"What is there to be envious of? I remember my cousin's family has an even better car than ours. Why didn't he let you ride in it?" Jiang Han said deliberately, looking very surprised.
With that, he looked at Jiang Zhe with a hint of reproach in his tone.
"Big brother, this is not right of you. You should have taken Yuqin for a ride in the family's luxury car. Otherwise, when she attends family gatherings in the future and sees so many expensive cars, is she supposed to envy everyone one by one?"
"Brother, don't overthink it. I'm just afraid Yuqin won't feel comfortable about it later."
Jiang Zhe couldn't detect the wealth-resentment in Luo Yuqin's words, and naturally, he couldn't catch the sarcasm in Jiang Han's words either.
He turned to Luo Yuqin and said, "I'm sorry, Yuqin. I want to listen to you and keep striving out in the world, which means you're stuck riding on my little electric scooter."
Luo Yuqin cast a reluctant glance at the Bentley and forced a smile.
"It's fine. I like you no matter what you're like."
Though a smile hung on her face, in her heart she had already cursed Jiang Han hundreds of times.
He was clearly showing off on purpose just to force her to let Jiang Zhe go back.
She wasn't going to fall for that trick.
Knowing she couldn't outtalk Jiang Han, Luo Yuqin shifted the topic to An Yangning.
"You must be Jiang Han's girlfriend, An Yangning. The clothes you're wearing are really pretty."
Luo Yuqin genuinely meant every word of this.
An Yangning looked like a noble princess right now, while her own outfit wasn't even fit for a servant girl.
An Yangning smiled faintly. "Thank you for the compliment."
Luo Yuqin touched the texture of the skirt, her tone turning somewhat sour.
"Clothes like this must be very expensive. I've never worn anything like this in all my life. Did you buy it yourself, or did Jiang Han buy it for you?"
For a moment, An Yangning didn't know how to respond.
After all, this was Jiang Han's cousin's girlfriend, so she felt she should leave her some face.
"If you like it, I can find a set and give it to you. How's that?"
Luo Yuqin snorted. "I wouldn't dare wear such nice clothes. I'm a scholarship student; people would gossip if I wore them."
"You probably don't understand the lives of us scholarship students."
An Yangning shook her head. "I'm a scholarship student too, so I understand how you feel. These clothes were actually a gift from Jiang Han's mother. Since she gave them to me, I'll wear them well, cherish them, and not let her kindness go to waste."
Both men listening nearby found this response very pleasant.
As expected, a girl with true perspective speaks in a way that makes people happy and wins their respect.
For the first time, Jiang Zhe felt a pang of envy toward his cousin.
Unlike him—he had once bought Luo Yuqin a pair of shoes, only to have her list and sell them on a secondhand marketplace.
The brand-new shoes resulted in a loss of over a thousand yuan.
When Luo Yuqin found out later, she even scolded him for wasting money, claiming that buying expensive things was why he lost so much.
It was the same in everyday life; Luo Yuqin meticulously calculated every single penny, and sometimes he even got yelled at just for drinking a bottle of soda.
Thinking she was just used to being frugal as his girlfriend, he had simply endured it.
Now, it suddenly hit him that he was essentially forcing himself to suffer needlessly.
Jiang Han wrapped an arm around An Yangning and kissed her.
"My baby really knows what to say."
An Yangning gave him a light punch, unaccustomed to such intimacy in front of outsiders.
Luo Yuqin shook her head. "Yangning, if you get used to living so extravagantly now, what will happen if you break up later? Will you still be able to go back to your old life?"
That remark crossed the line, and Jiang Han directly fired back at her.
"Sister Yuqin, you've been talking all this time just because you want nice clothes. Why don't you ask Third Aunt to buy you some? She has plenty of money, it's just that my brother refuses to spend it."
Luo Yuqin was instantly hit where it hurt.
Jiang Zhe's mother didn't like her at all—every time they met, she wore a look of utter disdain. How could she possibly ever buy her clothes?
"I don't even like such expensive things," Luo Yuqin defended herself insincerely.
Too lazy to expose her, Jiang Han pulled his precious wife toward the shopping mall.
"Baby, buy whatever you like later. Use the card my mom gave you."
He said it deliberately loud, loud enough to make Luo Yuqin behind them grind her teeth in fury.
Once she married Jiang Zhe in the future, she would definitely make him cut ties with this little brat.
"A-Zhe, aren't you going to do something about your younger brother? He keeps putting me down," Luo Yuqin said, tugging on Jiang Zhe's sleeve.
Jiang Zhe gave her a strange look.
"When did my younger brother put you down? I thought he was very polite to you. Just now, he even scolded me for not taking you in a luxury car!"
"Besides, his girlfriend also asked if you wanted clothes—you're the one who turned it down."
Every word he spoke was entirely sincere, yet to Luo Yuqin's ears, it sounded completely wrong.
She yanked her arm away from Jiang Zhe.
"You're a completely incompetent boyfriend."
Jiang Zhe remained utterly baffled. What had he done wrong this time?
At this rate, even breathing was a mistake, wasn't it?
He sighed, glanced ahead at the lovey-dovey couple Jiang Han and An Yangning, and then looked back at his sulking girlfriend.
He still wanted to smooth things over.
"Stop being angry. I'll buy you whatever you take a fancy to later."
Luo Yuqin let out a soft huff. "Things in places like this just have arbitrary price tags slapped on. I'm going back to shop online."
Jiang Zhe instantly lost all his mood.
The four of them arrived at a men's clothing store, and the moment the staff caught sight of Jiang Han, their eyes lit up as they swarmed around him.
They didn't even spare a single glance for Jiang Zhe.
Looking at his cousin surrounded like the moon among stars, Jiang Zhe felt a touch of desolation.
He used to get this kind of treatment wherever he went, but now, wearing a twenty-yuan T-shirt, who would bother with him?
Moreover, his hair was cut by Luo Yuqin, unlike his cousin's hair, which had been meticulously styled by a professional.
Just then, Jiang Han picked out a jacket and handed it to Jiang Zhe.
"Big bro, give this a try. I remember you used to really like this brand of clothing."
Jiang Zhe looked at the jacket; it really was the style he used to love wearing, and he couldn't help feeling an itch to try it on.
Slipping the jacket on, his entire bearing instantly leaped up a notch.
"Brother, buy it. All your old clothes are back at your old place, and you look quite handsome in this," Jiang Han praised sincerely.
An Yangning also smiled and said, "It really does look good. It suits you very well, Brother Jiang Zhe."
It had been a long time since anyone had complimented Jiang Zhe, and his heart warmed at the praise.
"Let's splurge a little this once and buy it."
At that moment, Luo Yuqin suddenly bustled over, picked up the price tag, and let out an exaggerated scream.
"Eighteen thousand! Jiang Zhe, are you out of your mind? Buying such expensive clothes! That's half a year of my living expenses!"
Her dramatic reaction drew strange looks from the store clerks, and Jiang Zhe felt his entire face burn with agonizing heat.
"It's fine, I have money on my card. Can you just calm down?"
Luo Yuqin, however, refused to let it go. "What do you know? We can take a picture, go home, and search online for the exact same style—an identical one only costs a few hundred yuan."
As she spoke, she actually pulled out her phone and started taking pictures.
Feeling as though he had lost every ounce of dignity he would ever have in this lifetime, Jiang Zhe let out a low roar.
"Enough! I'm not buying it. Are you happy now?"
With that, unable to stay another second, he ripped off the jacket and walked away by himself.
Startled by his outburst, Luo Yuqin stood frozen in place, tears welling up in her eyes.