After getting into the car, Liu Yue’s biggest impression was that expensive things really had their reasons.
First, the air inside the car was fresh and pleasant to breathe. The rear seats were very spacious, giving off an overall sense of grandeur.
After the driver reminded her to fasten her seatbelt, he also told her there were bottled water and snacks in the car and that she was welcome to help herself.
Liu Yue found a bottle of Evian and a bottle of San Pellegrino.
She had vaguely heard of the former, and she curiously looked up the latter—it was a sparkling mineral water, a standard offering at many Michelin-starred restaurants.
Netizens said it was used for rinsing the mouth; San Pellegrino could cleanse the palate between courses, and the carbonation helped carry away lingering flavors, allowing one to more clearly experience the different sensations various dishes brought to the taste buds.
Oh my god, so rich people were this particular about eating a meal!
Liu Yue marveled. After asking the driver whether she could take the water with her and receiving an affirmative answer, she stashed both bottles into her bag.
As for the snacks in the car, they were mostly nuts and dried fruits—nothing Liu Yue was particularly interested in.
Upon arrival, Liu Yue was about to leave when she heard the driver ask her to wait—he would open the door for her.
But that job was snatched up by the mall’s security guard—who was also dressed in a suit and tie, wearing white gloves, greeting her with a beaming smile as she stepped out of the car.
Well, this was Wanxiang Cheng, after all.
Although Liu Yue was here to eat hotpot and buy milk tea, this was the shopping center with the highest luxury goods sales in South China, firmly in the first tier of Shenzhen’s top-tier malls.
Clutching her shoulder bag, she felt inexplicably nervous as she walked into the mall.
No worries—she was here to spend money, and the customer was king!
Banu Hotpot was on the fifth floor. Liu Yue took the elevator up, and while she was at it, paid the fare for the luxury car.
The estimated price at departure was 180, but the actual cost was 188.88. That fluctuation range was perfectly normal, and Liu Yue felt the number was quite auspicious.
She had arrived early enough that even on a holiday, there was no queue at Banu Hotpot.
After being seated, it was time to order.
Thinking about ordering food, Liu Yue couldn’t suppress the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She was going to order like crazy and feast without restraint, eating to her heart’s content without considering the price.
Banu’s pot base was a three-compartment pot divided into equal sections. Liu Yue first chose the classic beef tallow spicy broth, then added sour radish and pork belly, and wild mountain mushroom soup, plus the recommended cilantro pork paste as an add-on.
Since she was here anyway, of course she wanted to taste multiple flavors at once—and the San Pellegrino in her bag would come in handy too, hehe.
Banu had two recommended tripe options: the classic tripe and the New Zealand chilled fresh tripe. This restaurant was famous for its tripe, so Liu Yue didn’t choose—she ordered one of each.
Wagyu sirloin, wagyu chuck roll, wagyu marbled beef—she added them all, her finger tapping away at the menu, and she also ordered two full portions of shrimp paste.
In the past, she only ever ordered half portions at hotpot restaurants, always feeling unsatisfied. This time, she was going to eat her fill.
She also ordered a seafood platter and a portion of deboned duck feet. She felt that was about enough, but then her Cantonese DNA kicked in and she added a portion of lettuce tips, so there would be some greens on the table.
That’s all for now—she could add more if needed. Although she wasn’t short on money, she couldn’t waste food either.
Even though she had come in thinking she’d order whatever she wanted without looking at prices, she still saw the total when confirming her order.
Including the pot base, it came to 541, plus 11 yuan per person for the fruit and condiments bar, bringing the total to 552 yuan.
Liu Yue clicked her tongue in amazement while happily confirming the order.
This hotpot was certainly expensive, but compared to the money she hadn’t yet spent, it didn’t seem like much. Sigh, good thing she still had plenty of places to spend money, or else she’d be complaining that this restaurant’s dishes were too cheap.
When she returned to the WeChat chat page, a little red dot had appeared in the corner of her roommate group chat.
Group chat: give me (5)
Ke Yan: [Image]
It was a photo of a Haidilao hotpot, the table covered with dishes.
Liu Yue couldn’t help but swallow. She was just about to say what a coincidence—she was about to eat hotpot too—when Ke Yan sent another photo in the next second: a couple selfie with her boyfriend.
Liu Yue: …
Liu Yue took a deep breath, feeling the helpless frustration of not being able to slap someone through the screen.
Speaking of Ke Yan, any classmate who knew a bit about her would feel a sense of disappointment at her wasted potential.
She had a good family background, a good temperament, a good figure, was pretty, and had a gift for languages—but she was hopelessly lovesick, the kind even zombies wouldn’t eat.
From the start of freshman year to now, Ke Yan and her boyfriend had broken up and gotten back together several times. Every time they broke up, Ke Yan would cry her eyes out and swear she’d never look back, but usually within a month, they’d be back together.
Back then, Liu Yue and the others had earnestly advised her to break it off, saying “bye-bye means bye-bye, the next one will be better—that ugly guy doesn’t deserve you.” But after they realized their advice wasn’t just useless but had actually become part of the young couple’s little game, they stopped bringing it up entirely.
Liu Yue quickly exited the group chat page. There was no way she was replying to that right now.
Once she replied, Ke Yan would send her a long essay about how great her boyfriend was, until she got a response like “He really does sound great,” and only then would she stop.
Liu Yue had fallen into that trap before and had already gone against her conscience once—there was absolutely no way she was doing it a second time!
She wasn’t the only one thinking this way. By the time the hotpot base and ingredients had all arrived at Liu Yue’s table, the group chat was still silent.
Forget it—she was starting her hotpot feast!
The wild mushroom and pork belly pot bases she’d ordered were both drinkable as soup, and the server ladled her a bowl of each.
Liu Yue tried the mushroom soup first. Her first impression was that it was quite different in style from Cantonese soup—this one was richer and heavier on the palate. While it wasn’t quite as exaggerated as the “so fresh it’ll make your eyebrows fall off” descriptions on Xiaohongshu, it was still pretty tasty.
The sour radish and pork belly soup had plenty of online praise too, but Liu Yue felt the seasoning was a bit heavy, making it better suited for cooking ingredients rather than drinking on its own.
Liu Yue dropped the pork paste into the mushroom soup, planning to eat it with the broth once cooked. She put the abalone and black tiger shrimp into the sour soup, then picked up a few slices of tripe for the spicy pot.
Watching the tripe tumble in the red broth, Liu Yue felt her tongue continuously secreting saliva. Following the seven-up-eight-down method, she cooked it and, without even dipping it in the oil sauce, eagerly stuffed the tripe into her mouth.
So hot, so spicy, but so delicious!
The tripe was crispy and wonderfully chewy. The aroma of beef tallow spread through her mouth, and the fiery sensation crept from her tongue as her brain sent out excited signals.
This ingredient had almost no flavor of its own, making it the perfect test of the spicy pot’s quality. Liu Yue ate several pieces in a row, and the spiciness was incredibly satisfying.
She unscrewed the Evian bottle and took a sip, but the sensation of drinking it was strangely off.
Liu Yue even went out of her way to check the production date, confirming the water wasn’t expired. But why did it feel so rough going down, as if something was scraping across her tongue?
“Disenchanted.”
Liu Yue pursed her lips. How had something this unpleasant been marketed as the aristocrat of waters? Or maybe other people just had different tastes than hers?
She opened the San Pellegrino next. Perhaps because the Evian had already lowered her expectations for “premium water,” the San Pellegrino actually left a decent impression.
The bubbles in this water were very subtle, with an overall gentle mouthfeel—not as aggressive as carbonated soda. Liu Yue found it refreshing with a slight hint of saltiness, perfect for pairing with a meal, especially something this oily and spicy.
Liu Yue then fished the black tiger shrimp out of the sour soup. The tanginess of the broth paired perfectly with the natural sweetness of the shrimp. She ate the first one plain, and only dipped the second in sauce, deciding that the shrimp cooked in the original broth tasted better—the sourness was wonderfully appetizing.
Liu Yue had seen posts online saying that eating hotpot alone was especially lonely, but at this very moment, she only wanted to say—
Nonsense. Eating hotpot alone was absolutely amazing!
She could eat whatever she wanted without worrying about anyone else’s preferences. Her chopsticks could reach into the pot freely, stirring things around without a care. If something wasn’t cooked to her liking, she could just toss it back in for a bit longer…
Liu Yue believed the only reason hotpot was suited for groups was to split the cost of the base, maybe plus the advantage of being able to order more dishes. Other than that, hotpot was meant to be enjoyed solo.
If there was one thing she regretted about this meal, it was that the tablet she’d ordered hadn’t arrived yet. Otherwise, watching a variety show while eating hotpot would’ve been even better. Watching on her phone’s small screen just didn’t quite hit the same.
She devoured two plates of tripe, three plates of wagyu, and two servings of shrimp paste, then filled the remaining gaps in her stomach with seafood and vegetables.
As for the duck feet—that food was all skin and no meat, which basically meant it took up zero space. If she hadn’t felt so full, she would’ve ordered another plate.
After paying the bill, Liu Yue sat back in her seat to rest.
The System popped up a notification: today’s task amount remaining: 5,865.12 yuan.
“I know, I know.” Liu Yue replied to it mentally. “Let me sit for a bit longer, then I’ll go shopping. This is Wanxiang Cheng—are you really worried I can’t spend a measly six thousand yuan here?”
Six thousand yuan—she didn’t even need to visit a luxury boutique. A few pieces of designer women’s wear would take care of it.
She patted her little belly and decided to walk around the mall to digest first. Once she wasn’t so full, she’d go to Heytea for the stir-fried ice cream.
“Am I the least fitting protagonist for a ‘wealthy protagonist’ story?” Liu Yue even complained to the System. “I thought the whole thing was: you transfer a hundred million to me, I walk into Hermès and tell the sales associate, ‘Wrap up every bag in your store.'”
—Of course, that was just a casual joke. Even a broke college student like Liu Yue knew that at Hermès, you had to purchase other items before you could even buy a bag, and many styles required waiting for stock transfers. You couldn’t just buy one on the spot.
The System seemed to pause for a moment, then asked her: “If that were the case, would Host be happier than now?”
Ah, that question…
Liu Yue thought about it seriously. The moment she realized she was genuinely contemplating it, she already knew the answer.
She admitted breezily, “Maybe it’s because I’ve never been exposed to luxury goods, so I really don’t have any material desires in that regard. Ten thousand yuan could probably buy an entry-level Hermès bag, right? But my first choice would be to treat myself to a good meal.”
“Actually, no,” the System reminded her. “Even for the ‘poor man’s four treasures,’ most bags retail for over twenty thousand yuan at the counter.”
Liu Yue: …
If you’re spending twenty thousand yuan on a bag, how can you still be considered “poor”? What exactly does the luxury goods circle misunderstand about that word?!
“Anyway, I think what matters most is that I’m happy. The point of managing wealth is to please myself, not to cater to others’ judgments.”
Liu Yue said, “Isn’t that the real meaning of being rich?”
The System: “Congratulations, Host. You’ve seen through the essence of money at such an early age. You will be the master of your wealth.”
“So is there any reward for that?” Liu Yue rubbed her hands together. “Actually, I’m still a pretty vulgar person. If you suddenly threw a hundred million in my face, I wouldn’t mind being a slave to money for once.”
The System: “Host, it’s not yet your bedtime.”
Hmph, this System wasn’t flexible at all. But it did give her real money every day, so of course Liu Yue would spoil it.
Liu Yue stretched, fully fed and rested, ready to go out and spend more money.
Author’s Note:
Current Liu Yue: This little bit of money, I’ll spend it in no time.
Future Liu Yue: So much money, how on earth am I supposed to spend it all ahhhhhh!