Lin Jiang knew a little about Chen Jingxian's situation.
She had saved up a little money from work, but it all went toward a down payment. Between her monthly mortgage and daily expenses, she was basically living paycheck to paycheck, so she naturally had no spare cash for anything else.
And a training fee of twenty thousand yuan was no small sum. It was no wonder she was in a bind.
After all, you can't make bricks without straw.
Lin Jiang's gaze fell on the mission reward.
[Sports Card: For every step taken, you will receive a one-yuan cash reward (a single step must exceed thirty centimeters to be counted; time limit of 24 hours)]
This reward was better than the Breathing Card.
A person's daily breathing rate is more or less fixed. Even if you intentionally sped up your breathing, you couldn't maintain it for long, so the earnings were predictable and wouldn't vary by much.
But walking was different.
Some people could lie in bed all day, while others could easily run a full marathon. The earnings between the two would be worlds apart.
If he prepared properly and went out walking for a day, earning eighty to a hundred thousand yuan would be no problem.
'That's pretty sweet.'
Lin Jiang glanced at the mission description again. Twenty thousand yuan wasn't much to him.
Both his existing savings and the mission reward could cover the expense.
The only tricky part was figuring out how to complete it.
Chen Jingxian was quick and deft. She soon had the small shop cleaned spotless and had wiped down the tables as well.
Lin Jiang always felt that within Chen Jingxian was a gentle strength; no matter how hard life got, it could never break her.
"Jingxian, let me make you something to eat so you don't have to cook when you get home."
"In that case, I won't stand on ceremony. Chicken noodle soup would be perfect; it's my favorite."
Chen Jingxian didn't refuse. She sat down, took out a wet wipe, and dabbed the beads of sweat on her forehead.
"You got it. Won't be long."
The chicken noodle soup was the shop's specialty, so Lin Jiang made it with practiced ease. It was ready in just a few minutes.
"Soup's on! Careful now."
Lin Jiang announced loudly, setting the bowl down in front of Chen Jingxian.
"I'm not a customer. You could've just given me a shout; I would have grabbed it myself."
"It's no big deal. Don't worry about it."
Lin Jiang bent down to put the bowl on the table. Just as he was straightening up, he saw glistening beads of sweat on Chen Jingxian's fair chest. His mind started to wander, but she didn't seem to notice.
"By the way, I wanted to ask you something." Chen Jingxian looked at Lin Jiang seriously. "Have you ever dealt with online loans?"
"Online loans?"
"Keep your voice down."
Chen Jingxian quickly shushed him. To her, this wasn't exactly a respectable topic.
"It's fine. There's no one else in the shop."
Lin Jiang had a hunch that she was asking because she wanted to get an online loan to pay the registration fee.
But for someone with a traditional upbringing, there was a natural resistance to such things. She wouldn't even consider it unless she had no other choice.
"Why are you asking about this all of a sudden?" Lin Jiang asked, feigning ignorance.
"Oh, no reason. Just curious."
"Online loans are bad news. You can't touch them. The interest snowballs—twenty thousand yuan can turn into two hundred thousand. If you don't pay it back, they'll force you to take nudes and post them online. This is no laughing matter."
"It's that scary?" Chen Jingxian lost her nerve.
"Of course." Lin Jiang looked at her seriously.
"So, if you're short on cash, you can just tell me. I don't charge interest, and I won't post them online."
Chen Jingxian was stunned for a moment, then rolled her pretty eyes. "You won't post them online, you'll just look at them yourself, is that it?"
"Don't sweat the details." Lin Jiang picked up his phone. "I'll transfer you twenty thousand for now. If it's not enough, just let me know."
"But..."
"No buts. Just take it."
"I'll pay you back as soon as I can."
"No rush at all," Lin Jiang said as he got up.
"You go ahead and eat. I'm going to tidy up the kitchen."
"Don't worry about it now, I'll help you in a bit," Chen Jingxian said, looking back at him.
"You're tired enough from work. You should rest."
"It's fine. I'm not going back to my old job anyway, so I'm free."
Chen Jingxian ate faster, and when she finished, she took her bowl to the kitchen herself.
"The front of the shop looks fine, but the kitchen back here is a mess. Let me help you clean up."
Without giving Lin Jiang a chance to say more, Chen Jingxian took out a black hair tie and, with a practiced, natural motion, coiled her smooth black hair into a bun at the back of her head.
She rolled up her sleeves, tied on an apron, put on gloves, and got ready to work.
'Chen Jingxian is the very picture of domestic virtue,' he thought. 'She's a hard worker and far more capable than I am.'
Holding a rag, she bent over to wipe the nooks and crannies of the stove, not minding the grime or the risk of dirtying her clothes.
As she was bent over, her backside formed a perfect curve.
The white blouse she had tucked into her pants rode up, revealing a sliver of her soft waist and the white hem of her underwear.
As she worked, she seemed to realize her position was a bit revealing.
Chen Jingxian discreetly adjusted her posture.
Lin Jiang pretended to check his phone, using it as an excuse to leave the kitchen. He couldn't help but marvel internally.
'Damn, it's true what they say: a dragon has nine sons, and each one is different!'
Back when Chen Jingjia came over, he had asked her to help tidy up, and she had just turned her nose up in disgust. She refused to even step inside, complaining it was bad for her skin.
Looking at her older sister now, you'd never guess they were born from the same mother.
「As sunset faded into twilight.」
Before they knew it, it was past five in the evening, and the dinner crowd started to grow.
Lin Jiang was in charge of the cooking, while Chen Jingxian handled serving and taking payment. The two of them made a surprisingly good team.
A little past six in the evening, a notification sound echoed in his mind.
[Time limit for the Breathing Card has expired. During the active period, the player breathed a total of 25,813 times. A cash reward of 25,813 yuan has been deposited into your bank account.]
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ—
The moment the notification ended, Lin Jiang's phone vibrated.
It was a text alert from the bank; the cash reward had arrived.
'Sweet!'
'I definitely have to treat myself today!'
"Your wife is a real hard worker. She hasn't stopped since I got here. You're a lucky guy."
A middle-aged regular teased Lin Jiang while scanning the QR code to pay.
'Easy there, old-timer. That's my sister-in-law. She's off-limits.'
"Hey now, you can't just say things like that, sir. This is my sister-in-law, not my wife."
"Oh, your sister-in-law! Well, isn't this awkward."
The middle-aged man laughed heartily. "Sorry about that, young lady."
"It's alright." Chen Jingxian tucked her bangs aside, clearly a little embarrassed.
The middle-aged man left. It was now past eight in the evening, and the shop was empty.
"We've been busy all evening. Are you hungry? There's a seafood stall around the corner that's pretty good," Lin Jiang said.
"I'll skip it, it's so late. I'm trying to lose weight, anyway."
Chen Jingxian looked around. "Is there anything else left to do? I can help you clean up."
"Not really. I'm just going to tally up the day's earnings, and then I'll head home, too."
"Then I'll get going. Call me if you get too busy. I can come help out on weekends, too."
"Don't you worry about things here. You focus on what's important for you."
Chen Jingxian smiled, nodded, and picked up her bag.
"I'm heading out. Bye."
"Bye."
As he watched Chen Jingxian leave, Lin Jiang looked at her retreating figure, and several tags appeared above her head.
[Smart]
[Dutiful]
[Humorous]
[Ambitious]
[Responsible]
'Why is it all stuff like that? So my devastatingly good looks aren't even worth a mention to you?'
...
After seeing Chen Jingxian off, Lin Jiang returned to the counter and calculated the day's earnings.
The gross income was about 1,400 yuan. After costs, the net profit was a little over 600 yuan. That added up to nearly 20,000 a month.
For a single person, it was enough to be self-sufficient. But in a city like Zhonghai, it wasn't much—only enough to be considered comfortably well-off.
It was exhausting, though, since he had to do everything by himself.
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ—
Just then, Lin Jiang's phone buzzed. It was a message from Chen Jingxian.
Chen Jingxian: "Thank you."
It was followed by a smiley face emoji.
Lin Jiang: "You're welcome."
After replying, Lin Jiang put his phone aside and soon received a payment-received notification.
He had transferred twenty thousand yuan to her in the afternoon, but she had only just accepted it.
At the same time she accepted the money, a notification sound rang out in his head.
[Mission Complete (Chen Jingxian's Dilemma): Reward Sports Card x1, 30 EXP.]
[NPC: Chen Jingxian]
[Affinity: 30]
'Whoa, 30 Affinity points!'
Lin Jiang was a little surprised.
'They say there's a special bond between a man and his wife's younger sister, that they're thick as thieves.'
'Turns out his wife's older sister isn't so different.'
'Looks like I'll have to focus on the Chen Jingxian NPC from now on. I'll have to... cultivate that relationship.'
The Sports Card, however, was not something he could use lightly. It had a very high ceiling, but also a very low floor.
'How much I earn depends entirely on me.'
'It's been years since I graduated, but I'm still in decent shape. I've even run a half-marathon before.'
'I can't kill myself over it, though,' Lin Jiang calculated. 'I'll aim for a baseline of a hundred thousand. Anything over that is a bonus.'
With that in mind, Lin Jiang took out a piece of paper and wrote two large words—'Closed Today'—intending to post it on the door.
'I'll have to use tomorrow for exercise, so the shop will be closed.'
Just then, the shop door was pushed open.
The woman who entered wore a professional uniform with a name tag pinned to her chest, over a white blouse. She had on black high heels and black stockings, though he couldn't tell if they were thigh-highs or pantyhose.
Seeing the woman who entered, Lin Jiang's expression turned serious again.
Because above her head, there was also a blue exclamation mark.
"Excuse me, are you still serving noodles?"