Chapter 9: The King of Impulse Shopping

"Do I look like someone who needs a reward? Just take it, including the coat—and if you want the body, that’s fine too, it’s not even mine anyway." Ma Weimin decisively took off his jacket and handed it to her.

Ni Feihong was nearly undone by his outrageous words.

But she really did want to take the jacket home, so she said nothing more and nodded slightly. "If anything comes up, I’ll come to this place at this time to find you."

She walked a few steps, then couldn’t help turning to look back at him. She realized that the further away she stood, the better he looked—he had that popular “sickly beauty” vibe.

It’s true that sickness can create a sort of beauty, but it’s a demanding standard—just a hint too much and it crosses into absurdity, but, curiously, this man had taken it to an extreme perfection.

This theory was Ni Feihong’s own. Like how in the past, that famous Ekin Cheng look required a high level of skill—anyone else would’ve looked effeminate or just plain off. Only old Cheng could pull it off, not only without looking soft, but with a unique sort of masculine edge. These are subtle nuances, impossible to quantify.

Now this guy’s aura of sickly beauty was completely natural and inimitable, missing only one thing… his gaze. Otherwise, he’d be a flawless masterpiece.

Her daydream over, Ni Feihong turned and hurried away.

Ma Weimin stayed where he was, lost in thought.

A short while later, he heard the roar of a sports car engine and saw Ni Feihong sitting inside a Lamborghini. She slowed as she passed him, made a finger-gun gesture in his direction, and drove off into the distance.

"She’s no loser. I was wrong," Ma Weimin muttered, covering his face with his hand.

But then he remembered, "I’ve seen Liu Yuan’s breasts," and his confidence soared again.

Damn, my thought process is just not normal.

After hesitating, Ma decided to bang his head against a tree and ask, "Are you afraid?" That seemed to quiet the demon king’s restless body, at least for now…

When Chen Xiao came downstairs for a drink and saw the bump on his head, she was startled. "Did you run into a tree?"

Wait, she actually guessed right?

Ma Weimin blushed a little. "It wasn’t on purpose."

"Who would do that on purpose? And why do you have a Hermès bag full of cash? Even I was tempted to steal it, but I was worried the money wasn’t clean. If I knew you were just a gullible nice guy, I’d have taken some to spend myself," Chen Xiao said.

"Now you sound like a loser," Ma Weimin replied. "You don’t have the heart of a real player. The strong only take dirty money—clean money is off-limits. That’s the warrior’s code."

"So can I take your money or not?" Chen Xiao asked.

"Of course not."

Ma Weimin thought he was acting pretty weird now. He used to be so cautious, and having someone discover this pile of cash would have been a huge problem. But now it just didn’t bother him.

"Well, you don’t seem anxious, so your money must be legit. Still, be careful. Leaving it around like that, who knows what could happen if someone sees it. I wasn’t snooping, but you left the door open, so I tidied up your room a bit," Chen Xiao said.

"You’re so kind. I’m really touched to meet someone like you at a time like this," Ma Weimin said.

"Then you should buy me an iPhone XS," Chen Xiao laughed.

"Your poverty is limiting your imagination. I’ll buy you two iPhones. These days, you can’t even show your face outside without dual SIMs," Ma Weimin said.

"Get outta here." Chen Xiao thought he was just bragging, and went upstairs in her pajamas.

"I want to talk to you," Ma Weimin called out, looking up after her.

"About what?" Chen Xiao paused on the stairs, leaning against the railing with her water.

"What do you guys do for a living?" Ma Weimin asked.

Chen Xiao joked, "Models. I’m still a rookie, so let me be honest, I really do want that iPhone from you."

"Who said just one? I said two." Ma Weimin slipped into the role of a stern critic.

Chen Xiao thought: Even if you give me two, you can forget about getting anything out of me.

"Is modeling a good way to make money?" Ma Weimin was curious.

"Silly question. Even beggars can strike it rich, and some company bosses are all show and no substance. I’m still a rookie, learning and waiting for opportunities. Mostly e-commerce and car modeling gigs—tough work. I’m staying here with Tao Zi because she’s well-connected. The rent’s expensive, but I want to get into her circle and see if any opportunities pop up."

"Well, you made the right choice. Your opportunity is meeting me."

"Get lost."

"So what about Tao Zi? How’s she doing?"

"She’s way ahead of me—a promising newcomer with a big company. Not famous yet, but she’s got potential," Chen Xiao replied, sounding envious.

"Which company?"

"‘The Most Glamorous’—have you heard of it?"

"..."

Ma Weimin wanted to comment, but his body suddenly lost interest in talking to 'losers' and he retreated to his room.

He started counting the money.

After counting, it was still 1.41 million. Chen Xiao really hadn’t touched a cent.

He promptly opened the Jingdong app and ordered two iPhone XS. When he went to pay, he was stunned—how do you fit cash into a phone?

He knocked on Chen Xiao’s door.

"It’s not locked," she called from inside.

He went in.

She was sitting cross-legged on the bed. "What’s up?"

"I placed an order for two phones, but there’s no money in my account," Ma Weimin explained.

"I can order for you, if you trust me," Chen Xiao offered with a sly smile.

"I trust you completely. Let’s do it," Ma Weimin nodded vigorously. "I also want to play some games, but my old laptop got confiscated by the landlady. Order me a quad-Titan graphics array, dual Intel 905P SSDs, and four sticks of Platinum Dominator RAM, each 32G..."

"What in the world are these?" Chen Xiao beckoned him over. "Tell me exactly what to buy, and I’ll place the orders. But you have to pay me right away, or I’ll call the cops on you."

"If I don’t pay, you can just return the stuff—no need for the cops," Ma Weimin replied.

Chen Xiao realized she couldn’t argue with this weirdo, so she just started shopping. The thrill of reckless spending was exhilarating, even if she was buying for someone else.

This guy was a shopaholic—two iPhones, two luxury down comforters.

He never bought just one of anything.

Those "Titan graphics cards" were absurdly expensive, and he ordered four of them. She had no idea what they were for.

The RAM sticks—also four of them?

"Why do you always buy things in sets of four?" Chen Xiao eyed the four big-brand phones with a mixture of awe and exasperation.

"You don’t get it. Only losers buy one at a time," Ma Weimin urged her to hurry.

"Is eating two bowls of noodles the same as buying four graphics cards?" Chen Xiao wondered.

"It’s not the same at all. Poverty has really stunted your imagination," Ma Weimin said, pressing her to place the order.

Chen Xiao almost wanted to cry. "Are you really buying all this? Just this computer setup is 80,000! Why are you spending so much? I feel bad for you. Why not save a little? Everything you buy comes in fours, and you even ordered eighteen processors. Are you insane?"

"You know nothing about power. They’re called eighteen-core processors, not eighteen processors."

"What’s the difference?"

"Are you ordering or not?"

"One last question—are you really giving me two iPhones? One is enough."

"Stop fussing. I never give just one of anything."

Chen Xiao figured he probably wanted to keep one for himself. This lunatic must really like phones.

She finally placed the orders, maxing out her credit limits just to buy everything, and her account leveled up to diamond.

Together, they went to Ma Weimin’s room, where he dumped out over a million in cash on the bed and began counting out payment.

Chen Xiao ignored the cash, but eyed the bag. "If you wanted to give me two of those bags, I wouldn’t complain."

Ma Weimin nearly fainted.

You think I’m an idiot? I’m just a little crazy.

Chen Xiao punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Just kidding. Even if you gave it to me, I wouldn’t dare take it. Who knows what you’d expect in return? Not long ago, a girl I know got into the escort business—made twenty grand her first time, but came back covered in bruises. It was heartbreaking."

"Xiao Xiao, you’re a good person. I want to give you this bag, but it’s not mine—it has to be returned." Ma Weimin handed her a neat stack of ten thousand for the orders.

"That’s too much—it was only just over ninety-eight thousand."

"Only losers count change."

"Great, then you should always come to me when you need to buy something," Chen Xiao beamed, thinking this scatterbrained kid was truly one of a kind.

As she left the room, she turned serious. "Little Ma, find yourself a job. Don’t just mess around all day. Do you have a degree? If you do, it’ll be easier. I’ll help you find something. If not, it’ll be tough—slow money, nothing quick."

"I do have degrees," Ma Weimin pointed at his nose. "By age thirteen, this body had nine PhDs to its name, and later became a doctoral supervisor in over a dozen top labs worldwide. Though I can’t be sure you’d be able to verify any of that."

"Get out of here, stop messing with me," Chen Xiao said, thinking that rich people’s imaginations really were something else.

Ma Weimin watched her leave, feeling oddly moved.

How pathetic must this body be to be so easily touched by a loser like her? It keeps calling others losers, but it’s the real loser, isn’t it?

Ma Weimin decided this body wasn’t nearly sly enough…