Chapter 6: How Much Do Your Shoes Cost?

He was grasping the hang ring above his head with one hand and holding his cellphone in the other. 

The boy was very tall, and he was at least 1.85 meters, a full head taller than her.

He was wearing a white short-sleeved t-shirt that revealed his delicate collarbones and his protruding Adam's apple. His short black hair looked neat and clean.

Jiang Lingzhi suddenly froze and stared blankly at him with her almond-shaped eyes.

He seemed to have noticed that she was staring at him. He turned his face to the side and made eye contact with her, catching her off guard. 

His expression was still very calm and indifferent. He clearly didn't have much of an expression, but he seemed like he should not be provoked.

His eyes were the same as yesterday, with slightly upturned ends. His eye shape looked flirtatious yet indifferent, and his light brown pupils were full of aloofness, as if they were looking at a stranger!

It seemed that he no longer remembered her. 

However, he was alone today, and his friends were not around. 

Without those people around, she was a little bit more brave and courageous.

"Uh, hello...." Jiang Lingzhi decided to speak up after a pause.

The boy looked down at her without any emotions in his eyes, but to her surprise, he did not look away.

Jiang Lingzhi lowered her head and saw that the boy was not wearing the same pair of white sneakers as he was yesterday. Then, she said something out of the blue that didn't quite make sense, "Um, how much do your shoes cost?"

Seemingly not expecting to hear that from her, he stared at her for a while, but he still did not say anything in the end. Instead, he shifted his gaze away and continued to stare at his mobile phone.

Jiang Lingzhi was speechless. She thought, 'What does this mean?'

'Do I not need to compensate him?'

'Or has he forgotten about what happened yesterday?'

Before she could say anything else, the announcement sounded. They arrived at the same bus stop in the old city district, just like yesterday. 

A large group of people squeezed their way out of the bus. The boy looked out of the window, put his cellphone away, and turned around to get off the bus. 

Jiang Lingzhi somehow mustered up the courage. The moment she saw the boy turn around, she followed him and got off the bus without hesitation at all.

That bus stop was two stops away from her home.

She had always been obedient and had never wandered around on her own before. 

Only after she got off the bus, did she realize what she had done.

Jiang Lingzhi hugged her backpack tightly in her arms and followed behind him, all for the sake of compensating him for dirtying his shoes. She didn't even know his name.

After walking for some distance, the boy seemed to realize that she had been following him.

Li Shunan smiled mockingly and suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned around, and his tall, slender figure stood still nonchalantly. 

He said in a languid but alluring voice, "I'm not selling these shoes." 

Jiang Lingzhi stopped walking and was stunned for a while. "Huh?"

She recalled the conversation just now. 

Back then, she asked, "How much do your shoes cost?"

Hence, he answered, "I'm not selling these shoes."

"…"

'He thinks that I'm following him because I want to buy his shoes from him…'

Jiang Lingzhi's ears suddenly turned warm, and she quickly explained, "No, you've misunderstood. I accidentally stepped on your shoes on the bus yesterday, so I want to compensate you..."

Li Shunan chucked his hands in his pockets and stared at her with a probing gaze. 

She was standing two meters away from him and seemed to be too scared to get too close to him. She was just staring at him and trying to compensate him for his shoes. 

'Is this a pick-up line of the new age?'

A playful look flashed in Li Shunan's eyes. 

He pulled a cigarette out of his cigarette case and bit it in his mouth. He moved the corners of his lips and said in a lazy and indifferent voice, "360 yuan. I only accept cash, not WeChat transfers."