Looking at the phone store in front of him, Wilfred Qin couldn't help licking his dry lips with an anxious look on his sallow face.
"If I sell my phone and get a job, hopefully, I'll be able to cover Dad's medical cost and Talia's living expenses this week," he muttered to himself.
Thinking about that, Wilfred hurried in.
There were about seven or eight people in the store. The owner, Blake Wang, was a slick-looking pot-bellied man. He was chatting with his customers. Seeing the impoverished-looking Wilfred coming in, he walked up to him and mocked, "Mr. Qin, are you here to buy a new phone? Did you lose your phone to Chojan again?"
Chojan was the largest entertainment industry in Bimeet. It was especially famous for its underground casinos, which were well-known among the rich in Fort Province, and Wilfred used to gamble there sometimes, but he always lost.
Hearing Blake's teasing tone, Wilfred wasn't bothered, and he took out a brand-new phone from his pocket, saying, "I bought this two days ago, and I would like to return it."
"You wanna return it?"
Blake looked a little uncomfortable. Nevertheless, he took over the phone calmly and examined it, glancing at Wilfred from time to time. When Wilfred started to look a little anxious, only then did he say slowly, "Sure, you can return it. But do you have proof of purchase?"
Immediately, Wilfred's expression changed.
Coming from a well-off family and being doted by his parents, he had always spent money without second thoughts. Back then, he often bought his phones from Blake. But last time, he bought the new phone in a hurry and had thrown away the packaging already. So naturally, the receipt was lost as well.
Not long ago, his father Sonny Qin's wood factory declared bankruptcy and the Qins became poor. Later, Sonny fell ill and was admitted into the hospital. As a result, Wilfred's mother had to take care of both his father and his sister, who was still studying, at the same time. As the only one in the family who was able to work now, Wilfred felt that he had the responsibility to alleviate his family's financial burden. However, all his friends had stayed away from him now and he couldn't get a job in such a short time, so he planned to sell his phone first. Originally, he wanted to sell it at a low price, but then he remembered that he could return it through the 7-day return policy, so he hurriedly came to the store.
However, Blake didn't intend to refund him the full sum. Seeing Wilfred's sullen face, he pretended to be discommoded and said, "Mr. Qin, it's our return policy. You gotta have the receipt. However, since you're in urgent need of money, I can buy it from you with three grand."
"What?"
Wilfred grew anxious instantly.
When he bought the phone, it was worth six grand. In just a few days, its value was cut in half. How could he agree? "Blake, you sold this phone to me, and in the past, I bought all my phones here. Aren't you being a little harsh now?" fumed Wilfred.
"I'm harsh?" Blake smiled disdainfully and scoffed, "You know that the value of a phone drops once it's used." With a pause, he then added, "I can only offer you three grand at most. If you don't want it, you can get out."
Immediately, Wilfred blushed in anger. He couldn't stand being insulted by an old acquaintance like this, so he grabbed Blake's collar through the counter and spat, "Say it again!"
"What are you doing?"
Seeing Wilfred's poor attitude, the customers who had been chatting with Blake came forward in a hurry and pushed Wilfred away. They pointed at Wilfred's nose and scolded, "Are you trying to make trouble?"
"I'm telling you, if you want a fight, let's get on with it!"
Wilfred stumbled back a few steps after being pushed. In the past, he would have punched them already. However, he was feeling weak from hunger now since his family had undergone a financial change recently, so he figured it would only add to the misfortunes of his family if he got injured now. Therefore, he could only swallow his anger.
In the meantime, Blake tidied his collar and threw the phone back to Wilfred with a sneer. "Pfft, look at yourself!"
Hearing that, Wilfred was so indignant that he could feel his chest heaving heavily. With a pair of bloodshot eyes, he glared hatefully at Blake.
"What are you looking at?"
One of the customers saw that Wilfred was alone and sickly, so he pushed him back and reprimanded, "Get out of here!"
"What's going on?"
Just then, a man's voice broke the tense atmosphere in the store.
Everyone looked over and saw three customers coming in—it was a man with two women. The man was dressed in a suit and leather shoes, looking quite dignified. Instantly, everyone fell quiet. The other two women were gorgeous in their own ways, and their appearance had attracted the attention of everyone.
When Wilfred saw one of the women, his gaze showed complication and helplessness.
"Mr. Gu!" Blake hurried to the man as if he had seen someone important. With a flattering smile, he asked, "What brings you here? You could just give me a call if you need anything."
Blake had to lower his status because the man in front of him was Nicholas Gu—a high-ranking officer of Bimeet's Globalspace. Every year, Mr. Gu would buy in a lot of phones from Blake to be used as the company's prizes, thus creating a large source of income for Blake. Naturally, Blake was respectful to him.
"Oh, I just happened to pass by and notice the commotion here. What's going on?" Nicholas asked casually.
"Ah." Pointing to Wilfred, Blake explained, "It's all because of this poor b*stard. I don't know where he got his phone from and he tried to use it to scam a full refund from me."
Nicholas glanced at Wilfred, only to find that Wilfred's gaze was placed on the woman next to him. Seeing that, he was a little annoyed. But before he could say something, the young girl next to him came forward excitedly and studied Wilfred. Then she shouted to the other woman, "Lily, isn't this the guy who confessed his love to you not long ago?"
Lily Burns—the woman that Wilfred had been staring at—was about 22 or 23 years old. She had fair skin and a good look. Her clothes looked quite expensive. Although her temperament was a little cold, she seemed close to the young girl as she rolled her eyes at the girl. Nevertheless, Lily wasn't bothered to look at Wilfred because she wouldn't waste her time on a useless man.
"Wilfred, is that you?" Seeing that Lily didn't answer, the young girl wasn't discouraged at all. In fact, she was even more thrilled. "I remember you confessed to Lily with a big gold watch at that time. You're very rich, aren't you? So, could this plump man be mistaken?"
When Wilfred heard her naive and straightforward remarks, he could only smile helplessly.
Back in college, Lily was his coursemate. They graduated at the same time. Lily had joined Globalspace and excelled at her job. Naturally, she was like everyone's dream girl. On the contrary, Wilfred was smug of himself and didn't get a job as he continued to live at home. Not long ago, he made a confession to Lily in front of hundreds of people in Globalspace. But as he expected, Lily didn't even look at him.
Although sometimes he wondered if Lily still remembered him at all, that didn't stop him from pursuing her, and thus he embarrassed himself quite often.
On the other hand, Blake heard the girl's words and saw the discontent look in Nicholas's eyes, so he chimed in, "Girl, listen. Wilfred is not a good man—he gambles. I heard that he lost a lot of money in gambling and caused his family to go bankrupt the other day. And his father even fell ill because of that. Now that he is short of money, he started to scam his friends."
Hearing Blake's words, the young girl was shocked and turned to watch Wilfred in disbelief. "Really? Wilfred, did you seriously lose everything?"
"No, I didn't." Wilfred denied in a low voice.
He seemed to be saying that to Blake, but actually, it was for Lily. He wanted to defend himself from Blake's insult. After all, no man liked to be defamed in front of his goddess.
"Bah," Blake sniffed with great contempt, "Everyone knows that you're addicted to gambling! Do you think we will trust you?"
"Enough."
Upon noticing that Lily didn't glance at Wilfred at all, Nicholas gave Blake a look and ordered faintly, "If he wants to sell his phone, just take it."
"But he thinks that three grand is not enough."
With that said, Blake glared at Wilfred, wondering why hadn't he got out of here.
On the other hand, Nicholas was a little surprised to hear Blake's words. Then, he looked at Wilfred amusingly and asked, "How much do you want?"
Wilfred took his gaze away from Lily and did a little calculation in his mind before saying, "I bought the phone at six grand, and I've just used it for three days, so five grand will do."
Five grand was the lowest he could accept.
He planned to give four grand to his mother and the remaining to his sister.
As for himself, he would get a job at a fast food restaurant that provided free meals.
Even though it would be a bit tiring, at least he could get free meals. And when he received the salary, he could help alleviate his family's financial burden.
Meanwhile, Blake was a little angry and snapped, "Bullsh*t, you didn't buy your phone here. You don't even have the receipt!"
"Alright, alright." Nicholas seemed to get a little impatient. "Just give him five grand, so he can go."
Blake was unable to reject Nicholas's order. Besides, he could still make a little profit by reselling the phone. Nonetheless, he shot Wilfred a glare before taking out five grand cash reluctantly.
Upon receiving the money, Wilfred breathed a sigh of relief silently. Then, he turned to Lily and clarified, "Yeah, I gambled, but I never caused my family to go bankrupt because of that."
With her brows furrowed slightly, Lily nodded to show that she had heard what he said. As for whether she believed it or not, Wilfred wasn't sure. But still, he felt a little relieved. Noticing that, Blake just snorted with disdain.
Wilfred didn't want to waste any more time here. Just as he was about to leave, a group of people came into the store. The leader was a young man with a gloomy look. When he saw the cash in Wilfred's hand, he smiled sinisterly and scoffed, "Wilfred, we finally find you. When are you gonna pay back the 100 grand you owe us?"
Instantly, everyone in the store was astounded.