northernbook Chapter 80 Wife, give me 5 yuan, I want to buy a pack of cigarettes.
Chapter 80 Wife, give me 5 yuan, I want to buy a pack of cigarettes.
The door did not open immediately.
Through the thick door, a faint sound of footsteps could be heard from inside, sounding drawn out. Clearly, the woman inside wasn't too bothered by this "disturbance" in the middle of the night.
After a full half minute, the door lock clicked.
The door opened a crack, and warm yellow light streamed through the gap, dispelling some of the chill in the hallway. Su Qingge was wearing her cotton loungewear, a cute bunny headband, and a makeup remover pad in her hand. Half of her makeup had been removed, revealing her fair, almost translucent skin underneath.
She leaned against the door frame, watching Lin Zhou wringing his hands and stamping his feet at the door with a leisurely air, her eyes showing a hint of annoyance at being interrupted, and a touch of amusement at watching a show.
"Why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night? Are you sleepwalking?"
Her voice was languid, with a slight nasal tone, which made Lin Zhou's bones feel weak.
"Um... cough cough."
Lin Zhou coughed awkwardly twice, his gaze darting around, sometimes looking at the ceiling of the corridor, sometimes staring at his toes, but he dared not look directly into Su Qingge's eyes.
This is something that's really hard to talk about.
A grown man, who had just established himself as an "all-around husband" in front of the entire internet, turned around and asked his wife for 500 yuan in pocket money. The contrast was so great that even his thick skin, which he had cultivated over the years, couldn't keep up.
"Honey, I need to talk to you about something."
Lin Zhou forced a smile, leaned forward slightly, and adopted an extremely humble posture:
"Could I... get an advance on our household emergency fund? It's not much, just five hundred... no, three hundred will do!"
Su Qingge raised an eyebrow, the makeup remover pad in her hand stopping in mid-air.
She looked Lin Zhou up and down as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world, and her gaze finally settled on his pocket, which was even cleaner than his face.
"Lin Zhou, are you alright?"
She turned and walked back to the dressing table, continuing to wipe her cheeks in front of the mirror, her tone light and airy:
"Didn't you just get the keys to that top-of-the-line Cullinan in the garage? What, only half an hour later, and you can't even come up with three hundred bucks?"
"How can that be the same?"
Lin Zhou followed her in like a tail, standing behind Su Qingge. Looking at the woman in the mirror, whose natural beauty was still breathtaking, he made a face and explained:
"It's a nice car, but you can't eat it. Besides, that car runs on 98-octane gasoline, while I'm drinking the northwest wind. We're not even the same species."
"and……"
He paused, then made an exaggerated deep breath, his face contorted in pain.
"Honey, you have no idea how horrible it is when the craving hits. I feel like thousands of ants are crawling all over me, and my head is buzzing. Please, have some mercy and give me some relief."
Looking at his anxious, scratching-headed expression through the mirror, Su Qingge couldn't help but let a barely perceptible smile curl up at the corner of her lips.
Of course she knew Lin Zhou had no money.
This guy kept a record of every expense in that notebook, and he maxed out that supplementary credit card. Now he probably doesn't even have a penny left on him.
But seeing his embarrassed expression, she felt inexplicably relieved.
I'll teach you to be a smooth talker and act all high and mighty.
"I have no money."
Su Qingge deliberately put on a stern face, threw the makeup remover pad into the trash can, picked up some toner and gently patted her cheeks. "Smoking is bad for your health, I'm doing this for your lungs. Besides, we don't have any cash at home, and it's the middle of the night, where am I supposed to get you money?"
"No!"
Lin Zhou panicked and stepped forward, almost grabbing her leg to plead, "WeChat transfer will do! Honey, my dear wife, can you really bear to see your husband suffer internal injuries because of a pack of cigarettes?"
"Besides, a man can't stand up straight if he's out in the world without cigarettes or money. What would I say if I ran into someone I know tomorrow?"
Su Qingge paused.
She turned around, leaned against the dressing table, crossed her arms, and looked at him with a half-smile:
"Can't you stand up straight? I saw you standing straighter than anyone else in the garage downstairs. What, a multi-million dollar luxury car can't make you proud?"
"Those are two different things!"
Lin Zhou argued forcefully, spouting nonsense with a straight face: "The car is the facade, the cigarettes are the substance. No matter how glamorous the facade, if the substance is empty, it's just a paper tiger. Honey, just think of it as helping the poor, okay?"
Seeing his shameless yet somewhat pitiful appearance, Su Qingge's mischievous thoughts finally dissipated.
She sighed helplessly and shook her head.
"I really can't help you."
As she spoke, she pulled open the bottom drawer of the dressing table, which was locked.
Lin Zhou's eyes lit up, and he stretched his neck out like a giraffe waiting to be fed.
Su Qingge didn't take out cash or use her phone to transfer money. She rummaged through the drawer for a while, then pulled out a pure black card with a matte finish.
The card had no complicated patterns, only a line of gold serial number and a low-key yet luxurious bank logo.
Centurion Black Card.
Legend has it that there is no limit to the credit limit, and it can even make a plane turn around.
"Take it."
Su Qingge held the card between two fingers and casually handed it over, as if she were handing over a supermarket discount coupon.
Lin Zhou was stunned.
Although he wanted to be a kept man, he never imagined that the meal would be this demanding!
"What... what is this?"
He took the card with trembling hands. His fingertips touched the cold, metallic texture, feeling as if he were holding a mountain of gold, heavy and weighty.
"Here's your allowance."
Su Qingge turned around and continued her skincare routine, her voice as calm as still water:
"So that you won't come to me in the middle of the night crying about being poor over a few hundred dollars, embarrassing the Su family."
"This card has no spending limit. Buy whatever you want. Cigarettes, alcohol, anything, as long as you don't do anything illegal or disorderly, you can use it as you please."
Lin Zhou held the card, his throat feeling as if it were stuffed with cotton.
He originally just wanted to ask for a few hundred yuan to buy a pack of cigarettes to satisfy his craving, but his wife directly gave him a black card with unlimited credit.
Isn't this script a bit too far-fetched?
"Honey, this...this isn't quite right, is it?" Lin Zhou felt the card in his hand was a bit hot. "I'm the ninth person in the family, and I'm afraid it'll shorten my lifespan if I take such a high-end card."
"Just take it if I give it to you, why are you asking so many questions?"
Su Qingge rolled her eyes at him, then, as if remembering something, her voice suddenly lowered, carrying a hint of barely perceptible gentleness:
"The password... is the day we get our marriage certificate."
boom--!
Lin Zhou's heart clenched suddenly.
The day we got our marriage certificate.
That was a rainy night seven years ago, a day when two souls that would never have crossed paths were forcibly bound together by fate.
He thought that for Su Qingge, it was a dark history she couldn't bear to look back on, a pillar of shame for which she was forced to compromise.
But she actually set this date as the password for the black card that symbolized all her wealth.
What does this mean?
Does this mean that in her heart, that day was not a disgrace, but rather... a memorable beginning?
Lin Zhou gripped the card tightly in his hand, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.
He looked at the woman in the mirror, head down, applying face cream, and at her ears, which were still red despite her best efforts to hide them. A warm, indescribable feeling welled up inside him, a bittersweet sensation.
This is not a black card.
This is clearly a burning heart.
"Thanks, honey."
Lin Zhou took a deep breath, his usual playful demeanor vanishing, his voice becoming unusually low and serious, "I'll take this card. But don't worry, I won't waste a single penny except for buying cigarettes."
"Fool."
Su Qingge glanced at him through the mirror, a barely perceptible smile playing on her lips. "Alright, hurry up and go, don't keep me from sleeping. You reek of smoke, it's awful."
"Yes, sir!"
Lin Zhou grinned, put the card in his pocket, and left the room with light steps, thoughtfully closing the door behind him.
Standing in the corridor, Lin Zhou touched the hard card in his pocket, but his heart softened completely.
This kind of gigolo not only makes my stomach feel good, but also makes me feel good inside.
With this thing, I can definitely stand up straighter when I go out. At least I won't have to haggle with that exploitative system for 500 yuan anymore.
"Let's go buy cigarettes!"
Lin Zhou was in a great mood and hummed a little tune as he walked downstairs.
I had just stepped into the entryway and was about to change my shoes when my phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket.
Who would call him so late at night?
Is it a harassing phone call?
Lin Zhou took out his phone and saw that it was an unfamiliar number, with the location showing as Beijing.
He frowned and swiped to answer the call.
"Feed? Who?"
A hurried, anxious, and even slightly trembling male voice came from the other end of the phone, with the background noise of keyboard typing and people moving around.
"Hey? Is this Mr. Lin Zhou? I'm Zhang Wei, the legal director of Starry Sky Media!"
Starry Sky Media?
Isn't that Su Qingge's company?
Why would the legal department contact him in the middle of the night?
Lin Zhou's heart skipped a beat, and the sense of relief that had just arisen vanished instantly, replaced by an instinctive alertness.
"This is Lin Zhou. Attorney Zhang, what's the matter so late?"
"Mr. Lin, something terrible has happened!"
Zhang Wei's voice was low, but it couldn't hide the panic in it; every word was like a heavy hammer blow to Lin Zhou's eardrums.
"Just now, several unidentified foreign capital firms suddenly launched a fierce short-selling attack on Star Media! The stock price has already hit its daily limit down in after-hours trading!"
"Furthermore...we've received concrete information that Mr. Su's arch-rival, Dynasty Entertainment, is on a buying spree, maliciously acquiring our scattered shares!"
"They're trying to... forcibly acquire Starry Sky Media!"