Wu Jun didn’t experience the classic romance novel trope where the male lead takes the heroine to a hotel, only to find there’s just one room left.
This hotel wasn’t in a prime location. He could have brought the entire Ma Family clan with him, and there still would have been enough rooms for everyone.
After asking about the room rates, Wu Jun used his phone to pay the front desk clerk 400 yuan—200 for the rooms and 200 for the deposit. He booked two standard rooms and, under the clerk’s peculiar gaze, supported Xu Fei up to the second floor.
’She’d seen plenty of couples like Wu Jun and Xu Fei, who openly booked two rooms but ended up sleeping together. Young people were just too shy. Still, she was happy to make the money for an extra room.’
Upstairs, Wu Jun used the key card to open one of the rooms and helped Xu Fei inside.
"Take a hot shower in a bit, so you don’t catch a cold." Their clothes were so soaked you could probably wring a bottle of water out of them. After entering the room, Wu Jun turned on the water heater and helped Xu Fei to the side of the bed.
Xu Fei’s clothes were also wet, so she didn’t sit on the bed. She turned to Wu Jun and said, "Wu Jun, bring your clothes over later. I’ll wash them for you. They’ll be dry by morning."
"You’re the patient here, and you’re still thinking about laundry?" Wu Jun couldn’t help but laugh. "No, I’ll do it. I’ll come over later and wash your clothes for you."
"Wu Jun..." Hearing his words, Xu Fei’s eyes reddened, and tears started to fall.
When Xu Fei was seven, her mother died of tuberculosis, leaving her alone with her father, Xu Shucai.
Children from poor families have to grow up fast. Starting at age seven, Xu Fei began to cook her own meals, wash clothes, feed the pigs, and do farm work.
She was just a seven-year-old girl, but she did the work of a young man. The years had flown by just like that.
"I’ll wash your clothes for you." Those simple words touched the softest spot in Xu Fei’s heart.
That phrase made her heart flutter more than "I like you" or "I love you" ever could.
"What’s wrong?" Wu Jun panicked, fumbling to wipe away her tears.
"It’s nothing. Wu Jun, you should go back to your room and take a hot shower so you don’t get sick. I can wash my own clothes." Seeing how worried he was about her, Xu Fei smiled through her tears and pushed him out the door.
Wu Jun stood outside the door, scratching his head. ’Crying one minute and laughing the next... Women really are a mystery...’
Wu Jun went into the room next door, washed up, then washed his clothes and hung them to dry before going to bed.
The next morning, Wu Jun and Xu Fei went downstairs to check out.
The floodwater on the street outside had receded, and traffic was back to normal.
When Wu Jun and Xu Fei took a taxi back to the supermarket, Xu Minli was already there, working.
Seeing the two of them return by taxi early in the morning, and with Xu Fei walking with an unnatural limp, Xu Minli, as her aunt, let her imagination run a little wild.
Seeing that the two had finally made some... substantial progress, Xu Minli couldn’t have been happier.
Wu Jun had a lot on his plate today. Just as he was about to leave after breakfast, the driver of the flooded minivan from yesterday showed up. He was hemming and hawing, too embarrassed to ask for the money, but unwilling to leave without it.
Yesterday, Wu Jun had been in a rush to get to Xu Fei and hadn’t thought much about it. But since he had promised to buy the driver a new van, he wasn’t going to go back on his word. He asked the driver how much.
Seeing how direct Wu Jun was, the driver was too embarrassed to ask for much. He asked for 40,000 yuan. His old van, if sold secondhand, would probably only fetch the price of scrap metal—not even 4,000 yuan.
Wu Jun immediately transferred 40,000 yuan to him and then hurried to the traffic police department.
The ruling for yesterday’s accident was out: the truck driver was found to be fully at fault. All he could do was accept his bad luck.
After dealing with the wrecked pickup, Wu Jun went to a nearby dealership and paid in full for a brand-new, luxury automatic pickup truck from Great Wall’s latest model year.
The whole process—paying for the truck, handling the purchase tax, getting it inspected, and selecting a license plate—took up the rest of the day.
Around five in the afternoon, Wu Jun drove the new pickup back to the supermarket.
Xu Fei had only rested for the morning. By the afternoon, her walking had improved a lot, and she was now helping her aunt work the register in the supermarket.
"Wu Jun, you’re back early today." Xu Fei greeted him happily when he walked in.
Her feelings hadn’t been so clear before, but after yesterday’s events, she found herself feeling a little empty whenever Wu Jun was out of her sight.
Wu Jun asked her, "Why aren’t you resting more?"
Xu Fei said, "I’m almost all better now. I can go back to work tomorrow."
"You haven’t eaten yet, have you, Wu Jun? I’m making a portion for you too!" Xu Minli called from the kitchen, having overheard their conversation. She was grinning from ear to ear; even her form of address for him had changed. ’Those two didn’t come back all night. Something definitely happened.’
Wu Jun called toward the kitchen, "Thank you! I’d love some!"
"Look what I’ve got?" Wu Jun took the car keys out of his pocket and dangled them in front of Xu Fei.
There weren’t many people around. Seeing the supermarket was empty of customers, Wu Jun beckoned for Xu Fei to come outside with him to see the truck.
Wu Jun didn’t plan on driving this truck himself; he had bought it specifically for Xu Fei to use for her business runs.
"From now on, it’s yours," Wu Jun said with a smile, handing the keys to Xu Fei.
Looking at the brand-new pickup truck before her, Xu Fei’s eyes lit up with joy.
"Wu Jun, how was the accident handled yesterday? Tell me how much you had to pay, and I’ll transfer it to you." After looking at the new truck, Xu Fei turned and asked Wu Jun about the old one.
Wu Jun said, "The truck driver was fully at fault, so it went through his insurance. It didn’t cost a penny."
Hearing this, Xu Fei finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It would be a while before Xu Minli finished cooking, so Wu Jun suggested they take the new truck for a test drive. He and Xu Fei got inside.
After driving a lap around the neighborhood, Xu Fei commented that an automatic was much easier to drive than a manual. Even though it was still driving, it felt like a completely different experience.
After dinner, Xu Fei and her aunt sat outside chatting while they looked after the supermarket.
Dong Lizhu had someone send the day’s sales figures to Wu Jun’s phone. Wu Jun went into his room to check the records.
Today alone, the number of restaurants they supplied had increased by another 45, reaching a total of 136.
The warehouse had shipped a total of 1,400 bags of rice and collected 350,000 yuan in payment, 50,000 more than yesterday’s 300,000.
As the number of restaurants he supplied continued to grow, Wu Jun’s daily income kept hitting new records.
After spending over 90,000 yuan on the truck today, he still had more than 800,000 yuan in savings.
Wu Jun got up and went into Xu Fei’s room, pulling a small ledger from the nightstand.
The little ledger detailed the money he had borrowed when his dad was hospitalized and had surgery.
He had already paid back the 50,000 he borrowed from his uncle and crossed out his name.
The 10,000 yuan he borrowed from his cousin Chen Xingyang was the first debt he repaid. Now, Chen Xingyang actually owed him around 200,000.
Wu Jun followed the list in his notebook, transferring money to his eldest aunt, his second aunt, and his older cousin, one by one.
Finally, he saw Ma Siyu’s name next to 170,000 yuan. Wu Jun left himself 1,000 yuan for pocket money tomorrow and transferred 710,000 yuan directly to her, adding a note: "Here’s some spending money. Enjoy."
Ma Siyu sent back a starry-eyed emoji: "Thanks, Boss Guo."
’Boss Guo?’
Wu Jun was stunned for a moment before it clicked, and then he burst out laughing.
Having paid off all his external debts, Wu Jun felt a weight lift from his shoulders.