Hardcore Shopping and the Young Master's Bottom Line
Lu Chuan strolled into the largest chain supermarket outside campus by himself.
The painful lessons of his previous life had taught him that the worst thing in the military training kit issued by Jiangcheng University wasn't the stifling camouflage uniform, but the rubber shoes.
Their soles were as thin as cardboard.
Walking on the rubber track softened by the sun, he only had to stand a little too long for blood blisters to form on the soles of his feet. The piercing pain could leave him unable to walk steadily.
And there had always been only one ultimate wonder weapon against those lousy shoes.
Lu Chuan pushed a shopping cart with a clear destination in mind, heading straight through the snack and household goods sections before stopping in front of the feminine hygiene products.
Facing a wall of colorful packages, he remained perfectly calm, his gaze never wavering.
Time to stock up.
"Extra-long overnight."
"Soft cotton and breathable."
"Leakproof and fragrance-free."
He read the descriptions on the packages as he tossed them into the cart.
Four people, two packs each. In one go, he grabbed eight packs of the thickest overnight pads.
Then he turned to the next shelf and picked up invisible heel-protection patches and two boxes of Huoxiang Zhengqi oral liquid to prevent heatstroke.
The supermarket was fairly busy when he went to check out.
The middle-aged cashier picked up her scanner and scanned the barcodes one by one.
When the eight pink-and-blue packs of extra-long overnight pads were piled on the counter, the cashier's movements paused noticeably. She looked up and gave Lu Chuan a complicated look.
Such a clean-cut, handsome young man. Why is he buying so many of these things? Is he buying them for his girlfriend, or does he have some kind of unusual fetish?
Lu Chuan noticed her look.
But he was completely unruffled.
Having lived another life, he had long since stripped away the mystique of something as intangible as face.
"Ma'am, could you give me the biggest plastic bag you have?"
Lu Chuan spoke calmly.
"A black one, and make it a sturdy one."
The cashier pulled out a black bag and handed it to him, muttering that the total was two hundred yuan.
Lu Chuan scanned the code to pay and swept everything into the black plastic bag. As he carried it out, he didn't forget to stop by the cold-drinks freezer and pick up a large bottle of chilled cola that was still giving off cold air.
When he pushed open the door to dorm room 504,
Han Dong was still slumped shirtless in his chair, looking like a dehydrated salted fish as he muttered complaints about Jiangcheng's damned weather.
"Catch."
Without further ado, Lu Chuan pulled the door shut behind him and tossed the bottle of chilled cola, beaded with condensation, straight at him.
"Oh, fuck!"
Han Dong scrambled to catch the cold cola. The chill seeped through his palm, and his eyes instantly lit up green.
He couldn't wait to unscrew the cap.
"Hiss-"
After being shaken all the way back, the black, fizzy liquid erupted the instant the cap opened a crack, spraying all over Han Dong's body and face.
"Holy mother!"
He let out a strange yelp, too preoccupied to wipe his face, and shoved the bottle opening into his mouth, gulping down a huge mouthful.
The cold, sweet carbonated liquid rushed down his throat and into his stomach, dispelling the heat throughout his body.
Han Dong let out an earthshaking belch of satisfaction.
"That hit the spot!"
He wiped the cola off his face and cupped his fists solemnly at Lu Chuan.
"Brother Chuan! From today on, you're my godfather! My real one!"
Chen Ziang sat across from him, wrinkling his brow as he grumbled about how crude he was, while disdainfully pulling out tissues to wipe the drops of cola splashed on the table.
Lu Chuan walked into the middle of the dorm room and tossed the heavy black plastic bag onto the table.
It landed with a muffled thud.
"I just went to the supermarket and bought some god-tier little gadgets to save our feet during military training."
Lu Chuan spoke casually.
"Insider knowledge. I guarantee your feet won't suffer during tomorrow's drills. Two packs each. Split them up."
At the words "god-tier little gadgets," Zhao Yifan put down the English book in his hands.
Chen Ziang turned around too, a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
Han Dong was even more excited.
"Brother Chuan, you really think of everything! Are they those high-tech silicone arch-support insoles? I heard those things are really comfortable to walk on!"
He leaned over expectantly and pulled the black plastic bag open.
Gripping the bottom of the bag with both hands, he gave it a vigorous tip.
"Rustle-"
Eight large packs of extra-long overnight sanitary pads, printed with pink peach blossoms and blue waves, spilled across the table in a clatter, mixed with heel patches and Huoxiang Zhengqi oral liquid.
The air in the dorm room froze in that instant.
Even the roar of the air conditioner seemed to recede into the distance.
Chen Ziang nearly failed to hold in the mouthful of mineral water he had just taken, almost spraying it straight onto the computer screen in front of him. He coughed violently twice, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
Han Dong remained in the position he'd been in while emptying the bag, looking as though he'd been struck by lightning.
Dazed, he picked up a pink pack of sanitary pads, turned it over to look at it, then looked at Lu Chuan.
"B-Brother Chuan..."
Han Dong stammered, his expression a sight to behold.
"Did you go to the supermarket to stock up, or did you rob a girls' dorm on the way?"
He swallowed.
"Military training might be hard and exhausting, but we don't have to all change sex to get out of it, do we?"
Lu Chuan was so exasperated by his train of thought that he laughed.
He stepped forward, ignoring the look Chen Ziang was giving him, as if he'd seen a ghost.
He simply picked up a blue pack.
He tore it open.
He pulled out an extra-long overnight pad and deftly peeled the backing paper off.
"What are you thinking?"
Lu Chuan took his camouflage rubber shoes and laid the pad flat inside one, pressing firmly along the edges to make sure it adhered completely.
"This thing is soft cotton cushioning with super sweat absorption."
As he worked, Lu Chuan gave them a hardcore lesson.
"The soles of those rubber shoes are thin. Once the drills really start tomorrow, your feet could blister in half a day. Put these in, and they absorb sweat, breathe, and give you soft support underfoot. Try them and you'll know."
He lined both shoes and set them on the floor.
His frank, utterly unabashed demonstration left the other three dumbfounded.
Zhao Yifan sat at the table and silently pushed up the black-framed glasses on his nose.
He didn't laugh.
Instead, he reached for a pack on the table and held it under his desk lamp, examining the thickness label and material description with great care.
Two seconds later.
Without another word, Zhao Yifan tore open a pack and followed Lu Chuan's example, sticking the pads inside his own rubber shoes.
He slipped his feet in, set them on the floor, and tried taking a couple of steps.
The thick, pure cotton cushioned his soles, soft to the touch.
Zhao Yifan's eyes lit up slightly. He looked up and gave a highly favorable and fair assessment.
"Very practical."
"The support and moisture absorption are better than ordinary insoles."
Seeing Zhao Yifan switch sides, Chen Ziang couldn't take it anymore.
His face full of resistance, he took a step back.
As a local young master who had cared about appearances since childhood, never went out without applying designer cologne, and even ironed the wrinkles out of his clothes,
he was supposed to put women's sanitary pads under his feet?
And wear them while marching in formation?
That was a savage trampling of his bottom line of dignity as a young master!
"I'm not using them!"
Chen Ziang stubbornly refused, thumping his chest.
"That's way too embarrassing! What if one falls out while I'm walking, or someone sees it? How am I supposed to show my face at Jiang University after that?"
He pointed at the shoes, his tone firm.
"You can wear them if you want, but I, Chen Ziang, would never use something so humiliating, even if my feet get rubbed raw and blistered tomorrow, even if I walk until they're ruined!"
Eleven o'clock came that night.
Outside the dorm building, the lights-out bugle sounded on time.
With a click,
dorm room 504 plunged into darkness, leaving only a few dim yellow beams from the streetlights outside the window.
Han Dong had already lined his shoes and put them on before lights-out.
The burly man bounced back and forth several times in the dorm room's narrow aisle, feeling the softness beneath his feet.
The cheap soles, originally hard as boards and painful to walk on, had instantly become soft and cushiony.
"Holy crap!"
Han Dong's excited voice rang out in the darkness.
"This is just like that legendary 'stepping in shit' feeling! It feels amazing!"
He immediately ate his words.
By the streetlight, he grabbed his two packs of sanitary pads from the table and hugged them tightly to his chest, as if afraid someone would snatch them away, then climbed into bed, thoroughly satisfied.
Lu Chuan sat in his chair, listening to Chen Ziang's bold declaration from earlier.
He didn't try to persuade him.
He merely smiled.
Then he stood up and gently placed Chen Ziang's two pink packs of sanitary pads beside his desk.
"I'll leave them here."
Lu Chuan spoke casually, as if nothing had happened.
"Keep them handy."
The dorm room fell completely quiet.
Now and then, they could hear the hushed conversation and snores of boys from other rooms in the hallway.
Chen Ziang lay flat on his bed.
The early autumn night was somewhat stuffy.
He turned over, but he still couldn't shake the memory of standing on the sports field that afternoon, the sun beating down on him, and the piercing pain in the soles of his feet.
With that thin layer of rubber on the scorching track, he could almost feel the grit on the ground rubbing against his soles.
If they had another high-intensity drill tomorrow,
his feet might really be ruined.
Chen Ziang lay with his eyes open and turned his head slightly.
His gaze passed through the gap at the edge of his bed and fell on his desk.
Moonlight mingled with the glow of the streetlights, falling right on the two pink packs of overnight sanitary pads, which seemed to give off an indescribable temptation.
The young master's poor self-respect and the immense pain his body was about to suffer were locked in a fierce tug-of-war in the dark.