Zhao Yifan's Trap and the Two-Seater 718

On the night military training officially ended, the men's dormitory building at Jiangcheng University was like a pot that had just come to a boil.

Freshmen's ghostly howls of celebration filled the corridors, and even battered washbasins were being beaten with a deafening racket.

After more than ten grueling days, the drills and hours of standing at attention had finally come to an end. For these freshman boys, it was no different from being released after serving a sentence.

The atmosphere in Room 504, however, was a little more subdued than outside.

Chen Ziang sprawled in his gaming chair, arms and legs splayed.

An expensive restorative face mask with a faint fragrance covered his face. Though his eyes were closed, the young master's long eyebrows knitted together from time to time. Something was clearly still weighing on his mind.

The scene from that day beneath the camphor tree by the athletic field kept replaying in Chen Ziang's head.

He had approached Shen Zhiyi with impeccable bearing and the most carefully chosen words, only to be rebuffed by a frosty "I don't add people to my personal WeChat."

But then what had she done?

This widely acknowledged flower on a lofty peak had taken a lousy form and, on a pretext even a fool could see through, asked Lu Chuan for his WeChat.

Chen Ziang felt a little stifled.

The difference in treatment made him feel even worse than the sun during military training.

Still, he had grown up immersed in a business family. Under that influence, he had not developed a dark, narrow-minded character. Instead, he had learned a practical way of adjusting his mindset.

He had lost face, but flying into a rage would do no good.

As long as he had the strength and the trappings to match, sooner or later he could win his face back in another setting, with interest.

At that thought, Chen Ziang abruptly sat up straight.

He tore the mask off his face, tossed it into the trash, and casually pulled out a facial towel to wipe his face.

"Guys."

Chen Ziang cleared his throat and adopted the most conventionally lavish tone of a local young master.

"Those ten-odd days of hardship are finally over."

"To celebrate everyone in 504 making it through military training alive, I'll make the arrangements this weekend. We'll all go to the best 'hot spring spa club' in Jiangcheng's western suburbs and relax for two days."

"They have private hot spring pools, a buffet with airfreighted seafood and wagyu, and we can get a full post-sun skincare treatment in the evening. From the moment we walk in until we leave, this young master is covering everything."

When he finished, the air in the dorm went still for a second.

Han Dong had been lying spread-eagled on his bed, playing dead.

The moment he heard someone was treating them, and to a high-end place that sounded ridiculously expensive at that, this fierce beast from Northeast China sprang off the bed with a kip-up.

Barefoot, he scrambled down the ladder in a few steps and hurried over to Chen Ziang.

"Boss Chen!"

Han Dong's eyes shone, his face full of astonishment and excitement.

"You're really paying for everything? That place must cost a fortune!"

In high school, he had often gone to a luxurious public bathhouse back home. A scrub, a back massage, and a bottle of Dabaili soda had cost only a few dozen yuan. Now, hearing about a seafood buffet and private baths, he was nearly drooling.

Chen Ziang was pleased by how little of the world Han Dong had seen.

That "Boss Chen" finally made up for some of the frustration he had felt that day.

"How expensive could it be?"

Chen Ziang raised an eyebrow, his tone casual.

"I'm just taking you guys to see the place and experience real service."

Han Dong nodded vigorously, but then scratched the back of his head and posed an unusual question with a serious expression.

"Uh, Boss Chen."

"A grown man like me doesn't need skincare or anything. I just want to ask, does that club have computers for gaming?"

Han Dong rubbed his hands together expectantly.

"I barely touched a keyboard during military training, and my hands are itching like crazy. If I could go into the Rift and play a couple of rounds after a bath, that would be real relaxation."

The question left Chen Ziang speechless for a moment.

He looked at Han Dong and nearly laughed in exasperation.

They were going to such a high-end money pit, and all this country bumpkin could think about was playing games!

"You think it's some lousy internet café that charges five yuan an hour?"

With a touch of lofty superiority, Chen Ziang patiently enlightened him.

"A club of that caliber has dedicated gaming suites with top-of-the-line setups. Alienware equipment all around, and gaming chairs more comfortable than the bed you sleep in. As long as you have the energy, nobody will stop you from gaming all night."

Han Dong slapped his thigh in excitement.

"Perfect!"

He immediately became Chen Ziang's number one hype man, practically ready to massage his shoulders and pound his legs on the spot.

"I knew I couldn't go wrong following Boss Chen. From now on, if anyone says a bad word about Boss Chen, I, Han Dong, will be the first to object!"

Seeing Han Dong like that, Chen Ziang felt his vanity thoroughly soothed.

He turned to look toward the other side of the room.

Zhao Yifan was sitting at his desk, flipping through a textbook for his major.

"Yifan, come with us this weekend?"

Chen Ziang extended the invitation himself.

Zhao Yifan put down his book.

He pushed up the nonprescription glasses on his nose. His expression remained gently aloof as he gave a simple nod.

"Okay."

"Sorry to make you spend so much."

The atmosphere had been thoroughly set.

Chen Ziang felt it was time to unveil the main event of the evening.

He picked up the cup on his desk, took a seemingly casual sip of water, and spoke in a conversational tone.

"Then it's settled."

"Since we've decided to go, we need to arrange transportation too. Getting a cab for a weekend outing is too much trouble, and it's inconvenient."

He set the cup down with a light tap.

"As it happens, the Porsche 718 my dad bought me a while ago has just been registered. I'll have him drive it to campus tomorrow, and I'll drive you guys there this weekend. That way, we won't have to squeeze in with everyone else."

Porsche.

718.

The moment those two words came out, the excitement in the dorm rose another level.

Han Dong, who had just turned away, whipped back around, his eyes even wider than when he had heard about the seafood buffet.

"Holy shit! A sports car?"

Han Dong rubbed his hands together excitedly.

"Boss Chen, that's one hell of a flex! I've never ridden in a Porsche in my life. Tomorrow I've got to take a bunch of pictures and send them back home to amaze those country bumpkins."

Chen Ziang was very pleased with Han Dong's reaction.

He enjoyed the feeling of having the absolute say in the dorm and crushing everyone else with his wealth.

He was already imagining how many envious looks the flashy sports car would draw when it was parked outside the men's dormitory building tomorrow.

But just then.

Zhao Yifan, who had been sitting quietly in the corner, suddenly spoke.

This young master of the Zhao Family had long since seen straight through Chen Ziang's eagerness to show off.

Normally, Zhao Yifan couldn't be bothered with such things, but today, for once, he felt a mischievous urge to have a little fun.

He turned to look at the smug Chen Ziang.

A gentle smile played at the corner of his mouth, though it concealed a sharp edge.

"Ziang."

Zhao Yifan's slender fingers tapped lightly on the desktop as he deliberately pointed out a fatal flaw in his logic.

"The Porsche 718 is a two-seater sports car, isn't it?"

His voice was quiet, but every word was clear.

"There are four of us in this dorm and only two seats. How are we all going to ride tomorrow?"

The question plunged all of Room 504 into silence.

The praise Han Dong had been about to heap on him stuck in his throat. He looked down and counted on his fingers: four living, breathing people and two seats. There was no way they would all fit.

The smile on Chen Ziang's face stiffened slightly.

He cursed under his breath.

He had been so busy showing off his sports car that he had forgotten the most basic hardware issue: the number of seats.

The atmosphere was on the verge of turning awkward.

But Chen Ziang was a young master who had seen his share of the world, and he reacted quickly.

He immediately raised his chin, concealing that trace of embarrassment completely, and forced himself to save face in an even more extravagantly wealthy tone.

"How is that a problem?"

Chen Ziang waved a hand as though it were only natural.

"I'll drive the 718 and take Dongzi with me."

He turned to Zhao Yifan.

"Then I'll have my family's driver bring a Mercedes-Benz S-Class to pick up the two of you. Wouldn't that do it? Two cars are more than enough for everyone to ride comfortably."

Zhao Yifan gave a slight nod and stopped poking holes in his plan.

All he had wanted was to see that moment when Chen Ziang was caught out. Since Chen Ziang had already patched things up, he let the subject go.

With the seating arrangements settled.

Chen Ziang's gaze finally fell on Lu Chuan, as a matter of course.

From the moment he had announced he was treating them, through Han Dong's excited shouting, to his mention of the Porsche 718.

Lu Chuan had not said a single word from beginning to end.

At that moment, Lu Chuan was sitting quietly at his desk.

His computer screen was lit, displaying an email written entirely in English that had just arrived. It was Xu Chengyuan's report on the direction of the investment company's future development.

Lu Chuan had just skimmed through the lengthy text at speed and was considering the direction of its future development.

"Lu Chuan."

Chen Ziang's voice came from behind him.

It carried the lofty composure of a superior, along with an undisguised note of probing.

"Do you have a driver's license?"

Lu Chuan's finger paused on the touchpad, but he did not turn around.

Chen Ziang continued.

"If you have a license, I'll have the driver leave you the keys to the Mercedes-Benz tomorrow."

"You can drive Yifan there. That way, you can get your hands on the steering wheel of a luxury car and satisfy your urge to drive one. The car would be sitting idle anyway, so you can use it for practice."

Sitting in front of his computer, Lu Chuan felt no ripple of emotion.

He even found this display for control of the dorm a little childishly cute.

If Chen Ziang knew that the roommate sitting before him not only had tens of millions in cash flow at his disposal, but also owned a Bentley Continental GT worth several million, who knew whether the local young master would still speak in that tone?

Lu Chuan did not feel offended in the slightest by the probe.

He clicked the mouse.

Sending his reply to the email.

Then, with a steady movement, he closed his laptop.

Lu Chuan turned around, casually picked up the cup on his desk, and took an unhurried sip of warm water.

The water slid down his throat.

He raised his eyes and looked calmly at Chen Ziang.

There was no discomfort at being offered charity in those deep eyes, nor any forced show of pride to save face.

Lu Chuan's tone was utterly flat, as though he were speaking of some insignificant everyday matter.

"No need to trouble your family's driver."

He rested the hand holding his cup on the desk, his voice sounding steadily through the quiet dorm.

"I have a car."

Those three simple words landed lightly in the air of Room 504.

The dorm fell instantly silent enough to hear a pin drop.

The composed, condescending expression on Chen Ziang's face froze.