A Drenched Entrance and a Fierce Defense

Subsequently, the two arrived without incident at a nearby high-end shopping mall, Jin Tai Department Store. As for why these two impoverished individuals chose to frequent such an upscale establishment, the reason was simple: they could no longer endure the relentless rain outside. A single, small umbrella, utterly inadequate for two, offered scant protection against the damp, cold, and utterly vexing downpour.

“Honestly, it would have been enough for just me to get soaked,” Liuxia grumbled softly, puffing out her cheeks as she glanced at Li Chunsheng beside her. “Now look at us, both of us are drenched to the bone!”

Both Li Chunsheng and Liuxia presented a sorry, thoroughly soaked sight.

Li Chunsheng awkwardly touched his nose, at a loss for a response.

‘Perhaps Liuxia was right,’ he mused.

‘Her earlier suggestion—leaving one person with the umbrella while the other braved the rain home—might indeed have been the wisest course of action then.’

Such self-sacrifice for the sake of another certainly aligned with his senior’s usual considerate nature.

Yet, Li Chunsheng did not believe he had erred.

While the outcome appeared to be a ‘double loss,’ he preferred this to Liuxia bearing the brunt of a ‘catastrophic single loss’ all by herself!

After all, hadn’t her initial predicament—being drained of her gold coins and ultimately transforming into a goblin—been a direct consequence of such tragic path dependence?

Even if the result wouldn’t necessarily improve, Li Chunsheng stubbornly wished for Liuxia to gradually learn to rely on others, rather than perpetually choosing to shoulder everything alone.

Naturally, Li Chunsheng had no intention of openly refuting the girl.

Instead, he simply scratched his head, offering a sincere ‘I understand’ to soothe her current mood.

‘In any case, even if given another chance, I would still never let my senior walk home in the rain alone,’ Li Chunsheng thought.

Liuxia, not one to dwell on trivialities, quickly let her dissatisfaction dissipate after a few complaints.

Surveying her surroundings, she remarked cheerfully, “How wonderful! The mall is practically empty right now!”

Indeed, apart from the shop assistants, the walkways of the mall were utterly deserted.

“Well, it is a weekday afternoon, and it’s raining outside,” Li Chunsheng acknowledged with a nod.

“True… if there were many people, we’d be quite embarrassed, wouldn’t we?” Liuxia said, suddenly bursting into laughter as she pointed at Li Chunsheng’s soaked clothes.

At the girl’s words, Li Chunsheng intended to look down at his own attire, yet his gaze was involuntarily drawn to the sight of her before him.

In that moment, Liuxia, thoroughly drenched, appeared even more alluring than the models he had once seen in swimsuit pictorials.

Tracing one’s gaze from her delicate, doll-like face, down her milky-white, jade-like neck, it would inevitably be captivated by the breathtaking softness that rose and fell with each breath.

And having noticed that, one would then discern two faintly visible cherry blossoms, gently swaying atop those pristine, snow-white peaks with her every movement…

‘Li Chunsheng, this is not the time for such observations!’ he chastised himself.

He desperately wanted to gouge out his own eyes, yet his gaze remained ensnared, utterly unable to shift.

“Hahahaha… Chunsheng, you look so pathetically wet right now~” Liuxia laughed without a care, completely oblivious to her own revealing state.

‘Senior! You should really be a little more aware that you’re a girl!’ Li Chunsheng thought, closing his eyes in anguish, then grabbing Liuxia’s cool, small hand.

“Senior, follow me!”

“Huh?”

Without another word, Li Chunsheng, relying on his memory, pulled the still-bewildered Liuxia directly towards the mall’s clothing section.

Upon reaching the clothing section, Li Chunsheng first led Liuxia to the restroom.

He gently guided her towards the women’s side, then spoke with an unusually solemn tone: “Senior, stay in the restroom for now and don’t come out! Do you understand? Absolutely do not come out! Only emerge when I call for you, alright?”

“What for?” Liuxia asked, utterly baffled.

“Promise me!” Li Chunsheng’s voice abruptly rose, his eyes fixed intently on her, a gaze so intense it made the girl visibly shrink her neck.

“…F-fine, I understand,” Liuxia stammered, swallowing hard and meekly agreeing.

“Good. I’ll be back quickly, wait for me!”

Having received a satisfactory answer, Li Chunsheng turned decisively and hurried towards the distant shop area.

‘…Ugh… I let my junior lead me by the nose again,’ Liuxia muttered, standing in place, annoyed at how easily she had once more lost her senior authority.

‘I was supposed to keep an eye on Chunsheng and stop him from spending recklessly…’

Despite her annoyance, the girl obediently entered the restroom and waited inside—her junior had been so earnest… there must be a crucial reason, she reasoned.

Thinking this, she found a quiet corner and settled down to wait.

However, time slowly slipped by.

Before she knew it, almost an hour had passed; the moisture on her clothes had largely evaporated, yet her junior had still not returned.

‘…What could have happened?’ A growing unease settled in Liuxia’s heart.

The girl knew well that Li Chunsheng, like her, was the type who went straight to the point when shopping, never one to browse.

An hour was more than enough time for them to complete the entire process of selecting, trying on, and paying.

‘Could it be… Chunsheng has been exposed?’ Liuxia’s heart suddenly leaped into her throat.

Given that the previous Investigator Liao still harbored suspicions, it was a distinct possibility.

“No! I must find Chunsheng!” Unable to wait any longer, the girl burst out of the restroom and swiftly ran in the direction Li Chunsheng had taken.

As she ran, Liuxia scanned for any sign of Li Chunsheng.

Suddenly, a heated argument reached Liuxia’s ears, now exceptionally keen after her transformation.

“I told you, I’m here to buy something!” a voice, laced with suppressed anger, rang out.

It was Li Chunsheng.

Liuxia’s heart tightened, and she quickly moved towards the sound, finding Li Chunsheng arguing with a female sales assistant at the entrance of a brand store.

“Here to buy something? A pauper like you?” The sales assistant, though of ordinary appearance, wore a work uniform that clearly bespoke its high value, perfectly matching Jin Tai Department Store’s upscale image.

Li Chunsheng, on the other hand, had skipped work midway; his security guard attire clashed starkly with the entire mall’s ambiance.

“Please, even a pair of socks here costs more than all the rags you’re wearing. What could you possibly afford?” the sales assistant sneered, hands on her hips, her eyes brimming with disdain.

“The cheapest item hanging there is already ten thousand Black Iron Coins.”

The sales assistant took immense pride in her job.

Hailing from a humble background, she had endured fierce competition to secure such a lucrative position.

Constantly interacting with the wealthy, she believed she had honed an infallible eye for discerning true affluence.

Although the man was handsome, in her estimation, he was unequivocally not a person of means.

Thus, the sales assistant’s mockery grew more confident: “In your current disheveled state, if you were to enter and soil our merchandise, could you even afford to compensate us?”

Li Chunsheng’s expression froze, his face flushing crimson.

The saleswoman’s words brought the stark realization that he truly couldn’t afford anything.

‘A miscalculation,’ he thought.

He had even specifically checked on his phone beforehand, and this store was already the cheapest brand outlet in the entire mall.

Now, however, he was caught in a difficult position.

To shamefully admit he couldn’t afford anything, right in front of this snobbish woman, would be a severe blow to his pride.

Just as he found himself in this awkward predicament, caught between a rock and a hard place, a crisp, melodious voice, tinged with cold fury, suddenly resonated from behind him.

“Tell me, ‘esteemed’ saleswoman, is my master truly beneath the ‘noble’ confines of your establishment?”

The sales assistant, poised to continue her mockery, immediately looked over, but then suddenly froze, all her words abruptly stifled as if an invisible hand had clamped around a chicken’s throat.

“M-master?” the sales assistant stammered, staring at the exquisitely beautiful maid who stood before Li Chunsheng, glaring at her with indignation.

‘Impossible! How can this be?!’

‘That man is clearly a pauper, dressed in a security guard’s uniform; how could he possibly possess such a stunning, celestial maid?’

‘But what if that man truly is wealthy? Then I…’

“I… I-I…” The sales assistant’s face instantly drained of color, her words tumbling out incoherently.

‘No! They absolutely cannot be rich!’ The sales assistant’s eyes narrowed, turning sinister.