Chapter 113: This Is Way Too Shameless!

As Chen Qi walked toward the middle-aged man, he also glanced up in the direction of the dealership.

There was no staff from the dealership anywhere in sight.

With his lively imagination, Chen Qi instantly filled in the rest: a dramatic scene of the dealership being high-handed and oppressive, abusing its power to bully people.

Well, he did have a prejudice against that kind of profit-driven industry.

Only after he got closer did Chen Qi realize that the man really was secretly wiping away tears, silently, with his head lowered.

He stopped four or five meters away and studied him thoughtfully.

From his slightly dark skin and casual clothes, the man didn’t look wealthy at all.

Then again, if he were rich, he wouldn’t have ended up crouching here in helpless silence, secretly wiping his tears.

Perhaps sensing something, the man turned his head and glanced at Chen Qi. Then he raised a hand to rub his face and forced the tears back.

Chen Qi took the opportunity to walk over and squat beside him, asking in a calm voice, “They didn’t handle it for you?”

The man looked at him blankly, confusion plain in his eyes.

He was certain he didn’t know this young man.

So what did that question mean?

“I was thinking of coming here to buy a car just now, but when I saw you blocking their entrance, I didn’t go in,” Chen Qi explained after noticing his confusion.

Understanding dawned on the man’s face. Whether or not Chen Qi’s words had struck a sore spot, the tears he had just managed to stop surged up again, and his eyes reddened at once.

“They said they could only repair it, not return or replace it,” the man said with a choking voice.

“What’s the problem?”

“It stalls.”

“Stalls?”

“It just stalls for no reason while I’m driving. In one week, it stalled five or six times.” As he spoke, tears welled up again. “At first I thought it was my driving, but a relative said that didn’t make sense. It’s an automatic car—how could it stall so easily?”

“…”

Chen Qi was a little stunned too, and once again wondered if the information he had just found online was fake.

With quality like that, and yet its reputation ranked in the top three?

“Later I had a relative try it. On a twenty-kilometer stretch, it stalled once too.”

“That’s when we knew something was wrong, so we brought the car back. The dealership said they needed to inspect it first. But that inspection took five days, and it was only when I called them myself that they finally admitted the car did have a problem. They said they’d have to take out the engine and repair it.”

Chen Qi: “…”

A brand-new car, driven for only a week, and they wanted to tear the engine out for repairs?

Only a dealership would have the nerve to say something like that.

No one in their right mind would agree to that, would they?

Not to mention a car of that size—no one would accept it, even if it were just a phone.

The rest of the story was pretty much what he had guessed.

The man refused repairs. He wanted a return or an exchange.

But the dealership firmly stated that it was impossible. They would only repair it, and they guaranteed the problem would not happen again after the repair.

That was when the man panicked. Today he had specially made time to come to the dealership, and after talking there all morning, the biggest concession the dealership would make was to replace the engine.

Unable to accept that outcome, the man had acted on impulse and blocked their car at the entrance.

But the move had done no good at all. It hadn’t threatened the dealership in the slightest; instead, it had frightened him badly.

The dealership even said they would call the police and that his behavior was grounds for detention.

“Either accept the engine replacement, or go through legal channels and sue us,” one of the dealership staff had said before leaving him there.

Of course, before they left, they hadn’t forgotten to move the car away, and they had torn off the protest sign he’d stuck on it as well.

After hearing the man out, Chen Qi was utterly stunned.

He felt as though some strange new knowledge had been added to his mind.

He had long heard that dealerships would do anything without a bottom line to make money, but he had never imagined they could be this shameless.

This was beyond brazen.

“They also said that even if I sued, I might not win. They said the car had passed inspection when it left the factory, and that it was possible I’d damaged it myself,” the man said, snot and tears streaming down his face, his emotions growing more and more agitated.

He was genuinely suffocating with grievance.

It was clearly a quality issue with this car, but not only were they refusing to deal with it, they were even turning the tables on him.

Being right but unable to make anyone understand had nearly choked him to death.

After saying that, the man continued wiping his tears in silence, looking pitiful from every angle.

“So what are you planning to do now?” Chen Qi asked.

“I don’t know.” The man shook his head in confusion. “Anyway, I can’t just let this go. If it really comes to it, I’ll sue them.”

Even so, when he said the words sue, his eyes were filled with unease.

He was already this old and had never filed a lawsuit before. He didn’t even know how much it would cost.

As an ordinary man, the first thing he thought of was money.

Honestly, he had never expected in his life that he would ever have to sue anyone.

Chen Qi looked at him, then turned to glance back at the dealership behind him. After thinking it over carefully, an immature little idea suddenly formed in his mind.

He opened the system and checked the destruction value in the lower right corner.

Still twenty-three points.

The dealership should count as an industry, shouldn’t it?

If he handled this matter a little, would the destruction value also increase?

“Sir, is everything you just said true?” he asked.

He wanted to get involved.

And it wasn’t only for the destruction value.

If he had no ability, that would be one thing. But now that he did have the ability, and had happened to see this, it would be hard to justify standing by and doing nothing.

Hearing the doubt in Chen Qi’s tone, the man immediately grew anxious. “Of course it’s true! Why would I lie to you?”

“All right. If it’s true, then that’s enough.” Chen Qi smiled, motioning for him not to get worked up. Half serious and half joking, he said, “Sir, if I told you I had a way to help you return this car, would you believe me?”

“Huh?” The man blinked at those words and looked Chen Qi over more carefully.

“You… are you a government official?” he asked.

Chen Qi was speechless for a moment, then said with both amusement and exasperation, “No…”

“If you’re not an official, how are you going to help me?” The man didn’t seem to believe him very much.

“Ah, don’t worry about that. Anyway, I can help you return the car,” Chen Qi said, not bothering to explain further. “Come on, let’s go in and take a look.”

With that, he turned and headed straight for the dealership.

Seeing that Chen Qi seemed serious, the man was slightly startled, then hurried after him.