"Ha! You're pretty smart, still remembering to drag Xi Luting in while praising yourself."

Han Lie mocked him without restraint and headed straight for Cartier with her.

If you don't know what to buy, then spend it on women.

Han Lie's spending philosophy hadn't yet caught up with the growth of his wealth, and he couldn't care less about buying clothes for himself.

Instead of cluelessly splurging four or five hundred thousand on clothes only to end up with a terrible match, it was better to buy some jewelry to appease his main girl, his side piece, and the next in line...

This isn't bootlicking; this is investing. And it's an investment with a sky-high return. If I give Pan Ge a piece of jewelry worth 200,000, wouldn't she have to bring out some of Panzi's fine cigarettes, fine liquor, and fine watches to reciprocate? Definitely no loss.

The magnificent Henglong Plaza was sparsely populated. Its level of luxury meant ordinary people wouldn't just wander in to kill time. Consequently, the likelihood of encountering beautiful women and handsome men was greatly increased, creating an absolutely perfect atmosphere.

Yu Yun watched as Han Lie made a beeline for Cartier, her heart beginning to pound wildly.

"You're buying jewelry? Is it someone's birthday?"

"No."

Han Lie lied without batting an eye.

Actually, Chen Yanfei's birthday was on December 16th, less than three weeks away, and it was indeed time to prepare a gift for her.

As for Xi Luting and Pan Ge, their birthdays were still a ways off; there was no opportune moment yet.

As for Ding Xiang... he had no idea.

"Oh."

Yu Yun suddenly hung her head, twisting her hands together, her tone filled with disappointment.

"I thought you knew my birthday... It's on the 1st of next month."

Damn! What the hell?

Han Lie was stupefied.

He remembered clearly that Yu Yun's birthday was supposed to be at the end of December; he had given her birthday gifts twice in their previous life.

Wait a minute... The birthday she mentioned now, could it be her lunar calendar birthday?

Han Lie made a mental note but outwardly showed no reaction, merely offering a soft "Oh," as if dismissing the matter.

Naturally, Yu Yun found this hard to bear, but she had learned one thing—

When dealing with Han Lie, she couldn't be hasty.

Once they were inside the Cartier store, she still maintained her unenthusiastic, subtly petulant demeanor. Han Lie didn't indulge her in the slightest and occupied himself by speaking with the sales associate.

"What kind of jewelry would sir like to see?"

Han Lie silently recalled the different styles of Pan Ge, Xi Luting, and Chen Yanfei, quickly making up his mind.

"Necklaces, bracelets, and anklets."

A bracelet for Chen Yanfei. She had never worn a necklace—he didn't know if it was because she disliked them or was simply used to being frugal—so a bracelet would definitely be a safe, unobjectionable choice. He couldn't quite gift her *that* little toy yet, so a necklace would convey a similar sentiment. Heh, I'm truly a genius at picking gifts...

Han Lie praised himself and started inspecting the jewelry closely.

The sales associate, lacking perception, saw Yu Yun's pouting, aggrieved expression and presumptuously chimed in to encourage Han Lie.

"Sir, why not let your girlfriend try it on to see how it looks?"

Yu Yun looked up, a flicker of anticipation and excitement in her eyes.

Han Lie immediately waved his hand. "No need, it's not for her."

Damn!

Yu Yun was so angry she ground her teeth, while the sales associate was completely baffled.

Her mouth opened and closed twice. She then forced an awkward smile and fell silent.

Cartier had a surprisingly limited selection of bracelets and no dedicated anklets. In reality, most bracelets could be worn as anklets; there wasn't much difference between the two.

But the issue remained: there were too few styles.

In fact, their most famous and recognizable items were bangles; the LOVE series and the nail bangles were essential accessories for internet celebrities.

But that was precisely the problem—they were *too* ubiquitous among online personalities.

Although it wasn't quite the era of internet celebrities yet, so-called "socialites" had already latched onto these trendy items.

Take a walk through the cafes in The Ritz-Carlton and Mandarin Oriental, and eight out of ten beauties would be wearing Cartier bangles and Van Cleef & Arpels necklaces.

The more Han Lie looked, the less satisfied he felt.

Damn it, buying gifts for women is such a pain...

"Don't you have any better bracelets?"

When Han Lie frowned, the sales associate's eyes lit up.

"Sir, these are all our mass-produced designs; every Cartier boutique carries the same ones. However, we're hosting a high jewelry exhibition this weekend. Perhaps you'd like to come back then? You might find something to your liking."

It suddenly dawned on Han Lie: That's right, these brands also have haute couture lines!

"Do you have a promotional brochure?"

With 250,000,000 in his pocket, Han Lie felt supremely confident and immediately expressed his interest.

The sales associate sensed his confidence—though, more importantly, she had recognized the LV watch on his wrist.

She immediately beamed and nodded. "Yes, sir. Please follow me."

Han Lie was led to the VIP room. Across two lifetimes, this was the first he knew that stores in such malls even had VIP rooms. He really was a bit of a bumpkin.

In fact, this store not only had a VIP room but also safes and bulletproof glass display cases...

The sales associate handed him a glossy brochure and said with a sweet smile, "Sir, would you care for a beverage? I can have our manager come and personally give you an introduction."

"Certainly. Mineral water will be fine," Han Lie replied.

Han Lie casually flipped through the brochure, absorbing a wealth of utterly useless knowledge.

High jewelry, it turned out, was different from what Han Lie understood "haute couture" to be.

True haute couture jewelry could only be produced by fewer than ten jewelry houses in the entire world.

It is created exclusively for a client, based on their personal needs, involving repeated consultations, unique designs, and pure handcraftsmanship, using only the most exquisite gemstones to produce an unparalleled, one-of-a-kind piece.

There were merely twenty to thirty designers in the world qualified to design such haute couture jewelry.

And the clientele capable of affording the minimum 5,000,000 design fee, plus tens of millions or even hundreds of millions for the gemstones, numbered at most one or two thousand worldwide.

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