Chapter 3: Does the Counselor Have a Partner?

"Mind your manners. I was just reminding that brother to watch his health and know his limits,"

Shen Yuan typed with both hands, and then he clicked to send, but to his surprise, the next second he received a red exclamation mark in response.

"Message has been sent, but the recipient has rejected it."

"Was it necessary to block me? How will you contact me when you miss me in the future?"

Seeing the bright red exclamation mark, Shen Yuan shook his head and then started the cash extraction process again.

Shen Yuan had a 20,000 limit on Ant's Jiebei, a remaining balance of 9,200 on Ant's Huabei, a 12,000 limit on JD Baitiao, and a credit card with a remaining balance of 11,000, making a total of 52,000 in cash he could extract.

In his WeChat, he had a friend who specialized in cash extractions, charging a 3% fee, meaning for a 10,000 limit, he would receive 9,700 in hand.

The fee was a bit high, but Shen Yuan thought about how his principal could generate a 200% return and didn't care about it anymore.

He found a friend in his list with the nickname "AAA Dazhe," told him his requirements simply and clearly, and the friend immediately sent over payment codes for Fu Bao and Jing Dong. After scanning 9,200 + 12,000, the friend quickly transferred 19,400 to him.

"Credit cards need a physical swipe at a POS machine. Do you need cash urgently? You can come to IFC Mall here; my shop is just opposite IFC Mall,"

Dazhe sent a message along with a location.

IFC Mall is a well-known shopping mall in Star City, with a rich variety of luxury stores. Upon seeing these four characters, Shen Yuan felt somewhat dazed, thinking back to when he was a regular customer spending at IFC Mall, and now he was going there to extract cash.

Since he wasn't in a hurry, Shen Yuan chose a low-carbon mode of travel and took a bus for an hour to arrive at IFC Mall.

Dazhe's store was a small cell phone repair shop. When Shen Yuan entered, Dazhe was looking down, disassembling a mobile phone; he looked to be in his thirties and was not particularly striking in appearance.

After listening to Shen Yuan's explanation for his visit, Dazhe matched the young man in front of him to the person he had just chatted with on WeChat and, without much fuss, pulled out the POS machine and asked Shen Yuan to start swiping his card.

"It's better to do two transactions, and it's best to leave a few hundred or a thousand on the credit card so it's not likely to get frozen."

"Sure."

Shen Yuan nodded his head, appreciating that it was better to have professionals handle such matters.

With a limit of 11,000 on the card, he swiped for a total of 10,500 in two transactions, which after the service fee, left him with 10,185. He left a balance of 500 on the card.

From cash extraction, he got a total of 29,585. Combined with the 20,000 just arrived from Jiebei and 99 from WeChat money collection, Shen Yuan now had altogether 49,684 in hand.

If he spent all this money, he could instantly get nearly 100,000 in cashback.

Shen Yuan calculated in his mind what would be appropriate to buy with this money, and while he was thus occupied, Dazhe in the counter added casually, "If you need a loan, you can also ask me."

Shen Yuan's mouth twitched, "I shouldn't need it, thank you."

Dazhe looked up at the young man and said indifferently, "You never know."

Having been in this line for seven or eight years, he had dealt with all kinds of people. Youngsters like him had not yet formed a mature spending perspective. Suddenly extracting so much money usually meant no good, and it wouldn't be surprising if, in a few days, he spent all the money and then returned to ask for a loan.

For him, the commissions from consumer and small loans were much higher than those from cash extractions.

Faced with Dazhe's remarks, Shen Yuan felt somewhat helpless, but he couldn't disclose the System to him, and even if he did, Dazhe would probably think he was a fool.

Thinking this, he didn't argue with Dazhe and continued to contemplate his spending plans.

Currently, the only known person of the opposite sex with a Feel-good Index over 60 was Teacher Lih Xiao, and Shen Yuan planned to keep focusing his spending power on her.

Spending 50,000 quickly for Teacher Lih Xiao was not going to be easy; given her character, she definitely wouldn't accept expensive gifts from a student, especially since Shen Yuan was already seen by her as a poor student from a bankrupt family, which would make her even more resistant.

However, if he thought about it carefully, there were definitely ways to do it.

...

Half an hour later, Shen Yuan walked out of the IFC Mall's main entrance, holding an LV shopping bag in his hand.

Just moments ago, he had swiped away more than half of the money he had on him at the LV counter. Currently, he only had 9,884 yuan left.

The bag inside the shopping bag was valued at 39,800 yuan and was LV's spring collection of that year. As for why he purchased the spring collection even though the summer collection was out, Shen Yuan had his reasons.

Carrying the LV shopping bag, Shen Yuan prepared to go to the bus station to take the bus. Meanwhile, across the street, Dazhe was smoking at the store entrance and just happened to see the LV shopping bag Shen Yuan was carrying. He snorted disdainfully, "Sure enough, he's a prodigal son!"

Shen Yuan didn't notice Dazhe's scorn at all. First, he took a one-hour bus ride; then he walked through the streets and alleys to arrive at an ordinary residential building.

This residential building had eight floors and was a self-constructed property; Teacher Lih lived on the sixth floor.

Logically speaking, Shen Yuan was not likely to know his teacher's home address, but coincidentally, his family rented an apartment on the fifth floor of the same building.

One day, when Shen Yuan was going home for a meal and was heading upstairs, he happened to run into Lih Xiao. That's how he found out she lived just above his place.

Shen Yuan first tossed the shopping bag into a nearby trash can, then tore off the price tag, and went upstairs carrying the bag.

"Knock, knock."

Shen Yuan gently knocked on the door of unit 601. Although there was a door between them, he could faintly smell a light fragrance, unique to the homes of delicate girls.

"I wonder if Teacher Lih has a partner. If she does, and he's at home, that would be awkward."

"A male student visiting alone and bringing a bag as a gift, it all seems quite improper."

There were clattering sounds of kitchen utensils in the room. Probably having heard the knocking, the person inside walked to the door with footsteps, and opened the door: "I didn't bring the keys toda..."

"Shen Yuan, why is it you?"

Surprised to see Shen Yuan, Lih Xiao stood there wearing a pink apron, still holding a spatula in her right hand, and there were fine beads of sweat on her forehead.

In the afternoon, Lih Xiao was still an understanding female teacher, but at this moment, cooking, she had a few added traces of domesticity, looking rather like a newlywed bride.

"Counselor, sorry to disturb you. Are you cooking?"

Shen Yuan wore an innocent smile on his face, but his mind was actually elsewhere. Just now, Lih Xiao thought someone from her home had come back without keys and spoke in a very casual tone. It was very likely she already had a live-in partner.

Damn, it's a pity, wonder which lucky bastard it is!

Shen Yuan's mind was filled with unrelated thoughts, even seeing that man as an imaginary rival.

However, Lih Xiao was a bit puzzled to see Shen Yuan. Although they lived just a floor apart, they had never interacted to avoid gossip; a female teacher and a male student should not have too frequent contact. So, what was he doing here?

At that moment, she noticed the bag in Shen Yuan's hand and asked curiously, "Shen Yuan, it's so late. Is there something you need?"

"Counselor, you've taken good care of me during these three years of university. I used to take it for granted that teachers are supposed to do these things, but in recent times, with so much happening at home, I've started to understand the help people around me have provided. So, I should have shown my gratitude much earlier."

Shen Yuan raised the bag with both hands, sincerely saying, "This is a token of appreciation from a student. You must accept it."

"No need, no need."

Seeing the presumably expensive bag, Lih Xiao quickly shook her head:

"Actually, you weren't wrong before. As your counselor, as your teacher, doing these things is my duty. It's part of my responsibilities, and there's no special attention involved. I treat all other students equally, so there's no need."

Over these three years, watching the students under her guidance mature from naive high school graduates to adults about to step into society, Lih Xiao actually felt a great sense of achievement and believed she had done justice to her three years of effort.

Especially with Shen Yuan, who seemed to have suddenly grown up, she, as his counselor, felt very gratified.

But that was all there was to it. She absolutely couldn't accept the gift, especially since the bag looked quite expensive.