In my next life, I want to be born into a rich family too

The driver stamped his feet in frustration and hurriedly shouted at Zhang Niannian and the others, "Hurry up and explain to the officers! I really was just joking with you! My car only cost a few tens of thousands. How could I charge you twenty thousand for repairs?"

"It's too late for anything you say now!"

Zhang Niannian snorted and turned her head aside. "Please don't let this scammer get away, officer!"

An officer stepped forward, took out a little notebook, and asked Zhang Niannian for her ID number and phone number.

As the driver was taken to the police car, he was still muttering curses. "Fuck, I should've just left!"

Jin Xia's expression remained perfectly calm. With her arms folded across her chest, she watched the driver leave.

Zhang Niannian bounced over to her, delighted. "Jin Xia, you were amazing! I actually believed him just now. I was even getting ready to call my dad and ask him to send me money..."

"We're classmates. It was no trouble."

Jin Xia picked up her phone and glanced at the time.

Zhang Niannian nodded vigorously in agreement. "Since Jin Xia helped me out so much today, she gets to pick the restaurant, and I'll treat everyone. Consider it my apology for being late!"

"No need."

Jin Xia spoke mildly, looking up at the huge billboard ahead.

"Japanese teppanyaki buffet, starting at 299 per person..."

Zhang Niannian read the words on the billboard under her breath and clicked her tongue. "Big cities really are different. Even a buffet costs 299 a person. That's almost half my monthly living allowance."

Jin Xia walked ahead at an unhurried pace. "Turn left at the stairs over there. There's a restaurant on the third floor with a nice atmosphere."

After they rode up the escalator outside, they were greeted by a pitch-black wall and a seemingly endless corridor.

The decor looked just like an escape passage in an escape room.

Red vintage mood lights hung on the black walls...

"Is this... really a restaurant?"

Zhang Niannian tilted her head and asked in astonishment.

It was a private kitchen restaurant, and she had been a regular here in her previous life.

The restaurant had no sign and was virtually unknown outside its regular clientele. It only served ten tables a day.

Its specialties were Sichuan dishes, each priced in the hundreds of yuan, but none over a thousand.

Jin Xia told a server, "There are four of us. We'll take the Jiangnan private room."

They entered "Jiangnan," where the antique-style decor, rich in Jiangnan charm, made them feel as though they were standing beside a river in Jiangnan.

A dazzling array of dishes was brought to the table.

"Let's have a toast to getting together today!"

Song Li raised her glass with easy confidence. Of the other three, everyone except Jin Xia raised theirs as well.

After several rounds of drinks, the girls, who had little tolerance for alcohol to begin with, were all slightly tipsy.

Only Jin Xia sat quietly in her seat, concentrating on the food.

Zhang Ru rubbed her belly. "That meal was so satisfying. After eating this, I can't help thinking... what kind of miserable life have I been living for the past eighteen years?"

Meng Ya casually picked up the menu and glanced at it. "This... this meal cost forty-six hundred?"

Zhang Niannian sobered up instantly and abruptly sat upright. "What? Forty-six hundred for this meal? I scratched someone's car today, and I couldn't even afford the twenty thousand they wanted. Even if we split this forty-six hundred, that's still 920 each!"

Her monthly living allowance was only 800!

They sat in their chairs, looking worried, before Song Li suddenly stood up. "I'll call my dad and ask him to transfer me some money!"

Jin Xia stood up as well. "I'm going to the restroom."

Several servers stood at the counter, talking over one another.

"They look like college students to me. This is probably their first time here, and they didn't know it was so expensive."

One of the girls spoke in a low voice.

Her coworker, the server who had just waited on Jin Xia and the others, snorted. "They saw the menu. Just my luck, getting a table like this today. I'll have to keep a close eye on them. If they dine and dash, I'll have to pay their bill."

It was only natural for the server to complain.

Jin Xia could still remember her previous life... no, to be precise, the time she had worked part-time at a phone shop six months ago.

New to the working world, she had been far too innocent and kind. While helping customers choose phones, she had let her attention slip for a moment, and a man had stolen a Samsung W2014.

To her back then, it had been an unimaginably expensive model.

A month's part-time wages plus commission, if she met her sales target, came to just over two thousand yuan at most.

Even after the phone shop called the police, they could not find the person caught stealing the phone on the security footage.

In the end, the matter went unresolved, and Jin Xia bore the consequences.

Seeing that she was just a poor student, the owner left her five hundred yuan a month for living expenses and put the rest toward paying for the phone.

Only after Jin Xia had paid off the entire debt did she switch to another job that paid eight yuan an hour.

Jin Xia gathered her thoughts, took a bank card out of her bag, and handed it over. "The bill for Jiangnan, please."

"Certainly, ma'am. Just a moment."

The server at the counter took the bank card from her without even looking up.

The next second, as though realizing something, the girl abruptly looked up at Jin Xia. "J-Jiangnan?"

"Is there a problem?"

Jin Xia knitted her delicate brows, a trace of puzzlement crossing her face.

The girl hurriedly shook her head and explained awkwardly, "No problem."

She quickly switched on the card terminal, swiped Jin Xia's card, and turned the machine toward her. "Please sign here."

In an era when Zhifubao and WeChat were still relatively niche payment methods, almost all large payments were made by card.

Over this period, Jin Xia had gone from finding it unfamiliar to gradually adjusting.

Jin Xia picked up the pen and signed her name on the receipt in swift, clean strokes.

As the girl tore off the card receipt for her, she happened to glance sideways and saw Jin Xia's balance...

She froze in shock!

There were still more than five hundred thousand yuan in that account!

Granted, the people who dined at this private kitchen restaurant were all big spenders.

But a girl as young as the one before her, putting down fifty thousand for a top-up in one go, was truly a first!

"Ma'am, would you like to top up a prepaid card? We're running a promotion at the moment. Top up ten thousand and receive an extra thousand."

The server asked Jin Xia cautiously.

Jin Xia paused briefly. An extra thousand for every ten thousand meant five thousand for fifty thousand, effectively making their meal free.

That was quite a good deal. After all, she liked the restaurant's atmosphere and would still be a regular here in this life.

"Let's start with fifty thousand."

The words slipped casually from Jin Xia's lips.

The server behind the counter was stunned once again. "Y-you mean you'd like to top up fifty thousand?"

"Yes."

She nodded, her expression utterly unruffled.

After Jin Xia finished topping up the card and left, the servers behind her began chattering.

"Oh my god, are college students all this rich now? A fifty-thousand-yuan top-up... When I was in school, even five hundred a month for living expenses felt like a fortune!"

"She carries herself so calmly, and she's so generous with her money. She must come from some prominent family. I'm so jealous!"

"In my next life, I want to be born into a rich family too!"