The girl stopped kicking Lin Yi's legs and leaned against the window, quietly listening to her MP3 player.
"We've arrived at Songshan Station. Passengers getting off, please prepare. This stop will last fifteen minutes." The train announcement came over the loudspeaker, and Lin Yi began packing his luggage and preparing to disembark.
To his surprise, the girl next to him also began packing, apparently also getting off at Songshan Station.
As the girl stood up, Lin Yi estimated her height and found his guess correct: she was about 1.65 meters tall.
After getting off the train, Lin Yi marveled at the magnificent architecture of the train station. Although he had been there once before, Songshan had undergone tremendous changes ten years earlier.
"Wait a moment!" A sweet female voice sounded behind Lin Yi, causing him to stop and instinctively turn around.
It was the girl who had sat next to him on the train earlier, waving and running towards him.
"What's up?" Lin Yi naturally didn't believe the girl would fall in love with him at first sight. While he was handsome, his outfit was awfully tacky. Khaki pants and a white vest, like the kind of migrant workers who come to the city looking for work.
"Are you planning on claiming your prize?" the girl asked resentfully, irritated by Lin Yi's disregard for her warning on the train.
"Oh, you're talking about this?" Lin Yi pulled the pull tab from his pocket and casually tossed it to the side of the road.
"Huh?!" This time it was the girl's turn to be stunned! She had never expected Lin Yi to do such a thing!
"You... you threw it away?" The girl pointed at Lin Yi in surprise, her mouth hanging open.
"Yeah, throw it away," Lin Yi nodded. "It's fake to begin with. There's no point in keeping it."
"You knew it was fake?" The girl was confused after hearing Lin Yi's words. She stared at him blankly. What was wrong with him? He knew it was fake, yet he still spent money on it? Was he crazy? He didn't look like the kind of rich man with a bad taste.
"I know. Even if I didn't know, you reminded me of the train!" Lin Yi said.
"Then why did you give them the money?" The girl was immediately anxious. What kind of person was this?
Lin Yi smiled, took his backpack off his shoulder, unzipped it, and held it open in front of the girl.
The girl looked at Lin Yi in surprise, then lowered her head and looked inside Lin Yi's backpack. She was shocked! There were seven or eight bundles of banknotes inside!
"You're rich? You can't spend money recklessly, right?" The girl didn't quite understand Lin Yi's meaning, thinking he was just showing off his wealth.
"This is the money from before," Lin Yi said.
"The money from before? What do you mean?" The girl didn't understand. "Are you saying you got the money back? Wasn't it only 49,000? Now it's 70,000 or 80,000, right?"
"The man with glasses had 30,000, and I took it with him," Lin Yi shrugged. It was just a small thing, a piece of cake. For Lin Yi, it was a piece of cake.
"Huh?" The girl was completely stunned! It wasn't that Lin Yi was crazy, but that he was just more skilled. Not only did he get his own money back, he got the man's money back too!
"Why that look? Are you planning to report me for theft? You have a strong sense of justice." Lin Yi looked at the girl's surprised expression and smiled teasingly.
"Of course not," the girl blushed and shook her head.
"Thank you so much for your time, though. There aren't many girls like you around," Lin Yi said sincerely. "Would you like to have dinner later?"
"No..." The girl shook her head sheepishly. "My family's waiting for me at the exit."
Lin Yi nodded, but didn't force it. Picking up girls is a skill, but it also requires a natural flow. Trying too hard can backfire. "Then I'll leave it alone."
Wang Xinyan watched Lin Yi's retreating figure and shook her head. He was truly a peculiar man. If her mother hadn't been waiting for her at the exit, Wang Xinyan wouldn't have minded interacting with him more.
It wasn't that Wang Xinyan had any affection for Lin Yi, but she simply felt that he was a bit different. He carried so much money in his backpack, yet he didn't keep it in the bank. He dressed in the most shabby way possible, yet he possessed an indescribable elegance.
"Sir, would you like to stay at a hotel? It's very cheap..."
As soon as Lin Yi left the train station, he was surrounded by a group of solicitors from nearby hotels. People dressed like migrant workers like this are the main target of these small hotels.
Who would stay in such a small hotel if they had money? Even big hotels don't need to come out to solicit customers.
Lin Yi waved his hand, squeezed through the group of touts, and headed for the taxi stand in the square. Lin Yi held a slip of paper in his hand, the address the old man had given him before he left.
After getting into a taxi, the driver enthusiastically asked, "Where are you going, young man?"
"To this address," Lin Yi handed the slip of paper to the driver.
The driver, who was a regular at the train station, had a keen eye for customers. He saw that Lin Yi was from out of town, probably working, so he thought of giving him a rip. He wasn't familiar with the route anyway, so he happily took the slip. A glance at the address and his face immediately turned green!
The slip read: Pengzhan Building, 36 Guangming Avenue, Songshan City. It's 11.2 kilometers from the train station, via the New Second Ring Road Bridge.
The route is even laid out, with the mileage clearly marked. Who's going to cheat? But what's this guy doing in the Pengzhan Building? It's the largest corporate group in Songshan City. How could a guy dressed like a migrant worker know anyone there?
The driver sighed, tossed the note aside, and drove on.
Songshan has excellent transportation, with numerous bridges. Lin Yi felt like he'd reached his destination in a split second. He paid the twenty-four yuan fare and got out.
Looking at the towering building before him, Lin Yi felt a little dizzy. It seemed taller than the mountains back home. It seemed his employer was quite wealthy. Perhaps, as the old man said, one job could provide him with a lifetime's income. He just wondered if jumping from it would kill him.
However, back home, the old man had kicked him from the top of a mountain, sending him plummeting into a ravine. He hadn't died, but had been bedridden for several days with a bruised face.
Lin Yi confirmed the house number and the building's name, and after verifying they were correct, he swaggered into the building.