The meal was over quickly.
During the meal, An Qingning really wanted to take photos, but she hesitated and held back. Lin Chu's friend and his girlfriend weren't taking any pictures. If she did, she felt it would seem a little low-class.
Unconsciously, An Qingning found herself starting to see things from Lin Chu's perspective.
She was afraid of embarrassing him.
And of course, she didn't want people to think she was unsophisticated.
"Mr. Lin, here is your bill for today. Would you require the chef's special complimentary course today?"
The familiar, beautiful waitress asked with a beaming smile, this time in advance.
Last time, the head chef had been stood up, and he was still a little angry about it.
A chef who could achieve two Michelin stars would have a creed when it came to food, as well as their own pride. Having a special complimentary course rejected by a guest was a genuine loss of face.
However, Lin Chu couldn't care less about any of that.
'You're a restaurant,' he thought. 'I pay money to eat, you just serve the food. What's all this nonsense about "culture"? This so-called culture is just an excuse to charge a high premium.'
'If it weren't for farming money, I can think of plenty of restaurants that taste better than this one.'
Lin Chu glanced at his phone. It was almost one o'clock, and it would take about an hour to get to the seaside from here. "No time. Next time, for sure."
The waitress: ...
She was speechless.
'There's never any time, is there?'
'Is he treating Ensue like a fast-food joint?'
"Very good, Mr. Lin. Here is your bill for today."
She cursed inwardly, but her face held an impeccable smile as she presented the bill to Lin Chu with both hands.
312,480.
Over 310,000 yuan.
The biggest chunk, naturally, was the 180,000-yuan bottle of Romanée-Conti.
Lin Chu casually swiped his card. Seeing the virtual panel in front of him showing a rebate of 620,000 yuan, a smile touched his lips.
His savings had finally broken the one million mark.
Although being a millionaire wasn't really considered 'rich' these days, having a million in cash could, just barely... be considered his first pot of gold.
An Qingning nonchalantly glanced at the bill.
At first, she thought it was 30,000, but a closer look revealed it was over 300,000!
Her heart suddenly began to race, her breathing grew slightly ragged, and she felt a little light-headed. Looking at the unfinished dishes and the half-empty bottle of wine on the table, she was struck by one thought... what a waste.
"Sir, you still have half a bottle of wine left. Would you like us to store it for you?"
"We have a temperature-controlled wine cellar."
The waitress noticed the female companion's expression and added the question with a smile.
"Whatever. You can decide."
Lin Chu waved his hand dismissively and said to Lu Ming, "Brother Ming, shall we go?"
Lu Ming smiled. "Let's go."
An Qingning subconsciously glanced at Lin Chu. 'He's actually quite handsome,' she thought. This kind of lifestyle... she was truly, intensely envious.
...
The four of them went downstairs.
As they walked out, An Qingning naturally linked her arm with Lin Chu's. He looked down at her, and she gave him a radiant smile.
Lu Ming had been drinking, but his girlfriend, Xiaolu, could drive.
Since they were going out for fun, they had taken a luxury van today—a Toyota Alphard.
The plush captain's chairs were comfortable. Lin Chu reclined his seat back and turned his head to watch the scenery outside the window.
"Brother Chu, let me give you a quick rundown. There are four of us guys in total today."
"The other two are an elementary school classmate and a high school classmate of mine."
"My elementary school classmate is named Liu Junfeng. He just got back from studying abroad. He's, uh, the academic ace type, I guess. Now he's preparing to start a business in finance or something. I don't really get the details, but he's definitely doing better than me."
"My high school classmate is Liao Zhibin. He's from Chaoshan, and his family owns a chain of beef hotpot restaurants—over a dozen branches, I think. They easily pull in over a hundred million a year."
Lu Ming, sitting in the front passenger seat, gave a brief introduction.
He was the one who organized today's gathering.
It was only natural for him to handle this sort of thing.
"Wow, they're all big shots."
Lin Chu said with a smile. This kind of social circle, while it might not sound *that* incredible, was already beyond what 99% of people had access to.
"Hey, we're all friends. Just be cool, be cool. Money is just a basic threshold, you know? It filters out the lowlifes and the morons. Once you're past that, it's really about character and ability."
"We're all still young, and we've got a long way to go. The game isn't over yet—any of us could be a dark horse."
Lu Ming said nonchalantly.
Lin Chu felt a stir in his heart and nodded with a smile.
He strongly agreed with this idea of a "basic threshold"; it was quite enlightening.
Listening to their conversation from the side, An Qingning suddenly became aware of a... circle.
The circle of the rich.
'So, it seems Lin Chu really does want to bring me into his world,' she thought.
'But, of course, it's also true that he definitely wants to get with me.'
...
About an hour later, the car arrived at a yacht club by the sea.
Lin Chu saw the other two friends for the day, and they both had female companions with them.
Lu Ming greeted them with a smile. After making introductions, they all boarded the yacht and headed out to sea.
The three-deck yacht looked quite luxurious. A rich man's big toy like this would surely cost tens of millions, at least.
But a truly wealthy person wouldn't go out to sea every day.
Leaving a yacht docked at the marina was also a waste.
So they'd hand it over to a club to manage, making it available for outsiders to rent. A trip out to sea would cost tens of thousands of yuan.
Lin Chu felt this was kind of idiotic; the rental income wouldn't even cover the interest.
Of course, that was purely from the perspective of personal consumption.
If the purpose was for company tax write-offs, asset transfers, boosting the company's image, networking... and so on, then it was a different story.
Unsurprisingly, for most wealthy people who bought yachts, these were likely the real reasons.
Often, Lin Chu felt that his understanding of society, his awareness, and his perspective were not at all lacking. He could conceive of and accomplish the same things the rich could; the only thing missing was the initial accumulation of capital.
'But now... the future looks truly bright.'
'The only things I still need to improve are my experience and my connections.'
...
"Brother Chu, let's go fishing!"
Lu Ming had changed into a Hawaiian shirt, a pair of large beach shorts, and sunglasses. He pulled out a fishing tackle box and called out to Lin Chu.
"Coming!"
Lin Chu, wearing nothing but a pair of swim trunks, walked out barefoot.
Liu Junfeng was also shirtless, lying back on a deck chair. His skin was wheat-colored, his muscles were well-defined with clear signs of working out, and on his lower abdomen was a tattoo. It read... "Fuck." Very provocative.
Liao Zhibin, on the other hand, was a bit more refined-looking, with fair skin and a pair of glasses.
"Let's get started. Same old rules: whoever catches the least fish pays for everything."
Liu Junfeng said with a smile. It seemed they had played this game more than once.
'Deciding who pays based on the number of fish caught?'
'I have to admit,'
'it's actually pretty interesting.'
'A fair competition, no tricks, no scams.'
None of them were short the tens of thousands, or at most hundred-something thousand yuan, but the thrill was in the competition.
"I already said I'm paying today. It's Brother Chu's first time. What if he gets skunked?"
Lu Ming said with a laugh. He was a little worried Lin Chu wouldn't be able to keep up, as the others were all skilled sea fishermen.
"How could I possibly get skunked?"
"Bring it on. Beginner's luck is a real thing..."
Lin Chu agreed with a smile.
First, it made him seem magnanimous and easygoing.
Second, he was actually quite interested in fishing and figured he wouldn't be too bad at it.
And third, even if he did lose, this kind of spending among friends would still trigger the system's rebate.
It was a win-win situation no matter what.
...
...