Chapter 96: Is the Ring Expensive?
Chu Feng hurried into the mall. Illya turned and waved to him.
Chu Feng noticed Illya standing at the gold jewelry counter and frowned slightly as he walked over.
“All settled?” Shen Yue asked.
Chu Feng nodded. “Yeah, it’s handled.”
He had driven the VW today, which was relatively cheap and didn’t suffer much damage. Some of the other cars weren’t so lucky—one was totaled. The woman driver had crashed into six cars in a row and was paralyzed with fear. Luckily, none of the cars she hit were luxury vehicles, or things would’ve been much worse. Insurance might not even cover it all.
“Glad it’s resolved,” Shen Yue said.
“Still shopping for jewelry?” Chu Feng asked.
Shen Yue shook her head. “Your brother and I already picked ours. I’m just here with my friend, she’s about to get engaged. I brought your friend along too.”
Chu Feng looked at Illya. “See anything you like?”
Illya pointed at a pair of rings. “These.”
Chu Feng took a look—both rings had sizeable diamonds and likely came with a hefty price tag.
“You picked those?”
“Yep,” Illya nodded, pointing at the sales assistant. “She said wearing diamond rings strengthens love.”
Chu Feng thought to himself: Wearing such expensive rings, of course the relationship must be good! Such a big diamond.
Chu Feng looked at the sales assistant and asked, “How much?”
“These two rings are 88,000 each. If you buy them as a pair, we can give you a discount—160,000,” the assistant replied.
Chu Feng nodded. “Alright, ring them up.”
The assistant looked at him in pleasant surprise. “Okay, just a moment.”
She had assumed this deal would fall through—after all, Illya seemed a bit confused. But Chu Feng agreed so decisively, without even bargaining. In truth, 160,000 was a bit high and could have been negotiated down.
Shen Yue gave Chu Feng a surprised look and asked, “Haven’t you spent all of that 3 million you won?”
Chu Feng: “…”
Did she think he was broke? If so, and Illya picked out such an expensive ring, why didn’t she stop him? Was she trying to make him look bad?
“I made some money doing a small business recently, so I’m still doing alright,” Chu Feng replied calmly.
“Is it expensive?” Illya, sensing something was off, asked Chu Feng with a puzzled look.
Illya had already noticed that Shen Yue didn’t particularly like him—she just maintained a polite face. Bringing him here felt oddly insincere, but he wasn’t sure where the “trap” was yet.
Chu Feng shook his head. “Not too bad.”
Illya nodded, letting out a small “Oh.”
Chu Feng swiped his card, then handed one of the rings to Illya and slid the other onto his own finger.
“Put it on this finger,” Illya said, pointing to Chu Feng’s ring finger.
Illya reached out, removed the ring Chu Feng had slipped on his middle finger, and moved it to his ring finger. “I picked the size based on this finger.”
Chu Feng’s finger tingled, and his heart thumped loudly.
He glanced at the people nearby. The female sales assistant had sparkling eyes and a look on her face like she’d just witnessed a romantic scene straight out of a drama.
“Is there anything else you want?” Chu Feng asked.
The assistant, still thrilled at landing such a big sale, suddenly realized she had miscalculated. With such a big spender, she should have recommended more than just a pair of rings. For someone with money, 160,000 was clearly no big deal!
Illya shook his head. “Nothing else.”
Chu Feng nodded. “Then let’s go.”
Bao Tongyu watched them walk away and marveled, “Your brother-in-law is something else! Two 88,000 yuan rings—he didn’t even blink before buying them.”
Shen Yue nodded. “I know, I didn’t expect that either.”
Bao Tongyu shook her head. “I didn’t know you had such a generous brother-in-law.”
“He used to be a delivery guy,” Shen Yue said. “Then he suddenly hit the jackpot and got rich. Who knows how.”
Bao Tongyu nodded with a sigh. “Times change fast these days—some get rich overnight, others go bankrupt.”
Shen Yue nodded. “Yeah.”
She thought wistfully: I wonder when it’ll be my turn to strike it rich.
She reflected: The saying ‘Fortune rotates like a wheel’ is so true! Look how quickly things changed—Chu Feng has become someone completely different.
When she was dating Chu Jinhui, she used to hear him bad-mouth Chu Feng all the time. Back then, Chu Feng looked miserable, and she thought those criticisms were justified. But after marrying, she realized things had flipped—Chu Feng would spend lavishly for love, while Chu Jinhui was stingy and lacked any masculine charm…
Illya admired the ring on his hand and said with amazement, “The craftsmanship here is really amazing!”
Chu Feng nodded. “It’s decent.”
Illya looked at Chu Feng, still unsure. “This ring… it’s really not expensive?”
Chu Feng answered lightly, “It’s okay.”
“How many ice cream cones could you buy with this ring?” Illya asked innocently.
Chu Feng blinked. “Probably enough for you to eat ice cream for the rest of your life.”
Illya was shocked. “How could it be that expensive?!”
Chu Feng: … “Diamond rings are always expensive!”
“But you said it wasn’t—you said it was cheap!”
“When?”
“In the store.”
Chu Feng rolled his eyes. The ones in that boutique were just for display—just a few bucks each. Of course they weren’t expensive. But those were fake. This one’s real.
Illya looked at him, puzzled. “Did I get it wrong?”
Chu Feng smiled. “It’s nothing.”
To a millionaire like him, the difference between a few bucks and tens of thousands wasn’t worth fussing over.
Illya nodded again. “Oh.”
*
At Chu Jinhui’s Apartment
Shen Yue returned with her bag.
Even though her relationship with Chu Jinhui was tense, they were still husband and wife. Living separately right after getting married would look bad, so after some mediation, they both compromised and temporarily reconciled.
Though they were under the same roof, after all that drama, things could never truly return to the way they were.
“Where did you go?” Chu Jinhui asked.
“My colleague’s getting engaged. I went to help her pick a ring,” Shen Yue said coolly.
“Oh, really?” Chu Jinhui replied just as coolly.
He had spent a lot on their wedding, and due to a tight budget, had only bought Shen Yue a ring worth just over 10,000. Shen Yue hadn’t been happy about that.
The wedding itself had been rather grand, but after everything that followed, Chu Jinhui felt tricked and now avoided even bringing it up.
“Did your colleague pick something?” he asked.
Shen Yue shook her head. “She didn’t decide. Chu Feng did.”
Chu Jinhui looked at her with a puzzled expression. “What do you mean?”
“I ran into Chu Feng while I was out,” she said, then paused. “With his boyfriend.”
Chu Jinhui frowned. “He hasn’t broken up with that guy yet?”
During Mid-Autumn Festival, things had ended badly, and he hadn’t been able to get in touch with Chu Feng since. He didn’t expect Shen Yue to run into him.
Shen Yue tilted her head. “Your cousin sure is rich—and generous, too.”
“What about him?”
Shen Yue said flatly, “Today, they picked out a matching pair of rings—spent 160,000 yuan.”
Chu Jinhui looked puzzled. “Matching diamond rings for men?”
Shen Yue nodded. “Yep.”
Chu Jinhui rolled his eyes. “This is getting more and more ridiculous.”
Chu Feng really wanted to be with a man. He had no money to lend him, but he had plenty to buy rings for someone else.
Chu Jinhui had a strange feeling. Ever since Chu Feng won the lottery, it was like his money never ran out. He bought whatever he wanted.
Thinking about it, he’d bought a house, two cars, and had been seen shopping for clothes after being hit by a car. After taxes, he only received 2.4 million of the 3 million yuan jackpot. That money shouldn’t have lasted long.
“This guy didn’t win the lottery—he must’ve robbed a bank.”
Shen Yue said, “Your cousin’s actually not bad… At least he’s generous to the person he likes.”
Chu Jinhui’s expression darkened. Lately, people had started comparing him to Chu Feng—especially his grandfather’s friends, who praised Chu Feng for being promising. What’s so great about Chu Feng? He just got lucky.
Growing up, Chu Feng had always lagged behind him, but now it felt like their roles had completely reversed.
Last time he visited, he overheard the old men saying Grandpa was too biased, which had pushed Chu Feng away and closer to the Lin family. They said it shouldn’t have been that way.
*
In the villa.
“It’s my money. I’ll spend it how I want. No matter how much I have, I won’t lend you any.”
“You ungrateful brat! Disowning your own family—you’ll get what’s coming to you…”
Chu Feng didn’t bother listening to the complaints on the other end and simply hung up the phone.
Illya looked at him and tilted his head. “Who were you talking to?”
Chu Feng smiled. “Just someone irrelevant.”
Illya tilted his head again. “You sounded pretty harsh. Will it cause trouble?”
“No worries. The more furious she gets, the better.”
Ever since running into Shen Yue earlier, Chu Feng had figured Yan Ping would call. And sure enough, she did. At first, he hadn’t wanted to pick up, but then thought better of it—if he didn’t answer, she’d think he was afraid. So he picked up and made things clear. Better to be direct than endlessly entangled.
Letting her badmouth him in the village? Fine. He had nothing to lose.
Illya: “…”
Chu Feng thought: She must be losing her mind with anger. Maybe she’ll even make herself sick over it. But even if she does, that’s her problem.
