Chapter 1: This is what life is all about

  The Agricultural Bank's business hall was crowded with people, the electronic board displayed a queue number of 187, but Jiang Xiaoying's ticket number in her hand was 249.

  Although there are four windows working on it, you'll have to wait at least half an hour for your turn.

  "The bank is busiest in the morning, it seems we'll have to wait a bit longer." said Jiang Xiaoying.

  "Why wait?"

  Qin Yan pointed to the VIP window and walked straight towards it, Jiang Xiaoying hurriedly followed him, saying: "That place is only for VIPs to handle business!"

  Soon, the person in charge of 'piapia' arrived at the VIP window and Qin Yan handed his ID through the window: "Hello, I'd like to apply for a card."

  The woman at the VIP window, about thirty years old, with a thick layer of makeup on her face, looked at him and said: "Sorry sir, please go to that side to queue up, this is the VIP window."

  Like some TV shows, when encountering poor people, they have a look of disdain, but in reality, such situations are extremely rare. After all, they are service personnel and do not want to be complained about by customers. The heavily made-up woman's tone was still quite polite, but upon closer inspection, it can be seen that her eyes flashed with impatience and contempt.

  Qin Yan slightly furrowed his brow and said calmly: "I know this is the VIP window, can't I apply for a VIP card?"

  "VIP gold card minimum deposit of 1.5 million, platinum card minimum deposit of 5 million."

  The woman was still quite polite, but gave people a kind of waiting to see the joke feeling, and the commotion here also attracted the attention of some nearby customers.

  When they saw Jiang Xiaoying, many people still felt a bright spot in front of their eyes. However, when they saw Qin Yan handling the business, each and every one of their expressions was truly wonderful.

  What is a successful person?

  Every industry has a different definition of what makes someone successful, but no matter which industry you put Qin Yan in, his appearance is completely unrelated to that of a successful person and absolutely belongs to the bottom-of-the-barrel type.

  Don't even mention VIP cards, just that outfit of his which adds up to less than eighty yuan is really suspicious how someone like him could possibly have money in the bank.

  For some reason, everyone was staring at Qin Yan with a look of watching a play, and Jiang Xiaoying's heart rose with a flame. She took out her bank card from her bag and slapped it on the table by the window: "Transfer all 50 million in here to his white gold card!"

  50 million?!

  The heavily made-up woman looked a bit dazed, and she still couldn't believe it. After taking the card and swiping it through the machine, the string of numbers on the screen immediately made her realize the severity of the problem.

  No, 5 million is not a big number. In the city center of a first-tier metropolis, it's only enough to buy a three-bedroom apartment.

  But!

  This is also not a small amount, at least the vast majority of people can't afford it, let alone this 5 million is cash. Having assets worth 5 million and having 5 million in cash are two different concepts. If the other party complains to the manager in anger, she will be in trouble.

  When Jiang Xiaoying shouted out 50 million, those guys who were watching with a mocking mentality all withdrew their gaze, looking embarrassed.

  "Damn! Now rich people are really disgusting, they just like to pretend to be poor!"

  "That's just the bad taste of rich people."

  "You think having money is impressive?"

  "You'd be surprised, having money really makes a difference, you don't even need to queue up for business."

  A murmur of low voices came from the crowd, but Qin Yan was not in the least bit concerned. Instead, he looked at Jiang Xiaoyan with some interest and smiled lightly: "I'm not even angry, why are you so agitated?"

  "They look down on people, and I just can't stand it!" Jiang Xiaoying said with hatred.

  "They look down on me, but they don't look down on you."

  "I..."

  Jiang Xiaoying's face suddenly flushed for no reason, and she found Qin Yan staring at her with that strange gaze. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed and angry: "You like being looked down on so much, next time something like this happens, I'll just pretend I didn't see it, okay?"

  Qin Yan knew she was getting a bit angry, so he didn't dwell on the topic and said: "Didn't I tell you? We'll split this 5 million evenly."

  "This is your money, I don't want it."

  Without waiting for him to speak, Jiang Xiaoying said seriously: "You have your reasons, but I absolutely won't accept it, because I also have my own stance and dignity. Besides, I also know that in the entertainment industry, at first, it's very costly, you're already my agent, my food and lodging still rely on you."

  She said that just because she didn't want to take Qin Yan's money, in fact, she never planned to let Qin Yan spend money on her.

  If she was that kind of woman, how could she have given Zhu Tong an IOU for 50,000 yuan?

  Applying for a new card and transferring money takes some time, Qin Yan casually picked up a newspaper from the bookshelf to read, and was immediately attracted by the headline news of Pingjiang Daily.

  Front-page headline: Police launch full-scale crackdown, smashing black society dens.

  The police in Pingjiang City took action overnight and destroyed a long-standing underworld organization that had been entrenched in the city for many years.

  All of this was within Qin Yan's expectations. Gou Feng was Huang Sanjiang's greatest assistant, and he knew everything about Huang Sanjiang's affairs. With his testimony, Huang Sanjiang was doomed to die. The key point is that later on, it was mentioned that although the black society organization had been destroyed, some of its core members had escaped in advance.

  He came back last night at nearly ten o'clock, and the criminal police team was still interrogating Hou Feng.

  In other words, the police didn't stop for a moment in between, and immediately took action after interrogating Ku Feng, so how could Huang Sanjiang possibly get wind of it and escape?

  The only possibility is that there are internal members of the police force who provide information to Hou Feng!

  Furthermore, why would the insider provide information to Hou Feng?

  The answer floats up to the surface!

  Because this traitor has a handle in Huang Sanjiang's hands, once Huang Sanjiang is caught by the police, it is likely that he will confess and expose the traitor.

  "Alright, let's set a password now." Jiang Xiaoying pulled Qin Yan's thoughts back.

  "What's for dinner?" Qin Yan asked casually while typing in his password.

  "Whatever."

  "It's just ten o'clock."

  Qin Yan glanced at the time on his phone and said: "First go buy you some clothes, then we'll go eat."

  Buy clothes?

  Jiang Xiaoying was taken aback for a moment, then shook her head and said, "I don't need to buy clothes."

  "Dress for the ball."

  He looked her up and down for a moment, then Qin Yan revealed a mysterious smile: "Aren't we going to have a dance party? We can't let Wang Kai laugh at us. My face is thick-skinned, but you're a girl, you can't not care."

  Jiang Xiaoying wanted to be moved by his words, but she just couldn't: was he really going to accompany her to the dance party?

  Deep down, she would rather not attend the dance party and be laughed at by Wang Kai than attend with Qin Yan and be ridiculed by even more people.

  It's just that she didn't say it out loud, Qin Yan helped her too much, saying this kind of thing wouldn't make him feel embarrassed?

  Forget it!

  Being laughed at is being laughed at, who made you owe him so many favors?

  She had made up her mind that if Qin Yan asked to be her dance partner at the ball, she would agree even if it meant losing face. At least, he wasn't as bad as Zhang Yingying and Wang Kai thought; apart from not being very handsome, being sloppy and having a stupid expression when seeing beautiful women, he had many hidden advantages.

  For example, he is very good at fighting, for example, he is not a loser, his economic conditions are also very good, for example, his music skills are amazing.

  In short, in Jiang Xiaoyan's eyes, he is far from perfect, but rather much better than Wang Kai.

  Not far from Nonghang is Pingjiang's famous commercial street.

  Qin Yan walked in front, Jiang Xiaoying followed behind, the two always kept a distance of about one meter, and those who didn't know thought they were strangers.

  Jiang Xiaoying felt a bit apprehensive, transferring the 5 million to Qin Yan. She only had over 2,000 yuan left in her card, and the evening gown for the ball was not cheap.

  In fact, the economic situation of her family was not as bad as imagined. It's just that students in performing arts schools invest a lot before they become famous, so most students at Su Ying have a pretty good family background. In comparison, her family background is much worse, and she can't afford to buy expensive clothes.

  "Try this one." Qin Yan pointed at the long dress on the mannequin in the window.

  "I... I'll choose for myself."

  She didn't want Qin Yan to help her choose because their tastes were different, and she was also worried that the clothes Qin Yan chose would be too expensive.

  Qin Yan slightly furrowed his brow and said: "I'm your agent, so of course I'll be in charge of choosing clothes. Your taste is really not good."

  What?

  If other students in the college say that she has poor eyesight, she can't say much, after all, many girls come from rich families and dress up every day, in this aspect, she is indeed inferior.

  But...

  Is it just him?

  This guy who dresses similarly to Xi Li Ge actually said she has no taste, isn't that ridiculous?

  "From now on, I'll be in charge of your dressing and attire."

  Qin Yan seemed to ignore the doubt in her eyes, walking towards the store displaying long dresses while saying: "Although you've just started performing at a bar, it's unlikely you'll formally enter the entertainment industry in a short period of time. However, preparing ahead of time is necessary, only by cultivating early can one be prepared for any situation."

  After finishing his speech, he walked into the store and first turned around in the store. Then he pointed to several clothes: "This one, this one... and that short skirt, yes! Also bring over the shoes worn by the model."

  International luxury brands, while producing the world's most beautiful clothing, also make the vast majority of people sigh with their high prices of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands.

  Not to mention Qin Yan's outfit, even Jiang Xiaoyan, who looked neat and tidy, wore a cheap dress.

  With the venomous eyes of a luxury clothing store clerk, it's obvious at a glance that they're cheap goods. Can this couple afford to buy McQueen's formal wear and several sets of clothes in one go?

  Several shop assistants looked embarrassed and didn't know what to say. It's not possible to directly express their true thoughts, or they would be finished if a complaint was filed.

  What if something goes wrong when letting that girl try it on?

  Even if it's just a slight scratch, it can't be sold anymore. Are we supposed to let this young couple in cheap clothes compensate for it? Even if they sell their skin, they won't be able to afford it!

  "I'll take that evening gown."

  The sudden appearance of the voice helped several shop assistants a lot, at least diverting potential conflicts from them to between customers.