How can I justify myself as a Magnate if I don't indulge myself?

A meal that cost nearly 3000 yuan...

It could be said that it was the most expensive meal she had eaten all year...

To say her heart didn’t ache would be a lie, but remembering the large commission she had just earned from Gu Heng, the sting of the cost faded quite a bit...

As for the man in question, Gu Heng...

He had never eaten such fine fare. Apart from the hot pot last night that cost 170,000 yuan, he couldn’t afford such an expensive meal even during the New Year’s feast, let alone be picky...

Therefore, this meal was definitely a case of the guest enjoying as much as the host...

Hearing Liu Wen’s question, Gu Heng’s gaze turned to the mall outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, "Miss Liu, if you have things to do back at the store go ahead, I plan to buy some things in the mall."

Upon hearing this, Liu Wen hurriedly said, "Not busy at all, not at all. Since Mr. Gu would like to continue shopping, then let’s keep shopping. Since I brought the two of you out, I should definitely take you both back. After all, hailing a cab can be quite troublesome..."

Gu Heng wasn’t courteous; if Liu Wen was willing to play free chauffeur, he was happy to let her do so, and it would save him the taxi fare.

As Gu Heng rose from his seat, Lin Jiayun subconsciously clung to Gu Heng’s arm and asked, "What are you planning to buy at the mall?"

"I just saw there’s a Lao Fengxiang Jewelry Store in the mall, so I plan to buy some jewelry."

"Jewelry?!"

Upon hearing his response, Lin Jiayun’s sense of crisis instantly surfaced...

Gu Heng, being a man, surely had no use for jewelry, so the only purpose of buying jewelry must be to give it to a girl!

The thought alone made Lin Jiayun abandon any further pretense of casual conversation, as she urgently questioned, "What do you need the jewelry for? To give away?"

Looking at her excited state, Gu Heng turned his head with a taunting smile, "Of course, I’m buying it to give away. You don’t think I, a grown man, would get myself a pair of gold earrings, do you?"

"And you’re giving jewelry to a girl from Lao Fengxiang? How low-class. Not to mention Tiffany and Bvlgari, at least get something from Cartier."

Gu Heng shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "No problem, she won’t mind."

Alright, alright!

Alright, alright!

Lin Jiayun had originally thought that Gu Heng was only interested in He Jing for her looks and not her heart, and there would be no competition. But as she realized this wasn’t the case, she nearly ground her molars to dust, and in an instant, Sherlock Holmes took over her mind...

The fact that he was personally picking out gifts indicated that Gu Heng attached great importance to her!

And the fact that she wouldn’t mind jewelry from a brand like Lao Fengxiang, which was considered tacky, meant she surely wasn’t a woman of taste!

Gu Heng had admitted he came from a rural background...

As a series of clues conjured up by Lin Jiayun came together, a highly plausible answer seemed imminent...

There could be only one truth!

Gu Heng must have an old flame back in his rural hometown, yearning for her beloved to return!

Feeling increasingly certain of her assumptions, Lin Jiayun couldn’t hold back and blurted out her inner thoughts.

"Where is your rustic first love???"

Gu Heng, who was already at the entrance of the Lao Fengxiang store and about to step inside, nearly strained his back from the year 2000 when Lin Jiayun’s sudden confrontation caught him off guard. Turning around with a face full of confusion, he looked back at Lin Jiayun...

"???"

A rustic first love is still a first love.

What the hell is a "rustic first love"?

What kind of abstract new-age culture is she talking about???

Seeing the look of utter bewilderment on Gu Heng’s face, Lin Jiayun realized she had become the butt of the joke and awkwardly looked away...

Rolling his eyes at her, Gu Heng couldn’t be bothered with her any longer and just walked into the store.

Amid the greetings from the salespeople, Gu Heng made his way straight to a counter and said, "Hello, could you help me pick out a set of jewelry suitable for a middle-aged woman? A bracelet, ring, necklace, and earrings, one of each."

The sales staff at Lao Fengxiang weren’t as professional as those at luxury boutiques. Hearing Gu Heng’s straightforward request, they were caught off guard for a moment.

Lin Jiayun, who had followed behind Gu Heng, lit up when she heard "middle-aged woman," and then quietly whispered near Gu Heng’s ear, "You’re not picking out jewelry for your mom, are you?"

"What else? For my rustic first love?"

"Heh heh..."

After giving her a look, Gu Heng ceased to interact with her further.

But upon hearing that Gu Heng was not selecting jewelry for another woman but for his mom, Lin Jiayun perked up. Taking charge, she stepped forward and declared, "What do you know about a woman’s taste as a man? Let me help you choose!"

"State your requirements."

Upon seeing her willingness to choose for him, Gu Heng felt relieved and after a few seconds of thought, he said, "Just the normal kind of gold jewelry will do, nothing too flashy, but also not too low-profile; don’t need anything too innovative in design, but it should suit a middle-aged woman."

Every time he talked on the phone with his mom, he could always hear about some other mothers who had bought a new gold necklace or gold ring. Although she had never asked anything from Gu Heng, he could still detect the envy in her tone.

What son doesn’t want to make his parents proud?

In the past, he didn’t have the means, but now that he did, he naturally wanted to make them proud and have them become the envy of others.

That’s right, he was that superficial.

"OK, OK. Leave it all to me."

Lin Jiayun patted her trembling chest and then began to seriously select items from the display...

"This one, this one, and this one, let’s take them out and have a look."

As an experienced shopper, Lin Jiayun spent more time browsing stores in a year than Gu Heng walked, and she did not hesitate to boss around the sales staff...

One person wasn’t enough, and Liu Wen, standing next to her, joined in the fray, leaving Gu Heng to become an outsider, standing to the side listening to the two women’s endless chattering...

After a full half-hour, having nearly tried on half the jewelry store’s inventory, the pair finally settled on a few pieces of jewelry.

"Here, these four pieces, I guarantee Aunty will become the most beautiful woman in your village once she wears them!"

Gu Heng examined the four pieces of jewelry adorned with various intricate engravings and, without hesitation, told the salesperson, "These four, wrap them up."

The salesperson was almost driven mad by Lin Jiayun and Liu Wen in the past half hour, and now hearing Gu Heng’s words felt like heavenly music. She quickly replied, "Please wait a moment sir, I’ll pack them up for you right now."

....

[Host, in Lao Fengxiang Jewelry Store, you have not forgotten your dear relatives amidst wealth and have indulged in spending for your mother, reward: 330,000 yuan, balance: 10,320,000 yuan.]

A few minutes later, after Gu Heng had finished listening to the prompt in his mind and took another look at the receipt in his hand...

1.224 million...

Disregarding the small change, the total cost of the four rather heavy pieces of jewelry came to merely 1.2 million yuan?

That’s less than what I spend on a meal?

Does this even count as being filial? Wouldn’t I get roasted online if I posted this?

Gu Heng was tempted to walk back into Lao Fengxiang Jewelry Store and ask the staff to select a couple more kilograms of jewelry for him, but the thought of his mother drenched in several kilos of gold accessories quickly put that idea to rest...

Guess I’ll have to make up for it somehow next time...

After finally leaving the store, with a grin, Lin Jiayun approached and said, "I drove you today and also helped pick out jewelry for your Aunty, why don’t you give me a piece of jewelry as a gift to make it up to me?"

After speaking, she looked up at Gu Heng with hopeful eyes.

"Sure," he agreed.

Before she could be pleased, she saw Gu Heng flaunting the receipt in his hand and saying, "As long as it doesn’t exceed this number, pick whatever you want."

"Tch, stingy. I don’t desire your lousy gift," retorted Lin Jiayun.

Her remark was just a probe towards Gu Heng, aiming to get a sense of his feelings for her, and she wasn’t actually interested in receiving a gift from him. As a clever woman, she very well understood the completely different meanings attached to something one demands for oneself and something that is offered spontaneously by someone else.

So when she heard Gu Heng agree without any hesitation, she actually received the answer she wanted...

As for Gu Heng’s thoughts, they were simple.

He wasn’t reluctant to spend money on a woman; in fact, he quite enjoyed it.

In his view, the phrase "Money is for women to see, not to spend on them," used by Tong Jingcheng, applies to the ordinary women who had not seen much of the world, but perhaps not to a girl like Lin Jiayun...

After all, there’s a reason none of the women who make their mark in the world are fools—you plan on seducing with big promises and swooping in for the profit without laying down a cent, but people like her do not take action unless they see a clear advantage. What’s the point in outwitting each other?

Through their time together over the past couple of days, it was clear to him that Lin Jiayun was indeed after something from him.

But wasn’t he acting with equal calculation towards her?

Given the chance, Gu Heng was more than willing to use money to take their relationship to the next level.

Spending money on a girl doesn’t make you a simp, a real simp is someone who spends money and doesn’t even get a whiff of reciprocation.

What he was doing could at most be called a mutually beneficial arrangement; one desires the wealth of youth while the other desires youthful beauty—it’s simply a perfect match, isn’t it?

As for why he had just insisted that the gift for Lin Jiayun shouldn’t exceed the 1.224 million on the receipt...

That’s even simpler.

Today he was buying a gift for his mother, which meant today she was his priority; not even the almighty could change that—the cap on her gift was 1.224 million!

There was no room for negotiation!