Although he is very rich now, he still feels that such spending is too extravagant! In the past, he would never have dared to even think about it.
Chen Xu asked curiously, "Since Guan Yi is so willing to spend money, why is her coat just average?" He continued, "These days, besides expensive housing, clothes are also incredibly expensive. A few hundred yuan for a piece of clothing is basically considered average... but in reality, the cost is at most a few dozen yuan. The clothing industry is extremely profitable."
Gao Xiaojie rolled her eyes at Chen Xu: "It's not that she's willing to spend money, it's that she has no concept of money in some aspects, just like you! Sigh, saying this makes me sound a bit jealous of her, resentful of the rich, but actually, she can spend her money however she wants. If she really wanted to show off her wealth, she wouldn't wear such ordinary clothes outside. It's just a habit."
"Some people wear clothes costing tens of thousands of yuan just to show off their taste and status, but for others, it's because they're used to this level of consumption. Guan Yi clearly belongs to the latter. Her expensive spending is all in places that ordinary people can't see, like her underwear, skincare products, etc. I was curious and did the math, and Guan Yi's average monthly spending in this area is over ten thousand yuan... How can I compare to her?"
Chen Xu laughed: "Nobody's asking you to compare yourself to her... Hmm, what brand is your underwear? Maybe I should buy you a comfortable pair too?"
"Go to hell!" Gao Xiaojie playfully slapped him. "Actually, I'm quite calm. Of course, I'm just an ordinary person, and I'm bound to be envious, but envying doesn't mean I have to do what she does or live the life she does. I don't have the means to do that. Do you know Zhang Qingqing? Guan Yi's roommate."
Chen Xu thought for a moment and remembered this person, a girl who was fairly good-looking, but they didn't have much contact.
Gao Xiaojie's face showed a contemptuous expression: "She's been kept by someone."
"Kept, kept?!" Chen Xu was genuinely surprised. He never expected that the legendary "keeping a mistress" would actually happen to one of his classmates!
"The man who's keeping her is almost 50," Gao Xiaojie said without hiding her contempt. "But someone like Zhang Qingqing only deserves an old man of this caliber. He drives a Honda, not a fancy car, owns a small company, and earns only a few hundred thousand a year. Keeping her only costs him five or six thousand a month. And she thinks she can compare to Guan Yi? All she has are a few decent clothes and bags that cost a few thousand yuan, but she's sacrificed them for herself. It's pathetic."
"What's going on?" Chen Xu slapped his forehead. "You mean, you got yourself kept by someone just to compete with Guan Yi?"
"Don't pin this blame on Guan Yi," Gao Xiaojie protested, slapping Chen Xu. "It's Zhang Qingqing who doesn't know how to value herself. That's vanity...sigh. Guan Yi's family must be extraordinary; she probably grew up in one of those legendary aristocratic families. She doesn't actually want to show off, but she's used to it and that's why she spends money like that. But that's what irritates Zhang Qingqing. That girl is incredibly vain. She probably thinks, 'Why is it that we're all women, but Guan Yi has things she doesn't?' Actually, I think...Guan Yi is very lonely. She doesn't have many friends, but she wants to make friends. As far as I know, Guan Yi doesn't mind her three roommates using her skincare products and other expensive items. But it's her business if she doesn't mind. Even if a sensible girl likes something, it's still someone else's stuff; how can she use it so recklessly? But Zhang Qingqing is different. She uses Guan Yi's things and still wants to compare herself to Guan Yi in other ways. That's vanity. It's a manifestation of her inner imbalance, but she hasn't considered that the world isn't fair."
"Moreover... Guan Yi was also at fault. She lent her things to her roommate out of good intentions, but she never considered that her skincare products were so expensive and their effects were definitely not comparable to ordinary brands. Wasn't that just blatantly leading other girls astray?"
Chen Xu recalled Guan Yi's resentful look at him a long time ago, saying, "Do you know what the girls in the dorm said about me behind my back? They said I'm scheming, hard to get along with, and that my smile is all fake... I heard it with my own ears at the door!"
The old saying is indeed true! A woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea... Three women make a drama... One woman is like five hundred ducks...
Ahem, we've gone off on a tangent again.
Gao Xiaojie leaned against Chen Xu and said, "It's normal for people to be vain, but it's not a good thing if vanity goes on forever. Although I think my stance is pretty firm, I'm afraid that if I get too close to her, I won't be able to resist being jealous... Women are all very petty, you know. I don't want to do anything wrong because of that kind of meaningless jealousy, so I'll just keep my distance."
Chen Xu kissed her forehead tenderly and said, "I understand what you mean. Don't worry, I don't have high demands for material life. As long as I'm comfortable, that's fine. Your man is very rich now. If you feel comfortable wearing brand-name underwear, then you can wear it."
Gao Xiaojie rolled her eyes at him, then lowered her head shyly: "Since we've already gone this far... I won't be coy and refuse if you want to spend money on me, but not now, okay?"
Chen Xu understood what she meant. She shared a dorm room with Zhan Jing, and nothing could be hidden from her. Sigh... Zhan Jing, Guan Yi!
Chen Xu, shameless as ever, asked, "Then tell me, what should I do? The two of them..."
Gao Xiaojie rolled her eyes at her reproachfully and muttered, "You heartless philanderer!" Then she sighed, "Sigh, I can't help it. Do you think a woman would want her man to be with another woman? If it weren't for the fact that I really... really had no other choice, do you think I would be willing to leave you? I already said that women are very petty."
Chen Xu hugged her tightly. He understood Gao Xiaojie's meaning, and his heart was filled with guilt.
Dong Qingjie once jokingly told him that fortunately, Hexie City, while not a small city, wasn't too big either. Compared to Shanghai and Beijing, its economic level was significantly lower, with fewer wealthy people and even fewer rich kids. If it were like some universities in Shanghai, where students drive sports cars to school, Chen Xu, having three beauties all to himself, would definitely have rich young men causing trouble every few days. Just dealing with these flies would be enough to keep Chen Xu extremely busy.
Although Lao Dong spoke in a joking tone, Chen Xu knew he wasn't joking. Everyone has a love for beauty. If it weren't for the fact that Hexie University was too small to accommodate someone as great as Chen Xu, there would be a constant stream of people challenging him... You know, there are countless guys in the entire school who regard the three of them as their dream girls... including many who already have girlfriends.
Which of these three men wouldn't cherish them dearly? If we're just talking about looks, yes, they are very beautiful, but there are plenty of pretty girls these days—bars, nightclubs, art schools… what pretty girls aren't there? But few have the same personality and temperament as them.
However, Chen Xu had three people in his heart, which naturally caused them to suffer.
After all, when it comes to matters of the heart, men cannot tolerate their women being touched by others, but similarly, women also hope that men will only have eyes for them.
There was something Gao Xiaojie said that she didn't say aloud, but Chen Xu understood it.
It wasn't just her relationship with Zhan Jing that made her, more importantly, fall hopelessly in love with herself, which led such a proud person as her to make this "compromise."
She had given so much, and Chen Xu felt that if he were to cause her any more harm or injustice, he wouldn't be a real man!
Just as the two were embracing, Xiao Bixuan, hiding in her room upstairs, finally breathed a sigh of relief... Actually, she had been awake for a while. With Chen Xu and Gao Xiaojie making so much noise downstairs, how could she not wake up?
Watching the two kiss intimately, Xiao Bixuan blushed and her heart pounded. Thankfully, they didn't do anything more passionate...
Chapter 310 Buying a House
When Chen Xu woke up the next morning, he felt refreshed. Although he was still a little dizzy from the hangover, the soft, warm bed and the warm, soft body in his arms made him feel that the world was truly wonderful.
Last night, Chen Xu didn't do anything until later. He just carried Gao Xiaojie to her room, and the two of them slept on her fragrant little bed. Although the single bed was a bit cramped for two people, experienced friends know that when two people are close together, you don't really feel that the bed is small. But the problem is... my arms hurt.
Because Chen Xu was holding Gao Xiaojie in his right arm, the girl was resting her head on Chen Xu's arm like a kitten. Although the girl was small, she was still a person after all. After resting her head on Chen Xu's strong arm for a long time, Chen Xu naturally felt sore and uncomfortable. However, seeing that the girl in his arms was still asleep, Chen Xu smiled and endured the soreness and numbness in his arm without pulling it away.
In fact, Chen Xu really enjoyed this feeling.
Last night, Chen Xu slept very soundly, whether it was because of the alcohol or the faint fragrance emanating from the beautiful woman in his arms.
Chen Xu had a peculiar habit: whenever he slept, he would inevitably dream.
Dreaming isn't a bad thing, and some people even say that frequent dreaming can improve intelligence. However, if you dream every night, your sleep quality certainly won't be very good.
After all, dreaming requires brain cells.
Therefore, Chen Xu often used Xiaomin to help him enter a deep sleep. While deep sleep is indeed restful and relieves fatigue, humans have long been accustomed to sleeping not solely for fatigue relief. Just two or three hours of sleep can restore a day's energy. If this were given to scientists who work tirelessly, they would be ecstatic, because it would mean at least six extra hours of effective work and research time each day, allowing them to conduct more research.
But Chen Xu is just an ordinary person, and he has one of the characteristics of an ordinary person... sleeping in!
I wake up in the morning, still half asleep. The alarm clock rings, but I'm still snuggled in my warm bed, whimpering and unwilling to get out. This kind of life... is so pleasant. If there's a girl I like next to me, then this life is simply heaven!
Chen Xu felt that he had slept very well last night. Although he had dreamed, he still couldn't remember what he dreamed about after waking up, but he knew that he had slept very soundly.
Gao Xiaojie, nestled in his arms, let out a soft moan, stretched out her little paws, and opened her eyes. Chen Xu saw the smile and affection in her eyes, and chuckled as he pinched her nose: "Get up, look like you're going to be late?"
“If I’m late, I won’t go,” Gao Xiaojie said with a smile. “Anyway, it’s Marxist Philosophy this morning.”
Chen Xu was about to look down on her for skipping class, but then he realized he didn't even remember what class it was, so he lost face and couldn't bring himself to do it.
"You should get up, even if you're not going to. We have things to do this morning."
"Hmm, wait a minute. I'll sleep a little longer."
He felt Gao Xiaojie clinging to him like an octopus in the blankets. Even through their clothes, he could still feel the soft touch of her body. Chen Xu almost lost control of his animalistic desires and lightly patted her buttocks. He chuckled and scolded, "Hurry up and get up to make breakfast for me. If you keep hugging me like this, I'm afraid I really won't be able to control myself." As he spoke, he reached out and touched her private parts.
Gao Xiaojie screamed "Ah!" and jumped off the bed. She gave Chen Xu a reproachful look, straightened her clothes, and cursed, "Pervert! Humph, I'm going to brush my teeth. I'll use the bathroom upstairs, you can use the one downstairs."
Just as she was about to walk out the door, because the bed was against the wall and Chen Xu's head was right in the doorway... Gao Xiaojie suddenly bent down and kissed him on the cheek, giggling, "This is a reward for you!", and then ran away laughing.
Chen Xu touched the spot on his face where he had been kissed, thinking to himself, "Women really do love bad boys. The 'friend zone' card is something you absolutely must avoid. Look, this girl called you a pervert before, and then she kissed you. If she had called you a good guy before… then this definitely wouldn't have happened!"
After washing his face and brushing his teeth, and teasing Gao Xiaojie a bit, Bixuan had already gone to work. The Princess Cake Shop was doing very well, and Chen Xu and Guan Yi simply gave Bixuan all their shares in various ways. Anyway, they weren't short of money. Bixuan was a really good girl, and everyone was thinking of taking care of her. When they went out, they saw that young and fat Shanghai Volkswagen parked at the door. Chen Xu rolled his eyes and smiled, "Let's not take a taxi. Let's drive ourselves. Taking a taxi is inconvenient."
Gao Xiaojie rolled her eyes: "Do you have a driver's license?"
Chen Xu proudly waved a notebook around, and Gao Xiaojie looked at it and frowned, asking, "Is this a driver's license?"
"No, this is a gun license." Chen Xu chuckled. "It was issued by the Eastern Divine Sword Special Forces. Do you think if I throw this at a traffic cop when he asks for my driver's license, he'll salute me?"
They all knew Chen Xu had a gun, and they even took it and played with it. Gao Xiaojie rolled her eyes and said, "Can't you even drive?!"
Chen Xu took out the spare key for Yingnian Yaofei from the house, opened the car door and said, "Get in, your man can even drive a tank!"
Although it was his first time driving in real life, Chen Xu drove very steadily... What kind of car hadn't he driven in the virtual world? Off-road vehicles, the kind with machine guns mounted on the back, Ferrari F1 sports cars... the kind Schumacher drove, a small Shanghai Volkswagen was no problem for him, but... it would be even better if this car had an automatic transmission!
Driving steadily towards the east side of the city, Chen Xu drove with great care. At first, Gao Xiaojie was a little uneasy, but later she was only concerned about the traffic police.
Fortunately, we didn't encounter any traffic police stopping us along the way, so all our worries were for nothing.
We drove smoothly all the way to the east side of the city, almost past the train station, and finally saw a sales office... "Xiliangshan Villa Sales Office"!
Gao Xiaojie exclaimed upon seeing this, "Damn, you've been all over Harmony City all this time just to buy a house here?!"
Chen Xu chuckled: "I'm just helping others take a look. If it's good, I'll buy one myself as an investment. Haven't you seen how fast house prices are rising these days?"
Xiliang Mountain refers to those hills near Hexie City that aren't particularly high, but if you fell from them, you'd almost certainly tumble through them. It's said that a conglomerate invested billions to build a villa complex there. There are villa communities built against the mountainside, and even detached villas halfway up the mountain. Advertisements are everywhere, and the houses are supposedly quite nice. But the prices are incredibly high.
Harmony City isn't a big city, but it's a provincial capital, so housing prices are naturally high. At the end of 2007, the average price was around 3,700 to 3,800 yuan per square meter. The villas here, on the other hand, are much larger, mostly detached duplexes, so their prices are definitely much higher than commercial housing. All things considered, a single villa would cost at least two million yuan.
The renovation hasn't even been done yet.
Harmony City isn't a big place. So there aren't many wealthy people, and more importantly, not many who are willing to spend their money. Only a few of these villas have been sold; most are still vacant.
As a result, when Chen Xu and his team arrived at the sales office at nine o'clock in the morning, they found that the office was not open at all!
"They won't give me a chance!" Chen Xu sighed in frustration as he looked at the closed door.
What kind of opportunity do you want?
"Keeping a mistress in a golden house!" Chen Xu laughed lewdly. "Just imagine, amidst these green hills and clear waters, how romantic it would be for us!"
Gao Xiaojie was taken aback. After realizing what was happening, she raised her hand to slap him. She laughed and scolded, "The first sentence was at least somewhat human, but the rest is just utter nonsense. Green hills and clear waters. If only I could have a house with green hills and clear waters. Don't be fooled by how beautifully they advertise; you have to understand that these days, advertisements are as unreliable as politicians' words. Ah. A big house, green hills and clear waters. Heh, that's quite romantic, isn't it?"
Gao Xiaojie was just making a casual remark, but Chen Xu's heart stirred.
He came here today mainly to find a place for Dr. Li and his team.
Chen Xu had already thought it through. He didn't know what organization was behind Jimmy, but it was definitely not simple. Dr. Li had considerable prestige in the world academic community, but he seemed to be very afraid of the forces behind him.
The grand scam of the century is still a secret for now. No one would believe Chen Xu if he revealed it now, because many things haven't been revealed yet.
Now his task is simply to react to whatever comes his way, which is where Dr. Li's knowledge comes in handy.
Since Chen Xu returned from Dubai, he has had an idea in his mind: it's time to cultivate his own team... as an SMMH apprentice, that is, Chen Xu himself.
A talent like Dr. Li is impossible to hire even with a hefty sum of money, so he naturally wants to seize this opportunity.
So Chen Xu came here to take a look because the houses here are very remote and not easily found by ordinary people, which means they are safe.
The fact that Jimmy was carrying a lighter-shaped pistol suggests the power behind him... that's standard equipment for MI5 agents!
To deal with such an enemy, one must naturally prioritize one's own safety. The safety of Dr. Li and his team should also be taken into account, as he will play a significant role in the future.
However, Gao Xiaojie's unintentional remark just now made Chen Xu realize that he should really buy a house of his own.
In Chinese culture, owning a house is essential for a home. The soaring housing prices have highlighted the urgency and pressure of buying a house. However, this pressure doesn't exist for Chen Xu. Even if housing prices rise, they won't keep up with his earnings. He's just a college student, and renting a place is enough for him. Why would he need to buy a house?
But now, Chen Xu feels that having a house and being able to be with the person he loves would indeed be a very happy thing.
Just then, someone knocked on the car window: "Excuse me, are you here to buy a house?"
Chapter 311 Facing the Sea, Spring Blossoms
Chen Xu looked out of the car and saw an elderly man with a receding hairline, wearing a suit. His sparse hair was neatly combed back, and he looked very dignified.
Chen Xu asked curiously, "How did you know I wanted to buy a house?"
The man laughed: "This place is so remote, and you've been waiting in front of the sales office for so long. I guess you're here to look at the houses. I'm really sorry, but because the real estate market isn't doing well, not many people are coming to buy these houses. And even if they are interested, they usually call the number on the advertisement first to inquire. So the sales office usually opens quite late these days."
Chen Xu asked curiously, "How do you know so much about this?"
"Oh, my surname is Wang, and I'm the developer of this villa in Xiliang Mountain," the old man said with a smile, handing over a business card. "This is my business card."