Ji Hanxing acted on his decision right away, ready to indulge himself.
He usually lived alone at the Star and Moon Grand Residence, so no one would see whatever he did. What persona? Ji Hanxing had no idea.
He rummaged through his wardrobe and pulled out the black T-shirt and baggy shorts he had bought on Bingxixi for 49.9 apiece, along with a black baseball cap.
Ji Hanxing quickly changed. Seeing him dressed in cheap street-stall clothes like a loser, the system nearly became so furious that its data went haywire.
[Host! Please remember, you are a domineering CEO! A domineering CEO!]
Ji Hanxing waved dismissively. "You said it yourself. I only have to maintain my persona in front of other people. Once I put this cap on, who's going to recognize me?"
As he spoke, he put the black baseball cap on his head, then pulled out a black face mask and covered his face completely, leaving only his eyes exposed.
The system wanted to argue, but when it saw no fluctuations in the data on its backend, it finally fell silent in frustration.
Once Ji Hanxing was fully geared up, he booked a ride on his phone and headed straight for City A's most famous night market. He had already done his research: the busiest night market in City A was the one on the street behind University A.
The September evening breeze brushed gently through the night market behind University A. The air was filled with the mouthwatering aromas of all kinds of food.
Ji Hanxing instantly felt himself relax. This was a familiar feeling; he was like a fish in water.
The night market occupied a long, narrow street, with stalls of every size lining both sides, all glittering with colored lights.
Ji Hanxing squeezed into the bustling crowd of university students, looking at all the snacks and food-barbecue, grilled pig's trotters, grilled cold noodles, and more. After eating nothing but vegetarian food for several days, he was practically drooling.
The system shut itself away in its system space. It did not know this embarrassing person!
Ji Hanxing could not care less about the system's feelings. He plunged straight into the crowd, buying a serving of snails on the left and clam vermicelli on the right. Finally, carrying plastic bags of various sizes, he squeezed back out of the crowd. He looked around, hoping to find an empty spot in a corner where he could sit down and dig in.
His eyes suddenly lit up, his gaze settling on a corner diagonally ahead. It was already at the end of the night market, dimly lit and nowhere near as lively as the stretch before it. There were only a few tables and chairs, all unoccupied, and just one inconspicuous stall beside them.
Ji Hanxing carried his purchases over. Only when he got closer and looked at the ingredients on the stall did he realize it sold egg fried rice. The stallholder stood to one side, looking down at her phone so intently that she did not even notice his approach.
"Hello."
Ji Hanxing called out softly. The stallholder immediately came back to her senses, switched off her phone screen at once, and looked up at him. She made an effort to lift the corners of her mouth, seemingly wanting to smile at him, but in the end she still found it awkward and let them fall.
"Hello. What would you like?"
The stallholder was a very young-looking woman, very pretty too, with an aloof expression. Ji Hanxing could tell that she probably did not smile much in her daily life and was likely no older than twenty. She looked at him with some nervousness, her voice trembling as she asked what he wanted.
Ji Hanxing shook his head, pointing at the things in his hands and then at the table beside her stall. "Could I use that table over there?"
The stallholder glanced at the table, then lowered her head and said quietly, "Go ahead. Those tables and chairs are public. Anyone can sit there."
She turned her phone back on. As Ji Hanxing passed, he happened to glance at it. It was actually a tutorial on making egg fried rice. He took another look at the ingredients and equipment on the stall. They really were all brand-new, with hardly any signs of use.
Ji Hanxing sat down and opened the food he had bought. As he ate, his gaze drifted back toward the stallholder ahead of him. She was still looking down at the tutorial.
She couldn't make egg fried rice, yet she dared to set up a stall?
The thought had barely crossed Ji Hanxing's mind before he could not help laughing. Hadn't he been exactly the same back then?
At the time, he had still been working as a waiter in hotels and restaurants. After getting off work at night, he would go to the night market to pick up cans and drink bottles, saving them up to sell. After spending enough time collecting bottles there, he had become familiar with many of the stallholders and learned that although their work was hard, their earnings were considerable.
It was far more than the fixed wages he earned as a waiter, and Ji Hanxing immediately began thinking about setting up his own stall. What should he sell? At the restaurant where he worked, he watched the chef make egg fried rice for three days, then immediately set up a stall and started selling it.
At first, Ji Hanxing only understood the theory. In practice, he either failed to control the heat and burned the rice or got the quantities wrong and made it unbearably salty. But he had observed that no one in that night market sold egg fried rice, and he did not want to let the opportunity slip by. He began studying it diligently, and gradually, his egg fried rice tasted better and better.
Later, Little Star Golden Egg Fried Rice became famous in the night market, and his business kept improving.
Remembering those days, Ji Hanxing could not help smiling. He raised his eyes, his gaze falling on the girl, on the loose neckline of her clothes and her trousers washed pale...
Something stirred in Ji Hanxing's heart. He wiped his mouth, put his mask back on, and walked over to the stallholder.
"Miss, I..."
Ji Hanxing had only just begun to speak when a shrill voice interrupted him.
"Well, if it isn't our classmate Jiang Qianling!"
"What are you doing here?"
The voice was sarcastic, sharp and grating. Ji Hanxing and the stallholder, whose name seemed to be Jiang Qianling, both turned toward it.
Two young women stood there, wearing full makeup and fashionable clothes, one with shoulder-length hair and the other with permed curls. With their arms folded, they surveyed the egg fried rice stall with mockery in their eyes.
"Jiang Qianling, you're selling egg fried rice here?"
"Trying to earn your tuition? I saw at the counselor's office that you haven't even paid it in full yet."
Ji Hanxing's eyes shifted slightly. Sure enough, the stallholder's circumstances were much as he had guessed: she was a student working to support her studies.
The woman with permed curls glanced disdainfully at Ji Hanxing standing beside Jiang Qianling, then tipped her chin toward Jiang Qianling. "Is this guy wrapped up in black your boyfriend?"
"Is he too ugly to show his face?"
Ji Hanxing's eyes widened slightly. Was she talking about him? He instinctively turned his head a little toward Jiang Qianling and met her apologetic gaze.
Jiang Qianling turned her head and looked coldly at the two women before her, her so-called classmates.
"He Xue, Song Qi, you're getting in the way of my business."
The curly-haired woman, Song Qi, scoffed. "Aren't you here to do business?"
"I'm buying. Go ahead and cook."