Chapter 26 Luxury Cars
Luxury cars: an essential symbol of showing off wealth in movies and TV dramas.
On the way to the Auto City, Meng Chu was still yawning and his eyes were dazed.
"What did I say? You should fall asleep as soon as you get home," Fu Guanshan scolded him, "someone is still looking up information."
Last night, as soon as he entered the house, Fu Guanshan took off his clothes and fell into a deep sleep. The last image he saw before falling asleep was Meng Chu turning on the computer and starting to type on the keyboard.
"Buying a car is such an important decision, you have to do some homework in advance."
"I'll introduce you to them."
Having said that, Fu Guanshan ignored the data such as engine power, gearbox type, fuel consumption, wheelbase, etc. When buying a car, he actually only considers one thing: whether it is cool or not.
Meng Chu said nothing, lowered his head to read the blogger's review, and then went to the forum to check the car owners' comments to see what the pitfalls of each model were.
They first went to the Huawei store and looked at two series of sedans and SUVs. Meng Chu's budget was less than 300,000 yuan, so when the clerk asked him if he wanted to test drive the M9, he seemed eager but guilty, and Fu Guanshan answered "yes" for him.
They walked to the door of the store, and the clerk took out his mobile phone and used the remote control to summon a car to drive in front of them. Fu Guanshan was stunned.
After getting on the road, as soon as the intelligent driving system was turned on, he exclaimed in the back seat.
"Did it change lanes automatically just now? How did it know that I thought the car in front was going too slow?"
"How does it stay in the lane? There aren't even lane markings on this road?"
"I was so scared. Did it hide on its own just now? Did it react so quickly?"
As soon as the clerk turned on the light field screen and AR-HUD (augmented reality head-up display), he couldn't even speak.
As he got out of the car, he looked immersed in future technology: "Isn't this something that only exists in movies?"
The clerk quietly asked Meng Chu: "Is he Fu Guanshan?"
Meng Chu pulled his hat down a little lower: "They just look alike."
Meng Chu had watched various test drive videos, and calmly turned to the clerk and asked, "Is this the newly updated 4.0 car system?"
"yes."
"When it handles a roundabout, its lane change logic is very conservative and it brakes frequently."
“This function is newly developed and there is still room for improvement.”
"There are some meaningless lane changes, especially when approaching a traffic light, turning left to overtake is a bit dangerous."
Fu Guanshan was like a child being criticized, and said unconvincedly: "It's already good enough."
"I know," Meng Chu comforted him, "I'm just thinking about how to deal with these problems."
Before the clerk started selling, Fu Guanshan couldn't wait: "Buy it, I think my previous cars are antiques now."
Meng Chu didn't have the courage to tell him that the old luxury cars he used to drive would look like antiques if they were equipped with new energy vehicles.
"It's too expensive," Meng Chu said. "Although it's good, I can't afford it, and there's no need to buy a business car."
"It's not bad. You can't even buy a sports car with heated seats at this price," Fu Guanshan said. "If you don't have enough money, I can..."
"No need," Meng Chu said, "Just buy a low-end sedan from the same series. The smart driving system is the same anyway, it's just updated later."
When he left, he was still a little reluctant.
They then went to NIO and BYD, and Fu Guanshan realized that intelligent driving functions were so common.
By the third house, he had already started asking questions proactively.
"Park it parallel."
"Let's change the route and see if it can turn left steadily."
"Don't take it over. I want to see how it merges into the main road."
Eventually, he began to get tired.
"I feel the selling points of new energy are all similar," he said.
Meng Chu firmly told him that the levels of intelligent driving systems are different, and the car just now didn’t even have a lidar.
"Didn't they say 'pure vision' or something?"
"It sounds good, but it's just to save costs. LiDAR calibration is very time-consuming and labor-intensive, not to mention that point cloud data processing and dynamic environment adaptation require high computing power, which some brands' technologies cannot meet. In low-light environments and rainy and foggy weather, radar is more reliable than pure cameras."
Fu Guanshan began to feel confused again.
It’s still just a matter of eye contact.
Some new energy vehicles are pretty cool.
After a round, Meng Chu added four WeChat accounts, but was still undecided. While eating lunch, he was still browsing information about various car models, especially reports on smart car accidents.
Fu Guanshan felt tired for him.
"You continue watching," Fu Guanshan said, "I'll call my mom. I bought her a new TV a while ago, and I want to ask her what she thinks of it."
Meng Chu raised his head, turned off those unlucky photos, and looked nervous.
Since he is next to you, you should say hello. But what should he say to his aunt? They haven't met each other many times...
Fu Guanshan was halfway through the various greetings when he turned his phone over: "Yes, Meng Chu is here too, we are looking at cars."
"Um... um..." Meng Chu said, "Hello, Auntie."
"Mom, please turn on the video," Fu Guanshan said, "It's rare for both of us to be in the camera at the same time."
Meng Chu was a little panicked. He didn't check what his hair looked like in the morning, so he didn't know what he looked like now.
Fortunately, the other party didn’t turn on the video. "He's outside, saving some traffic. Xiao Meng, keep an eye on him and don't let him waste money. My old car is still working, I don't need a new one."
"I see……"
"When you turn on the turn signal on your car, it makes a rattling noise!" Fu Guanshan immediately took over, "Mom, you don't know, today's cars are amazing..."
As Meng Chu listened to him exaggerating the grand occasion of valet parking, he fell into deep thought.
Fu Guanshan took the essence of the shop assistant's rhetoric and tried his best to sell his products. These tricks were extremely useful to him and did not shake Fu Lanying's heart at all.
"Why would I need smart driving? I can reverse the car by myself. Okay, just wait and see. I have to go eat."
Fu Guanshan hung up the phone angrily: "You really can't keep up with the trend of the times."
Meng Chu stared out the window intently and didn't speak for a long time. Fu Guanshan asked him if he was ready to fight again. He came back to his senses and pointed to the three-pointed star sign in the distance: "Let's go over there and take a look."
Fu Guanshan was a little surprised: "I thought you only considered new energy."
"Let's check," Meng Chu said, "I checked online and the price of Mercedes-Benz has dropped a lot."
Despite the huge impact of new energy, there is still a lot of traffic in the Mercedes-Benz store. For the previous generation, Mercedes-Benz and BMW are still the words of respectability that are ingrained in their bones, not to mention that their prices are now within reach.
The clerk brought tea and asked, "Do you have any car models or series you like?"
Meng Chu quickly replied: "E300."
Fu Guanshan raised his eyebrows, watched him walk around the car and observed it carefully, and heard the clerk praise the ambient lighting and engine.
Fu Guanshan thought the ambient lighting was pretty nice, but Meng Chu’s comment was: it had absolutely no technical content.
They took a test drive, and when they came back, the clerk took a calculator and did some math with them, emphasizing how much of a deal it was now. Not only is this price reduction the highest in history, there are also bank loan discounts.
Compared with 20 years ago, it is even cheaper, although it still costs just over 400,000 yuan. If you choose the luxury model, it will be nearly 500,000 yuan.
Fu Guanshan was a little confused. Not only was the car over budget, but Meng Chu didn't seem to like it either.
A previous customer came to sign a contract. The clerk apologized to them and left temporarily to contact them. During this interval, Fu Guanshan asked Meng Chu why he came to see the car.
Meng Chu looked at the exhibition hall and said, "My father always said that his lifelong wish was to drive a Mercedes-Benz E300."
Fu Guanshan stared at him for a long while, then suddenly stood up and asked, "Are you going to buy this car for your dad?"
Meng Chu didn't know why he reacted so strongly: "What's wrong?"
"You..." Fu Guanshan closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down, "Why?"
"It's not that I'm going to buy one now. I can buy one when I have the chance. Our car broke down more than ten years ago, and he always takes the bus when he goes out. He lives in such a remote place, and his legs and feet are not very good, so it would be more convenient to have a car..."
Fu Guanshan took a deep breath and said, "Doesn't your brother have a good job and earn a lot? Ask your brother to buy it! Even if your brother is unwilling to pay, doesn't your father have any savings? BYD and Xiaomi have cars worth 70,000 or 80,000 yuan?"
Meng Chu felt that he was angry, and didn't dare to look at him, still staring at the car on the stand: "But... he always wanted..."
Meng Changqing works in an automobile interior decoration factory, which has been producing roof lights, floor mats and storage boxes for Mercedes-Benz and BMW. He often carried samples and ran between clients. He saw countless Mercedes-Benz and BMW cars, but never one of them belonged to him.
At the dinner table, after drinking, he often sighed: He will never be able to drive a Mercedes in this life, and can only hope that his children will be successful and filial in the future, so that he can also experience the feeling of driving a luxury car.
"No..." Fu Guanshan stared at him, "Your salary isn't that high, how can you afford so much money?"
"The down payment is not high, and the interest rate is very low," Meng Chu said. "My monthly expenses are very low. In a few years, if I grit my teeth, I can buy one."
The clerk came back with a smile on his face: "By the way, our new offer is a five-year loan, only a monthly fee of..."
"Sorry," Fu Guanshan pulled Meng Chu up, "something urgent happened just now, let's think about buying a car later."
Meng Chu was dragged away before he could say anything. Fu Guanshan was tall and had long legs, and he walked quickly, so he had to jog to catch up.
The other party opened the passenger door and pushed him in. He looked at the other person slamming the car door, and all his questions were blocked.
Fu Guanshan didn't look at him, but just from the side of his face, he could tell that the other party was enduring at the moment.
"What's wrong with you?" Meng Chu said, "I bought the car with my own money, why are you angry?"
"You yourself are reluctant to buy an expensive car, so why would you buy one for your dad?"
"Aren't you also buying a car for your aunt?"
"How can they be the same?" Fu Guanshan said, "How my mother treats me, how does your father treat you?"
"My dad..." Meng Chu argued in a low voice, "After I entered high school, he treated me very well. He even sent me to study competitions. The training fee was very expensive..."
"Of course," Fu Guanshan said, "At that time, even the dumbest person would understand that you are a super potential stock and will definitely be admitted to a good university. How could he not invest and prepare for his retirement?"
Meng Chu choked up. This was the first time he spoke to the other person in a confrontational tone since they met: "Why do you say that?"
Fu Guanshan turned his head and looked at him for a long time, then said, "You can't replace your brother."
This sentence immediately broke Meng Chu's heart.
Yes, he bought a car and went to the hospital overnight, all for one thing - to prove that he was better than Meng Jining.
The car is better. The car is tangible. Every time Meng Changqing saw this car and every time he held the steering wheel, he would remember that it was bought by him. Every time Meng Changqing showed off to relatives and friends, he had to mention him and had to admit that it was him who made him so honored.
"No matter how much you care about him and how much you respect him, a biased person will still be biased," Fu Guanshan said, "You do so much just to impress him and make him love you? You spend ten times the effort to get one point of favor, why do you do this?"
Meng Chu lowered his head, and Fu Guanshan couldn't see his expression clearly.
"Not all parents are worthy of your devotion," Fu Guanshan said, "If your parents don't love you, so what? You are so outstanding, it's better for you to live alone."
"It's easy for you to say that." Meng Chu said in a low voice.
Fu Guanshan looked at him in disbelief: "What did you say?"
"If your parents are bad, leave your family of origin; if your friends betray you, cut off ties; if your lover cheats on you, just walk away because they are not worthy of you," Meng Chu said. "It's easy to say it when it's not your fault."
It was the first time that Fu Guanshan saw him so aggressive.
"I tried so hard, but I can only make him care about me for a while. So what?" Meng Chu said, "I don't have many friends, and I don't have any real relatives. In this world, the only people who have always kept in touch with me, who have spent the New Year with me, who will come to my graduation ceremony, and who have participated in my life are him and Meng Jining. I want to please him and hear him praise me. Is that not allowed?"
"What are you talking about?" Fu Guanshan said, "You still have me!"
"Then who..." Meng Chu's voice stopped abruptly here.
The car fell into silence.
Fu Guanshan understood, understood very clearly, the meaning of this.
"You don't believe me," he said. "You don't believe me in your heart. You think I'm going to leave one day."
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