Chapter 64: Swiping the Card for Verification

Lin Hao lazily grunted, “How should I know?”

“The car was parked right outside your house. We were only inside for a few minutes, and you were here the whole time. The car got smashed—how can you not know?”

“Of course I don’t know!” Lin Hao glared, his expression arrogant.

Ye Tianci’s face grew cold. “You ordered someone to smash the car, didn’t you?”

“Ye Tianci, don’t you go slandering me!”

“You parked recklessly, and your car got smashed—what does that have to do with me? If you don’t believe me, ask them!” Lin Hao snorted, nodding toward the servants.

“It wasn’t our young master. I can vouch for that.”

“Yes, none of us did anything,” the two servants chimed in.

Lin Qingqian stared at Lin Hao, furious. “I know it was you! You’re just too vile!”

“Hey! Qingqian, you can’t start slinging accusations at me like Ye Tianci. If you keep slandering me, I’ll report you to the Skywatch Pavilion and make you compensate me for emotional damages!” Lin Hao looked every bit the scoundrel.

With no surveillance cameras around and his ironclad denial, nobody could do a thing to him.

Ye Tianci quickly traced a talisman in his palm, walked to Lin Hao, and patted him on the shoulder.

Lin Hao shuddered instantly.

He shook Ye Tianci’s hand off warily. “What are you doing? Don’t touch me!”

“Lin Hao, evil deeds never go unpunished. If you smash someone’s car and refuse to admit it, retribution will come—you’ll be plagued by bad luck,” Ye Tianci said with a genial smile.

He was certain Lin Hao had done it. Instead of using a Confession Talisman to force the truth, he struck Lin Hao with a Misfortune Talisman. Soon, Lin Hao would find himself in a streak of dreadful luck.

Lin Hao scoffed derisively. “Who are you trying to fool? No matter what you say, I’m not admitting to anything. And if you so much as lay a hand on me, I’ll play dead and frame you for assault!”

His roguish face was enough to make anyone angry.

“Tianci, don’t waste your breath on this scoundrel!” Lin Qingqian fumed as she called a tow truck to take away the battered Red Flag car.

“Expelled from the family records, despised by my mother, and now even my car’s been smashed. Soon, I’ll have no way to get around at all. Ye Tianci, I just wanted to fulfill our engagement—why is it so hard?” Lin Qingqian’s voice trembled, her eyes reddening with sorrow.

Ye Tianci took her hand with a commanding air. “You’ve suffered enough these last days. Don’t worry, your days of being looked down upon will soon be over! Come, I’ll take you to buy a new car.”

Lin Qingqian gazed at him with quiet doubt. “You’re not just making empty promises, are you?”

“I never make empty promises. You’ll see my words come true very soon.” Without further explanation, Ye Tianci led her out of the villa complex and hailed a taxi.

He sent a message to Tang Ying, who immediately replied. The Tang family was the exclusive Rolls-Royce dealer in Nanzhou, overseeing both dealerships in Shu City. Tang Ying sent Ye Tianci the address of one.

Before long, the taxi stopped in front of the Rolls-Royce showroom.

Rolls-Royce was a high-end brand, and few could afford such cars. The showroom was usually quiet—today, it was completely empty. A few salespeople lounged on their chairs, cracking sunflower seeds and chatting, as they watched Ye Tianci and Lin Qingqian step out of a taxi and walk in.

None of them budged from their seats, as if glued in place. No one greeted them.

Seeing this, and glancing at the cars on display, Lin Qingqian tugged at Ye Tianci’s arm, trying to pull him back outside. “Why did you bring me here? They sell Rolls-Royces here!”

Ye Tianci held her back, smiling. “Just wait till you’re behind the wheel.”

He limped forward and addressed the sales team. “Who’s the manager here?”

“I am,” replied a sharply-dressed man, rising with a look of impatience. His badge read “Gao Youcai.”

“Don’t you sell cars here?” Ye Tianci asked.

“Who told you we don’t?” Gao Youcai raised an eyebrow.

“Then why does no one greet customers when they enter?”

Gao Youcai glanced at Ye Tianci, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “How do you expect us to greet you? You show up in a taxi wanting to buy a Rolls-Royce? Ha! Don’t you find that funny yourself?”

“If you want to film a short video for Douyin, try another store. We’re not interested,” he finished coldly, sizing Ye Tianci up as just another wannabe internet celebrity.

Ye Tianci didn’t want to cause trouble—he just wanted to buy the car and leave. “I’m not here to film. I’m here to buy a car.”

“Oh, you’re talking back now?” Gao Youcai sneered. “You’re really here to buy a car? Do you even know what we sell here? Do you know how much one of these costs?”

Ye Tianci answered calmly, “I know the badge. This is Rolls-Royce, isn’t it? As for the price—I actually don’t know.”

Gao Youcai’s disdain grew. “So you only know the logo, don’t even know the price, and you come here by taxi insisting you’re buying a car?”

“Let me tell you, not just anyone can afford a Rolls-Royce. See that Phantom over there? Custom-built—fifteen million! You’d be lucky to afford a wheel, let alone the whole car.”

His ridicule was merciless.

If Ye Tianci had come alone, Gao Youcai might have stopped after a few snide remarks. The real problem was that Ye Tianci was accompanied by Lin Qingqian—a woman of stunning beauty, her figure the embodiment of perfection. She was the very image of a goddess.

To see such a goddess with a lame man like Ye Tianci naturally stirred envy, jealousy, and resentment in other men. However Gao Youcai compared himself to Ye Tianci, he always found himself superior by dozens of measures. To him, Lin Qingqian was a delicate flower planted in a pile of dung.

His goading of Ye Tianci was, in large part, because of Lin Qingqian.

Ye Tianci’s brow furrowed. “If you’re not going to sell me a car, then call your boss. I’ll speak with them.”

“Oh, now you want our boss? You’ve got some nerve!” Gao Youcai snorted. “You keep saying you want to buy a car, fine, I’ll help you. But in our shop, we verify funds first. Show me your bank card—let’s see how much you’ve got.”

Ye Tianci took out the card Tang Qiong had given him. “Fine. Check it.”

“Oh, you’re really going through with it? I can’t wait to see you embarrass yourself.” Gao Youcai snatched the card and swiped it at the terminal.

“Sorry, data error,” droned the machine.

Gao Youcai swiped it again.

“Sorry, data error,” the machine repeated.

He paused, then tossed the card back, voice icy. “Trying to mess with me? Bringing an empty card for a funds check?”

Ye Tianci frowned. That didn’t make sense—Tang Qiong wouldn’t have given him a useless card.

Just then, a commotion sounded from the second floor.

“Who just swiped a card? Who just did a funds check?”

A middle-aged man rushed down, his excitement making him miss a step—he tumbled down the stairs, but scrambled up, ignoring his pain, and dashed over with wide eyes and a face alight with barely contained excitement.

“Who just swiped a card for a funds check?”