Once they reached the city, the group headed straight to the car dealership.
Although they had already decided on the Tank Black Warrior, since they were here anyway, they figured they might as well look at other models too. After a full walkthrough, Song Ying felt that having money was really something.
If she had money, she could buy several cars at once. She could technically afford it now, but she couldn’t exactly go around saying that!
In the end, they purchased the Tank Black Warrior.
Although Song Ying had a driver’s license, she didn’t dare drive on busy roads with heavy traffic since she wasn’t skilled yet, so she let her cousin Song Yuan do the driving.
When buying a new car, you first have to go to the vehicle management office to pay the purchase tax, register the license plate, and get insurance. After that, there’s nothing else—your car is ready to drive off.
The license plate wouldn’t be ready for another week, so they put on temporary plates first.
The group hadn’t eaten since morning, so after leaving the vehicle management office, they headed to a restaurant.
Narisu said, “Yingzi, when you have free time, just practice driving on the village roads. After a few rounds, you’ll get the hang of it.”
“Mm-hmm, big brother.” Song Ying nodded.
Song Yuan clicked his tongue. “Compared to sedans, off-road vehicles just look better.”
After seeing his cousin’s car, he no longer liked the sedan at home. Narisu felt the same way—he regretted buying a sedan. Why not get a big car like this?
It was just more fuel-hungry. Well, thinking about it that way, maybe the sedan at home was better after all.
“Song Yuan-ge, let’s head to the airport?”
The designer Mi Duo had sent her a WeChat message saying she’d arrived.
Song Yuan said, “What are we going to the airport for? Is your friend coming?”
Song Ying said, “The designer I hired has arrived.”
“What? A designer?”
Those three words were practically unheard of in a small place like theirs. Song Ying explained to everyone.
Her uncle Wang Lei said, “Wait, Yingzi, what exactly are you building your house into? You even hired a designer specially for it!”
“Old uncle, it’s that American-style countryside villa. Look, it’s like this.” Song Ying opened Xiaohongshu and pulled up the saved house designs.
After looking, Wang Lei let out a hiss. “To build a house like this, how much would it cost?”
Her uncle Song Wenbin said, “Let me take a look.”
Wang Lei handed him the phone. After looking, Song Wenbin had the same expression as Wang Lei. “Yingzi, building this kind of house in our village is way too upscale.”
Her cousin Narisu and her cousin Song Yuan also took a look—it really was too upscale. Not just for the village—even in their banner, it would be considered high-end.
The village houses here weren’t bad by any means. For rural folks, they were already quite good. Every household had nicely decorated interiors, and basically every home had a bathroom. The heating was either radiators or underfloor heating.
They weren’t multi-story buildings, but the amenities inside weren’t any worse than in the city.
But compared to the house on Song Ying’s phone, they were still far behind. The house on Song Ying’s phone was something ordinary people couldn’t afford.
Just the construction and renovation alone would cost at least five hundred thousand.
“Building this house would cost a lot of money!” Song Yuan said.
Her uncle Wang Lei and her cousin Narisu knew Song Ying had money, so they stayed quiet for now. The money matter would come up sooner or later anyway. Song Ying repeated the same explanation she’d given her uncle and cousin.
Song Yuan said, “Yingzi, you’re something else—you can even write novels?”
Song Ying said, “I just got lucky. It’s not like every book makes money.”
Song Wenbin said, “That’s great, that’s great. Your novel didn’t require much capital investment. If you wrote it and made money, we’re happy. If it didn’t make money, there’s no loss either.”
That’s true. Compared to other jobs or running a business, writing novels is a bit better. First, there’s no capital investment, and second, there’s no time limit—you just need to spend a few hours a day writing.
The elders thought Song Ying was quite impressive, and not just because of the novel writing. They felt that someone as young as Song Ying had actually managed to save up money.
Young people tend to spend a lot, especially in big cities. Song Ying had been working in the capital before, yet she’d still managed to save up several hundred thousand.
Indeed, people were different from one another.
Her cousin Narisu and her older cousin Song Yuan had both dropped out of high school and gone out into the world.
They’d also worked away from home like Song Ying, but their salaries were gone by the end of each month. When they had girlfriends, you could say they spent money on them, but even when they didn’t have girlfriends, the money still vanished by month’s end.
So they felt their younger cousin was pretty impressive—she had perseverance.
After finishing that topic, Wang Lei and Song Wenbin said, “You two should hurry up and go pick her up. Don’t keep her waiting too long at the airport.”
Song Ying stood up. “Okay, okay.”
It didn’t take more than a few minutes.
Song Ying messaged the designer Mi Duo on WeChat, telling her not to mention to anyone how much the design fees for her house had cost.
Her restaurant and her residence had cost a total of one hundred fifty thousand in design fees. If her uncle or those older cousins found out she’d spent one hundred fifty thousand just on a designer, who knew what they’d say about her.
Besides, in other people’s eyes, she wasn’t that wealthy right now, so she couldn’t let them know.
[Then I’ll say eight thousand] Mi Duo sent over to ask.
If you hired a designer to design your house, people were bound to ask.
Song Ying: [Say five thousand, and tell them we knew each other before…]
The general story for outsiders was that Mi Duo was a friend of the wife’s sister of her former head chef—roughly an acquaintance, which was why she got a discount.
Mi Duo: [Okay.]
[Anyway, if they don’t ask, don’t give them the specifics. Just give them a vague answer.]
After finishing the conversation, Song Ying deleted the chat window to avoid anyone finding out.
Twenty minutes later, the two arrived at the airport.
They met up with Mi Duo. The designer Mi Duo was around thirty years old, just past thirty, with a neat short haircut.
She said with a smile, “Just call me Sister Mi.”
Song Ying said, “Okay, Sister Mi.”
They chatted as they walked out of the airport. Looking at the car in front of them, Mi Duo asked with a laugh, “This isn’t a newly bought car, is it?”
Song Ying said, “Yeah, I just picked it up today.”
Mi Duo said, “This car looks great—really cool.”
Once they got in the car, Mi Duo asked, “Yingzi, have you found a construction crew yet?”
Song Ying said, “Not yet, Sister Mi. There are good masons and laborers in our village, but I’m afraid they won’t know how to build the kind of house I want. I was thinking of discussing it with my uncle and the others.”
This matter was a bit tricky, because if you built a house in the village but didn’t hire the villagers to do it, instead hiring outsiders, it would be a bit hard to justify.
Mi Duo understood this logic and said, “Alright, go discuss it. Actually, the main structure of the house is easy to build—no difficulty there. It’s the interior decoration that you need to find the right people for.”
“But it’s fine. When we get there, I’ll take out the design drawings and show them. They should be able to understand them.”
Song Ying said, “Sounds good, Sister Mi.”
Song Yuan was driving. “Yingzi, aren’t you building that house you showed us?”
Song Ying said, “Yeah, that’s right, big brother.”
Song Yuan said, “That can be built. The main structure isn’t much different from the houses in the village—you just need to make it taller.”
Mi Duo also said, “Right, there’s nothing difficult about building the main structure.”