Dating Without Marriage in Mind

After working at a bank for five years, Lin Jiayi felt she probably wouldn't find a partner in this lifetime. After being brainwashed by the bank's "everyone sells" culture, she saw men in only two categories: coworkers and clients. Her mother asked someone to introduce her to a civil servant. Her first thought was, "A premium client on the whitelist! I can sell him the whole package: credit cards, personal loans, and private pension plans." Her aunt asked someone to introduce her to a local man whose family had received compensation for a demolition. Her first thought was, "There goes my savings and wealth-management quota for this month." Her other aunt asked someone to introduce her to a colleague from a nearby bank. She refused outright. A family could only afford to support one person working at a bank! After one Olympic cycle came to an end, Pei Mo returned home on leave. They hadn't seen each other for years, and the neighbor girl who had been a timid, antisocial "big sister" to him as a child had changed completely. Not only was she chatting away with the town's uncles and aunties, but when she saw him again, she said without missing a beat, "Little Pei, you've grown so tall! I even carried you when you were little." Pei Mo: ? If he remembered correctly, she was only three months older than him, wasn't she? With just two days left in the New Year sales campaign, Lin Jiayi looked at the "leaderboard" in the lobby at nine in the evening. Beside her name, the insurance column showed a big fat zero. She sighed. If all else failed, she could buy the policy herself tomorrow. It was only fifty thousand a year, for five years in a row, with no access to the money or interest in the meantime. She could just call it forced savings. Despairing, she turned off the lights, locked up, and got ready to leave. Just after she walked out the back entrance of the branch, she saw Pei Mo coming toward her. Under the dim moonlight, Pei Mo sensed Lin Jiayi's dejected mood. He had never seen her like this since they reunited. He was genuinely concerned. "Why do you look like that today? Did you get dumped?" Lin Jiayi lifted her eyes slightly. Thinking of how she would be forced to save fifty thousand a year for the next five years, she couldn't even summon the energy to trade barbs with Pei Mo. She ignored him, locked the gate, and started to leave. Seeing this, Pei Mo magnanimously offered, "Since you're so upset, I'll grant you one request." Lin Jiayi stopped in her tracks. Her eyes seemed to flare back to life, and she asked, "Would you buy a five-year increasing whole life insurance policy?" Pei Mo: ... Theme: Your fate is in your own hands.