Even though she knew he was joking, Fang Qing still couldn’t help but blush furiously; this time she was truly livid.
"I’m going to fight you!"
Just like when she was a child, although she was always the one provoking, she would end up losing her composure first, pouncing on Jiang Chen and biting him as soon as she opened her mouth.
Jiang Chen fell onto the couch, hastily dodging.
"You’re all grown up, and yet you’re still pulling this stunt?!"
Fang Qing didn’t care, biting wherever she caught him. After the tussle, both were hot all over, Fang Qing’s hairclip had fallen out, her hair disheveled, and without managing to bite him, she ended up breathless and exhausted herself.
Jiang Chen pushed her off him and quickly got up.
Even if they were close, they were not children anymore.
"Get yourself together and come out with me."
Fang Qing sat slumped on the couch, obstinately as if she had thrown a fit.
"Not even going for a great opportunity?"
"What’s the great opportunity?"
Fang Qing looked up, straightening her hair.
"You’ll know if you follow me."
Jiang Chen spoke mysteriously, "I guarantee you won’t regret it."
Fang Qing quickly got up.
"Wait for me a moment."
Then, she walked into the bedroom.
Jiang Chen was slightly stunned, then he chuckled to himself.
Even though rush hour had passed, the subway still had no empty seats. In a supercity like Capital City East Sea, it was just too overcrowded with dream-chasers who had flooded in from everywhere, packed to the brim.
"Your law firm starts working at nine?"
Jiang Chen held onto a pole inside a subway car.
Fang Qing leaned against the door, "Mhm."
"Do you take the subway to work every day?"
"What time do you have to get up?"
"Around seven, or else I can’t make it."
People living in smaller cities might not understand, but in a supercity like Capital City, commuting for a few hours is completely normal.
Not everyone can afford to rent a place near their workplace to save money, many reside quite far from their offices and some even live in the neighboring city, needing to take the high-speed train to get to work every day.
"That’s quite hard on you."
Jiang Chen murmured to himself.
Fang Qing did not respond.
Who wasn’t struggling working away from home?
"Where exactly are we going?"
"Fang Qing, you mustn’t be anxious in anything you do, you need to be patient. As you work in the legal field, you need even more to calm your mind."
Fang Qing asked no further, simply turning to look at the advertisements flashing by in the subway tunnel.
"Zoo Station is coming up soon, please prepare to exit if this is your stop."
The broadcast sounded.
The subway came to a stop.
With many people getting on and off, Jiang Chen grabbed Fang Qing’s arm.
The Zoo was not an actual zoo.
It was just the name of a station.
After walking out of the subway, Jiang Chen finally let go of her hand, exhaling.
"I feel like there are even more people in Capital City than East Sea."
Fang Qing, whose arm had been held the whole way, didn’t say a word.
Jiang Chen took out his phone, seemed to check the map, then identified the direction.
Although she was confused, Fang Qing still did not ask again; they walked for another twenty minutes and then arrived at the entrance of a car dealership.
Compared to the bustle of the street, the dealership was somewhat deserted, but the trident symbol of Poseidon above the door exuded a luxuriousness that intimidated most.
Fang Qing furrowed her brows, breaking her silence.
"What are you up to?"
"I’m buying you a car, so you don’t have to rush for the subway to get to work."
And a Maserati at that?
Jiang Chen’s tone was casual, but Fang Qing was taken aback.
Without any excitement, Fang Qing quickly refused, and her expression turned somewhat unsightly.
Jiang Chen frowned, "Having a car would make your commute to and from work less painful, at least you could sleep a bit more each day."
"I said I don’t need it!"
Fang Qing was for some reason angry, and this emotion was more serious than the play fighting earlier in the day. After speaking, she turned to leave.
Jiang Chen took a step forward, catching her wrist.
Growing up together, apart from Mr. and Mrs. Fang Weiguo, probably no one knew Fang Qing better than he did.
He could tell that Fang Qing was truly angry this time.
To tell the truth, he was somewhat baffled.
Fang Qing shook off his hand.
Jiang Chen, uncharacteristically at a loss, instinctively released his hand.
Instead of continuing forward, Fang Qing turned around, her face cold and indifferent. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but in the end said nothing.
Facing those familiar eyes that held an especially strange look, Jiang Chen, for a moment, didn’t know what to say either.
The two of them stood at the entrance of the 4S shop, resembling a couple in the middle of a tiff.
"...It’s one thing for Tong Dan to curse at me; I can understand however she might misunderstand, but you wouldn’t think the same as her, would you? That I’m that kind of person."
Jiang Chen seemed to realize where the problem lay.
This girl couldn’t possibly think that he was using Li Shuru’s money as a gift to impress others, could she?
That was the only possibility.
Putting himself in her shoes, if Fang Qing had a wealthy boyfriend who used his money to buy her things, he’d probably be furious too.
"Even if you think I’ve clung to someone above my station, do you really think I’m the type to recklessly spend a woman’s money?"
Fang Qing remained silent.
Jiang Chen revealed a bitter smile.
"Then where... did you get the money?"
Fang Qing’s voice regained its calm.
Fang Qing’s eyebrows knitted together again.
Other people might not understand his family situation, but did Fang Qing not?
An ordinary graduate, not relying on his family, nor on a woman, gifting someone a car? And a Maserati at that?
It sounded like a fantasy.
"Do you remember the love game I talked to you about last New Year’s Eve?"
Jiang Chen knew it was time to give an explanation.
Fang Qing nodded her head.
The two indeed had a conversation over the New Year’s Eve dinner.
"Back then I asked you if you knew which university developed that game. Well, yes, it was East Sea University."
Jiang Chen watched her eyes fluctuate.
"And I... I’m one of the main creators of that love game."
Fang Qing’s eyes slightly widened.
This news obviously shocked her greatly.
"...Why didn’t you say so at the time?"
"The game had just launched. Whether it would succeed or not, no one knew. If I bragged about it in advance and the game flopped, wouldn’t that be embarrassing?"
Jiang Chen’s explanation was half true, half false.
Fang Qing hesitated. If it had been anyone else standing in front of her, she might have stayed rational and questioned the inconsistency of someone who studied economics developing a game. But at this moment, the person standing before her was Jiang Chen.
"No wonder you’re so confident. Turns out you’re a successful person now."
Fang Qing’s familiar smile returned.
"Otherwise, did you really think I was living off a woman? If I were that type, Shu Rui wouldn’t have fallen for me, right?"
Fang Qing nodded with a smile, and at the same time, she breathed a sigh of relief.
When Jiang Chen said he wanted to give her a car, her mind went blank.
Fortunately, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
"Giving a gift and receiving a cold look in return, sigh."
Jiang Chen sighed helplessly.
"It’s your own fault for not explaining things clearly."
Fang Qing felt somewhat guilty, too.
Why did she doubt him?
This was the boy who had grown up with her, after all.
"You’re really going to give me a car?"
Fang Qing asked for confirmation.
"Do you think I brought you all this way on the subway just for exercise?"
Fang Qing couldn’t help but smile, but still shook her head. "I don’t want it."
Jiang Chen was puzzled.
"I’ve just started working; how would it look driving such a nice car?"
"What others think has nothing to do with me,"
Jiang Chen demonstrated an unusual assertiveness, "Uncle Fang and Aunt Pan have always treated me as their own child. You not accepting it is like not considering me a friend."
"You should repay them instead of me, I don’t want it... what are you doing!"
Jiang Chen, disregarding everything, once again grabbed the hand he had held numerous times as a child and pulled her towards the inside of the store.
Perhaps it was the attention that made Fang Qing, who was being dragged inside, flush with rosy cheeks, her face as lovely as a peach blossom.