Hearing that it was 20,000 riel, which was not much money, Chen Mo considered it and prepared to nod.
Just as he was about to speak, the driver saw that Chen Mo had not answered and seemed to conclude that Chen Mo looked presentable on the surface but was actually a poor man. He sighed to himself, somewhat speechless. He had originally hoped to earn a little fuel money on the side, but he had not expected to misjudge him.
Still, he was kind-hearted. Although he had misjudged Chen Mo, he had wanted to help him, so he said, "If you think that's too expensive, then 10,000 riel will do! You should know that after another dozen or so kilometers, there's a bus station. Long-distance buses there can take you to Siem Reap City, but the ticket costs 30,000 riel."
Though he had knocked 10,000 riel off the price, he also wanted to make it clear that if Chen Mo truly had no money, that was fine too—he could just take him to the bus station. So he continued, "Since we met, it's fate! How about I take you to the bus station for free?"
Chen Mo had not expected the man to be so kind-hearted. He neither agreed nor refused, instead asking, "From your accent, you don't sound like a local Cambodian?"
"Haha! That's right, I'm not Cambodian. I'm from China. I've only been here for two years." The man answered with a smile. Naturally, he was aware of his own accent, especially when speaking the Khmer language here.
"Just as I thought! So you're Chinese!" Chen Mo had also felt that this man might be from back home. It seemed he had not been wrong.
"Yes. Khmer isn't that hard to learn, but the pronunciation is still a