Efforts eventually pay off.
When Jiang Chen arrived at the dance studio founded by several girls, he found the two-hundred-square-meter dance room packed with children, estimating around forty to fifty kids.
Guo Ran was leading the dance, performing ballet it seemed.
"What can’t be said over the phone?"
Li Shuru wasn’t involved in running the dance studio, but she would help out when things got too busy.
Today, Zheng Jingjing was not around.
"Considering I’m the boss of this dance studio, isn’t it okay for me to come and check on things?" Jiang Chen teased.
"Of course, you can."
A voice carrying a tad of seductiveness spoke up as Xu Siyi, with her makeup flawlessly applied, stood beside him with her arms crossed, her tight dance outfit accentuating her curvaceous figure.
"We’re out of water, General Jiang, would you mind helping me carry some boxes of water?"
"If I remember correctly, I’m supposed to be the boss,"
Unperturbed, Xu Siyi blinked her enchanting eyes and said in a coquettish tone, "But I can’t carry it alone, and it’s not like I can ask Shu Rui to help, can you bear to see that?"
And so, Jiang Chen was drafted for the task.
"Shu Rui, we’ll head down first," Xu Siyi said.
Li Shuru just hummed, seemingly unfazed.
Jiang Chen could only follow Xu Siyi out of the dance studio and take the elevator downstairs.
As they entered the elevator, Jiang Chen smiled, "This break seems a bit long."
Exhaling a breath that carried a scent of sweetness, Xu Siyi didn’t hide it as she smoothed her fiery red wavy hair and declared confidently, "Men aren’t that interesting, I quit them."
Jiang Chen looked surprised, then his expression turned more meaningful.
In his memory, she was notorious among girls for changing boyfriends as frequently as she changed clothes.
"What’s with that look?"
Xu Siyi glared at him, "You’ve seen it yourself. The dance studio is thriving, we’re swamped every day, barely having time to drink water, let alone think about anything else."
Jiang Chen teased, "Now taking the strong independent woman path?"
"If I can make my own way in the world, why would I need a man?"
After she said that, the elevator "ding" sounded, and Xu Siyi walked out.
Jiang Chen watched her alluring silhouette, smiled, and shook his head as he stepped to follow her.
He wasn’t the only one who had changed.
Xu Siyi had once been opportunistic, merely chasing a better material life, but now the dance studio was flourishing, providing ideal returns for the girls.
With the ability to be self-reliant, who would want to belittle themselves as someone else’s accessory?
Following Xu Siyi into the convenience store downstairs,
Jiang Chen saw a few boys with backpacks, young schoolboy-like, standing in front of a counter full of beverages.
One of the boys clutched a ten-yuan note tightly, eyeing the milk tea on the counter, undecided.
Jiang Chen glanced at the price tag on the counter.
The milk tea was five yuan a bottle, astronomically priced compared to when he was young.
Back then, a pack of spicy strips was just half a yuan, and even so, he and Tie Jun and the others would share, and such upscale beverages were nothing but luxury eye-candies.
Times had soared, fifty cents couldn’t even buy a lollipop now, but for these kids, a five-yuan cup of milk tea remained exorbitantly expensive.
At least, with the ten-yuan note the boy clutched, buying three bottles was out of reach.
Flowers bloom again, but youth doesn’t return.
Childhood had long passed, only to be reminisced, but Jiang Chen could still empathize with the boy’s dilemma.
Ten yuan was enough for one bottle, but with three of them, what about the other two friends?
If two bottles were bought, who would get the second one?
Jiang Chen walked over, reached out, and picked up three bottles of milk tea from the counter.
The boys instinctively looked up at him.
"Come on, I’ll pay for you,"
Jiang Chen said with a smile.
Today’s kids were indeed smarter than they had been; if he had encountered such a "benefactor" back in his days, he would have been overjoyed, but these three boys looked at him warily.
Jiang Chen said no more, carried the three bottles of milk tea, and walked to the cashier.
The boys glanced at each other, then cautiously followed.
"What took you so long?"
Xu Siyi, who had gotten a box of mineral water from the owner, looked puzzled at Jiang Chen returning, then noticed the milk tea in his hand and the three boys following him.
Jiang Chen placed the three bottles of milk tea on the cashier’s counter, and said to the owner, "Pay for these together."
"Take it and head home early."
After paying, Jiang Chen handed the milk tea to the boys.
Hesitantly accepting, the "wealthiest" boy raised his hand, intending to give the ten yuan note to Jiang Chen.
"No need, keep it and buy some snacks you like,"
Jiang Chen said with a smile.
"...Thank you, uncle."
The boy withdrew his hand, and then along with his two friends, backpacks on and holding the milk tea, they turned and walked outside, their faces struggling to contain their joy.
The happiness of children always seems so pure.
"Am I really that old?"
Watching them leave, Jiang Chen looked glum.
"They’re at most third or fourth graders, you’re at least ten years older than them; if not uncle, what then?"
Xu Siyi’s teasing laughter fell ruthlessly, her schadenfreude thinly veiled.