"Cheng Nuo, guess how much we've earned today!"
Xiaoxiao asked Cheng Nuo with a mysterious look on her face, waving the pink wallet in her hand.
"More than 500 Yuan, I think?"
"Congratulations. You are right!" Xiaoxiao said cheerfully. "To be more exact, it's 535 Yuan! What do you think? Isn't that great?"
They were selling each toy for five Yuan, which meant that they had sold a total of 107 toys. This was the result of them emptying five claw machines.
Xiaoxiao fished out the 535 Yuan from her wallet and passed it to Cheng Nuo. "Here you go!"
Naturally, Cheng Nuo should've pocketed all the money, because he was the one who had caught all the toys and it was also him who had been running around to protect their stall from the officer.
"Cheng Nuo, you must treat us to something good since you've earned so much!" Xiaoxiao urged as she swallowed her saliva.
"Of course!" Cheng Nuo fished out two 100 Yuan bills and shoved one into Mu Leng's hand and the other into Xiaoxiao's hand. "This is your payment, beauties. The two of you attracted so many customers for me earlier!"
"100 Yuan! I can buy so many snacks with 100 Yuan! Potato chips, prawn crackers, popcorn, pistachios… Here I come!" Xiaoxiao thought.
Beaming with joy, Xiaoxiao put the money in her pocket. Then she patted Cheng Nuo's shoulder and said, looking serious, "I knew I could count on you, Cheng Nuo! From now on, I officially declare you Su Xiaoxiao's friend!"
She clenched her fists and added, "As friends, you must remember to share good food with me in the future! Yes, I'd prefer snacks!" She licked her lips as she spoke.
Cheng Nuo and Mu Leng were speechless.
Initially, Cheng Nuo had expected Xiaoxiao to say something along the lines of "friends should share happiness and suffering together". However, to his astonishment, Xiaoxiao had befriended him just for… snacks!
"Then why are you so petite given your strong craving for snacks? That's unfair for so many people out there!" Cheng Nuo thought.
"Well…" Cheng Nuo paused for a moment before he could remember what he wanted to say. "Xiaoxiao, where's the hot pot restaurant that you mentioned? Let's go now!"
The original plan for the day was to have a good lunch. Things like shopping were never the main focus. As for playing the claw machines and selling the toys they had gotten, none of it was part of their agenda at all.
Hence, they had digressed quite a fair bit.
Cheng Nuo checked the time. It was 12:30 PM. Not too late.
At noon, all of Qing Cheng was covered in the strong radiance of the sun. Xiaoxiao led the way to the restaurant while Cheng Nuo and Mu Leng were following behind.
"There it is! The taste of their hot pot is supreme!"
Xiaoxiao said as she pointed at a restaurant in front of them.
Cheng Nuo looked up and saw that the name of the restaurant was "Golden Cauldron Hot Pot". Its interior design was reminiscent of a two-story tavern from ancient times. Judging from the number of customers in the restaurant, one could tell that it was a rather popular place.
"Good afternoon. How many people?" A waiter approached them with a friendly smile as soon as they entered.
"Three."
"This way, please."
The waiter guided them to a table for four and handed a menu to Cheng Nuo.
Cheng Nuo passed the menu to the two girls and smiled. "Choose whatever you like, ladies. Anything at all!" As a gentleman, it was good manners to let the girls order the food.
Cheng Nuo made a "rich-man" gesture.
At the moment, Cheng Nuo had 581.50 Yuan in his pocket. This huge sum of money was unprecedented to him! He had never been richer.
Cheng Nuo leaned on the chair lazily with his hands on the armrests and his legs crossed, looking like someone with deep pockets. Even the waitress beside them started to look at him differently.
His shirt was Armani and his watch was Patek Philippe. Even his phone was the newest model of the iPhone series.
"Is he from a rich family?" the waitress thought.
She was right. Cheng Nuo was indeed from a rich family. However… his definition of "rich" was the 581.50 Yuan in his pocket.
Meanwhile, Xiaoxiao and Mu Leng didn't stand on ceremony.
Mu Leng knew about Cheng Nuo's family conditions, thus she believed that his parents would never be stingy with him when it came to pocket money. Besides, she was really determined to rip Cheng Nuo off this time. At the same time, Xiaoxiao had greedy guts, so she certainly wouldn't miss any food that she'd like to try.
They first ordered a double-flavor soup base, a few plates of beef and mutton, some prawn paste, and beef balls. Then they ordered a few more plates of vegetables. Whether they could finish all of them was not in their consideration.
Therefore, after some discussion between the two girls, an order full of their "sincerity" was complete.
Looking at their order, the waitress hesitated and asked, "Ladies and gentleman, are you sure you'd like to order all of this?"
"Yes. I'm rich!" Cheng Nuo said in an exaggerated tone.
In fact, he hadn't checked the order yet. But he didn't think two girls could eat a lot. Hence, he estimated that the bill would be 200 Yuan at most.
"Oh and, two more plates of beef please!" Cheng Nuo called out to the waitress who was about to walk away.
"Err… Yes, Sir," replied the waitress.
Since he was a rich kid, he would surely be able to pay his bill. Hence, whether he could finish his food was the least of the waitress' concerns.
After ten minutes…
Cheng Nuo stared at the stack of plates on the table. There were five plates of beef, four plates of mutton, and over ten plates of other food. He had started to doubt himself.
"I need the loo." Cheng Nuo excused himself from the table.
He walked to the counter and asked the cashier, "Hello. May I know the bill for table number 5?"
"Hello. The bill for table number 5 is 581 Yuan!" the cashier replied with a sweet smile. The waitress had just told her that the boy sitting at table number 5 was a rich kid. Hence, she must treat him politely. Who knew whether he would tip her!
"581 Yuan!"
The number almost gave Cheng Nuo a heart attack.
"Sir, would you like to pay now?" the cashier asked after a long silence.
"Yes, please," Cheng Nuo replied, passing the money to the cashier. He was reluctant to part with his money.
"Thank you. Here's your receipt" said the cashier. Cheng Nuo accepted it, looking dejected.
"Hello? I've put in so much effort just to earn that huge sum of 581.50 Yuan! But… I'm penniless after just one meal!"
Cheng Nuo touched the 50 cent coin in his pocket, feeling miserable.
"Cheng Nuo, what took you so long?" Xiaoxiao swallowed a slice of beef and looked at Cheng Nuo.
"Nothing," he replied. He couldn't tell them!
......