Chapter 183: The Trash’s Self-Deprecating Remarks

By all logic, after being exposed like that, Lin Yu felt she should never show her face around Luo Shaotian again.

But…

Barbecue?

She really couldn’t understand it.

Which wire in this guy’s brain had short-circuited?

That said…

Rubbing her flat stomach, the abacus beads in Lin Yu’s head started clacking again.

Anyway, everything had already been said, and her face had been completely trampled into the dirt.
Since Luo Shaotian, this walking sucker (true to his usual unlucky nature), was willing to treat—then this so-called final “breakup meal” would be stupid not to eat!

So, after getting Manager Qian’s approval, the two of them walked into a nearby Xinjiang barbecue restaurant.

The décor was refined, full of Western Region flair.
Under warm yellow lights, the air was thick with the aroma of cumin and lamb fat.

The moment they sat down, Lin Yu—still wearing a少女’s appearance—showed absolutely zero self-awareness of being a “pretty girl.” She grabbed the menu and shouted straight away:

“Adaxi! Twenty lamb skewers to start! Two sesame naan, cut open! And kidneys—two portions! High heat, hard grill! Extra chili!”

Across from her, Luo Shaotian—now changed back into casual clothes—held a teacup and stared at her in a daze.

“What are you eating? Don’t just sit there staring.”

“…Whatever.”

“Tch… I hate ‘whatever’ people the most.”

Lin Yu rolled her eyes hard and casually added a few skewers of grilled vegetables for his share.

“Gulp.”

Pouring herself a cup of scalding brick tea to soothe her smoke-hoarse throat, Lin Yu finally couldn’t help frowning and asking:

“So… why did you suddenly want barbecue?
At a time like this, shouldn’t the normal plot progression be going to a bar to drown sorrows?
What’s with eating skewers?”

Luo Shaotian put down his teacup, his tone calm.

“Isn’t this your favorite?”

Lin Yu’s hand holding the teacup trembled slightly, and for a moment she was actually at a loss for words.

This guy… actually remembered something like that?

Indeed—back when they were dirt poor, just passing by a barbecue stall and smelling it was enough to stop her in her tracks.

Back then, the two brothers scraping together money for a few skewers could squat by the curb and be happy for half the night.

Although now, with magical-girl-level pay, she’d long since gotten sick of roadside stalls—

Lin Yu irritably scratched her head.

“Didn’t I already lay everything bare just now?
In a situation this awkward-to-death, what’s with you treating me to a meal?”

She puffed out her chest, deliberately showing off the full curves, and teased in an extremely punchable tone:

“What, huh? Really planning to go gay for me?
Trying to pick me up?”

“I’m warning you, Officer Luo! I’m a hot-blooded tough guy!
A steel-hard straight man! Three million definitely won’t bend me!”

Faced with this utterly shameless rant, Luo Shaotian turned his face aside with a headache and sighed.

“Why do you always say this kind of… atmosphere-ruining nonsense?”

“If I don’t say this, what should I say? Talk philosophy of life with you?!”

Lin Yu leaned back in her chair without a shred of elegance, her over-the-knee-sock-clad legs swinging under the table as she continued rolling her eyes.

“I’ve already been pushed into this state by you… and you still expect me to keep my composure?”

“Pushed into… what state?”

“Huh?! You still dare ask what state?!”

Lin Yu shot upright like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, slamming one hand hard against her heaving chest.

“Put yourself in my shoes and think about it—”

Emotion surging, her delicate little face flushed bright red, her cheeks puffed up like a hamster hoarding grain.

“If the secret you find hardest to talk about deep down… got completely stripped bare—
could you still stay calm?! Huh?!”

Her voice had gotten a bit too loud.

“Ahem… guli—miss—uh, could you maybe… leave a little air for others?”

Just then, a waiter wearing a small embroidered cap came over with steaming skewers, an awkward yet polite smile on his face.

“There are other guests dining here as well. Let’s not let our voices fly too far, alright?”

“Uh…”

Lin Yu instantly deflated like a punctured balloon.

She shrank her neck, the redness spreading all the way to her ears, and muttered softly:

“S-sorry… I’ll keep it down…”

After the waiter set the plates down and left, Lin Yu let out a long sigh.

She grabbed a lamb skewer still sizzling with oil and took a vicious bite, as if that piece of meat were Luo Shaotian himself.

This time, she lowered her voice to a volume only the two of them could hear:

“Now do you get what I mean?
I’ve socially died this hard—how am I supposed to stay calm?”

“I get it…”

Luo Shaotian also picked up a skewer, but didn’t eat it.

His gaze drifted.

First landing on the charred-yellow lamb in his hand, then uncontrollably drifting to the girl across from him, eating with her mouth full of oil.

Watching those lips stained with glistening grease, slightly swollen from the spice…

Luo Shaotian’s Adam’s apple rolled uncontrollably.

“What are you staring at?!”

Sensing that strange gaze, Lin Yu glared back while chewing, her words muffled.

“Keep staring and I’ll dig your eyeballs out!
I’m not food!”

Luo Shaotian blushed, lowered his head, and silently put the lamb skewer into his mouth, chewing as the salty aroma spread over his taste buds.

They sat in awkward silence for quite a while.

After some time, Luo Shaotian felt he should say something.

He set down the bamboo skewer, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and asked a question he’d wanted to ask for a long time—but never dared to.

“Hey, A-Yu. Back then… why did you join this company?”

“To make money.”

“Yeah.”

Lin Yu instinctively wanted to toss out a “that’s a different price” and brush it off.

But looking at Luo Shaotian’s overly serious, stubborn eyes, she swallowed the lie back down.

Whatever—her underwear was already gone. What was there left to hide?

“Why else? Because I was poor.”

She shrugged, her tone full of give-up-and-own-it frankness.

“You think everyone’s like you? Family loaded, graduate from college and land an iron rice bowl?”

“And me? The first job I finally found after graduating—I didn’t last long before being ‘advised’ to leave.
Didn’t make much money, and I even lost my fresh-graduate status…”

At this point, Lin Yu downed a big gulp of milk beer, as if dousing the fire in her chest.

“After that, with the pressure piling up, a year passed… and trying to find another job…”

“Haha, you know how things are here. If you won’t do it, plenty of others will. And with a big stain on your record…”

“I did think about delivering food or hauling bricks, but… how should I put it…”

She lowered her head, awkwardly picking at the wood grain on the table with her fingers, her voice dropping.

“At least I was a proper bachelor’s graduate.
Somewhere inside, I still had a tiny bit of—ridiculous—pride.”

“During that time, I was just burning through my savings.
Watching my balance drop to double digits, while the landlord chased me like my life depended on it…”

Lin Yu let out a bitter laugh, her gaze drifting.

“Just when I was really about to collapse and pack up to crawl back home, that so-called Super Taiyi—like it had calculated everything—pushed the recruitment ad straight onto my phone.”

“Two hundred thousand a year base during probation, full benefits, extra personal accident insurance… even the option to advance the first month’s salary on the spot.”

“That kind of temptation, to me back then, was basically a life-saving straw.”

“So… I just muddle-headedly sold myself.”

Luo Shaotian listened quietly, a trace of complicated emotion flashing through his eyes.

He nodded, then asked:

“But… looking at you now, it doesn’t seem like you enjoy it much?
Especially the transformation… if you resist it that much, didn’t you think about quitting?”

“Quit? Ha!”

Lin Yu snorted exaggeratedly, like she’d heard the funniest joke in the world.

“Who told you I didn’t think about it? On the very first day, I wanted to hoist my luggage and flee overnight, okay?!”

“Then why—”

“Five million!”

She held up one hand, five slender fingers waving in front of Luo Shaotian, her voice full of indignation.

“The breach penalty is a damn five million! A full five million!
Even if you chopped me up and sold me by the pound, I wouldn’t be worth that much!
So what choice did I have? I could only grit my teeth and endure.”

Lin Yu grabbed a skewer of grilled chives and took a distracted bite.

“But… how should I say it? After enduring for a while, you kind of get used to it.”

“The job’s tough, the embarrassment level is off the charts, and sometimes you even have to risk your life…”

“But it pays well. It gives me the dignity and opportunity to stand my ground in this city that eats people without leaving bones.”

“At least… I don’t have to worry about next month’s rent anymore.
I don’t have to stare at discount labels in the supermarket and calculate every penny.”

At this point, Lin Yu put down the bamboo skewer.

She propped her cheek with one hand, gazing at the bustling nightscape outside the window, the corner of her mouth curling into an extremely self-mocking smile.

“Even though I really don’t want to admit it… in the end…”

“For a bit of money, even a man’s dignity and body can be sold…”

“If I really were a woman… I’d probably be a hopelessly rotten one too…”

📚 Also on NHV Novels

How can I, the Holy Son, marry someone?

BattleFemale ProtagonistMarriage

Read Now →
Not interested