Chapter Forty-Two: The Interest on That Ten Thousand

Jiang Yang asked, "Where do you want to go?"

"I want to go to the beach and feel the breeze."

Jiang Yang glanced out the window. "It's almost dark. You still want to go to the beach?"

"You're just sitting at home doing nothing anyway. Your wife is fake, so are you scared of someone checking up on you?" Yang Xiaoran teased deliberately.

Caught having his thoughts laid bare once again, Jiang Yang's weathered face turned slightly red.

Figuring he wanted someone to talk to anyway, he replied, "Alright, if you want to go, I'll keep you company."

The corners of Yang Xiaoran's lips curved up slightly. "Good. Wait for me at home; I'll come pick you up."

...

Half an hour later, downstairs at Sunshine Apartment, a red Hummer H3 was parked by the roadside.

As she opened the car door, Yang Xiaoran was wearing a light red dress today, paired with a pair of white kitten heels. Her slender legs, encased in flesh-colored stockings beneath the dress, were as eye-catching as ever.

Jiang Yang's gaze traitorously landed on her gorgeous legs. "Dr. Yang, you certainly don't look like you're heading to the beach."

Yang Xiaoran said leisurely, "Did anyone decree that visiting the beach requires hot pants and flip-flops? I just like dressing like this."

Jiang Yang climbed into the front passenger seat. "Dr. Yang, what made you suddenly think of going to the beach?"

Starting the engine, Yang Xiaoran replied, "It's not a sudden thought. I actually quite like going to the beach at night, it's just that I haven't been in a long time."

"Huh? Since you like it, why don't you go normally? The beaches in S City don't charge admission."

Yang Xiaoran said thoughtfully, "I'm not short on the admission fee. But the beach is so close to the ocean, what if something happened to me while I was walking alone? That wouldn't be good."

"What could possibly happen on the beach?" Jiang Yang asked, puzzled.

Yang Xiaoran simply pursed her lips and smiled, refusing to elaborate further.

Jiang Yang suddenly understood. "Oh, I get it! A great beauty like you going to the beach is afraid of being hit on by strangers, right? That's why you dragged me along to act as your shield?"

Yang Xiaoran tilted her head and pondered for a moment. "Well, you could say that."

In truth, even if someone hit on her, she wouldn't pay them any mind. She was afraid that as she walked alone, she might just keep walking right into the sea and never be able to return.

"Then call me whenever you want to go to the seaside from now on. You've helped me out a lot, so given our relationship, acting as your shield is no trouble at all."

Hearing this, the corners of Yang Xiaoran's lips naturally curved upward. She rather liked the phrase "our relationship," though on the surface she still feigned nonchalance. "Well then, I won't stand on ceremony with you in the future. By the way, that wife of yours..."

At the mention of Wang Ruolan, Jiang Yang's expression sank. "You guessed right. She completely deceived me; everything was a lie. The marriage was fake, the feelings too..."

His voice trailed off right at the edge of his lips. In truth, he could sense that Ruolan's feelings for him were real; it was merely her method of expression that was hard to accept, leaving him clueless as to whether she was still harboring some hidden, peculiar agenda.

Yang Xiaoran's heart tightened as well. It seemed that although Jiang Yang spoke lightly on the surface, his emotional attachment to that woman ran deep. She had to stamp out those remaining sparks as quickly as possible.

"Matters of the heart cannot be forced. Built on deception, it can never truly be won. Only the person you wanted to confess your feelings to that night is your true love."

Jiang Yang took a deep breath. "You're right. But this time when I went back, even my mother didn't know who I intended to confess to, and the last possible clue has been cut off."

Yang Xiaoran smiled faintly. "Since the lead is broken, just let nature take its course. Who knows, maybe that person will slowly reappear?"

Jiang Yang rested his head against the headrest, closed his eyes, and said, "That's what I think too. Since I don't know who it is, I might as well just lie flat and stop thinking about it."

Yang Xiaoran turned on the car stereo, playing a melodious English folk song, and hummed along to the tune. Her mood seemed to lift even further.

After an hour and a half drive, they arrived at Pengsha Beach in the suburbs.

This was a public beach open to citizens. During the day it was packed, but by nightfall, the vast stretch of sand was dotted with only a sparse few people.

Reaching the edge of the beach, Yang Xiaoran kicked off her white heels, placing them by the sand. Jiang Yang also removed his sneakers, setting them down right beside hers.

Yang Xiaoran glanced at the two pairs of shoes, used her toe to flick some nearby sand, and slowly piled it over the footwear.

Watching this strange behavior, Jiang Yang asked, "What are you doing? Won't the shoes fill up with sand in a moment?"

Yang Xiaoran blinked. "Playing a little game. We'll bury our shoes, take a walk around, and see if we can still find them when we get back."

Seeing her in such high spirits, Jiang Yang's playful childhood streak emerged. "Then we'll have to hide them really well."

He squatted down to dig a small pit, placed both pairs of shoes inside, and covered them with slightly drier sand from nearby until they looked no different from the surrounding terrain.

He patted his hands in satisfaction. "Let's add some difficulty, otherwise it won't be fun if it's too easy to find."

Yang Xiaoran also squatted down to inspect the small mound of earth for a moment. "What if we can't find them? Won't that mean we'll end up buried here together?"

Jiang Yang's mouth twitched. "Only the shoes are buried here, how did that turn into us being buried here?"

Yang Xiaoran dismissed it nonchalantly. "Not much difference. Anyway, I wouldn't mind being buried with you. Come on, keep me company for a walk."

This remark always left Jiang Yang with a strange, indefinable sensation, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

The two began strolling along the beach. Their soles sinking into the fine sand felt as comfortable as stepping on cotton, and the night breeze carrying a hint of oceanic saltiness blew against their faces, bringing an indescribable sense of relaxation.

Yang Xiaoran tilted her head to look at him. "Jiang Yang, let me ask you something."

"Sure, go ahead."

"When do you plan to pay back the money you owe me?"

"Huh? Do I owe you money?"

"Yeah, did you completely forget about that?"

"I actually did. How much do I owe you?"

"It's not much, ten thousand. You had the nerve to borrow it from me the very first time we met."

"Oh, right, I think there was something like that. I'm a bit tight on cash lately, but I'll scrape some together and pay you back once I get my paycheck."

Yang Xiaoran let out a sudden chuckle. "You always say that. But let me warn you, the principal is ten thousand, and the interest is quite substantial."

"Huh? You didn't mention any interest when I borrowed it from you. How much is the interest now?"

"Let me calculate," Yang Xiaoran said, ticking off on her fingers. "Two eights are sixteen, four eights are thirty-two, nine nines are eighty-one... Now you owe me one hundred thirty-three thousand. Plus the ten thousand principal, that makes one hundred forty-three thousand."

Jiang Yang was completely dumbfounded. "Even loan sharks wouldn't dare calculate it like that! How did ten thousand yuan turn into one hundred forty-three thousand?"

"Who told you to keep dragging your feet and not pay?"

"But you never asked me for it!" Jiang Yang truly hadn't expected Dr. Yang to be so ruthless, which had led him to mistakenly think there was some romance between them, while all along, the debt was the only thing he wanted to forget.

"Me not asking doesn't mean you don't have to pay."

"Well, I certainly don't have that much money. Take my money if you want, I don't have any, but I've only got one life to give."

Yang Xiaoran stopped in her tracks, looking at him with a peculiar gaze. "Well, I could point you toward a way to pay off your debt."