The Price of a Prank

Xiang Qing: “…”

‘I’m utterly flummoxed.’

‘What kind of twisted logic resided within this woman’s mind?’

‘Had she perhaps etched PUA tactics directly into her very DNA?’

‘Engaging in a battle of wits with her was a losing game, every single time.’

Xiang Qing retreated into herself, no longer bothering to engage with Gu Wei; instead, she poured all her accumulated frustration and indignation into her cooking, transforming it into culinary art.

Half an hour later, a lavish dinner spread adorned the dining table.

Pan-seared Wagyu beef, cheese-baked king crab legs, and scrambled eggs infused with black truffle graced the table.

Gu Wei, clearly pleased, settled elegantly into her seat, then patted the vacant chair beside her.

“Sit,” she instructed. “Eat with me.”

“Miss Gu,” Xiang Qing replied, her face expressionless, “I am a housekeeper; it is improper for me to dine at the same table as my employer.”

“Oh?” Gu Wei raised an eyebrow. “It seems you prefer to stand, then? Very well, stand and watch me eat. You may sit when you’ve come to your senses.”

Xiang Qing: “…”

‘You are truly merciless!’

She pulled out a chair and stiffly sat down, her backside barely touching the edge.

Gu Wei, immensely satisfied, cut a piece of Wagyu, placed it in her mouth, and blissfully narrowed her eyes.

“Mm… delicious! Darling, your cooking is truly superb!”

Xiang Qing watched her impassively, her mind, however, racing with furious calculations.

‘No, I can’t let this slide.’

‘She absolutely had to feel the sting of the money spent! Otherwise, all the grievances Xiang Qing had endured today would have been for naught!’

After a moment of gathering her resolve, Xiang Qing spoke, feigning casualness.

“Um… Miss Gu.”

“Mm?” Gu Wei responded indistinctly, still eating.

“The clothes earlier, they cost over seven hundred and eighty thousand…” Xiang Qing watched her expression cautiously. “Don’t you feel even a little bit of a pinch?”

To amplify the effect, she deliberately added:

“That was seven hundred eighty-eight thousand, eight hundred! Many people can’t earn that much in a lifetime, and it was spent on just a few articles of clothing and stockings… isn’t that incredibly wasteful?”

‘Come on! Feel some pain!’

‘Even if you just furrow your brow, I’ll consider it a victory!’

Xiang Qing screamed silently within her heart.

‘The moment I saw Gu Wei’s pained expression from such a massive expenditure, all of my accumulated displeasure from today would be instantly wiped away!’

However, Gu Wei’s reaction once again dashed her hopes.

Gu Wei slowly set down her knife and fork, gracefully dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin, then picked up her glass and took a sip of water.

“Pinch?” She looked up, her expression utterly bewildered as she gazed at Xiang Qing. “Why would I feel a pinch?”

Xiang Qing grew anxious.

“But that’s your money! Nearly eight hundred thousand! Not eighty!”

“Who told you that was my money?”

Gu Wei suddenly smiled, a smile that, in Xiang Qing’s eyes, was far more terrifying than any demon’s.

“Darling,” she leaned forward, closing the distance to Xiang Qing, her voice brimming with malicious amusement. “The money spent on the card I gave you is, of course, charged to your account.”

Xiang Qing was utterly stunned; her pupils dilated, her mouth slightly agape, unable to utter a single word for a long moment.

‘Wh-what did that mean?’

‘Charged to my account?’

“Congratulations.”

Gu Wei savored Xiang Qing’s stunned expression, the curve of her lips widening into an even broader smile. “From this moment forward, your debt to me has successfully increased by another seven hundred and eighty thousand.”

She extended a finger and lightly tapped the tip of Xiang Qing’s nose.

“Adding that to the previous eight hundred thousand, your total now stands at one million five hundred and eighty thousand. My little darling, you’ll need to work even harder to repay this sum, won’t you?”

Xiang Qing’s vision swam, and her philtrum felt like it was being squeezed tight.

‘This string of numbers cycled through her mind like an incessant chant.’

‘Her composure had utterly shattered!’

‘All this time, she had imagined herself as Niohuru Qing, heroically tearing apart the wicked capitalist, only to discover that she herself was the clown!’

‘She had spent her future blood, sweat, and tears on a pile of humiliating ‘battle robes’ she couldn’t possibly wear outside, and now she had to model them for her creditor!’

‘Could there be anything more mortifying in this world?’

‘She felt her heart convulse, her blood seeming to flow backward.’

‘This woman wasn’t a devil; she was Huang Shiren, she was Zhou Bapi, she was the ultimate PUA master of the new era!’

Just as Xiang Qing felt her heart seizing up, ready to depart this mortal coil, Gu Wei, sitting opposite her, suddenly let out a burst of laughter.

She laughed so hard her body shook, nearly dropping the dinner knife she held.

“Hahahaha… I can’t… Darling, your expression is simply too hilarious…”

Xiang Qing: “…”

‘You can still laugh? I’m practically dying of shock here!’

Gu Wei finally managed to compose herself, wiping away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes with a napkin, before slowly beginning to speak.

“Look how scared you are, your face has gone completely pale.”

She leaned back languidly against the chair, the neckline of her wine-red silk robe falling open even further, the expanse of pale skin a disconcerting sight.

“I was just toying with you, you know. How could I possibly make you genuinely shoulder such a debt?”

Gu Wei’s tone was light and airy.

“It wouldn’t be reasonable for me to demand that money from you, and the law certainly wouldn’t support it. Darling, you didn’t actually believe me, did you?”

Xiang Qing felt as though she had just been dragged back from the brink of the ICU, her mind still buzzing.

‘Toying… toying with her?’

Her heart, which had been lodged in her throat, plummeted with a thud back into her chest.

A surge of relief at having escaped disaster, mingled with indignation at being toyed with, instantly washed over her, her emotions reeling like a rollercoaster.

‘This madwoman!’

Xiang Qing’s fists clenched.

But then she had a sudden thought: no, physical force wouldn’t work; she needed a more sophisticated approach.

‘She would attack this heartless woman with sincerity, make her feel guilt! Make her feel remorse!’

Xiang Qing instantly shed all her combativeness, her eyes reddening, her voice tinged with a mix of grievance and a choked sob.

“I… I believed you.”

She lowered her head, her long eyelashes casting shadows, appearing utterly pitiful and helpless.

“I thought… I thought everything you said was true.”

She then looked up, fixing Gu Wei with an expression of profound sincerity, filled with both trust and woundedness.

“Miss Gu, I trusted you. Because it was your card you gave me, I felt… that whatever the outcome, it was something I deserved to bear.”

‘Come on! Feel guilty!’

‘Seeing me so innocent, kind, and easily fooled, doesn’t your conscience ache?!’

However, Gu Wei’s reaction once again shattered all her illusions.

Gu Wei paused for a moment, then erupted into a fit of laughter even more exaggerated than before.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

“My goodness! Xiang Qing, you are simply too amusing!”

Gu Wei slapped her thigh, pointing at Xiang Qing, gasping for breath between laughs.

“Aren’t you just foolish! You actually believed what I said? How did your brain even develop? You’re far too naive!”

“Little dummy, a truly silly little dummy!”

Xiang Qing: “…”

‘She was utterly broken.’

‘She was truly, utterly broken.’

‘Her carefully crafted sincerity, meant as a killing blow, had not only failed to harm her adversary in the slightest but had instead delivered a fatal backstab to herself.’

‘This was truly soul-crushing!’

‘This woman had no heart whatsoever!’

Xiang Qing shut down completely.

She rose impassively and began clearing the dishes from the table, unwilling to utter another word to Gu Wei.

‘Every additional word would only be demeaning herself.’

Gu Wei, having eaten her fill and feeling utterly content, watched Xiang Qing flit between the kitchen and dining room like a busy little top.

She crossed one leg over the other, swinging her pale, delicate foot, then retrieved a laptop from nearby and began working with it resting on her lap.

Her long, slender, pale fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard, the screen filled with data and charts that Xiang Qing could not comprehend.

Xiang Qing didn’t care what she was doing, as long as she wasn’t bothered.

She silently cleaned, wiping tables and mopping floors.

The small bell on her neck chimed with each movement, a crisp yet mortifying ‘ding-a-ling’.

As she bent to wipe beneath the coffee table, the fluffy cat tail attached behind her disobediently perked up.

“Well, well!”

A light, teasing whistle sounded from behind her.

Xiang Qing’s body stiffened, and she whirled around.

Gu Wei had lifted her head from behind the laptop, blowing a whistle at her, a thoroughly obnoxious grin plastered across her face, before casually lowering her gaze to resume typing.

‘Damn it all!’

Xiang Qing’s face instantly flushed crimson; she quickly straightened up, feeling her backside burn with heat.