Chapter 68: Picking Up the Car

Li Yan hesitated for a few seconds outside the piano room. Logically speaking, it was lunchtime and he should grab a bite to eat.

However, the moment he thought of the newly arrived Mercedes-Benz G63 at the dealership, he instantly threw his appetite to the back of his mind and headed straight for the 4S dealership.

As the car drove along, he looked at the warm noon sunlight of Chuanduan outside the window, while his mind was filled with only two words: "Car pickup."

The subsequent trivial matters such as getting license plates and applying window film needed to be arranged promptly, striving to get everything done in one afternoon.

The driver glanced at him through the rearview mirror, seeming to want to make small talk, but Li Yan was busy on his phone booking the tint shop, so he simply gave two vague responses.

Ten minutes later, the car stopped in front of the Mercedes-Benz 4S dealership, where a domineering black body looked fierce and rugged under the outdoor sunlight.

Li Yan walked into the store briskly. The sales representative was already waiting at the entrance and immediately greeted him with a smile when he saw him coming: "Mr. Li, everything is ready. Would you like to go inspect the car first?"

Li Yan nodded, exchanged a brief greeting, and was led to the exhibition area. True to form, the black G63 was placed in the most prominent position. The iconic Big G headlights and sharp, square contours of the front fascia instantly inspired a sense of conquest at first glance.

Li Yan approached the body of the car, tapped the door with his finger to test the texture of the paint, and glanced at the interior: the AMG sports steering wheel, leather seats, and the already upgraded Burmester sound system.

To him, this car was both a means of transportation and a delightful "toy."

After checking the car and finding no issues, he readily signed the remaining paperwork. Holding the keys in his hand, the feeling was completely different.

Opting out of any flashy delivery ceremony, Li Yan had communicated beforehand that everything should be kept simple.

It all ended with simply standing in front of the car and taking a single photo.

When the salesperson handed him his phone back, Li Yan looked at the rugged black vehicle displayed on the screen.

The massive, iconic headlights and the tough contours contrasted nicely with the simple white shirt and fair complexion of the young man standing beside the car.

Li Yan thought to himself, Well, pretty handsome.

Casually, he posted it to his Moments, accompanied by a car emoji in the caption.

Showing off? A bit.

Purely showing off? Not quite.

As his very first car in life, obtained fair and square, what was wrong with an 18-year-old posting it on his Moments?

If you don't post on Moments, how can you expect the girls on WeChat to be a little more proactive?

Li Yan never felt awkward about this sort of thing; this was just the beginning. When he picked up his Ferrari SF90 later on, he would post another one~

Afterward, the sales representative took him to handle the temporary license plate procedures. Li Yan checked documents with the staff all the way while using his phone to contact the tinting shop he had booked earlier.

Facing the tedious paperwork and procedures, he wasn't in a rush; he signed wherever a signature was required.

Once the dealership issued the temporary license plate, he drove the Big G directly toward the tinting shop.

The square black body shuttled through traffic, turning heads effortlessly. People in neighboring cars at red lights would steal a couple of glances at it. Li Yan lightly pressed the accelerator, listening to the low roar of the AMG engine, feeling a faint, quiet surge of pride.

The smell inside the new car wasn't particularly pleasant, as is the case with luxury cars of any tier.

Yet Li Yan felt it was quite alright. He connected to CarPlay, and Wang Leehom's singing drifted out from the Burmester speakers.

"Turning back to the corner of memories, a perfect life..."

"Thinking happiness could always be grasped..."

"Savoring carefully..."

The singing echoed from the Burmester system while Li Yan held the steering wheel with his left hand, resting his right hand on the central armrest, eyes looking straight ahead, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned as a youthful voice hummed along from his lips.

...

When they reached the tint shop, it was already one-thirty.

He discussed with the shop owner about getting a "semi-matte black" film finish, giving the car a subtle matte texture under the sunlight for an even cooler look.

The owner quoted a price, and without a second of hesitation, he agreed, handing over the car keys directly: "Buddy, this needs to be finished today."

The other party smiled bitterly: "Well, adding a rush fee isn't out of the question, but we have to push the schedule, time is a bit tight."

Hearing this, Li Yan forked over a few hundred more without bothering to haggle, since he still had to go get the official license plates in the afternoon.

Glancing at the wall clock, he slipped his phone back into his pocket, signaled for them to get started right away, and took a brief rest in the shop by flipping through a magazine.

Li Yan logged into the traffic management app, filled in some necessary information, and began selecting a license plate number.

The dealership salesperson had asked him if he wanted to choose any special license plate numbers, but Li Yan had zero interest in that. Consecutive repeating numbers like 888 and the like didn't matter to him at all.

Choosing an ordinary numerical plate, Li Yan clicked confirm without hesitation.

Once the tinting was completed, Li Yan rushed to the vehicle administration office. He ran between several windows, handed over various documents, pressed his fingerprints, registered his personal information, and finally squatted down to wait for the plates.

By dusk, the shiny new license plate was bolted onto the straight black spare tire cover, and Li Yan finally let out a long breath of relief.

Driving the car out of the gates of the vehicle administration office, he parked on a narrow side road, stepped out to buy a beverage, leaving the engine running.

Li Yan lit a cigarette, stood by the roadside looking at the parked black Mercedes-Benz Big G. The brand-new body and rugged style truly grew more appealing the longer he looked at it.

Pulling out his phone, he opened WeChat and looked at the notification showing 99+ unread Moments messages, tapping it to browse casually.

"Damn! Brother Yan!!!"

The one whose catchphrase was always "holy cow" was Wang Zhen, who was still back in Luzhong City at the moment.

"Did you buy a car?"

From his ex-ex-ex-girlfriend.

"Where are you? Why aren't you replying to my messages?"

From his ex-ex-girlfriend.

"Is this another new car you bought?"

From long-legged Wang Lin.

There were simply too many comments and likes, and Li Yan didn't reply to a single one.

Posting to Moments to show off a bit was enough; explaining things further was completely unnecessary.

Opening his WeChat messages, he looked at the three 59-second voice notes sent by Wang Zhen and didn't even have the urge to click on them.

He merely replied, "Busy, I'll call you later."

Aside from Wang Zhen, his high school buddy, his mother had unsurprisingly sent a message too.

Naturally, she had also seen his Moments post about buying a car and had sent a 59-second voice note as well.

Li Yan naturally had to click and listen to that one.

There wasn't anything out of the ordinary; she simply asked about his recent life, mentioned his car purchase, and casually dropped that she and his dad were already looking at cars themselves lately.

Li Yan casually sent a short voice note back, planning to give his mom a proper phone call that evening.

As for the messages further down, Li Yan found them somewhat dizzying.

"Brother Li Yan, your car is so cool~"

"Such a handsome car! I wonder if you can take me for a spin?"

"Moments post gets a top rating!"

...

Looking at most of the messages, they were from new freshmen of Sichuan University who had recently added him via QQ groups, all following a uniform remark format:

23XX Department - 168 - Sweet

23XX Department - 158 - Loli

23XX Department - 164 - Internet-famous face

23XX Department - 165 - Busty

Li Yan replied uniformly with a smiling emoji...

Except for the message sent by long-legged Wang Lin.