Chapter 2697 — Much Displeased

"What? Nothing at all?" Yu Xiaoke's face darkened. Sure enough, she had guessed right—Wei Zhao really did have a thing for her! Otherwise, why would he call her up out of nowhere with nothing to say? In Yu Xiaoke's impression of him, though she hadn't thought well of Wei Zhao, he was definitely not the sort to make pointless phone calls.

"Yes, well, I suppose it counts as something, actually. Are you free this Friday night?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Huh? This Friday?" Yu Xiaoke was stunned for a moment, then went rather blank. Was Wei Zhao asking her out? Was he inviting her on a date? Going out to dinner together... what was bound to come had finally come.

"I have some ideas about the orphanage's future that I'd like to discuss with you. If you don't want to come, then forget it," Wei Zhao said mildly.

"I... I'll go!" Yu Xiaoke said through gritted teeth.

"Heh, good then. I was worried you no longer wanted to build up the orphanage." Wei Zhao found teasing Yu Xiaoke rather amusing—especially now that he had a double identity, watching her fly into a rage gave him a strange, wicked pleasure...

"But about dinner... I eat a lot, so I won't go if I don't get my fill. Let's get this straight first: how much are you spending to treat me?" Yu Xiaoke asked.

"A thousand, I suppose. That should be enough to fill you up, shouldn't it?" Wei Zhao hadn't expected her to bring that up, but he answered anyway.

"A thousand? That's nowhere near enough—it wouldn't even fill the gaps between my teeth. It'll have to be ten thousand at least. How about it?" Yu Xiaoke countered.

"..." Wei Zhao was somewhat speechless. A thousand had turned into ten thousand, but he didn't much mind. He nodded and said, "Fine, ten thousand it is, then. See you Saturday night!"

Yu Xiaoke hung up in a gloomy mood and gave a helpless sigh. What was she supposed to do? What on earth was she to do? Should she come clean with Wei Zhao when the time came? But what if he flew into a rage and refused to build the orphanage anymore?

But if she didn't come clean, was she supposed to just give in to Wei Zhao? That would leave her feeling awful too. And what about Male Thief? Yu Xiaoke was deeply torn.

While she was still agonizing, her phone rang again. Yu Xiaoke assumed it was Wei Zhao, but when she picked it up she saw the caller display showed an unfamiliar landline number. Puzzled, she answered: "Hello?"

"Is this the heroine Yan?" Wei Zhao asked, imitating Male Thief's voice. He was calling from a public phone at school—since he was disguised as Male Thief, he naturally couldn't use his own cell number.

"Huh? You're Male Thief?" Hearing that voice, and the way he addressed her, Yu Xiaoke instantly realized the caller was Male Thief, and she was overjoyed. "Male Thief, Male Thief, it really is you! I've missed you so much—you finally called me on your own initiative!"

"..." Wei Zhao was so thrown by the abrupt shift in her attitude before and after that he didn't know what to say. Wasn't that a bit too fast a change? He composed himself before saying, "It's me."

"Male Thief, what did you want to see me about?" Yu Xiaoke asked. "Or did you just miss me and want to give me a call?"

"It's like this: I want to make another trip to Zhang Lifeng's tomb to pick up a few things. Are you free to come along with me?" Wei Zhao asked.

"I am, I am! I'll go with you." Yu Xiaoke agreed readily without a second thought, and the gloom over agreeing to the date with Wei Zhao was swept clean away.

"Good, then. This Friday night—we'll move together," Wei Zhao said.

"Okay... what? Friday night?" Yu Xiaoke froze, and suddenly remembered the date Wei Zhao had set up. Her heart jolted with alarm and she cursed inwardly. Why did Wei Zhao have to pick this of all times to treat her to dinner? Now it had collided with Male Thief's invitation!

"What is it? Do you have other plans?" Wei Zhao asked, feigning surprise.

"Plans... not exactly... it's just that a friend asked me to dinner, also on Friday..." Yu Xiaoke didn't want to lie to Male Thief, so she told the truth.

"A friend asked you to dinner? A boyfriend?" Wei Zhao asked deliberately. "If you don't have the time, then..."

"No, don't call it off—it's not a boyfriend, it's just... just a suitor of mine!" Yu Xiaoke said hurriedly. "But I don't like him at all!"

"Oh, I didn't mean call the whole thing off—I meant, why don't you have dinner first, and whenever you're free after, we can set out then?" Wei Zhao said. "But if you don't like him, why go to dinner with him at all?"

"Because I've got no choice, that's why!" Yu Xiaoke said, thoroughly vexed. "He's the orphanage's biggest donor. At first I thought he simply wanted to help the orphanage—and that's what he said in the beginning too. But later on, he seemed to take an interest in me, and I was afraid he'd stop donating to the orphanage, so I had no choice but to agree when he asked me to dinner..."

"I see. But, Xiaoke, to be honest, you might actually consider him. He's been donating to you all this time—he must genuinely like you and care about you. I think you could be happy with him, don't you?" Wei Zhao counseled with an air of righteous virtue.

"But I only like you!" Yu Xiaoke said. "If I hadn't met you, I might have considered it, but now, I really don't want to be with anyone else..." Yu Xiaoke said. "Don't worry, going to dinner is actually me scamming him. I told him to give me ten thousand to treat me to dinner—I'll take the money, buy him street food, and pocket the rest. Hehehehe..."

"Is that so..." Listening to Yu Xiaoke's sly, dark chuckle, Wei Zhao broke out in a sweat. The girl was planning to swindle him—and she'd gone and told him all about it...

"Yes, yes! Oh, right—so I'll go to dinner first, then come find you? You give me a call midway, and I'll use that as an excuse to leave. How about that?" Yu Xiaoke asked.

"Give you a call..." Wei Zhao thought: I'm the one having dinner with you, so how am I supposed to call you? So he said, "I don't have a cell phone, so calling you is a bit of a hassle. Why don't you come up with an excuse yourself?"

"I see. That works too—I'll figure something out! If he won't let me go, I'll just keep scamming him for money. When he runs out, he'll naturally let me leave!" Yu Xiaoke said.

Wei Zhao felt for his wallet and gave a bitter smile. It seemed Yu Xiaoke was quite displeased with him in his Wei Zhao identity!