At half past five in the afternoon, half an hour before my blind date, I tidied up my appearance and walked out of the bathroom. Mr. Ban, holding his briefcase, opened the door to the house.

Once again, I felt the urge to ask Mr. Ban for money. After a moment, I said, “Mr. Ban, you got off work quite early today.”

“Isn’t it always this time?” Mr. Ban replied indifferently.

I quickly poured a glass of water for Mr. Ban. He didn’t notice anything unusual and naturally took the water from my hand. Then he asked me, “How’s your job search going these days?”

“I’ve just sent out my resume and had a few interviews, but none of them were satisfactory.”

“Don’t set your expectations too high. A decent job is good enough.”

“I’m not a fresh graduate with no work experience. I can’t just settle for any job. You know how much young people spend these days. At the very least, the salary should be enough to support myself!”

I subtly hinted at the high expenses of modern young people, hoping that Mr. Ban would understand and give me some pocket money to solve my urgent need.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Ban casually said, “If you know the expenses are high, you should spend less.”

Mr. Ban’s logic left me speechless. I didn’t say anything for a while, and Mr. Ban, too lazy to talk more, put down his teacup and turned to walk towards his study.

“Mr. Ban…” I finally gritted my teeth and called out.

Mr. Ban turned around and looked at me without a smile, asking, “Is there anything else?”

Mr. Ban’s expression made me inexplicably nervous. After a moment, I stammered, “Um… um, can I… borrow your car? I have a blind date tonight.” I finished speaking and wished I could slap myself. Why is it so hard to ask for money?

It’s indeed hard… After all, I’m an adult who has been working for several years. If I still ask my parents for money, it’s just ridiculous!

Mr. Ban didn’t notice anything unusual. He took out the keys to his old Santana 2000, which was provided by his unit, from his bag and handed them to me.

I stared blankly at the car keys in my hand, then watched Mr. Ban enter his room in a daze. It wasn’t until the door closed that I realized I had missed another opportunity to ask for money.

…

With a stiff upper lip, I drove Mr. Ban’s nearly scrapped Santana 2000 to the prearranged coffee shop. Along the way, I thought about asking my old friends for money, but most of these friends were from high school and I hadn’t contacted them for a long time. Suddenly asking them for money seemed a bit unkind.

Unconsciously, I passed several intersections with traffic lights. Suddenly, I saw the coffee shop where we agreed to meet about 50 meters ahead. The huge shop sign made me even more nervous.

I parked the car slowly, then slowly walked to the second floor. I took out my phone and looked at the photo again before scanning the coffee shop.

After scanning twice, I finally found a girl in a corner whose appearance matched the photo. I straightened my clothes and walked towards the corner.

I arrived in front of the girl and took another look. She was quite pretty, with nice features and good skin. However, she lacked the stunning beauty and temperament of Jian Wei, the breathtaking beauty of Mi Cai, and the fashionable, avant-garde, and sexy aura of Le Yao. In short, she was just an ordinary pretty girl.

But it’s such girls who are suitable for daily life, so my first impression of her was not bad.

I smiled and asked politely, “Excuse me, are you Miss Li Xiaoyun?”

The girl nodded and smiled at me, saying, “So you’re Zhao Yang?”

“Yes, I am… Can we sit down first?”

“Sure.”

Just as I sat down, a waiter came over with a menu and asked, “Sir, Miss, are you ready to order now?”

“Um, do you… pay after eating, or do you have to pay as soon as you order?”

Apparently, no one had ever asked such a bizarre question. The waiter was stunned for a moment before answering, “Um, either way is fine.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Okay, give me the menu.”

The waiter gave me a menu. Li Xiaoyun and I each ordered what we wanted to eat, and then we started chatting while waiting.

Li Xiaoyun is a lively girl. She took the initiative to say, “Let’s introduce ourselves first. You already know my name. This year is my zodiac year, so you can guess my age. I’m currently a customer department manager at an advertising company. I don’t have my own house and live with my parents. That’s about it.”

I stared at Li Xiaoyun in disbelief. Her blunt self-introduction was incredible. I felt as if I was checking her household registration.

Li Xiaoyun was puzzled by my reaction. After a while, she tentatively asked, “Is this your first blind date?”

“Yes.”

“No wonder. The self-introduction I just did is a necessary procedure for blind dates. If you go on more blind dates in the future, you’ll get used to it.” Li Xiaoyun smiled and said.

I nodded and said, “Oh, I see. That’s how it’s portrayed on TV!”

“So it’s your turn to introduce yourself.”

I sat up straight and said as if I were giving a speech, “My name is Zhao Yang, I’m 26 years old, currently unemployed, uh… I don’t have a car, a house, or savings. I’m living with my parents and probably will be for a long time. I don’t have any specific plans or goals for the future. I’m just muddling along.”

Li Xiaoyun seemed shocked by my self-introduction. After a while, she said, “Are you serious?”

“Yes, absolutely!”

“But Aunt Zhang, who introduced us, didn’t say that.”

“What did she say?”

Li Xiaoyun thought for a moment and said, “She said you just came back from Suzhou, that you’re a white-collar worker at a large department store, diligent and ambitious… a very good young man!”I laughed heartily and said, “You actually believe in matchmaker’s words? That’s too far-fetched. I feel ashamed just hearing it!”

Li Xiaoyun looked at me with a wry smile, and after a while, she asked, “So, Aunt Zhang said you can play the guitar and you’re talented. Is that also false?”

Li Xiaoyun’s words made me break out in a cold sweat. This was really hard on my mom. I guess she couldn’t find any good points about me, so she simply told Aunt Zhang that I could play the guitar as if it was something significant. Then Aunt Zhang enthusiastically relayed it to Li Xiaoyun.

After a while, I said to Li Xiaoyun, “The part about playing the guitar is true, but it doesn’t really have anything to do with blind dating, does it?”

Li Xiaoyun nodded, not saying anything more.

I smiled and asked, “Do you feel like your full-blown ideal has instantly turned into a skinny reality, and you’re dealing with this gap, feeling particularly disappointed?”

Li Xiaoyun shook her head and laughed, “Not really, I think you’re not bad, at least you’re very honest, much more than most men!”

I was overjoyed inside, thinking this was a rare opportunity to save face. So, I thickened my skin and went along with Li Xiaoyun’s words, “I also think I’m very honest, but there’s something else I need to be honest about.”

Li Xiaoyun looked at me puzzled and asked, “What is it?”

“…I don’t have a penny on me right now, so… you’ll have to treat me to this meal!”

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The website has opened a picture and comment section for our book. Everyone can upload images that match their ideal character images in the picture comment section. It’s just been opened and no one has uploaded yet. Let’s see who will be the first, it’s very meaningful!