My cousin-in-law helped me achieve my ambitions.

Su Ming opened the car door and got into the passenger seat. He placed the two bottles of Moutai on the back seat, leaned back, and looked at her curiously: "Where are you planning to go?"

Lin Shumei started the car, fastened her seatbelt, turned to look at him, and smiled earnestly, "Of course I'm taking you to see a car! You're taking your driving test on Monday, and with your current driving skills, you'll definitely pass on the first try. Once you get your license, I'll pick up the car for you right away. We can't delay any longer, let's go take a look today and decide on the model."

Seeing Lin Shumei's insistence on buying him a car, Su Ming felt a surge of sweetness. He leaned back in his seat, turning his head to look at Lin Shumei's profile as she focused on driving. Sunlight streamed through the car window, casting a soft golden glow on her face and the stray hairs at her temples. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to refuse, but swallowed the words back—he knew that once this woman made up her mind, nothing could change it. He smiled, didn't refuse again, and, slightly tipsy, chatted casually with Lin Shumei, his eyes fixed on the rapidly receding roadside trees and farmland outside the window. His eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

He didn't know how long he had slept when he felt someone gently nudging his shoulder. He groggily opened his eyes, his vision still blurry. He rubbed his eyes and finally saw Lin Shumei leaning close to him, smiling at him. He yawned, sat up straight, and looked out the car window, instantly becoming fully awake.

Before me stood a magnificent glass-walled building, a flagpole at the entrance bearing a huge black flag with a bright three-pointed star logo. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, rows of gleaming luxury cars could be seen parked inside, their metallic sheen gleaming under the spotlights. Above the entrance, a line of large silver letters stood out prominently—Mercedes-Benz.

Su Ming was taken aback and abruptly turned to look at Lin Shumei, his voice rising a half-octave: "Sister Lin, what are you doing? This is a Mercedes-Benz 4S dealership! You're not going to bring me here to buy a car, are you?"

Lin Shumei turned off the engine, unbuckled her seatbelt, smiled, leaned closer, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him on the cheek, her soft lips leaving a faint red mark on his skin. She stepped back slightly, looked into his eyes, and answered matter-of-factly, "Of course, I brought you here to buy a car."

Su Ming was so frightened that he shook his head frantically, his hands moving in a blur: "No way, Sister Lin, this car is too expensive. Even a random one would probably cost six or seven hundred thousand. I'm just a warehouse foreman with a monthly salary of a thousand or so yuan. Driving a Mercedes isn't just being high-profile, it's courting death. How could I dare drive this car out!"

Lin Shumei smiled and nodded at him, her tone becoming more serious: "You're right. However, as a man, sooner or later you'll need to own a presentable luxury car. Sometimes when you go out to discuss business, meet clients, or talk to suppliers, you need a luxury car to make an impression. You can't stay in the warehouse forever. Later, when you become a manager, or even move up, there are certain things that are necessary for a certain image."

Su Ming still shook his head, his attitude resolute: "Even if it's just for show, we don't need a Mercedes! Even if we bought it, I wouldn't dare drive it into the factory. You know what people are like there. Factory Director Gu drives an Audi A4, which is already flashy enough. If I, a team leader, drive a Mercedes, wouldn't that be blatantly telling the whole factory that I've embezzled a lot of money?"

Lin Shumei thought for a moment, leaned back in her seat, tapped her fingers lightly on the steering wheel, and suddenly her eyes lit up. She smiled and said, "How about this? I have an idea. I'll sell my Buick Regal and buy you a new Passat for commuting. It'll cost around 200,000 yuan, not too flashy, not too shabby. Then I'll buy myself a Mercedes E240, which should cost around 700,000 yuan. With yours, the two cars will only cost around one million yuan. After I leave the company, if you want to use my car, just give me a call, and I'll deliver it to you. That way, you can drive the Passat to work and switch to the Mercedes when you need to make a good impression, without any problems."

Upon hearing this, Su Ming nearly fainted. A million yuan, coming from this beautiful woman's mouth, was as casual as drinking water. He opened his mouth, speechless for a long time, his mind racing. What did a million yuan even mean? He was a warehouse foreman, earning a mere thousand yuan a month at most; it would take him a hundred years of saving without eating or drinking to accumulate that amount. But Lin Shumei spoke of it as if it were buying two pounds of cabbage at the market.

Seeing Su Ming standing there dumbfounded, his mouth slightly open and his eyes glazed over, Lin Shumei smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder, gently nudging him: "What's wrong with you? Are you scared stiff?"

Su Ming snapped out of his daze, scratched the back of his head somewhat embarrassedly, and said with a hint of guilt in his voice, "Sister Lin, I haven't even settled into my manager position yet, and I'm already driving a car worth around 200,000 yuan. Isn't that a bit too high-profile? I wonder what people in the factory will say behind my back."

Lin Shumei rolled her eyes at him with a smile, her tone carrying a hint of disdain and confidence from someone with experience: "What's so special about that? With your current abilities, you've already surpassed Factory Director Gu. Factory Director Gu drives an Audi A4, and you drive a Passat worth around 200,000 yuan, which is already considered low-key. You need to know that you now hold the voting power in the canteen, manage the warehouse, and even Zhao Fang is overshadowed by you. You're no longer just an ordinary team leader. Besides, you also have an arcade and other businesses outside, and even a bunch of underlings."

Su Ming sighed helplessly, his brows furrowing slightly: "I'm just worried that people will gossip and think I'm making a lot of money at the company. After all, I haven't been promoted for long, and suddenly I'm driving a new car. I'm afraid some people will be jealous."

Lin Shumei smiled and shook her head at him, then turned to face him and explained earnestly, "You don't understand. You haven't been promoted to manager yet. Even a fool knows that in your current position, even if you were to embezzle freely, you couldn't possibly make a hundred or two thousand. If you really bought a car, no one would suspect you of embezzlement; instead, they would think you come from a well-off family and were already rich. That's how it was when I became a manager at the company. I drove a car worth over two hundred thousand right away. When my colleagues at the factory saw this, they only envied my good family background; no one ever suspected that I had embezzled money from the company."

She paused, pointed a finger at Su Ming's chest, and continued, "On the contrary, if you dress poorly from the start, even if you buy a beat-up used car worth forty or fifty thousand yuan after you get the job, people will still suspect you're taking kickbacks from the company. You'll understand this after you've been in the workplace for a while; first impressions are more important than anything else. If you start with a high-class image, even if you do take advantage of others, they won't necessarily think that way. You're already rich, so dressing well, using nice things, and driving a nice car will just be taken for granted."