17: Why don't you talk to Chen Qiu more?

Huh?

Chen Qiu struck it rich?

Hearing this, Xu Jia was completely baffled.

She had just seen Chen Qiu only ten minutes ago.

She had chatted with him the whole way.

He even told me himself that he had been laid off by his company.

Could it be that the person I met just now was an impostor?

"Mom, did you hear wrong?"

"I'm still in touch with Chen Qiu."

Hearing this, Lin Fang looked her daughter up and down with surprise.

That look seemed to express surprise that she was still in contact with a male classmate from middle school.

"How could I have heard wrong!"

Lin Fang's tone was firm and decisive.

"People from his village saw it with their own eyes!"

"That young man said he just got back this afternoon, and he drove back in a new car worth two or three hundred thousand yuan that hasn't even been registered yet!"

Hearing this, Xu Jia immediately became suspicious.

Chen Qiu had indeed told her just now that he had arrived home today.

Could it... really be him?

However, Chen Qiu had been working away for several years. If his family helped out a bit to scrape together a down payment, buying a car worth over two hundred thousand yuan shouldn't be a big problem... "What's wrong? Is someone not allowed to work hard for a few years and buy a car to come home for the New Year?"

"A car worth two or three hundred thousand is a nice car, but it's not enough to start rumors that he's struck it rich..."

Xu Jia said helplessly.

Hearing this, Lin Fang leaned in mysteriously.

She glanced at the kitchen door and lowered her voice as if the walls had ears.

"That wasn't bought by him."

"I heard it from his neighbor, who told me in secret."

"Someone else gave it to him!"

"A gift?"

Xu Jia's lightly tinted red lips parted slightly.

She was a bit dazed.

"Exactly! That's why they say he's struck it rich!"

Lin Fang slapped her thigh, her voice growing excited again.

"Have you ever seen an ordinary person get a brand-new car worth two or three hundred thousand yuan for no reason?"

"And! It's not just the car!"

"Let me tell you, his trunk was packed full of good stuff!"

"His neighbor saw it with their own eyes! He bought his mom a gold bracelet worth tens of thousands of yuan! He bought his dad a Huawei phone worth over ten thousand yuan! He even brought several bottles of liquor that cost thousands each..."

"Tell me, if he hadn't struck it rich, could he spend like that?"

Listening to her mother's confident and vivid description, as if she had been there and seen it all herself.

Xu Jia was completely dumbfounded.

If it was a rumor, it was too outrageous to be made up!

But... if it wasn't a rumor... just the gifts her mother described added up to nearly a hundred thousand yuan.

Plus that three-hundred-thousand-yuan car someone gave him.

This... As a Private Banking Relationship Manager at China Merchants Bank, the clients she dealt with every day were all individuals with a net worth of over ten million yuan.

Moreover, this "net worth" only counted financial assets like deposits, funds, and stocks, excluding fixed assets like real estate and vehicles.

The quality of these clients was very high!

In a third-tier city like Gannan, there weren't many people who could meet this standard.

Locally, they were definitely considered truly wealthy!

From what she knew, for a wealthy person of this level to casually give someone something worth hundreds of thousands of yuan...

...it was mostly for business interests or some kind of shady, inexplicable transfer of benefits.

"It should... it should be business dealings."

"In reality, Chen Qiu probably provided equivalent resources, but the people in his village don't know that, so they think it was given for free..."

Xu Jia analyzed secretly in her heart using her professional knowledge.

She knew that many business owners liked to use luxury cars to offset project payments or debts... but even so.

Chen Qiu, who could casually bring home nearly a hundred thousand yuan worth of gifts, had definitely moved beyond the status of an ordinary worker.

"No wonder he looked so relaxed and leisurely."

Recalling Chen Qiu's calm and composed demeanor and aura in the car just now.

Xu Jia even felt that he was a bit like those major private banking clients she had seen who had already achieved financial freedom.

Suddenly, Xu Jia thought of the huge gap in her year-end performance targets.

"Sigh..."

She sighed.

"I can't count on Chen Qiu, either."

If she were an ordinary relationship manager, Chen Qiu might have helped her out by making a deposit for the sake of their old friendship to boost her performance numbers.

But she was a Private Banking Relationship Manager.

The entry threshold for clients was over ten million yuan in financial assets.

"Even if that guy Chen Qiu has struck it rich, there's no way he could have reached our private banking standards so quickly."

"And..."

"This guy actually fooled me by saying he was laid off..."

Xu Jia curled her beautiful red lips, a hint of resentment flashing in her eyes.

This is simply...!

Cruelly toying with the feelings of a struggling worker like her!

At this moment, Lin Fang leaned in again and nudged her with her elbow.

"Hey, didn't you say you're still in touch with that Chen Qiu?"

"How about it? You two could try to chat more."

Hearing this, Xu Jia tilted her head weakly, her ponytail swaying in the air.

When her mom said "chat more," she meant dating.

"Mom, I just have his contact info. We don't talk often; we haven't seen each other in years."

"Oh, if you two chat more, won't you be in frequent contact?"

Lin Fang looked at her with a look of frustrated expectation.

"I remember you two got along quite well back in middle school."

"And that young man is quite handsome..."

"Ugh, I'm done talking to you!"

Xu Jia couldn't take it anymore. She stopped cleaning the vegetables and walked straight out of the kitchen.

But Lin Fang's words were somehow echoing in her mind.

"Can a relationship from middle school be the same as it is now?"

She bit her red lip, but Chen Qiu's fresh, clean, and handsome face involuntarily appeared in her mind.

Xu Jia opened WeChat, found the profile that had been silent for years—still labeled "Chen Qiu"—and sent a bonk-on-the-head emoji.

"Well, well, you actually lied to me about being laid off."

"I've already heard that you've struck it rich!"

...On the other side.

As Chen Qiu strolled back, he inexplicably received many warm greetings from the uncles and Aunts along the way.

After returning home, he asked his parents, full of questions.

"What's going on?"

"I've only been home for a few hours, yet it feels like the whole village is saying I've made big money..."

Chen Zhide didn't seem surprised. He sipped his tea and tilted his chin up.

"That's what happens when people see things."

"Let them talk. We can't control what people say!"

Luo Jinglan said happily as she brought dishes to the table.

"It's better for them to say good things about you than bad."

"It's perfect since you have a blind date coming up. With this reputation, you might attract a lot of good girls!"

"Oh, by the way."

She seemed to remember something.

"Your Aunt introduced a girl to you. When will you have time to meet her and have a chat?"

"From Aunt's side?"

Chen Qiu was a bit surprised.

"Sure, okay. Tomorrow and the day after are the weekend, and I don't have anything going on lately."

In fact, for Chen Qiu, the blind date was the real business!