Li Xian drove off in his G-Wagon, leaving Chen Chao standing by the roadside with a gloomy expression. Watching the car disappear into traffic, he muttered under his breath, "What are you showing off for? I drive a Mercedes too. It's not like I don't have one."
"Who knows where he borrowed that car? What's the point of showing off in front of me?"
Clearly, Chen Chao still didn't believe Li Xian could afford such a nice car. But he didn't sound very confident either—he spoke so quietly that only he could hear himself, afraid someone might overhear and laugh at him.
Compared to Li Xian's Mercedes-Benz G65, his GLC300 really didn't measure up. Forget the difference in performance and price; the GLC300 was a whole lot shorter.
It had been even more obvious when the two cars were parked side by side just now. At a glance, they looked like a grandfather and his grandson standing together.
He'd tried to show off, only to get...
Chen Chao's face was still burning. Remembering that Peng Mengke had been watching, he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. He'd made a complete fool of himself.
"Chen Chao, I have to go to work. I just sent you 700 through VX, so make sure you get it," Peng Mengke said, coming up behind him.
Chen Chao quickly turned around. "I'll drive you back... Wait a moment. I'll go get the car."
"No, it's fine. I'll take a bus back... Thanks for treating me today." Peng Mengke smiled as she declined, then hurried a few steps toward the roadside.
Just then, a bus pulled up at the stop. Before Chen Chao could react, Peng Mengke got on.
"Hey, Mengke, don't go..." By the time he chased after her, the bus doors had already closed and it was pulling away. "What a mess. Mengke, let's keep in touch!"
As he watched the bus disappear into the distance, Chen Chao's expression grew darker and darker. He kicked the trash can by the roadside and cursed under his breath. "Damn it, Li Xian! You ruined everything!"
This really wasn't Li Xian's fault. Peng Mengke simply couldn't stand Chen Chao's behavior.
He had only himself to blame. He'd badmouthed Li Xian to Peng Mengke again and again, then provoked him right in front of her. Anyone with any sense could see that there was something wrong with his character.
No matter how well he'd acted before, that alone was enough to make Peng Mengke stop seeing him.
Outside the sales office.
Dong Linlin got out of the car and waved goodbye to Li Xian. The car had barely started to pull away when a group of women crowded around her.
"Sister Linlin, what delicious food did Mr. Li treat you to? Tell us!"
"Yeah, yeah! Give us the details!"
Dong Linlin glared at them. "Move along, move along. Go do your jobs... If you spent all this time closing deals instead of gossiping, you could've made a sale by now."
"Hehehe... We're just curious. Sister Linlin, is Mr. Li pursuing you?"
"What a silly question. Isn't it obvious?"
"Exactly. We should be asking... Sister Linlin, what do you think of Mr. Li? Are you going to give him a chance?"
"It's not as complicated as you think. It was just a simple meal," Dong Linlin said helplessly.
That only made the women more interested. The more Dong Linlin denied it, the more they suspected something was going on.
"Have I been too nice to you lately?" Seeing the women practically bouncing with anticipation, Dong Linlin had no choice but to put on a stern face. "No one's leaving tonight. I'm checking your sales figures. And I'll be looking at everyone who failed last month's assessment..."
"No, no... Sister Linlin, we won't ask anymore."
"Yeah, yeah... We were wrong..."
"We're going to work now. Don't be mad."
The women scattered like birds and beasts, vanishing in an instant.
Dong Linlin watched them hurry away and shook her head gently.
She hadn't figured out what Li Xian was after either. It seemed like he might be interested in her, but he hadn't made any clear moves during their meal.
What was he trying to do?
Never mind. Why think so much about it?
Dong Linlin wasn't planning to date anyone for now. Even if Li Xian made it clear that he wanted to pursue her, she wouldn't agree.
Of course, if Li Xian persisted, she wasn't sure whether she might change her mind.
"Achoo~~~ Who's thinking about me again?" Li Xian rubbed his nose and continued browsing Taobao on his phone.
As soon as he'd returned to his hotel suite, he'd taken out all the clothes he'd bought that day to check them. He'd realized that he had a decent selection of tops, bottoms, and shoes, but had forgotten to buy any short-sleeved shirts or shorts.
The weather was about to get hotter, and by July the average temperature would be close to 30 degrees. Wearing long sleeves and pants outside would make him look like a fool.
So he deftly searched Taobao and Tmall for the clothes he wanted.
Online shopping had long since become a normal part of people's lives, especially for someone like Li Xian, who couldn't be bothered to go out. It was an indispensable part of life.
He really had to thank Taobao, Tmall, JD, Meituan, and all the rest. They were a godsend for homebodies in the new century.
Sipping a soda while browsing online shops, he soon placed orders with sports brands like Puma, Nike, and Reebok.
Three Nike T-shirts for 597, two pairs of AJ sneakers for 3,198, two pairs of Puma shorts for 256, and two pairs of Reebok sandals for 1,398. Adding a bunch of other things—cropped pants, knee-length shorts, tank tops, socks, flip-flops, underwear, and so on—he'd spent eight or nine thousand in one go.
Having money was great. Shopping now started at ten thousand yuan.
And these were all sports brands. How much could he possibly spend?
It was nothing like those famous rich guys, who spent tens or even hundreds of thousands on a single pair of shoes, and tens or hundreds of thousands on one outfit.
Then there were all the accessories and trinkets they wore, worth hundreds of thousands or even millions. The watches on their wrists cost hundreds of thousands, millions, or even tens of millions.
And there was no need to mention all their sports cars and luxury mansions.
Poverty really did limit the imagination. He still had a long way to go before he could spend his way through life.
Li Xian even got carried away and browsed watches. He didn't know anything about watches, but that didn't stop him from buying one to show off. Wearing a million-yuan watch and pulling out his phone to check the time would be pretty cool too.
Time slipped by. He kept playing on his phone until four or five in the afternoon. With only a few yuan left in his bank account, he opened the system mission panel and shouted, "I'm out of money! System Daddy, hurry up and pay me!"
10,9,7,62,1.
[Beep]
[LV2 Main Mission generated.]
[LV2 Main Mission: Spend 50 million and develop a career line. Time limit: 14 days. Automatically accepted. (Countdown begins: 13 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes)]
[Notice: The main mission must be completed within the time limit. Otherwise, the mission will be deemed a failure, and the game will end.]
[Notice: All requirements attached to the main mission must be met unconditionally. Otherwise, the mission will be deemed a failure, and the game will end.]
[Notice: The host may allocate the mission funds as desired, but they must not be used for illegal activities, arms or drug trafficking, or anything that endangers public safety. Once the mission is complete, the system will evaluate the host's performance. The score received will affect the amount of funds available for the next level's mission.]
"Bzzz, bzzz."
His phone vibrated twice. Li Xian picked it up and saw a deposit notification.
"Your bank card ending in 6664 received a transfer of 50,000,000.00 on June 10, 2014, at 16:55. Current available balance: 50,000,051.56."
Seeing that huge string of numbers, Li Xian took a deep breath. He was just as excited as he'd been a few days ago, but more than anything, he felt relieved.
He'd really been a little worried that System Daddy wouldn't pay him. He'd only been living it up for two days. If he couldn't keep it up, he'd be miserable.
Now that he had money, how should he spend it?
Li Xian grinned smugly, though he still had to complain about the lousy system.
Damn it, that wasn't how things were supposed to work.
Shouldn't he have to spend 20 million in fourteen days?
He'd been given twice as much time, so why had the money increased fivefold?
And what was this "career line" supposed to mean? Was this lousy game trying to make things harder for him?
Li Xian stared at the career line, cursing under his breath. No, he was staring at the attached task requirements. "A B can squeeze out a career line, a C can form a career line, and an E means you're buried in a canyon. Which one do you want, you lousy system?"
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