Chapter 15

“Here you are.”

Qiao Ning handed over the bag of cherry tomatoes. Zhuang Cheng took it and transferred 188.

He was Qiao Ning’s second delivery customer—like the first, he’d tried the tomatoes and ordered a jin.

The sting was there, but he hadn’t hesitated this time. Last time, he’d tasted the strawberries, wanted to buy some for his wife and son, and—flinching at the price—hadn’t pulled the trigger.

While he dithered, Qiao Ning’s strawberries sold out.

Thankfully, Qiao Ning had gifted him some. His wife and son tried them at home—both raved, ate them like nothing else. Pity there were only a handful; a taste each and gone.

Since then, the kid had been haunted by those strawberries, even asking whether they could be bought for his birthday.

Pity Little Qiao’s supply wasn’t stable either—the birthday wasn’t guaranteed. Buying now would just be an early celebration.

Last time he’d hesitated and missed out. This time, having tasted the cherry tomatoes—genuinely delicious, his wife would love them—

Seeing that Qiao Ning and his friends weren’t carrying much, Zhuang Cheng refused to hesitate again and bought a jin on the spot.

Zhuang Cheng sent off, Qin Hao eyed the bags in everyone’s hands and marveled: “Fifth Brother’s business is easy. People want to pay.”

“That’s because our fruit is just that good.” Lu Zeyu said. “You tell me—you tasted it. Would you buy?”

Qin Hao grinned sheepishly: “Start of the month? Absolutely.”

End of the month—no can do. Living expenses spent; wanted to, couldn’t.

Chattering along, they went to deliver the third order.

This one belonged to “A Devoted Foodie Heart.” Qiao Ning messaged her and waited downstairs; moments later a girl came sprinting down.

Up close, “A Devoted Foodie Heart” had meant to ask about strawberries—instead, seeing Qiao Ning, she blurted: “Little Boss, how did you get THIS handsome?!”

Qiao Ning touched his face reflexively. “I…”

“You were handsome before too!”

Realizing how that sounded, she hurried to add: “Even handsomer now.”

A jaw-droppingly gorgeous man. His face was a gift to her eyes.

She couldn’t help asking: “Can I take a photo? Want to show my friend—the one who bought strawberries with me last time.”

Qiao Ning smiled and declined: “Sorry, not really convenient.”

“A Devoted Foodie Heart” shrugged. Fine—no handsome man to look at, but delicious strawberries weren’t a bad consolation.

She took the strawberries and immediately pulled one out to eat. Qiao Ning’s “feel free to verify the weight” stalled at his lips and got swallowed.

Forget it. Judging by her pace, those strawberries weren’t making it to her office.

After she finished the strawberry, Qiao Ning offered a cherry tomato sample.

“A Devoted Foodie Heart” said: “Let me buy a water to rinse first. Strawberry then cherry tomato back to back—might taste super sour.”

After all, those Ruby strawberries were sweet—clearly sweet without being cloying. She wanted one already just thinking about it.

“No need.” Qiao Ning had zero such worries. The cherry tomatoes did carry tartness—but the kind that only made you want another bite.

Hearing this, she didn’t insist, popped the cherry tomato in her mouth—washed by Qiao Ning before departure, safe to eat raw.

A few quiet seconds.

A few seconds later, she’d finished.

“Cherry tomatoes for me… two jin, then.”

“A Devoted Foodie Heart” clutched her phone in anguish. My money! Why am I so poor?! Otherwise she’d have bought far more than two jin.

Qin Hao, grinning ear to ear, handed her his bag, mimicking Qiao Ning’s earlier line: “One box, one jin. Here you are.”

That was fast.

They’d brought eight boxes of cherry tomatoes. Three left.

Next: the mall, a bit farther out. They returned the shared e-bikes and transferred to the subway.

Nearly half an hour’s ride to the mall.

Qiao Ning messaged the customer, who said twenty-some minutes more—wait a bit, please.

Then wait they would. Time was early. Spotting a milk tea shop, Qiao Ning offered to treat the roommates.

All three looked at him in unison.

Qiao Ning: “What?”

Qin Hao circled him once. “Something’s wrong. Fifth Brother, you’re off.”

Lu Zeyu agreed: “Seriously. Back in the day, when you were thirsty, you’d rather suffer till you got back to the dorm for tap water than buy bottled. Milk tea? Never.”

Zhang Bowen too: “The BBQ place will have water. We’ll get a big bottle of cola—better value.”

Qiao Ning: “…”

Just how badly had he mistreated himself back then?

Before rebirth he wasn’t short of small money, even if he hadn’t enjoyed much—his daily spending was at least normal. During his school years, had he really been this destitute?

“I’m graduating soon, you know.” Qiao Ning said, half-joking. “No more saving for tuition and living expenses. I’ve decided to change my attitude toward life. Enjoy it.”

The three heard this out and found it unimpeachable.

“Should’ve been this way all along.” Lu Zeyu said. “Think about it—if you hadn’t ground yourself so hard in college, you might’ve grown a few more centimeters. Wait. Did you get taller AGAIN?”

Zhang Bowen stepped close and lined himself up against Qiao Ning. Verdict, delivered with certainty: “Taller.”

He was the tallest in the dorm—1.89 meters, looking down on all the little brothers.

“Two centimeters minimum,” Zhang Bowen said.

Qin Hao, hearing this, nervously crowded in too: “Sixth Brother, look—which of us is taller now?”

A southerner, he stood 1.75—no shorty back home.

But his dorm was full of boys who’d apparently been fed fertilizer, each taller than the last. At enrollment, only Qiao Ning had been shorter than him.

Who could have guessed—he’d stopped growing, but Qiao Ning, just one year younger, had kept going, shooting up another two centimeters in university.

Great. Now their heights were neck and neck. Thick-soled shoes let him preserve a shred of Second Brother’s dignity—he refused to be the dorm’s shortest.

“Fifth Brother’s taller.” Lu Zeyu and Zhang Bowen answered in unison.

Qin Hao’s heart shattered. Unacceptable: “Wait—you. Have you been secretly mainlining fertilizer?! You’re twenty-TWO and still sprouting!”

“Twenty-one.” Qiao Ning corrected. “My twenty-second birthday hasn’t happened yet.”

Qin Hao: “…Is that the POINT?!”

“Probably not.” Zhang Bowen had never known height anxiety and couldn’t empathize with his second brother’s pain. “Maybe Fifth Brother’s growth plates just closed late.”

Qin Hao gave up on words. Qiao Ning quietly exhaled in relief.

Good. The people who knew him best suspected nothing. Strangers even less.

Mercifully, the height gain this round hadn’t been dramatic—no obvious gap to the eye, just an overall straighter, better-proportioned figure.

For milk tea, Qiao Ning switched categories. A novice to the milk tea realm, he simply asked the clerk for bestsellers—the people’s choice.

Last time’s was something like a Crispy Milk Puff; today’s was the Soy Milk Rice Mochi. Both delicious—different vibes each.

Qiao Ning thought: if he couldn’t get these back home, he might miss them.

Waiting at the milk tea shop, a girl came up red-faced to ask for his WeChat. Politely declined.

Lu Zeyu made a series of tsking noises. “Our Little Qiao’s face was handsome enough before—now it’s lethal. Girl-magnet tier.”

Qiao Ning ignored him, not in the mood for teasing, and pulled out his phone to play the dress-up game.

Lu Zeyu couldn’t watch: “Why are you STILL playing that?”

Qiao Ning: “It’s fun.”

Lu Zeyu: “…Eldest, Second—and you. Drop the dolls. Come on, let’s squad up.”

Squadding up, Qiao Ning knew—queuing into games together. His roommates did it constantly; Qiao Ning never joined, because he didn’t game.

Now that he did, when the invitation came again, Qiao Ning didn’t refuse. He closed the dress-up game and downloaded Lu Zeyu’s recommendation.

Before the download finished, the scheduled customer arrived early, and Qiao Ning went to hand over the strawberries.

The customer seemed in a hurry—took the strawberries and left, before Qiao Ning could even make his cherry tomato pitch.

Zhang Bowen consoled him: “It’s fine. Only three boxes left, and there are still two customers—might not even cover them.”

Qiao Ning smiled easily. “Mm. Worst case, I take them home and eat them.”

He genuinely wasn’t worried. Wasn’t there forty-some thousand in his bank card? Not counting his last life, the highest his balance had ever been.

Qiao Ning contacted the other two interested customers—both had DM’d him wanting strawberries, missed out, and were willing to try cherry tomatoes.

One turned out to have something come up—out of town, not buying.

The other said he was on the way; if he arrived, give him a few minutes.

This customer had originally arranged to meet somewhere else near the mall; Qiao Ning had negotiated the change to the mall itself, and the man had agreed.

With no telling when he’d show, and the mall being huge, Qiao Ning worried about wandering off and being unable to get back in time—so he and the roommates found a rest area and sat gaming.

A novice, Qiao Ning was carried by his roommates, slowly finding the fun—notching a few kills himself.

Several matches in, an hour gone. Midway Qiao Ning had checked in once with the customer—stuck in traffic on the elevated road.

Traffic was an act of God. Qiao Ning, understanding, kept waiting.

By dinner time, everyone was hungry. They’d eaten plenty of fruit that afternoon, but at this age appetite was bottomless—fruit digested in minutes.

Qiao Ning sent the customer several messages. All answered: on the way.

Then this time, the reply that came back was a single “heh.”

Qiao Ning: ?

“Money-grubbing profiteer. Having fun toying with people?”

Qiao Ning: ???

Lu Zeyu saw his expression and leaned over: “What’d he say… HOLY—what is this garbage?! Stringing you along, is he?!”

Already grabbing for Qiao Ning’s phone: “Watch me tear him apart.”

Qiao Ning didn’t hand it over. Quick as lightning, he deleted the friend—and booted him from the group for good measure.

“What happened?” Zhang Bowen and Qin Hao hadn’t caught up.

Lu Zeyu furiously relayed. Both flared up too. Qin Hao said: “Fifth Brother, you’re TOO nice. Someone like that needs a verbal beating or it’s not satisfying.”

Qiao Ning said evenly: “He put real effort into toying with me—he’s savoring his victory right now. I delete him, and he’s left hanging mid-victory. That stings worse than any insult.”

With that, he raised his phone for them to see.

The man’s triumphant message had been answered by: “Message could not be sent.”

The man had frozen solid. Deleted? Him?

He’d prepared for a full flame war with Qiao Ning—insults loaded and ready—and gotten deleted?!

What followed in Qiao Ning’s inbox was a string of frantic, unhinged friend requests.

The man babbled incoherently that Qiao Ning was a coward, that if he had any guts he’d add him back.

Qiao Ning even smiled as he typed his reply through the verification: “The profiteer made his money, though~”

He even sent a standalone emoji: “^_^”.

Then blocked the account outright—no more verification messages possible.

Zhang Bowen and company watched, gobsmacked. From those verification messages, the man was thoroughly broken.

And now he couldn’t even send those…

Qin Hao gave a thumbs-up: “Savage!”

Zhang Bowen marveled: “Fifth Brother wins without spilling a drop of blood.”

“Where’d you dig up that antique emoticon?” Lu Zeyu couldn’t even stay angry, suppressing laughter. “One look and my blood pressure spikes. That guy must be dying inside.”

Qiao Ning distributed the remaining sample cherry tomatoes among the roommates and popped one in his own mouth.

“What do you mean, antique? Isn’t it cute?”

The three roared with laughter: “Sure—adorable!”

Especially imagining that guy with his rage and nowhere to vent it. Even more adorable.

“Tasteless philistine.” Lu Zeyu still cursed a couple rounds. “Fruit this good—if he thinks it’s overpriced, just don’t buy. Who forced him?”

“What do you mean, overpriced?”

“Obviously our Ruby strawber—Lin Chengxuan?”