Chapter 10

"Really? You still seem pretty不服气 (unconvinced)?"

The young woman with the blooming complexion glanced at Zhou Ming with a sidelong look. She hadn't expected that after not leaving, Zhou Ming would walk towards her again. It seemed that this country bumpkin was just a country bumpkin, lacking in ability but with a big temper.

Zhou Ming ignored her ridicule and asked, "You should have already undergone a wage reform here. Besides your salary, the salespeople also have commissions, which are tied to sales performance, right?"

"So what if it is? It has nothing to do with you, a country bumpkin. Someone like you could never afford the clothes here in your entire life. Get lost, don't waste our time doing business here! If you keep causing trouble, I'll call the police and have you arrested!" The young woman with the blooming complexion put her hands on her hips and threatened Zhou Ming.

These words frightened Su Han. She came forward to pull Zhou Ming out, but Zhou Ming just laughed coldly and beckoned to another salesperson inside, saying, "Comrade, come over here and help me wrap up this piece of clothing."

Zhou Ming pointed to the dress that Su Han had liked earlier. The salesperson inside came out, and the young woman with the blooming complexion was dissatisfied, "Xiao Hong, what are you doing? Don't you see he's a country bumpkin? He's just playing with you, don't believe him."

Xiao Hong was taken aback and looked at Zhou Ming in confusion. Zhou Ming said, "I'll go with you to pay for it."

With that, Zhou Ming and Xiao Hong went to the cash register. The dress cost one hundred yuan. Su Han exclaimed, not expecting the dress to be so expensive, almost matching a month's salary at the factory. Zhou Ming, however, didn't feel anything. After all, in the future, which piece of clothing in the mall wasn't hundreds or thousands of yuan? One hundred yuan could only be considered very cheap, so Zhou Ming paid the money very smoothly.

Seeing this, the young woman with the blooming complexion pouted and said, "A country bumpkin pretending to be rich."

She said this clearly because she hadn't expected Zhou Ming to actually have the ability to buy the dress. But she guessed that this might be Zhou Ming deliberately showing off. A dress costing over a hundred yuan was not something an ordinary person could afford. This country bumpkin probably wanted to show off in front of his girlfriend, so he had reluctantly paid for it. In fact, the young woman with the blooming complexion was right, but unfortunately, she had met Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming glanced at her and said to Xiao Hong, "Bring out a few of the best-looking dresses in the store for me to see."

Xiao Hong agreed and quickly brought out a few dresses. Zhou Ming turned to Su Han and asked, "Which ones do you like?"

"They're all so beautiful," Su Han said.

"Then why don't you try them all on?" Zhou Ming said.

"Is... is that okay?" Su Han really wanted to try on these beautiful dresses, but the words of the young woman with the blooming complexion still made her uneasy.

"Of course, the fitting room is over here."

Hearing Xiao Hong say this, Su Han felt reassured and took the dresses to the fitting room. When Su Han came out again, Zhou Ming felt his eyes were dazzled. Su Han looked incredibly beautiful in the new dress.

They say that people are made by their clothes. Even the most beautiful woman would look ordinary if she didn't know how to dress. Zhou Ming hadn't really believed this before, but now, seeing Su Han, he was convinced. Su Han had always worn the simple, rustic clothes from the countryside, but now, in the beautiful dress, she looked completely different. Zhou Ming realized that Su Han's figure was so perfect, even better than the models he had seen in the future. Even Xiao Hong, a woman herself, exclaimed, "Wow! So beautiful!"

Faced with Zhou Ming's intense gaze, Su Han felt a bit embarrassed, her face turning red. "Do I look... a bit inappropriate in this dress?"

Zhou Ming shook his head quickly. "Absolutely not. This dress is like it was made for you, it's so beautiful!"

"Really? You're just flattering me," Su Han said, delighted.

"Of course, I didn't expect you to have such a great figure. This dress would look good on any girl, but on you, it looks perfect," Xiao Hong praised.

Zhou Ming spread his hands. "I'm not just flattering you. Why don't you try on the other dresses?"

Su Han nodded and tried on the other dresses. Except for one that didn't fit, the others all looked great. Zhou Ming said to Xiao Hong, "Wrap them all up."

"Sure, sir. The total is two thousand yuan," Xiao Hong said.

As Zhou Ming took out the money to pay, the young woman with the blooming complexion walked over and said, "Sir, I'm very sorry. I was the one who greeted you when you came in, so I should be the one to handle your payment now."

Before Zhou Ming could respond, Xiao Hong was already unhappy. "Sister Lin, what do you mean? This gentleman specifically asked me to handle the payment."

The young woman with the blooming complexion pleaded with Zhou Ming, "Sir, I was wrong to judge you by your appearance. I was rude to you earlier, please don't hold it against me."

Zhou Ming ignored the young woman with the blooming complexion and asked Xiao Hong, "For two thousand yuan in sales, what is your commission roughly?"

"About five or six hundred yuan," Xiao Hong replied.

Hearing this, Zhou Ming understood why the young woman with the blooming complexion, who had never bowed to a customer before, was now apologizing to him. It was all about the money. Five or six hundred yuan was not a small amount in the 1980s, even in Jiangxia Shopping Mall, it was equivalent to a quarter's salary. Imagine earning four months' salary in one day, who wouldn't want that?

It wasn't hard to imagine that the young woman with the blooming complexion was now regretting it bitterly. If she had a chance to do it over, she would never have said those things to Zhou Ming and Su Han, and would have treated them like royalty.

But there was no such thing as a regret pill. Zhou Ming said to Xiao Hong, "You did a great job today. Please wrap up the dresses I chose and the ones she took off. And remember, never judge people by their appearance, okay?"

Xiao Hong nodded happily, while the young woman with the blooming complexion looked dejected: four months' salary, all lost because of one wrong word.

...

Zhou Ming and Su Han walked out of the shopping mall together, carrying the dresses. People passing by all looked at the couple in surprise, mainly because Su Han was so beautiful, while Zhou Ming was still wearing the clothes from Nanhui County. The stark contrast was hard to accept, and everyone could only sigh, "Another beautiful flower on a pile of cow dung."

Su Han didn't care about others' gazes. To her, Zhou Ming was not just any man, but the prince charming of all girls' dreams!

Su Han had never imagined she would have the chance to wear dresses costing hundreds of yuan. Reflecting on what had happened, if it weren't for Zhou Ming, she would have been ridiculed by the young woman with the blooming complexion.

Thinking of this, Su Han did something that made the surrounding men want to kill Zhou Ming: she took his arm.

"Zhou Ming, thank you," Su Han said softly.

"Don't thank me. Our Su Han is so beautiful, my mission is to protect you from being bullied," Zhou Ming said with a smile.

"But... these dresses are so expensive," Su Han said, speaking from the heart. She usually wore clothes that cost just a few yuan at the factory, and these dresses costing hundreds of yuan seemed too expensive to her. Even though they had earned six thousand yuan in Jiangxia, spending a third of it on her made her feel guilty towards Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming, however, said nonchalantly, "Is that so? But I think these dresses don't even match your beauty. If I have the ability, next time I'll take you to the special economic zone in Lingnan to buy even better clothes."

Su Han looked up and asked, "Zhou Ming, do you really think I'm that good?"

"Of course. Haven't you seen how the men on the street look at me as if they want to kill me?" Zhou Ming teased.

Su Han felt her eyes well up. She had never felt so cherished by a man before. She clung tightly to Zhou Ming's arm and made a decision...

It was five o'clock in the afternoon when Zhou Ming and Su Han arrived at the Jiangxia station. Zhou Ming called Dai Zhenjiang first, then they boarded the train back to Linyang. Ten hours later, they returned to Linyang. Since it was early morning, Zhou Ming and Su Han checked into two rooms at a hotel in the city to rest.

Zhou Ming was about to go to sleep when he heard a knock on his door. He opened it to see Su Han standing there, her face flushed. Zhou Ming asked, puzzled, "Su Han, what's wrong?"

Su Han lowered her head and, after a long hesitation, said, "Zhou Ming, there are cockroaches in my room, I'm scared."

Cockroaches? This was the best hotel in Linyang, not some rural inn with poor hygiene. How could there be cockroaches?

But Zhou Ming didn't think much about it. "Why don't you sleep in my room, and I'll sleep in yours?"

"No!" Su Han immediately objected, but under Zhou Ming's puzzled gaze, she hesitated and explained, "I... I'm afraid there might be cockroaches in your room too."

"There shouldn't be. I checked, and the hygiene conditions are good," Zhou Ming said.

But Su Han still shook her head. "Zhou Ming, why don't... we sleep in the same room?"

Zhou Ming's eyes widened. At first, he thought he had heard wrong. Su Han was actually asking him to sleep in the same room? What was going on? Was it because she was afraid of cockroaches, or was there another reason?

Before Zhou Ming could think it through, Su Han, seeing his reaction, suddenly burst into tears. "Zhou Ming, do you think I have a bad reputation? But that's all Huang Zheng's slander. I really... I really am not like that."

The sudden tears made Zhou Ming flustered. He shook his head repeatedly. "No, Su Han, in my heart, you are always the purest and most beautiful!"

"Then... can we sleep in the same room tonight?" Su Han asked, her big, watery eyes full of hope.

Faced with Su Han's hopeful gaze, Zhou Ming could only nod reluctantly. "Okay, Su Han, you sleep in the bed, and I'll sleep on the sofa."

Hearing Zhou Ming's answer, Su Han's tears turned to a joyful smile, leaving Zhou Ming puzzled about what she was thinking.