Chapter 16

After Lan Xu came back, although she still wore a smile on her face, Lu Wuqi could sense that her girlfriend’s mood was a bit off.

After sending Mother Lu back to her hotel room, Lu Wuqi took hold of Lan Xu’s hand. “We both have no classes tomorrow morning. Want to go shopping at the nearby mall before heading back?”

“Sure, we can buy a few seasonal clothes to switch into.” Lan Xu agreed immediately and pulled out her phone to check the route. “It’s less than two kilometers. Shall we walk?”

“Okay.” Lu Wuqi replied. In her mind, she silently added getting her driver’s license to her to-do list.

The capital’s traffic wasn’t exactly smooth, but driving herself would always be more convenient than taking a cab. She could leave whenever she wanted and visit more places.

It was already late September, and the two of them had been in the capital for twenty days now.

But this was the first time Lu Wuqi and Lan Xu had gone shopping at a mall outside. They’d bought their daily necessities from the supermarkets and shops on campus before.

The mall was near the university district, with air conditioning keeping it at a comfortable temperature. The crowds passing by all had very youthful faces—mostly university students.

There were plenty of same-sex couples like Lu Wuqi and Lan Xu holding hands as they strolled. Groups of three or five chatted and laughed together, clearly roommates out shopping as a bunch.

“Lu Wuqi, what do you think of that jacket?” Lan Xu peered through the glass window at the model wearing an orange coat.

“It looks pretty good. Why not try it on?” Lu Wuqi changed direction, leading Lan Xu by the hand into the store.

The shop assistant greeted them enthusiastically and fetched two jackets in the same style and color based on Lan Xu’s and Lu Wuqi’s sizes.

“Lu Wuqi, what do you think?” Lan Xu looked at her reflection in the mirror with some novelty. This seemed to be her first time wearing an orange jacket.

“It looks great. It makes your skin look even fairer.” Lu Wuqi stepped up beside Lan Xu and gazed at their reflections in the mirror, both wearing matching jackets.

As she reached out to straighten Lan Xu’s collar, she mused to herself. If she and Lan Xu wore these out together, it would count as couple’s outfits, right?

Lan Xu hadn’t said it outright, but the way she pulled out her phone to snap a photo of the mirror showed just how much she liked the jacket.

“Excuse me, do you have this jacket in other colors?” Lan Xu turned to ask the shop assistant.

“Yes, we have green and blue styles. Let me get them for you to try.” The shop assistant said, promptly bringing over four more jackets.

Lan Xu was around 165 cm tall with a perfectly standard figure. As long as the style and color weren’t too outlandish, anything looked great on her.

Lu Wuqi, at 175 cm, had to say goodbye to those super delicate small-sized clothes and opt for more casual styles.

Luckily, this store didn’t carry anything excessively “delicate.” The style Lan Xu had picked fit Lu Wuqi perfectly in a size up.

After trying on about five or six outfits, Lan Xu selected her two favorites from them and asked the shop assistant, “If we buy four together, do we get an additional 6.8-fold discount?”

The shop assistant pulled out a calculator and started tapping away. “Yes, our promotion is already 20% off, and with the additional 6.8-fold on top, four jackets come to 765 yuan total. That’s less than 200 each on average.”

“Alright, we’ll take these four. Could you pack them up for us?” Lan Xu mentally tallied her savings and was about to pull out her phone from her bag to pay.

“Just scan my code.” Lu Wuqi was a step quicker, opening her payment code while holding Lan Xu’s hand. “Xuxu, you know how much I’ve made these past two weeks.”

How much? Over two thousand a week, so around four thousand for two weeks. Lu Wuqi really did have more money than her.

With that thought, Lan Xu slipped her phone back into her bag. “Fine, you pay then.” She’d just cover the shoes later anyway.

The joy of shopping quickly washed away Lan Xu’s earlier worries from the phone call. Sipping an iced milk tea along the way left nothing in her head but happy thoughts.

“Lu Wuqi, want to test our luck?” Just as Lan Xu was about to head back, she spotted a bustling lottery stand and felt a sudden itch.

Overnight riches might be unlikely, but what if? If she hit the big prize, she’d be rich!

“Sure, how about we each buy one to try?” Lu Wuqi was curious about her own luck too.

No sooner said than done. They set their shopping bags aside and swiftly scanned their phones to pay twenty yuan total, each picking a ten-yuan scratch-off lottery ticket.

The stand was crowded, so they only got the small cards with the scratch-off layer.

Lan Xu quickly scraped hers off and carefully compared the winning numbers to her results. She let out an excited “Wow!”

“Lu Wuqi, I won! Fifty yuan!” Lan Xu happily gave Lu Wuqi a big hug.

Fifty yuan minus the cost meant a forty-yuan profit. Not much, but it was free money—just a quick scrape away!

“Congrats. Let’s see my luck.” Lu Wuqi said. After letting go of Lan Xu, she scraped off her ticket in a few strokes.

“Hm? Why are they all ‘joy’ characters?” Lu Wuqi paused, stunned. Was her luck really that good?

“Wow, that’s the grand prize! You hit every bonus symbol!” Lan Xu’s eyes widened. “Lu Wuqi, quick, is it a hundred or a thousand down here?”

“A thousand each, and there are ten of them. That’s ten thousand yuan.” Lu Wuqi said, a smile tugging at her lips.

Lu Wuqi wasn’t thrilled just about the ten thousand win. She was happy because it gave her a perfect excuse to spend on Lan Xu without needing any justification.

“Wow, her luck is insane!”

“Ah, I should’ve gotten a Joy Reunion too! Damn it!”

“Is that a big win?!”

Lan Xu’s exclamation drew the attention of most people at the lottery stand. They stopped scratching their own tickets to crowd around Lu Wuqi’s scratch-off.

The stand owner was delighted too. He grabbed a little megaphone and started announcing it, hoping to boost sales to a new high.

The lottery stand owner earned a percentage of sales, not the prize money, so he loved when his stand hit big wins.

“Ladies, redeem directly or try your luck again?” The owner asked with a grin.

Lan Xu hesitated. Her luck was pretty good today—should she give it another shot?

“No, just redeem.” Lu Wuqi stayed calm. Buying lottery tickets was basically gambling, just on luck.

Hitting ten thousand was already a freak occurrence. Doing it twice in a row would be a pipe dream.

“Yeah, redeem it.” Lan Xu had only been half-thinking about it anyway. Lu Wuqi’s words dispelled the notion.

A forty-yuan profit perfectly offset the milk tea. That meant two free cups—perfect!