Chapter 61: Showing Off

"Understood, sir." The sales assistant took the card, as well as the handbag. While her colleague began wrapping up the handbag, she swiped the card. She glanced up. "Sir, seeing as you are a member of the Elite Club, you are entitled a 15% discount."

"Thank you." Liu Zhang Feng nodded politely. Yan Wan took the chance to show off more.

"Have you heard of the Elite Club?" She asked with a smirk, looking from me to Mu Rong Shu. "Only the richest and most prestigious people can join it. It's not something that you commoners can be a part of. Even if you somehow have a job, they won't accept someone like you."

"Uh, don't you think you're going too far, Wan Er?" Liu Zhang Feng was getting disturbed by his girlfriend's bullying behavior. "You shouldn't look down on other people."

"Whoops. Sorry." Yan Wan took a deep breath and recomposed herself. But she continued to shoot Mu Rong Shu a triumphant stare. She then turned to me, faking kindness. "If you want, you can ask Zhang Feng to help you get membership n the Elite Club. He knows the president of the Elite Club personally! You heard of Mr. Tang Li? The richest man in Jiang Nan? Zhang Feng is friends with him!"

"Not exactly," Liu Zhang Feng mumbled under his breath, embarrassed. "Mr. Tang doesn't know who I am. We've met briefly, once. I doubt he even remembers me. I certainly wouldn't call us friends."

"Still much better than some people," Yan Wan sneered. "Unlike Zhang Feng, you are someone who will never meet bigshots like Tang Li your entire life! His existence is beyond anything you can imagine!"

Mu Rong Shu culdn't help it. She burst out laughing, doubling over as she clutched her stomach. I had to help her before she fell over and sprawled on the floor, rolling about and laughing her head off.

Yan Wan glared at her. "What's so funny?!"

"You." Mu Rong Shu gasped, trying to control her laughter and failing miserably. "You keep saying this or that is beyond my husband's imagination, but it seems that the one with a very limited imagination is you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yan Wan stormed.

"Calm down, honey." Liu Zhang Feng nervously held her back before she could confront a laughing Mu Rong Shu. "Stop provoking your cousin. You've gone too far. Honestly, you should apologize to Mr. Zhao."

"It's fine." I sighed and raised a hand. "I'm used to it."

"Of course you are," Yan Wan said snidely. "You can't even afford a single handbag here for your wife. I really feel sorry for sister Shu."

I sighed and shook my head, but before I could say anything, Mu Rong Shu shook her head.

"No, don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't buy the whole store or purchase every handbag inside the store just to make a point. It's stupid and a total waste of money. What am I supposed to do with all the bags, anyway? It's a total waste. You might as well let other people who will make use of them buy them instead."

Unlike most people, my wife and I were not materialistic. We wre not snobbish show-offs who did something as wasteful as buying all the wares in a shop just to prove a point or demonstrate our wealth. Yeah, face-slapping was fun, but it was highly impractical. After wasting over a million yuan showing off, what were we supposed to do with all these handbags? Give them away for charity?

"Why don't you just choose one bag and I'll buy it for you?" I asked wearily, seeing the crowing expression on Yan Wan's face.

"Fine." Mu Rong Shu nodded. She singled out a nice-looking handbag and showed it to me. "How does this look?"

"Lovely. I think it fits."

We didn't really care about the price. It wasn't the cheapest handbag, but it wasn't the expensive handbag either. What, did you really think my wife and I cared about price or materialistic desires? We only bought what we wanted to buy, and if it turned out to be not the expensive, then all the better. Just like me and my Toyota. Mu Rong Shu was a practical person. She couldn't care less about the price or the most expensive product. As long as she could use it and she likes it, that was all that mattered.

So she chose a practical handbag that could store her items, yet fitted her style. It just so happened it was on the above average price range, though it certainly wasn't the most expensive in the store.

"Then I'll pick this."

"All right. I'll pay for it then." I nodded at the sales assistant and took out my bank card, which she accepted.

"Careful now," Ru Feng said snidely. "Your account might not have enough money."

"If you really care about face, my boyfriend can lend you money first. You can slowly pay him back in future." Yan Wan was laughing. I ignored her and her mother, just waching the two sales assistant package the handbag and deal with the transaction. After swiping my card and getting my signature, the sales assistant returned the card to me.

"What's going on?" Ru Feng asked in disbelief when she saw the sales assistant pass the handbag to me. "There's enough funds in the card?"

"Why wouldn't there be?" The sales assistant looked confused. "The transaction was successful. The payment has already gone through. Were you expecting a problem?"

"But…but he's trash!" Yan Wan shouted, jabbing a finger at me. "There's no way he has enough money to buy any handbag here!"

"That's right! There must be something wrong here! You…you're involved in fraudulent crimes, aren't you? That must be a fake card!" Ru Feng was jumping to accuse me of the most absurd things ever.

The two sales assistant exchanged confused glances. One of them took a deep breath. "The two madams, please calm down. If you continue to harass the other customers, we will call security."

"You ungrateful bitch! We're helping you catch a fraud!"

"Enough!" Liu Zhang Feng was getting embarrassed by the behavior of mother and daughter. "Don't you think you've shamed yourselves in public enough already?"

The both of them stopped. Liu Zhang Feng shook his head and sighed. Clearing his throat, he beckoned for us to follow him out of the store. Plastering a smile over his face, he turned to Yan Wan.

"As promised, I booked the Tong Le Seafood restaurant for our lunch today. Let's go."

"Yay! Zhang Feng, you're the best!"

Mu Rong Shu and I exchanged a glance. Tong Le Seafood restaurant was one of the most famous and expensive restaurant in Jiang Nan City, serving delicacies such as crab, lobsters and other exquisite seafood dishes. The Yan family and Liu Zhang Feng really were pulling out all the stops to show off thei wealth or something.

Well, being practical people, neither of us was going to say no to a free meal, so we quietly tagged along.

"You don't mind if we do the ordering, right?" Yan Yang asked. Liu Zhang Feng shook his head and raised his hand to let his future parents-in-law do the honors.

"Order whatever you want."

"Thank you!" Ru Feng smiled. "You're such a generous and competent person! Unlike somebody we know."

That last statement was added spitefully, but I ignored her. Mu Rong Shu and I said nothing, simply sitting back and allowing Yan Yang and Ru Feng to order whatever they wanted. Since Liu Zhang Feng was the one treating us, it would be shameless for us to jump in and order stuff. We would politely leave it to him…except that he had to defer to his future in-laws.

Since I wasn't fussy, I couldn't care less. Besides, Yan Yang and Ru Feng clearly ordered the most expensive dishes. The waiters and waitresses came with plates of crab, lobsters, seabass, salmon, cod, clams, oysters, fresh prawns, shark's fin, eels, squid and more. I noticed how Liu Zhang Feng squirm uncomfortably at the sight of such expensive delicacies laid out in front of him, but he said nothing. He turned pale when Yan Yang ordered some vintage wine.

"It's such a rare chance for all of us to get together, so we might as well splurge and enjoy ourselves!"

I tried not to roll my eyes at that. It was one thing if Yan Yang was the one treating us, but he was using Liu Zhang Feng's money. I pitied the poor guy. Yan Yang and Ru Feng were really shameless.

However, since the food was being served, it would be a waste not to eat them. Being the practical people that we were, Mu Rong Shu and I ate quietly, thanking Liu Zhang Feng. He smiled back, though I could tell that his expression was strained.

"Cheers!"

Unaware of his future son-in-law's troubles, Yan Yang raised his glass of vintage wine and toasted to his wife and daughter before downing it. Both Mu Rong Shu and I refrained from drinking. I wasn't a fan of wine, and my wife didn't like it either. Liu Zhang Feng accepted a glass, but I could see him biting his lip bitterly.

Before we knew it, the waiter came with the tab. Liu Zhang Feng sighed and gave his card. The waiter bowed politely before leaving to swipe the card at the counter. He clutched his chest and winced. Evidently he wasn't happy about this. No matter how much he earned in a year, this single meal was going to cost him dear.

Unfortunately, the waiter returned. He passed the bank card back to Liu Zhang Feng, bowing his head apologetically.

"Sorry, sir, but there isn't enough funds inside your card. Do you have another card to pay for the meal?"

"W…what?!" Liu Zhang Feng turned pale. "Not enough funds? How is that possible?"

"The total cost of the meal is twelve million yuan. There are only five million yuan in your card."

"Huh?! Why does the meal cost so much?!" Liu Zhang Feng choked, not believing it.

"The vintage wine that the elderly gentleman ordered consists of most of the cost. It's a limited edition wine produced in France back in the 1960s. It alone costs about eight million yuan."

"Ugh…" Liu Zhang Feng clutched his head, looking as if he was about to sink into despair. "What do we do now?"

There were some of you who might ask why he couldn't simply charge it to his credit card and slowly pay it later. That was because…simply put, twelve million yuan surpassed the credit limit by a lot. So people couldn't just randomly buy whatever they want and accrue an unlimited amount of debt on their credit cards. The banks would collapse otherwise.

"Are you unable to pay for it, sir?"

"I…I…" Liu Zhang Feng turned to Yan Yang and Ru Feng for help, but his future parents-in-law were frozen in fear, having turned very pale. They clearly didn't have the money to help him either.

"If you aren't, I'm afraid I'll have to contact the police."

"No, wait! We'll think of something…!"

"Just charge it to my card." I sighed and brought my bank card out, handing it to the waiter. The Yan family turned to stare at me in disbelief.

"You are paying for it?" Yan Wan sneered. "Can you afford it?"

"Hmm, perhaps you have a point." I scratched my head and turned back to the waiter. "Can you bill us separately? I'll pay for my wife, Mr. Liu over there, and myself. Those three will have to find a way to pay for the meal themselves."

Liu Zhang Feng looked at me gratefully, but the Yan family trio looked as if they had been struck.

"You…!" Yan Yang began.

"What?" I shrugged innocently. "Your daughter is the one who said I can't afford it. And you agree with her, right?"

"That's…" Yan Yang gritted his teeth and lowered his head. Beside him, Ru Feng was panicking now. She was sinking to her knees and prostrating herself.

"Please…please pay for us," she begged through clenched teeth. "I beg of you. We'll owe you."

"Mom!" Yan Wan shouted. "You seriously can't believe that this trash can afford to pay all twelve million yuan, can you?!"

"Shut up!" Yan Yang snapped at her. He also turned to me and knelt down, hanging his head. "Please help us out."

"Fine." I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Just this once. But you had better not insult me ever again."