Chapter 285: You Have Friends Too?

Zhu Niao needed to buy a dress, the kind she could wear to a banquet.

It was supposed to be a work expense and could be reimbursed.

“Wrap your arms around Gou Yu’s waist,” she thought.

Zhu Niao leaned against the delivery box on the back of Gou Yu’s electric scooter, reached out, and hugged his waist.

Gou Yu turned his head toward her and said, “My parents…”

At that moment, something seemed to occur to her, and she spoke up. “So does that mean we can take a kickback out of this?”

Zhu Niao switched to holding Gou Yu’s waist with her left hand, pulled out her phone with her right, and opened Pinxixi.

“What are you doing with my navel?”

Gou Yu groaned in pain from the front.

“Hang on, I’ll find it in a sec.”

“No, if you’re going to hug me, don’t dig your fingers in. You’re poking—”

A moment later, Zhu Niao read off her phone: “Men’s formal suit for parties… Hey, it’s only sixty bucks.”

It was obvious that for an occasion like this, given Gou Yu’s wealthy family, he would have picked out something astronomical—and the kickback she could take from it was unimaginable.

“I get that you want to surpass He Kun and become some super honest official, but I’m telling you, my parents aren’t just giving me a wad of cash to buy it. I have to send them the price first, and then they’ll transfer the money.”

Gou Yu’s answer was rather discouraging.

“They even want solid proof, otherwise they won’t pay.”

It was like when parents who don’t know the exact price send you out to buy soy sauce—they always make you ask the price first, then hand over the corresponding amount.

In theory, Gou Yu could collude with the shop assistant to fake a price list and pull off a bold act of deception.

But that was just like the soy sauce situation—even if you could skim enough for a pack of spicy sticks, you’d always be sweating it out.

Because the shop was right there, and in this case, his parents could find out the real price at any time.

Once they knew the truth, he’d be in for real hell.

Still, Gou Yu had no intention of skimming. The reason he’d survived this long and even landed an amazing girl like Zhu Niao wasn’t because of his family’s money.

If you thought about it, most of those other rich second-generation punks weren’t nearly as successful or capable as he was.

“So you can’t embezzle?”

“I’m an honest official. Don’t slander me.” Gou Yu said. “Also, take your finger off my navel. Why do you have to dig into that spot?”

“With one hand, it’s easier to grip something for support, like rock climbing. Ya get it?”

Zhu Niao said with a straight face, earnestly explaining to Gou Yu.

The winter wind stung their delicate faces like wires scraping across skin.

Zhu Niao casually shoved her phone into Gou Yu’s pocket and pinched his thigh.

Then she curled up behind his back.

At times like this, she was grateful that her good buddy was tough enough to perfectly block the cold wind for her.

But the coat she wore for warmth never really heated up.

If only she could crawl inside Gou Yu’s clothes, into his embrace.

Just like when they slept at night.

In the summer, she always complained that he radiated heat, but in the winter, it was her turn to cling to him.

“So what are you gonna do now?” Zhu Niao seemed afraid of winter.

The harsh wind snatched her words away, grinding them under the rear wheel.

She stretched her neck a little and leaned close to Gou Yu’s ear.

“Your bro’s got connections.”

Gou Yu suddenly blurted out: “Even though I ran away from home in middle school to go wild survival with you, I still had some rich-kid contacts before that. Not many, but there were one or two who were willing to hang out with me.”

It was just that Gou Yu stood out too much in his circle.

While everyone else was at high-society tea parties—even the kids who didn’t get it would follow etiquette, stick close to their parents, and play for a bit with the other children—

But Gou Yu’s inherited nature told him those tea parties weren’t for him.

So while others were sipping tea, he was playing in the mud in the backyard.

He was clearly a genuine rich young master, but he seemed to be following the script of a Long Aotian poor boy.

His mother didn’t bother to discipline him because she couldn’t control him.

His father didn’t bother either because he wanted to play too.

And then, one or two other slightly different kids would break away from the tea party and come over to Gou Yu.

They’d ask: “What are you doing?”

Gou Yu would say: “Looking for something tasty.”

And then a handful of mud would be handed to the boy in expensive clothes.

Normally, this would be where the plot for a unique, budding romance began.

But not for him, because girls wouldn’t play with a muddy little boy. Gou Yu would just give that clump of mud to another boy and say, “Here, have some crap.”

Afterward, Gou Yu got beaten up, but they both had fun at the time.

Later, they even agreed to play in the sand together.

But while Gou Yu seemed obsessed with crude stuff, the other kid was always into unique designs.

The other kid said he wanted to be a fashion designer in the future, and Gou Yu said he’d rather eat crap.

“You still have connections?”

“A little disrespectful, don’t you think?” Gou Yu said as he drove, scrolling through the phone mounted on the handlebar.

Of course, that was a skill any qualified delivery worker should have.

After flipping through, Gou Yu finally seemed to find his target.

He hesitated for a moment.

Then he picked one at random and dialed.

“He didn’t pick up. Maybe he’s busy.”

Zhu Niao sat up and glanced over. “You called my alt account, no wonder he didn’t answer.”

“Oh, wrong number. How was I supposed to know—all our chats are just calls.”

Of course, Zhu Niao’s main account was pinned and had a special notification.

The second call finally connected.

“Hey, the clothes I asked you to make nine days ago—are they ready?”

Gou Yu’s voice was slightly distorted by the wind, as if frozen and carried away, suddenly very far.

“Already done, bro. But the girl’s outfit seems to have some issues. Come to my shop; it’s hard to explain over the phone.”

Having no money, he had contacted a friend from before who could custom-make clothes—of course, including Zhu Niao’s.

Gou Yu was taking this engagement very seriously.