Money? Where's My Money?

"The bride price is 300,000 yuan—not a cent less!"

"It's not that I care about the money. I just want to know how important I am to you."

"Also, you can't put the apartment under your mother's name. You need to transfer it to me."

Shen City, a window seat at the Gray Whale Cafe.

Thirty-eight-year-old Jiang Qin looked at the woman he was supposed to marry and suddenly felt that her face was somewhat unfamiliar.

They had met through a matchmaking arrangement and had been seeing each other for over half a year. Since neither of them was young anymore and they had no time to keep dragging things out, they had recently been discussing marriage.

To be honest, Jiang Qin did not have much affection for her. He believed she probably felt much the same way.

After all, at nearly forty, was one still getting married and having children for love?

They just did not want to die alone, that was all...

But he said nothing. He silently drank the water in his glass, turning his gaze toward the window outside and automatically blocking out her voice.

He felt that life was, in truth, pretty damn ridiculous.

His parents had told him that knowledge changed one's destiny, so he had studied hard from a young age, believing he would surely become rich or powerful and stand out from the crowd.

But after he started working, he realized that he did not even count as an ordinary nobody. When he first entered the workforce in early 2016, customers had forced him to drink until he ended up in the hospital, and he had missed seeing the Maternal Grandmother who raised him one last time.

In 2019, a project blew up, and he was forced to take the blame. He holed up in a rented apartment eating instant noodles for five months, unable to tell dreams from reality.

His next job was fairly stable, but it was a long way from where he lived. He had worked himself to the bone, saving up even his bathroom trips until he had to go twice, all so he could buy a car.

In 2022, he finally bought one, only to discover that he could no longer afford the gas—or hold his urine anymore.

After turning thirty, he found that rent was rising faster than his salary. He began desperately saving money again and told his parents that he wanted to buy a home in Shen City.

From that day onward, there was never another meat dish on his parents' table.

But they still could not scrape together enough for the down payment. Without telling him, his father worked during the day and drove for Didi at night, nearly suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.

Was poverty really related to laziness? Jiang Qin had pondered that question for years.

He felt he had already worked hard enough. He had completely lived up to his name.

But where was the money? Who exactly had earned it all away?

When he was little, his parents had earnestly told him that if he was willing to endure hardship, he would surely make something of himself.

But after growing up, he discovered the truth: as long as you were willing to endure hardship, there would always be more hardship to endure.

Now, his matchmaking partner was asking for a 300,000-yuan bride price.

"Jiang Qin, are you listening to me?"

"Mm. I've been listening the whole time."

"Then why haven't you said a word? I've been talking for ages. My throat is hoarse, and you don't even care!"

Jiang Qin set down his glass. After a long silence, he said, "Maybe we shouldn't get married after all?"

The woman froze for a moment, then flew into a rage. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing. I just feel so tired. I want to go home and sleep."

"Jiang Qin, you coward! No wonder you're thirty-eight and still no woman wants you!"

Ignoring the woman's shrieks, Jiang Qin walked out of the Western restaurant and wandered aimlessly along the road.

When he reached a construction site, he saw a banner hanging on the wall that read: Workers Are the Best of the Best.

So he lit a cigarette, took two puffs, and burned a hole through it.

He did not really resent that woman. In fact, he felt her demands were perfectly normal.

She was already thirty-five. What was wrong with being realistic? He was merely thinking about one question.

When would days like these finally end? People who had never worked themselves to the bone kept loudly proclaiming that workers were the best of the best, while those who had been working all along dared not say anything and could only nod along: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

But how did he look like one of the best?

He had only managed to own two pairs of AJ sneakers in his life, and they were fake Putian products. They called that being the best?

As for love?

Jiang Qin did not even know whether such a thing existed.

He had gone on several matchmaking dates and met several girls introduced by friends. He could make do with any of them, but the saddest part was that making do was all it would ever be.

Looking back over his life, there were truly too many regrets...

Jiang Qin sighed and pulled his phone from his pocket. He wanted to find a friend to have a drink with, but after unlocking it, he saw four text messages.

One was a credit-card payment reminder, one warned that his phone bill was overdue, and one said: Brother, I'm nearby. There's no one home today.

The last came from his direct superior, who earnestly told him that the company's recent performance was poor and hoped employees would voluntarily accept salary cuts and weather the crisis together with the company.

Jiang Qin instantly lost the mood to drink. He continued smoking beneath the construction building.

In this era, if you wanted to become wealthy, you absolutely could not work for someone else, because the distribution of resources in society was inherently unfair.

But when he thought of his age, Jiang Qin could not help laughing.

Wasn't it a little unrealistic to start a business at thirty-eight?

His lower back had nearly been worked to pieces over the past two years, and he had developed cervical problems as well. His nerve pain flared up even more frequently than his need to urinate.

Dragging this broken body into entrepreneurship would mean he would be fifty even if he succeeded. What would there be left to enjoy in life?

If only he could start over. He would never work for someone else again. If he could cling to a rich woman, he would cling to one.

If that failed, he would start a business, firmly believing that money could be earned again after it was lost—but once your conscience was gone, you could earn even more.

Jiang Qin took a deep breath, rubbed his aching neck, and could not help glancing upward.

Huh? What was that black mass? Why was it coming straight at him?

"..."

"Give him an adrenaline shot, quickly!"

"..."

"Promote the Beijing Olympics, practice civility, and foster new social values!"

"..."

"Where's Director Liu? Ask whether the operating room has been cleared. Hurry!"

"..."

"My home's door is always open, my arms are open, waiting for you."

Jiang Qin suddenly felt that the scene before him was glaring, his ears were buzzing, his skin was burning, and his mind was hazy.

In a daze, he saw a very beautiful young girl, around seventeen or eighteen years old.

She wore a fluffy floral dress that revealed a small stretch of smooth, fair calf. She had a straight, pert nose, rosy thin lips, slender curled eyelashes, and a pair of bright, beautiful eyes.

Jiang Qin smiled.

After all those years of working diligently to buy cars and villas for his wealthy boss, he had never even dreamed of a girl this beautiful.

A girl this beautiful—if he slapped her, she could probably cry for a long time, right?

"Jiang Qin, I really don't want to date you. I'm sorry."

Jiang Qin could no longer smile, because he found the girl before him becoming increasingly vivid and clear.

The floral dress was printed with oxeye daisies. She stood gracefully on the red rubber track, shielding the sunlight slightly with her arms as white as snow so she could keep her eyes open. Even so, the scorching weather still made the youthful beauty look somewhat irritated.

"If you don't say anything, I'll take it as your agreement. We're still Good Friends, right?"

Jiang Qin's brows began to knit, and a trace of gravity flashed through his eyes.

He knew this girl. She was Chu Siqi, the class beauty from his high-school days. By now, she should already be married.

Including high school and university, he had pursued her for seven years, nearly being rejected into doubting his entire existence.

Actually, Jiang Qin was not a hopeless simp. He could not bring himself to pester someone relentlessly.

The problem was that Chu Siqi kept inserting herself into his life as a friend, ordering him to do this and that, forbidding him from dating other girls, and occasionally giving him a little hope—tossing him two candies at a time. She had tormented young Jiang Qin terribly.

"After I finish my freshman year, I'll consider being your girlfriend!"

"I didn't expect sophomore-year coursework to be so demanding. Let's talk about it in junior year."

"There are lots of competitions in junior year. I don't have time for a relationship."

It was not until the second semester of his junior year that she arrived hand in hand with a tall, slender boy, both of them wearing matching couple's outfits.

Her face was filled with tenderness that day. Her eyes shone like a river of stars as she smiled and asked whether her boyfriend was handsome.

After that, he sealed his heart with Cement Sealed Heart and never entertained the thought of dating again. That was how, at thirty-eight, he ended up barely finding someone and planning to marry her.

In 2008, the concept of a backup boyfriend did not yet exist. It was only after the internet developed that Jiang Qin understood: he had been a backup all along.

She simply had not found anyone suitable yet, so she kept treating him hot and cold. When she was happy, she teased him a little; when she was unhappy, she ignored him completely.

Put plainly, to her he was just a tool for passing the time when she was bored.

The past flashed vividly before his eyes, but Jiang Qin now felt somewhat dizzy, with a ringing in his ears.

Chengnan High School from his memories. The class beauty of his youth.

Was this... reincarnation?

Or was he dreaming? If this was reincarnation, where was the ding? Why hadn't it dinged?

Jiang Qin shakily reached out and grabbed twice at the air, but no virtual screen appeared.

What the hell? Was he a fake reincarnator? Couldn't they at least give him a complete set of equipment?

"Jiang Qin, did you hear me? I really don't want to date right now."

"Fine. Whatever you say."

Jiang Qin answered casually, then closed his eyes, wanting to see whether he could awaken his golden finger through sheer willpower. Unfortunately, he failed. There really was no system.

Hearing his straightforward reply, Chu Siqi was stunned beyond expectation. Jiang Qin's attitude was filled with indifference, giving her the feeling of punching into cotton—leaving her helpless for no reason.

"Didn't you hear me clearly? I just rejected you!"

"I heard you. I'm not deaf."

"Then... then don't you have anything to say to me?"

Jiang Qin accepted the reality that there was no system. His gaze fell on Chu Siqi's hand. "What's that you're holding?"

With an arrogant expression, Chu Siqi raised the envelope in her hand. "This is the love letter you just stuffed into my hands. I already told you I didn't want it, but you still gave it to me. Don't write another one next time."

"Can you give it back to me? I have a use for it."

Before she could agree, Jiang Qin took the love letter back on his own. He removed the page inside, crumpled it into a ball, and stuffed it into his pocket. Then he unfolded the envelope, spread it flat across his knee, and quickly wrote two lines.

Never work for someone else, no matter what. If you can cling to a rich woman, cling to a rich woman.

Money can be earned again after it's gone, but once your conscience is gone, you can earn even more.

This is a new book by a new author. If you think it's decent, be sure to add it to your collection!