Yi Fan didn't know where to place his hands, so he clasped them behind his back.
Because of her floating ability, Li Yin hung around Yi Fan's neck with only the faintest sense of weight.
There was no need to step back; he could fully feel the soft, gentle sensation and the scent of violets.
Yi Fan had never been this close to a girl before.
Even though he knew the two hugs they'd shared were purely based on friendship, he still couldn't help his heart racing and his mouth going dry.
Feigning composure required some acting skills, and Yi Fan managed to say, "No need to thank me. What's there to thank? We're important partners. Helping each other is only natural!"
"Got it!" Li Yin's smile was unstoppable as she energetically floated into the air. "I'll work even harder! I'll make sure our escape room wins the EGA Gold Award and we'll make lots of money together!"
Besides earning money, there was also the feeling of being recognized.
Having never experienced this before, Li Yin cherished the feeling deeply once she did.
Yi Fan sat down and took a sip of tea to calm his nerves, then smiled at her in the air. "With Li Yin here, we're bound to win the Gold Award this year. Once we win, I want to rent a bigger venue and make an immersive haunted city that can host hundreds of guests at once. Then you can truly shine!"
Li Yin beamed with joy. "Really? That sounds great!"
"Really. I'm also planning to have you learn magic tricks. That way, you can teach those magicians a lesson and show them what real magic looks like."
"Sure!" Li Yin formed a flower out of frost in mid-air.
"When you become famous someday, I'll be your manager. We'll go on a global tour and make tons of money!"
"Make tons of money?"
"It means to earn a lot."
"Okay! Make tons of money!"
They looked at each other and laughed even harder.
Yi Fan asked gently, "Li Yin, are you hungry? Want to grab a late-night snack?"
"I'm not hungry," Li Yin thought for a moment. "How about you order that shaved ice we had the other day? It was delicious."
"Sure. You want some?"
"No, I'm on a diet."
After locking up the shop and greeting Uncle Wang downstairs, they walked home.
On the way, Yi Fan checked his social media and saw recommendation posts by Xie Jialin and Gao Xueqing. A lot of friends began reaching out after seeing those posts.
Starting was always the hardest part. The quality of The Ghost Marriage was evident, and as long as word-of-mouth spread, attendance wouldn't be a problem.
To further create a sense of scarcity, Yi Fan decided to raise ticket prices and reduce the number of sessions, leaving only one in the afternoon and one in the evening.
This would not only reduce Li Yin's workload but also maintain the hype.
He posted an announcement about the price increase in a week and reduced the sessions on the platform.
As expected, tomorrow's tickets sold out within minutes.
The scarcity marketing and price hike strategy were deadly for those still hesitating.
Yi Fan shared the good news with Li Yin. "We're really making money now. Tomorrow's tickets are sold out, which means we've already earned 4,000 ."
"Yay!" Li Yin clapped her hands behind her back, her face glowing with excitement.
At this rate, she might be able to pay off her debt very soon.
Yi Fan realized the same and decided it was time to do something to increase Li Yin's debt.
He didn't even know why he thought that; he just didn't want Li Yin to pay off her debt too quickly.
"Li Yin, let's buy you a phone," he suggested.
"Huh?" Li Yin frowned. "A phone? Isn't that expensive?"
"A few thousand yuan. In modern society, it's a necessity."
"Oh… okay then."
Yi Fan glanced at his balance—it wasn't enough to buy a phone. He quickly contacted Xie Jialin.
[Borrow 10,000 .]
Xie Jialin didn't ask any questions and directly transferred the money.
With cash in hand, Yi Fan felt emboldened. He pointed at a billboard by the roadside. "How about a tri-fold phone? We can get it on installment."
Li Yin shook her head. "Didn't you say that's too expensive? I'll just get a cheaper one."
I just want to buy you the expensive one.
Yi Fan coughed lightly and looked toward the Apple logo on the other side. "How about this one? There's a Pro Max version that's pretty good."
"How much is it?"
"Very affordable."
Before Li Yin could respond, Yi Fan led her into the store.
Seeing the price tag, Li Yin glanced at Yi Fan. "Ten thousand yuan. That's expensive."
Yi Fan maintained his composure. "That's just how much they cost."
"Really?" Li Yin looked at him again, feeling like something was off.
The white model, without the warranty plan, cost exactly 9,999 .
The money Xie Jialin had just transferred vanished instantly.
After adding the 20 spent on shaved ice, Yi Fan was left with a balance of 1,941 .
Meanwhile, Li Yin wrote in her notebook, "Debt: 23,968.50 ."
Closing the notebook, Li Yin silently stared at Yi Fan. Silence speaks louder than words.
Yi Fan pretended not to notice. "Let's go home and play with your new phone."
At home, the couch was back in the living room, and a 1.2-meter-wide bed had been installed in the study. The landlord was kind enough to help set up a new bedding set. Seeing this, Li Yin's earlier frustration about spending so much money disappeared. She floated onto the bed and rolled around.
"So soft and comfy. Thanks, Yi Fan!"
"Right?" Yi Fan sat at the dining table with his shaved ice.
Just as he opened the plastic bag to start eating, Li Yin floated over and stopped him.
"Wait!"
Yi Fan looked at her in confusion.
"It's melted. It won't taste good. Want me to refreeze it for you?" she said seriously.
The words sounded familiar, as if he'd heard them before.
Yi Fan asked cautiously, "One $?"
"Yep!" Li Yin tilted her head with a grin.
Yi Fan finally understood. Li Yin's plan all along had been to make him buy shaved ice so she could charge for freezing it. She truly had a business mind.
"Go ahead, freeze it."
Crunch, crunch.
The sound of water molecules freezing filled the room.
As Yi Fan ate his ice, he said, "Go shower first. Tomorrow's tickets are sold out, so let's wash up and get some rest early."
"Okay! But before bed, I want to review today's issues with you and practice pretending to be a couple."
"Alright, go ahead."
The sound of running water came from the bathroom.
Yi Fan couldn't help but recall a classic line and scooped up a large spoonful of shaved ice to cool down.
Trying to focus, he suddenly remembered an important task.
He opened a browser, set the search filter to before 2003, and entered:
[School bullying.]
[Sorry, no results found.]
Before 2003, there wasn't a single relevant article.
He tried searching for "suicide" and found a few, but none seemed related to Li Yin. Clearly, this wouldn't be easy to investigate.
After a moment's hesitation, Yi Fan had a sudden idea and entered two characters:
[Ye Shi.]