318 CH317
Xiaobo was quite curious who the text was from. “Boss, was that sis-in-law’s text?”
“Tang Yin? She doesn’t even have a phone!” Lin Yi eyed Xiaobo. “It’s a weather forecast.”
“Oh……” Xiaobo remembered that Lin Yi was going to buy Tang Yin a phone- he wanted to get one for Fen as well.
Lin Yi, Tang Yin, Xiaobo, and Xinwen all walked out the school together that lunch break. They didn’t need a taxi anymore now that Lin Yi had a van. It wasn’t the best, but it was better than nothing.
“Tang Yin, Kang Xiaobo wants to buy Fen a phone so they could get in touch- what about you?” Lin Yi asked Tang Yin, who was sitting next to him at the front.
Xiaobo had left that spot for Tang Yin, seating himself with Xinwen at the back.
“Me? I’m fine… I don’t really need a phone……” Tang Yin shook her head- there was no way she could buy a phone with the condition her family was in.
Handphones weren’t expensive, but a phone needed a sim card, and that sim card needed to be paid for monthly… It all added up to a significant amount.
“Boss is buying!” Xiaobo mentioned. “Fen’s phone’s a gift from boss too, so sis-in-law, Fen won’t accept her phone if you don’t want one! Please help out!”
“Pft-” Tang Yin couldn’t help but smile at that- it sure was weird to see someone begging to gift her a phone… She remembered that time Lin Yi bought her a dress, only to ask her for the fifty kuai afterwards…
Life was full of surprises, Tang Yin thought… She used to hate Lin Yi, loathe him… And here she was, sitting next to him in his car…
She hated him so much that she never put on that dress ever since she’d thrown it into her wardrobe… It was still in there waiting for her…
Tang Yin smiled at the thought- would she have accepted that dress if it were a gift? It would’ve been an unhesitant no.
But now Lin Yi was offering to buy her a phone, and there was Xiaobo trying to persuade her too- she decided to accept it without saying anything.
Lin Yi parked in front of a phone store, and the four got out together.
The salesperson could see the school uniform the four were wearing- he recommended a couple of the cheapest phones for them.
Xiaobo was looking for a cheap phone as well- he didn’t want to let Lin Yi dish out a couple thousand for a smartphone.
“What’s the price range you’re looking for?” The salesman asked.
Xiaobo wanted to say two to three hundred, but it wasn’t his decision to make. He turned to Lin Yi.
Lin Yi knew that Xiaobo was looking for a cheaper phone- from what he’d heard yesterday the guy wanted a phone around two or three hundred kuai. Lin Yi didn’t want to get Tang Yin a phone too cheap, but he couldn’t get her a good one if he only bought Fen a three hundred one… It’d look pretty bad.
“Somewhere around one thousand.” Lin Yi said after some thought. Tang Yin wouldn’t accept a phone too expensive, after all- one thousand sounded about right.
“What about the Nokia 5233? It’s really popular among students nowadays, a very packed phone with a cheap price. It doesn’t have that GPS function the Nokia 5230 has, but you students probably won’t need that anyway.” The salesman introduced. “But it _is_ cheaper. Just 833 kuai.”
“What do you think?” Lin Yi handed the phone the salesman gave him to Tang Yin.
“It’s nice, but… isn’t that a bit too expensive..?” Tang Yin still couldn’t come to terms with Lin Yi buying her a phone- she still felt like she shouldn’t accept it…
“Ah…” Lin Yi smiled and turned to the salesman. “Give me three of these, then.”
“Uh… Why don’t you get that three hundred kuai one?” Tang Yin pointed at one of the cheaper phones after some hesitation- Lin Yi looked like he was set on buying a phone already.
“Come on… Kang Xiaobo wants to give it to Fen as a gift- it can’t be too cheap, right?” Lin Yi whispered.
“Oh……” Tang Yin only nodded after hearing that, still pressured. Her debt towards Lin Yi had grown once again… How was she supposed to pay it off?
He’d given them a barbeque recipe, kicked her mother’s competitors and bullies away, paid for Fen’s hospital fees… Xiaobo was involved as well, but it really was mostly Lin Yi… Tang Yin couldn’t just let all of that pass.
He’d saved her, too- and now he was buying a phone for her. Tang Yin wondered if their relationship would get even cloudier if this went on… Did he really even like her in the first place?
Xinwen then chose two sim cards for Lin Yi, one of them for Fen’s birthday and the other for Tang Yin’s.
Lin Yi swiped his card and handed the phones out, one for Tang Yin and one for Xiaobo. Xinwen had an older phone already, so the last one was for Lin Yi to use himself.
That luxury phone he had had broken down, so Lin Yi decided to just go with a cheaper phone… An expensive phone would still die after getting soaked in water, after all, and his job was dangerous in nature as well. Might as well use a cheaper one.
He wouldn’t have needed one if Yushu’s phone wasn’t this feminine… it was a bit embarrassing for him to take out.
Tang Yin, on the other hand, sighed to herself. She decided to just continue owing Lin Yi this debt, since it was big enough already without the phone. She still thanked him after getting in the car, making sure to keep her voice as silent as possible. “Thanks…”
“Ah……” Lin Yi smiled and turned to her. “How’re you gonna thank me?”
“W-What..?” Tang Yin blushed as she remembered that promise she made at the hospital the other day- her heart started to thump faster.
“Don’t you still owe me that kiss……” Lin Yi whispered.
Tang Yin lowered her head- so he _was_ talking about that! “W… What? I don’t understand, what’re you saying..?”
“Ah……” Lin Yi turned away and started the car- he couldn’t tease her anymore, she was just too cute! He thought that it sure had been hard to get a wary porcupine like her to open up to him...
