Until they finished eating and the group drove over to the entrance of the suburban warehouse facility, Li Yan’s expression was still not looking very good. An Chutang was a bit anxious, unable to figure out where exactly things had gone wrong. His plan to chase after his target hadn’t even truly begun, yet he already didn’t know where to start. Time didn’t allow him to consider too much. Should he just try out the experiences he had seen in the past one by one? He glanced at the warehouse and nodded inwardly. Then let’s start with giving a car. As soon as the group stepped out of the vehicle, An Chutang walked over to Li Yan’s side and naturally stretched out a hand to grab his hand under the pretense of casualness. [Ding! Holding hands added one hour of life points.] Instead of pulling away, the other man gripped his hand tightly in return, which undoubtedly gave An Chutang a boost of confidence. He raised his head, leaned in close, and spoke in a low voice, Li Yan, no matter how many cars we can secure in a moment, let’s put them all under your name. Li Yan raised an eyebrow, and seeing the docile and earnest way the other looked at him, his mood improved by more than half. He didn’t act coy or decline, especially since An Chutang currently held foreign citizenship, making it very troublesome to register vehicles under his own name anyway. Yet, the fact that the other person truly trusted him still made he feel immensely gratified. Mhm. Then he turned back to instruct the others, Pay attention to Tangtang’s status. It’s best to keep him hidden in the background from now on. The others nodded in agreement. Indeed, a young master who still needed their Yan-ge to hold and protect him without the ability to protect himself shouldn’t be targeted by malicious people. Before they could even go inquire with the elderly gatekeeper, a handsome man around thirty years old walked over from afar. Xiao Yan, come on in, I figured you guys would be about here. The man’s voice was deep and bright, approachable yet carrying a faint sense of inherent oppression. An Chutang had interacted with plenty of business and political figures alongside his grandfather, so he still had some experience in reading people. This man, who was a bit older than Li Yan, should also be someone of significant status. From afar, Bai Yunhai had already noticed the unfamiliar face beside Li Yan. Once he drew closer, he realized that this young man was actually being held by the hand by Li Yan. Maintaining his composure with a natural demeanor, he asked, Who is this? Li Yan called out Yunhai-ge, his thumb rubbing against An Chutang’s back of the hand as a seductive voice escaped him. A younger brother of my family, An Chutang. An Chutang’s heart, which was just about to leap out of his chest, instantly stuck in his throat. Damn it! This man almost made him overthink things. Why did he have to pause so dramatically when speaking? So the reason the other had always taken care of him like this was because he viewed him as a younger brother? That made things a bit tricky. Bai Yunhai was clear on whether Li Yan had a younger brother surnamed An or not, but he didn’t point it out, merely smiling as he extended a hand toward An Chutang. Hello, my name is Bai Yunhai, grew up in the same compound as Xiao Yan. I only moved to Haishi these past few years and am currently in charge of customs matters here. An Chutang pulled back his held hand and shook it in return. Hello, can we look at the cars now? Bai Yunhai paused, then gave a hearty laugh. Of course, we’ve just been waiting for you. As he spoke, he looked back at Li Yan. However, you aren’t the only group of people wanting to buy cars today. Wen Cheng also came over, and he’s right inside. Hearing this, Li Yan’s brows locked tightly together, while Li Guangtao in the back couldn’t help complaining, Damn it! Why is he sticking his nose into this too? If it weren’t for him backing Fan Jianguo last time, that jerk wouldn’t have dared to destroy my cassette tapes, and I haven’t even settled that score with him yet. You guys still don’t see eye to eye? Bai Yunhai patted Li Yan on the shoulder. You all grew up in the same compound. No matter what, he came to me here today, so what can I do? You have to give your big brother some face today and not start a scene here, okay? An Chutang listened quietly from the side, roughly figuring out what was going on. Right, this batch of cars was originally supposed to be distributed down to various work units. Yesterday, the old man made a special phone call to my dad specifically because of you, securing four cars for you. How about that, am I treating you right? With just a turnaround, you make a huge profit. If my family hadn’t stubbornly disagreed with me entering the commercial sea, I’d even want to go toss things around with you guys. Li Yan said flatly, We’re not selling the cars. We’re keeping them for our own use. What? Bai Yunhai looked at him in surprise, his peripheral vision drifting toward the aristocratic-looking An Chutang beside Li Yan as he nodded thoughtfully. Fine, just don’t forget about me once your business grows big in the future. Quit pulling my leg. How is Uncle Bai doing right now? I heard from my grandfather that he was just transferred to Haishi’s Discipline Inspection Commission as secretary last month? Yeah, he’s busier too. But when he heard you were coming, he said you should go over to the house for a meal. The two walked and chatted until they entered the warehouse entrance and saw Wen Cheng. To be precise, it was Wen Cheng together with a young woman sporting permed curly hair and fashionable attire. Only then did Li Yan gather his expression. The two merely glanced at each other, neither showing any intention of greeting first. Instead, the young woman’s eyes visibly lit up upon seeing Li Yan, though remembering what Wen Cheng had told her earlier, she pulled back her gaze. Bai Yunhai shook his head helplessly. Alright, you two stop standing around like pillars. Let’s go take a look at the cars. Zhang Baoguo quietly asked Li Guangtao in the back, Tao-zi, are we really buying cars? I heard this batch of cars are imported vehicles that came via waterway routes. I’ve never touched an imported car before. Of course it’s real. As he spoke, he rubbed his hands together. But I’m pretty excited too. Fortunately, a few of us brothers got our driver’s licenses together with Yan-ge. I wonder if I can be assigned one to drive around when the time comes. Wang Limei on the side curled her lip disdainfully. These people treat this place like a vegetable market, talking about getting assigned one. Who knows if they can even afford to buy one. Thinking of this, she haughtily lifted her chin higher. Her father had started doing business on the sly even before the policies came down. Now that the policies had opened up, it was practically making money hand over fist, and they were considered quite prominent in their area. If she could secure this car today and gift it to Wen Cheng, it could serve as her dowry right on the spot, and Wen Cheng would definitely be pleased. The people in front stopped walking. After opening another iron door, over a dozen Santanas inside suddenly appeared right before everyone’s eyes. Li Guangtao was the first to approach with glowing eyes. Holy crap, it’s a Santana! This looks way too imposing. Take a look at how it is? Actually, there isn’t much to pick from. This seized batch is all the same model. Once you pick, we’ll have people handle the paperwork for you this afternoon. An Chutang showed little interest. He had thought there might be some kind of surprise, clearly forgetting what era he was currently in. Santana, this car he had only ever heard of in rumors looks truly ugly. What’s wrong? Don’t like it? Li Yan asked him in a low voice. Just so-so. There aren’t any better choices anyway. We’ll just leave it to the four of them to drive around in the future, and I’ll ride in your jeep. Seeing his picky little attitude, Li Yan couldn’t resist using a finger to scrape the bridge of his straight, delicate nose. [Ding! Skin contact increased life points by thirty minutes.] A startled An Chutang widened his eyes. Aside from his grandfather, no one had ever dared to be this presumptuous with him. He wanted to protest, but forcibly held it back due to the prompt sound he had heard. Wen Cheng had already opened the car door to inspect it thoroughly inside and out before asking Bai Yunhai with great satisfaction, Yunhai-ge, what’s the final fixed price? If it’s suitable, we’ll take this one. With that, he cast a rather arrogant glance at Li Yan, not believing that Li Yan’s family could pull out such a massive sum of money for him to buy a car. Whether diving into business or buying his first car, he always had to best Li Yan by a head. Bai Yunhai didn’t hold anything back either. Originally this batch of cars was meant to be auctioned at a base price of one hundred seventy thousand, but almost all of them were internally reserved this time around. In the end, the unified price given by the higher-ups is a bit higher, coming to twenty thousand. You guys can see whether you want to consider it further.
(Life Countdown: 15 hours 50 minutes)