The people at their table were scalded, jumping, spicy, and crying, which drew the attention of many in the restaurant. The waiter hurried over to check on them, "What happened to you all?"
Yan Keke spoke anxiously, "The hot pot chili oil got splashed into their eyes by this person. We ordered an extremely spicy hot pot base, and now their tears are spicy too. What should we do?"
The waiter quickly responded, "Hurry, follow me to the restroom to rinse your eyes."
Using water to alleviate the spiciness was undoubtedly the right move at the moment. Regardless of what came next, it was certainly correct for now. The waiter led the way, with Yan Keke and Liu Pei supporting Zhenzhen and He Yiran as they made their way to the women’s restroom.
There were only two sinks in the women’s restroom. Even if someone was washing their hands, they made room for the two of them upon seeing the scene. The girls rinsed their eyes, which eased the spiciness somewhat, but as soon as they stopped rinsing, the burning sensation assaulted their eyes once again. Their only choice was to continue flushing. Yan Keke and Liu Pei stood by anxiously inquiring about their condition. However, amidst the eye rinsing, He Yiran had recovered somewhat and slowly started to chuckle, "Hee~."
Mengzhen was perplexed and her tone carried a hint of anger, "Who laughed? My eyes are in so much pain and you still laugh." It was too heartless.
Liu Pei and Yan Keke quickly defended, "We didn’t laugh."
He Yiran hastened to say, "It was me laughing. What were you saying just now? ’Wrapping cloth around one’s brain?’ I can’t believe you came up with that."
It was quite a jab, but oh so spirited.
After He Yiran spoke, Liu Pei and Yan Keke also couldn’t help but laugh, finding the remark very amusing, "Right, Zhenzhen, I wanted to laugh earlier too, but the atmosphere felt off, so I held it back."
"Exactly, Zhenzhen’s words are too funny."
The humor didn’t come from her; she had merely borrowed a modern quip for mocking someone. In that situation, the quip was quite appropriate. This person’s brain really seemed to be wrapped up.
"Regardless, as long as what I said was right, it’s fine. Yiran, my eyes are still stinging. I’m not going to go blind, am I?" Mengzhen was considering whether she should soak in Spiritual Spring Water earlier that evening. During her senior year of high school, soaking had healed even a severe injury to her tongue, so now with just spicy eyes, soaking should do the trick, right?
"Definitely not going blind. How could you go blind from just a little spice? The chili oil isn’t that potent. But we should go see the school doctor later, these eyes are likely to swell for a few days." She already felt her eyes swelling, and by tomorrow they’d probably be even worse.
"What about classes? We’re not attending classes then?" Mengzhen didn’t want to fall behind on her studies since she was motivated to be a good student.
"Of course, you can’t attend. Let’s get two sick notes from the school doctor. Take a rest tomorrow and see if things get better the day after." They turned off the water, but their eyes were still burning and blurry, unable to open or see clearly. It was incredibly frustrating. Mengzhen grumbled, "What’s wrong with that person? It’s one thing to splash their clothes, but getting it in my eyes too?"
"Right, it got on my clothes. My clothes can’t get oily. They’ll have to compensate for that," said He Yiran, somewhat cunningly.
Mengzhen tensed up at those words, then hesitantly asked, "Yiran, if you don’t mind my asking, how much did your clothing cost?"
She knew He Yiran was from a wealthy family, but not exactly how wealthy. They hadn’t known each other long enough to share such details, but Mengzhen had gleaned some insights from Yiran’s usual comments. It was clear that Yiran belonged to a family wealthier than average, certainly distinguishable from Yan Keke’s financial status.
He Yiran pulled at the clothing she was wearing, "All our clothes are custom-made. This jacket of mine was designed by an Italian designer, handcrafted and the only one of its kind in the world. It’s not especially expensive, about 350,000 I think? But it’s tricky because of the material - it can’t be washed by hand or machine, and it can’t even get wet, much less oily." This garment was effectively ruined now.
And she hadn’t finished speaking, "The top I’m wearing inside also got oil on it, and it’s white. How can I wear it with stains?" He Yiran admitted she usually wasn’t so picky about her clothes and didn’t particular fancy them that much, but she shouldn’t suffer this eye injury for nothing, nor should she simply discard her apparel. This incident must be made known to the responsible party. In her heart, she regretted it immensely; the most expensive part was the pants, which cost over 800,000. It was pity they hadn’t gotten oily, fortunately sparing her from a significant loss.
Mengzhen licked her lips, unsure of what to say, "Do you have the receipts? They probably won’t believe you if you just say how much it cost, right? And there’s no mall here that carries those clothes. You need real proof."
He Yiran ’Oh’ed and then said, "I’ll have my family send it over right now."
This issue was easy to solve.
The prices were so staggering that even Yan Keke took quite a while to recover her composure, "Yiran, I had no idea your clothes were that expensive."
He Yiran replied, "Your outfit isn’t cheap either." Enrobed in branded attire with conspicuous logos, she noticed another big oil spot on Keke, "You need to have them pay for cleaning your clothes too. That’s quite a stain."
Yan Keke glanced at her own outfit, which was inexorably more affordable compared to Yiran’s, "This jacket of mine was just over 30,000. It’s not that pricey; a wash should do."
He Yiran wouldn’t have it, "Even so, the cleaning cost should be covered by them. It’s best to wash it outside. Do you think the school’s washing machines can handle it?"
Yan Keke nodded, mainly because she didn’t know how to remove oil stains, "Okay, I’ll take your advice."
After concluding that, both turned their attention to Mengzhen. The oil stains on her outfit were no less than He Yiran’s and perhaps even more. However, feeling their gazes, Mengzhen was a bit uneasy, "My clothes are cheap – this jacket is just over 4,000, and the top underneath is around 500."
In terms of Jiangcheng’s living standards for 2008, these prices were not insignificant; no one could assume she was destitute.
"You should also demand a cleaning fee," He Yiran said through gritted teeth, with an unmistakable determination to make the other party pay dearly, "If their family makes a fuss, I’ll have my lawyer handle it. Anyway, I must be compensated for my clothes. It’s my first time wearing them."
Although she wasn’t particularly fond of them, the clothes were brought to her by Grandpa He from Beijing, especially for her, during his visit for Mr. Pei’s appointment. To have them dirtied after just one wear was infuriating.
The three of them discussed this openly in Liu Pei’s presence. Taken aback, Liu Pei couldn’t help but continually exclaim in surprise, finally finding words, "Your clothes are so expensive." 350,000 and 170,000 – He Yiran was wearing a Jiangcheng apartment’s worth of attire. She dared to say her family’s house back home wasn’t even as expensive as the two pieces of clothing He Yiran had on. To wear such expensive clothes out for hot pot, even without the mishap, spoiling them would still hurt.