Chapter 39: Too Much Pretending

Ye Chen, Xiao Churan, and Dong Ruolin took their seats together, and Wang Tengfei followed them, sitting next to Dong Ruolin.

As soon as he sat down, he smiled and asked Dong Ruolin, “Ruolin, I heard you came to Jinling this time to work at the Dihao Group?”

Dong Ruolin nodded, “I just started.”

Wang Tengfei laughed, “What a coincidence! My dad works at Dihao Group as the deputy general manager of a department. I’ll have him take good care of you.”

As soon as he said this, several people at the table exclaimed, “Brother Fei, your dad is the deputy general manager of Dihao Group?”

“Yes,” Wang Tengfei nodded and said, “He just got promoted last year.”

Someone quickly complimented, “The deputy general manager must have an annual salary of several million, right? That’s impressive! No wonder your family is so wealthy!”

Wang Tengfei smiled and said, “Several million is just the salary. My dad has a lot of authority and some other income as well. Dihao Group is currently working on a hotel project, and if that project goes well, my dad could earn at least ten to twenty million.”

A male classmate sitting opposite him quickly asked, “Brother Fei, I also want to join Dihao Group. I’ve submitted my resume several times but haven’t heard back. Can you talk to your dad and see if he can recommend me internally?”

Wang Tengfei nodded and said readily, “Sure, just send me your resume on WeChat, and I’ll give him a heads-up.”

Ye Chen couldn’t help but frown; he had no idea that Wang Tengfei’s father was actually an executive at Dihao Group.

This was getting interesting. He thought he would send a text to Wang Dongxue later, asking her to get Wang Tengfei’s dad fired.

So he deliberately asked, “Wang Tengfei, since your dad is so capable at Dihao Group, why doesn’t he get you in there?”

Wang Tengfei sneered disdainfully, “What do you know? It wouldn’t mean anything for me to join Dihao Group. You can’t hide the father-son relationship, and I’d be under constant scrutiny.”

He continued proudly, “So I’m not considering Dihao Group at all. I’ve started a building materials company, and I’ll collaborate with Dihao Group through my dad to secure their building materials supply contracts.”

“Wow!” someone exclaimed, “Doesn’t that mean you’re going to make a fortune?”

Wang Tengfei chuckled, “It’s not bad. By the end of the year, I should be able to make a few million.”

As he spoke, he deliberately looked at Ye Chen and asked, “Ye Chen, what are you doing for work now? You’re not just doing laundry and cooking since you’ve married into the family, right?”

The others at the table burst into laughter.

Ye Chen replied nonchalantly, “Every day, besides doing laundry and cooking, I also take my wife to work and give her massages. Life is wonderful.”

Wang Tengfei was furious; this guy had the audacity to act so self-righteous. His nerve was unbelievable!

Suppressing his anger, he gritted his teeth and said, “Ye Chen, I didn’t expect you to be so comfortable living off someone else!”

“Why not?” Ye Chen shamelessly replied. “I didn’t steal or rob; I’m living off my own abilities. Why shouldn’t I feel at ease?”

The classmates around them were stunned.

They had seen shamelessness before, but nothing like this!

The key was that everyone was envious!

After all, Xiao Churan was incredibly beautiful. Being able to live off a goddess-level woman was something many people dreamed of!

Jealousy and resentment filled the air!

If given the chance to serve a beauty like Xiao Churan, what did it matter to be a son-in-law? Being a son-in-law was also a win in life!

Wang Tengfei was nearly choked to death by his own words.

At that moment, Wang Daokun’s wife, Liu Lili, suddenly took the stage.

After smiling and thanking everyone for their presence, she said, “Thank you all for the many gifts today. Both Dao Kun and I are very touched. To express our gratitude, we’ve decided to announce the details of the gifts here. Thank you once again!”

Since it was the opening ceremony, the gift-reporting segment was naturally indispensable.

Originally, Wang Daokun didn’t want to do this, but he didn’t have much say in the matter and could only let Liu Lili do as she pleased.

However, many classmates were not surprised by this, as people often have a tendency to compare and show off. Everyone would be watching to see who gave what, allowing them to gauge how their old classmates were doing in society.

Then, Liu Lili began to call out names.

“Thanks to classmate Zhang Jie for the one-thousand-yuan red envelope!”

“Thanks to classmate Wang Bei for the pair of gold ingots!”

“Thanks to classmate Xu Ouhou for the jade Pi Xiu!”

“Thanks to classmate Wang Tengfei for the ten-thousand-yuan red envelope!”

The earlier gifts, whether red envelopes or items, were mostly valued around one thousand yuan. Suddenly, when it came to Wang Tengfei, he gave a ten-thousand-yuan red envelope, which left everyone stunned.

It was just an opening ceremony, and he casually gave away ten thousand yuan. That was quite a generous gesture!

Many people looked at Wang Tengfei in awe, praising his generosity.

Wang Tengfei also wore a proud expression, feeling that he had easily outdone all his classmates.

At this moment, Liu Lili continued, “Thanks to Ye Chen and Xiao Churan for the old painting!”

As soon as she said this, everyone burst into laughter!

An old painting? Could it even be worth a hundred yuan?

These two were too stingy, right? Wang Daokun’s restaurant was opening with such a lavish banquet; just the meal alone would cost several hundred yuan per person. And they came to mooch off the food with just an old painting? Weren’t they afraid of being laughed at?

Wang Tengfei also sneered mockingly, “Ye Chen, you can afford a BMW 520 and even spend money on modifications. Why did you only bring such a shabby item for an old classmate’s restaurant opening?”

Ye Chen smiled lightly, “You don’t know its origin. Why do you say it’s shabby?”

Wang Tengfei scoffed, “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to. You just want to buy that shabby fake antique to pass it off as something valuable, so people can’t figure out its true worth!”

He then pressed on, “Tell the truth, how much did you pay for that old painting? A hundred or eighty?”

Ye Chen smiled slightly, “That painting is worth more than everything everyone else has given combined today!”

“Hahaha!” Wang Tengfei burst out laughing, “You really are full of hot air! I just gave a red envelope of ten thousand, and there are over twenty classmates here. Each one giving a thousand adds up to over twenty thousand. Are you saying that painting of yours is worth over thirty thousand?”

Ye Chen replied, “You’re underestimating it.”

“Ahahaha!”

Now, the entire class was laughing.

Everyone thought Ye Chen was just trying to show off!

What kind of item did he give? How dare he come out and brag? An old painting worth several tens of thousands? Who did he think he was fooling?

At this moment, Liu Lili on stage also looked down on him and curiously asked, “Classmate Ye Chen, I wonder whose ancient painting you brought that could be worth several tens of thousands?”

Ye Chen replied nonchalantly, “It’s by a painter from the Qing Dynasty, not very famous.”

Liu Lili laughed, “Oh, what a coincidence! My dad is an antique appraiser and very authoritative. His name is Liu Yuesheng. If you know about antiques, you should have heard of him, right?”

Dong Ruolin exclaimed, “Liu Yuesheng? The antique expert Liu Yuesheng? I remember that person; he’s been on CCTV! He’s your dad?”

Liu Lili smiled, “That’s right, he’s my dad. He’s upstairs right now. How about I invite him down to appraise the ancient painting that classmate Ye Chen brought?”

Wang Tengfei stood up and said loudly, “Then it would be great if Lili could ask Uncle Liu to come down and help us appraise it. If Ye Chen’s painting really is worth more than all the gifts we received today, I, Wang Tengfei, will eat this table on the spot!”