After getting out of the car, the three of them headed straight for the hot pot restaurant.
The restaurant was called Really Delicious Hot Pot Restaurant.
Ming Mei and the other two: “…”
What an utterly unpretentious name!
As they entered, two servers came over to greet them.
“Hello, ladies. Will you be dining in today?”
Ming Mei hummed in acknowledgment and followed the two servers to their seats.
Ming Mei and Ma Mingyue scanned the QR code to place their orders.
After scanning the code, Ma Mingyue opened the menu and was immediately startled.
A single hot pot base cost more than 300 yuan.
A plate of beef cost more than 400 yuan.
A plate of lamb cost more than 400 yuan.
Not a single meat dish cost less than 100 yuan, and even the vegetable dishes were priced at seventy or eighty yuan per plate.
Ma Mingyue clicked her tongue and spoke quietly. “Ming Mei, isn’t this restaurant a little too expensive?”
Ming Mei replied indifferently, “Who cares if it’s expensive? As long as it tastes good, that’s what matters. I’m treating you today, so order whatever you want!”
Ma Mingyue responded with an “Oh” and ordered two vegetable dishes.
Ming Mei did a quick calculation. There were more than forty kinds of meat dishes, fifteen of which were commonly ordered for hot pot. She ordered one plate of each of those fifteen dishes, then added drinks and the hot pot base before sitting back to wait for the food.
Xu Xiaoning calculated that this single meal would cost as much as her entire month’s allowance. She couldn’t help feeling a little more eager to find out how the food tasted.
About half an hour later, all the hot pot ingredients and dishes had arrived.
“What are you waiting for? Dig in!” Ming Mei said.
She first put the vegetables into the pot. Once they were cooked, she scooped them out, then added the beef tripe and fresh shrimp.
Ming Mei took a bite of the beef tripe, and its fresh, savory flavor seemed to rush straight into her mind.
“Mmm, not bad,” she commented.
Compared with the ingredients served at her own home, these weren’t far behind.
The ingredients for Ming Mei’s villa were purchased directly by her chef. Without even mentioning anything else, take fish, for example. It might be caught in a coastal city early in the morning and airlifted to her home by noon.
The prices were frighteningly high, but the food tasted excellent.
The fish slices served here were just as fresh and delicious as the fish at home.
This place really was pretty good.
They continued eating until nearly midnight.
Eventually, theirs was the only table left. The three girls were so full that they had to brace themselves against the table as they stood up. Ming Mei took out her card and paid the bill.
After leaving the restaurant, Ming Mei checked her phone and said, “Let’s find a hotel and stay there for the night.”
Xu Xiaoning swallowed the words Let’s find a budget hotel before they could leave her mouth.
Ming Mei immediately opened a booking app on her phone. She prioritized good reviews and service, selected a location, and drove them to the Yida Hotel.
She booked two deluxe rooms. Ming Mei would stay alone, while Xu Xiaoning and Ma Mingyue would share the other room.
Meanwhile, Xu Xiaoning and Ma Mingyue pushed open the door to their hotel room. Both of them let out a simultaneous “Wow!”
“It’s so big!” Ma Mingyue exclaimed as she walked in and carefully examined the room.
The overall decor had a modern European style. There were two double beds, one on each side, a bathroom with separate wet and dry areas, an individual vanity, and even a small study.
“My goodness, this room is almost as big as my entire house!” Ma Mingyue exclaimed before throwing herself onto the bed.
Xu Xiaoning nodded and sat down on the other bed. She checked her phone and saw that the battery was almost dead. She was just about to go to the front desk to ask for a charger when she noticed a storage box on the bedside table containing unopened chargers of various types.
Xu Xiaoning unwrapped one and plugged it into her phone. After a moment of silence, she suddenly spoke.
“When Ming Mei paid just now, I saw the price. Our room costs 3,000 yuan for one night.”
Ma Mingyue’s eyes widened. “Good heavens! That’s more than my monthly allowance!”
Xu Xiaoning thought for a moment before asking, “Cousin, what kind of person do you think Ming Mei is?”
“What else could she be? A rich person!” Ma Mingyue answered casually.
“Do you know what I found out?” Xu Xiaoning said. “I looked it up just now. There are only ten Koenigseggs like the one Ming Mei drives in all of Shanghai. And she bought two of them herself.”
Ma Mingyue sprang upright in one swift motion.
“There are only ten in all of Shanghai?”
Xu Xiaoning nodded, opened the official Koenigsegg website, and handed her phone to Ma Mingyue.
Ma Mingyue took a look and clicked her tongue in amazement.
“I wonder who’s richer, Ming Mei or that senior who drove the Porsche today?”
“There’s no comparison,” Xu Xiaoning said. “I asked around. That senior’s name is Ma Wenkai, and his father owns Ma’s Logistics. His family has assets worth over a hundred million yuan. The car Ma Wenkai drives costs a little over a million yuan, and it’s a Porsche model from a couple of years ago. They produced a huge number of those.”
After explaining this, Xu Xiaoning turned toward her cousin.
“Do you know what that means?”
Ma Mingyue blinked at her. “What does it mean?”
“Ma Wenkai’s father has assets worth over a hundred million yuan, but he still wouldn’t qualify to buy a Koenigsegg 003.”
Ma Mingyue couldn’t wrap her head around it.
“Why not? Someone with over a hundred million yuan in assets can’t afford a car worth just a few million?”
Xu Xiaoning rolled her eyes.
“I keep telling you to read books about these things, but you never do. Having assets worth over a hundred million yuan doesn’t mean someone has that much cash on hand. It could simply mean their company has an annual cash flow of over a hundred million. In reality, the money the owner can personally control might only amount to a few million yuan.”
Ma Mingyue suddenly understood.
“So that’s how it works!”
Xu Xiaoning continued, “I checked the official Koenigsegg website. It confirms that two Koenigsegg 033 cars were sold in Shanghai today, one in Midnight Blue and one in Silver Gray. The silver-gray one is the car we rode in today. Together, they cost more than ten million yuan.”
Xu Xiaoning turned toward Ma Mingyue again.
“Do you know what that means?”
Ma Mingyue shook her head vigorously.
“It means Ming Mei’s family has more than ten million yuan available for her personal use alone! It also means her family’s wealth is at least twenty times greater than Senior Ma Wenkai’s family’s.”
“At least twenty times?” Ma Mingyue thought for a moment. “Good heavens, that means at least two billion yuan!”
Xu Xiaoning nodded. “Exactly. At least two billion.”
Ma Mingyue clicked her tongue repeatedly.
“I couldn’t earn that much money in ten lifetimes!”
Xu Xiaoning nodded in agreement.
“All right, let’s stop overthinking it,” Ma Mingyue said. “Ming Mei’s wealth is her own business. We just need to enjoy our own lives.”
Xu Xiaoning nodded. “That’s true.”
“Hurry up and wash up. We need to get back to school tomorrow.”
“Mm.”
The two cousins soon went to sleep.
Meanwhile, Ming Mei charged her phone and opened WeChat.
She had only a handful of contacts. The captain of her private jet had sent her an update about the plane’s condition over the past few days, but that didn’t require a reply.
Her butler had asked whether she wanted to move out after military training ended. Ming Mei thought about it and replied, Let’s see after military training.
Then there was the class group chat. There would be no evening self-study tomorrow, and Yang Qing had posted the military training schedule. Ming Mei looked it over, found nothing she couldn’t accept, and paid the fee for her military training uniform.
Finally, there was Xu Mu’s WeChat.
Ming Mei slapped her forehead in frustration.
I’d spent the afternoon bored in bed for nothing! I could have watched Xu Mu’s livestream!
How could I have forgotten about that?
Noticing a small red dot beside Xu Mu’s profile picture, Ming Mei tapped on it.
“Sunshine Sister, I’m about to start streaming.” Sent at 2:50 p.m.
“Sunshine Sister, we have some new dolphins today. Would you like to come to the livestream and take a look?” Sent at 4:30 p.m.
“Sunshine Sister, I’m ending the stream now!” Sent at 6:30 p.m.
Ming Mei rubbed her forehead. At first, she hadn’t wanted to bother with it. But remembering Xu Mu’s handsome face, she picked up her phone, intending to explain why she hadn’t shown up.
Then she remembered that she and Xu Mu weren’t actually in any kind of relationship.
So she put the phone down again.
Ming Mei sighed.
It hadn’t been that long, yet she was already feeling lonely.
In her previous life, she hadn’t had many friends or parents either. But she had been busy with work, and after finishing her work, she would travel all over the place. She hadn’t even had time to dwell on these things.
Now, she already had more money than she could ever spend. The luxury cars and properties that other people spent their entire lives pursuing were things she could obtain with a simple wave of her hand.
So why did she feel lonely now?