Chapter 505
Ariel closed her eyes, waiting for the slap to land. However, after a long time, the slap that was supposed to fall still hadn’t. When she opened her eyes, she saw Xu Ke, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time, standing behind the man in a trench coat, gripping the man’s wrist tightly so he couldn’t move any further.
“Baby!” The moment Ariel saw Xu Ke, her eyes lit up, and her blue eyes seemed to hide a galaxy, sparkling so brightly that it almost dazzled others.
“Baby, how did you get here? How did you know I was here?” Without warning, Ariel let go of the woman’s hands and pushed the woman aside, flinging herself into Xu Ke’s arms. She took a deep breath, satisfied, savoring Xu Ke’s scent, looking as pleased as a bird finally returning to its nest.
“Did you forget that my phone has your phone’s location? I finished my work today and came to find you when I saw you were here. Who would have thought I’d see you getting bullied as soon as I came in? How come, when I’m not around, you can’t even protect yourself properly?” Xu Ke said with a hint of reproach in his eyes.
“Can you blame me? They ganged up on me. Dressed like this, I didn’t stand a chance,” Ariel said, showing Xu Ke her dress, feeling a bit aggrieved.
Upon seeing Ariel’s dress with its large and heavy skirt, Xu Ke accepted her explanation.
“What on earth happened here?” Xu Ke asked.
He arrived a bit late and hadn’t seen the whole story unfold, only seeing the man about to hit Ariel, so he rushed over immediately, not knowing what had actually happened between the three people.
Hearing Xu Ke’s inquiry, Ariel briefly explained what happened.
“You did great.” Xu Ke patted Ariel’s head, saying with a sense of gratification.
“Wrap this dress up for us; we’ll take it.” Xu Ke said to the woman who had been standing by, almost invisible.
But before the store woman could speak, the female customer was displeased, “You can’t just take this dress. I’ve got my eye on it. Why should you get to walk away with it?” She rubbed her wrist, which had been hurt by Ariel’s grip, and spoke unyieldingly.
“I thought my girlfriend already explained it to you clearly, yet you still don’t get it. Is there a problem with your brain’s memory or its processing?” Xu Ke’s face remained expressionless, looking at the other person as if she were a fool, making the woman who had a good impression of him entirely lose her temper.
“What do you mean by that? Are you calling me a fool?” The woman asked, pointing at her own nose uncertainly.
“I’m a woman, and you, a big man, treat a woman like this. Don’t you feel ashamed? Where’s your gentlemanly demeanor, ridiculing a lady like this? I don’t think you deserve to be a man. You should go be a drag queen; that seems more fitting for you.” The woman yelled at Xu Ke in anger.
“Don’t you women always talk about equal rights? I’m respecting your desire for equality between men and women. And a gentleman is only a gentleman when facing a lady. If you want me to be gentlemanly towards you, check if you’re a lady first?” Xu Ke replied coldly, nearly causing the woman to see stars, her vision darkening in anger.
“No one has ever said that to me before. I’m going to fight you.” The woman extended her sharply manicured nails towards Xu Ke’s face, only to have Ariel slap her face to the side before she got close. Her face swelled visibly, and a bloody tooth dropped from her mouth.
Meanwhile, Ariel casually retracted her hand, nonchalantly rotating her wrist, giving the woman a scornful look, “Trying to hit my man right in front of me? What were you thinking? Am I a dummy to you?” Ariel said coolly.
“Ahhh! Aren’t you going to avenge me? Are you just going to stand there watching your partner get bullied?” The woman looked at the tooth in her hand, then shifted her gaze to the man who still hadn’t moved and yelled.
The man, finally realizing what was going on after her shout, clenched his fists and went after Ariel, only to end up with a swollen face and missing tooth just like his girlfriend, courtesy of a punch from Xu Ke.
“Trying to hit my girlfriend right in front of me? Do you think I’m dead?” Xu Ke said coldly.
The store woman hid in the corner, watching the scene unfold before her with a flush of excitement, her eyes filled with stars. This was like a live-action comic book scene she longed to see, the hero rescuing the beauty and the beauty rescuing the hero. She could watch it hundreds of times without getting tired. Why was there such a perfect couple in the world, such a beautiful love, making one want to eat lemons? The store woman thought, cradling her face.
“You’re such a useless man,” she said when her man got beaten. Far from comforting him, she left a mark on the uninjured side of his face.
The crisp sound of the slap was painfully loud.
“Ultimately, we’re both here for this dress. But there’s no point in arguing endlessly here. Whether it’s sold and to whom is up to the store. Since neither of us wants to let this dress go, why don’t we just bid for it, see who can offer a price that will sway the heart to sell it? What do you say? Let’s use our strengths to win the dress.” Even at this point, the woman still refused to give up on the dress.
Only at this crucial moment did the woman regain some presence she had been lacking.
The woman tidied her hair, trying to make her appearance as dazzling as possible, but unfortunately, Xu Ke and Ariel’s looks were too striking, leaving her little room to shine.
Feeling the four pairs of eyes on her, she felt a slight disappointment, but even more satisfaction.
“This dress is our store’s treasure, and not something that can be measured by price alone.” The woman cleared her throat and said.
“Alright, stop with all the nonsense. You’re just trying to raise the price, aren’t you? I’ll give you a hundred thousand, is that enough? This price is more than generous for this dress, isn’t it?”
At this point, the female customer’s only motivation to stay was to get the dress from Ariel to wash away all the day’s humiliation, so she abruptly interrupted the woman, bidding without hesitation.
The woman showed her displeasure at being interrupted, “I said this dress can’t be simply valued by price. It’s originally not for sale and meant to be the store’s treasure. The one who gets it must be its destined owner.”
Feeling a rising sense of unease, the woman furrowed her brow and asked, her eyes carrying a threatening intent, “What do you mean by that?”