After finishing the hot pot, Guo Da and his wife sent Liu Chen back to Shuimu. For the next few days, Liu Chen, while his memory was still sharp, desperately memorized English words, as the CET-6 exam date was fast approaching.
Due to the exam, the small QQ group where Liu Chen and his four friends were active had been rather quiet this week. It wasn't until December 24th, after finishing the CET-6 exam and walking out of the examination hall, that the QQ group resumed its frequent chat.
Zhuzhu: "I feel like I failed my CET-4. I've been playing for half a year, and my English level now is worse than in my third year of high school..."
Lai Jielun: "It's okay, we can retake it if needed. I'll tutor you during the winter break."
Zhuzhu: "...Just the thought of studying English as a winter break date project makes me want to cry!"
Sang Ling: "It's okay, I should also be tutoring Ren Mo, if nothing unexpected happens."
Ren Mo: "...It's all my fault for being so absorbed in entrepreneurship that I neglected my studies. Lingling, my winter break depends on you! I hope in this cold winter day, my passion for learning will resonate with you!"
Lai Jielun: "Ren Mo, I really suggest you find someone with a literature major to write the copy for your bloggers. Otherwise, it gives off an immature vibe."
Ren Mo: "??? Lingling, is he talking about me?"
Sang Ling: "Sweetie, I think what Lai Jielun suggested is something worth considering."
Ren Mo: "Lingling doesn't love me anymore, my heart is broken!"
Liu Chen couldn't help but smile as he watched the banter between the four in the QQ group. This scene was perfectly captured by members of the Shuimu News Agency and published in the evening paper with the title: The Ace Student After CET-6.
At this moment, Liu Chen was holding his phone and asking in the group:
"Tomorrow is Christmas. I want us to do something special. Come to the mansion tonight, and remember to bring clothes."
Zhuzhu: "Yay~ Tomorrow is also Saturday, and our school is off."
Ren Mo: "Special? How special? Can it be posted on Weibo?"
Sang Ling: "Do we need to bring any props for cosplay or anything?"
Liu Chen: "No, just come."
After sending this message, Liu Chen hailed a taxi and headed straight for his destination:
A 4S dealership!
He had gotten his driver's license during the summer break, but he hadn't driven in months, and Liu Chen was worried he might have forgotten how to drive. He hadn't bought a car earlier because he had been too busy. First, there was military training, then he was immediately involved in a lab project, followed by working on Meimei Chang, one thing after another.
Since he had just finished his CET-6 exam, and had half a day free, Liu Chen decided to buy a car. This was mainly because waiting for a taxi in the biting winter cold was really unpleasant.
Let alone practicing Baduanjin, Liu Chen suspected that even if he practiced it to death, he'd still be cold. This wasn't some cultivation manual; at best, it strengthened the body.
Since it was a spontaneous decision, Liu Chen wasn't very familiar with 4S dealerships. In his past life, he only knew about brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi.
After getting in the car, the driver asked where he wanted to go. Liu Chen thought for a moment and then asked:
"Master, do you know where the luxury car 4S dealerships are nearby?"
The driver, sitting in the driver's seat, immediately replied:
"How could I not know? Aren't they BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi? But the closest one to us is a Mercedes-Benz 4S dealership. Want to take a look?"
When Liu Chen heard the word "Mercedes-Benz," he blinked. He remembered the bitterness he felt in his past life seeing Hu Qian get out of Hu Xingfa's Mercedes-Benz. Thinking about it now, he felt nothing.
He recalled that when Hu Xingfa was paying off his debts, he had apparently handed over his beloved Mercedes-Benz car. Thinking of this, Liu Chen's eyes curved, and he chuckled, "Alright, then let's go to the Mercedes-Benz 4S dealership!"
Although it was the closest 4S dealership, due to the large number of people leaving work early on a Friday, it took him half an hour to get there. From a distance, Liu Chen saw a 4S dealership situated by the roadside, with the Mercedes-Benz flag fluttering in the wind below the five-star red flag.
Perhaps to showcase the cars, the entire 4S dealership was built with large amounts of glass instead of walls. Even in winter, the lights in the showroom were on, and when the light hit the cars, upon closer inspection, one could see fine glitter in the paint.
For the exam today, Liu Chen was wearing a short crimson down jacket, blue jeans, and a pair of UGG snow boots. To protect his ears, he also wore an earmuff, making him look more like an underage high school student.
Despite this, as soon as Liu Chen stepped into the 4S dealership, he received enthusiastic service.
"Hello, are you here to learn about our Mercedes-Benz brand today? I'm Lin Qian, a salesperson here." The first to approach Liu Chen was a female salesperson who also looked quite young. Seeing her uneven eyebrows, Liu Chen seemed to see himself when he first started doing sales.
"Yes, I want to take a look. Are there any models that are small and easy to park?"
Liu Chen had considered this when he came. He was planning to buy land to build a factory, so although he had a lot of money, he couldn't spend too lavishly. Ideally, he wanted to keep it under 200,000 yuan. Of course, 200,000 yuan in 2009 was still quite substantial.
"Then, miss, you might consider our Smart model. This model is small and convenient, especially for parking. You can just drive the front of the car in and it's parked."
Lin Qian led Liu Chen towards the window, gesturing towards a pearly white car parked by the glass wall, which was noticeably smaller than the surrounding vehicles.
It did look quite petite, and Liu Chen was also tempted by the saleswoman Lin Qian's words about it being easy to park.
Just as Liu Chen was hesitating whether to buy it, the system suddenly spoke:
'Trigger daily mission: Purchase a desired five-seater commuter car. Mission complete: Receive a refund of the vehicle purchase amount. Mission failed: Deduct current 1750 lottery tickets.'
!!!
Liu Chen was very tempted by the idea of getting a refund for the car purchase if the mission was successful, but deducting over 1750 lottery tickets was too outrageous!
These more than one thousand seven hundred lottery tickets were the ones he was saving to draw for buying land!
Because of the system's mission, Liu Chen had to give up the two-seater car in front of him and instead asked the saleswoman Lin Qian, who was diligently introducing the cars, "Well, after seeing such a small car, I'd like to see a five-seater car. The budget can be higher, and it would be best if there's one in stock."
Liu Chen wasn't foolish enough to say he wanted to buy the most expensive car. Since he had some free time today, Liu Chen planned to stay in Beijing for the weekend and return to C City during the New Year's holiday to put the dried pork production plan on the agenda.
Lin Qian didn't show any impatience at Liu Chen's words. Her job was to introduce and sell cars, and since Liu Chen wanted to see higher-budget cars, her commission would be higher, so why not?
"Then, miss, please take a look at this car. This is our coupe model that Mercedes-Benz launched this summer. It has frameless glass windows at the front. See, when you open the door like this, it's very photogenic and stylish."
Liu Chen looked at this five-seater coupe and nodded. However, upon seeing the price tag of just over 300,000 yuan next to it, he shook his head: "It's very good, but the rear space feels a bit small. Can you get something bigger?"
Since he was buying a five-seater anyway, and parking wasn't going to be easy, Liu Chen wanted to buy a larger one so he could take five people out for outings.
"Well, miss, for larger models, we only have two in stock. One is our E280 with an upright star. This car is currently priced at around 630,000 yuan.
And another one is our showroom model, a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon that someone had ordered. However, this car is quite expensive because it's custom-made. The customer at the time ordered many top-tier configurations, so with all the accessories, it added nearly 500,000 yuan, bringing the total price to just over four million yuan."
Liu Chen thought Lin Qian was saying this to make him back down after knowing the price, but to his surprise, after finishing, Lin Qian quietly leaned closer and whispered, "But if you want to take some photos inside the car, I can take you to pretend to test drive it. I tell you, this four-million-yuan car, the ride is something else, incredibly comfortable."
He had been hesitant at first, wondering if it was irrational to buy the most expensive car just to "farm" the system's wool. But after hearing Lin Qian's words, Liu Chen became interested.
"Then, shall we try it?"
Lin Qian smiled and said, "Sure, I'll go get the key."
Lin Qian chuckled and jogged away. Liu Chen walked around the G-Wagon, ensuring there were no scratches. Then he opened the door and sat inside. Perhaps to prevent test-sitters from dirtying the car seats, a thin plastic film covered them.
In fact, many of the interior decorations still had their plastic film on.
Liu Chen sat in the driver's seat, his hands gripping the steering wheel, and his feet testing the accelerator and brake pedals. Fortunately, his current height was much greater than in his past life, otherwise, Liu Chen felt he might not have been able to press them all the way down.
As Liu Chen sat in the driver's seat familiarizing himself with the car's interior, he looked up and saw a familiar face.
Hu Qian!
However, Hu Qian was not alone this time. She was with a short, chubby boy.
Liu Chen, sitting inside the car and looking through the windshield, watched as Hu Qian, linked arm-in-arm with the boy, walked towards the Mercedes-Benz Smart car he had stopped at earlier.
"Wife, let's buy this car. It's small, and it'll be easy for you to park."
Hu Qian, addressed as "wife," looked at the small Mercedes-Benz with dissatisfaction in her eyes.
"Husband, this car is too small. If the two of us sit in it, there's no room to put anything. I don't like it. Let's look at other cars, okay?"
The boy, called "husband," looked a bit embarrassed at being so directly rejected, but what was more embarrassing was that Hu Qian immediately set her sights on the new Mercedes-Benz GLS next to the Smart car.
The display stand next to that car clearly stated: Mercedes-Benz B200 Sport, retail price 288,000 yuan.
This was almost three times the price of the Smart car next to it!