Chapter 141 — Old Buffon's Origins
Years of Heartflutter · Page 179 of 214
The party left the airport through a private passage and came to the place outside where the cars were parked. A stretched Q7 was waiting there. Yang Ce had fallen in love with the model after seeing it once in Hong Kong, and had told Hou Lin to find a way to bring one over from a conversion factory in the United States.
Many people assume that stretched cars are produced by the original manufacturer, but that is not so—many automakers do not make stretched versions at all. These stretched cars are built afterward by specialist conversion shops. Even in China there are auto repair garages that can convert a car into a stretched version. The Lincoln stretch limousines used by so many wedding companies nowadays, for instance, are converted in small workshops in the southern coastal cities from second-hand smuggled Lincolns, and sell for anywhere from eighty thousand to three hundred thousand—cheap to a degree, to be sure. These are what people call knockoff cars.
The stretched Audi Q7, however, was different from those. It had been converted by a professional customizing firm, designed and built with the careful calculations of many engineers, and far surpassed the knockoffs in both performance and safety.
Moreover, though this Q7 was a converted car, it came with a complete set of factory inspection and certification papers, unlike those unregistered cars with borrowed plates.
To show how much importance was attached to this concert, and with Yang Juehuan's tacit approval, Hou Lin had brought out this stretched Q7. Ordinarily the vehicles used to receive guests were the stretched Hummer or the Rolls-Royce Phantom. Without Yang Juehuan's say-so, no one would dare touch this Q7.
"Miss Shu, Miss Xu, please get in." Hou Lin went to the side of the Q7, and the driver, who had been waiting inside, hurriedly opened the automatic door.
Shu Ya frowned. She had just seen Yang Ce use the remote in his hand to disarm the BMW X5 parked nearby, and knew that he had driven himself and would not be riding in the same car with her. She felt a faint pang of disappointment.
"Miss Shu, isn't this car a bit too conspicuous?" Miss Xu said after a moment's hesitation. "The reporters will surely have heard by now that you've come to Songjiang. The moment we leave the airport, they're bound to follow us."
Shu Ya nodded. She thought the same—this stretched Q7 really was too conspicuous. Unless the reporters were blind, they would certainly follow and see what was going on. Conspicuous... A thought stirred in Shu Ya's mind, and a plan took shape. Feigning casualness, she said, "Then I'll ride in Mr. Yang's car. Sister Xu, you take this Q7—if any reporters follow, you can explain things to them."
"Then—" Miss Xu was reluctant when she heard that Shu Ya meant to ride in Yang Ce's car. Her first impression of him had not been good at all; she had taken him for one of those rich young men with designs on Shu Ya. So she said, "Then let the bodyguards go with you."
"What, Miss Xu, are you afraid I might do Miss Shu some harm?" Yang Ce was quite willing to have Shu Ya ride in his car; he needed to give her another warning about what had happened aboard the Alice—that was a matter that must never be breathed to anyone. So he rather welcomed Shu Ya's company, but if anyone else were present, there were things he could not say. His face darkened at once.
Yang Ce's words were a little chilling, and Miss Xu, unsure just what his position was, did not dare offend him too gravely. His question put her in a hard spot: if she said she was afraid, she would offend Yang Ce outright; if she said she was not, then she could no longer insist on sending bodyguards along. For a moment she truly did not know how to answer.
"Sister Xu, there's no need for bodyguards. I'm not some head of state—what do I need bodyguards for?" Shu Ya said with a gentle smile. "All right, it's settled."