Chapter Twenty-Nine: State of Mind

Chapter 29: Mindset

A customer?

The tall man’s expression shifted slightly. He had assumed Yang Qi was just a waiter here and that he could easily get him in trouble by making a complaint. But to his surprise, Yang Qi was a customer. He had heard from Luo Rong that Yang Qi was nothing more than a poor kid—how could a poor kid possibly afford a car?

"Manager, while the customer is god, some people only pretend to be god. It’s better to tell the difference," the tall man said, glancing at Yang Qi.

"I can tell the difference well enough," the middle-aged man replied indifferently.

"Hmph!" The tall man let out a soft snort. The punch he had been winding up to throw now felt like it had landed on a pile of cotton; there was nowhere for his frustration to go.

"Ms. Shen, are you satisfied with this car?" the middle-aged man asked, turning to Shen Yuxuan with a smile.

Shen Yuxuan was the chairwoman of Shen’s Jewelry, a woman worth over a billion. Even just the company’s fleet procurement represented a massive profit; naturally, the manager wanted to treat such a person with the utmost care.

"I’m not the one buying," Shen Yuxuan shook her head and gestured toward Yang Qi. "Manager Sun, this is my younger brother, Yang Qi. I’m just here to accompany him today."

"Mr. Yang, a pleasure to meet you. I am Sun Wei, the manager of this 4S dealership," Manager Sun said quickly.

"Manager Sun, this car is excellent. I'll take this one," Yang Qi nodded.

He had already decided on this car before Manager Sun arrived; he just hadn't expected to run into Luo Rong and cause such a scene.

"Very well! I’ll accompany you both to handle the paperwork," Manager Sun said, clearly delighted. A car costing over a million—after deducting costs and commissions, the lion’s share of the profit would go to him.

Watching Manager Sun treat Yang Qi and Shen Yuxuan with such warmth while acting as if he and his companion were invisible, the tall man’s face turned ugly. A manager coming out personally for a Volkswagen?

"That kid must be a kept man. Why do these goddesses all like guys like him? What do I lack compared to him?" the tall man seethed inwardly. First Tang Xinjie, and now Shen Yuxuan—they were both interested in this poor boy, even though he considered himself far superior to Yang Qi in every way.

***

"Salesperson, I want this car too," the tall man said, flagging down the employee who had driven the other vehicle over.

"Oh? Sir, you want this car?" The salesperson was taken aback. As a staff member, he knew the price of this specific model perfectly well. This Volkswagen was worth more than seven or eight of the Audis he was currently showing!

"Sir, we only have one left in stock. If you want it, we’ll need to place an order. It will likely take three to seven days to arrive," the salesperson explained.

"Three to seven days?" The tall man frowned, then scoffed, "Forget it then. It’s just a Volkswagen, only costing a hundred thousand or so. Hardly the same class as an Audi."

The salesperson was stunned and opened his mouth to speak but stopped himself. He couldn't very well tell the man that this Volkswagen was worth over a million, and that if he was wincing at the price of a two-hundred-thousand-yuan Audi, he certainly couldn't afford a million-yuan car.

If he said that, the tall man would likely storm out, and he would lose a huge chunk of his monthly commission. He wasn't about to do something that hurt others without benefiting himself.

"Indeed, indeed..." the salesperson echoed, leading the arrogant pair toward the Audis nearby.

"One point six eight million?" Yang Qi’s expression flickered when he heard the price from Manager Sun. He felt a pang of heartache. He had originally intended to buy a car for around a million; he hadn't expected it to reach 1.68 million. If you added taxes and fees, it would be close to 1.8 million.

"It’s only 1.68 million. The pocket money you received from me last time was more than that," Shen Yuxuan said with a light smile.

"That pocket money wasn't easy to earn," Yang Qi replied with a wry smile. Although Shen Yuxuan had given him the two million, he felt he had earned it. If he hadn't been a martial artist, he would have been no match for those six men. Even if Ah Long and Ah Biao hadn't been injured, they wouldn't have been able to guarantee the safety of both him and Shen Yuxuan against those attackers.

"That 1.68 million is the price for outsiders. Since Mr. Yang is Ms. Shen’s brother, you are a friend of Sun Wei. Let’s make it 1.58 million, and we’ll cover all the other fees!" Sun Wei said with a grin.

If she was giving him two million in pocket money and their relationship was this close, he might be the scion of a powerful family. It was Sun Wei’s honor to get to know someone like that.

"I couldn't possibly..." Yang Qi felt a bit embarrassed.

Sun Wei hadn't just offered a discount; he was covering the other fees as well. Altogether, that was over two hundred thousand yuan—not a small sum.

"It’s fine. Even at 1.58 million, he’s just making a little less profit," Shen Yuxuan said dismissively.

***

Sun Wei gave an awkward laugh. "If everyone were like Ms. Shen, my dealership would have to close down."

Although Sun Wei had cut the price by a hundred thousand, he still had his own channels for insurance and other services, which only cost him a fraction of the retail price. Dropping a hundred thousand on a luxury vehicle wasn't really a loss. You didn't survive in the business of selling million-yuan cars by scraping together a few thousand here and there.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony," Yang Qi nodded. Since Sun Wei was still making a profit, he stopped feeling guilty. Besides, Shen Yuxuan had come along precisely to help him save some money.

Yang Qi pulled out his bank card and paid without hesitation.

"Mr. Yang, would you like to drive it away now, or wait until we have the plates issued?" Sun Wei asked.

"Just drive it away. He has a driver’s license. As for the official plates, just have someone send them to Shen’s Jewelry, and I’ll have someone bring them over," Shen Yuxuan said before Yang Qi could answer.

Yang Qi nodded. In a few days, he and Shen Yuxuan were heading to the jade markets in Guangdong and would likely be gone for several days. If the plates were ready while they were away, there would be no one to pick them up, so having them sent to the office was the most convenient option.

"That works," Sun Wei agreed, having a staff member prepare a temporary permit to display on the new car.

As he sat in his new vehicle, Yang Qi took a deep breath. A car costing over a million was something he had never even dared to imagine before, and now, it was his.

"What’s wrong?" Seeing Yang Qi sitting there in a daze, Shen Yuxuan asked from the backseat.

"Nothing. I just can't quite believe that this car is actually mine," Yang Qi sighed.

"What’s so hard to believe? This car is just a transitional vehicle for you. With your jade-gambling skills, a car like this is well within your reach. Money is meant to be spent; sitting in a bank, it’s just a string of numbers," Shen Yuxuan said with a faint smile.

"Uh..." Yang Qi was stunned. He gave a bitter smile to himself; perhaps that was the difference between him and the successful people who had clawed their way to the top through their own hard work. Even with a large sum of money now in his possession, his mindset was still stuck in the past.