The Fantastic Little Farmer

Chapter 239: Chapter 239: Treatment of a Tycoon?

The auto mall was located outside the county town. Upon leaving, Zhang Yun rode his motorcycle back into the urban district, planning to grab some lunch before heading to Ancient Tree Back to find Song Tie.

Since Zhang Lifeng had treated him to a meal last time, Zhang Yun just found a random little restaurant to eat at on his own this time.

”Beer-braised duck, braised eggplant, and hot-and-sour shredded potatoes,” he ordered.

”For how many people?” the restaurant owner asked.

”Just me.”

”Can you finish all that?”

”Do I have to?”

”Not exactly. I’ll just bring you one bowl of rice, then.”

Zhang Yun thought to himself, ”I’m rich now. Can’t I splurge like a big spender?”

After shooing the owner away, Zhang Yun took out his phone and texted his dad, telling him he probably wouldn’t be back until the evening.

Chen Hui had replied to his earlier message, heavily criticizing Yang Bo and declaring that she would expose his behavior in their class chat group. Zhang Yun felt completely at peace. A guy like Yang Bo wasn’t even worth his attention. He was like a leech—if you paid attention to him, he would just cling tighter. However, if Yang Bo actively tried to cause trouble again, Zhang Yun wouldn’t hold back next time.

At that moment, a notification popped up. Taking a closer look, he saw several friend requests on his messaging app.

”Auto sales, please accept.”

”Hello Mr. Zhang, I’m from customer service.”

”I have some information to verify with you.”

Looking at the attached notes, they were all from the auto mall. Since this was Zhang Yun’s first time buying a car, he didn’t have much Experience dealing with this. Manager Wang had just handled his purchase, but perhaps a manager couldn’t personally follow up on every order. Thus, he accepted them one by one.

Zhang Yun mused, ”It seems like even though their sales staff’s attitude is lacking, their management is actually quite decent.” Being attended to by so many people left him feeling quite satisfied. It showed that they were professional and dedicated.

”Hello Mr. Zhang, I’m Xiaoxu, the salesperson who received you earlier. I’m reaching out specifically to apologize. I recently went through a bad breakup and was in a terrible mood, which led to my poor attitude. Please forgive me.”

Right after he accepted the requests, one of them sent over this long string of text.

Reading between the lines, Zhang Yun figured she must have been reprimanded by Manager Wang. They were all just working-class people earning modest wages, so there was no need to make things difficult for her.

”No need to apologize,” he typed back. ”It was just a miscommunication. I believe you didn’t mean any harm.”

No sooner had he sent his reply than another person messaged him. ”Mr. Zhang, I heard everything Xu Li said to you earlier. She’s just a snob who looks down on people. I even threw a few sarcastic remarks her way just now. Next time you come to our dealership, make an appointment with me in advance. I’ll personally assist you and make sure you leave satisfied.”

”Oh, okay. Thank you,” Zhang Yun replied. He noticed her verification note said she was from customer service, which meant he might need to contact her later on.

The third person, who claimed to be verifying information, also left a message. ”Mr. Zhang, we need to verify some details. Is your household registration still at your university, or is it back in Tianxin Village? I assume you’re not married yet, right?”

With three private chats constantly buzzing, Zhang Yun initially thought that they had simply become more enthusiastic after being criticized by Manager Wang. That would have been a sign of a good work attitude. However, seeing this last message, something felt a bit off.

He wondered, ”I’m just buying a car. Why do they need to know my household registration or whether I’m married?”

Xu Li, who had referred to herself as Xiaoxu, immediately sent another reply. ”I absolutely meant no harm! Actually, my attitude was a bit poor because you look so much like my ex-boyfriend, which made me emotional. How about I treat you to lunch today as a formal apology?”

”...”

Zhang Yun didn’t reply right away, waiting to see what would happen next. Sure enough, another girl messaged him almost instantly. ”I’m very knowledgeable about car maintenance, license plate registration, driving safety, and all those aspects. You can come to me with any questions. It seems like it’s your first time buying a car. Why don’t we find some time to chat about it in person?”

Good heavens!

Zhang Yun finally figured it out. Even with his lack of Experience, this level of enthusiasm clearly went far beyond basic customer service. Judging by their tone, were they trying to pursue him?

They had only met once... Well, he had to admit he was quite handsome. It was normal for him to attract girls. But girls selling cars shouldn’t be looking just at faces; they would definitely care more about wallets! He had only pre-ordered an entry-level BMW... was it really necessary to go to such lengths?

These were girls from the county town, yet even the girls in his village wouldn’t be this forward, would they?

Zhang Yun was taken aback for a moment, but he quickly connected the dots. What had he discussed with Song Tie before? Six hundred million people in the country earned less than a thousand a month, while a monthly income of two to twenty thousand was considered middle-class by World Bank standards.

Selling cars here mostly relied on a base salary. Sales volumes couldn’t get very high, meaning their commissions wouldn’t be substantial, given the limited local population. Rich people had a lot more options; they could just head to the branded dealerships in the big city. The county town’s population was small, and cars weren’t consumable goods, so the market saturated quickly. The only real growth came from the surrounding rural townships in the county. Ordinary people in those townships bought cars primarily for economy and practicality. A BMW 3 Series might only cost around three hundred thousand, but there definitely weren’t many people around here who could casually buy one in full without any financial strain.

He thought, ”Looks like my image in their eyes has gone from a pretentious loser when I walked in, to a young, successful bachelor.”

Zhang Yun chuckled to himself. Take Tianxin Village for example—anyone who could be considered a ”big spender” was basically someone like Zhang Youcai. Even if you dialed the clock back ten years, he would have still been in his thirties and already married.

More importantly, they probably thought he was a wealthy second-generation heir!

Having sorted that out, Zhang Yun felt entirely indifferent when he looked at their enthusiastic messages again. No longer moved by their supposed dedication to customer service, he gave them casual, noncommittal replies and immediately restricted them to a specific Friends Circle group. He hadn’t officially bought the car yet, so he might genuinely need to communicate with them for business purposes. Besides, out of basic politeness, he couldn’t just delete them outright.

His three dishes were brought out one by one. Zhang Yun was happily digging in when he heard a greeting. ”Zhang Yun, you’re eating here too?”

Sitting near the entrance, Zhang Yun glanced out and saw an electric scooter parked right next to his motorcycle. Its rider was none other than Xu Li, the female salesperson who had attended to him earlier. She got off her scooter, walked straight over, and unceremoniously sat down right across from him.

”I thought you had already left. I didn’t expect to run into you again. What a fateful coincidence.”

”...”

Zhang Yun thought to himself, ”Did you seriously just follow me here? Your scooter is just a bit slower than my motorcycle.”

”I haven’t eaten yet either. Since we bumped into each other, let me treat you to express my apologies.”

Since she had already sat down, Zhang Yun could hardly chase her away. He had no choice but to ask the owner to bring an extra bowl of rice. ”Take a look and see what else you want to add.”

”Oh, I couldn’t possibly do that,” Xu Li said with a bright smile. She originally wanted to decline out of politeness, but then she realized Zhang Yun was already halfway done with his meal and would leave soon. She needed to buy herself more time. ”Boss, add a plate of sweet and sour spare ribs.”

When the restaurant owner brought over the extra bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks, he cast a disdainful look at Zhang Yun. He had clearly arranged a date with a girl, yet he had acted all pretentious by pretending he was eating alone!

”Today was just... sigh! So embarrassing. Like I said, I recently broke up, and then I saw that you looked so much like my ex-boyfriend... I’m really sorry.”

Having already figured out her motives, Zhang Yun could clearly hear the blatant subtext in her words.

”It’s fine,” he replied calmly.

”By the way, what I meant was that you look like him in the sense that you’re exactly my type. It brought back memories, which is why I lost my composure... but he wasn’t nearly as handsome as you! Has anyone ever told you that you’re super handsome?” Xu Li asked, batting her eyelashes and flirting outrageously with him.

At that moment, Zhang Yun truly grasped the super-power of money. Even at his current Level of spending, it was enough to make a girl completely drop her pride and take the initiative. It was no wonder the son of the country’s richest man had millions of women calling him ”husband” and publicly offering themselves to him online.

Xu Li definitely knew she had competition from her female colleagues, which was why she was dropping such heavy hints. If Zhang Yun were a player, all he had to do was be a little proactive, and he could easily take her home today.

”I have. My girlfriend tells me I’m super handsome,” Zhang Yun said with a blissfully happy smile.

Xu Li instantly looked awkward. ”You... you have a girlfriend?”

”Do I look like a guy who can’t find a girlfriend?” Zhang Yun asked in return.

”No, no. You’re so handsome, young, and wealthy. It’d be weird if you didn’t have one!” Xu Li forced a smile.

”Haha, let’s keep a low profile. If you say things like that, people are going to laugh at me.” Zhang Yun deliberately played along with this persona to make her back down.

”Then... do you mind having another girlfriend?”