How A Ride-Hailing Driver Comes To Dominate The World? [EN]: Chapter 173

2.7 Million for a Patek Philippe? I’ll Take Two!

Yang Chen and Li Junhao chatted as they walked, while the secretary thoughtfully called the head of the Human Resources Department to immediately process the dismissal of Li Tianyun and Li Jiuyi, as well as the promotion of Lin Yiren to flight attendant supervisor.

To give Yang Chen a good impression, the Human Resources Department worked very efficiently.

While Yang Chen and Li Junhao were still chatting, the head of the Human Resources Department sent an email notification to all levels of leadership and department heads within the group.

First, dismiss Li Tianyun and Li Jiuyi.

Second, promote Lin Yiren to flight attendant supervisor.

Subsequently, the heads of each department sent out notifications in their work groups.

At this moment, Lin Yiren, who was chatting with colleagues at the entrance, saw the notification in the group and her heart started racing with excitement.

“Wow, Yiren, you’ve been promoted to flight attendant supervisor!”

“Li Jiuyi and his father have both been fired.”

“This must be the work of your shareholder boyfriend. Wow, he’s amazing!”

“Even the captain has been fired. It seems your boyfriend is really something! It’s hard to train a captain, the cost is very high, but the group still fired him. Unbelievable…”

“Oh, Yiren, I’m so envious of you. Your boyfriend is so perfect, I want to find one like that too. Waaah…”

“This is the most romantic love story I’ve ever seen. Winning the lottery together, and when his girlfriend is bullied at work, he directly buys shares to get rid of the bullies and even promotes his girlfriend. Wow, there’s no better man in the world than Yiren’s boyfriend.”

…

Listening to her colleagues’ envious praises, Lin Yiren blossomed with happiness.

“It’s nothing much. You’ll definitely meet someone like that in the future,” Lin Yiren said shyly.

At this moment, Yang Chen and Li Junhao walked over, laughing and talking.

The flight attendants quickly stood up to see Yang Chen off.

Yang Chen shook hands with Li Junhao to say goodbye and walked towards Lin Yiren.

Lin Yiren happily ran towards Yang Chen and jumped into his arms.

“Honey, did you get the company to promote me?” Lin Yiren asked.

Yang Chen smiled and replied, “No, it has nothing to do with me. It’s mainly because your personal abilities are sufficient to take on the position of flight attendant supervisor, so you were promoted.”

“Hehe… you’re just saying that to make me happy,” Lin Yiren said happily.

Ran Xiaojing and the others looked embarrassed, lowering their heads and not daring to look at Yang Chen.

Amidst everyone’s farewells, Yang Chen left with Lin Yiren.

“Later, transfer Ran Xiaojing and the others away from frontline positions, don’t let them board the plane,” Yang Chen said.

Lin Yiren nodded and said, “Okay! I know what to do! Li Tianyun was a captain and he was fired, how did you do it?”

Yang Chen: “He was already quite old and couldn’t work for many more years anyway. The company’s reserve of young captains hasn’t been getting opportunities. I suggested giving young people some opportunities, and Li Junhao agreed.”

Lin Yiren: “Will Li Tianyun switch to another airline and become a captain again?”

Yang Chen: “Impossible! People who become captains have to sign an agreement with the company, and they can’t go to work for other airlines for several years after resigning or being fired. Li Tianyun is old, and no airline will want him after a few years.”

Lin Yiren: “That’s good, I was worried he would make a comeback, and Li Jiuyi would rely on his connections to bully people! These past few years, my dad has been giving Li Tianyun gifts worth tens of thousands of yuan every year. I’ll have my dad give him some more money, and from now on, I won’t owe them anything.”

“Yiren? What a coincidence!”

Yang Chen and Lin Yiren immediately stopped and turned around to look. A charming young girl was walking over, arm in arm with a man who looked to be about forty years old.

Lin Yiren immediately became excited and greeted her with a smile.

“Zhang Miao, long time no see,” Lin Yiren said with a smile, and then the two women hugged each other.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Lin Yiren quickly introduced Yang Chen to Zhang Miao.

“Let me introduce you, this is my boyfriend. Hehe… handsome, right?” Lin Yiren said proudly.

Zhang Miao politely nodded to Yang Chen.

“He’s very handsome. Hello, my name is Zhang Miao, I used to work with Yiren. Later, I married my husband and quit to be a full-time housewife. This is my husband, Zheng Qian,” Zhang Miao said.

So, Zhang Miao has “gone ashore” [a slang term for a woman marrying for money and leaving her previous profession or social circle].

Why use the discriminatory term “gone ashore”?

A woman in her early twenties marrying an older man in his forties, there’s no other reason besides money.

Yang Chen shook hands with Zheng Qian and greeted him, saying, “Hello, Mr. Zheng. I’m Yang Chen, nice to meet you.”

Zheng Qian: “Haha… Hello, Brother Yang, nice to meet you too. Are you here to buy watches too?”

Yang Chen: “Just passing by, wanted to take a look.”

Zheng Qian: “Haha… We’re here to pick up our watches, let’s go in together.”

Yang Chen nodded and walked behind Zheng Qian. Lin Yiren and Zhang Miao walked in front, arm in arm, chatting as they entered Patek Philippe.

It seemed that Zheng Qian and Zhang Miao were regulars, as the sales assistant immediately came up to greet them.

“Mr. Zheng, Ms. Zhang, you’re here. Please come into the VIP lounge, we’ll bring your reserved 5711A over for you to see right away,” the sales assistant said very politely.

Zheng Qian said with a smile, “No need, we’ll accompany our friends to take a look first; we can look at our watches later.”

The sales assistant nodded and quickly asked, “How should I address this gentleman?”

Yang Chen: “My surname is Yang.”

Sales assistant: “Okay, hello Mr. Yang. May I ask what Mr. Yang does for a living? I can recommend watches based on your profession.”

Yang Chen: “Ride-hailing driver.”

Sales assistant: “…”

Isn’t this a joke?

What’s a ride-hailing driver doing in Patek Philippe?

Any watch here, you wouldn’t be able to afford even if you drove for two years.

The sales assistant looked at Zheng Qian with an embarrassed expression.

Zhang Miao thought to herself, “Tch, Lin Yiren has always been arrogant, always talking about fate. I thought she’d find some amazing boyfriend, but it turns out her fate is a ride-hailing driver. How hilarious.”

Zheng Qian quickly asked, “Brother Yang, you’re a ride-hailing driver?”

Yang Chen nodded and said, “Yes! I usually drive to pick up passengers. So, miss, what kind of watch do you think is suitable for me?”

Sales assistant: “Let me be honest, don’t be angry. I don’t think any of the watches in our store are suitable for you. It’s not worth spending two years’ income on a watch; people will think you bought a fake. It’s not worth it.”

She was still using “you” just now, but as soon as she heard that Yang Chen was a ride-hailing driver, she immediately switched to the informal “you.” People are so realistic.

Yang Chen has a temper. If you look down on me, I definitely won’t let you earn my money.

“Beauty, you can take care of Mr. Zheng and them; we’ll just take a look ourselves,” Yang Chen said.

The sales assistant nodded and quickly went to get the 5711A silver watch that Zheng Qian and Zhang Miao had reserved for them to see.

Yang Chen and Lin Yiren just looked around. It was their first time in a Patek Philippe store, so they definitely had to look at everything to see which one looked better.

The sales assistant whispered, “Mr. Zheng, Ms. Zhang, are they really your friends?”

Zhang Miao: “I used to work with that girl at China Eastern Airlines, but it’s just a normal colleague relationship, not really friends.”

Sales assistant: “Oh, no wonder. I was wondering how Mr. Zheng and Ms. Zhang, with such distinguished status, would have friends who are ride-hailing drivers. If it weren’t for your sake, we would have kicked them out as soon as possible. You know, there are many customers who come to the store every day just to look and not buy anything. Our energy is limited, and we really can’t handle those customers. Just now, a few minutes ago, a delivery guy brought his girlfriend in to look at watches and asked us questions for a full hour and a half. In the end, he said he’d wait until he saved enough money from delivering food to buy one. My god, we’re human too, right? Torturing us for an hour and a half, and then suddenly saying that, can you imagine how I felt at that moment? I just broke down.”

Zheng Qian: “Hehe… I understand. I often tell my employees to improve work efficiency and to classify potential customers according to their intention to buy. The higher the intention to buy, the higher the level, and the more time should be spent on maintaining them. We only have 24 hours a day; there’s no reason to waste it on unimportant people and things.”

Sales assistant: “Mr. Zheng is absolutely right.”

Zhang Miao: “If you don’t want to waste time on them, you can not serve them, or even kick them out; we don’t care. Honey, let’s go to the VIP lounge. I don’t want to be embarrassed later.”

Zheng Qian nodded, and the two of them went to the VIP lounge with the sales assistant.

Yang Chen and Lin Yiren looked around, and in the end, they both thought the 6102P Celestial was the most beautiful.

At this moment, Zheng Qian and Zhang Miao came out.

The two of them had already chosen the 5711A and came out to pay.

Zhang Miao felt a little embarrassed. Why weren’t these two gone yet?

She had no choice but to walk up and ask with a fake smile, “Yiren, how is it? Did you see anything you like?”

Lin Yiren nodded with a smile and said, “We think that one is quite beautiful.”

The sales assistant looked in the direction she was pointing and was speechless.

“Miss, that one is the 6102P Celestial; it costs 2.7 million [RMB, approx. $380,000 USD]. Don’t make things difficult for your boyfriend; he won’t be able to afford this watch even if he doesn’t eat or drink for the rest of his life. I think you should choose according to your financial situation,” the sales assistant said.

Lin Yiren was shocked and said, “So expensive!”

Zheng Qian laughed and said, “The Celestial watch is expensive, but it’s expensive for a reason. Beauty, explain to them why this watch is so expensive.”

The sales assistant really didn’t want to deal with Yang Chen and Lin Yiren, but Zheng Qian had spoken, so she had to do as she was told.

“The dial of this watch is composed of 3 layers of sapphire crystal. The first layer is the sky, with a deep night blue color. The second layer represents the phases of the moon and the orbit of the moon. The last layer, located at the top, is printed with stars, especially with the largest star representing Sirius, which is the brightest star in the Earth’s night sky. At the top of the dial, another layer is printed with the directions of southeast, northwest, and an oval, which represents the part of the starry sky visible in the Geneva region. In this case, the entire dial is a complete celestial indication, showing the time is secondary. The main interest in playing with this watch is to enjoy a slow-moving sign, obviously unusual, but completely poetic, showing the moon, Sirius, and the meridian time…”

What is she even saying? I don’t get the special features of this watch at all.

However, none of that matters; what’s important is that Yang Chen and Lin Yiren both think it looks good, that’s enough.

I’m not buying it to show off or do research; I’m just using it as a watch to tell time. Do I need to know that much?

Zhang Miao said with a smile, “Yiren, why don’t you look at another one? Beauty, introduce them to a watch that suits them.”

Sales assistant: “But the cheapest Patek Philippe watch is also in the hundreds of thousands [of RMB], judging by their profession, I really can’t recommend one. I can’t possibly ask them to not eat or drink for a year just to buy one of our watches, right?”

Zhang Miao: “That’s true. Yiren, why don’t you… look at another brand? Longines, that’s also a brand, but it’s relatively more affordable. Your boyfriend is too young; he’s still in the struggling phase. It’s normal that he can’t afford a Patek Philippe watch right now. You see my Old Zheng, he also struggled for more than ten years to get to where he is today. Since you chose his youth and handsomeness, you have to endure his mediocrity.”

Zheng Qian: “That’s right! Brother Yang is still young; give him another ten years, maybe he’ll be successful, and you can come back and buy this watch.”

Why does that sound so unpleasant?

However, Lin Yiren didn’t argue with them but turned to look at Yang Chen.

2.7 million for a watch, Lin Yiren didn’t dare to make the decision; it was up to the man.

Yang Chen said with a smile, “It’s rare that Yiren and I both like this watch; we’ll take this one. You can go ahead; get another sales assistant to serve us.”

Zheng Qian was shocked and said, “Brother, did you hear clearly? It’s 2.7 million!”

Yang Chen nodded and said, “I heard clearly; this price is okay, I can afford it. Yiren and I both like it; even if it’s 27 million, I’ll find a way to buy it.”

Lin Yiren: “But it’s really too expensive; it feels a bit wasteful. Miao Miao, how much is your watch?”

Zhang Miao: “270,000 [RMB, approx. $38,000 USD].”

Lin Yiren: “Oh, that price is suitable. Honey, why don’t we buy the one that Miao Miao and her husband bought? This Celestial is too expensive; buying one is like buying 10 of theirs. It’s a bit extravagant.”

Yang Chen said with a smile, “Luxury goods should be bought because you like them, not just for the brand. We both think the Celestial looks good, so we definitely have to buy the Celestial. The one they bought doesn’t look good; I don’t like it. Who’s the store manager? Please call a sales assistant to help us.”

Zheng Qian and Zhang Miao looked embarrassed and suddenly felt that the 5711A on their wrists wasn’t so appealing anymore.

Zheng Qian was a little unhappy and said sarcastically, “Hehe… Brother Yang, buying things isn’t about paying with your mouth but swiping your bank card. If you don’t have that much money in your card, it’ll be very embarrassing.”

Yang Chen smiled and said, “Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Zheng. I haven’t spent any money recently; there should still be a few hundred million in my card, enough to buy two watches.”

A few hundred million?

Damn!

You’re a ride-hailing driver and you’re saying you have a few hundred million in your card?

Bro, can we not be so pretentious?

“Handsome guy, beautiful lady, I’ll serve you,” the sales assistant quickly said.

Yang Chen shook his head and said, “No need, you can take care of Mr. Zheng and them. Get another sales assistant to serve us.”

Sales assistant: “It’s okay, Mr. Zheng and them are already done; they just need to go to the cashier. I’ll get the Celestial for you two to see now.”

Yang Chen: “Beauty, what’s your surname?”

Sales assistant: “My surname is Ma.”

Yang Chen: “Too bad, my mom doesn’t let me hang out with people with the surname Ma. Sorry, let’s get someone else.”

Sales assistant: “…”

At this moment, the store manager ran over.

“Sir, madam, good evening, I’m the store manager; let me serve you,” the store manager said with a smile.

Yang Chen nodded and pointed to the Celestial, saying, “Bring two of those watches over.”

The store manager nodded, quickly put on gloves, carefully took out the display item to show Yang Chen and Lin Yiren first, and then took out the remaining spare stock in the store and handed it to Lin Yiren.

Yang Chen and Lin Yiren each put one on and compared them with their arms outstretched.

Yang Chen: “How is it? I think it looks pretty good.”

Lin Yiren: “I think it looks pretty good too.”

Yang Chen: “Then let’s buy it! Store manager, swipe the card!”

Yang Chen took out his bank card and handed it to the store manager.

The store manager was shocked; it was the first time he had encountered such a straightforward customer.

Other customers, let alone buying million-dollar watches, even for entry-level hundred-thousand-dollar watches, they would have to choose and choose, pick and pick, ask and ask, before finally deciding whether to buy or not.

These two actually bought it because they thought it looked good; they didn’t even understand the features of the watch.

Hoo hoo…

Rich people, simple, pure!

“Okay, esteemed guests, please come with me; I’ll take you to the cashier,” the store manager said very politely.

Zheng Qian and Zhang Miao also followed; they also had to go to the cashier to swipe their cards and pay.

“Damn! Showing off in front of me, I don’t believe a ride-hailing driver can afford two 2.7 million watches,” Zheng Qian muttered in a low voice.

Zhang Miao quickly said, “I just showed off my happy life to Lin Yiren; she must be unwilling to accept that I found such a good husband, so she’s acting with her boyfriend to get back at me. Just watch, they’ll definitely find an excuse for the payment to fail and not buy it.”

Zheng Qian: “Hehe… If that’s the case, then I’ll have to mock them properly later. Damn! Showing off in front of me, you think you’re worthy!”

Just as the two of them arrived at the cashier, the store manager completed the card swipe.

Yang Chen signed the receipt, and the cashier immediately issued him a receipt and other documents.

Zheng Qian and Zhang Miao were stunned; they really paid!

The sales assistant was even more annoyed; she had missed out on 5.4 million in sales.

After all the documents and warranty cards were put away, the store manager personally handed the shopping bags to Yang Chen and Lin Yiren with both hands.

Yang Chen nodded very satisfied and said to Zheng Qian and Zhang Miao, “We haven’t eaten yet; we have to find a place to eat now. You two go ahead; we’ll see you again if we’re destined to.”

Lin Yiren waved to Zhang Miao and said, “Miao Miao, goodbye. Come back to China Eastern more often when you have time. My boyfriend used his connections to get me promoted to flight attendant supervisor; you can come back to work if you want. We’re leaving first, goodbye.”

Zhang Miao quickly said, “We haven’t eaten either; let’s eat together.”

Yang Chen is definitely not just a ride-hailing driver, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to spend so much money on watches.

Zheng Qian was sure that Yang Chen must have an unknown identity.

If he could build a good relationship with him, maybe there would be many opportunities for cooperation in the future.

Therefore, Zheng Qian also quickly said, “Yes, yes, let’s eat together.”

Eat what? Are you worthy?

Yang Chen replied with a smile, “We just started dating; we want to have some alone time. We won’t eat with you two today, maybe another time.”

Lin Yiren: “That’s right! Let us have some alone time. Hehe…”

Zheng Qian and Zhang Miao nodded with embarrassed smiles.

Lin Yiren happily held Yang Chen’s arm, her head pressed tightly against his arm, and the two of them left Patek Philippe very happily to find a restaurant to eat.

“Her boyfriend drives a ride-hailing car and he’s so amazing; he can afford a 5.4 million watch, and he can use his connections to get her promoted to flight attendant supervisor. The key is that he’s so handsome and has such a good temperament; he’s simply the perfect man. God is so unfair; I, Zhang Miao, am so charming and beautiful, why don’t I have a man like that?” Zhang Miao thought to herself and unconsciously felt a hint of disgust towards the old man Zheng Qian beside her.

Before this, Zhang Miao was the first of her class of flight attendants to “go ashore.” Everyone else was still working hard to find a rich man, but she had already married a rich man, which had always been her pride, and she would occasionally show off how well she was doing in front of her former colleagues.

But now, her pride and sense of superiority were completely crushed by Lin Yiren…

At this time, at the Xue Mansion.

Xue Wanhong was angrily scolding Xue Jun.

“I told you to find reliable people to be agents, and I often reminded you to keep an eye on those agents. Are you taking my words as wind in your ears? Chen Kang is too bold; he even dared to hit Yang Chen! Don’t you know how powerful he is?”

Xue Jun replied with a look of grievance, “Uncle is right to scold me; it’s really my fault. But I really didn’t know he was the second shareholder of China Eastern Airlines at the time, otherwise I would have apologized to him overnight.”

Xue Wanhong: “I finally managed to get the opportunity to participate in the fixed increase of China Eastern Airlines through connections, and now you’ve ruined it all! Sigh… Forget it, immediately withdraw all the funds from Kang Sheng Investment and transfer them to Minghuang Investment, and cut ties with Chen Kang and Chen Sheng as soon as possible! Understand?”

Xue Jun: “Understood! But, uncle, our Xue family isn’t a small family; do we have to be so afraid of him?”

Xue Wanhong: “Your cousin hasn’t figured out his background yet; do you know how powerful he is?

His identities are being revealed one by one, and each one is more powerful than the last. Do you think we should try to avoid a head-on conflict with him?”

Xue Jun: “Okay then. I know what to do.”

Xue Jun immediately went to handle it and canceled all investment plans for movies and other projects overnight.

At this time, at Ju Yiyi’s house.

The agent received a notice from the company that Kang Sheng Investment had canceled the investment plan for “Zhu Xian Array,” and the project would be put on hold for the time being.

Ju Yiyi immediately slumped on the sofa like a deflated balloon.

“For this project, I was almost schemed against by that bastard Chen Kang. Now they’re telling me it’s on hold? Are they trying to piss me off?” Ju Yiyi complained.

The agent comforted her, “It’s just a temporary hold; it’s not like it’s never going to happen. The economic situation isn’t good right now; it’s hard to get investment. Just be patient, and when the company finds new investment, they’ll definitely restart the project.”

Ju Yiyi rubbed her hair hard and said, “Ah… I’m so angry! Let’s go out to eat; I want to turn my anger into appetite!”

The agent nodded and quickly disguised Ju Yiyi before accompanying her out to eat.

At this time, Yang Chen and Lin Yiren came to the Dream Paris restaurant not far from Tomson Riviera to eat.

The two of them ordered a large table of dishes and happily ate.

After a while, Ju Yiyi and her agent, who were disguised, also came in.

Ju Yiyi recognized Yang Chen, who was eating by the glass window, at a glance.

“No way, what a coincidence,” Ju Yiyi said in a low voice.

Agent: “Huh? Who did you see?”

Ju Yiyi: “The guy in the white shirt by the window; he’s the ride-hailing driver who saved me.”

Agent: “Yeah, it really is him. Should we go up and say hello?”

Ju Yiyi: “Let’s say hello; after all, he saved me.”

The agent nodded, and the two of them walked towards Yang Chen and Lin Yiren.

…

Yang Chen took Lin Yiren to the IFC Mall to buy things.

“Buy whatever you like; I’ll pay for all the expenses tonight,” Yang Chen said very domineeringly.

Lin Yiren tiptoed and kissed Yang Chen, saying, “Then I won’t be polite with you. I’m really going to choose now.”

Yang Chen laughed and said, “Go ahead! Don’t be polite with me; buy whatever you like.”

Although Yang Chen gave Lin Yiren a blank check, she was reluctant to spend money.

After choosing for a long time, she only chose a set of domestic brand clothes, which cost only ten thousand yuan [RMB, approx. $1,400 USD] in total.

“Okay, this set is enough,” Lin Yiren said very satisfied.

Yang Chen: “That’s all you want?”

Lin Yiren nodded and said, “Yes! I’m satisfied! Hehe…”

Yang Chen thought she might be embarrassed to buy more, so he didn’t say anything else, and maybe she would be more comfortable with it after a while.

At this time, the two of them came to the watch area.

There were quite a few watch brands here: Patek Philippe, Rolex, Longines…

Although Yang Chen had heard of these brands, he didn’t really know which series of which brand was better.

Yang Chen was still wearing the Misia watch; after all, it wasn’t a brand that specialized in watches, so it couldn’t compare with brands like Patek Philippe.

At this time, a man and a woman walked out of the Patek Philippe store, looking very angry.

Man: “I told you not to go in and look, but you insisted on going in.”

Woman: “What’s wrong with looking? Who said you have to buy something just because you looked? They look down on people; it’s just a sales assistant. What kind of attitude! You’d think the store was hers.”

Okay, they must have just been looking and not buying, and the sales assistant got impatient.

Many sales staff in famous brand stores more or less have this problem; they wear colored glasses when looking at customers who “can’t afford” things.

A while ago, a migrant worker took his son into a Nike store to buy shoes and was kicked out by the staff.

After it was exposed, the Nike store fired her.

In other words, if it weren’t for the pressure of public opinion on the internet, the Nike store wouldn’t have thought it was a big deal; they even assumed that employees could be unfriendly to customers who looked like they couldn’t afford to buy anything.

There are also some sales staff in luxury stores on the internet who make some ridiculous remarks. Because the customers they come into contact with are all people with millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of dollars, they look down on ordinary people with monthly salaries of a few thousand dollars, and they even think that a man with a monthly salary of a few thousand dollars is useless.

It’s actually the same problem. These sales staff sell luxury goods and come into contact with rich people, so they think they’re rich too, so they look down on those ordinary people.

Seeing that Lin Yiren didn’t have a watch on her hand, Yang Chen asked, “Why don’t we buy a pair of couple watches?”

Lin Yiren nodded happily and said, “Okay! But let’s choose a small brand to buy; these are too expensive. It’s a bit wasteful for me to wear them.”

“You deserve all the good things. Let’s go; let’s go in and take a look,” Yang Chen said.

Handsome, rich, and knows how to flirt; such a man is really lovable.