Yang Yajing had obtained Xu Wenbin's phone number last time, but relying on public phones seemed unreliable for convenient communication when out and about.

So Yang Yajing's first priority was to buy a mobile phone.

In late 1999, Yang Yajing and a group of her friends went to the mall to choose a mobile phone.

Back then, cell phones were a hot commodity; not everyone owned one, and they were quite expensive. But none of them were short of money; a Nokia costing over a thousand yuan wasn't unaffordable for them.

Although phone calls cost nearly 30 cents a minute, sending a 70-character text message costs only 5 cents, so it's affordable.

Quan Wukang, who loves socializing, was the first to agree, and even bought a cool Ericsson flip phone, acting like a big shot.

Yu Ning chose the tallest, thinnest pearl-white one, while everyone else wore Nokia phones.

We registered accounts together, exchanged phone numbers, and excitedly stayed up all night, waiting for the new year to arrive.

As soon as midnight struck, this group of people who love to join in the fun, even though they were all gathered together, still sent each other New Year's greetings, just for the novelty.

Back then, mobile phones could only store phone numbers and text messages; they were purely communication tools.

After welcoming the new millennium and watching the fireworks, the group dispersed and went home to celebrate New Year's Day.

With a mobile phone, Yang Yajing began to implement her little plan.

She went to the mall and bought a men's three-piece business suit, a white shirt and tie, a black hooded ski jacket, and a long scarf.

Back then, mobile phone calls incurred roaming charges, which Yang Yajing found expensive. So, she sent Xu Wenbin a New Year's greeting via text message, telling him it was her mobile number.

Soon, Xu Wenbin called.

Older people don't like typing. He's a big shot who always has international roaming on, so he doesn't care about phone bills.

Luckily, receiving a call only costs one cent per minute, with no international roaming fees. Otherwise, after just one call, I probably would have been in debt very quickly.

"Uncle Xu, are you going back to Jincheng for the Spring Festival this year?" Yang Yajing asked.

"Yes, I'll be coming over for a meeting before the New Year. How about we have our New Year's Eve dinner at your place?" Xu Wenbin replied with a smile.

"Great! Great!" Yang Yajing replied excitedly. "When is Uncle arriving? I'll pick him up from the airport!"

"I'll arrive at noon on February 1st. There's no need to make a special trip; the company driver will pick me up!" Xu Wenbin politely declined.

"Company driver? Going to work right after getting off the plane? Your boss is such a shrew!" Yang Yajing joked.

"Zhou Bapi? Oh dear! If my boss heard you describe him like that, he'd be heartbroken!" Xu Wenbin laughed.

"I don't care, I'm going to treat you to a welcome-back dinner, and you can treat me to a nice meal while you're at it!" Yang Yajing said shamelessly. "Uncle, are you staying in a five-star hotel? There must be delicious food there!"

"Oh! So you're being so kind, you just want to rip me off?" Xu Wenbin found it amusing.

"That's right. I heard both of my stocks went up? You must be rolling in money, right? It's only right that you treat your top advisor to a meal to reward him, isn't it?"

"You're so naughty! Let's talk about it later? I'll see if I can make arrangements." Xu Wenbin didn't refuse; he genuinely liked this girl.

There's only one flight from Hong Kong to Jinjiang Rainbow Airport that arrives at noon, and Yang Yajing quickly found the flight number.

On February 1st, she drove her family's minivan to the airport early and parked it in the parking lot near the international exit.

With more than an hour to go before the class landed, Yang Yajing wandered around, hoping to spot the driver who had picked her up in her previous life.

She didn't remember what the person looked like; she'd only seen him casually in the news. Back then, she hadn't paid much attention to him, only knowing that he drove a black Audi.

In 2000, there were very few imported cars, and not many people drove Audis. But after driving all over the parking lot, she couldn't find a black Audi.

After wandering around for a while, it was almost time to land, so Yang Yajing left the parking lot and headed towards the arrival hall.

February in Jincheng is the coldest time of year, and even wrapped in a coat, Yang Yajing still felt the biting wind.

As she was crossing the street, she noticed a black Audi pulling into the airport arrivals parking area on the other side.

Yang Yajing immediately took out her camera and aimed it at the car.

A man got off the bus. He seemed very nervous, wearing only a short jacket despite the cold weather, and wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.

After getting out of the car, the man didn't go directly to the arrival hall. Instead, he took a pair of pliers from the trunk and crawled under the car.

"Could there be something wrong with the car?" Yang Yajing wondered.

She took a few more photos, and even snapped two more with a Polaroid camera before finally stepping forward.

"Uncle, what are you doing under the car? Is there something wrong with the car? Do you need help?" Yang Yajing squatted down and asked the driver.

The man paused, then replied, "No need! The car is fine!"

"It's dripping oil! Are you sure it's okay?" Yang Yajing asked, glancing inside the car.

Sure enough, there was an A4-sized sign on the back seat with Xu Wenbin's name on it.

According to the story from the previous life, this person should be acquainted with Xu Wenbin. Why would an acquaintance need to hold up a sign to pick someone up? That doesn't make sense.

Hearing Yang Yajing's question again, the man became impatient, crawled out from under the car, and said rudely, "Get out of here! I told you! The brakes are fine! Go find somewhere cool to stay!"

After saying that, he opened the back door, took out the sign, and went into the arrival hall.

Yang Yajing was a little confused. Why was the car key still hanging inside the Audi, such an expensive car, when he was picking someone up? Didn't he lock it? Wasn't he afraid of it being stolen?

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