My System Forces Me to Live off Women-Chapter 80 - 78: Birthday, Day 1

Vacheron Constantin, abbreviated as VC, has always been the second in the watch world.

Above it, there’s only the well-known king of watches, Patek Philippe.

In terms of craftsmanship, there’s actually no difference between the two. In terms of historical depth, Vacheron Constantin has been around longer, founded about eighty years earlier than Patek Philippe. The gap between them is mostly in brand marketing, and their prices are quite comparable.

For example, the watch in front of Li Peifeng...

"This is the Traditionnelle Tourbillon men’s watch, with a self-developed 3200 caliber, hand-wound, featuring 292 parts and 39 jewels. It has a power reserve of 65 hours. The case is made of 18K 5N pink gold, the display features a sapphire crystal glass, and it’s water-resistant up to 30 meters... priced at 1,570,000 yuan."

"This watch has already been purchased by another customer, but they haven’t come to pick it up yet, so we’re temporarily displaying it here. Otherwise, you wouldn’t typically find this level of watch in-store."

Huang Tianxuan smiled warmly, "Do you like it?"

Li Peifeng has always regarded money as dirt, neither swayed by wealth nor humbled by poverty. Even though there’s the temptation of 31 lottery draws behind the 1,570,000 yuan, he remained calm on the surface: "Don’t I already have two PPs at home? Do you still want to buy me a VC?"

PP, the abbreviation for Patek Philippe.

The main reason Li Peifeng said this was to test her intentions, to see if Huang Tianxuan really wanted to buy the watch for him. If it was just a joke, and he misunderstood, it would be too embarrassing...

"Which girl bought you those PPs? I never gave you any."

Huang Tianxuan rolled her eyes with a smile, then said to the salesperson, "Just this one, measure his wrist, I’ll pay the deposit."

She really wants to buy it for me?

Li Peifeng was stunned.

"Alright." The salesperson stepped forward with a small tape measure, preparing to measure the wrist size.

"Wait a minute!"

Li Peifeng waved his hand and looked firmly at Huang Tianxuan, "Tell me, who do you want me to kill?"

"Who to kill?"

"You’re giving me such a precious gift, isn’t it to get me to kill someone?"

"What nonsense."

Huang Tianxuan chuckled, "You’re leaving the day after tomorrow. I’m giving you a gift before you go, just to say goodbye."

It probably isn’t that simple...

Li Peifeng vaguely felt something was off and asked the salesperson, "If I pay the deposit now, how long until the watch arrives?"

"Around six months at the latest, but usually it arrives by the fourth month after ordering."

After the salesperson finished speaking, Huang Tianxuan immediately said, "Once it arrives, you can come to Hangzhou again, and I’ll go with you to pick it up."

Damn, this sounds familiar. Are you trying to manipulate me too...

The anticipation in Li Peifeng’s heart faded, doused by a bucket of cold water.

This incident made him remember a well-known playboy trick from before.

When a playboy hits a bottleneck in wooing a girl, he might pretend to buy her a car to quickly escalate their relationship to a more intimate level. Of course, the car isn’t really bought; it’s a fake purchase.

The playboy’s specific tactic is to collude with sales at a dealership, offering them a few hundred to a thousand ’performance fees’. When he brings a girl along, no matter what car she chooses, the salesperson will say there’s no immediate stock, and a deposit of ten thousand yuan is needed, and the car will arrive in two months.

At this point, the playboy would step up to pay the deposit and sign a contract. Many girls are moved by such lavish gestures and consider the man trustworthy, becoming very accommodating to him for the sake of the promised car in two months.

Soon after, their relationship heats up, and getting into bed isn’t a problem.

But typically, after a week or two, the playboy disappears once he’s gotten what he wants. When the girl returns to the dealership, the sales will inform her that the car has been canceled and the deposit refunded.

The girl ends up with neither the man nor the car!

"What are you thinking about?"

Huang Tianxuan teased, "Are you thinking the wait for the watch is too long, or that you don’t want to come back to Hangzhou to see me?"

"No."

Li Peifeng shook his head. His imagination ran too wild for a moment. Upon a bit of reflection, he realized that it’s unlikely Huang Tianxuan would conspire with the Vacheron Constantin salesperson to trick him, and he didn’t see what advantage there would be in it for her.

The two of them once considered engaging in a profound experience together, but it didn’t happen because Huang Tianxuan was too nervous and unprepared.

Giving him this watch might just be her way of inviting him back to Hangzhou for more interaction...

"The endless green lotus leaves stretch to the sky, not as boundless as the love Tianxuan gives."

Moved, Li Peifeng recited a poem, internally debating before solemnly saying, "I appreciate the sentiment, but I’ll forgo the watch. Today is your birthday, gifts should come from me. Such an expensive gift from you is something I feel too guilty to accept."

The test of a first-class mind is the ability to hold two opposing ideas at once and still function.

Li Peifeng indeed desired the watch, or rather the 31 lottery draws, but he feared that accepting it might lead to some form of expectation from Huang Tianxuan or uncontrollable changes in their relationship.

"This gift is already very nice!" Huang Tianxuan waved the microphone in her hand and asked again, "When is your birthday?"

"February 1st, which falls on the Lunar New Year this year..."

"See," Huang Tianxuan’s eyes lit up, "That’s five months from now, and the watch will arrive in five or six months. So, consider it an early birthday gift from me."

With her saying this much, refusing again would make me look unfriendly.

Seeing the anticipation in Huang Tianxuan’s eyes, Li Peifeng reluctantly nodded, "Alright then."

"Let me measure your wrist then."

With their decision made, the saleslady promptly stepped forward with a soft measuring tape, took measurements, and logged the data on a computer.

"How much is the deposit?"

"It’s half of the full price, which is 785,000. You can make the transfer..."

Huang Tianxuan went to swipe her card for the payment, while Li Peifeng stared fixedly at the watch.

This worn-out thing is worth over a million? And someone actually buys it? And plans to give it to me?

The illusion of this world and class differences left Li Peifeng a bit melancholic.

"Keep the receipt."

Handing him a slip, Huang Tianxuan smiled, "We’ll come back once the watch arrives."

"Okay." Li Peifeng glanced at the amount on the slip, the receipt specifying seventy-eight five hundred thousand clearly.

But perhaps because only half the payment was made, with the balance unpaid, the system hadn’t marked the sum as a consumption entry.

Li Peifeng guessed the consumed amount will only be registered when the watch is actually handed to him in five or six months.

But if by then, Huang Tianxuan changes her mind, overcomes her infatuation with my looks, finds someone new, does that mean I won’t get the watch?

If she sees my ugly side and things go south between us, will that mean the watch flies away? Will the 31 lottery chances vanish too?

I might as well pretend it doesn’t exist.

...

At five-thirty in the afternoon, on North Mountain Road by West Lake in Hangzhou.

Some say this is the area with the richest cultural atmosphere of the entire city, and some say this road holds all the beauty of autumn, attesting to the scenery offered here.

The road runs approximately 3 kilometers, starting from the Broken Bridge in the east and stretching west to Yanggong Dike. It follows along the North Inner Lake of West Lake, scattered with patches of remaining lotus. The planes trees lining the road have aged several decades.

By now, it’s deep autumn, and the golden leaves of the planes trees cover the ground entirely, coloring the lakeside scenery and Republic-era architecture like a vivid oil painting under the splendid sunset.

After buying the watch, Li Peifeng and Huang Tianxuan ate a simple dinner in a mall’s restaurant, then drove here together, strolling hand-in-hand along the side of North Mountain Road.

"Let’s take a picture here."

Stopping at a spot offering an unobstructed view of the West Lake Broken Bridge and capturing the full splendor of the lake and mountains, Huang Tianxuan suggested.

"No problem, I’ll use my phone and find a passerby to help take the shot," Li Peifeng agreed readily, pulling out his phone...

"And then we can both share the picture in our moments, as a keepsake."

With a cheerful smile, it seemed Huang Tianxuan saw nothing controversial in the idea.

Slipping his phone back into his pocket, he pulled out the receipt to hand over, expression full of concern, "Tianxuan, I suddenly feel the gift might be a bit too much, putting pressure on our friendship. Maybe you should give it to someone else?"