The woman beamed. Su Ke's refusal actually put her in a better mood. With her mature air, neat and handsome hairstyle, and fresh, pleasant outfit, she rested one hand on the handlebar of Su Ke's bicycle. Her eyes sparkled as she asked, "Hehe, then tell me, how should I repay you?"
"Uh!" Su Ke froze. He had no idea why, but the moment he heard the words "repay you," the phrase "give myself to you" popped into his head. His heart gave a jolt, and he didn't dare meet her gaze. "I don't need anything!"
The term "older sister type" had long been popular online, and Su Ke had naturally heard it before. In his eyes, the woman before him was the perfect example of one.
Mature, capable, elegant, confident, and sexy—sometimes as rational as ice, sometimes as passionate as fire. Her alluring aura made it easy to get lost in her charms and unable to pull away.
Su Ke didn't know why he had become so sensitive around women lately. It seemed that every move they made could set his thoughts wandering. Could this be a side effect of the Flower Picking System?
Actually, if Su Ke hadn't acted this way, the woman would probably have left him some money and gone on her way. Then she wouldn't have felt indebted to him and might have forgotten all about the brave young man in no time.
But Su Ke not only refused a reward; he was so stubborn that it left her speechless. Instead, he piqued her interest. "You won't take money? Then how about this? Here's my business card. If you ever run into trouble, come find me!" As she spoke, she took a card from her wallet and handed it to Su Ke.
"Tiandu Hotel, Sun Yao."
Su Ke took the card. It was very simple, with none of the long strings of foreign letters that were fashionable at the time, and no job title. It only had a mobile number, but the card itself was made of very high-quality stock.
Sun Yao continued, "Losing my purse wouldn't have been a big deal, except that it also had this year's acquisition proposal in it. If the price range we're considering gets out, we'll be in a very difficult position. So you really did me a huge favor! Hehe, you look so skinny. I didn't expect you to be so strong!"
Su Ke put the card in his pocket and relaxed. Taking someone's money was very different from accepting their business card. Even if his intentions had been good, accepting money might make people think he was greedy, and could make him feel inferior without realizing it. Taking a business card, on the other hand, simply meant they'd gotten acquainted as equals.
"Don't let my skinny build fool you. I'm all muscle!" Su Ke smiled, then noticed that one of Sun Yao's high heels had a broken heel. "Sister Sun, where are you going? I can take you there!"
"No need. I've already called a car. You still haven't told me your name." As Sun Yao spoke, a police car finally appeared on the street. Someone in the crowd must have called the police, but that had nothing to do with Su Ke now. He didn't even bother looking. "I'm Su Ke, from No. 17 High School!"
"Hello, Su Ke. Would you mind if I interviewed you?" A girl suddenly appeared from somewhere, holding an iPhone and filming Su Ke and Sun Yao.
Su Ke and Sun Yao both turned to look. The girl looked a lot like an actress named Wang Luodan. She had short, breezy hair, a casual tank top, cargo pants with lots of pockets, and a pair of Converse canvas sneakers.
Her eyes were bright, her gaze clear, and her smile radiant. The only slight flaw was that her chest wasn't particularly full beneath her top, though her petite figure still looked enticing.
"Who are you?" Before Su Ke could speak, Sun Yao had already asked with a frown. She clearly wasn't pleased by the sudden appearance of this girl filming them.
"I'm a reporter from Weihai City Daily. I'd like to write a story about Su Ke's bravery in catching a thief. We might even upload this video to the website!" As she spoke, the reporter pulled a press badge from one of her cargo pants pockets.
Sun Yao took the badge. "Intern reporter? Hong Chen!"
"That's right, I'm Hong Chen. I'm an intern reporter, but I'm already allowed to put stories together!" Hong Chen seemed to notice that Sun Yao wasn't very willing. Disappointment showed in her eyes, but she quickly turned to Su Ke.
"Su Ke, what made you rush over the moment you heard there was a thief?"
Su Ke frowned too. He'd always been so introverted that he was almost reclusive. Being interviewed would be far too attention-grabbing for him, so he didn't answer. "Sorry, I don't want to be interviewed!"
"Huh? Why not?" Hong Chen froze again and looked at Su Ke with a pained expression.
"I really don't want to be interviewed!" Seeing Hong Chen's crestfallen face, Su Ke felt a little bad, but he really wasn't used to this sort of thing.
"Screech!"
A black car slowly pulled up not far from the three of them. The door opened, and a man in a suit stepped out, stopping beside the car.
"My car's here!" Sun Yao smiled at Su Ke and pointed to the car by the roadside. It was a Mercedes-Benz. Then she turned to Hong Chen. "If you insist on putting the video online, I don't want people to see my face. I don't need to explain the issue of portrait rights to you, do I?"
Sun Yao had been gentle with Su Ke, the smile on her face utterly sincere. But when she spoke to Hong Chen, her expression turned stern, and she exuded the commanding presence of a formidable businesswoman.
"Okay, I understand. I can blur your face!" Hong Chen nodded obediently several times.
"Blur my face?" Su Ke froze when he heard those words. His mind took an inappropriate turn, and the thought of uncensored videos sprang up at once. He'd seen those terms online, and found them very tempting.
After saying goodbye to Sun Yao and watching her get into the Mercedes-Benz, Su Ke shrugged helplessly at the intern reporter. "Sorry, I have to go too!"
"Hey, wait!" Now that Sun Yao was gone, Hong Chen rushed over in front of Su Ke's bicycle again. "Do you know why everyone stood by doing nothing when you needed help just now?"
"Do you know why you were the first to chase after the thief, while everyone else made way for you?"
"Do you know why thieves are always universally condemned, yet most of them still get away with it?"
Perhaps from excitement, Hong Chen's cheeks flushed. Her petite chest rose and fell with her quick breathing.
But Su Ke wasn't paying attention to that. He'd heard a notification in his mind and hurriedly checked it: "Task: Accept an interview with Hong Chen; Reward: High School Mathematics Mastery (Advanced)."
Damn, what a surprise! It's an advanced reward right off the bat! Su Ke felt happiness had come too quickly to believe.
"Hey, are you even listening to me? Are you going to accept my interview or not?" Hong Chen grew more and more worked up as she spoke, finally letting her fiery temper show.
"Yes, yes!" Su Ke quickly nodded.
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