Volume One: Days in the Shantytown - Underground Bank (Part One)

"Ahem, that's not what I meant." Luo Qian took out twenty-seven lengths of Measuring Cord. "These are the measurements." Pei Sefei's face turned deathly pale. She pointed at him with a trembling finger. "You... you... are these all yours?" Luo Qian hurried to explain. "No! I'm just buying them for other people. It's business, purely business!"

Pei Sefei didn't believe him. Tears welled in her eyes. "I never thought you were that kind of man!" Luo Qian bristled and spread his hands. "Didn't you say you wouldn't ask me anything?" Pei Sefei bit her lip and stopped herself from running away. "But... this is different."

Luo Qian couldn't help remembering the "promises" Li Feier and her Third Aunt had made. Frustration surged through him. He would never trust a woman's promise again.

But the sight of Pei Sefei looking so pitiful softened his heart. "Fine, fine, I'll tell you. Someone's paying me to buy these for her. Where they live, it's hard to get things like this. That's why this job pays so well. If you don't want to help, I'll go myself. That's all I can say. Believe me or don't."

By then, Pei Sefei had thought it through. If Luo Qian really had that many lovers, how could he not know their sizes? Why would he need all those Measuring Cords to measure them? Realizing she had misunderstood him, she saw that he was angry and hurried over. She caught his arm and shook it gently. "I'm sorry, Qian. I was wrong. I shouldn't have doubted you. I do trust you..."

She snatched up the Measuring Cords and raced toward a luxury department store. "I'll buy them right now. Wait here."

Pei Sefei naturally had far better taste than Luo Qian; she was in the entertainment industry, after