Zheng Yanyan arrived at the placement exam at 9:40, ten minutes late. Because she had woken up late, she hadn’t even had time to wash up. She hastily threw on a pair of denim shorts and, over the black tank top she had slept in, she put on a bra and a jacket. When the teacher asked her why she was late, she clutched her stomach and said she had food poisoning the night before and had been dealing with a stomachache. The teacher sighed and said, "Go on in."
By the time Zheng Yanyan started her exam, some students were already beginning to turn in their papers. Su Qing was the first to finish, followed by Shen Yu and then Lu Lin.
Lu Lin was the last to leave the classroom. As she exited, Shen Yu told her that the art supplies the counselor had ordered had arrived and were now in the office. The counselor had called Su Qing earlier, asking them to go to the office and check the supplies, and to distribute them in the afternoon.
Lu Lin responded with an “Oh” and glanced at Zheng Yanyan, who was still busy writing her test in the classroom. She asked, "Should we wait for Yanyan?"
Su Qing replied, "Just send her a message and tell her to go straight to Classroom 203 for the class meeting after the exam. We’re not intentionally leaving her behind."
Su Qing's words were true. Holding the class meeting right after the placement test did seem rushed, but since it was the last day of September, having the meeting early meant they could enjoy a half-day off in the afternoon. This would allow students who lived far away to leave early. As a class leader, Su Qing had already taken care of everything, including the purchase of the required art materials for their design course.
Both Su Qing and Shen Yu insisted that Lu Lin join them at the office. Shen Yu pointed out that there were too many materials for just the two of them to handle, and they needed Lu Lin’s help.
"It’s not our fault she came back late last night," Shen Yu added with a hint of resentment in her voice.
In the end, Lu Lin followed Su Qing and Shen Yu to the office.
Zheng Yanyan had been planning to give her roommates a piece of her mind for not waking her up in the morning. But when she finally finished her test and came out, she found the area outside the classroom deserted. The few people there were all strangers to her.
Other dorms would have waited for their roommates, no matter how long it took. But here Zheng Yanyan was, all alone.
"Hey, Yanyan, did Su Qing and the others leave already?" asked a classmate who noticed her.
"Yeah," she replied nonchalantly.
Even though she tried to brush it off, by this point, even Zheng Yanyan, as naive as she was, could sense that the other three girls were deliberately isolating her. Even though Lu Lin had sent her a message saying they were going to the office to check the art supplies, Zheng Yanyan knew the real reason. They were upset with her for dating Zhou Yuwen.
Hmph, just because I took Zhou Yuwen away from them, they’re upset? How petty, she thought. If they don’t want to be friends with me, fine. I don’t need them either. I have a boyfriend.
With this mindset, Zheng Yanyan casually dialed Zhou Yuwen’s number and asked where he was. Zhou Yuwen had already left the exam room a while ago and said he was outside.
"Outside? What are you doing out there?" she asked, her tone softening. Isolated by her roommates, Zheng Yanyan felt friendless and could only rely on her boyfriend for comfort.
Zhou Yuwen said he had some things to take care of.
"Oh," Zheng Yanyan replied, her mood sinking.
Zhou Yuwen asked her what was wrong.
She said, "Su Qing and the others are ganging up on me."
Zheng Yanyan then recounted everything that had happened that morning. Zhou Yuwen, being in his thirties and more mature, didn’t see anything wrong with what had happened. Even if he had noticed something off, there wasn’t much he could say. He replied, "I don’t think it’s that serious. Didn’t Lu Lin say they went to the office? You might be overthinking it."
"How could it not be? They didn’t even wake me up this morning! And I was the first one to get up and warn them that we were going to be late. They did it on purpose," Zheng Yanyan insisted.
Zhou Yuwen, who was already on the bus, said, "Well, if that’s the case, then Chang Hao and the others are isolating me too."
"What? You’re being isolated too?"
"Of course. Think about it, Chang Hao really likes you. Now that I’m with you, how could he not isolate me?"
Hearing this, Zheng Yanyan couldn’t help but laugh, feeling closer to Zhou Yuwen. She sighed and said, "Sigh, we really are a pair of star-crossed lovers."
"Yeah, look how much I’ve sacrificed to be with you."
"Ha! As if I haven’t sacrificed just as much."
"Well then, should we break up?"
"No way! We have to stick together and make everyone jealous. But seriously, where are you going this morning?"
"I told you, I have some things to take care of."
"What things?"
"It’s a secret."
"A secret from me too?"
"…"
Zhou Yuwen fell silent, and Zheng Yanyan, sensing that they had just started dating and that they should give each other some space, relented. "Fine, I won’t ask anymore. Will you come back to campus for lunch?"
Zhou Yuwen hadn’t planned on returning. He didn’t even want to attend the class meeting. The reason he had gone out that day was to withdraw the money from his stock account, as it was the last working day of the month. His initial capital had been 50,000 yuan, and after deducting fees and with the help of institutional leverage, he now had a total of 2.5 million yuan in his account.
This amount would allow Zhou Yuwen to live comfortably for quite some time. However, this wasn’t something he could just casually mention to Zheng Yanyan.
Fortunately, Zheng Yanyan didn’t press further and simply asked him to come back to campus for lunch.
Zhou Yuwen finally said, "Alright, I’ll try."
"Not try, you must!" Zheng Yanyan emphasized.
But Zhou Yuwen still responded with, "I’ll try."
"Hmph," Zheng Yanyan pouted.
Zhou Yuwen was about to hang up the phone, but Zheng Yanyan, feeling bored, kept the conversation going. She had already reached the classroom where the class meeting was to be held, which wasn’t far from the exam room.
The classroom was mostly empty when she arrived. Su Qing and the others had already brought the supplies to the classroom and were preparing to distribute them. When Zheng Yanyan entered, she made brief eye contact with the three girls.
Zheng Yanyan, being proud, quickly averted her gaze and casually chose a seat by the window. She crossed her long, beautiful legs and began chatting on the phone with Zhou Yuwen as if she were deliberately making her conversation audible to everyone. Her laughter was louder than usual, and she even pouted, asking, "Zhou Yuwen, tell me, do you like me the most?"
Meanwhile, Shen Yu, who was checking the inventory, and Su Qing, who was counting something, both remained expressionless. But hearing what Zheng Yanyan said, they couldn’t help but feel a little irritated.
Zhou Yuwen also sensed something unusual about Zheng Yanyan’s behavior but didn’t think much of it. "I really have to get busy now. I’ll come find you later."
"Okay, I’m in the classroom now. I’ll call you after the meeting," Zheng Yanyan replied, seemingly talking to herself.
With that, they hung up.
Zhou Yuwen inserted his bank card into the ATM and checked the balance.
The screen displayed:
RMB Balance: ¥2,500,000.00
He had left a few thousand yuan in the stock account and withdrawn an even amount. Finally, he felt a bit of the joy of being a reborn man.
With some time to spare, he decided to check out the car dealerships.
At this moment, the class meeting had already started. The issue of Chang Hao replacing Zhou Yuwen as class monitor was still undecided, as Zhou Yuwen had earned a lot of goodwill by providing his classmates with benefits like several gigabytes of mobile data—a precious commodity at the time. Moreover, while Chang Hao had served as the monitor for the boys' squad, Zhou Yuwen's supporters were mainly among the girls, making the outcome unpredictable.
It's no wonder that even in his dreams, Chang Hao was preoccupied with the position of class monitor. In his dream, he had successfully become the monitor of the Landscape Engineering class. However, he wasn’t happy at all because, in his dream, he had lost the woman he loved most. He even muttered in his sleep, I’ll give you the monitor position, but can you please not date Yanyan?
Dreams are often somewhat naive, and when he woke up, all that remained was a deep sense of sadness. He knew that the position of class monitor wasn’t that important, but he still didn’t want to lose. After wallowing in sadness, Chang Hao finally returned to his senses.
Why should I act like a loser, feeling sad and crying? he thought. After all, he was an only child in Beijing. His family owned a 90-square-meter apartment, and his grandparents lived in a courtyard house. Although it wasn’t within the Third Ring Road, Beijing’s property prices had been skyrocketing in recent years. Just his family's apartment alone was worth 5 million yuan!
What does Zhou Yuwen have to compare with me? Why should I feel sad?
Chang Hao rationalized that Zheng Yanyan chose Zhou Yuwen only because she was still young and didn’t understand what true competitive advantage was. In a couple of years, she would realize that choosing Zhou Yuwen was a mistake. Zhou Yuwen was just a boy from a small city with a second-tier university degree. No matter how hard he worked, he would never be able to afford a house in a big city.
So what if Zhou Yuwen is handsome? So what if he can sing? Does he have money like I do?
As his grandparents had told him when he was young, some people work their entire lives and still can’t reach the level he was born into. At that moment, Chang Hao’s sense of superiority as a Beijing native reached its peak.
In reality, it wasn’t that he was becoming arrogant; he just wanted to use this sense of superiority to numb the pain of his loss. He firmly believed that Zheng Yanyan would eventually regret her decision. When he graduated, he could easily land a job at a state-owned enterprise through his parents’ connections, with a comfortable salary, full benefits, and a five-figure monthly income.
But what about Zhou Yuwen? Being handsome and able to sing wouldn’t help him when he had to squeeze into the subway at seven in the morning. Chang Hao didn’t believe that Zheng Yanyan would stick around to endure such a tough life with Zhou Yuwen. Zheng Yanyan is the kind of girl you can't afford to keep, Zhou Yuwen. You should give up while you still can.
With these thoughts, Chang Hao finally felt a sense of relief and regained his determination. He resolved to defeat Zhou Yuwen in the upcoming class monitor election. He was ready to formally challenge Zhou Yuwen.
Zhou Yuwen, I admit you won this time, but you won’t win forever. This time I was careless, that’s all. If you hadn’t launched a sneaky attack, how could you have succeeded?
Chang Hao had finally figured it out. The only reason Zhou Yuwen had succeeded was that he had played dirty, catching Chang Hao off guard. Chang Hao hadn’t even realized that Zhou Yuwen had feelings for Zheng Yanyan. He had always assumed he had no competition, so he hadn’t felt the need to rush in his pursuit of Zheng Yanyan.
If he had known that Zhou Yuwen was vying for the same girl, he would have launched a more aggressive pursuit of Zheng Yanyan. If that had been the case, there was no way he would have lost.
Just as Chang Hao was brimming with confidence, ready to take on Zhou Yuwen, he realized that Zhou Yuwen wasn’t even coming to the meeting.
The first class meeting after military training wasn't just about electing the official class committee members. It also covered topics like planning performances for the upcoming freshmen welcome party and participating in the National Day bulletin board competition.
Their counselor, You Changjin, as usual, looked scholarly with his black-framed glasses. The first item on the agenda was the class monitor election. “So, the class monitor was Zhou Yuwen before, right?” You Changjin asked.
“Teacher, Zhou Yuwen isn’t here,” Liu Yue said, raising her hand.
You Changjin adjusted his glasses and replied, “Yes, Zhou Yuwen has taken a leave of absence.”
Zhou Yuwen was the type who wouldn’t waste time on something as trivial as a class meeting. If it weren’t for the situation with Zheng Yanyan, he might have still competed for the position of class monitor. But after being called into the office because of Zheng Yanyan, it seemed out of place to run for class monitor now. Besides, Chang Hao had developed a sense of superiority while acting as the class monitor during military training, and Zhou Yuwen didn’t want to bruise his ego any further.
Zhou Yuwen had directly told You Changjin that he had many areas to improve.
“Nonsense, I think you’ve been doing a great job. Sure, sneaking out to buy KFC during military training wasn’t exactly the right thing to do, but who hasn’t made mistakes in their youth?” You Changjin hadn’t held that against him. Except for not participating in the military training, Zhou Yuwen had performed admirably in other areas. For instance, the way he handled the scholarship applications was flawless. Most importantly, there were no controversies in his class, unlike other classes where well-off students were sometimes accused of unfairly claiming financial aid. Zhou Yuwen had put an end to such issues by bluntly saying, “You’re using an iPhone and wearing AJ sneakers, and you think you deserve financial aid?”
Some students weren’t happy and accused him of favoritism, suggesting he might have allowed his friends to receive aid. But Zhou Yuwen shot back, “Name one person who’s worse off than you, and I’ll not only give you their spot, but I’ll also personally hand you 20,000 yuan! I can put the money on the table right now!”
This silenced any objections. The confrontation had taken place in You Changjin’s office, and even he was impressed by Zhou Yuwen’s boldness. No other class monitor handled things the way he did, which made You Changjin genuinely fond of Zhou Yuwen.
However, Zhou Yuwen didn’t want to be the class monitor anymore. When he requested leave, he told You Changjin that Chang Hao was a capable guy and had been acting as the boys’ monitor during military training. He suggested that Chang Hao could replace him.
You Changjin sighed, “If you say so. He’s your dorm mate, right? It might be good to have someone in the position who can work with you.”
With Zhou Yuwen absent, Jiang Chao went up against Chang Hao in the election for class monitor, but he lost. Chang Hao was elected class monitor, with Gu Yaoyao as the deputy monitor, followed by other positions like life committee member and Youth League secretary being filled.
After the class meeting, a smaller meeting was held for the class committee. Chang Hao, already feeling down because of Zhou Yuwen’s absence, became even more disheartened when You Changjin said, “Chang Hao, you’ve got to do a good job. Zhou Yuwen specifically recommended you, saying you’re great in many ways. Don’t let us down.”
These words only deepened Chang Hao’s frustration.
Meanwhile, Zhou Yuwen had initially planned to buy a small Audi just for casual driving. But while browsing the 4S dealership, he laid eyes on a BMW M4 convertible coupe. Although this car was considered the least impressive of the sports cars and barely qualified as one, it was undeniably stylish.
To make things even better, the sales assistant was very enthusiastic and didn’t dismiss Zhou Yuwen as just another broke college student. She attended to him with great care.
The sales assistant, Wang Mengna, seemed young, about 23 years old, with fair skin and a long-legged figure accentuated by the black OL uniform and black stockings typical of BMW 4S staff. Like Zhou Yuwen, she was from Xuzhou, a hometown connection that seemed to bring them closer.
When Zhou Yuwen was inspecting the cars, Wang Mengna approached him and said, “Looking at cars, little brother?”
Zhou Yuwen nodded, saying he was just browsing.
“Well, why not sit inside and check it out?” she offered.
Zhou Yuwen had been ready to leave, but her enthusiasm piqued his interest. “Is that okay?”
“Of course,” she replied.
So Zhou Yuwen sat in the driver’s seat and raised the convertible top of the BMW M4. He could finally understand the saying, It’s like wearing fine clothes at night if you don’t flaunt your wealth back home. Having money really did make one feel a bit inflated.
As he enjoyed the feel of the convertible and the attentive service from the young saleswoman, who even knelt down slightly to open the car door and introduce its features with a cheerful smile, Zhou Yuwen couldn’t help but appreciate her professionalism. Though young and new to the job, as she admitted with a shy smile, she hadn’t sold a single car yet. She confessed that she was still learning and asked for Zhou Yuwen’s understanding if she made any mistakes.