just used it the previous night to boil water for tea, and even if it really were broken, could she not still drink water from the tank without boiling it? Yet now she insisted on coming to his place for water. If this was not a plot, what was it?

Zhang Can was grinding his teeth in frustration. This Su Xue was someone he could not afford to provoke and could not beat in a fight. If it were only him, that would be one thing, but now Liu Xiaoqin and her parents were in the house, and tonight his younger sister Zhang Hua would also be there. Liu Xiaoli and Li Yong had come as well. Heaven knew what this crazy woman might do if she got in there.

“Oh... yes, of course there’s water! There’s definitely water!”

While Zhang Can was still fretting over it, Li Yong suddenly rushed forward and, all smiles, said to Su Xue, “Of course there’s water.”

Truly, after following Zhang Can around for a while, even beauties seemed to appear at the snap of a finger. Liu Xiaoli might be pretty, but compared to the woman before him now, the difference in class was clear at once.

Li Yong had always been a lecherous man, the kind who chose girlfriends by their faces alone. Back in his hometown, Liu Xiaoli had indeed counted as an exceptionally beautiful woman, but over the years, hardships and lack of care had taken a toll on her looks. In an ordinary crowd of women, it might not be obvious, but before a peerless beauty like Su Xue, the contrast was immediate.

If Li Yong had even the slightest chance of winning Su Xue over, he would abandon Liu Xiaoli without hesitation and cling to Su Xue instead.

Su Xue paid no attention at all to Li Yong’s ingratiating smile. She simply looked at Zhang Can with a faint smile, then followed him to the door. Of course Zhang Can understood that even if he said there was no water, even if he refused, he would never be able to stop her.

What worried him most was that, in the end, if Su Xue were to flatten everyone in the apartment, it would all be because of his own momentary stupidity in moving those three cases away, bringing down upon himself immense trouble. Though Su Xue still did not have proof that he had stolen the three cases, and could not even be certain that he was the thief, he knew he would be condemned to long-term surveillance and torment by her. No one knew when that suffering would finally end.