Chapter 206: 206 Fated

The back door of East Sea University leads right to the night market.

There are students working part-time setting up stalls to sell clothes, as well as plenty of street food vendors.

In order not to draw attention, Jiang Chen had Shi Qianxi park the car in advance and walked to the night market.

He had thought that with her delicate upbringing, she would be uncomfortable with such "commonplace fireworks," but to Jiang Chen’s surprise, as he observed quietly, she did not show any sign of resistance or disgust. Instead, she looked around curiously.

"Only one hundred and fifty yuan for two pieces of clothing?"

Shi Qianxi stared at an advertising board set up by a vendor not far away, her face filled with surprise.

Those words were even handwritten.

"Incredible, isn’t it?"

Jiang Chen laughed softly.

Rich houses filled with the smell of wine and meat, while some lay frozen dead in the streets.

The gap between the rich and poor in the country had possibly reached levels comparable to any previous dynasty.

An ordinary meal for the rich might equal the expenses of an average person for a month, or even a year.

This is not artistic exaggeration.

It’s a reality that truly exists.

Bai Zheli had once shared a piece of news with them that happened in Capital City. A group of seven or eight people had dined in a private club and somehow the bill was leaked. Astonishingly, that single meal cost over six hundred thousand yuan.

Even Li Shao, who was usually composed, found his values shaken by this.

The lifestyle quality of the upper echelons of society was indeed beyond the imagination of the general populace.

The public could only see that Asia’s former richest man, Li Jiacheng, normally wore a simple digital watch, but they had no clue that he had enough Patek Philippe watches to establish a museum.

Height decides the horizon.

What the common folk see is merely what others wish them to see.

"How about some barbecue?"

Jiang Chen asked.

"Whatever!"

Miss Shi wasn’t picky.

"Then let’s sit outside."

Jiang Chen led her to a small shop that he had visited before with Luo Peng and the taste was quite good.

"Boss, for two."

"Sure thing, please have a seat."

The owner greeted them warmly, brought over a kettle, and placed a disposable paper menu on the table.

"Take a look, and call me when you’re ready."

"Order whatever you want," Jiang Chen said generously, pushing the menu over to Shi Qianxi.

Shi Qianxi wasn’t shy; she looked down at the menu and began to mark it with a pen.

The shop was not very big, at most forty or fifty square meters, with a few tables of customers inside.

Jiang Chen poured himself a glass of water.

"Do you often come here to eat?"

While ordering, Shi Qianxi asked.

"Sometimes. I’m not like you; I don’t have the money to dine out luxuriously every day."

"Jiang Chen, is it fun for you to say these things? If you didn’t want to treat, you should’ve said so directly," Shi Qianxi stopped writing and looked up.

Jiang Chen was at a loss for words.

If he said he wasn’t being sarcastic and was just telling the truth, would she believe him?

Obviously, she wouldn’t.

"Continue to order."

"I’ve finished ordering."

Shi Qianxi put down the pen.

One thing about this woman was commendable: her ability to adjust her emotions was incredibly strong. After reapplying her makeup in the car, aside from her eyes inevitably appearing a bit red, there were no other signs that she had just been crying.

Jiang Chen took the menu, about to call the owner over.

"I only ordered for myself."

"I’m not hungry."

"What’s the point of me eating alone?"

Shi Qianxi once again exhibited the domineering aspect of her personality, asserting in an incontrovertible tone, "You have to eat with me a bit."

Jiang Chen didn’t argue with her; the most pressing matter at the moment was to get this young lady quickly fed and watered, then send her on her way.

After casually ordering a few more dishes, Jiang Chen called over the owner.

"Bring over a few bottles of beer,"

Shi Qianxi added.

"Alright, please wait a moment."

"You’ve been driving, it’s best not to drink," Jiang Chen’s safety awareness was as excellent as ever.

"I’m not drinking, it’s for you,"

Shi Qianxi said with a radiant smile, replete with charm.

Jiang Chen was at a loss for words and couldn’t help but doubt whether the person who had been sobbing and creating a scene in the car was really the same person sitting before him.

Shi Qianxi, as if nothing had happened, poured herself a cup of water and took a sip, curiously looking around.

It was now past nine, and the area was still bustling.

Jiang Chen was, indeed, somewhat concerned that they might run into someone he knew.

"It’s better in the Capital City, I originally wanted to stay here, but my father insisted on sending me abroad for school, surrounded by foreigners, it was utterly boring."

Jiang Chen had absolutely no interest in this young lady’s past and pretended as if he hadn’t heard a thing, not engaging in the conversation.

"Jiang Chen, why did you decide to study in East Sea?"

Miss Shi wouldn’t let him off the hook.

Such a question had no substance.

Which university you attend in the Capital City, is that something you can choose on your own? Aren’t you placed according to the college entrance exam results?

Of course.

In her mind, perhaps, he was just like her—someone who could decide freely where to study, at which university to enroll.

"East Sea is the most developed city in the country, I wanted to see it for myself,"

Jiang Chen said, and it was still the truth.

At that time, his scores allowed him a wide range of choices, but the reason he put East University as his first preference was because it was a city filled with miracles.

Just like countless others who struggled to remain in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, the naive him also dreamed of going to a big city to change his fate.

But after arriving here, Jiang Chen gradually realized that the city was not quite what he had imagined.

The city’s rapid modern development had profoundly changed the soul of the land.

It uncontrollably became more vain and restless, with an air saturated in the scent of drunken luxury, displaying everywhere the supremacy of money.

Here, one could keenly feel the insignificance of being an ordinary person.

Just as the old saying goes.

For the poor, East Sea is just East Sea, with only the ever-bustling East River and the lanes, but for the rich, East Sea is a paradise of song and dance, an extravagant playground bustling with nightlife.

"The beer is here, the food will just be a little while longer."

The server arrived with several bottles of ’Brave the World’.

Miss Shi, eager to help, grabbed a bottle and worked on opening it.

"Jiang Chen, do you think this is what destiny is?"

"What destiny?"

Jiang Chen was perplexed.

"If you hadn’t come to East Sea to study, we wouldn’t have met, right?"

Shi Qianxi passed the bottle to him, looking down as if it was only natural, "So maybe this is what’s meant to be."

Jiang Chen couldn’t help but chuckle, yet he didn’t counter.

In fact, according to philosophical theory, everything one encounters in life, every person one meets, is all predetermined, like a script written in advance, and you are merely like the protagonist in a movie, following the set process and experiencing it.

So from this perspective, Shi Qianxi’s words weren’t wrong.

After a moment of silence, Jiang Chen suddenly took out his cellphone, opened the photo album and deleted all the photos he had risked so much to take two days ago, and also emptied the recently deleted folder.

By doing this, it meant that these photos could never be retrieved again.

Shi Qianxi noticed this, and couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.

Jiang Chen put down his phone, as if nothing had happened, picked up the beer bottle, and quietly poured himself a drink.

Shi Qianxi stared at him in a daze, then suddenly smiled, took out a new plastic cup, and started to pour from the opened beer bottle as well.

Jiang Chen looked up.

"If you don’t let me drink, it means you don’t want to be friends with me,"

Shi Qianxi made eye contact with him, her smile gentle.

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