Chapter 300: Missed Opportunity
“This really is a classic model. No wonder you like it so much.” Lu Jingyao couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched Xu Youyou circling the car.
Xu Youyou couldn’t exactly dismiss her family, so she had to keep pretending to be especially fond of the car. After acting for a while, she actually started to like it a little.
After all, she had spent 30 million Hong Kong dollars on this car, and it was indeed beautiful.
Unfortunately, Xu Youyou didn’t have a driver’s license. No matter how much she liked it, she couldn’t actually drive it.
Lu Jingyao asked softly from the side, “Do you want to learn to drive?”
Xu Youyou hesitated. She had seen tons of posts online about how miserable it was to learn driving, making it seem like ancient forced labor.
“You can start with automatic. It’s easier. You can hire a private tutor and take it slow. But if you want to drive this car, you’ll need to learn manual.” Lu Jingyao said.
Xu Youyou pulled a face. “People online say learning manual is pure suffering.”
Lu Jingyao laughed and said, “If you feel like life isn’t challenging enough, you could use this to push yourself. If you find manual too hard, you can always switch to automatic later.”
For some reason, Xu Youyou felt that hearing the CEO explain the difference between driving manuals and automatics made him seem oddly down-to-earth.
“I’ll think about it later. I’m not starting the car; I just want to sit inside and get a feel for it. You go ahead and rest. I want to spend a little time alone with the car,” Xu Youyou said.
Lu Jingyao nodded, but he was clearly worried that Xu Youyou might accidentally start the car. He wasn’t worried about the car getting scratched — he was worried she’d get hurt. He glanced at Assistant Liu.
Assistant Liu leaned over and whispered a few words to Xu Fang. Soon, everyone else in the garage left, leaving only Xu Fang behind.
“Boss, if you want to take the car out for a spin, I can drive you,” Xu Fang said.
Xu Youyou shook her head. “No need. I’m just going to sit here and look around.”
But Xu Fang didn’t leave.
Xu Youyou suddenly remembered Xu Fang and Assistant Liu whispering earlier and asked, “Did Lu Jingyao tell you to keep an eye on me?”
Xu Fang quickly shook her head. “Assistant Liu said that as an assistant, it’s our duty to ensure the boss’s safety. He was worried you might accidentally press something and get hurt. It was my own idea to offer to drive you, not theirs.”
Xu Youyou’s discomfort faded. She was serious about considering Lu Jingyao as a marriage partner, but she didn’t want him to control her too much.
“Starting a car isn’t as easy as just pressing a button and taking off, you know. You’re worrying too much,” she grumbled half-heartedly.
Xu Fang gave an awkward smile.
Xu Youyou said, “Alright, alright. I’ll take a few pictures and then head back.”
She pulled out her phone and pretended to take some random photos — first of the dashboard, then of the seats. She made sure to act casual, even sticking her head under the passenger seat to snap a photo of a string of characters hidden along the side of the seat, just as the system had instructed her.
The characters were written in faint black ink and hidden in a discreet spot. If the system hadn’t pointed it out repeatedly, she probably would have missed it.
After taking a clear photo of the string, Xu Youyou climbed out of the car and faked taking a few more photos around it before returning to her room, acting like she was fully satisfied.
The string of characters included both numbers and letters. Xu Youyou’s first thought was Bitcoin — she thought it might be another secret key like the one she had found in the magazine last time.
But when she tried inputting it into a Bitcoin-related site, there were no results.
“What is this?” she asked the system.
The system was slow to respond this time.
[It’s not the right time to tell you yet. Just pretend you don’t know anything for now.]
Xu Youyou: ?
If the system hadn’t already marked the mission as complete, she definitely would have thrown a fit.
“Is this some kind of chain quest? A legendary quest chain?” she tried asking in gaming terms.
Surprisingly, the system confirmed it.
[You could think of it that way.]
Xu Youyou said, “Then the final reward for this mission must be huge, right?”
[You’re right again.]
But when she tried to ask what the final reward was, the system ignored her.
Before bed, Xu Youyou couldn’t help but silently think of Liu Xiangyi’s name.
The whole process of buying the second-hand car had gone way too smoothly. After thinking it over, she could only attribute her luck to Liu Xiangyi.
Meanwhile, at the Fang family home, Fang Rui had just gotten a call from a close friend.
“Fang Fourteen, can I borrow that car you bought from Ding Sisi to play around with?”
Fang Rui was surprised. “How come everyone’s suddenly into this car?”
The friend said, “Who else? Anyway, I don’t care. We’re tight — if anyone’s borrowing it, it should be me first!”
Fang Rui said helplessly, “Would I not lend it to you? But you spoke too late — the car’s already sold.”
“When did you sell it? You were still showing it off this morning. And isn’t tonight your old man’s birthday party?” the friend asked.
Fang Rui said, “Exactly. At the party, a rich lady from the mainland showed up, loved the car, and bought it on the spot for 30 million.”
The friend didn’t ask more about the “rich lady” and just said, “Tonight? Seriously? I was going to call you around five in the afternoon but got sidetracked until now.”
Fang Rui said quickly, “If you’d called earlier, even if the rich lady wanted it, I would’ve delayed selling it just so you could have your fun first.”
The friend was full of regret, then asked, “Who’s the rich lady? Maybe I know her?”
“A mainlander named Xu Youyou, Lu Jingyao’s girlfriend. My sister said she’s filthy rich — billions in assets — and her background’s a mystery. Why can’t a great woman like her like me instead?” Fang Rui grumbled casually.
But instead of joking back like usual, the friend said, “Since it’s sold, we’ll hang out next time.”
After hanging up, the “friend” looked like a withered eggplant.
“You can’t even handle such a small task? What’s the point of keeping you around?” came a scolding voice from in front of him.
Lowering his head, he muttered, “Dad, now that the car’s in Xu Youyou’s hands, how are we going to explain this to the Red Dragon King?”
