A one-night stay of 12,000+ yuan for the suite!
Even after graduating and traveling, Lin Jincheng had only ever stayed in relatively affordable chain hotels. Places like 7 Days Inn or Jinjiang Inn — even during the busiest holidays, never more than 400 yuan a night, and split with friends besides.
Suites priced in the five figures, Lin Jincheng had only ever seen in vlogs on Xiaohongshu.
Floor-to-ceiling windows, walk-in closets, giant bathtubs…
She recalled some hotel called Atlantis or something with an underwater room, where you could interact with sea creatures through the glass — apparently over a hundred thousand a night. Someday, if she got the chance, she’d love to stay a night with friends, just for fun!
After booking the Grand River-View Suite at the Banyan Tree, Lin Jincheng didn’t exit the app. Instead she went back to look over the exclusive check-in perks for suite guests that had popped up before payment.
These included a 300-yuan consumption voucher, a choice of incense sticks or essential oils by theme, a sunset ritual, and a complimentary photoshoot.
Photoshoot?
An unfamiliar number called in.
“Hello, I see you’ve booked our Grand Suite. I’m Rong Jing, your butler here at Banyan Tree.”
Lin Jincheng confirmed with Rong Jing what time she’d arrive tomorrow, whether she needed pickup, and other details.
Not long after hanging up, she received a friend request notification from Rong Jing. Lin Jincheng asked her about the photoshoot.
The Banyan Tree offered a complimentary photographer to shoot a set of photos and a 15-second video for guests. Lin Jincheng scheduled hers for the rooftop terrace restaurant and bar, the night after tomorrow.
Not the first night of her stay — during the day she’d probably be out at Hang Lung, and by night she’d definitely just want to sleep.
[Rong Jing: I’ve already arranged the time with the photographer for you. If you need anything during your stay, feel free to reach out to me.]
[Lin Jincheng: A package might be delivered to the hotel tomorrow morning, could you help receive it @Rong Jing] [Rong Jing: Of course.]
Lin Jincheng didn’t chat further with the butler, and picked up the clothes draped over her chair.
The hoodie and pants she’d worn out yesterday, eating hot pot with Qiao Di, had picked up the smell — she’d have to toss them all in the washing machine soon. Qiao Di’s clothes weren’t there; she’d said the new washing machine she bought online was being shipped to her new place, arriving that afternoon.
After starting the washer, Lin Jincheng didn’t go wash up right away — instead she went out to buy a somewhat unhealthy breakfast. She was planning to make herself a mock set meal with oden on the side.
High calorie, all kinds of additives in the ingredients — but last night before bed she’d suddenly craved it. Might as well indulge occasionally.
Instant cup noodles, plus a runny-yolk egg, cheese sticks, spicy stir-fried rice cakes, imitation crab made from cod and lobster. Skip the rice ball, just pair it with a vegetable salad.
A simple, easy 41 yuan.
Lin Jincheng had noticed that ever since she stopped needing to think about price when buying things, her urge to spend had shot up rapidly.
She used to think she had very little material desire!
She kept scrolling through the shop’s listing, spotted a brand of kale fruit-and-veggie salad yogurt she’d never tried — bought one to see.
She was out of coconut water, so she added two bottles of red bean and job’s tears water to restock.
For the oden, she picked a fish roe fortune pouch, accordion tofu skewers, seasoned radish, chikuwa, salted egg yolk cod tofu… and a portion of steamed glutinous corn too. black lotus novel Novel Translations — Black Lotus Novel
When eating hot pot, Lin Jincheng preferred fruit corn, but steamed, she liked the texture of glutinous corn better.
Checked out, everything together came to 85.1 yuan. Done!
After washing her face and brushing her teeth in the bathroom, Lin Jincheng stood staring at the brand-new jar of Kérastase black diamond hair mask on the shelf, torn.
Last night before her shower, she’d looked up online how to use hair masks more effectively.
One blogger said you should let the mask sit for ten minutes after applying, then slowly wet and emulsify it with water until you can no longer see any of the cream-like mask, only then rinse it clean.
Another blogger said you absolutely had to wrap your hair in a disposable shower cap, ideally with an electric heating cap, to help it absorb.
Just reading through all that made Lin Jincheng feel exhausted, and it made her resistant to the whole idea of using a hair mask at all. Yeah — last night she’d washed her hair with just shampoo and conditioner.
After a good ten seconds of internal struggle, Lin Jincheng resolutely undid the camellia hair tie holding her hair up and set it within reach, bent over, and thoroughly wet her hair, which reached down to her collarbone.
In her first two months on the job, she’d still had the energy to coordinate outfits and put on makeup. After that, it had been Uniqlo T-shirts and hoodies, year-round.
Because she’d been too lazy to style her hair, she’d had it permed several times in a row, and afterward hadn’t bothered with upkeep, leaving her hair visibly dry and frizzy.
Lin Jincheng slowly rinsed the suds from her hair, dried it with a towel, wringing it out until it stopped dripping.
Just as she twisted open the lid of the hair mask jar, there was a knock at the door in the living room — probably the convenience store delivery she’d ordered.
Lin Jincheng left the bedroom and hurried over to answer it, brought the bag of breakfast back to the table, and put a kettle on to boil while she was at it.
Only then did she return to the bathroom, scoop out a small dollop of hair mask from the jar, and spread it evenly over her half-dry hair — not too high up, roughly level with her earlobes.
【You used the hair mask?】 “I did!”
The Money-Dumping System’s mechanical voice came through. 【Looking at the jar, the mask appears completely untouched.】
Lin Jincheng: “…”
To shut the Money-Dumping System up for good, Lin Jincheng scooped out a huge amount more mask and slathered it onto her hair. With more on, the scent grew stronger too.
The smell was a bit like the Coco Mademoiselle perfume she’d smelled once in a Chanel store — similar but not quite the same on closer sniffing; the Kérastase black diamond mask’s sweetness was more pronounced.
Lin Jincheng held out the jar of mask, palm up, so the System could see the little dent inside. “Look~”
【Slightly diminished.】 “…Annoying!”
Lin Jincheng couldn’t help but ask, “Didn’t you say you searched up how couples should get along during the adjustment period? Which clause does this fall under?”
Money-Dumping System: 【Always be sincere.】
“…” Couldn’t really say there was anything wrong with that answer.
Lin Jincheng dug a clean plastic bag out of a drawer, wrapped it around the lower half of her hair, and secured it with a hair tie.
The water in the kettle had boiled, so she poured it into the cup noodle container to soak.
She sat down in a chair, eating the hot oden skewers while scrolling through outfit vlogs she’d saved on Xiaohongshu.
Even though her closet was mostly hoodies and T-shirts, she did have a few pieces in other styles. That way, when she went out to eat with friends, she could still take nice photos.
There were two outfits in her saved posts she really liked. She checked the comments: the first, the blogger had bought abroad; the second, the shop had already delisted it.
Scrolling further down, Lin Jincheng suddenly came across a post specifically rounding up celebrities’ off-duty outfits.
Top, skirt, and bag — either all Dior, or all Chanel. This kind of one-stop-shop convenience was exactly what Lin Jincheng liked.
Lin Jincheng first opened the Chanel mini-program, but after a look found you could only save items there, not buy them, so she switched to the Dior mini-program instead.
She added to cart the striped sailor-style knit two-piece set from the post. The two-piece came in black and white, paired in the outfit photo with a pair of sky-blue flared denim jeans — picked that too, added to cart. A cream-colored midi skirt also looked like it would pair well with the knit two-piece — added to cart as well.
Under the white skirt in the photo was a butterfly sweater — buy it!
The two-piece set was 29,000 yuan, the jeans 21,000 yuan, the skirt 53,000 yuan, the butterfly sweater 25,000 yuan.
Last time at Loro Piana she’d complained that their 17,000-yuan cashmere knit was too expensive, and today she’d gone and fallen for a 25,000-yuan sweater.
A matching caro wool coat, all creamy white and fresh-looking, with black embroidery along the hem — 23,000 yuan.
Lin Jincheng also added a pair of black suit trousers and a pair of dark blue jeans to her cart. Plus a cardigan, mostly light pink with cream trim, especially suited for spring and summer.
Clothes mostly sorted — now she needed bags too, and then she could hang her newly bought Westie charm on one of them.
Lin Jincheng’s eye was caught immediately by a bag called the Lady D-Joy — a horizontal rectangular shape, with quilted leather.
It came in mini, small, and medium sizes. BLACK LOTUS Novel Chapter | Black Lotus Novel
At 170-something centimeters, she counted as fairly tall, so she went with the medium — in a milky white color, elegant and clean.
After buying that bag, Lin Jincheng was about to check out when a bucket bag caught her eye, practically leaping off the screen.
The body was a warm camel color, with white shearling trim along the opening and edges. The whole bag looked soft and fuzzy, and would pair perfectly with the caro coat she’d just picked.
The two bags came to 43,500 yuan and 43,000 yuan respectively.
Counting all the clothes and pants she’d selected, the total came to 297,500 yuan.
“…Spending money at home really is fast.”
Lin Jincheng finished off the last bite of accordion tofu skewer, still looking a bit dazed. “In the store, I get service and I get to try things on myself. At home, casually spending, and I’ve already blown through nearly 300k.”
At that thought, Lin Jincheng suddenly remembered she’d forgotten something, and hurried to tell Stella.
The pieces she’d bought at Loro Piana — don’t send them here this morning, send them straight to the hotel instead.
Including the clothes she’d just ordered from Dior, and the bags too — all of it, ship to the hotel.
Clothes sorted, bags sorted, and then there were shoes.
One pair of black mid boots and one pair of white sneakers — the boots were 18,500 yuan, the sneakers 7,900 yuan.
Round two: 26,400 yuan, pay — Failed??
Lin Jincheng took a closer look.
The Dior mini-program payment defaulted to WeChat Pay, and the bank card she used had a daily WeChat limit of 300k.
The first purchase of 297,500 had basically maxed it out.
“…Now that’s news to me.” She’d never run into a payment limit before.
Lin Jincheng switched to Alipay and paid for the two pairs of shoes.
After paying, she checked this card’s limit on Alipay — 200k.
Her other two bank debit cards had limits of 500k and 200k respectively — not bad either.
Lin Jincheng got up to dump out the water from soaking her cup noodles, tore open the cheese sticks and crab sticks, and stirred them into the noodles along with the spicy rice cakes and runny-yolk egg sauce.
The kitchen had a microwave provided by the rental platform; after about two minutes of heating, the cheese melted completely.
Lin Jincheng carried the cup noodles back to her bedroom, twirled up a chopstick-full of noodles mixed with rice cake and crab stick — impossibly stringy with melted cheese.
“Bliss!! Ful!!”
Eager to rinse the mask out of her hair, Lin Jincheng didn’t waste time shopping while she ate — she finished up and went straight for the sink.
She followed the blogger’s method, using very little water to slowly emulsify the cream-like mask.
Normally it took her ten minutes to finish washing her hair; today it took a full forty.
Lin Jincheng felt her arms ache slightly.
The key thing — even after blow-drying, she couldn’t see any particularly obvious difference.
Lin Jincheng practically pressed her face to the mirror, examining the hair she’d treated. Smooth, sure, it was smooth — but last night with just a dab of conditioner it had been just as smooth, and far less trouble than the mask.
Rationally, Lin Jincheng knew this required long-term consistent use to see real results. But knowing her own lazy nature all too well, she was absolutely certain this jar of hair mask was destined to gather dust.
No, no, no!
Lin Jincheng smacked her own forehead.
Since I can hire a makeup artist to come do my eyeshadow, I can definitely pay someone to apply my hair mask for me!
With that shift in mindset, the corners of Lin Jincheng’s mouth curved up without her meaning to.
Next time, she’d find a salon that did hair treatments — caviar, pearl powder, all of it — and just supply her own Kérastase black diamond mask.
Lin Jincheng washed her face again with clean water, dried it, and applied her Lancôme Génifique essence water and Lancôme Génifique eye cream in order.
The essence water and eye cream felt great to use; the face cream she’d applied last night, though, she wasn’t quite used to.
Considering herself dry-skinned, she’d specifically bought the rich moisturizing version. Who knew — after working it in for ages, it still felt stifling on her face.
She stood there thinking for a moment, then opened the gold gift bag from Chanel, which had a sample-size jar of luxury essence face cream inside.
Squeezed out, it had an ice-cream-like texture, and once applied, her whole face felt soft and fragrant.
Lin Jincheng admired her own face in the mirror for a while, then thought again of that ice-cream texture cream. · B L A C K L O T U S Novel Chapters · Black Lotus Novel
A few seconds later, she grabbed her phone. “Suddenly craving ice cream.”
