How A Ride-Hailing Driver Comes To Dominate The World? [EN]: Chapter 7

A Girl with Refined Poverty—What’s Wrong with a Ride-Hailing Driver Having Some Money? (1)

Yang Chen wasn’t particularly interested in Wang Jiayi, nor did he care to delve into her background.

However, Wang Jiayi was quite intrigued by Yang Chen and peppered him with questions.

“What does your family do?”

“My parents passed away in an accident a long time ago. I’m just a ride-hailing driver now.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up painful memories. But, I think your parents must have been amazing; they left you quite a fortune.”

“Haha… I suppose you could say that.”

…

After more conversation, Yang Chen began to relax a little.

He also inquired about Wang Jiayi’s life.

According to Wang Jiayi, she was from Sucheng and had parents and a younger brother.

She worked in a clothing store, earning around 10,000 yuan a month [approximately $1,400 USD].

Of that, she sent 5,000 yuan home to help her parents with the family’s finances.

She spent about 7,000 yuan of the remaining amount on rent.

That meant she only had about 3,000 yuan left for living expenses.

Yang Chen was a bit puzzled after hearing Wang Jiayi’s explanation.

An income of 10,000 yuan a month wasn’t bad at all.

Sending 5,000 yuan home showed she was a very filial [devoted to her parents] girl.

But spending 7,000 yuan on rent was hard to understand.

Who in their right mind, with about 10,000 yuan to spare each month, would spend 7,000 on rent?

According to Wang Jiayi, she didn’t want to live poorly and wanted to be comfortable. She especially loved the large balcony in her current rented apartment, where she could see the night view of the Pearl Tower [Oriental Pearl Tower, a famous Shanghai landmark] every day.

This meant her rented apartment was near the Pearl Tower, which explained the 7,000 yuan monthly rent.

In short, she was living a life of “refined poverty” [a lifestyle where one spends a disproportionate amount of their income on luxury or non-essential items, leading to financial strain in other areas].

Clearly, her personal income wasn’t enough to support her lifestyle, but she insisted on maintaining it.

However, compared to Zhao Feifei, she was much better.

Zhao Feifei dreamed of living a good life but lacked the ability and was unwilling to work hard, only wanting to rely on men, and she was the type who relied on men but wouldn’t admit it.

Wang Jiayi earned money to maintain her life of refined poverty. Regardless of whether her approach was reasonable, at least she relied on her own efforts, and no one could criticize her for it.

Yang Chen then asked, “So, you’re hoping to achieve your dream of settling down in Haicheng [a fictional city, likely based on Shanghai] through marriage?”

Wang Jiayi finished a glass of red wine in one gulp, then replied with a smile, “Do I seem very pathetic?”

Yang Chen smiled and remained silent.

Wang Jiayi poured herself another glass of wine, finished it in one gulp again, and then continued, “I’m 28 years old this year, and I’ve long lost the ambition I had when I first came to Haicheng. To be honest, life has smoothed out my edges, and I’ve accepted my fate. You’re right, I don’t have much ability myself, so I can only hope to achieve my dream of settling down in Haicheng through marriage. This place is so great, with its bright lights and bustling nightlife, much better than my rural hometown, which is pitch black at night. Are you looking down on me?”

Wang Jiayi seemed a little drunk, and her body language became much more expressive.

Yang Chen replied with a smile, “How should I put it? I think everyone has the right to pursue a better life. If someone’s own ability is limited, and they place their hopes on their partner, that’s not necessarily a mistake. But if you rely on a man while also portraying yourself as an independent woman, then I can’t agree with that.”

A Girl with Refined Poverty—What’s Wrong with a Ride-Hailing Driver Having Some Money? (2)

“There’s nothing shameful about a woman relying on a man. No one in the world would think it’s a shameful thing for a woman to rely on a man. But it’s wrong to act one way and pretend to be another.”

Wang Jiayi emptied the wine bottle, and Yang Chen waved to the waiter to bring more wine.

“Come on, let’s have one,” Wang Jiayi said with a smile.

Yang Chen nodded, picked up his glass, and finished it in one gulp with her.

The waiter opened another bottle of red wine and poured it for Yang Chen and Wang Jiayi.

Wang Jiayi’s cheeks were flushed, and it was obvious that the alcohol was taking effect.

“You’re right, it’s wrong to act one way and pretend to be another. But I won’t allow anyone to take advantage of me either. Do you know why I was so prejudiced against you when I got in the car?” Wang Jiayi asked.

Yang Chen shook his head.

Wang Jiayi then told him the reason.

It turned out that Wang Jiayi had two blind dates tonight.

One at five o’clock and one at eight o’clock.

Wang Jiayi first had dinner with the first guy, and then they went to see a movie together.

Everything was fine at first, but who knew that the man would try to kiss her while it was dark in the movie theater.

How could she accept that? She immediately slapped the man and got up to leave.

As a result, the man chased after her and scolded her for being shameless, saying that she ate his food, watched a movie, and wouldn’t even let him kiss her. Did she even know the rules?

Wang Jiayi felt that they were just on a blind date, not in a committed relationship. How could he kiss her on the first date? Would they have to sleep together on the next date?

So, in a fit of anger, she split the bill with him and angrily took a taxi to the Peninsula Hotel to attend the second blind date.

It was also because she was still angry about the first blind date that she had such an attitude towards Yang Chen.

Especially after hearing Yang Chen’s phone call with Zhao Feifei, she felt that all men were bad and became even more prejudiced against Yang Chen.

After she finished speaking, Yang Chen joked, “I think you just didn’t like him. If you had liked him, you definitely wouldn’t have refused his kiss.”

Wang Jiayi immediately retorted, “How is that possible? It has nothing to do with whether I liked him or not. Even if I liked him, we were only meeting for the first time, how could I let him kiss me? Wouldn’t we have to sleep together on the next date? What a joke.”

“Kissing and sleeping together have nothing to do with how many times you’ve met; it all depends on the atmosphere and the feeling. As long as the atmosphere is right and the feeling is there, you can still do these things on the first date,” Yang Chen said with a smile.

Wang Jiayi curled her lips in disgust and said, “I don’t believe it anyway. How could anyone kiss or even sleep with someone on the first date?”

Yang Chen smiled, got up, walked to Wang Jiayi, gently pinched her chin, and looked into her eyes. Wang Jiayi’s face immediately turned red.

Yang Chen leaned down and kissed her. Wang Jiayi immediately felt an electric current sweep through her body, and she froze.

Yang Chen stood up straight, smiled, and said, “Enjoy your meal. Put the bill on my tab, and I’ll settle it together tomorrow morning. I’m a little dizzy now and need to go upstairs to room 1208 to rest.”

After speaking, Yang Chen shook his head and left.

It has to be said that red wine has a strong after-effect. At this moment, Yang Chen also felt a little dizzy.

Wang Jiayi sat there motionless like a statue, her mind in a mess.

“Did he just kiss me? Why didn’t I resist? How embarrassing, I was kissed by him on the first date. But he’s a jerk; he even forced me to call him daddy. Have I forgotten this deep hatred? How strange, why didn’t I resist? That’s not right. He’s going upstairs to sleep now; should I go? Wouldn’t that be bad? Oh, how embarrassing, what am I thinking? How can I have the idea of going to his room? If I sleep with him on the first date, will I still have any face left? But he’s really handsome; the feeling was really good. I really want to go to his room. What should I do?”

In just a short while, hundreds of questions had raced through Wang Jiayi’s mind.

At this moment, she was very conflicted.

Should she go to room 1208 to find Yang Chen?

Just as Yang Chen had said, kissing, sleeping together, and other things depend on the feeling and the atmosphere. When all objective conditions are met, it’s a natural thing, and it has nothing to do with how many times you’ve met. Now Wang Jiayi finally believes this.

Yang Chen felt dizzy and definitely couldn’t drive home.

The hotel room was already booked, so he simply decided to sleep there for the night.

Yang Chen took a shower and went straight to bed to sleep.

After a while, the doorbell rang.

Yang Chen quickly got up to open the door, and suddenly a figure rushed in and kissed him directly…