Chapter 498: Playing Along with the Scheme

Ye Chen was never a soft-hearted pushover.

Sometimes he would see others as pitiful and want to give them a hand.

But the prerequisite was that the other party had to know what was good for them.

If the other party didn't know what was good for them, he would absolutely never use his hot face to press against someone else's cold backside.

Some people were incorrigible; it was better to let them taste the consequences themselves.

Anyway, it was all their own doing; if they fell into the fire pit in the future and burned to death, they couldn't blame anyone else.

So he intentionally wanted to change the subject and immediately said: "If you guys want to manage your finances, go back and start a private group to chat separately. We are here today to treat Auntie Li to a meal, and we haven't even ordered yet after all this time."

Jiang Ming immediately became interested and said with a smile: "Come, come, give the menu to Auntie Li, let Auntie Li order!"

Auntie Li hurriedly waved her hand and said: "No, no, I've never been to such a nice place, I don't know how to order anything, you young people order."

Jiang Ming took the menu without hesitation and said with a smile: "Then I'll order!"

Afterward, he immediately summoned the waiter and said: "Come, time to order."

The waiter came over, and Jiang Ming immediately started ordering. However, he was particularly calculating this time: he only ordered the expensive stuff.

As soon as he started, he ordered a portion of top-grade abalone for everyone. This one dish alone was 1,888 yuan per person.

Zhao Zhuoyue caught a glimpse of the menu and exclaimed: "Oh my, Brother Ming, this dish is too expensive. Just this one dish alone will cost over 20,000 yuan! We... we can't afford this!"

Because Jiang Ming's proposal for this meal was that he would pay half, and the others would split the remaining half, meaning everyone had to pay, just less than what was previously discussed.

But once this meal became too expensive, even if Jiang Ming paid half, the remaining half would be a huge burden for the others.

Jiang Ming looked at Zhao Zhuoyue with some disgust and said: "No wonder your future mother-in-law is biting down hard on the bride price and won't let go. With your stingy look, you're scared like this just from eating a meal. Your mother-in-law must definitely want more bride price to avoid her daughter suffering in the future! What if this meal was treating your future mother-in-law? You're so scared you don't even dare to order dishes, what would you do then? What would they think of you?"

Zhao Zhuoyue's expression was a bit awkward, and he said dejectedly: "Brother Ming, I don't have as much money as you. To tell you the truth, to save money, my living expenses for a week are only 100 yuan. I drink cold water and eat steamed buns in the company dormitory every day. I can't even bear to buy an electric kettle..."

Jiang Ming said coldly: "No wonder you're poor. With this mindset and your consumption philosophy, you'll never make money. If you're not poor, who is?"

After a pause, Jiang Ming added: "What is money? Money is only money when it's spent. If you don't spend it, what is it? It's just paper in your wallet, just numbers in the bank. Besides, I've already promised to take you to make money. If you can't even bear to pay for this little bit of food, then I won't be friends with you anymore, sorry."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhuoyue immediately shut his mouth tactfully.

He had already treated Jiang Ming as his lifeline, so no matter what, he couldn't defy him.

Otherwise, what hope would there be for his life?

The others also felt that Jiang Ming was ordering too extravagantly, but after hearing him lecture Zhao Zhuoyue, everyone was too embarrassed to speak up.

Everyone felt that since he was paying half, and so many people were paying the other half, if they still complained about being poor, they really wouldn't be able to save face.

At this time, Jiang Ming said to the waiter: "Bring us a 5-jin lobster!"

The waiter nodded and said: "Sir, our top-grade lobster here is 688 yuan per jin, is that okay?"

Jiang Ming waved his hand nonchalantly and said: "Okay, of course it's okay, what's not okay about it? Just bring it up!"

After finishing, he added: "Oh right, that Ace of Spades champagne, bring me two bottles!"

The waiter said: "Sir, one bottle of Ace of Spades champagne is 18,888 yuan, and it cannot be returned once opened, is that okay?"

Jiang Ming immediately said: "Okay! Hurry up and bring it!"

Hearing that he had ordered two bottles of wine worth 37,776 yuan at once, everyone couldn't sit still.

Calculating this, this meal had already reached over 60,000?

If it was split, everyone would have to pay at least 2,000 yuan!

Zhao Hao said with some difficulty: "Jiang Ming, we don't need to be so extravagant for this meal. Today is to treat Auntie Li, to welcome her back. Auntie Li has just recovered from illness, she definitely can't drink. What do you mean by ordering these two bottles of wine?"

Jiang Ming said with disdain: "Zhao Hao, I look down on your poor, pathetic look. It's just a meal, what the hell are you afraid of?"

After finishing, without waiting for Zhao Hao to speak, he immediately said to the waiter: "Bring us another large grouper, and a portion of abalone sauce shark fin for everyone!"

Jiang Ming just hoped to order more so he could make more.

The others were all worried, feeling that the money each person had to pay for this meal was too much.

But everyone was too embarrassed to tear their faces apart; no one was embarrassed to say "I'm not eating this meal" at this time, after all, Auntie Li was still here.

Auntie Li couldn't sit still either, and she said nervously: "Jiang Ming, we really don't need to be so extravagant for this meal, and these things you ordered are too expensive. Auntie is telling the truth, my heart is trembling just looking at the prices... Can we order some affordable dishes? Home-cooked dishes?"

Jiang Ming didn't want to let go of any opportunity to make money, so naturally, he couldn't be willing to eat a meal of only a few thousand yuan; that way, he couldn't make any price difference.

So he hurriedly said: "Auntie Li, today you just sit and eat, we'll handle the rest. We were raised by you, your kindness to us is heavier than Mount Tai, what's wrong with spending some money to treat you to a meal? Even if I, Jiang Ming, spend 30,000, 40,000, or 50,000 today, I accept it, and I spend it willingly!"

After finishing, he deliberately looked around at everyone's expressions.

His words just now were actually moral kidnapping. The subtext was already very clear: What? Auntie Li is so good to us, raised us, and you guys aren't willing to spend money to treat her to a meal? Are you still human?

Sure enough, once he said this, no one dared to show any dissatisfaction or opposition.

Everyone had already decided in their hearts that since it was to treat Auntie Li, then if they had to bleed a little, they would bleed.

Ye Chen suddenly felt something was wrong. From the fact that Jiang Ming deliberately crashed his car to avoid fulfilling his bet, he knew this person was definitely not a generous person, and was absolutely a villain.

Then, why was such a stingy villain so generous when ordering food?

Could it be that ordering more food for this meal had some benefit for him?

However, since Jiang Ming said he would bear half of this meal, he shouldn't be a shill for this restaurant.

Then only one other possibility remained: Jiang Ming could get this meal reimbursed!

So this Jiang Ming was calculating everyone into it. Since that was the case, why not play along with his scheme!

Thinking of this, Ye Chen immediately said: "Everyone, how about this. For today's meal, Jiang Ming and I will pay half each, and no one else has to pay a single cent. Even if this meal costs 200,000, we two will pay it!" ===== CHAPTER 499 =====