What Were You Doing Before?

The day after the farce unfolded, the Supply Department's two deputy section chiefs were both notified to attend a meeting in the conference room. Only Li Ye, Yue Lingshan, and Zheng Jiemin—the three little fish and shrimp—were left in the Supply Department.

No sooner had Old Ding and Wu Qingyi left than Yue Lingshan dragged her chair over and sat beside Li Ye.

"Hey, Li Ye, did you really buy that Santana yourself?"

"Then what, did I steal it?"

Li Ye flipped through the materials indifferently, with no interest in chatting with Yue Lingshan.

After yesterday's showdown, Li Ye no longer bothered pretending. Today, he had driven his Santana straight to the building below the Supply Department, drawing countless envious looks.

Yue Lingshan was among them.

From the moment Li Ye parked, Yue Lingshan had circled the Santana seven or eight times and circled Li Ye more than a dozen times, chirping away with countless questions Li Ye had no wish to answer.

"How does your car compare to a Volga?"

"Is your car registered under someone else's work unit?"

"How much is the road maintenance fee each month? Do you pay it yourself, or does the unit it's registered under pay it?"

Li Ye felt that if he had not been so cold toward her, she would have matter-of-factly asked him to take her out for a spin.

It had to be said that private cars were forever something like a filter for social groups.

In later generations, many people would say, "A car is just transportation. People who buy 34C are only showing off. You expect others to think more highly of you? Dream on!"

Actually, that depended on who was saying it.

Those who had saved three or four hundred thousand through their own efforts would most