"Mr. Delamini, Mr. Grave, why do you two look so unhappy? Is there something wrong with your health?" Zhang Menglong asked with feigned concern, "You haven't caught an infection, have you? Should we rush to the hospital to check?"
"Happy my foot! We are happy!" While Delamini and Grave had smiles plastered on their faces, internally they were cursing. A simple objective that could've been resolved, and now you come up with a backup, the costs have just skyrocketed. How are we supposed to be happy, huh? We're practically wearing the Mask of Pain!
"No, no, no, we're just too delighted. It's our honor to make a friend of Mr. Zhang happy," the two hurriedly replied.
"It's all on the finance department. Tomorrow, I'll send someone to coordinate with you!" Grave told the owner of the luxury car dealership.
The owner was thrilled. Selling so many cars in one day, how could he not be delighted? And with the government paying, there was no worry about bad debts—it was like God of Wealth had descended from the heavens.
Including the recent check, more than three hundred million US Dollars had just evaporated, equating to nearly fifty billion South African Rand—a significant number for the finance department indeed.
"Ah, the cars are good, but they're beyond our reach!" Zhang Menglong's seniors also began to hint.
"Yes, I heard these cars guzzle gas like monsters. We're just poor students; how can we afford sports cars? They'll just end up as showpieces in a parking lot."
"Too bad, we were quite happy just a moment ago. Hearing you all talk like that, I suddenly feel a bit unhappy."
"Look," Zhang Menglong translated their sentences, "My seniors come from ordinary families. Even though they own cars, as you know, buying is cheap, maintaining is costly. With these cars, a single push on the accelerator, and there goes their entire monthly salary... Look..."
"No problem! That's easily settled!" Delamini said, "Our company, South Africa Petrochemicals, has invested in many oil companies in Huaxia. Just leave your friends' contact details here, and I will arrange for someone to give them a lifetime membership. Car maintenance and fueling will all be free!"
"How can we accept that!"
"Ah, it's already giving money and cars, now also VIP services. We do feel a bit guilty!"
"Is this really okay?"
"Hypocritical Huaxia people!" Watching everyone bustling with happiness, where was the slightest shame or guilt? You were virtually robbing us!
But the words at the tip of his tongue turned into another version, "It was our recklessness, having caused you distress during your flight. That was our fault, and these little compensations cannot make up for your emotional distress. If you continue to refuse, it would be like you are still blaming us."
"Right, it truly cannot compensate," Zhang Menglong nodded.
"Fuck!" Delamini wanted to slap himself right then. What was he thinking, saying such things? Now good, Zhang Menglong had smoothly continued on that track.
You yourselves feel the compensation isn't enough, so what more can I say?
"Brother, didn't you say you were planning to propose soon? South Africa's diamonds are very famous. Maybe we could look at some diamonds?" Zhang Menglong suggested, "Sisters, if you like any jewelry, feel free to mention it. I believe Mr. Grave would be more than willing to foot the bill."
"Is that right, Mr. Grave?" Zhang Menglong turned to Grave.
"Of course, Mr. Zhang!" Grave sighed in relief, glad it was just diamonds. As a major player in the diamond industry, Grave knew the business had its fair share of markups. And it was just diamond rings and jewelry, after all—how much could it cost?
Even the priciest diamond jewelry in retail stores amounted to just a few hundred thousand US Dollars at most. Observing that Zhang Menglong's friends were ordinary people, picking a high-end diamond jewelry store to pacify them would do the trick.
"You want other things? If it's diamonds, South Africa is definitely one of the top providers. We have a diamond town where all the diamonds mined across the country are processed. You will definitely find suitable diamonds there!"
"Oh? Now that's something I must see for myself," Zhang Menglong laughed, "Then let's go!"
This so-called diamond town was merely an industrial park located less than ten kilometers from the capital. There, a plethora of jewelry brands clustered, including well-known names such as Cartier and Bvlgari.
"Isn't this too beautiful?" Girls can never resist the allure of diamonds. The moment they walked into the venue, their eyes nearly sparkled with light.
"Everyone can freely choose, picking several pieces is fine too," Grave, wealthy and imposing, said.
"Junior sister, help me take a look at this one. How about it? It's pretty, isn't it?"
"I think this one looks better!"
"Wow, 300,000 South African Rand, that's almost 150,000 Huaxia currency, right? Almost two carats!"
"Senior brother, your girlfriend will definitely like it!"
"Wow! This necklace is so beautiful! And these earrings, are they really made of diamonds? They couldn't be fake, could they?"
"Miss, all our diamonds here are genuinely authentic!" a Huaxia employee in the showroom assured them.
But looking at these items, Lu Yiyao remained indifferent. The diamonds embedded on the toilets in her home were several times larger than the largest diamonds in the showroom.
Zhang Menglong also frowned. Did these people really treat his senior and junior brothers and sisters like ordinary folks?
Indeed, for ordinary people, diamond accessories worth tens of thousands of Huaxia currency are already quite luxurious, but the world's largest diamond mines belonged to Zhang Menglong's family; he was very clear about these gemstones.
Previously, a female star had said that diamonds under one carat are just melee diamonds and not valuable, but she was mocked in the media and accused of being pretentious.
But in reality, her statement was not false at all!
Diamonds are indeed very precious gemstones, but only those that are of a certain size and have undergone very fine processing are considered valuable.
And these diamonds, which look like they're worth tens of thousands, probably don't even cost over ten thousand in production.
Did they really think they could appease him with these ordinary melee diamonds on the market?
"Senior brothers and sister, let's go!" Zhang Menglong's face showed uncontrollable anger, even they were stunned.
"Menglong, what's wrong, why are you suddenly so angry?"
"Junior brother, what happened?"
"Mr. Zhang, what's the matter with you?" Seeing Zhang Menglong's demeanor, Delamini and Grave panicked.
"You two still ask me what's wrong?" Zhang Menglong sneered, "Do you think my friends are fools or do you think I, Zhang Menglong, am a nobody?"
"Mr. Zhang, our diamonds here are genuinely authentic; we definitely wouldn't dare to deceive you with fakes!"
"These worthless melee diamonds count as diamonds?" Zhang Menglong pointed at the display case at the nearly 2-carat diamond ring priced at 500,000 South African Rand and said, "Do you want my senior brother to propose with this worthless melee diamond ring? Do you want to embarrass him in front of his girlfriend? This is an insult to my senior brother's girlfriend!"
"A 2-carat melee diamond..."
"Junior brother has started again, if someone proposed to me with a 2-carat melee diamond, I would definitely marry him right there!"
"Junior sister, you think too small, is Menglong an ordinary person? A 2-carat diamond might really be just a melee diamond to him."
"We are us, Menglong is Menglong, please, go ahead and humiliate me with these melee diamonds!"