Chapter Fourteen: The Turmoil of Buying a Car

After waiting for nearly two hours, Song Fei’er finally appeared. Today, she had taken special care with her appearance, wearing a pink dress that, paired with her natural beauty, made her look like a peerless beauty. Yang Le was momentarily stunned by the sight.

“Yang Le, sorry to have kept you waiting. Something came up at home, so I’m late,” Song Fei’er said.

In truth, she was testing Yang Le’s patience. Her home overlooked the neighborhood security booth, so she had been keeping an eye on him the entire time, wanting to see just how patient he could be. To her surprise, he waited for over an hour without urging her once. In the end, she was the one who relented and decided to come down. Before leaving, she stole a glance at herself in the mirror, feeling quite satisfied with her appearance.

Her philosophy was simple: if a man was unwilling to spend time waiting for her, he wasn’t worthy of her. That was how Song Fei’er saw things.

“It’s nothing, really. Waiting is something I’m good at,” Yang Le replied, and he wasn’t lying. When he’d dated Xia Tingting before, they would make plans to meet, and she was often late—sometimes by an hour, sometimes two or three. At first, he had found it irritating, but over time he’d grown used to it.

“Let’s not talk about that. Where are we headed today?” Song Fei’er asked cheerfully, now that Yang Le had passed her test.

“Yesterday, the Benz dealership on Zhenxing Road called me and said I could come in and claim a car, no strings attached. I don’t know if it’s true, but there’s no harm in checking it out, so I thought we could go take a look,” Yang Le answered. He’d planned to buy a car today anyway, but with Song Fei’er accompanying him, he couldn’t very well say it was his father who had put down five million at the dealership. That would make him look like just another spoiled rich kid. So, he made up a story to cover it up.

“Is there really such a thing? I find it hard to believe, but since we have nowhere else to go, let’s go check it out. If it turns out to be a hoax, we’ll just treat it as a little diversion,” Song Fei’er replied. She didn’t really believe Yang Le’s story, but she had no better plans, so she was happy to tag along.

“I’m not sure I believe it either, but I’ve been lucky lately—won the lottery twice. What if this turns out to be real? If I don’t check it out, I might regret it,” Yang Le said, spinning his web of lies with remarkable ease. After all, winning the lottery was the perfect explanation for suddenly coming into a lot of money.

“Well, you have been pretty lucky lately, but just because you have money doesn’t mean you should spend it so freely! At this rate, how long will your money last? Maybe not even a year. You’re only in your last year of high school—university will cost money, too. Don’t end up penniless when the time comes!” Song Fei’er chided him, sounding for all the world like a doting housekeeper.

“Alright, alright. I’ll do as you say,” Yang Le replied, knowing she meant well.

They hailed a taxi and headed together to the Benz dealership on Zhenxing Road.

Outside the dealership, Song Fei’er hesitated, understandably nervous. Anyone would feel apprehensive in such a situation, especially with Yang Le claiming he’d won some mysterious prize.

Yang Le, on the other hand, showed no fear, urging her to follow as he strode confidently inside.

The sales staff inside glanced at Yang Le’s worn old clothes and then at Song Fei’er’s stylish pink dress and striking looks. If not for the fact that the two had entered together, chatting, the staff would never have guessed they were a pair.

Yang Le was still dressed in his old, faded clothes, their colors dulled from many washes. Song Fei’er, by contrast, radiated elegance and beauty in her pink dress. The saleswoman couldn’t make sense of it—had women’s tastes changed so much? Did beautiful girls really like the retro look now? Though, she had to admit, Yang Le was quite handsome.

“Hello, may I help you with a car purchase?” the experienced saleswoman asked, directing her question to Song Fei’er, assuming Yang Le was just tagging along.

“Um...” Song Fei’er didn’t know how to answer.

“I’m here to claim a car. Your manager called me yesterday, said he’d dialed a random number and reached me, thought it was fate, and invited me to come in today to claim any car I wanted,” Yang Le improvised, determined not to reveal his true identity as a rich kid.

“You certainly know how to tell tall tales! Do you even know our manager’s name? You’re welcome to browse if you can’t afford a car, but to claim you and the manager are ‘fated’ and you can just take whichever car you like—do you think this dealership belongs to your family? Move along now, and don’t think you can say whatever you like just because you have a pretty girlfriend,” the saleswoman replied, clearly annoyed.

At that moment, a group entered through the door—their battered faces unmistakable. Who else could it be but Li Yifei and his lackeys? He’d overheard everything the saleswoman had said.

“Well, if it isn’t Yang Le! And Fei’er’s here too! I don’t know how you can believe anything this guy says. A Benz dealership offering him a car for free? Yang Le, you’d have better luck slipping a stocking over your head, grabbing a toy gun from next door, and trying to rob the place. No need to waste this lady’s time,” Li Yifei sneered, savoring the rare chance to mock Yang Le. Yang Le had dared to show up without money to buy a car; Li Yifei was determined to humiliate him.

The entire dealership—both buyers and sales staff—looked at Yang Le with disdain. Claiming the manager invited him to collect a car? It sounded like a bad joke. Yet, Yang Le delivered the story with such conviction that it almost seemed plausible.

The consensus was clear: Yang Le must be a master at bluffing—how else could he have landed such a stunning girlfriend? But today, it looked like he was about to embarrass himself. After this, perhaps even the beauty beside him would stop paying him any mind.

“Yang Le, let’s just go,” Song Fei’er said quietly, now thoroughly embarrassed. She’d only meant to keep him company, not to end up in such a farce.

“Not only do I know your manager’s name, I have his number right here. I’ll call him now—when he comes out, we’ll see what’s what,” Yang Le said confidently, though to Li Yifei it looked like nothing but bravado.

“Well, isn’t this lively!” came a familiar voice—no need for Yang Le to look to know it was Xia Tingting.

“Poor as you are, when we were dating you couldn’t even buy me the phone I wanted. Now you’re here pretending you can buy a car? I just want to know, where did you get the nerve to act like this?” Xia Tingting’s words were sharp and merciless, with no regard for old times.

“Darling, look at this idiot. He actually has the gall to say such shameless things. Is he out of his mind, dreaming about cars?” someone beside her jeered.

“Let me make myself clear—I, Xia Tingting, say this now: even if you manage to drive a car out of here by some fluke, I would never get back together with you,” she declared. Xia Tingting thought Yang Le was still reeling from having seen her get out of Pan Xiang’s car, and was trying to save face by pulling a stunt here. But who did he think he was fooling? This would only make him look more ridiculous.

She figured that if this story spread at school, Yang Le would become a laughing stock.

“Xia Tingting, do you really think that highly of yourself? Yang Le is my boyfriend now. Let me ask you, in what way could you possibly compare to me? Even if Yang Le can’t afford a car, what’s wrong if I buy him one? If you want to show off, go do it somewhere else,” Song Fei’er retorted, unwilling to let them insult Yang Le any further. She had only come here with him on a whim—if they didn’t get a car, so what? They could just leave. Why should these people keep attacking Yang Le?

Who was Yang Le? He was the one Song Fei’er had set her heart on.

Her father liked him too, so she was even thinking of buying a car today—with her father’s help, if necessary. If he couldn’t afford the whole thing, they could just put down a deposit and pay in installments.

Li Yifei was dumbfounded. Xia Tingting was furious, but there was nothing she could do—Song Fei’er outclassed her in every way: appearance, figure, family background.

Yang Le stood there, stunned, momentarily deaf to even the voice on his phone. Since when was Song Fei’er his girlfriend? He hadn’t even confessed to her yet, had he?

After a few seconds, he finally heard the voice on the line.

“Manager Chu? This is Yang Le. You called me yesterday and said we were destined to meet, and that I should come claim a car today. Are you at the dealership now? Could you come to the main hall?” Yang Le said, first introducing himself, then dropping a hint about the car claim. He chose his words carefully, afraid that if Manager Chu blurted out the five million, his identity as a rich kid would be exposed.

“Yes, yes, I’m here to claim the car,” Yang Le repeated, regardless of what Manager Chu said, sticking to his story.

“Quite the actor, aren’t you? Maybe you can teach me a thing or two,” Pan Xiang finally spoke up. He hadn’t expected that after stealing Xia Tingting away from this pauper, the pauper would somehow land Song Fei’er. The thought left him uneasy.

Pan Xiang was also here to buy a car today—after much pestering, he’d gotten his father to give him money for a new one, planning to give the old one to Xia Tingting. He hadn’t expected to run into Yang Le playing the big shot here.

“He talks a good game—almost convincing. Let’s wait and see just how long he can keep up the act,” Li Yifei said, amazed at how far Yang Le was willing to go, phone call and all. Anyone who didn’t know better might actually believe him.