Jiang Jiaxing laughed heartily. Even though he’d been seen through by his old friend, he didn’t feel embarrassed.
As the two joked around, their car quickly entered a garden apartment complex on the southern side of Jing City.
The complex had only six floors, as low-rise residential buildings were more popular back then, and it wasn’t equipped with an underground parking lot, making it somewhat difficult to find a parking space.
While parking, they ran into a bit of trouble because Old Jiang’s car blocked the corridor entrance of the unit, and a lady on the first floor, who was watering her flowers, scolded them a few times. Naturally, two grown men felt embarrassed to argue with a woman, so they moved the car to a further spot.
After climbing to the fifth floor and entering the apartment, Zhou Dajun called out without getting a response from Zhao Guihua. He puzzledly entered the room to find his wife sulking on the sofa.
"What’s the matter? Old Jiang is here, and you didn’t even say hello..."
"Old Jiang!"
Zhao Guihua forced a smile in greeting only when she saw Jiang Jiaxing behind Zhou Dajun.
However, she couldn’t hold back and complained to her husband angrily, "It’s those people at the property center. They completely deny what they said before, and if we really want to buy the garage now, it’ll cost nearly a hundred thousand. It’s not worth it at all!"
Hearing Zhao Guihua’s words, Zhou Dajun immediately understood the situation.
The apartment they now lived in didn’t have an underground parking lot, but instead had larger garages. At the time of purchase, the developer promised them a garage for free.
However, the purchase contract later mysteriously changed to "priority purchase rights," and neither of them noticed before signing.
Previously, when they found out something was wrong, Zhao Guihua had already made a fuss about it once, but with no result, she had to reluctantly give up. Now, because the family planned to buy a car, the issue had resurfaced for Zhao Guihua, who went back to argue with the property center several times.
Apparently, she’d just gone there again and ended up getting upset once more...
"Alright, alright, it’s just a garage. If they don’t give us one, we’ll just buy it later. Don’t let these things get you angry all the time, or your migraines will come back!"
Old Zhou comforted Zhao Guihua for a while before asking: "Did you call our son? Where is he now?"
"He’s driving, I don’t dare call him, but he did tell me before setting off. He should be here soon... I’ll go cook, Old Jiang, make yourself comfortable!"
Zhao Guihua said as she headed to the kitchen.
Listening to their conversation, Jiang Jiaxing couldn’t help but ask in surprise: "Your Zhou Wang is back?"
"Yeah, it’s his grandma’s birthday tonight, so we’ll have to head over to Lu City."
"I heard Guihua say he drove back himself?" Jiang Jiaxing asked with interest, "Did he buy himself a car?"
"Oh, about this, his mother and I feel a bit helpless."
Zhou Dajun waved his hand and laughed, "That boy secretly bought a car without telling us, didn’t even ask us for money, and he even transferred thousands to his mom..."
"Oh, that’s impressive!"
Jiang Jiaxing said with a surprised smile, "Just graduated and he can already buy a car himself, even if it’s just a down payment, it’s still remarkable."
"It’s not bad, he’s still young, taking it slow. But if Qingkui could help him out a bit, maybe one day he’ll drive a Mercedes like you do, then that’d be something."
Zhou Dajun chuckled.
"Qingkui, as a child, still hasn’t decided where to go, probably because she has too many choices. Speaking of which, I was just about to call her..."
Jiang Jiaxing waved his hand and took out his phone.
Zhou Dajun twitched the corner of his mouth, knowing Jiang Jiaxing couldn’t resist the urge to show off again.
The last time they met in the market, Jiang Jiaxing called Jiang Qingkui right in front of him.
Even though Zhou Dajun couldn’t fully understand all those terms, words like "million annual salary," "first-tier city residency," "stake incentives," and "housing with a car" were quite clear...
But just as Jiang Jiaxing took out his phone, it rang first.
Seeing the caller ID, Jiang Jiaxing was visibly taken aback but quickly answered with a smile.
"Hello, Qingkui, I was just about to call you..."
"What, you’re back?"
Jiang Jiaxing’s expression changed to surprise immediately.
"Your mom’s not home, I’m over at Uncle Zhou’s for dinner... Yes, that’s Zhou Wang’s dad... Ah, you’re coming over, never mind, I’ll just head back and wait... What did you say?"
Jiang Jiaxing was taken aback again, glancing at Zhou Dajun beside him, who was also somewhat bewildered.
"You said you came back with Zhou Wang... and you two are together now?"
Now Zhou Dajun was puzzled too.
What’s going on, his son came back with Jiang Qingkui?
He didn’t say anything about it...
"Alright, alright, then I’ll just wait for you at Uncle Zhou’s, good..."
Jiang Jiaxing hung up the phone, looking at Zhou Dajun with confusion. "Old Zhou, when did your son get in touch with my Qingkui? Judging by the sound of it, they seem to be on good terms. Did he say anything to you?"
"No, he didn’t mention anything..."
"Is your Zhou Wang trying to pursue my Qingkui?"
Jiang Jiaxing thought for a moment, his expression suddenly changed.
...
Jing City Highway Toll Station.
"The amount is 65.5 yuan, using the account card. Please proceed!"
As the ETC barrier lifted, a Mercedes G-Class with Ming City license plate ending in 686 slowly drove into the ramp. After taking a turn, it merged into the well-maintained urban road with lush greenery.