When they arrived at the airport, Shen Qingqiu took out all the relevant documents. She checked the procedures required to transfer her household registration and only felt at ease once she was sure nothing had been missed.
Lin Jiang took their luggage to go check it in.
When he returned, he saw a man standing next to Shen Qingqiu.
The man wasn’t old, maybe twenty-seven or twenty-eight, and was dressed quite stylishly.
"Hello, miss. Do you have a boyfriend?"
"And you are...?"
Shen Qingqiu eyed him, her gaze appraising and wary.
"Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not a bad guy, I just wanted to get your contact info."
Shen Qingqiu shook her head. "I don’t give out my contact information. Sorry."
"Miss, please don’t get me wrong. I really don’t mean anything by it. I promise I won’t bother you..."
"Hey, man."
Lin Jiang called out, and the young man looked over at him.
"She’s taken, so you can stop hitting on her."
The young man’s embarrassment was plain to see.
"My apologies." The young man hurried away.
"Looks like you’re still pretty popular, Teacher Shen," Lin Jiang teased.
"He must have poor eyesight," Shen Qingqiu quipped self-deprecatingly.
Lin Jiang didn’t think much of the little interruption.
With Shen Qingqiu’s looks and figure, it was only natural for men to hit on her.
But a strange feeling stirred within Shen Qingqiu.
Especially his words—"She’s taken"—which sent ripples across the calm sea of her heart.
Soon, it was time to board.
The two of them boarded the plane. As always, the flight attendants had killer figures.
After finding their seats, an announcement reminded passengers to switch their phones to airplane mode.
Shen Qingqiu quickly typed out a few words on her phone before switching it to airplane mode as well.
"Need to take care of some work?" Lin Jiang asked casually.
"No, I was just talking to Wenqi," Shen Qingqiu said. "She got a job at Huipin City. She’s a management trainee there now."
The news that Zheng Wenqi got the job was well within Lin Jiang’s expectations.
Huipin Group was a local Zhonghai company, not particularly famous nationwide. But Zheng Wenqi had both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from a top Project 985 university. If she couldn’t get hired, the HR manager must have been drunk off their ass.
"With her credentials, Huipin Group is lucky to have her."
"But she didn’t get a good supervisor. He’s always calling her in for ’talks,’ so she’s in a bad mood and was just venting to me."
"Don’t tell me she’s dealing with some old pervert. If so, just tell her to come back. She’s a girl out there on her own; we don’t want her getting taken advantage of."
Shen Qingqiu thought for a moment. "With her personality, I doubt she’d let herself be taken advantage of. Let her get a taste of the professional world first. She’ll have to face these things on her own eventually."
"True."
About two and a half hours later, the plane landed at the airport in the provincial capital.
In the northern region, the December temperature had already dropped below freezing.
The cold wind cut right through their clothes. Shen Qingqiu clutched her overcoat tighter and pulled Lin Jiang into a jog as they hurried inside the terminal.
They collected their luggage a short while later.
Shen Qingqiu opened her suitcase and pulled out a black bag. Inside was a long down jacket.
"Try this on. I didn’t know your size, but I figured this should fit without being too tight."
As she spoke, Shen Qingqiu took out the down jacket and unzipped it for him.
"You’re so thoughtful. I completely forgot about the temperature difference."
Lin Jiang tried on the jacket and moved around a little. It was a pretty good fit.
"What about you?" Lin Jiang asked. "Is that overcoat all you’re going to wear? That can’t be warm enough, can it?"
"I brought a cashmere coat. It’s more than enough for this weather."
With that, Shen Qingqiu pulled out the cashmere coat. It didn’t look new; it was probably something she’d had for a while.
From now on, however, this cashmere coat would likely have no more use.
The style of Shen Qingqiu’s coat was very similar to the one she was currently wearing, but it looked a little thicker.
"That coat only goes down to your knees. Aren’t your legs going to freeze?"
"It’s fine. I’m wearing fleece-lined tights underneath, which are pretty warm. As long as we walk quickly and don’t linger outside, it won’t be too cold."
’Won’t be too cold...’
Lin Jiang muttered, "You’re choosing fashion over function, aren’t you."
"It’s fine, really."
After they both changed, Shen Qingqiu went to put her things back in her suitcase.
Lin Jiang realized that while Shen Qingqiu always seemed cool and aloof, once you got to know her, she was like many other women—with a bit of a rebellious attribute in her.
"Where to next after we get out of here?" Lin Jiang asked.
"We’re not traveling any further today. We’ll find a hotel to stay in for the night and leave tomorrow."
"Do we need to take another connection?"
Shen Qingqiu nodded. "My home is still over 300 kilometers from here. We have to take a train tomorrow, then transfer to a bus. It’s going to be a bit tough on you."
"What’s so tough about it? We’re both the same, country folk with rural registrations."
A gentle smile graced Shen Qingqiu’s face. "But you came all this way with me, and we have to make several transfers. It really is a lot of trouble."
"You can make it up to me by treating me to dinner tonight."
"Okay, okay. I’ll treat you to some local specialties. I’ve been away for so many years, but I still love the food here."
"This region is most famous for its noodle dishes. I came all this way, so just treating me to noodles won’t cut it. We’ve got to eat something expensive."
"Don’t worry, there will be meat."
"Let’s go. I’m going to make you spend a fortune on me tonight."
After leaving the airport, they took a taxi to their hotel.
Shen Qingqiu had booked them rooms at the Marriott Grand Hotel, and the prices were steep.
At the front desk, they checked in. After getting the key cards, Lin Jiang took a look.
"How come I have a deluxe suite and you have a standard room?"
"I was afraid you wouldn’t be comfortable in a standard room, so I booked a nicer one for you."
"If I hadn’t come along, you probably wouldn’t have booked such a nice hotel at all, would you?"
Shen Qingqiu didn’t know what to say and could only offer Lin Jiang an awkward smile in response.
"I already told you, we’re both country folk. There’s no need for all this pomp and circumstance."
Lin Jiang turned to the front desk clerk. "Can we change the deluxe suite to a standard room?"
"I’m very sorry, sir, but the check-in has already been processed. We can’t change it to a standard room now," the female receptionist said apologetically.
"That’s fine."
Since things had come to this and the rooms were already set, they had no choice but to stay as planned.
Inside the elevator, they pressed the buttons for the 8th and 19th floors.
"Let me see your key card."
Shen Qingqiu didn’t think much of it and handed her key card over.
"Here, this is yours. I’ll take the standard room."
Saying this, Lin Jiang handed her his key card.
"No, absolutely not! Give me my key card back."
Shen Qingqiu tried to grab it, but Lin Jiang dodged her.
"What’s there to argue about? It’s decided. Now hurry up and get settled. We’re going to eat soon, and I’m starving."
"That’s not right! The nice room is for you!" Shen Qingqiu stomped her foot in frustration.
"Stop being so difficult. It’s settled."
Just then, the elevator doors opened. Lin Jiang stepped out first, giving Shen Qingqiu no more chances to argue.
Staring at the key card in her hand, then at Lin Jiang’s retreating back, Shen Qingqiu muttered dejectedly:
"I was just trying to do something nice for you..."
With no other choice, Shen Qingqiu could only take the key card and head to the 19th floor.
About twenty minutes later, they met back in the hotel lobby.
"The deluxe suite is really nice. Why don’t you go stay there? It makes no difference to me where I stay."
"Let it go. Let’s go eat."
Shen Qingqiu pouted but had no choice but to go along with him.
Shen Qingqiu led them to a well-known local restaurant, where they ordered several regional specialties that Lin Jiang had never even seen back in Zhonghai.
"What’s the plan for heading home tomorrow?"
"I want to leave early. If we’re lucky, we can get to town before 1:00 PM, which would be perfect for handling the paperwork in the afternoon," Shen Qingqiu said.
"I called ahead to ask. It might take two business days to process everything, so we’ll need to stay here for two days."
’Today’s the 25th,’ Lin Jiang calculated. ’According to that schedule, we can head back on the 28th. The timing is perfect.’
"Besides transferring your registration, is there anything else you need to do?"
Shen Qingqiu hesitated. "There might still be some of my mother’s things at the house. I want to go back and get them."
"But you’re afraid you’ll run into Shen Ziquan."
Shen Qingqiu nodded, confirming his suspicion.
"We’ll just go when he’s not home."
"Can we do that?" Shen Qingqiu asked, looking at Lin Jiang with the expression of a thief with a guilty conscience.
"You need to get the situation straight. That’s your house. It’s not a crime for you to go back. As for Shen Ziquan, I don’t think he’s worth your time. Just treat him like he’s not even there."
Lin Jiang took a bite of lamb. "Besides," he said, "I’m right here with you. What is there to be afraid of?"
Shen Qingqiu’s heart skipped a beat, and an indescribable sense of security washed over her.
"Th—"
"Let’s not talk about it." Shen Qingqiu smiled sheepishly, placing a piece of beef on his plate. "Try this. It’s delicious too."
"Mm."
After they finished eating, it was already getting late, so they returned to the hotel to rest.
They were up bright and early the next morning.
Shen Qingqiu led them to a local spot for a traditional breakfast.
Instead of going to the train station, Lin Jiang took them to a Mercedes-Benz dealership.
"Are you going to buy a car?" Shen Qingqiu asked, looking at him.
"Yeah." Lin Jiang nodded.
"It’s over 300 kilometers, and taking a train and then a bus is a hassle. Buying a car and driving there will save a lot of time."
"Maybe you shouldn’t..."
Shen Qingqiu wanted to say more but was too embarrassed to.
’It’s his money,’ she thought. ’He can spend it however he wants. I have no right to say anything.’
’But it’s obvious he’s only buying a car because he came here with me. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be wasting his money like this.’
"It’s fine. You can never have too many of these."
They soon arrived at the nearby dealership.
"Sir, ma’am, are you here to buy a car or for service and maintenance?" a sales consultant asked as she approached them.
"Do you have any C-Class models in stock? I need to drive it off the lot today."
"We have one white C260L that just arrived yesterday. Would that work for you?"
"White is perfect. What’s the current discount?"
"Are you paying in full or financing?"
"In full."
"For paying in full, we can offer a discount of 45,000."
"Alright, go prepare the contract."
"Right away."
They went to the customer lounge, and it wasn’t long before the sales consultant returned with the contract and a pen, which she handed to Lin Jiang.
"Sir, I just need your signature here."
Lin Jiang tilted his head toward Shen Qingqiu.
"Have her sign it."
Shen Qingqiu was taken aback. "Me?"
"I already have several cars. You can use this one to get around from now on."
’Shen Qingqiu is my NPC,’ he thought. ’The development fund she’s earned for me is already in the millions.’
’And that’s not even counting the other NPCs. If I don’t find opportunities to spend this money, I’ll never get through it all.’
"Buy it in your name for now, and you can sell it to my company later," Lin Jiang urged.
"Go on, sign it. We’ve still got important things to do today."
Lin Jiang shot the saleswoman a look. She caught on quickly and said with a smile:
"Go ahead and sign, ma’am. A man as good as your husband is a rare find indeed."
Lin Jiang: ???
’She knows just what to say. Keep it coming.’

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