There is a good old saying: He who understands the times is a wise man.
Rather than angering Scarlett and bringing trouble upon himself, accompanying her shopping was nothing.
After all, it wasn't the first time he had been dragged along to be a bag-carrying tool.
Because Scarlett hadn't completely recovered from her cold, she needed to eat lighter food, so the two settled for dinner at a small noodle shop outside their residential complex.
While eating, Andrew looked at the design layouts of several chat websites on his phone, intending to send them to Mark for reference, telling him not to rely entirely on his own creativity, lest the final result be hard to describe.
"Design it according to the layouts of these few websites. The main function of the website is chatting."
Mark replied that he received it, but his words poured water on his plan, "Boss, sorry to say, but I can't create the website you want." He was also ready to return back the money.
"Why? What happened?" Andrew asked, his voice rising with panic.
Mark hesitated for a moment before replying, "Boss… the kind of website you're describing, it's going to bring a lot of legal trouble."
Andrew frowned. "Legal trouble? It's just a chatting site."
"It's not that simple," Mark said seriously. "Anonymous chatting, people cursing, confessing things, saying whatever they want… you'll have zero control over what gets posted. If someone uses it for harassment, threats, or illegal content, the responsibility can fall on you. That's how it works here."
Andrew clenched his jaw. "Then I'll deal with it. I'll handle all the legal problems."
Mark let out a dry laugh. "Handle it? Boss, I'm trying to earn money, not get visits from the cops every other day."
Andrew went silent.
Mark continued, more gently this time, "I'm not saying your idea is bad. It's just… risky. Too risky. I can't take that kind of job."
There was a long pause.
Andrew stared at his phone, his fingers tightening slightly around it. All the excitement he had just hours ago slowly drained away, like water slipping through his hands.
"…I understand," he said quietly.
Mark replied, "Sorry, boss. I'll return the money."
Andrew didn't answer immediately. After a few seconds, he gave a small nod, even though Mark couldn't see it.
"Yeah… it's fine."
The call ended.
Andrew lowered his phone, letting out a long sigh. Before his plan had even taken shape, before it had a chance to exist in the real world… it had already vanished.
Just as he closed the chat window with Mark, before Andrew could even swallow the noodles in his mouth, he received a message from his Older Sister, Catherine.
"Are you there? Are you there?"
"I have no money, only this worthless life. You figure it out."
Before Catherine could even ask, Andrew finished his preemptive statement.
"Who's asking you for money!"
Catherine complained dissatisfiedly, then asked: "I'm asking if you're playing games. If you are, play on my account. I've dropped back down to Iron rank again."
"..."
Andrew was speechless and silent for a moment. His Older Sister was not only bad at the game but also addicted to it, just like that Ethan guy.
"Besides, I'm outside right now."
"Why are you outside? Aren't you someone who dislikes going out?"
"Professor Scarlett isn't feeling well, so she asked me to accompany her shopping."
Andrew thought that by bringing up Scarlett, Catherine would finally leave him alone.
As a result, upon hearing this, the other party quickly said, "Since you're already out, buy me a pair of sneakers. The board shoes hurt my feet."
"Fine, fine, give me the money."
"Where would I get money? I rely on your support just to eat."
"Damn it! Are you trying to trick me out of money again?"
"What do you mean tricking? I'm borrowing it! Alright?!"
"I'm afraid you won't pay it back."
"I guarantee it with my father's head! I'll definitely pay you back! Also, don't forget, you ate plenty of my snacks when we were kids."
"Fine, fine, fine."
Andrew couldn't argue with Catherine and agreed.
Meanwhile, Scarlett, sitting opposite him, had been quietly observing Andrew from the corner of her eye.
At first, she thought he was just chatting with his friends, but soon she noticed the change in his expression. The excitement he had earlier was gone, replaced by a faint, suppressed sadness.
Andrew lowered his head slightly, staring at his phone. While he agreed to his sister. But the Mark message has disturbed him. His plan had just collapsed before it even began.
Scarlett noticed it clearly.
Her brows furrowed slightly as she watched him.
"…Why did he suddenly become so quiet?" she muttered under her breath.
Just a moment ago, he looked full of energy. Now, it was as if something inside him had been extinguished.
For some reason, that change… made her feel a little uncomfortable.
"…How do I cheer him up?" she muttered under her breath.
The two of them were going to live together for a long time and she wants more. They couldn't keep things this way.
If she wanted to break that invisible barrier between them and cheer him on up, she had to do something.
But what?
Scarlett paused, thinking seriously for a moment.
She had very few friends, and even less experience dealing with men in situations like this. She simply didn't know how to comfort someone… or how to make them open up.
After a while, a name came to her mind.
"…Suzanne."
"Maybe I should ask Suzanne. She's always talking, she should know something about this."
With that thought, Scarlett decided to seek help from her talkative colleague.
"Are you there?"
"???"
Suzanne sent a string of question marks. She absolutely did not expect Scarlett to proactively contact her after work.
"Um, a friend of mine asked something, and I didn't understand, so I came to ask you."
"What is it?"
"That friend of mine has some distance between her and a guy. And now the guy was a little bit sad. What should she do to make their relationship better?"
On the other end, Suzanne was stunned for a moment, then her face broke into a mischievous grin.
How could this be some friend? This was clearly Scarlett asking for herself. She was usually so cold and aloof, which naturally made others feel she was unapproachable.
"Sister Scar, there's no one else here. You don't need to pretend it's a friend."
"I'm not pretending, it really is my friend."
"Okay, okay, a friend."
"I'm telling the truth!"
Scarlett became a bit anxious and emphasized it again, which only solidified the impression on the other end that she was lying, making Suzanne laugh so hard her mouth couldn't close.
"So, how old is this friend's target?"
"Quite young, just started college."
Oh my god! Sister Scar actually likes a little puppy who is so much younger than her. No wonder she doesn't look at any other men.
Suzanne became extremely excited and immediately started strategizing for Scarlett: "First for becoming closer, it's really because your friend is usually too cold. It makes people feel like your friend doesn't talk much and is hard to approach, which is why they keep a certain distance."
Scarlett looked at the reply and felt it made sense, but she had been cold and aloof since she was very young; it was just her personality and couldn't be changed.
"But this personality is hard to change, right?"
"If the personality is hard to change, then your friend can change that guy's perception of her through actions, right?"
"How do I do that?"
"You have to know, men are all lustful. As long as… and it also cheered him up."
Scarlett's face gradually turned red as she read the messages Suzanne sent.
If this stuff were posted online, it would be flagged as inappropriate content and Harmony-ed (censored).
"What kind of crooked path is this?"
"How is it crooked? It's perfectly proper! We're all adults, what's the problem?"
"I can't be bothered to talk to you anymore."
Scarlett shut off her phone with a blush.
But the messages Suzanne had just sent lingered in her mind for a long time, making her bite her pink lips in shame.
"Teacher, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Andrew suddenly asked.
"No."
"Then why is your face red?"
"It's nothing, just a bit hot. Hurry up and eat your noodles; we still have to go downtown later."
"Oh."
Andrew lowered his head to continue eating, but with his peripheral vision, he observed Scarlett alternately blushing and pursing her lips. He couldn't tell if it was shame or anger.
However, Andrew leaned towards the latter. He thought that a cold woman like Scarlett probably rarely felt shame; someone must have annoyed her again. But currently he was sad that his own dream was crushed, so he didn't care about her.