Chapter 1: Tenfold Cashback
Chapter 1: Tenfold Cashback
“Open the door! Hurry up and open the door!”
From inside the rented apartment came occasional ambiguous, coquettish voices, while Zheng Qian anxiously called from outside.
It was the weekend, yet Zheng Qian had to work overtime. He came back to retrieve a document but never expected to hear such sounds outside the door.
The door had been locked from the inside. Even though Zheng Qian had the key, he couldn’t open it. He desperately wanted to know what was going on inside.
Ten minutes later.
Zheng Qian’s girlfriend, Yao Manman, opened the door and stepped out.
“Aren’t you working late? Why are you back so soon?”
Yao Manman was quite attractive, though her hair was disheveled and her clothes untidy. Seeing Zheng Qian, she appeared calm and showed no hint of shame.
“Who’s inside?” Zheng Qian said, about to rush in, but Yao Manman stopped him.
“Who? Zheng Qian?” A man wearing only underwear appeared behind Yao Manman.
“Chang… Chang Rui? What are you two doing behind my back?” Anger quickly filled Zheng Qian’s face.
“What else? Of course, we’re doing it!” Chang Rui pulled Yao Manman into his arms right in front of Zheng Qian.
Yao Manman didn’t resist at all and even gave a coquettish sound.
“Yao Manman, how can you do this to me!” Zheng Qian clenched his fists tightly, staring fiercely at the two.
“Heh, how am I doing this to you?”
“Zheng Qian, I’m telling you right now, we’re over.”
Bang.
The door slammed shut violently, and sounds of intimacy came from inside again.
Zheng Qian slammed his fist against the wall in frustration.
Yao Manman was a freshman Zheng Qian met three years ago at university. She was stunningly beautiful, and after his relentless pursuit, they finally became a couple.
Her family was poor and didn’t approve of her attending university. She had to work part-time while studying, enduring great hardship.
After learning this, Zheng Qian gave her living expenses every month, bought her clothes and bags, and helped pay her tuition fees.
He had worked so long without saving a penny; ninety percent of his salary went to supporting Yao Manman.
He hadn’t bought a single new outfit in three years.
Now, as Yao Manman was about to graduate, Zheng Qian thought he could finally save money for their future marriage since he no longer needed to pay her tuition—only to discover this betrayal.
She had put a green hat on him—a metaphor for being cheated on.
Zheng Qian’s heart ached bitterly.
Why did this happen? After three years of hard work and sacrifice, just as she was about to graduate and become capable of working, she kicked him aside.
Was he nothing more than an ATM?
Zheng Qian was only moderately good-looking; not one to fuss over his appearance, he was inconspicuous in a crowd. Orphaned and with no strong family background, his way of winning a girl’s heart was through meticulous care and providing a sense of security and trust.
In other words, he had to be a sycophant.
If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have a girlfriend.
Who wouldn’t want a girlfriend whose eyes were only for them?
Yao Manman’s looks were goddess-level at school. Zheng Qian managed to date her by banking on the fact that after graduation he would have a steady income.
But this kind of relationship was fragile.
Zheng Qian didn’t know when Yao Manman started hooking up with Chang Rui. If he hadn’t caught them today, he might have stayed in the dark for a long time.
Fuming, Zheng Qian stepped into the elevator. As it began descending, the overhead light suddenly went out, and the elevator slowly came to a halt.
Damn! Was he stuck in the elevator now?
What rotten luck!
[Ding]
[Congratulations, host Zheng Qian, you have acquired the Divine Tycoon Love System.]
[Binding successful.]
The words flashed before Zheng Qian’s eyes.
He examined the system carefully to see what it was.
[Host is granted system support: For every dollar spent on a woman, tenfold cashback will be received, with no upper limit.]
[Host can see women’s favorability ratings toward himself. When favorability reaches the maximum, the system will cease cashback.]
[This system exists to help the host find true love. Once the host encounters the love of his life, the system will automatically unbind.]
After the system’s message, the light above Zheng Qian’s head lit up again, and the elevator resumed normal operation.
Spend money on women and get cashback? Tenfold cashback?
So if he spent one dollar, he would get ten back?
Spending money on women? Who couldn’t do that?
Back at the company, Zheng Qian immediately chose a target.
“Lili… Lili…” he whispered, calling the name of a beautiful colleague at the neighboring desk.
“Hmm?”
“Got plans after overtime? I’ll treat you to dinner,” he invited her.
Lili’s full name was Qin Xueli, the most beautiful girl in the entire company, with snow-white, long legs that made many male colleagues drool.
Qin Xueli had been pursued by many since childhood. She knew how to dress and groom herself well. She had many sycophants and wealthy admirers who showered her with luxury gifts.
Although many male coworkers hoped to get close to her, few dared because of their wallets.
Strangely, Zheng Qian, known for being stingy, suddenly wanted to treat her to a meal. Was he trying to woo her?
Qin Xueli knew Zheng Qian was a sycophant, supporting a girl with his salary. If he dared to treat her, it probably meant he had a falling out with his girlfriend and wanted to explore other options.
But given Zheng Qian’s nature, he’d probably only treat her to a cheap spicy hot pot worth a dozen yuan or so. She wasn’t interested.
“No thanks. I don’t know how late overtime will end, and I have to get home early to feed my cat,” she declined.
Zheng Qian glanced at Qin Xueli’s favorability rating toward him.
[Favorability: 10]
Favorability from 0 to 10 meant stranger; 11 to 50, ordinary friend; 51 to 60, close friend; 61 to 80, lover; 81 to 100, marriage material.
Qin Xueli’s favorability for him was only ten—meaning Zheng Qian was merely a stranger-level colleague in her eyes, not even a friend.
It made sense. Zheng Qian was frugal before, so why would someone like Qin Xueli have high favorability for him?
But that was just what he wanted.
If the favorability were too high, it would be easy to max it out with some spending, and then the system wouldn’t give cashback.
“Fine then, I thought maybe I could take you to Joy City for a walk. If you want to go home, that’s fine too,” Zheng Qian casually probed, wondering if she thought he was too poor to hang out with.
When Qin Xueli heard “Joy City,” her eyes lit up—she seemed a bit interested.
Joy City, New World, and Taikoo Li were basically the same grade of shopping malls—places for the elite.
In simple terms, these places were “upper-class squares,” where spending at least a few thousand yuan was normal.
The company’s monthly salary was only about 6,000 yuan after tax.
“I just remembered, I bought an automatic cat feeder yesterday, so I don’t have to go home so early,” Qin Xueli replied.
“So, will you go?”
“Yes.”
Zheng Qian snorted inwardly. She must think he’s too poor since she changed her mind as soon as she heard about going to Joy City.
Moreover, Qin Xueli’s favorability toward him rose by five points.
At 2:30 p.m., overtime ended.
“Didn’t expect today’s overtime to be so short. My best friend also wants to go shopping. Can I bring her along?”
Bring a best friend?
Probably she was worried Zheng Qian might do something inappropriate and wanted to keep an eye on him.
But Zheng Qian wasn’t trying to woo her—he just wanted to make some money. Whether she came or not didn’t matter.
More mouths meant more spending.
“Sure, no problem,” Zheng Qian agreed immediately.
“Great!”
Favorability rose by another five points.
Qin Xueli quickly touched up her makeup and then clocked out with Zheng Qian, leaving the company together.
Many colleagues saw this and were astonished.
“Zheng Qian is going shopping with Qin Xueli?”
“Impossible. Even just one meal there costs a thousand yuan or more.”
“He’s famous for being stingy. Would he really spend money on Qin Xueli?”
…