Rebirth to Save Myself

Chapter 125 Buying a Car

Chen Jianguo looked puzzled when he saw that all three women had used periods (or periods) in their messages. He hadn't said anything, had he? Their factory's trucks were that brand anyway. So he replied in the group chat:

Chen Jianguo: That's too low. Let's choose a more expensive one.

Su Xia: So what's the budget Dad gave?

Chen Jianguo: This one is pretty good, similar to the style you chose.

Chen Jianguo: [Image]

Chen Chunqi: This one looks pretty good. Can the color be changed?

Chen Jianguo: Sure, at worst we can just buy a new screen protector and reapply it.

Chen Jianguo: If you like it, I'll buy you one. Your current one is getting old anyway.

Chen Chunqi: Okay! Let's go choose a car tomorrow.

Chen Jianguo: No problem.

Su Xia: . . . .

Chen Yuan: . . . .

Su Xia and Chen Yuan looked up from their phones, exchanged glances, and both found each other speechless. She was supposed to be helping Chen Yuan choose a car, but now she was saying she was going to order one for Chen Chunqi.

Su Xia knew the brand of the car Chen Jianguo recommended; the starting price was over two hundred thousand yuan. She hadn't known Chen Jianguo's budget beforehand, so she hadn't dared to choose an expensive one. Now that Chen Chunqi had chosen this car, she wondered if Chen Yuan would follow her mother's example, so she asked, "What was your budget, Dad?"

"Not much, about the same as yours. He said he couldn't favor one over the other, so it's around 100,000 too," Chen Yuan said helplessly. She felt that 100,000 was quite a lot. Why would a young woman who had just graduated drive such an expensive car, especially since it was just for transportation?

"So what do you think of this one?" Su Xia asked, pointing to the pink car behind her.

"I think it's pretty good. I can even get a pink and white two-tone option. The top-of-the-line model is a bit over budget, but I can cover that with my own savings." Chen Yuan is quite satisfied with the car she bought today. The exterior and interior are both in the cute style she likes. As for the car's performance and fuel consumption, she doesn't really know much about them.

"Should we take another look, or make a decision right away?"

"Let's just place the order now. I'm too lazy to make another trip. I'll call Dad and tell him."

"Uh-huh."

Chen Yuan went out to make a phone call, and came back in a little while later, waving her phone and saying to Su Xia, "He had something to do and couldn't come over, so he transferred the money to me directly."

"Then let's call the sales representative over."

"Uh-huh."

A short while later, the salesperson came over with a smile and asked the four of them, "Have you all made your decisions?"

"Yes, it's decided. That car, the high-end version."

"Okay, you can choose your preferred interior design and other colors on the tablet. Once you've chosen, just give me the tablet. What are your payment options? Do you need a loan?"

"No need, I'll pay in full."

"Okay, you choose first, I'll go prepare the contract."

"it is good."

Chen Yuan and Su Xia discussed and chose colors. When the contract arrived, Chen Wenwei and Lu Jingnian each took a copy and carefully checked it to make sure there were no problems before letting Chen Yuan sign it.

"Okay, here's a two-copy contract. You keep one copy, and I'll keep the other. I just checked with my manager, and if you don't want the window tinting, we'll factor it into the car price. With the recent promotion, the whole package including insurance will come to 121,000. Let me round it down to 120,000 for you. How does that sound?" The salesperson's smile widened as he looked at Chen Yuan after she signed the contract. That was a sure-fire sales opportunity!

Okay, did you bring your card?

"Bring it."

"Just swipe your card and enter your PIN."

With a "beep," Chen Yuan entered her password, and the payment was successful. Shortly after, the bank sent her a text message notifying her of the change in her balance.

"The money I barely had time to warm up is gone again." Chen Yuan sighed as she looked at the text message. This was probably the time her bank account had the most zeros in history.

"Haha, you're joking. You just bought a car in full. I checked for you, and the model you chose is in stock. It should take no more than seven days to pick it up. I'll call you when it arrives." The salesperson flattered him, seeing that the deal was done.

"Okay, sure." Chen Yuan nodded.

"Is there anything else?" Su Xia asked.

"That's all," the salesperson said happily.

"Let's go then," Su Xia said to the other three.

"Okay, take care." The salesperson escorted the four people to the door, watched them get into their car and leave, and then returned to the store.

Inside the car, Su Xia drove slowly and asked Chen Yuan, "Where are we going now? Home?"

"I have to go to the company. The project is at a critical stage, and I need to go and work overtime," Chen Wenwei suddenly said.

"Then let's take him to the company first. What about you and Lu Jingnian? Are you going on a date?" Chen Yuan turned to Lu Jingnian and Su Xia and asked.

"us"

"It was arranged." Before Su Xia could even speak, Lu Jingnian interrupted her and answered Chen Yuan's question.

“Okay, Wenwei and I will get off the bus together in a bit, and you two can go on your date.” Chen Yuan nodded. These two idle people, one on summer vacation and the other not yet looking for a job, it’s normal for them to go on a date.

"Then why don't we just get off at a shopping mall and you drive back? Or are you going to go to the company with Chen Wenwei?" Su Xia frowned and rejected Chen Yuan's suggestion. She remembered that Chen Wenwei's company was quite far from home. Taking a taxi was expensive, and taking the bus required transferring, which was quite troublesome.

"No way, he's too busy to pay attention to me. I'd better go home and rest; I have to go to work tomorrow." Chen Yuan rolled her eyes. She didn't want to sit there playing on her phone; it was so boring.

"Then let's do as Xiaxia said, and I'll drive the car back for you," Lu Jingnian replied, echoing Su Xia's words.

"Okay, fine." Chen Yuan wanted to refuse, as it would be more convenient for the two of them to go on a date with a car. However, she then thought that she would be getting her car soon, and if she didn't practice beforehand, she would be in trouble if she got yelled at on the road.

“Then let’s take Chen Wenwei to his company first, and then we’ll find a shopping mall to drop him off. You can drive home.” Su Xia made the decision decisively, and then said to Chen Yuan, “Use navigation to Chen Wenwei’s company. Anian, can you check out the shopping malls nearby?”

"it is good."

Chen Wenwei wasn't being coy. He knew he couldn't really take care of Chen Yuan when he was busy, and it was better for her to be at home and at least sleep in bed than to make her uncomfortable at the company. Chen Yuan had been complaining to him a lot lately about how busy she was at get off work and how tired she was every day after work. Besides, they had been dating for almost five years, and there was no need for them to be together all the time. Right now, he just wanted to achieve something to impress Chen Jianguo. He didn't have Lu Jingnian's privileged family background, so he had to rely on his own efforts to succeed.

So Chen Wenwei got out of the car when they arrived at their destination. Then Lu Jingnian looked for a nearby shopping mall. After they got out of the car, Su Xia said to Chen Yuan, "Drive slowly on the road. If you don't know how to reverse, just drive straight in."

"Okay, I got it. You two can enjoy your date without worrying about me." Chen Yuan waved dismissively, then started the car and drove away.

Su Xia watched for a while and, seeing that Chen Yuan wasn't as inexperienced as before, felt relieved. She turned to Lu Jingnian and asked, "Where are we going now?"

"Let's eat first, it's already lunchtime," Lu Jingnian said, pointing to the time on his watch.

"I didn't even notice, I spent a lot of time at the car dealership," Su Xia said helplessly.

"You still need to eat on time. What would you like to eat?" Lu Jingnian naturally took Su Xia's hand and walked into the mall.

"Let's go inside and take a look." Su Xia didn't know what kind of shops were in this mall, and what if the mall didn't have the food she wanted?

"Want some milk tea?" Lu Jingnian asked, pointing to a cluster of milk tea shops not far away.

"want."

"Which one?"

"Mixue Ice Cream, three-flavor milk tea, full sugar, less ice. Plus a matcha ice cream." Su Xia rattled off her milk tea request with practiced ease, then looked at Lu Jingnian with a beaming smile.

"Dinner's ready. Will you still be able to eat after you finish your ice cream?" Lu Jingnian's mood improved as he looked at Su Xia's smiling face, and he asked her affectionately.

"Sure. You don't know that girls have two stomachs, one for main meals and one for desserts," Su Xia said, spouting nonsense with a straight face.

Her arrogant demeanor charmed Lu Jingnian. He reached out and ruffled Su Xia's hair, then said to her, "Then wait for me here, I'll go order."

"Okay, okay." Su Xia's heart suddenly raced after Lu Jingnian touched her, and she stammered as she spoke.

A moment later, Lu Jingnian returned carrying two cups of milk tea in one hand and an ice cream in the other, then naturally took Su Xia's hand and led her to the fourth floor to look at the food.

Seeing her boyfriend's practiced approach, Su Xia only smiled for a fleeting moment before continuing to eat her ice cream. The matcha flavor balanced the sweetness of the ice cream, making it less cloying and adding a hint of tea. It was somewhat similar to their relationship—simple yet full of surprises.

The two dawdled around the fourth floor of the mall before finally deciding to eat barbecue. Lu Jingnian hadn't had any food from China in a long time and wanted to try everything. This barbecue restaurant had a wide variety of dishes and was all-you-can-eat, which was perfect for someone like him who wanted to try everything but couldn't eat that much.

"Distinguished guests, please come in!" the greeter at the door called out to the waiter inside.

Immediately afterwards, all the waiters inside, whether they were busy or not, responded with, "Hello, welcome!"

Then a woman who seemed to be a supervisor came over and gestured for the two to walk to their seats. Once they were seated, she turned around and asked them, "Hello, this way please, is this seat alright?"

"Sure." Su Xia wasn't picky about the location; it wasn't a window seat with a view, so it didn't matter.

"Okay, we need to pay the bill first, and then there's a ten-yuan deposit per person. The deposit will be refunded if we finish eating and don't waste any food. How do we pay?" The manager enthusiastically explained a lot, then smiled at the two of them.

"Cash, is that alright?" Lu Jingnian asked.

"Oh, don't you have Alipay or WeChat?" The supervisor's smile froze, and then he asked somewhat awkwardly.

"Alipay, will you scan my QR code or should I scan yours?" Su Xia asked repeatedly.

"Just show the payment code." The supervisor breathed a sigh of relief and then continued to maintain his professional smile.

"Okay." Su Xia showed her payment code, and the supervisor scanned it, handed her the receipt, and walked away. Su Xia looked at Lu Jingnian and asked, "Did you use cash to buy the milk tea just now?"

"Yeah, they didn't say anything and just took it." Lu Jingnian didn't know what had happened. The milk tea shop staff had just been accepting cash without any problems.

"It's not surprising. Nowadays, most people use mobile payments. You only need to carry your phone when you go out. Very few people carry cash anymore, so if the amount is large, you might not be able to get change." Su Xia didn't laugh at Lu Jingnian; instead, she explained it to him seriously.

"Oh, okay, I'll find some time tomorrow to open a bank account and deposit the money." Lu Jingnian nodded, then asked Su Xia, "Are all service industries in China this enthusiastic these days?"

"Pfft, yeah." Su Xia couldn't help but laugh out loud. What was commonplace for them was indeed very new to Lu Jingnian, who had only recently returned to the country.

“No wonder Shen Zhiheng kept telling me that things are better in China than abroad.” Lu Jingnian nodded knowingly in agreement.

"With the continuous development of my country's economy in recent years, all industries are very competitive. Without something new, it's hard to attract customers. Next time, I'll take you to Haidilao to experience their service."

"Experience service? What does Haidilao serve?"

"hot pot."

"What's so great about the service at a hot pot restaurant? Do you expect them to put the food in the pot for you, cook it, and then scoop it out for you?"

"It's not impossible to scoop it out. If you don't know how to make the dipping sauce, they'll make it for you."

"That powerful? What else can they do?"

"Free manicures, free shoe shining, they'll refill your water bottle when it's almost empty, they can help you cook your food and tell you how long to cook it, and I think they even have a fancy noodle-making service. Oh, and if it's your birthday, they'll sing to celebrate."

"I'm looking forward to it. Let's go to Haidilao next time."

"Okay, go get the meat."

The two of them ate for a full two hours, trying everything except what they didn't like. Since there were drinks available at the buffet, they didn't even finish the milk tea they bought. In the end, they each had an ice cream and walked out of the store.

“Welcome next time!”

"Where to go next?"

"Want to go see a movie?"

"Okay, I'll check my phone to see what movies are showing recently."

Can I buy movie tickets with my phone?

"Yes, and it's cheaper than offline."

"Take a look." Lu Jingnian quickly leaned over to watch Su Xia's actions. The two discussed it for a while and finally decided to watch a comedy film that had been receiving good reviews recently.

After watching the movie, the two were thinking about whether to eat out that night, but then Chen Jianguo called and said he was going to pick Su Xia up to go home for dinner.

"No need, Dad, I'll just take the bus home now."

"Alright then, remember to come back early, we're all waiting for you to eat."

"it is good."