In the barbershop, the afternoon breeze drifted in, carrying with it a refreshment that soothed the heart!
Hairdressing scissors bit through hair, emitting a faint rustling sound, like spring silkworms nibbling on mulberry leaves.
“You saved those people who were bullied by school tyrants. Aren’t you their light?”
Lu Jiuling could tell that this long-legged girl wasn’t joking—she truly had the courage to confront school tyrants face-on. “But I’d rather call you Master Ye!”
When Ye Shaoguang heard Lu Jiuling’s form of address, her eyes lit up. Her dream was to become a professional boxer, then open a boxing gym of her own.
“I like it when people call me Coach Ye! But with my current experience and rank, I’m not qualified to be a coach yet!”
Ye Shaoguang pinched Lu Jiuling’s shoulder. “Your physique is great. Your arm span and leg length proportions are perfect. You’re just too skinny—what a waste of this body!”
“Once I get my coaching certificate, you can come learn a move or two!”
“I’ll give you free lessons!”
Ye Shaoguang meant every word. Lu Jiuling’s fundamentals were too good; with just a bit of training, he would see results.
“No, I’m still going to call you Master Ye!”
Lu Jiuling couldn’t hold back his laughter. Looking at Ye Shaoguang in the mirror, he gave martial arts guidance: “Master Ye, try attacking his center line!”
“That sounds awful!”
Of course, Ye Shaoguang didn’t know Lu Jiuling was making an Ip Man reference. Her heroic, sword-shaped brows rose. “I told you to call me Coach Ye!”
“Haha!”
Lu Jiuling was laughing so happily that Ye Shaoguang couldn’t even continue cutting his hair.
He had been grinding away for over a decade in his previous life. Before being hit by a ride-hailing car, Lu Jiuling had never even been in a relationship. This time, no matter what, he couldn’t remain single.
Otherwise, when he reached the Naihe Bridge, Meng Po would mock him for being an old virgin and give him an extra bowl of soup, lest he forget this dark history completely and feel depressed whenever he remembered it in his next life.
Although Ye Shaoguang’s chest wasn’t particularly large and her skin wasn’t fair due to year-round training at the boxing gym, that kind of wild vitality unique to athletic beauties was very attractive to Lu Jiuling.
Of course, what Lu Jiuling couldn’t forget most was this morning, when Ye Shaoguang—with a pair of legs longer than his own life—walked over with bare feet in flip-flops, then squatted down to help him pick up fish.
Since coming to Anzhou, everything had been so unfamiliar—the exorbitant rent, the pressure of the college entrance exam, an uncertain future…
And that wasn’t all. Yesterday, he had entered the Divine Council.
That introverted high school girl had cleared the Divine Game and been directly promoted to Pisces Council Head. As for him, his evaluation was higher than Xue Lingren’s, yet he was merely an alternate. He still needed one more victory over the Sagittarius Council Head to replace him.
Not to mention how difficult it was to defeat a Transcendent, he had also been contaminated by a Forbidden Object this morning. He didn’t know if there would be aftereffects. One could say he was utterly down on his luck.
Now, encountering a pretty girl who had a decent attitude toward him, Lu Jiuling felt that a ray of light had finally shone into this dark period of his life.
“Ah, youth is wonderful!”
Accompanied by this exclamation, that fashionable woman in pink yoga pants from this morning pushed open the glass door and walked in.
“Little Ye, what are you two chatting about so happily?”
Yoga Pants greeted them like an old acquaintance. She walked up to Lu Jiuling, seemingly examining his hairstyle but actually appreciating his looks. “Your haircutting skills have improved?”
Tsk, tsk!
A proper little puppy dog!
Those peach blossom eyes were truly beautiful.
With prominent brow bones as a backdrop, coupled with thick eyelashes partially shading his eyelids, his eye sockets appeared slightly deep. Add a touch of dark circles and a hint of fatigue, and his gaze became profoundly deep, yet carrying a trace of melancholy…
Thus, his entire person looked like a disillusioned soul slowly walking on the sidewalk with an umbrella during an autumn dusk, as evening rain fell.
Not only was his melancholic aura maxed out, but he also carried a sense of fragility!
It really triggered Yoga Pants’s maternal instincts, making her want to hold this boy in her arms and shower him with care.
How could Lu Jiuling not be melancholic?
Not to mention having to grind through studying again and playing a Divine Game where you died for real—just the fact that he hadn’t enjoyed a single day of his precious 400,000-yuan annual salary was enough to make Lu Jiuling melancholic to death.
That was 400,000 yuan!
He could buy a car, build a PC with a 5060 graphics card, eat at Haidilao every day until he puked, or even, if he were bold enough, book a princess at a commercial KTV…
Now it was all gone!
Lu Jiuling had been under tremendous pressure lately. He had also been contaminated by a Forbidden Object this morning. If not for his sufficiently mature mind and extremely tenacious will, what Yoga Pants saw wouldn’t be a sense of fragility, but a sense of being shattered.
Why was it that after experiencing yesterday’s terrifying Divine Game where only one person survived, Lu Jiuling had actually become much calmer?
Because that kind of life grinding away at studying and working to the point of death—he really didn’t want to go through it again.
“Sister Wu, my mom’s not here. Why don’t you come tomorrow?”
Ye Shaoguang knew Wu Wu had high standards for styling and didn’t want to cut her hair.
“I happen to have nothing to do. I’ll wait for her!”
Wu Wu sat on the sofa, casually picking up a magazine to flip through, but her gaze kept drifting toward Lu Jiuling.
Not bad! Not bad!
With this face and temperament, even if he had no future prospects and her investment was a loss, she would at least have gotten some meat out of it.
Ye Shaoguang worked very efficiently. With Yoga Pants, this outsider, sitting nearby, she stopped chatting with Lu Jiuling and sped up her movements.
Five minutes later—washing, blow-drying, done!
“Take a look. Is there anything you’re not satisfied with?”
Ye Shaoguang stepped back two paces, admiring her handiwork.
“Little Ye, your skills are really something!”
The female shop assistant, Sister Li, praised, “Have you been secretly practicing every night?”
Ye Shaoguang placed her hands on her hips, the corner of her mouth carrying a smug smile. She also felt that this was the most outstanding haircut she had ever done!
On the sofa, Wu Wu’s lips curled in disdain as she heard this!
With this boy’s looks, even if you had a golden retriever cut his hair, it wouldn’t look bad.
Do you understand the value of a handsome guy?
“Perfect!”
Lu Jiuling was very satisfied. Honestly, before, that messy hair paired with a bronze Buddha face had zero intimidation factor. Now cut into a short, textured crop, he looked spirited and sharp. That fierce temperament of a secular disciple immediately came through.
Of course, the prerequisite was covering Lu Jiuling’s fox-like face with its slightly soft lines, and those peach blossom eyes.
“You’re more suited to a three-seven side part!”
“He’s a student at No. 2 High School. He can’t keep long hair!”
Ye Shaoguang explained. The more she looked at Lu Jiuling’s head, the more satisfied she became. She couldn’t help but give him a hard pat. “Hey, I need to ask you a favor!”
“Speak!”
Lu Jiuling raised his brows.
“If classmates ask you where you got your hair cut, say it was at ‘Mai Mang’ Hair Art Studio on Old Street!”
Ye Shaoguang felt Lu Jiuling could serve as a living billboard. If he walked around school, she didn’t dare say she could pull in a hundred people, but thirty to fifty for sure!
“No problem!”
A trivial matter!
Lu Jiuling didn’t say he would come back for another haircut next time. If he died in the Divine Game, there would be no next time.
“I’m off!”
Lu Jiuling wasn’t a wishy-washy person. He didn’t mention paying. As for asking Ye Shaoguang out, he could tell this long-legged girl harbored admiration for No. 2 High School and envied those good students.
If he put in some effort, he could absolutely ask her out, but…
Too much trouble!
Could he skip the dating process and go straight to the final step?
Whenever Lu Jiuling thought of those online posts complaining about couples—playboys, gold-diggers, and scumbags rampant like a night parade of a hundred demons—he felt exhausted.
Forget it, forget it!
Don’t make trouble for himself in this final month.
It was better to complete the promotion ritual first and find ways to improve his survival rate.
Lu Jiuling couldn’t help but think of that high school girl named Xue Lingren. What was she doing right now?
“Classmate!”
Yoga Pants stood up. First, she lifted her hand to brush aside her beautiful hair, then extended her right hand toward Lu Jiuling. “My name is Wu Wu. You can call me Sister Wu!”
“Hello, I’m Lu Jiuling!”
Lu Jiuling didn’t know what this was about and lightly grasped Wu Wu’s fingertips.
Ye Shaoguang was puzzled. What was Wu Wu trying to do?
“I want to take the adult college entrance exam, but after self-studying for a few months, I feel like it’s beyond my ability. I see you’re a student at No. 2 High School. Could you be my private tutor?”
Wu Wu invited him.
She had long thought of a reason to get to know him. As long as he entered her living room, even if he were a eunuch, he would drown in her river of love.
Lu Jiuling’s heart stirred!
There was such a good thing?
He was short on money lately. If he had heard these words before entering the Divine Game yesterday, he would have immediately agreed and guaranteed to teach her well.
This was the confidence of a graduate from a prestigious 985 university!
But now…
Lu Jiuling’s expression was calm. He touched the Patek Philippe on his left wrist.
I don’t want to be an ox or a horse anymore!
Even if it’s for a beautiful woman!
“Two hundred yuan an hour, two hours every day. If you teach well, the tutoring fee can be increased even more!”
Wu Wu quoted her price.
“Wow!”
The female shop assistant, Sister Li, exclaimed in shock.
Four hundred yuan a day. Twelve thousand a month.
You had to know she only earned three thousand a month. That boy only needed to nod, and in one month he could earn what she made in four months.
The male shop assistant’s breathing grew heavy. Consumed by envy, jealousy, and hatred, he was practically withering away.
Wu Wu had returned from a big city. She opened this salon on Old Street, employing ten “female stylists.” She herself was the proprietress and didn’t perform any services.
In this area, besides Ye Shaoguang’s mother, who truly made a living through hairdressing skills, other salons were basically selling dog meat while hanging a sheep’s head.
Wu Wu had the guts to be a proprietress here, wearing yoga pants and swaggering around every day—how could she be some pure and chaste jade maiden?
She simply looked down on the men here, that was all.
Now, she had actually taken the initiative to find a boy to be her private tutor!
This…
The male shop assistant hoped the proprietress truly wanted to improve herself and self-upgrade, but then he looked at that boy’s face again…
Damn!
The proprietress was absolutely lusting after his body.