Dedicated to studying, yet forced into a chaotic situation.

Chapter 41 No Money in the Card

After receiving Chi Yan's message that he agreed to meet tomorrow, Shi Sui replied with "See you tomorrow," then immediately turned off her phone and continued memorizing.

At 10:16 p.m., she finally finished memorizing 26 essential classical poems for first-year high school students, slammed her textbook shut, and immediately pulled out a book from the tall stack of supplementary books.

Time was tight, and she still had more than a dozen after-school tutoring books to finish.

[Timed Task 1 completed: Recite the required classical poems for first-year high school students. Reward: Gu Chenyi's bank card balance - credited to the host's account.]

Meanwhile, the Pei family's celebration banquet ended, and the guests dispersed.

Upon seeing Chi Yan, Song Xinying immediately clung to him, demanding that the Chi family driver take her home.

Jiang Tianyao's face was beaming with a sweet smile as she took Gu Chenyi's arm in hers: "Chenyi, I thought you weren't coming tonight."

"How could I?" Gu Chenyi affectionately flicked the girl's nose. "How could I let you come to this kind of occasion alone?"

The man, whose arm was linked with Jiang Tianyao's other arm, frowned unhappily, glanced at Gu Chenyi with an ambiguous look, and said nothing.

"Brother Shen Jin, you should go back first." Gu Chenyi noticed his gaze and said to him, "I'll take Tian Tian back."

Jiang Chenjin didn't speak, but looked at Jiang Tianyao as if asking for her opinion.

"Brother," Jiang Tianyao said with a smile, letting go of her brother's hand, "I'll go back with Chen Yi."

With his arm suddenly free, Jiang Chenjin looked at the young man and woman who were intimately linked arm in arm, his eyes reddened, and he said in a deep voice, "Okay."

He told himself that Jiang Tianyao was Gu Chenyi's fiancée, that they were a legitimate boyfriend and girlfriend, and that they could hold hands, hug, and kiss... all of which were reasonable and allowed.

He was just Jiang Tianyao's brother. They could hold hands and hug, but taking it any further would be crossing the line.

Jiang Tianyao followed Gu Chenyi into the Gu family's car. The car window slowly rolled down, and the city's night view moved backward.

"Sweetie." Gu Chenyi took her hand and asked casually, "I saw Pei Shuoxun talking to you tonight. What did you two talk about?"

"It's nothing, just celebrating that he won first place in the piano competition." Jiang Tianyao lowered her eyes, her voice somewhat dejected.

Jiang Tianyao was puzzled. Pei Shuoxun had specifically invited her, so why did she leave after only saying one sentence? Was it because she had a fiancé and was deliberately avoiding suspicion?

She felt that Pei Shuoxun must treat her differently.

Gu Chenyi noticed the girl's downcast mood and asked with concern, "Sweetie, you seem to be in a bad mood? What happened?"

Jiang Tianyao remembered the dress Chi Yan gave Shi Sui, and her voice trembled slightly with tears: "Chen Yi, my sister received the dress Chi Yan gave her, and it's the dress I wanted the most..."

"What!?"

Gu Chenyi felt a headache coming on as soon as he heard Shi Sui's name.

Today, he arranged for three of his trusted henchmen to teach Shi Sui a lesson after school to vent his anger. However, not only did he fail to vent his anger, all three of his henchmen ended up in the hospital.

Gu Chenyi asked them if they had run into Chi Yan.

The three underlings nodded in unison and said nothing more.

Damn it, Chi Yan ruined his plans again. That persistent ghost, didn't he refuse to go to school?

Gu Chenyi calmed down, prayed in his heart that he wouldn't run into Chi Yan at school next week, and clicked his tongue, "Tsk, your country bumpkin sister is quite good at sweet-talking people. Chi Yan is pretty good to her. Could it be that he's taken a liking to her and wants to play around with her?"

"No." Jiang Tianyao said firmly, but her voice was a little weak. "How could Chi Yan possibly be interested in a country bumpkin? Even if he were, the Chi family would never agree."

She subconsciously considered whether the Chi family would agree.

Marriages in wealthy and powerful families are always tied to interests, and the Chi family would never agree to a country bumpkin with no connections.

"That's true." Gu Chenyi nodded.

"Chenyi, will you take me to the mall to buy clothes?" Jiang Tianyao shook his arm and said in a coquettish voice, "I want new clothes to wear too, and you want to see me dressed up beautifully, right?"

It was not yet 11 o'clock, and the mall was still open.

Jiang Tianyao excitedly took many beautiful clothes and tried them on one by one, asking repeatedly, "Do they look good?"

"Wrap it all up," Gu Chenyi said domineeringly.

Because of the seasonal discounts, there were quite a few customers in the store, and they all cast envious glances at the young couple.

"Her boyfriend is so nice. He just bought it without even looking at the price. He really spoils her."

"Yes, I wish I had a boyfriend as good as him, handsome and rich."

"..."

Hearing these words, Jiang Tianyao couldn't help but feel smug, and she held Gu Chenyi's hand even tighter.

Gu Chenyi had obviously heard the compliments and said smugly, "Pack it up nicely, it's a gift for my girlfriend."

The sales assistant, all smiles, scanned the QR code while thoughtfully explaining the precautions for washing and caring for the couple, praising them to the skies.

"Young Master Gu, after the discount, the total is 25,000 yuan."

Without blinking, Gu Chenyi pulled out a bank card from his wallet and handed it over: "Swipe the card."

"Yes, Mr. Gu."

Then, under everyone's gaze, a cold, mechanical voice announced: "Sorry, your balance is insufficient."

"You took the wrong card." Gu Chenyi calmly took out another card.

The cold, mechanical voice sounded again: "Sorry, your balance is insufficient."

"Change it." A hint of embarrassment flashed across Gu Chenyi's face, but he remained calm.

"Sorry, your balance is insufficient."

"Change one."

"Sorry, your balance is insufficient."

……

The cold, mechanical voice echoed, and as the atmosphere grew increasingly awkward, the sales assistant reminded him, "Mr. Gu, you can scan the code, Alipay or WeChat."

Gu Chenyi knew he could scan the code, but he had just bought a sports car model last week and didn't have enough money in his Alipay and WeChat accounts!

He broke out in a cold sweat, looking at his wallet with only a few bills left, feeling frustrated.

He remembers having money in his card, so what happened?

Gu Chenyi turned to look at Jiang Tianyao, his domineering tone completely gone, and said in a conciliatory tone, "How about you pay first, Tiantian, and I'll transfer the money to you when we get back?"

Under everyone's gaze and amidst repeated cries of "insufficient funds," Jiang Tianyao's face grew increasingly grim.

She could still afford 25,000.

But she was a little reluctant to spend her own 25,000 yuan on these four pieces of clothing.

After glancing at Gu Chenyi, Jiang Tianyao suddenly had a flash of inspiration, leaned close to his ear, and told him, "You can use Alipay."

"Oh, right." Gu Chenyi suddenly remembered, "I can use Alipay."

He didn't lower his voice, and everyone present heard him.

The customers who were just admiring the young couple now only had disdain and ridicule in their eyes.

"Can't even come up with 20,000 yuan, and still using Alipay to pay? What kind of rich person are you pretending to be?"

"That's right, if you don't have money, don't come here to spend it. You're delaying our checkout."

"..."

Gu Chenyi was furious. On his way home, he started checking his bank card's transfer records, but no matter how he calculated it, it seemed like there was no money in his card.

*

At six o'clock the next morning, even though it was the weekend, her biological clock woke Shi Sui up. As if it had become muscle memory, she got out of bed with her eyes closed, went to her desk, and took out her English textbook.

As soon as I open my eyes, I start memorizing vocabulary.

At 8:30, she hurriedly slung her backpack over her shoulder and went downstairs.

Xu Chaomu had asked her to study at the city library today. The library opens at nine o'clock, and she couldn't be late.

Oh, right, she also arranged to meet Chi Yan at the library entrance yesterday to return his clothes. Well, she definitely can't be late.