Chapter 199 — The Wallet He Found
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
She had to make things clear with Wei Zhao — otherwise, what was it supposed to mean, him turning up at her home all the time?
If Wei Zhao was just playing around, then he had better keep his distance and stop pestering her.
If he was serious, then Tang Zhi had set a deadline of her own: after the college entrance exams. For one thing, she could focus on her revision without letting all this outside business drag down her marks. For another, it would serve as a test for Wei Zhao — if he was only toying with her, he would never have the patience to wait several months until after the exams; he would have moved on long before.
But if Wei Zhao truly did wait until after her exams, then giving him a chance was not out of the question... University, after all, was a paradise for romance; and though Tang Zhi was a good girl, she harbored a certain longing for moonlit trysts and flowers in the dusk.
Wei Zhao had not expected Tang Zhi to say anything of the sort. Was this a refusal, or an acceptance?
A coy retreat that beckoned him on? Wei Zhao had just opened his mouth to speak when Tang Zhi had already turned and drifted away in the direction of Kang [**].
Wei Zhao hurried after her. Tang Zhi had regained her usual calm, as though the words just spoken had never been uttered — she was still the same Tang Zhi as before, except for a faint trace of shyness about her brows and eyes that made her whole person seem the more delicate and lovely, and set Wei Zhao's heart pounding.
Reaching the hospital's payment window, they found Kang [**] standing there like a fool, staring blankly at the form in his hand. Wei Zhao asked, "[**]? Have you finished the paperwork?"
"Boss, the deposit is ten thousand yuan, and I don't have enough..." Kang [**] looked a little embarrassed; he had been the one to rush over with the payment slip, and in the end he had no money at all.
"Oh?" Wei Zhao blinked, then looked at Tang Zhi. "Isn't Xiao Fen's mother here?"
"Xiao Fen's family is hardly any better off than mine. All these years of treating her illness have cost a great deal, and they're in debt — where would they find spare money?" Tang Zhi sighed. "Would you be willing to cover it for now? I promise her family will pay you back later."
"Me?" Wei Zhao was not one to meddle; people who had nothing to do with him, he never bothered with. But Xiao Fen was different — she was, after all, the girl Kang [**] had fallen for, and if Wei Zhao could help, then of course he would.
The credit card Uncle Qing had given him, though, Wei Zhao had not brought out with him at all. He scarcely spent money anyway, so the card had been tossed carelessly into a drawer at home.
In his pocket now there was nothing but the thousand yuan fee he had collected from Sun Jingyan, and Wu Chengtian's wallet.
Wei Zhao first handed the thousand yuan to Kang [**], then opened Wu Chengtian's wallet. Inside were perhaps three to five thousand renminbi, and the rest was American dollars — though the notes were of rather large denominations, some five hundred and some a thousand. Such dollars had long since ceased to circulate and were no longer issued, yet they remained valid.
They existed, however, only as collector's items, for a single note was worth more than its face value, and no one would take such dollars out to spend.
That Wu Chengtian kept these large American bills in his wallet was plainly not for spending but for showing off. Wei Zhao had seen a few such people before, and from this he could also tell that this so-called Wu family was a force to be reckoned with. Wei Zhao handed all the renminbi in the wallet to Kang [**]. "Ask them whether American dollars will do."
Kang [**] took the notes from Wei Zhao gratefully, then turned and ran to the payment window. "Excuse me, will American dollars do?" "They will, but they can only be used for the deposit, not to settle the final bill. The final payment must be in renminbi," said the clerk.