ACMS 7

Chapter 7: The 8,000-Yuan Slippers

To Qiao Le, even friends should return kindness with kindness—let alone someone he wasn’t even close to. He could accept the offer to share the pizza, but not enjoy it guilt-free.

Shen Hechuan seemed to pick up on that and didn’t argue. He walked to the coffee table, brought out his phone, and pulled up a payment code. “Just half is fine. I had some too.”

Qiao Le quickly transferred the money. “Done.”

The food was delivered, the meal was eaten, and Qiao Le had no reason to stay longer—he still had to go back to work at the bar. He picked up the pizza box and said to Shen Hechuan, “I’ll be heading off, then. Goodbye, Mr. Shen.”

Shen Hechuan nodded. “Take care.”

That was the end of their exchange. At the entryway, Qiao Le changed back into his shoes and neatly returned the yellow bear slippers to the bottom of the shoe cabinet before leaving.

Once he was gone, the house returned to silence.

Shen Hechuan lit up his phone and looked at the recent transaction.

[You have received a transfer from “Qiao Le Le Le.”]

Eighty-eight yuan.

In his thirty-two years of life, this was the smallest transfer he’d ever received.

Somehow, the seriousness of it… was kind of cute.

Shen Hechuan stared at the message for a while, then chuckled involuntarily. He couldn’t say why. He just felt… in a good mood.

Just as he was thinking that, his phone rang. The caller ID read “Pei Wenjing,” his long-time friend.

Shen Hechuan answered, and Pei Wenjing’s teasing voice came through, mixed with background music. “Bro, I heard you went on a blind date with Miss Cheng?”

They had known each other for years, and their families were also close, so it wasn’t surprising Pei Wenjing knew about Cheng Jiarong.

But it had already been a while. Shen Hechuan walked toward his study with the phone. “Is gossip all you care about these days?”

“How can you say that? I’m just being a good friend,” Pei Wenjing laughed. “So when’s the wedding? I’ve got my gift money ready.”

“Keep it to yourself.” Shen Hechuan sounded indifferent.

“Not a fan, huh?” Pei Wenjing clicked his tongue. “Heard she just graduated—must be like, what, eight or nine years younger than you? Not your type, I guess. But your mom’s pressuring you, right? Need me to step in?”

“No need,” Shen Hechuan replied, opening his laptop. “Someone’s already helping me out.”

“Who?” Pei Wenjing asked curiously. He’d been traveling abroad and only just returned, immediately hearing about the blind date. “Do I know them?”

Do you? Probably not.

Even I just met him, Shen Hechuan thought.

He fell silent for a moment.

“Hey, why aren’t you answering? Who is it?” Pei Wenjing pressed.

“No one.” Shen Hechuan brushed the thought aside and asked something he was actually interested in. “Other than the blind date, did you hear anything else?”

“Huh?” Pei Wenjing sounded confused. “What else is there? My mom said you went on a blind date, so I thought it was finally happening and called to check in.”

So, the rumor about the vasectomy hadn’t spread yet.

Good deeds do pay off.

Shen Hechuan chuckled silently. “Thanks for the concern. Anything else?”

“Free up some time and let’s catch up. Haven’t seen you in two months. There’s a bar with a great vibe.”

“Mm.” Shen Hechuan opened his work email. “If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”

“Huh? Don’t hang up yet—”

But Shen Hechuan ended the call.

The screen returned to the WeChat app, and right there was Qiao Le’s transfer notification.

Shen Hechuan looked at it for a moment, then tapped to exit the app.

On the other side of the city, Qiao Le left the complex in a great mood. Sure, he’d spent some money, but that pizza was amazing. He decided to take his younger brother there over the weekend once school let out.

Also, with the new semester coming up, maybe it was time to get his little brother a new pair of bear slippers!

He pulled out his phone, opened the orange shopping app, and used photo search to look for the same slippers. In no time, a bunch of similar results popped up.

The price tag on the first item made his eyes widen slightly.

Tens, hundreds, thousands—eight thousand!

That’s right—8,800 yuan.

It said: “XXX brand bear slippers, overseas direct shipping. Guaranteed authentic. Ten times refund if fake.”

Over eight thousand yuan for a pair of slippers.

Man, I really went toe-to-toe with the rich today!

Qiao Le realized he still didn’t understand rich people at all.

Honestly, the 9.9-yuan free-shipping, buy-one-get-one slippers at home were pretty comfy too.

He gave up on buying the exact same pair and ordered a similar-looking bear-themed one instead. After placing the order, he tucked his phone away, humming a tune as he biked back.

He first went to the kindergarten to pick up Qiao Man. Dinner was provided there, and by the time he arrived, Qiao Man had already eaten and was waiting for him.

The little boy said goodbye to his teacher and walked out hand-in-hand with Qiao Le.

“Brother, have you eaten?” Qiao Man asked, gripping his hand.

“I have. I had pizza today,” Qiao Le replied as he unlocked the electric scooter and helped Qiao Man put on his little helmet. “I’ll take you to try it this weekend—it’s really good.”

“Okay!” Qiao Man climbed onto the footrest in front of the scooter, holding the rearview mirrors with both hands.

When they arrived at the bar, Gentle Mood, Qiao Le parked the scooter at the back entrance and ran into his coworker Xiao Jiang, who was also parking his bike.

Xiao Jiang was a few years older than him and lived nearby. He had worked at the bar longer than Qiao Le.

“Brother Xiao Jiang,” Qiao Le greeted him as he picked up Qiao Man. The little boy obediently greeted, “Brother Xiao Jiang.”

Xiao Jiang responded cheerfully, “Xiao Man’s back! Did you miss brother?”

Qiao Man nodded, and Xiao Jiang fondly patted his head. Then, noticing the uniform Qiao Le was wearing, he asked, “You’ve been running deliveries all day again?”

“Yeah,” Qiao Le replied as he locked the scooter. “There were tons of orders today.”

Xiao Jiang walked in with them, asking with concern, “Don’t tell me you haven’t eaten again? What about Xiao Man? Should we order something?”

“I already ate!” Qiao Man jumped in first. “Brother had pizza today—it was super yummy!”

Qiao Le laughed and pinched his chubby cheek. “Did you eat it? How do you know it’s yummy?”

Xiao Jiang noticed the lightness in his voice—it sounded like he was in a particularly good mood. “You seem happy today. Something good happen?”

“Is it that obvious?” Qiao Le touched his own face. “I met a nice person today.”

“A nice person?”

“Yeah,” Qiao Le chuckled softly. “We split a pizza.”

He brought Xiao Man to the break room, gave him a sketchbook and storybook to keep him occupied, and then went to take a quick shower in the restroom.

When he came out, he saw a new WeChat message on his phone.

[Song Tongyu: Lele, there’s going to be a class reunion during National Day—are you coming?]

[Song Tongyu: Did you see the message in our class group?]

A class reunion?

Qiao Le opened the high school class group chat and saw that people really were discussing plans for a reunion.

The date was set for October 1st—next month.

Song Tongyu had been one of Qiao Le’s best friends in high school. After graduating, Song went up north for university while Qiao Le stayed in Yunjing. But later, due to family matters, Qiao Le had to take a leave from school.

Since then, he had been juggling odd jobs while caring for his young brother. Although they hadn’t kept in touch as much, Song Tongyu always reached out when he came back home.

[Song Tongyu: I’ll be back at the end of the month. Are you free? I haven’t seen you in ages.]

[Song Tongyu: If you don’t want to go to the reunion, I’ll come find you instead.]

Seeing the messages, Qiao Le replied:

[Qiao Lelele: I might not have time.]

The bar would probably be super busy during the National Day holiday, and on top of that, Fang Jiaxu paid double wages for official holidays.

Double pay!

He was very tempted.

Just after he sent the message, Song Tongyu’s side showed the familiar “typing…”

[Song Tongyu: You finally replied! Are you working again??]

[Song Tongyu: Making money’s important, but so is your health!]

Qiao Le could practically imagine him yelling into his ear if he were nearby.

[Qiao Lelele: I have to get to work now. Talk later.]

After sending the message, he gave Qiao Man a few reminders and went back to work.

The break room connected directly to the bar, so he wasn’t worried about Qiao Man wandering off—besides, the kid was well-behaved and always waited quietly for him to finish work.

The bar usually didn’t get busy until around 7 p.m. Most customers were nearby office workers or vocational students.

After making a round and returning to the bar counter, Fang Jiaxu called out to him. He said a friend’s bar had just opened and was short on staff, so he wanted Qiao Le to go help out for a few days: “It’s the same friend you helped out before. He opened a new place in the Wende Road area in the Liwan New District.”

Fang Jiaxu was easygoing and loyal, with a good family background and plenty of friends.

The friend in question owned several upscale bars. His staff were all good-looking men and women—he prided himself on creating the city’s best-looking boutique bar.

The first time that friend saw Qiao Le Gentle Mood, his eyes lit up like he’d struck gold and immediately tried to poach him.

He offered a great salary, and Qiao Le was tempted, but it would’ve made it harder to take care of Qiao Man, so he declined.

Still, helping out occasionally was fine—especially since the pay was generous and settled daily.

Whenever there was a good opportunity, Fang Jiaxu made sure to let Qiao Le know and helped coordinate everything: “Same as before—I’ll take care of Xiao Man for a few days, and you’re off the schedule here.”

Qiao Le put down the tray and gave him a grateful hug. “Brother Jiaxu, you’re the best!”

“Hey, hey, I’m not doing this just for you,” Fang Jiaxu laughed, pushing him away. “And don’t get so close—we’re clashing types here.”

Qiao Le was handsome and had great customer service skills. Every time he helped out, he brought in big sales. Fang Jiaxu figured it was a win-win-win: his friend owed him one, Qiao Le made money, and everyone was happy.

“How is that a clash?” Qiao Le protested. “I don’t even have a partner. Who’s to say what type the other guy even is?”

“….”

Fang Jiaxu facepalmed. He’d forgotten this guy had never dated before—emotionally speaking, he was still a blank sheet of paper.

He waved him off. “Forget it, forget it. Go back to work.”

Qiao Le made a heart with his hands. “Got it!”

Just then, the electronic chime at the door rang out with a “Welcome,” signaling the arrival of new customers. Qiao Le immediately stepped out from behind the bar to greet them. “Hello, welcome to—”

His words were cut off by a bouquet of roses suddenly raised in front of his face.

The moment he saw who it was, Qiao Le felt a headache coming on and wished he could duck behind the bar and disappear.

The visitor was Yang Mu, who had fallen for Qiao Le at first sight last month when he came to the bar. Since then, he’d drop by whenever he had free time—and every time, he brought Qiao Le flowers.

Unfortunately, Qiao Le had no interest in getting close to customers, much less developing anything with Yang Mu. He’d turned him down multiple times, but Yang Mu was persistent, as if determined to win him over.

“Lele!” Yang Mu walked over holding the bouquet, visibly delighted. “I thought you weren’t working today.”

A few times before, when Yang Mu came by, Qiao Le had hidden in the staff room while coworkers helped cover for him. He’d only come out once Yang Mu had left.

But today, luck wasn’t on his side—they came face-to-face. And since Yang Mu was a customer, Qiao Le couldn’t exactly be rude, so he forced a smile and greeted him, “Hello, Mr. Yang. How many people today?”

“Just me.” Yang Mu adjusted his glasses. “Didn’t know if you’d be working today, so I came by to try my luck. Didn’t expect to actually see you. This is for you.”

He handed the roses to Qiao Le. Other guests nearby began to jeer playfully when they saw the gesture.

Qiao Le didn’t want to accept the bouquet. He disliked how Yang Mu insisted on giving him flowers in public even after being turned down—it felt disrespectful.

He had been clear with his rejections. If he accepted the flowers now, it would only give Yang Mu false hope that his feelings were reciprocated.

Qiao Le was annoyed, but since Yang Mu was a customer, he kept his smile. “Sorry, I’d rather not accept them.”

He used “rather not,” not “can’t.” The meaning was clear.

But Yang Mu didn’t take the hint. Still holding the bouquet out, he said, “It’s just a little something. It’s not worth much. Don’t feel embarrassed.”

Why did some people never understand plain words?

Qiao Le felt speechless and thought, maybe he should just go on the “Let Me Do It” app and hire someone to pretend to be his boyfriend. That might scare Yang Mu off.

He needed someone like Shen Hechuan—someone who’d make Yang Mu feel completely out of his league at a glance.

As Yang Mu stepped forward again, saying “Lele—,” a small voice suddenly cut in.

“Daddy!”

The voice interrupted their conversation. Both turned toward it and saw Qiao Man peeking out from behind the bar, tilting his head as he looked at them.

Yang Mu asked, “Little one, who are you calling?”

Qiao Man looked at Qiao Le with bright eyes and called again, “Daddy!”

Qiao Le froze for just a second, then quickly responded, “Yes?”

Yang Mu: “???!!”

What daddy? Whose daddy? Where did the daddy come from?!