With two members of Goddess Dormitory and a pair of beautiful twins, this trip was seriously something to look forward to.
Even if he couldn't hit it off with Jiang Qiuran, Wan Xinyan and Wan Xinyue were still plenty tempting. Xue Tao had just seen photos of Wan Xinyan in her Moments. Both were fresh-faced, adorable little beauties with youthful looks, yet their figures were exceptionally impressive.
They were practically busty lolis.
After fantasizing for a while, Xue Tao suddenly remembered something important and asked Su Bai, "Su Bai, I remember you got your driver's license over the summer, right?"
"I did."
"Then let's rent a car when the time comes, and you can drive?"
"You'd planned this out ages ago, hadn't you?"
"Tsk, how is that planning? It's clearly roommates helping each other out. Look, we'll have four beautiful girls traveling with us this time. It's a rare opportunity..."
Hearing the teasing in Su Bai's words, Xue Tao felt a little embarrassed and tried to explain himself.
Su Bai couldn't be bothered to argue with him and waved a hand. "It's fine, I get what you mean. But forget renting a car. I just bought one recently, so we can drive it there and have some fun."
"What? You bought a car?"
Xue Tao dug at his ears, thinking he had misheard.
Poor-ass Su Bai could afford a car?
The conversation between Xue Tao and Su Bai also caught Chu Mingzhe's attention.
He had already put on his beloved Sennheiser headphones, but immediately took them off again and said in surprise, "Brother Su Bai, buying a car isn't a small matter. Such an important purchase, and you didn't discuss it with everyone first?"
"There happened to be one I liked, so I bought it," Su Bai said calmly.
You're not my dad. Why the hell would I discuss it with you?
But Hu Ye was just like that. Whenever someone in the dorm wanted to buy something, he always had to offer his lofty opinion and show off his taste.
Sure enough, just as Su Bai expected, Chu Mingzhe said seriously, "Buying a car requires careful consideration. New energy vehicles are all the rage now. Young people should buy new energy vehicles, though there are plenty of details to consider... A car symbolizes a person's temperament, after all. For example, when a young person buys a traditional joint-venture gas car, they come across as old-fashioned..."
"Who the fuck are you calling old-fashioned?" Xue Tao glared furiously. "Having a car at all is good enough! Besides, these electric cars have only been around for two or three years. They're unreliable. What if it keeps breaking down after you buy one? German engineering is still the way to go. Time-tested. A man who drives a Magotan is a mature man."
After saying that, Xue Tao turned back to Su Bai and continued questioning him. "Oh, I remember now. Didn't you say you made a small fortune before? You bought the car with that money, right?"
"More or less."
"What car?"
"An SUV. Pretty big."
"Oh, that's pretty good too. You're dating Goddess Chen now, so having a car would make things more convenient. But after buying a car, you still have to spend money maintaining it every day. Can your family afford to support that?"
Xue Tao was pressing the issue, clearly not believing that Su Bai could afford the cost of keeping a car.
"No problem. Anyway, I'll drive it when we go on the trip. It's decided, then."
Su Bai answered simply, then put on his headphones and started queueing with Wang Haoran.
Chen Yusheng had carried him so often that winning too much had gotten a little boring. Tonight, he would experience the pure, authentic brutality of the real silver rank with Wang Haoran.
Xue Tao felt ignored and backed off awkwardly, muttering to himself.
It seemed Su Bai's "small fortune" might not have been all that small after all.
Had he won the lottery? Or gotten ridiculously lucky buying some foreign financial product that shot up dozens of times overnight?
Xue Tao didn't know much about investing.
But no matter what, Su Bai's financial situation seemed to have improved. First he had switched to an Apple Pro Max, and now he had bought a car.
That gave Xue Tao a faint sense of crisis. After all, in the dorm and even the whole class, he had always stood out above the rest. Oh, no, he and Chu Mingzhe had been evenly matched.
He was also the only student in the class with a car.
Now Su Bai had a car too, and it felt like his unique trait had been watered down.
But then Xue Tao reconsidered. Given Su Bai's spending habits, he had definitely prioritized value for money when buying a car. He had probably bought some domestic SUV for under a hundred thousand yuan, maybe a Chery, Great Wall, Changan, or something like that.
Meanwhile, the Magotan 330 he drove was a legitimate joint-venture B-segment car.
They weren't even in the same league. A girl's impression would be completely different when she got into one.
Just imagine a goddess on Chen Yusheng's level sitting in a domestic Haval H6. The thought alone felt deeply incongruous.
Xue Tao figured Su Bai and Chen Yusheng were probably only at the vaguely flirty stage. They were still far from actually dating.
Maybe once Chen Yusheng sensed how poor Su Bai was, she would gradually lose interest in him.
Thinking that way, Xue Tao felt much more balanced.
Otherwise, if Su Bai really ended up dating Chen Yusheng, Xue Tao would die of jealousy. Why should such a gorgeous goddess fall for Su Bai?
That guy was only a little handsome. Other than that, he was completely a low-quality man.
Ding! The host tossed aside his major course assignment and immersed himself in Summoner's Rift. How indulgent. Cash reward +1,000 yuan.
Su Bai and Wang Haoran fought fiercely in the silver rank until the sky practically turned dark.
In the end, after doing the math, they had fucking lost rank.
Whatever. Shengsheng would carry him back up anyway.
Before going to sleep, Su Bai went to wash up. Wang Haoran followed him and took the opportunity to ask, "Brother Bai, why is Jiang Qiuran traveling with us? I remember Hu Ye saying that girl wasn't that close with Chen Yusheng."
"Is that so? I don't know."
Su Bai genuinely didn't know what Jiang Qiuran's relationship with Chen Yusheng was like.
Before today, he hadn't even known that Jiang Qiuran was a member of Goddess Dormitory.
As agreed, after starting university, Su Bai and Jiang Qiuran pretended not to know each other.
To make it look convincing, they had even deleted each other from QQ and WeChat.
They had cut things off completely.
Even though they had been childhood sweethearts who grew up together. Back in their hometown, Jiang Qiuran had even lived directly across from Su Bai's house.
He had no idea what Jiang Qiuran had been thinking at the time.
Still, Su Bai didn't really have any extra thoughts about that childhood friend. If she wanted to cut things off, then so be it.
He had been a little upset at first, but he forgot about it soon enough.
Looking at it now, Su Bai had really forgotten thoroughly.
He had not even bothered to ask which dorm Jiang Qiuran lived in.
I fearlessly forget!
Sigh, there was no helping it. Su Bai was just naturally a cold-hearted man.
For example, recently, he had been flirting with an older student while things were heating up with Shengsheng.
He felt no guilt whatsoever. To Su Bai, that kind of behavior seemed naturally normal.
Su Bai made up an explanation and said to Wang Haoran, "Maybe Jiang Qiuran isn't that popular either. Girls who are delicate and pure-sexy like her might have a lot of superficial friends, but they're actually easily isolated by various cliques."
"Ah, is that how it works? I don't understand girls at all. Their relationships seem really complicated."
"It's fine. It's just a trip. A few more people means more fun. We'll eat and play as usual. It won't affect anything."
"That's true."
Su Bai climbed onto the dorm's metal-framed bunk bed and lay there scrolling through his phone for a while. Somehow, he found it quite pleasant.
It was even more pleasant than staying in a hotel.
That made Su Bai reflect on himself.
Could he be the type who felt uncomfortable after staying in luxurious places for too long?
That shouldn't be the case...
Deep down, Su Bai also yearned for a life of extravagance and excess.
What man didn't want to become impressive? Who didn't want to show off every day?
Not to mention anything else, when he paid for an older student at a luxury store and spent money like water while enjoying the melting, worshipful gazes of the female salesclerks, Su Bai felt absolutely incredible.
But staying in a hotel somehow gave him an inexplicable sense of discomfort.
The question seemed a little philosophical.
After thinking it over, Su Bai decided to find someone to discuss it with.
His choice of discussion partner was somewhat unconventional: he chose Counselor Xia Lin.
The system panel showed that Xia Lin's favorability toward Su Bai had already surpassed 50. That was the foundation for such a discussion. After all, if she did not have a favorable impression of him, what counselor would discuss strange life philosophy questions with a student?
Besides, everyone said Xia Lin was a rich, beautiful woman from a very well-off family.
From Su Bai's observations, Xia Lin's words, mannerisms, and even the things she used every day were not cheap. They were expensive in a tasteful way, and her taste seemed even more discerning than Hu Ye's.
It was far superior to the tacky nouveau riche style of the locals.
So among the girls Su Bai could talk to, Xia Lin was the most suitable person to discuss this question with.
Crispy Big White Goose: Director Xia, I have something that's been bothering me, and I want to discuss it with someone. Are you free right now?
Xia Tianlin: I'm free. Go ahead, what kind of concern is it?
Crispy Big White Goose: In theory, staying in luxury hotels every day is many people's dream. But I tried it recently, and why did I get tired of it after only a few days? It was clearly a river-view suite that cost nearly two thousand yuan a night.
Xia Tianlin: ?
Before you continue