When Ye Chen agreed to the class reunion, Xiao Churan reminded him, "Wang Daokun's restaurant is opening, so we should bring a gift. We can't go empty-handed."
Ye Chen nodded. "I'll buy him a gift tomorrow morning."
"Okay," Xiao Churan said. "I have to go to Dihao Group tomorrow morning anyway."
Dong Ruolin asked in delight, "You're coming to Emgrand tomorrow morning? Then come find me when you're done. I can hitch a ride with you to Wang Daokun's restaurant at noon."
Xiao Churan laughed. "You've miscalculated! I don't have a car. I usually take a taxi or the bus. Sometimes Ye Chen gives me a ride on his electric scooter."
"What?" Dong Ruolin blurted out. "You're a director now, and you still haven't bought a car?"
Xiao Churan said, "I haven't been working long, and I haven't earned much. Between Ye Chen's and my expenses and the living allowance I give my mom, I only have a few thousand yuan left each month. How could that be enough to buy a car?"
She added, "Besides, honestly, I think the bus is quite convenient. When the weather's nice, riding on Ye Chen's electric scooter isn't bad either."
Dong Ruolin said seriously, "You really should pay a little more attention to appearances sometimes. After all, you're a director at Xiao Group now, and you're the partner working directly with Emgrand. If you don't even have a car, people will talk."
Ye Chen also thought Dong Ruolin was right.
His wife had always been too frugal, and she gave most of the money she earned to her mother, so she had always shortchanged herself.
His mother-in-law was a pixiu that only ate and never excreted. She had saved over a million yuan and put it into a dubious investment, yet she hadn't offered to take out two or three hundred thousand to buy her daughter a car.
Thinking of this, he felt he should buy his wife a car. It would make it easier for her to get around on business, and she would have more face when negotiating with people.
Having made up his mind, he decided to visit a dealership first thing the next morning.
After dinner, the couple said goodbye to Dong Ruolin and took a taxi home together.
The taxi driver was listening to a novel on the radio when a news bulletin suddenly interrupted it, reporting that the Hanging Garden at the Buckingham Palace Grand Hotel had been booked out. Even the hosts of the novel program began discussing it on air.
A host exclaimed, "This is the first time in its history that the Buckingham Palace Grand Hotel has made an exception and rented out the entire Hanging Garden. I'm also very curious to know who has that much face!"
The taxi driver chimed in, "If you ask me, the person who booked the Hanging Garden must be that god-tier tycoon from the short-video platforms!"
Ye Chen said nothing, but he couldn't help feeling a little surprised!
It seemed that once the news got out that someone had booked the Hanging Garden on the top floor of the Buckingham Palace Grand Hotel, it really had caused a sensation throughout Jinling!
That night, the matter continued to spread throughout Jinling! Soon, it was the talk of the town, and everyone knew about it!
Everyone knew that the Buckingham Palace Hotel operated on a membership basis, and only high-level members had a chance to use the Hanging Garden! As for booking the whole place, that was out of the question. Even diamond members weren't entitled to do so!
So who had booked the Hanging Garden suddenly became a major question on everyone's mind!
Some rumored that the person who had booked the Hanging Garden was the god-tier tycoon who had become famous across the country on short-video platforms;
Others said it was an extremely wealthy tycoon from overseas who had booked the Hanging Garden;
Still others said it was a man with a mysterious identity who had booked the Hanging Garden to hold a grand and romantic wedding...
Sure enough, the third rumor was the easiest to believe!
For a time, it stirred up another considerable wave of public discussion!
Countless women who heard about it were filled with envy and jealousy.
Everyone speculated about which woman was so fortunate that someone would spend millions in a single night to book the entire Hanging Garden and declare his love for her!
Many people hoped the day would come quickly so they could go there and find out for themselves!
To avoid revealing his identity, Ye Chen specifically instructed Chen Zekai to make some special alterations to the entire Hanging Garden. At the same time, he looked forward to the day of his wedding anniversary!
On their anniversary, he would give Xiao Churan a magnificent wedding!
Early the next morning, Ye Chen left home and headed to a dealership.
He had a bank card with ten billion yuan on it, which he had hardly used so far.
This time, he planned to buy Xiao Churan a luxury sedan that would be presentable.
He had initially wanted to go straight for a Rolls-Royce.
But on second thought, he worried that a car that expensive would be hard to explain to her. Besides, Xiao Churan had always been low-key. Even if she had such an expensive car, she probably wouldn't want to drive it out.
So he decided to buy his wife a business sedan costing around five hundred thousand yuan. It would give her face without being too ostentatious, and it was fairly practical. If it got scraped or bumped, it wouldn't hurt so much.
With that in mind, he prepared to buy his wife an Audi A6. These days, everyone who did business drove an A6. The car gave its owner plenty of face, and the A6 was also an extended-wheelbase business sedan, making it well suited for his wife to drive.
When he arrived at the Audi dealership, he parked his little electric scooter at the entrance and walked in.
Several salespeople inside saw a customer arrive, and two of them immediately prepared to greet him.
A woman behind them hurriedly said, "Oh, he came on an electric scooter. He's probably here to mooch off the air conditioning or the Wi-Fi. Don't bother with him."
When they heard he had come on an electric scooter, the others instantly lost interest.
The weather had been hot lately, and poor wretches were always coming in early to mooch off the air conditioning. Sometimes they were shameless enough to sit in the display cars and refuse to get out, forcing the staff to call security to drive them away. The salespeople were fed up with it.
Ye Chen had arrived on an electric scooter and was dressed in clothes from a street stall. He really didn't stand out here, and he didn't look like someone who could afford an Audi.
Ye Chen didn't mind that no one paid him any attention. He went straight to the A6 display area and looked around. He found that the model's price ranged from three hundred thousand to over six hundred thousand yuan. The one costing over six hundred thousand was the top-spec A6, the extended-wheelbase executive version.
Honestly, the car looked pretty good!
A price of over six hundred thousand wasn't too expensive, either. Xiao Churan should be able to accept it.
So he called out, "Do you have a new top-spec A6 in stock? I'd like to take it away now!"
The salespeople all looked at him as if he were an idiot. One of them said contemptuously, "Did you look at the price? Did you miss a zero?"
Ye Chen frowned at him. "Six hundred and eighteen thousand yuan. I saw it."
The man sneered. "You saw it, and you're still shouting nonsense? Can you afford it? Once the bill's written up and you're asked to swipe your card, with all these people watching, how embarrassing will it be when you can't pay?"
Ye Chen asked coldly, "Are you sick in the head? Did you forget your medicine before coming out this morning? Should I call 120 and get an ambulance to take you away?"
The man snorted. "Pfft, quit acting cocky in front of me. Believe it or not, I'll have security throw you out right now. You're a broke bastard mooching off the air conditioning and Wi-Fi, and you're trying to show off in front of me?"