Chapter 10: How About Sharing a Room?

"What's wrong? You still seem quite dissatisfied?"

The young woman with delicate features glanced at Zhou Ming with a sideways look. She didn't expect Zhou Ming to stay instead of leaving but rather walk towards her. It seems this country bumpkin is just that—a country bumpkin. He has no skills but has quite the temper.

Ignoring her sarcasm, Zhou Ming asked her, "You've probably already gone through a wage reform here. In addition to your salary, you salespeople also get commissions, which are tied to your sales performance, right?"

"So what if we do? That still has nothing to do with you, you bumpkin. People like you can't afford the clothes here in your lifetime. Get lost, stop wasting our time! If you keep causing trouble here, I'll call the police and have you arrested!" The young woman threatened Zhou Ming with her hands on her hips.

This threat frightened Su Han. She approached to pull Zhou Ming away, but Zhou Ming just sneered and waved at another salesperson inside, saying, "Excuse me, could you come here and wrap up this dress for me?"

Zhou Ming pointed to the dress Su Han had liked earlier. The other salesperson came over, but the young woman said disapprovingly, "Xiao Hong, what are you doing out here? Can't you see this is just a bumpkin? He's just playing with you. Do you really believe him?"

The salesperson called Xiao Hong hesitated, looking at Zhou Ming with confusion. Zhou Ming said, "I'll go with you to the checkout."

With that, Zhou Ming and Xiao Hong walked together to the checkout counter. The dress cost 100 yuan. Su Han gasped—she hadn't expected the dress to be so expensive, almost equivalent to a month's salary at the factory. Zhou Ming, however, wasn't fazed; after all, in the future, any clothing in a mall would easily cost hundreds or thousands of yuan, and 100 yuan was still very cheap in his eyes. So he quickly paid.

The young woman pursed her lips and remarked, "A bumpkin trying to show off."

She didn't expect Zhou Ming to actually be able to afford the dress, but she guessed that Zhou Ming must be trying to put on a show for his girlfriend and was probably spending more than he could afford. In fact, she wasn't wrong in her assumption, but unfortunately, she was dealing with Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming gave her a look and said to Xiao Hong, "Could you bring out a few more of the nicest dresses in the store for me to see?"

Xiao Hong agreed and quickly brought out several dresses. Zhou Ming turned to Su Han and asked, "Which ones do you like?"

"They're all so beautiful," Su Han said.

"Then go ahead and try them all on," Zhou Ming said.

"Is that… okay?" Su Han really wanted to wear those beautiful dresses, but the young woman's earlier remarks had made her hesitant.

"Of course, you can. The fitting room is over here."

Hearing this from Xiao Hong, Su Han finally felt at ease and took the dresses to the fitting room to try them on. When Su Han came out, Zhou Ming felt his eyes dazzled—Su Han looked stunning in the new clothes.

They say clothes make the person. Even the most beautiful woman can appear ordinary if she doesn't know how to dress. Zhou Ming hadn't believed this before, but now, seeing Su Han, he was convinced. Previously, Su Han had always worn those rural, homespun clothes, so he hadn't noticed, but now that she was dressed in something nice, she looked completely different. Zhou Ming also realized how perfect Su Han's figure was, even better than those car models he'd seen in the future. Even Xiao Hong, who was also a woman, couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow! So beautiful!"

Faced with Zhou Ming's direct gaze, Su Han felt a little embarrassed, her face turning red. "Isn't it a bit inappropriate for me to wear this dress?"

Zhou Ming quickly shook his head, "Absolutely not, Xiaohan, this dress is like it was made just for you—it's stunning!"

"Really? You're just trying to flatter me." Su Han was overjoyed.

"Of course not. I never imagined that your figure would be this good. Most girls wouldn't be able to pull off this dress, but it's so fitting on you." Xiao Hong also complimented her.

Zhou Ming spread his hands, "See? I wasn't flattering you. Go ahead and try the other dresses."

Su Han nodded and tried on the other dresses. Except for one that didn't fit, all the others looked great. Zhou Ming said to Xiao Hong, "Wrap them all up."

"Certainly, sir. That will be 2,000 yuan in total," Xiao Hong said.

As Zhou Ming took out the money to pay, the young woman came over and said, "Sir, I'm terribly sorry. I was the one who served you when you first came in, so I should be the one to handle the checkout, right?"

Before Zhou Ming could respond, Xiao Hong protested, "Sister Lin, what do you mean by that? This gentleman specifically asked me to handle the checkout."

The young woman begged Zhou Ming, "Sir, I was wrong to look down on you earlier. Please don't hold it against me. I sincerely apologize."

Zhou Ming ignored her and asked Xiao Hong, "Selling 2,000 yuan worth of clothes, how much commission do you get?"

"About 500 to 600 yuan," Xiao Hong answered.

Hearing this, Zhou Ming finally understood why the young woman, who seemed like she would never lower herself to a customer, was now apologizing to him—it was all about the money. Five or six hundred yuan wasn't a small amount in the 1980s. Even in a shopping mall like this in Jiangxia City, it equaled almost a quarter's salary. Imagine earning four months' salary in one day—who wouldn't want that?

It's easy to imagine that this young woman must deeply regret her earlier words. If given another chance, she certainly wouldn't dare say those things to him and Su Han again; instead, she would treat them like honored guests.

But there's no medicine for regret in this world. Zhou Ming said to Xiao Hong, "You did well today. Please help me wrap up all the selected dresses and also the ones she tried on. Also, remember, never judge people by their appearance, understand?"

Xiao Hong nodded happily, while the young woman looked devastated. Four months' salary, all lost because of one wrong word.

...

Zhou Ming carried the shopping bags as he and Su Han left the shopping mall. People passing by cast surprised glances at the couple. The reason was simple—Su Han was too beautiful, while Zhou Ming was still wearing clothes from Nanhui County. The contrast was too jarring for people to accept, so they could only bitterly think that another beautiful flower had been placed on cow dung.

Su Han didn't care about other people's looks. In her eyes, Zhou Ming wasn't cow dung at all but rather the white horse prince every girl dreams of!

Su Han never imagined that she would ever have the chance to wear clothes worth several hundred yuan. Thinking back, if it weren't for Zhou Ming, she probably would have been ridiculed by that young woman.

Thinking of this, Su Han did something that made all the men around wish they could kill Zhou Ming: She took the initiative to hold Zhou Ming's arm.

"Zhou Ming, thank you," Su Han said softly.

"Don't thank me. Our Xiaohan is so beautiful; my mission is to protect you from being bullied!" Zhou Ming said with a smile.

"But… these clothes are so expensive," Su Han said sincerely. She felt that the clothes she usually wore at the factory only cost a few yuan. These clothes, costing hundreds of yuan, were really too expensive. Even though they had earned 6,000 yuan on this trip to Jiangxia, spending a third of it on her made her feel guilty towards Zhou Ming.

But Zhou Ming didn't mind, "Really? I thought these clothes were still too cheap for you. If I had the means, I would take you to the special economic zones in Lingnan next time to buy even better clothes."

Su Han looked up and asked, "Zhou Ming, do you really think I'm that good?"

"Of course. Didn't you see how the men on the street are looking at me? They look like they want to kill me!" Zhou Ming teased.

Su Han felt her eyes well up. For the first time, she felt how wonderful it was to be cherished by a man. She held Zhou Ming's arm tightly and made a decision in her heart...

At 5:00 p.m., Zhou Ming and Su Han arrived at Jiangxia Station. Zhou Ming made a phone call to Dai Zhenjiang, then boarded a train back to Linyang with Su Han. Ten hours later, they arrived in Linyang. Since it was early morning, they checked into a hotel in the city and booked two rooms to rest.

Just as Zhou Ming was about to go to sleep, there was a knock on his door. Zhou Ming opened the door and saw Su Han standing there with a flushed face. Zhou Ming asked in confusion, "Xiaohan, what's wrong?"

Su Han lowered her head, hesitating for a long time before saying, "Zhou Ming, there's a cockroach in my room, and I'm scared."

A cockroach? This was the best hotel in Linyang City, not some rural inn with poor hygiene. How could there be a cockroach?

But Zhou Ming didn't think too much about it and said, "How about you sleep here, and I'll go

 to your room?"

Su Han said quickly, "No, what if there's also a cockroach in your room? I think... we should stay together tonight. Is that okay?"

"Stay together?" Zhou Ming stared at Su Han in shock.

Su Han's face was red as an apple, but she still nodded.

Zhou Ming hesitated, "You mean…"

"You take the sofa, and I'll sleep in the bed," Su Han quickly added.

Zhou Ming looked at Su Han for a long time, then smiled and said, "Alright."

After Zhou Ming agreed, Su Han finally relaxed. But when she saw that there was only a pillow and a blanket on the bed, she frowned. "You sleep on the bed, and I'll take the sofa."

Zhou Ming shook his head, "No, you sleep on the bed. I'll be fine on the sofa."

"But the sofa is so narrow, it's uncomfortable," Su Han said.

"It's okay, it's just one night. We'll check out tomorrow morning, and you won't have to worry about cockroaches anymore," Zhou Ming smiled.

Su Han wanted to say something, but she hesitated. Finally, she walked over, grabbed the pillow and blanket from the bed, and placed them on the sofa. Then she said, "Zhou Ming, this is fine, right?"

Zhou Ming didn't want to argue with her, so he nodded and said, "Okay."

Seeing Zhou Ming agree, Su Han smiled and said, "Goodnight, Zhou Ming."

"Goodnight," Zhou Ming replied.

The next day, they checked out of the hotel and returned to Nanhui County.