How A Ride-Hailing Driver Comes To Dominate The World? [EN]: Chapter 706

Space Station and Lunar Base

The beauty of being a hands-off manager is that you can announce the good news and disappear when things go south. Everything is handled by competent professionals.

Just as Yang Chen released the news about the robot girlfriend, igniting a firestorm of online debate, he set his phone aside and resumed his shift as a ride-hailing driver.

“Hello, welcome to Bip Bip Dache [Ride-hailing app]. Are you Ms. Chen, with the last four digits of your phone number being 3689?” Yang Chen asked.

Two young women climbed into the back seat. The one on the right replied in a deliberately sweet voice, “Yes.”

Yang Chen couldn’t help but turn his head, curious to see who was putting on such an act.

He’d pictured a petite, cute girl, but instead, he saw a woman with a noticeably strong build. Her arms were nearly as thick as Yang Chen’s.

Seeing Yang Chen looking at her, and noticing that he was quite handsome, the woman smiled and asked, “Handsome, do you think I sound very coquettish? Do you like it?”

Yang Chen smiled noncommittally. “A bit, but it sounds nice.”

He was just trying to avoid an awkward situation, but the woman seemed oblivious to her own image. She pressed on with a giggle, “Really? Everyone says I’m so coquettish. Have guys like you ever met a girl like me before?”

Yang Chen chuckled. “What do you mean, ‘guys like me’?”

“You know, the working class. You’re driving a ride-hailing car, aren’t you aware of your social standing? No wonder you’re stuck driving. Ah well… I guess life isn’t fair. You’re handsome, but not exactly successful, so you’re stuck with a low-paying job. Rich and powerful people are often ugly as sin, but they’re successful. So, if you had the choice, would you rather be an ugly but successful man, or a handsome but useless loser?” the woman said.

Yang Chen replied with a smile, “I’m pretty happy with who I am, so I don’t need to choose.”

The woman on the left immediately interjected, “Xiaoju, stop it. Don’t bother the driver.”

The strong woman, Xiaoju, continued in that grating voice, “It’s a long ride, over ten kilometers. It’s boring if we don’t talk. Handsome, do you mind if I’m too blunt? People always tell me I’m too direct and easily hurt others. But I think we should always be honest. Isn’t saying nice things just to please people the same as lying? Don’t you agree?”

Yang Chen nodded. “You’re right, we should be honest and not lie. Hey, why don’t you ask me what I think of you?”

“Alright, what do you think of me?” Xiaoju asked.

Yang Chen pulled over to the side of the road, turned off the engine, engaged the parking brake, unbuckled his seatbelt, and turned to face her. “I think you’re about as strong as I am, so why are you pretending to be a cute little girl? If any woman in my family looked like you, I’d put her on a diet for a month. It’s embarrassing to be seen with you. Also, judging by your skin and wrinkles, you must be in your early 30s, right? There’s a time and place for everything. Normal women your age have kids in elementary school. Who still talks in that annoying, high-pitched voice?

Looking at you, you probably don’t even have a boyfriend, because all your fingers have nail polish, except for the index finger on your right hand. Is it because you can’t sleep at night and use it for… comfort?”

Xiaoju sputtered, “You…”

Yang Chen cut her off. “Also! Looking at your clothes, they’re probably on sale at the supermarket, right? And that bag is a cheap knockoff you bought online, right? You’re in your 30s and can’t even afford a decent outfit. What have you been doing with your life? And another thing! You’re over 30, wearing gaudy accessories, and carrying a cup of milk tea that you sip on all day. Please, if you had a stable job at this age, you’d at least have a few decent outfits and bags, and you’d be drinking coffee instead of running around with a Mixue Bingcheng [Cheap bubble tea chain].”

Xiaoju stammered, “You…”

Yang Chen continued, “And another thing! Me driving a ride-hailing car at least proves I can afford a car. You’re about the same age as me, and you can’t even afford a car. How can you be embarrassed to say that ride-hailing drivers are at the bottom of society? What does that make you? The bottom of the bottom?”

Xiaoju retorted, “You… You’re so hateful! I’m a woman! As long as I get married, I’ll have everything!”

Yang Chen was momentarily speechless.

Xiaoju continued, “You’re right about everything. I’m 32 years old, my job is unstable, I live paycheck to paycheck, and I owe over 300,000 yuan [~41,000 USD]. I really don’t have many decent clothes, and the bag is indeed a 19.9 yuan [~2.7 USD] free shipping item I bought online. And I’ll tell you, after I bought it, I even applied for a refund. I really can’t bring myself to drink coffee, so I can only drink Mixue Bingcheng. I really can’t afford a car, I don’t even want to spend money on a driver’s license. But so what? As long as I want to, getting a 388,000 yuan [~53,000 USD] bride price for marriage isn’t a problem, right? Don’t rush to argue, that’s the going rate in my hometown, and there are even bride price loans, have you heard of them? As long as I have enough fun and get married, the house, car, and jewelry will be bought by the man, and after I pay off my debts with the 380,000 yuan bride price, I’ll still have tens of thousands left. I can become the ‘normal woman’ you’re talking about overnight. Isn’t that right?”

Yang Chen was unable to refute her logic.

He could only lament the plight of men in the Dragon Country [China], and especially those in her hometown.

Xiaoju said with a smug look, “How is it? Speechless, right? Let me ask you again, do I have the right to be arrogant?”

Yang Chen remained silent.

She was a formidable opponent, leaving Yang Chen helpless.

Xiaoju said with a contemptuous look, “Have you vented enough? If you’re done, continue driving, take me to my destination, and I’ll give you a bad review right in front of you and call to complain about you. There’s nothing you can do, it’s my right.”

Yang Chen had initially considered kicking her out, but since she was determined to give a bad review and complain, he figured he might as well take her to her destination, especially since the other passenger was innocent.

Yang Chen smiled as he fastened his seatbelt and said, “You won’t be arrogant for long. Now that robot girlfriends are coming out, for 128,000 yuan [~17,500 USD], you can customize a robot girlfriend that fits your exact preferences and can even get pregnant. Your 388,000 yuan is probably a bit overpriced.”

Xiaoju scoffed, “Don’t be ridiculous, how could technology be that advanced?”

“It really is that advanced. Just wait, it’s already in internal testing.
If there are no problems, it will be launched and promoted soon. That day isn’t far off. You better marry yourself off before the end of the year, otherwise, there won’t be a sucker willing to pay off your 300,000 yuan in debt with a bride price,” Yang Chen said.

“Do you think Yang Chen is a god? You believe everything he says. You losers all have this problem, blindly admiring the powerful. You used to worship Boss Ma [Jack Ma], and now you blindly worship Boss Yang. If such technology existed, it would never be available to ordinary people. You don’t know anything, you’re just blindly following the crowd,” Xiaoju said with disdain.

Yang Chen smiled and said nothing more.

Before long, Yang Chen arrived at their destination. Xiaoju immediately took out her phone and gave Yang Chen a bad review.

“Little rascal, you’re not convinced, are you? Be a woman in your next life, and you can be as arrogant as me.”

After giving the bad review, she called customer service to complain that Yang Chen had personally attacked her, demanding that they seriously punish him and, preferably, ban him from taking orders.

The customer service representative gave a few perfunctory responses and hung up.

At that moment, the system issued a notification.

“Congratulations to the host for receiving a bad review. The system rewards the host with space station technology.”

“Detected that the host has been complained about, triggering a critical reward. The system rewards the host with lunar base technology.”

“Wow…” Yang Chen couldn’t help but exclaim.

Awesome! This was going to take him to the stars.

Xiaoju said with a sneer, “Wow, what are you ‘wowing’ about? How is it, are you convinced now?”

“Half convinced, not entirely,” Yang Chen joked, feeling incredibly happy.

“Haha… you’re just being stubborn. Keep being stubborn, it’s not me who’s getting punished,” Xiaoju said triumphantly.

Yang Chen laughed and said, “That’s not necessarily true. What if customer service blocks your account?”

“Stop talking nonsense, I complained about you, why would they block my account?” Xiaoju scoffed.

However, she subconsciously glanced at her account, and it automatically logged out. She quickly tried to log back in, and a pop-up window appeared.

“Due to suspected violation of platform account usage, your ID card and mobile phone number have now been banned by the platform. The unbanning date is July 18, 3024.”

The girl next to her saw the message and exclaimed in shock, “Ah? They really blocked your account? And it’s blocked until 100 years from now?”

Yang Chen said with a smile, “Really? It’s blocked for that long! Tsk tsk tsk… the platform really doesn’t know what it’s doing, how can it be so cruel to girls? 100 years isn’t too long, you can get married and have children early, and your great-grandson can handle the unbanning procedures for you after he retires.”

Xiaoju was speechless.

The companion said, “How could this happen? Didn’t you explain it clearly to customer service? Did they think you were personally attacking the driver?”

Xiaoju immediately replied, “How is that possible? Am I stupid? Can’t I explain things properly? Damn it, the customer service rep has a brain problem! I’ll call again and ask!”

As she spoke, Xiaoju dialed the customer service number again.

“Hello, the user you are calling is temporarily unavailable, please call again later.”

Xiaoju dialed more than a dozen times, and the prompt remained the same.

The companion said, “You’ve been blacklisted, haven’t you?”

Xiaoju said innocently, “Why? What did I do to be blacklisted? Does this Bip Bip platform even have any rules? I didn’t do anything wrong, why are they blocking my account and blacklisting me? This driver personally attacked me, why isn’t he being punished?”

Yang Chen immediately said, “Madam, I need to correct you. What I said to you was just unpleasant, but it was all true. You admitted it yourself, and you repeated my words to show off to me that because you are a woman, marriage can solve everything. Right? So, you can’t say that I’m personally attacking you. How can facts be called an attack? It’s like me saying you are your father’s daughter, that’s stating a fact, you can’t say I’m personally attacking you. Right?”

Xiaoju was once again speechless.

At that moment, a flashy pink Rolls-Royce pulled up next to Yang Chen’s car and honked twice.

Yang Chen turned his head and saw Wang Nianming waving at him while lounging on his girlfriend’s lap.

“Brother Chen, you’re still driving? I thought you were testing the robot girlfriend,” Wang Nianming said with a grin.

“Haha… that’s not my job, there are professionals testing it. Your car is really flashy, just like you,” Yang Chen said with a smile.

Wang Nianming laughed and said, “That’s what suits my style. I won’t bother you, I’m leaving now.”

Yang Chen waved, and Wang Nianming quickly sat up and drove off.

Xiaoju looked at Yang Chen in shock and asked, “You… you know Wang Nianming?”

The companion asked, “I just heard him call you Brother Chen and mention a robot girlfriend, are you Yang Chen?”

Yang Chen nodded with a smile. “Yes, I’m Yang Chen.”

The two girls were immediately so shocked that they covered their mouths.

Xiaoju frantically tried to call customer service again, wanting to withdraw the bad review and complaint, but she was indeed blacklisted, and every time she called, the line was busy.

“Xiaoli, quickly use your phone to call Bip Bip customer service, I want to withdraw the bad review and complaint. Hurry, hurry, hurry!” Xiaoju urged.

The companion nodded and was about to dial the Bip Bip customer service number.

Yang Chen said with a smile, “No need, no need. I can accept passengers giving me bad reviews and complaints, I never blame passengers who give me bad reviews and complaints. You guys can get out, I still have to take orders.”

Xiaoju was so anxious that she started to cry. “Boss Yang, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was you. If I had known you were Boss Yang, even if you gave me ten thousand chances, I wouldn’t have dared to say those things. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’ll call to withdraw the bad review and complaint right away.”

“Really, no need. You guys get out of the car, I really have to go,” Yang Chen said.

Xiaoju said, crying, “But if I leave like this, I’ll feel very bad and won’t be able to sleep at night. I must call customer service to withdraw the bad review and complaint in front of you.”

Yang Chen shook his head and said, “Really, no need! You guys get out of the car quickly, the car behind me is my bodyguard. If you don’t get out of the car, they’ll think I’m in danger, and they’ll come over and forcibly drag you out of the car, and that won’t look good. Be good, listen, get out of the car.”

The companion quickly pushed Xiaoju out of the car, not wanting to anger Yang Chen, especially with bodyguards nearby.

Xiaoju said, “Xiaoli, you get out of the car, I want to apologize to Boss Yang.”

The companion was speechless and immediately said, “Xiaoju, listen to my advice, get out of the car. Do you have to make the bodyguards drag you out to look good?”

“You get out of the car, don’t worry about me,” Xiaoju insisted.

The companion sighed and quickly opened the door and got out of the car.

Xiaoju immediately said, “Boss Yang, I’m really sorry. To express my apology, I’m willing to be your nanny as compensation. I’ll take care of all your daily life in the future. I’m not good at anything else, but I can definitely take care of you in that regard. Okay?”