The Price of Revenge Shopping

“Miss, please, have a seat and rest; I’ll handle all these chores and heavy lifting!”

“Miss, do have some water. This is our shop’s specially sourced Evian.”

“Miss, how do you find this champagne-colored nightgown? It’s pure silk and perfectly complements your skin tone!”

Xiang Qing gazed at the mountain of shopping bags and the sales assistant’s fawning expression, her heart swelling with exhilaration.

‘So this is what it feels like to be rich?’

‘It’s absolutely exhilarating!’

“Check out,” Xiang Qing stated, crossing her legs as she handed over her black card.

“Certainly, Miss! The total comes to seven hundred eighty-eight thousand, eight hundred eighty-eight. We’ll round it down for you, so it’s just seven hundred eighty-eight thousand, eight hundred!”

Pfft—

Xiang Qing nearly spat out the mouthful of water she had just taken.

‘How… how much?’

‘Over seven hundred thousand?’

‘She’d only bought a few scraps of fabric, yet it cost nearly eight hundred thousand?’

‘She hadn’t even paid off her debt to Gu Wei, and now, in a single spree, she’d spent enough for a down payment on a house?’

Xiang Qing’s heart bled.

‘If she’d known it would be this expensive, she would have taken fewer pairs of silk stockings…’

‘No!’

‘Absolutely not!’

Xiang Qing vehemently shook her head.

‘What is there to fear?’

‘It’s Gu Wei’s money she’s spending!’

‘The more it pained her, the more successful her revenge would be!’

‘Yes! That’s precisely it!’

The thought of Gu Wei’s face, likely contorted with rage upon seeing the bill, brightened Xiang Qing’s mood considerably.

“Card,” she uttered, her expression unwavering, her pulse steady.

Beep—

As the POS machine emitted a crisp chime, Xiang Qing felt her very soul ascend.

‘Exhilarating!’

‘Utterly exhilarating!’

The sensation of spending her arch-rival’s money on a shopping spree was even more thrilling than winning five million!

“Miss, here are your card and receipt. We offer city-wide delivery service; would you like us to send these to your home?”

“Deliver them!” Xiang Qing declared, rattling off Gu Wei’s home address. “And make it snappy!”

She certainly had no intention of lugging all those items back herself.

Stepping out of the mall with a contented sigh, Xiang Qing felt an undeniable swagger in her stride.

She then proceeded to the adjacent import supermarket, pushing a shopping cart and thoroughly plundering its shelves of the most expensive Wagyu beef, king crab, organic vegetables…

‘After all, Gu Wei was footing the bill! It would be a waste not to indulge!’

Xiang Qing, laden with bags of top-tier ingredients, returned to the opulent penthouse.

Pressing the doorbell, she felt a slight flutter of nervousness mingled with a hint of anticipation.

‘Had Gu Wei seen the bill for over seven hundred thousand yet?’

‘What would her reaction be?’

‘Would she storm out in a furious rage, cursing her for squandering money, or would she…’

The door opened.

Gu Wei stood right there in the doorway.

She had changed into a wine-red silk nightgown, loosely tied, revealing a significant expanse of pale skin and a tantalizing cleavage.

A lazy smile played on her lips as she looked at Xiang Qing, her eyes glinting with amusement.

“Welcome back, my little darling.”

Her voice was soft and seductive.

“The groceries… I’ve bought them.”

Feeling a prickle of discomfort under Gu Wei’s gaze, Xiang Qing instinctively held up the shopping bags in her hands.

Gu Wei’s eyes swept over the bags in Xiang Qing’s hands, then past her, to what lay behind her.

A delivery person from the mall appeared at the entrance, pushing a cart piled high with shopping bags of all sizes.

“Hello, this is Ms. Xiang’s delivery. Please sign for it.”

Gu Wei raised an eyebrow, the curve of her lips deepening into a wider smile.

Without uttering a word, she simply signed the form, then leaned against the doorframe, watching as the delivery person carried in over a dozen shopping bags, one by one, stacking them in the entryway.

Xiang Qing’s heart began to pound faster.

‘The crucial moment had arrived!’

She was braced for Gu Wei’s impending storm of fury.

Yet, Gu Wei’s reaction once again defied her expectations.

Gu Wei leisurely strolled over, casually unsealed one of the largest shopping bags, and pulled out the black slip dress that Xiang Qing had been most pleased with.

She held the dress against herself, then looked at Xiang Qing.

“You have good taste.”

Not only was she not angry, but she had actually complimented her.

Xiang Qing: ‘???’

‘This isn’t how the script was supposed to go!’

‘Weren’t you supposed to point your finger at me and call me a wasteful woman?’

‘Weren’t you supposed to be so furious that you’d make me return all these things?’

‘What kind of bizarre move is this, praising me?’

“Buying so much, do you intend to change outfits daily and parade them for me?”

Gu Wei set the dress down and slowly advanced towards Xiang Qing, a smile playing on her lips that sent shivers down Xiang Qing’s spine.

“I’m quite looking forward to it.”

She extended a hand, gently hooking Xiang Qing’s chin.

“However… shouldn’t you prepare dinner first?”

“I’m quite hungry.”

What else could she do?

‘When under someone’s roof, one must bow their head.’

‘Owing eight hundred thousand, she had no choice but to cook.’

Resigned to her fate, Xiang Qing carried the pile of ingredients into the kitchen, mentally cursing Gu Wei at least eight hundred times over.

But she soon realized an even more pressing issue.

She was still wearing her own clothes.

Meanwhile, Gu Wei, that madwoman, was staring at her with an expression that clearly said, “Why haven’t you changed yet?”

Xiang Qing: “…”

‘Fine, I’ll change.’

Gritting her teeth, she picked up the black silk slip dress.

Then, she also pulled out the utterly humiliating cat-girl outfit she had been wearing earlier.

Holding both outfits, she stood rooted to the spot, caught in an internal battle.

‘Which one to wear?’

‘To wear the cat-girl outfit meant bowing to evil forces, continuing to endure inhumane humiliation.’

‘To wear the slip dress meant admitting her recent revenge-spending was utterly foolish, a classic case of shooting herself in the foot.’

‘This was a hell-level choice between two evils!’

Just as she was agonizing to the point of nearly exploding, Gu Wei’s voice drifted over, soft and ethereal.

“The kitchen gets greasy; wouldn’t want to soil your new clothes.”

Xiang Qing’s body stiffened.

‘Understood.’

‘She wanted her to keep wearing that wretched cat-girl outfit.’

Xiang Qing felt her blood pressure surging. She took a deep breath, then another, barely restraining herself from flinging the clothes in her hand directly at Gu Wei’s face, which was currently smiling like a mischievous imp.

A few minutes later, Xiang Qing emerged from the bedroom, her face devoid of expression.

The black silk fabric clung tightly to her body, and the layers of lace trim made her itch all over.

The skirt was pitifully short, and the fluffy cat tail swayed with every step she took.

What truly drove her to despair, however, was the collar around her neck, adorned with a tiny bell.

Jingle.

As she walked into the kitchen, the crisp chime echoed through the spacious mansion, inexplicably seeming to mock her.

‘She was now nothing more than Gu Wei’s pet.’

Xiang Qing placed the premium Wagyu beef on the cutting board, picked up a knife, and, imagining the meat to be Gu Wei’s face, began slicing it with deliberate, vengeful strokes.

“Darling, that’s not the right pressure.”

Warm breath once again caressed the back of her ear.

Gu Wei had somehow, imperceptibly, moved closer again, practically draped over Xiang Qing’s back.

The wine-red silk nightgown she wore hung loosely, and if Xiang Qing were to turn her head, she would be met with a dazzling expanse of pale skin and a profound cleavage.

‘Do not look at what is improper!’

Xiang Qing abruptly whipped her head back, her cheeks flushing a vivid red.

“You… don’t come so close!”

“I’m just worried you might cut yourself,” Gu Wei purred, her voice soft and clinging, as one hand naughtily circled Xiang Qing’s waist. “Your hands are so beautiful; if they were scarred, my heart would ache.”

Her hand traced Xiang Qing’s waistline, beginning to wander restlessly.

Through the thin layer of silk, Xiang Qing could distinctly feel the warmth and movement of Gu Wei’s fingertips.

‘Who could possibly withstand this?’

Xiang Qing felt the knife in her hand tremble, almost slipping from her grasp.

“Gu Wei! If you touch me again, I’m going on strike!” she finally roared, her patience snapping.

“Believe it or not, I’ll dump all these ingredients straight into the trash!”

The words had barely left her mouth when the hand around her waist instantly withdrew.

Gu Wei took a step back, raising both hands in a gesture of surrender.

“Alright, alright, no more touching,” she said, a triumphant smirk plastered across her face, looking as utterly smug as possible. “I was just waiting for you to say that.”

Xiang Qing: ‘???’

‘What the hell? Waiting for me to say that?’

“If you go on strike, and I keep going, I won’t get any dinner,” Gu Wei chuckled, clearly amused. “So, all those little touches before you called a halt? Consider them my small advantage.”