Qu Zhaojia was still holding Lin Yichan's hand, his mind pondering his next move.
He himself was just an honest man who had recently been cheated on; how was he supposed to give Lin Yichan happiness?
Lin Yichan's features were exquisite, her eyes like autumn water, and when she looked up to meet someone's gaze, she exuded a graceful charm, with an inherent spiritual aura of natural beauty.
The key point was that her family was also wealthy; he himself doubted if this young lady had been enchanted by the original owner.
The original owner was utterly useless except for a handsome facade; he even thought that with Lin Yichan's background, even if she spent money to find a gigolo at a duck store, there would be plenty who looked better than him.
While Qu Zhaojia was still disparaging the original owner, Lin Yichan, seeing Qu Zhaojia's prolonged silence, thought he had just received a call from Guan Xiaoxiao and was now regretting it, which made her feel sad.
She should have realized it earlier; she was just a temporary solution for Qu Zhaojia when he was in a difficult situation, and once he calmed down, he would reconcile with Guan Xiaoxiao.
"Go find her," Lin Yichan tried hard to make her voice sound normal. "If the down payment isn't enough, I can lend it to you; you can pay me back slowly when you have money." Her heart was as tangled as a ball of yarn clawed by a cat, and her nose tingled, almost bringing her to tears.
It was her meddling, clinging to a sliver of impossible fantasy, that made things so difficult to resolve now. If she lent him money now, and he went back and agreed to Guan Xiaoxiao's family's request to buy a house in S City, the wedding could still proceed.
The more Lin Yichan thought about it, the more she felt this was the case. She had been truly wicked just now, actually having thoughts of taking advantage of the situation.
Qu Zhaojia suddenly looked up and found that the already dejected young lady now had tears welling up in her eyes, as if she had been terribly bullied.
"Don't cry," he said, completely at a loss.
Qu Zhaojia had no experience comforting girls; his ex-girlfriend didn't cry, she only got angry from lack of companionship, and usually, a transfer of money or a shopping spree would fix it.
He knew that with his current financial situation, if he transferred money to Lin Yichan, people would probably think he had lost his mind.
"Don't misunderstand, after today, she and I have no more relationship." Qu Zhaojia's explanation only confirmed what Lin Yichan had been thinking, rather than clarifying things.
She finally couldn't hold back and burst into tears.
Her tear-streaked face was truly pitiful.
He sighed.
Qu Zhaojia stiffly pulled Lin Yichan into his arms, then tentatively rested his chin on her fluffy head. Through a thin layer of clothing, he could feel how slender the girl in his arms was.
A deep sense of guilt welled up from the bottom of his heart; none of this was her fault.
The original owner hadn't sent her an invitation; the invitation in her hand was given to her by Guan Xiaoxiao. In four years of university, this was probably the only thing she had won against Lin Yichan.
Perhaps with the thought of personally bidding farewell to the past and drawing a conclusion to her unrequited love, Lin Yichan pondered repeatedly before deciding to come.
As a result, she encountered such an unexpected turn of events, and because of an unspeakable delusion in her heart, she became entangled, sinking deeper and deeper.
Under Qu Zhaojia's comfort, Lin Yichan finally stopped crying, though her eyes were still red.
Passing pedestrians couldn't help but look over curiously, thinking, 'How could you bear to make such a cute girl cry!' Facing the disapproving stares of passersby, Qu Zhaojia deeply lowered his head.
...
After sending Lin Yichan home, Qu Zhaojia finally ended his absurd day and, relying on memory, returned to his rented apartment in S City.
It was far from his workplace, taking an hour by subway. But the rent was cheap, only 2000 yuan a month.
He was currently a marketing manager at a small gaming company, earning 8000 yuan a month. After deducting 2000 for rent and 3000 for daily takeout, the remaining money was barely enough for occasional social events, utilities, and phone bills.
The 200,000 yuan wedding gift this time was almost entirely from his family.
Now, due to the temporary cancellation of the wedding, only 150,000 yuan of the gift money remained.
He recalled the original owner's parents he met at the hotel today; they looked like honest, simple people who not only had to take out their lifelong savings but also endure the cold treatment from the bride's side.
Qu Zhaojia sighed deeply.
The rented apartment was messy; clearly, the original owner had treated it as a temporary base rather than a home, with garbage piled everywhere.
Qu Zhaojia couldn't stand it. Since he had taken over everything, he had to be responsible.
First, he put all the unused items in a large garbage bag. Fortunately, the studio apartment wasn't big, and after two hours, most of the things that needed to be thrown away were gone.
After cleaning up the trash, his thoughts also became much clearer.
According to the original development, in a few days, the original owner would coax Lin Yichan into getting their marriage certificate and propose taking him back to meet her parents. Lin Yichan's parents would naturally be very dissatisfied with the original owner, but they couldn't refuse their daughter's wishes and could only give in.
Lin Yichan's father intended to test the original owner and initially only gave him a low-level position. At that time, the original owner began to resent Lin Yichan's parents, feeling they looked down on him, thinking that even though the entire company belonged to the Lin family, they only arranged a basic job for him, where anyone could order him around.
He felt that the Lin family looked down on him and his abilities.
Especially later when he was with Lin Yichan, their spending habits were completely different. Whenever Lin Yichan bought something a bit expensive, the original owner felt Lin Yichan was showing off.
The rift between them grew deeper and deeper, and eventually, the original owner went back to Guan Xiaoxiao, and their old flame reignited.
So now, he didn't plan to meet Lin Yichan's parents. Going to their home rashly now would only make Lin Yichan's parents unhappy with him.
After all, Lin Yichan was an only child, and there were many people like Qu Zhaojia who approached her wanting to climb the social ladder.
Some things are better taken slowly; Qu Zhaojia had planned well.
Until he discovered an even more serious matter: the original owner had actually left him with a 60,000 yuan credit card bill.
What kind of disastrous start was this!
He should have guessed it earlier; the original owner's 8000 yuan monthly salary, even with careful budgeting, wouldn't leave much, so how could he have money to go on dates with Guan Xiaoxiao and buy her various expensive gifts? It turned out it was all on credit cards!
Qu Zhaojia felt completely unwell. He had just been ready to make a big move, only to find he still had 60,000 yuan in credit card debt to pay off.
...
Originally, Qu Zhaojia had planned to resign because his current company's 8000 yuan salary was a bit low.
However, the 60,000 yuan credit card debt made him realize something: he couldn't just quit without a new job yet. He still had to go to this gaming company until he found a job he was satisfied with.
As soon as Qu Zhaojia arrived at the company, his colleagues gathered around him.