That evening, when the debate team arrived at the agreed-upon time, they were all a little stunned to see Shen Yi.
Han Juan had to restrain herself from looking over at Xu Zhengyang.
Qin Jiao, on the other hand, was perfectly candid. "This is my partner," she announced. "Oh, and he’s paying for dinner tonight."
Xu Zhengyang felt compelled to speak up. "We won prize money from the competition," he said, "so none of the students need to pay."
Qin Jiao glanced back at Shen Yi.
It made them look like they were trying to freeload, especially since no one else had brought a guest.
’Maybe my partner should just go eat at the cafeteria by himself,’ Qin Jiao thought.
Shen Yi immediately spoke up. "How about this? To all the students here tonight, just give me your clothing sizes. In return, I’ll give each of you an item from our brand, Jiu Yi."
The guys were nonplussed, and Xu Zhengyang hadn’t even processed the offer yet, but Han Juan and the other girls were thrilled.
"Awesome! Hey, from now on, whenever the debate team gets together, Qin Jiao, your partner is welcome every single time!"
A smug smile touched Shen Yi’s lips as he glanced at Qin Jiao.
Qin Jiao was speechless.
’The damned power of capitalism,’ she lamented.
Overall, however, the dinner was a very pleasant affair. After the lively meal, Qin Jiao said goodbye to her classmates, and she and Shen Yi headed to the parking lot to go home.
Qin Jiao said to Shen Yi, "It’s the weekend tomorrow, so we have the day off. I’ll go with you to the clothing factory. It’s been a while, and I can help pick out the clothes for the debate team."
Qin Jiao knew Shen Yi wasn’t just being carelessly generous; this was also a form of guerilla marketing for their brand, Jiu Yi.
Their target demographic was young people, after all.
Summer was just around the corner. Jiang Xiaoyue had recently mailed them several new designs, and Qin Jiao and Shen Yi were also developing new styles for the summer collection.
Qin Jiao plucked fashion trends from her memories of the future and had Shen Yi sketch them out.
The prototypes for the new summer collection were now ready. Once the final designs were approved, they could start looking for people to model for their promotional campaign.
Shen Yi nodded.
’It doesn’t matter where we go, as long as I’m with Jiao Jiao,’ he thought.
Qin Jiao calculated their timeline. After the new summer collection launched, her parents’ Youjia Noodle House would be opening. Everything was slowly falling into place. Soon, they would even be able to move into their house in the Rose District.
While things were flourishing and falling into place for Qin Jiao, Lin Nian was receiving another visit from Li Xiaomei.
This time, Li Xiaomei had brought her cousin, Ji Yuehong, with her.
Previously, Li Xiaomei hadn’t minded her son being with Lin Nian. After all, Lin Nian wasn’t trying to break up Ah Feng and Sun Lili, so she couldn’t care less.
But now, the Sun family had found out about Ah Feng being with Lin Nian. They even knew about the hair salon. As a result, they were once again demanding that the two of them break up.
Even though Sun Lili was still against it, her family’s stance was unyielding.
Li Xiaomei couldn’t bear to lecture her own son, so she came to find Lin Nian instead. Lacking the confidence to go alone, she had dragged her cousin, Ji Yuehong, along for support.
Li Xiaomei looked at Lin Nian and said, "I know things haven’t been easy for you. Look, I know Ah Feng lent you the money to open this hair salon. If you agree to leave him, we won’t ask for the money back. Also, here’s one thousand yuan. I can see you’ve been sincere in your feelings for Ah Feng all this time, so take this money. It’s not a small amount, but what can I say? I’m just a soft-hearted old woman who feels sorry for you."
’Only one thousand yuan?’
Lin Nian almost burst out laughing.
’So it seems Li Xiaomei’s pity isn’t worth much at all,’ she thought.