Chapter 244 - New Investment Opportunity
Translator: Lav
Editor: Seliniaki Ilikia
There was a couple talking on the side. The man was patiently trying to persuade the woman. “Horseback riding is a n.o.ble sport. 10,000 yuan for a set of clothes plus a helmet, riding boots, and a whip really isn’t that expensive.”
The woman strongly opposed. “How is 10,000 yuan not expensive? How much money do you usually spend on clothes? This amount of money is even enough to buy a designer handbag!”
“I’ll buy the handbag, but since we’re going to learn how to ride a horse, we should have a good set of equipment.”
How can this woman be so stingy? Shi Lei thought. Don’t tell me that the man is spending her money? He couldn’t help but look at the man in disdain.
A single glance showed that the man wasn’t exactly good-looking, and yet there were still women out there willing support him financially. Public morals were certainly degenerating with each pa.s.sing day.
The employee on the other side of the counter patiently explained to her, “Madam, the prices in our shop aren’t really expensive. It’s basically the same as sports stores in the city. These are good brands. Because horse riding does hold potential danger, better equipment will be able to protect you better in an accident.”
“Listen to what she said. I say that we take this set!” The man added.
The woman still strongly opposed. “No, I saw a set that was about 4,000 yuan that looked the same as this one. The amount of money we can save is even enough to buy a car wheel.”
Seeing that the man was about to give up, Shi Lei proceeded to signing his receipt. He glanced at the bill, which showed only a little over 10,000 yuan. The set of clothes only costed 4,000 yuan, but it was a total of about 10,000 yuan, counting the boots and helmet, which was an acceptable price.
“Holy s.h.i.t, that’s cheap.” The words slipped out of his mouth involuntarily. Manager Jin felt awkward. He considered Shi Lei to be the kind of person who had spent over 10,000 yuan on each of the shirts he had at home. When he was about to explain it to Shi Lei, the man seized the chance and spoke. “Look at him! He thinks that 10,000 yuan is cheap! I noticed a while ago that his set is 2,000 yuan more expensive than ours. We really can’t afford to be cheap with something like this.”
Without waiting for the woman to reply, the man waved his hand at Shi Lei and asked loudly, “Sir, the better the equipment, the lower the risk will be in comparison. Do you think that what I said is reasonable?”
Shi Lei rolled his eyes. “I can’t say that. It depends how much money you have in your pocket.”
The woman agreed. “Exactly. He’s tall, rich, and handsome. How can you compare to him?”
Shi Lei was extremely delighted when he heard that. He had never imagined that anyone would ever describe him like that.
But the man became angry. “I can’t compare to him in the money aspect, but he definitely can’t compare with me when it comes to height. Look at how tall he is, at most, one hundred and seventy-eight centimeters. I am one hundred and eighty-three centimeters tall. As for handsome, everyone’s view is different. I think I’m pretty handsome.”
Shi Lei didn’t like what the man had said. He looked at Manager Jin. “Manager Jin, tell me who’s more handsome.”
Manager Jin was stuck between a rock and a hard place, but he eventually said, “I think Mr. Shi is more handsome.” He secretly a.s.sumed that the other deal would be ruined by that.
But the man was even more agitated and slapped his hand on the table. “I don’t care. I’m taking this set. What’s so serious about a mere 10,000 yuan? I’ll take on a few more jobs and earn it back immediately!”
Shi Lei blanked. Oh, so he is using his money. Then what else is there to say? Why do you care how he spends his own money? He can spend it on whatever he likes.
The woman still continued to insist. “No, you’ve only just started and we need to save money. I just want to help you save some money so you can buy a car and drive it instead of squishing on the train every day to negotiate investments with customers. And the investors would at least have a better image of you if you have a car. They’ll think that you’re unreliable when they see that you travel by train.”
“Don’t mind her. I’m taking this one. Get me the receipt.” The man demanded even more stubbornly and even glowered at Shi Lei. I asked you to help me, but you instead ruined it for me! If you have enough money to buy the 10,000 yuan set, then why can’t I buy it even if I don’t have as much?
The woman objected. “No! I say no, so it’s a no! I don’t want this. Employee, get the 4,000 yuan set for me. If you must get this, then I’m not learning horseback riding.”
Something was wrong. The situation had just changed really quickly. From her words, Shi Lei figured out that the man wasn’t purchasing the set of equipment for himself, but for the woman. The man was still insisting, but he was now attempting to persuade her in a soft voice. The woman still refused to give up.
Seeing that the man was about to back down, Shi Lei walked up to them and offered his hand in greeting. “h.e.l.lo, I’m Shi Lei. May I ask how to address you?”
The man gave Shi Lei a strange look. Although he took his hand and shook it, he didn’t answer the question.
Shi Lei didn’t mind and smiled. “I think I had a misunderstanding with you. At first, when I heard your conversation, I thought that you, sir, wanted to use the madam’s money to buy your own equipment. So when you asked me, I replied with ‘do whatever you can within your own capabilities.’ I am personally against…Ahem, you know what I mean. But I realized that I’ve misunderstood you. You are spending the money that you earned yourself, so I again thought that it was strange. Isn’t it fine for you to spend your own money? I didn’t fully understand until hearing what the madam just said about you wanting to buy better equipment for her, but she wants to save your hard-earned money and therefore opposed.”
The couple exchanged a glance with each other and nodded in unison. “How does this has anything to do with you?” the man asked. “Don’t tell me you plan to pay it for us?”
If it wasn’t for that stupid Black Card, I really wouldn’t mind doing that. Just for the fact that both of you are very considerate of each other, I wouldn’t mind paying since it is the Black Card’s money. But I can’t. That’s more than one percent and who knows what will be taken away from my body?
“I see you as someone with integrity. Even if I offered to buy it for you, I’m afraid that you wouldn’t accept it.” The man’s expression turned slightly better at Shi Lei’s words. “In general, what the sir said is very reasonable,” he said to the woman. “When there’s an accident, the risk of injury will decrease with better equipment. You are considering the difficulty of him starting a new business and you look like you are searching for resources everywhere. What’s his project about? If possible, I’m interested in getting to know it.”
The man found Shi Lei even more suspicious and was hesitant to speak, since he didn’t know what he was up to.
The woman reacted quickly in joy. “Mr. Shi, are you a business angel whose job is to invest in entrepreneurs?”
Shi Lei was blank for a second, then nodded. “Something like that. I have a great interest in all investments.”
The woman was overjoyed. “My boyfriend is a programmer. He developed a mobile app some time ago—”
The man quickly cut into his girlfriend’s sentence. “It’s a search engine app that focuses on searching things inside the city. It’s inconvenient to talk about the finer details here, since I don’t really know you. But I can tell you that this type of app is new and there currently shouldn’t be any other products of the same kind.”
Shi Lei smiled in understanding. “Let’s exchange contact information first. Perhaps we’ll have a chance to collaborate.”