Chapter 11: Idle Money Recovery
Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Idle Money Recovery
A black Mercedes-Benz E260 pulled up to the north gate of Provincial University.
"Senior, you’re always this extravagant when you hail a ride, yet you claim your family doesn’t own a gold mine!"
It was Chi Xinyue’s first time in a luxury ride-hailing car, but she didn’t put on airs. As soon as she got in, she looked around curiously, occasionally asking Zhang Yan questions. Fortunately, it wasn’t Zhang Yan’s first time riding in one either. After his first ride, he had been curious enough to look up some information online when he got back. Thus, facing his junior’s questions, he managed to avoid making a fool of himself.
"My family really doesn’t own a gold mine. After all, even if we did, we probably wouldn’t have as much money as my family does." Zhang Yan was being completely honest. He simply didn’t have what he didn’t have.
The luxury car driver silently glanced at Zhang Yan’s outfit through the rearview mirror. With his high professional standards, he held back a disdainful smirk.
"Senior, then what does your family do?"
"Our main business is recycling and repurposing idle money. If you have any money you don’t want, you can just give it to me, and I’ll give you a 50% cashback."
"HAHAHA! Senior, your family’s business sure is easy to run. It makes me want to work with you!"
The driver let out a soft scoff. They were highly professional; no matter how funny a passenger was, they wouldn’t laugh—unless they couldn’t help it.
However, Zhang Yan wasn’t entirely talking nonsense. The few main quests weren’t linear. Since he had the energy, he could easily tackle them simultaneously.
[Quest: Improve Appearance]
[You never get a second chance to make a first impression.]
[Improve the following stats to complete the quest (Maximum progress rate per stat is 40%)]
[Image Score (78/100): Progress rate obtained: 31.2%]
[Outfit Score (55/100): Progress rate obtained: 22%]
[Aura Score (65/100): Progress rate obtained: 26%]
[Quest Progress: 79.2%]
[Note: Expenses for improving appearance will be reimbursed based on the category scores. Reaching 50/70/90 points unlocks a reimbursement rate of 50%/100%/200% respectively.]
In other words, with his current scores, he could get at least a 50% reimbursement. Rounding things out, what he had just said wasn’t really a brag.
According to the system’s detailed explanation, the Image Score primarily referred to facial attractiveness. For thirty-eight-year-old Zhang Yan, this was likely the hardest stat to improve. At most, he could get a trim here and there and tidy up his grooming, which wouldn’t raise his score by much.
The Outfit Score was all about his attire. As long as his clothes matched well, mindlessly stacking expensive brands wouldn’t result in a low score. This was exactly why Zhang Yan had sought out his junior.
The Aura Score was a bit more abstract. Speech, posture, taste... everything combined to form a person’s aura. Improving this was equally difficult, especially for the thirty-eight-year-old Zhang Yan. Many of his habits were deeply ingrained and hard to change.
Brother Tongzi’s quests were tailored to his specific needs, and they all came with a certain level of difficulty. However, for Zhang Yan in his current youthful prime, things were much simpler. Right from the start, he had already completed more than half of the quest!
As they approached the core commercial district, traffic began to build up. Seeing that it wasn’t much further, Zhang Yan took Chi Xinyue and got out of the car early, chatting as they walked.
"Uniqlo, Jack & Jones, Semir, Metersbonwe... Senior, which one should we check out first?"
Zhang Yan smiled without saying a word, simply leading her further inside. "Let’s just pick from the ones right in front of us. Take a look and see which one we should visit first."
Chi Xinyue glanced around and suddenly grew a bit tense. Armani, Versace, Celine, Gucci, LV, Balenciaga, Dior, BV...
"Senior, are you sure you want to shop here? I’m not very familiar with these brands..."
Chi Xinyue’s family wasn’t very well-off. Although her excellent looks and outstanding professional knowledge allowed her to frequently pick up part-time jobs—enabling her to live as delicately as possible and even afford some affordable luxury items—she was still a long way from being able to shop freely in stores like these.
"It’s fine, we’re just browsing. Clothes only come in so many styles anyway. Just focus on matching them," Zhang Yan said. "Don’t worry about the price, and don’t feel restricted to these specific stores. Basically, just do whatever you want."
"Then I’ll give it a try."
The junior’s eyes sparkled. She had never before had the opportunity to walk into these luxury boutiques and treat every single item as a potential purchase. She was definitely going to enjoy herself today.
They first walked into the nearest Louis Vuitton store.
The moment they entered, a female sales assistant warmly greeted them. She didn’t show any hint of disdain over their less-than-stellar outfits. Nowadays, the rat race in every industry was fierce. Luxury boutiques, in particular, had increasingly high standards for customer service, and the quality of their staff had risen accordingly.
"Hello, you two. If there’s any specific style you’re looking for, I’d be happy to introduce our products to you."
"It’s fine, we’re just browsing on our own."
Dismissing the intrusive sales assistant, Zhang Yan shifted his gaze back to his cute and pretty junior. Chi Xinyue had one arm crossed over her chest while her other hand rubbed her chin in deep thought. From behind, her Small Waist was even more pronounced, creating a beautiful sight with her perfect waist-to-hip ratio.
"You look a bit tense. Relax, don’t look at the price tags. Just focus on the styles."
"I’ll try my best."
Simply looking at clothes didn’t actually make Chi Xinyue nervous. However, the thought that the clothes she picked out might end up looking terrible after being bought meant she would be wasting thousands, or even tens of thousands, of Zhang Yan’s money. Setting aside whether he cared about the money or not, her impression score in his eyes would at least take a hit.
Zhang Yan’s attitude towards shopping for clothes today further confirmed Chi Xinyue’s intuition. It made her even more convinced that the "joke" she had accidentally overheard last night might actually be the truth. Therefore, she had to score high marks in every step of their interaction if she wanted any chance of winning over this hidden gem of a senior she had coincidentally run into. The opportunity was right in front of her. All she could do was give it her all and try to seize it.
Smiling at his deeply serious junior, Zhang Yan casually browsed through the various garments. To be honest, Zhang Yan had zero interest in the clothes in this store. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what the issue was; they just didn’t look good to him. Fortunately, his junior shared a similar aesthetic sense. She didn’t make him try on any of the flashy clothes plastered with glaringly large logos.
Eventually, she hesitantly picked up a pair of black casual dress pants. "These seem okay, and the style is quite versatile. It’ll be easy to pair them with other things later."
But then she inadvertently caught a glimpse of the price tag: 12,999. She quickly added, "But other brands have similar styles. Maybe we should..."
Zhang Yan didn’t say much. He simply took the pants from his junior’s hands and took a look. Although he couldn’t see what was so special about these luxury brand clothes, Brother Tongzi was footing the bill anyway, so he didn’t care.
"Anything else?"
Chi Xinyue secretly swallowed hard. These were pants that cost over ten thousand yuan! The style wasn’t even that unique, yet he was just buying them like that?
However, this also gave her a preliminary understanding of Zhang Yan’s financial prowess. No longer paying attention to the prices, she picked up a white printed open-collar shirt. "I think this one is pretty good, too. It can go with those pants, or you can mix and match it with other things later."
"I’ll listen to you."
Zhang Yan took the shirt and pants to the sales assistant to find his sizes. He tried them on and felt that they did, indeed, look alright.
[Outfit Score (80/100): Progress rate obtained: 32%]
When he came back out, he noticed a backpack. Thinking he could just put whatever they bought later directly into it, he grabbed it as well.
He casually swiped his card and left.
"My dear wardrobe director, where to next?"