After Saving My Cannon Fodder Omega - Chapter 12

After sending the friend request, Chi Wei didn’t touch her phone again. She stretched her arms across the back of the sofa, in high spirits. “Quick, quick! Decide what you want for lunch. Limited time offer, don’t miss out!”

Xie Yueyue was rarely picky about food. Confronted with the eternal global dilemma of “what to eat for lunch,” she simply shrugged and gave the universal answer: “Anything is fine with me.”

Feng Zhi had braided her waist-length purple hair neatly today. Chi Wei pinched the end of her fishtail braid and gave it a wiggle. “And you? What do you want?”

“Say what you have to say, but don’t touch the hair.” Sensing Chi Wei’s movement, Feng Zhi turned sideways, gathered her braid with both hands, and shielded it against her chest. “It feels like we haven’t had seafood in a while. Since it’s so cold, how about we go get some seafood porridge?”

Chi Wei nodded. “Sure, but if we’re doing seafood, we’d have to go to Blue Bay, right? Should we go Dutch?”

“Dutch my ass!” Feng Zhi snapped, incensed. “Is one meal really worth all that to you?”

“I don’t mind.” Xie Yueyue was actually quite understanding. The average spending at Blue Bay wasn’t low—a single set meal started at no less than 2,500. Knowing that Feng Zhi and Sister Chui were the types who never mistreated themselves, this one meal could easily blow a month of Chui’s… no, likely two months’ worth of salary.

Hearing Xie Yueyue agree, Feng Zhi shot her a fierce glare, about to say, “Fine, then you treat us.” But Chi Wei laughed. “I was kidding. Let’s go. Head out now?”

Feng Zhi pursed her lips. “That’s more like it.”

Chi Wei got up from the sofa, walked to the cabinet by the entrance, and grabbed the keys to a four-seater. Seeing Feng Zhi still holding her own keys, she asked in confusion, “You’re not riding with me?”

“I am.” Feng Zhi shook her keys. “Oh, I prepared a job-entry gift for you. It’s in my trunk. I forgot to bring it up earlier. Take a look later and see if you like it.”

Chi Wei’s eyes lit up. Ah! Is my limited-edition bag finally here?! With all the mishaps over the last two days, she had started to worry it wouldn’t happen in this life.

Standing at the front door and unlocking it with a click, Xie Yueyue turned back in surprise. “You prepared a gift for Sister Chui too? Why… why didn’t you give me a heads-up?”

Feng Zhi tilted her chin up. “Why do I need to give you a heads-up to buy a gift for Xiaoyu? I’m not spending your money. Do I need to file a report with you?”

Xie Yueyue: “…” That wasn’t what she meant.

Chi Wei pushed Xie Yueyue’s shoulder, about to play peacemaker, when her phone beeped—a notification that a friend request had been accepted. She looked down to confirm the screen and immediately broke into a wide grin.

However, despite it going through, Chi Wei had enough self-control not to immediately harass her future mother-in-law. Instead, she tucked her phone away, separated the bickering pair, changed her shoes, and took the elevator downstairs.

The limited-edition bag Feng Zhi gave Chi Wei was huge—it was clearly designed for work, easily fitting an ultra-thin laptop.

Only…

In her previous life, when she first entered the Marketing Department, all the “clients” she met were acquaintances, so she didn’t think much of it. Now, as a design assistant making only 8,000 a month, looking at the bag made her feel a bit sentimental. “I’m just a little assistant, and I’m using a bag worth over a million to carry a phone and a thermos? Talk about drawing aggro.”

Feng Zhi rolled her eyes. “What? Did you go undercover at the company?”

“Well, no,” Chi Wei laughed.

Feng Zhi: “Then since you didn’t, everyone knows you’re CEO Chi’s biological sister. What’s so hard to understand about you carrying it?”

Chi Wei chuckled. “Alright. When you go back to inherit your family business, I’ll prepare a grand gift for you too.”

Xie Yueyue: “…” I played myself.

Chi Wei realized she’d left Xie Yueyue out and patted her to spread the love. “Of course, Sister won’t forget you. When you start working, you’ll get one too!”

Xie Yueyue’s face finally couldn’t help but turn red. She pursed her lips and remained silent.

Although Feng Zhi liked to roast her whenever possible, she didn’t actually hold a grudge. Seeing the girl’s cheeks looking like they were on fire, she comfortingly poked her shoulder with her index finger. “You’re still young. It’s normal not to understand social etiquette. Your older sisters will give you a live demonstration to save you from suffering later.”

Chi Wei: “…” It sounds like comfort, but why does it feel like it’s laced with needles? Quite a sting.

Xie Yueyue straightened her neck. “It’s not too late for me to prepare one now.”

Chi Wei waved her hands frantically. “No, no, no! No need! Yueyue, stay calm. Don’t be impulsive. Seriously, don’t.”

Feng Zhi, however, stood opposite her with total nonchalance, her eyes full of provocation.

Chi Wei: “…”

Xie Yueyue: “!!!”

“Alright! Get in the car, let’s go eat!” Chi Wei felt her head growing two sizes larger. She bypassed Feng Zhi’s car and hopped into her own.

In her past life, when Feng Zhi gave her the bag, she had slipped it to her secretly after dinner. Neither Yueyue nor Feng Zhi knew about it. She hadn’t expected things to shift this much and turn into this kind of situation.

But since it had already happened, Chi Wei could only pray that there would be no “gift-war” escalation, otherwise, she’d be the one ending up hurt.

Arriving at Blue Bay with complicated feelings, Chi Wei gave her elder sister’s name and followed the server up to a second-floor private room.

Feng Zhi took charge of ordering. Xie Yueyue was frowning at her phone, her fingers tapping rapidly on the screen, doing who-knows-what.

Chi Wei looked at them and sighed inwardly. I wonder if they’ll manage to get together this time.

Thinking about their future state—where they refused to associate with each other or even meet—Chi Wei pursed her lips and shook her head. After a moment of silent regret, she took out her phone and clicked on the “Moments” of her “Future Mother-in-Law”—the former lady boss of Xuan’s Tavern.

She liked every single post from top to bottom.

Xuan Nian’s mother didn’t post often, so with a quick swipe, Chi Wei saw the photo Xie Yueyue had mentioned at the hospital yesterday. After a moment of thought, she carefully typed out a string of “rainbow farts” (extravagant flattery) in the comments.

Xu Danying saw the comment just as she sat down at the dining table with the help of Xuan Nian’s father. She let out a soft “oh” and habitually replied with a “thank you.”

Seeing the polite reply come almost instantly, Chi Wei immediately tapped the avatar and opened a chat window to send a proactive greeting.

Xu Danying was about to put her phone aside to eat when she saw the greeting pop up. She glanced at “Old Xuan” in confusion, pulled the phone back, and replied: Hello.

“Hello?” Chi Wei whispered. She bit the inside of her lower lip with her left canine, then solemnly picked up her phone to start composing a message about booking a table for Saturday.

Xu Danying hadn’t managed the restaurant for over three years. Seeing the inquiry from this new contact, she hesitated whether to reply directly or push the WeChat to her daughter or Xiao Li, who handled reservations.

Xuan Nian’s father, Xuan Shuo, disliked family members looking at their phones during meals. Noticing his wife’s distraction, he reached out regardless of the circumstances and put the phone aside. “Whatever it is, wait until we’re finished eating.”

Xu Danying’s confusion lasted only a moment. Seeing the phone was gone, she didn’t dwell on it. She picked up a large spoon and began drinking the seaweed and bone soup that Old Xuan had simmered over a low flame for two hours.

Chi Wei, waiting for a reply, was very understanding. She knew it was lunchtime and that her mother-in-law had a leg injury; it was normal for her not to reply immediately.

After spending over a month’s worth of her future salary at Blue Bay, Chi Wei drove the two sisters back to the apartment. To her surprise, upon arriving, she saw a Sales Associate (SA) in uniform holding a shopping bag, waiting in the lobby.

The moment their eyes met, the tall man immediately gave Chi Wei an eight-tooth grin, looking every bit the part of a shy, sunny youth. In the “speak to people like humans and ghosts like ghosts” world of sales, it was rare to see eyes and a smile that clear.

Regardless of his looks, she couldn’t just ignore such a smile. She gave a polite nod and walked straight toward the elevator.

The SA, however, wasn’t satisfied with just a polite nod. Realizing she was leaving, he hurried after her. “Miss Chi, please wait a moment.”

“Hmm? Are you looking for me?” Chi Wei stopped and turned around.

Xie Yueyue, following behind Chi Wei and being closest to the SA, immediately grew vigilant. She frowned, eyeing the paper bag in his hand.

—Good heavens, don’t tell me I’m the only one who didn’t prepare a gift?!

As it turned out, that was exactly the case.

The paper bag handed to Chi Wei contained a wristwatch sent by Ming Rui. Before Chi Wei could even open the box, Ming Rui’s phone call came through.

She looked down at the caller ID, caught the look on Xie Yueyue’s face out of the corner of her eye, and handed her keycard to Feng Zhi. “You guys head up. Bring my car keys back down for me.”

Feng Zhi hummed an affirmative and hurried into the elevator ahead of Xie Yueyue.

Watching them leave, Chi Wei hooked the bag with one finger and answered the call just before it timed out.

“I spent a long time picking it out. Do you like it?” Ming Rui’s voice came through the receiver. She sounded a bit tired, but there was still a smile in her tone.

Looking at the sunlight spilling across the floor through the glass, Chi Wei slowly walked into the warmth and answered with both sincerity and cunning: “I love it. Sister Ming always understands me better than my own biological sister. Thank you, Sister Ming. From now on, you’re just like my own real sister.”

The line went silent for a moment. Chi Wei knew Ming Rui understood exactly what she was saying. Before she could speak, Chi Wei added: “My phone is about to die, gotta go. Thanks again, Sister Ming! I’ll take you out to dinner whenever you’re not working overtime.”

The call hung up abruptly. Chi Wei let out a soft breath, looking up at the dazzling sun outside the window. She felt like her heart had cleared up a bit.

However, in the next second, that cleared heart burst into brilliant light. The light was so bright it seemed to shine through her eyes.

And she wasn’t the only thing lighting up—her phone did too.

In the few dozen seconds she was on the phone, her future mother-in-law had replied to her pre-meal message and, in a god-tier assist, had pushed her WeChat to Xuan Nian.

And Xuan Nian had actually sent her an “add friend” request!