Beauty and the Bodyguard

Chapter 105 - Master Haggler

There was a night market near the food street, as busy as the food street itself despite its name- plenty of vendors had their stands out.

Lin Yi thought that he'd go shop a bit over there, seeing how Mengyao and Yushu were still enjoying themselves. He preferred normal clothes sold on the streets over high quality ones.

A good eye and a knowing mind could very well yield high quality attire even in a place like this.

"Ah…" Lin Yi spotted a familiar figure, unsure whether he should be laughing or crying- the two of them seemed to keep bumping into each other.

Tang Yin was crouched over at a girl's clothing store, seemingly liking the dress in her hand a lot.

"Um… Can you make it cheaper?" Tang Yin asked after a moment's hesitation.

"Look here, little miss- this is high quality material on the dress, and don't even get me started on the workmanship! It's the latest fashion, too! You put this in Pengzhan Stores and you won't get it without at least something like a thousand eight hundred…" The owner explained, as if the dress was the best piece he was selling.

"I mean… Two hundred is a bit much isn't it…"

Lin Yi could tell that Tan Yin was no haggler.

"Not at all! Don't you know everything's getting more and more expensive nowadays? The cloth, the workmanship- that's way past two hundred now! Two hundred's the old price, I'm even raising it after this shipment's sold out!" The vendor continued praising his stock.

"I… I'm from the food street over there… Can't you just cut it a bit? I'll buy it if you just cut it a little." Tang Yin said, putting her identity out on the haggling table.

"Oh? You're from the food street?" The vendor looked at Tang Yin before continuing. "You should know then, as a fellow vendor- we don't earn much in this business here at the night market. How many stores are there, we can't just cut prices for every customer just caz he or she's a vendor too… I still have taxes to be paying for tomorrow, and there's still the rent to take care of… Not much left for profit…"

"Ah?" Tang Yin couldn't believe it- why was this guy so unrelenting? She even said she'd buy it if it were just a bit cheaper, and she even told him about her identity as a fellow vendor! Why couldn't he just cut the price a little! Was it because the vendor knew how much she liked the dress, was that why he was acting like such a jerk?!

Lin Yi shook his head at Tang Yin's haggling methods- that would never work! He decided to go help her out a bit, seeing how Tang Yin's family wasn't very well off and all.

"Yo, bro! I didn't know you have a stand here!" Lin Yi said as he walked over, giving the vendor a pat on the shoulder in greeting.

"Ah? Uh, you are..?" The vendor asked, clearly not recognizing Lin Yi.

"You don't remember me? We both got our goods from Old Zhang a while back, remember?" Lin Yi continued with a laugh. "I used to set up shop at that night market at Qiaonan!"

"Oh, oh!" The vendor nodded his head upon hearing the words. "It's you! I say, no wonder your face looks so familiar! How's business, buddy?"

"Gah, don't even. My wife's got a baby in her belly back home, I still have to look after her every day! No time to be doing business outside at all- I'm only here caz my sis visited, for old time's sake you know?" Lin Yi said smoothly as he squatted at the stand.

Tang Yin blinked at the chain of words Lin Yi was spouting… Setting a stand up at Qiaonan? And when did he get a wife, who was pregnant, even?! Wasn't the guy a high school student?!

"Hey, that's a good thing man! You're a dad now, congrats!" The vendor congratulated with a nod of his head. In actuality, however… He didn't know who the hell this guy was! There were a plethora of places he got his goods from, there was no way he'd remember every single boss with a surname as common as Zhang- there had to be at least three or five of those he'd been acquainted with before, if not ten! He couldn't just say he didn't remember him, either- the guy was acting so friendly with him because the two of them had clearly met and chatted before, the guy was in the same business he was, after all. He couldn't just say that he didn't remember, either- that'd be rude. The best way out was to pretend he'd remembered him.

"Yeah well, that wife of mine's always in front of the mirror, like I told you before- she even asked me to go get her some makeup and summer dresses for her. I was just about to go to her, but hey- didn't think I'd meet you here! I'll just get a couple of dresses from your stall!"

"Sure thing, brother!" The vendor said passionately. "The shopping center's pretty far from here, too- just take one or two from my place, I'll sell it to you cheap; we both know how much we got them for, am I right?"

"Oh yeah, man. I'll just get two then!" Lin Yi said as he the dress Tang Yin was looking at, picking up a pair of short male jeans while he was at it. "These two, please!"

"You got it." The vendor said. "Dress came in forty five, pants twelve- that's fifty seven kuai!"

"Here, take sixty. I would've had to pay for gas to get to the shopping center, yeah?" Lin Yi said as he pulled sixty kuai out from his pocket.

"That won't do, man! We're in the same business, after all!" The vendor said with a wave of his hands. "Small stalls like ours- I didn't even get you any gifts for that good news about your wife getting pregnant! I can't just profit from you!"

"Haha, don't be like that man- I'm not gonna come here if you do this! Take the sixty, alright man?" Lin Yi said, acting as if he were a bit pissed off at the guy rejecting his goodwill.

"Alright then- sixty it is!" The vendor said with a laugh as Lin Yi put the money onto his palm. "Really, man- find some time for a drink in the future, yeah?"

"Of course, of course." Lin Yi said with a nod of his head as he left the place. "Well, see ya around!"

Tang Yin didn't know what to say as he watched Lin Yi get away with her dress- forty five kuai, seriously? This vendor was too much, selling it to her for two hundred, what the hell?

"Ah, that's right- what did you wanna buy again?" The vendor said, suddenly remembering his customer as he waved goodbye to Lin Yi, still smiling.

"That… dress he took away. Do you still have it in stock?" Tang Yin asked.

"Nope, just that one." The vendor shook his head.

"Why'd you sell it to him for forty five? You were gonna sell it to me for two hundred!" Tang Yin asked, very unsatisfied.

"That guy's my colleague, alright? You got a problem with me selling it to him for forty five?" The vendor said, a little impatient. The girl was hesitating so much that he'd really have not bothered with her if she weren't such a pretty lady.

"Him? He's your colleague?" Tang Yin asked curiously.

"Yeah, what? You buying anything or not?" The vendor said with a frown- what was this girl doing, asking so many questions if she wasn't buying anything? His wife had better not misunderstand anything if she caught him talking with her later!

"Oh…" Tang Yin shook her head before getting up to leave...

Chapter 106 - Who Said Anything About Giving It?

Tang Yin was still confused about the whole thing as she walked away- didn't she see the guy with a sports car earlier? How was it even possible that he'd put up a stand?

He was a high schooler, too- just like her! How did it make sense for a student in school to marry, was that even legal? Tang Yin rubbed her eyes, thinking that perhaps she'd been too tired the past two days… Maybe she was hallucinating, that Lin Yi was quite the asshole, too. There was no way she would've bumped into him in a place like this.

Though, Lin Yi or not, that guy from earlier was a total jerk! She was the one who'd wanted the dress, and he'd just walked by snatching it away before she even agreed on a price with the vendor! What a jerk!

Tang Yin was still pissed about the whole thing as she walked back to her mother, her head lowered. She had planned to get herself some new clothes, too…

"Ah-!" Tang Yin froze in her tracks, almost hitting someone. She raised her head only to see Lin Yi smiling at her. "Wh-what are you standing here for? To scare people?"

"To give you the dress!" Lin Yi said as he put the dress in front of Tang Yin's face.

"Wasn't that for your wife?" Tang Yin frowned, not quite understanding what Lin Yi meant.

"Haha, that's just a haggler's trick- there's no wife or anything, it's just to expose the price he got it at." Lin Yi said with a shrug. "You didn't know how to haggle at all, you know? The guy was killing you with his prices, that's why I decided to help."

"Oh……" Tang Yin slowly understood- so it was all a story he'd fabricated for the sake of haggling? So he… bought the dress for her? Tang Yin started getting angry again upon considering the possibility, who did Lin Yi think he was, gifting her a dress? She'd never accept it coming from his hands! There'd be tons of boys doing that if she asked for it at school! Though, she really didn't prefer doing something like that.

"Here, take it." Lin Yi said as he pushed the dress towards her.

"I don't want your stuff, go get a refund for it." Tang Yin said coldly, already moving on.

"Who said anything about giving it? Pay up, it's forty five kuai you know!" Lin Yi said, amused.

"Eh?" Tang Yin paused- was Lin Yi asking her to pay for it? Wasn't he here to get her to like him, giving her gifts and all that? Why would he be asking her for money?

Was he trying to make fun of her? Tang Yin didn't know what to do- she wanted to just leave and ignore the guy, but she really did like that dress! She liked it to the point where she was actually considering buying it for two hundred, despite the vendor being a jerk and all!

Thinking things through, Tang Yin supposed that she'd still be buying the dress since Lin Yi wasn't planning to just give it to her… Yes, it was her money! What did it have to do with him?

She pulled her purse out at the thought. There was only two hundred kuai in it- her monthly allowance. She pulled our a fifty kuai note and handed it to Lin Yi. "There!"

Lin Yi took the money without saying anything, going through his pockets for a while before finally pulling four one kuai coins out. "Don't have enough change- can I owe you one kuai?"

"Hmph!" Tang Yin only grabbed the coins from Lin Yi before grabbing the dress as well, leaving without so much as a word.

"Why's she so mad..? What did I do?" Lin Yi flicked at the fifty kuai note a bit before stuffing it into his pocket. He then headed back to the food street.

Tang Yin calmed down a little as she walked, realizing that Lin Yi's attitude wasn't really typical of rich boys chasing after her… He wasn't trying to force himself on her, or follow her around relentlessly… Was it a new method he'd thought up? Playing hard to get, only to show up every once in a while to demonstrate his gentlemanly nature..? Hmph!! So that's what it is!! Tang Yin stomped her foot on the ground upon remembering Lin Yi's actions today- she'd almost fallen for it! Him asking her for money must've been on purpose, as well! He wanted to get her to lower her guard, so that he could get closer to her!!

Tang Yin wanted to throw the dress on the ground and stomp out her rage towards Lin Yi, but decided that she'd rather keep the dress.

"That's a nice dress, Yin!" Mrs. Tang said with a smile as Tang Yin returned. She noticed her daughter paying attention to that dress a long time ago- it wasn't just one or two days. She decided to encourage her because of that; the girl obviously found it too expensive.

"Yeah...…" Tang Yin responded faintly as he stuffed the dress into her bag.

"How much did you spend? Did you haggle?" Mrs. Tang asked, missing the expression on Tang Yin's face.

"Forty five." Tang Yin replied dully.

"Forty five? Seriously? Wasn't the vendor selling it for two hundred? How'd you get that price?" Mrs. Tang said, very startled.

"A jerk helped me haggle it down!" Tang Yin said, getting angrier by the second. "Let's not talk about this, mom- here, I'll help you with that."

Mrs. Tang only shook her head at the outburst. She didn't know who the jerk Tang Yin mentioned was, but shouldn't she be thanking the person if he'd helped her haggle? Why would he be a jerk, anyway?

Lin Yi turned the corner and found Mengyao and Yushu at the fried mushroom place. The two were just wrapping up as Mengyao raised her head, spotting Lin Yi walking over with a big-ass pair of jeans in his hand. "Eh?!"

Yushu raised her head as well upon hearing Mengyao's surprised call.

"Woah, Shield Guy- where'd you get those big pants?" Yushu asked curiously as she pointed at the pants Lin Yi was holding.

"Got it over there. Does it look good?" Lin Yi asked as he put the pants in front of his legs.

"......" Mengyao only curled her lips. "You look like a bad person with that on."

"There was this thing I read back in grade school! You look like an 'old french thug'!" Yushu added with a nod of her head.

"......" Lin Yi was speechless. "Jeez, something's wrong with you guys. I spent fifteen kuai on this, you know?"

"......?" It was Mengyao's turn to be speechless.

Yushu giggled quietly, a hand over her mouth. Only someone like Lin Yi would do something like that. "Okay, let's go home! Shield Guy, maybe you can show us how you look with those pants on since you like them so much! You can't put them on right now, yeah?"

"What's so interesting about him putting some pants on? Are you in heat, Shu?" Mengyao said as she pinched at Yushu.

"I thought you would want to see it." Yushu blinked innocently as she looked at Mengyao. "I saw how surprised you were when Lin Yi came over with those pants you know…"

"......." Mengyao didn't bother explaining- this girl had way too many dirty thoughts. Explaining something like this would only worsen things...

psst... theres a third chapter...