After walking a few more steps down the street, Arden suddenly spotted a Louis Vuitton store.
LV—a name he'd heard countless times.
It was supposed to be a top luxury brand in the eyes of girls.
Arden knew almost nothing about luxury goods. Before college, he'd only known about studying, gaming, and watching dumb videos.
Honestly, most guys this generation were pretty much the same, right? Basic elements of the hardworking masses.
But in girls' eyes, guys like that were boring—or even "losers."
Ugh, I'm shaking with rage!
The reason Arden knew a little about the LV brand was because he'd been bored to death in middle school and read some trashy teen novel his desk-mate had brought.
His young heart had been shocked by the endless list of luxury brands mentioned in it.
Since LV's name and logo were the simplest, he'd remembered it.
Also—
Back in his hometown, the house across from Arden's belonged to a girl his age who'd gone to the same schools as him since kindergarten.
Childhood friends, basically.
During summer break, she'd chattered to Arden forever, saying she wanted to work and save up to buy an LV bag.
As for how that turned out... no clue. That girl had already cut off contact with Arden in August for some inexplicable reason.
Arden was completely unfazed.
In fact, it wasn't until this moment—seeing the LV store—that he even remembered it.
Arden then thought of the new system function he'd just unlocked.
He'd already tested it when buying snacks for Scarlet—spent over fifteen bucks, got seventy back—so it definitely worked.
He noticed Scarlet was also looking over there, her eyes shining at the displays in the window.
"Hey, wanna go in and browse?" Arden wrapped his arm around Scarlet's slender waist and said frankly, "I'll buy you a bag."
"Huh?" Scarlet froze for a moment, then waved her hands. "No need—my current bag is perfectly fine, and I don't really need an LV right now..."
"If there's no need, we'll create one! Come on!"
Arden temporarily ignored Scarlet's objections.
He pulled her through the door.
"Welcome to Louis Vuitton. Sir, are you shopping for your girlfriend?"
The sales associate greeted them with a polite smile.
No classic snobbery scene here.
Mainly because Arden's demeanor was relaxed and confident—totally unlike those broke college kids who just came to gawk and never bought anything.
Even though his outfit was simple, these days you couldn't judge someone's wealth purely by their clothes anymore.
It had to be a holistic assessment.
Besides, the woman next to him was young, gorgeous, and sexy—even the associate, who'd seen countless beautiful women, had her eyes light up.
Way better than those influencers with their overfilled faces—this girl was a naturally stunning knockout.
To have a beauty like that clinging to him so intimately, the guy's capabilities had to be substantial.
"Yeah, picking out a bag for her," Arden said casually.
"Alright, sir. Do you have any specific requirements? It would help if you could also tell us your budget. Our store has the most comprehensive LV selection in all of Bayside, and we can find styles suitable for your girlfriend at various price points."
"What do you think?" Arden asked Scarlet.
She thought for a moment, not being coy, and mused, "If I'm gonna buy one, it's best to get one with high resale value—like the monogram styles. Easy to sell secondhand too, haha. Though obviously you don't need to worry about that."
"True."
"Also, if there's a rare limited edition, that could be worth getting."
"Then let's go with a limited edition. I kinda like the idea of collecting rare stuff."
Arden had an idea and turned to the associate. "Show us the limited editions you have in stock with low market availability. As for budget—anything under $150k is fine."
"Of course, sir."
The associate didn't take the $150k budget too seriously.
But she also didn't show any contempt.
She simply maintained a professional smile and led them to see several recently arrived rare styles.
Prices ranged from $1,500–$3,000 all the way up to over $15,000.
To give customers a wide range of choices—even if the customer ultimately picked the cheapest item and had only claimed a big budget to show off—their desire to show off had to be satisfied.
The associate was thoughtful like that.
After all, the guy was paying. If he wasn't allowed to flex and then turned to another luxury brand, wouldn't that be a wasted sale?
This was her ninja way!
The associate estimated this guy would probably buy his girlfriend a bag in the few-thousand-dollar range.
So young—he was probably a second- or even third-gen trust fund kid, spending money his parents gave him, so it definitely wouldn't be too much.
Bayside was a typical second-tier city.
Not like New York or LA, where rich people were everywhere.
The so-called rich young heirs, on average, if their monthly cash flow hit $7,000, their family wealth was already pretty formidable.
And that "$7,000" covered all expenses—only a portion could be spent on women.
The associate's assumptions were based on years of experience working the counter.
However, Arden was clearly an existence beyond normal experience.
He leaned into Scarlet's ear and said, "Listen to me—don't worry about the price. Just pick what you like."
"...Arden, I know you're really into me and super generous, but what she's showing us are rare limited editions that only come in occasionally. They're not the kind you get for three or four thousand. The good ones cost like thirty grand..."
"Thirty grand it is, as long as you like it. You know, my family—besides making me live frugally before college—also had one rule: you can't mistreat your own woman. Otherwise, it's a disgrace to the family name."
Arden had a serious expression.
Scarlet was stunned by his words.
She couldn't help but start imagining things again.
Oh my god. It seems like Arden's even more unfathomable than I thought...
To be honest, the rare limited editions the associate brought out were all things Scarlet had seen on Instagram and absolutely loved.
Clothes, bags, jewelry... these were things Scarlet genuinely adored.
She admitted she was vain, shallow, and materialistic.
It was fine to admit it honestly. There was nothing wrong with it. Weren't most people in this world basically like that? The reason they didn't admit it was usually just stubborn pride.
How many truly spiritually rich and profound people could there be?
Material desire itself wasn't scary, as long as you could control it.
As long as you maintained integrity, didn't mess around, respected yourself, and didn't lead people on, there was no problem!
Scarlet's values were roughly like that.
Now, she'd already decided on Arden. So when Arden told her to pick freely, even though she thought it was crazy, she decided to trust him.
"This one, this one... and this one! Um, out of these three, you can just pick one."
"You pick. The bag's for you to use, not for me to carry."
"Yeah, but you'll be looking at me carrying it, so it has to be pleasing to your eyes, right?"
Scarlet held Arden's hand, speaking in a slightly coquettish tone.
That girlish charm was extremely pleasing to Arden.
He immediately waved his hand and said, "I'll take all three. Card, please."