12: Let's meet again - 2

Jiang Ye opened WeChat to check his balance and sent a message to Fang Wei, his closest Buddy in the dormitory:

【Old Fang, emergency! Lend me 50,000. If you really don't have it, 500 will do too.】

Fang Wei: 【...】

Jiang Ye: 【...】

A few seconds later, a notification popped up on the screen: Fang Wei transferred 500 yuan to you.

Jiang Ye accepted it instantly and casually sent a voice message: "Thanks, Buddy! You're the best! When you come to Shengtian, I'll give you a surprise."

Fang Wei: 【I hope it's not going to your house for a funeral feast. I'd lose 500 and still have to pay a gift fee.】

Jiang Ye: 【Getting cocky? When you get here, don't you dare kneel on the ground and call me daddy!】

Fang Wei: 【Begging you to pay me back?】

Jiang Ye clicked his tongue, lamenting the decline of public morals and how brotherhood was as thin as paper.

He immediately contacted the car rental agency and extended the rental for another day, causing his funds to shrink back down to 400 yuan.

At six o'clock in the evening, Jiang Ye parked the BMW 5 Series again at that familiar intersection near the Conservatory of Music.

As dusk fell and the Shengtian lights flickered on, he continued to execute his slim-hope Plan B—waiting for a windfall.

He hoped to encounter another Girl with "high comprehension" like Ye Cheng, or at least one who would "mistake the car." Meanwhile, he boredly took out his phone and searched for the prices of silk stockings on Taobao.

Ye Cheng's teasing remark during the day had actually opened up a new line of thinking for him.

It might be hard to get her to pay directly, but if he used her "misunderstanding" of him to guide her into wearing some particularly expensive stockings and then giving them to him, wouldn't the cashback come naturally?

There's nothing wrong with this logic, right?

After a bit of searching, Jiang Ye was dazzled by various brands and prices.

Specifically, the "Balenciaga" he mentioned earlier had prices ranging from 19.8 to 2000 yuan, with a huge range of quality.

He recalled that the woman seemed to be using an iPhone 14, so her spending level should be average. Even if she did have them, they were likely the 19.8 yuan free shipping kind. A ten-fold cashback would only be 198, which wasn't very interesting.

So, he opened Ye Cheng's WeChat.

Jiang Ye: 【Beautiful, have you headed out yet?】

Ye Cheng replied quickly: 【Not off work yet, soon. Why?】

Jiang Ye: 【I was joking about those letter-patterned black silks earlier.】

Ye Cheng: 【Hmm? Really?】

Jiang Ye: 【Yeah, just teasing you. The weather is cold now, don't wear those, you'll freeze.】

Ye Cheng: 【Oh, you're actually quite considerate.】

Seeing the timing was right, Jiang Ye immediately shared a JD.com link:

【Take a look at this, the "Victoria's Secret" Bare Leg Artifact, the 300-yuan version. I've read the reviews; the Sisters all say the warming effect is great, and they aren't cold even when worn directly. If you buy them now, they'll arrive tomorrow.】

Ye Cheng: 【...】

Ye Cheng: 【Wait, Buddy, you...】

Ye Cheng: 【Are you ordering from a menu here? Why don't you go see a psychiatrist?】

Jiang Ye: 【Isn't this for your own good? These are thick and perfect for this season!】

Ye Cheng: 【Heh, you're just afraid the scent from the thin ones will dissipate, right?】

“...”

Jiang Ye's eyelid twitched violently as he tossed his phone directly onto the passenger seat.

This woman really doesn't know how to hold a conversation!

————

Time passed quickly. Over the next three hours, Jiang Ye's "waiting for a windfall" yielded very little.

A total of four Girls got into the passenger seat, and two others came to knock on the window.

Among them, Jiang Ye estimated that two had charm values of around 80 points.

He tried the "buying water" test as usual, but unfortunately, these two Girls just looked bewildered and had no reaction at all.

After pondering for a long while, Jiang Ye finally figured it out.

The purpose of these Girls coming here was very clear: quick monetization.

It wasn't that they lacked comprehension or were unwilling to make a "small investment for a big return," nor were they so stingy they wouldn't spend a few yuan. They simply didn't think in that direction at all.

Their mode of thinking was simply "what can I get from you," rather than "what can I do for you to exchange for more."

Plan B was hereby declared a complete failure.

The only good news was that in the process, he had accidentally picked up a blackout-drunk Ye Cheng, which was a stroke of luck.

Seeing that it was about time, Jiang Ye drove to the Millennium Bar.

The Millennium Bar didn't have a large storefront; its decor leaned towards an artistic light industrial style. It was more like a lounge for friends to gather rather than a noisy nightclub.

He found a parking spot at the entrance and sent Ye Cheng a WeChat message: 【I'm here.】

While waiting, he got bored and started sizing up the other vehicles parked at the bar's entrance.

BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Infiniti... There were indeed many expensive cars parked there, with a Porsche Cayenne being particularly eye-catching.

He took out his phone, opened an image recognition app, and took photos of the cars one by one to check their prices.

“BMW 5 Series, over 400,000... Mercedes-Benz E-Class, 600,000... Oh wow, this BMW 7 Series is nearly 1 million... Lexus LS, also million-level... Porsche Cayenne 4.0T Hybrid, tsk tsk, 2 million...”

Jiang Ye clicked his tongue while checking. These cars were indeed unreachable luxury vehicles for ordinary families.

But for some reason, he felt they were lacking something.

In the novels he used to read, the opponents or side characters the protagonist met always drove Maybachs, Bentleys, or Rolls-Royces. At the very least, it had to be a top-spec Audi A8.

The cars in front of him, while decent, somehow felt... a bit low-end?

Was it because the consumption level in Shengtian was just like this?

Or was it that the truly big shots wouldn't personally wait around in a place like this, and those squatting here now were actually secondary options or backups?

Eh?

Am I being treated as a backup by that woman?

While he was lost in thought, the bar door was pushed open. Over ten people walked out chatting and laughing, most of whom were fashionably dressed young women carrying various styles of bags, with only two men among them.

Jiang Ye subconsciously looked toward the bar and quickly locked onto a somewhat familiar figure.

Unlike her disheveled, drunken state from last night, today's Ye Cheng was clearly meticulously dressed.

She had a standard oval face, skin that was fair and translucent, and long hair that cascaded down to her waist like a waterfall.

Her eyes were narrow and long, with the corners slightly upturned, carrying a hint of natural charm. Her nose was high, her lip color was pale, and she wore a bit of sparkly lip gloss.

Wearing... wearing... Holy crap! Isn't this woman cold?

She was wearing a hollow-out knit sweater with what seemed to be only a camisole underneath. Her lower half consisted of black shorts and a pair of black over-the-knee stockings, with Martin boots on her feet.

[Image]

Against the backdrop of the other Girls around her in various coats, sweaters, and long skirts, this outfit stood out exceptionally.

Ye Cheng looked around at the entrance and quickly spotted Jiang Ye's BMW. She ran over, opened the door, and slipped inside.

Outside the car, several of her classmates were pointing and whispering to each other, though it was unclear what they were saying.

Ye Cheng rolled down the window, waved at them, then turned to Jiang Ye: "Let's go."

As the latter started the car, he couldn't help but glance at her drafty clothes: "Uh... Sister, aren't you cold?"

Ye Cheng glanced at him, continued to gracefully wave goodbye to her classmates outside, and once the car pulled onto the main road, she suddenly hugged her arms tightly, curled into a ball, and her teeth began to chatter:

“Quick, quick, quick! Air conditioning! Turn it up! I'm freezing to death, ahhh!”

Jiang Ye: “...”