Chapter 77: Chapter 73: A Young Girl’s Feelings are Always Poetic
Inside the fruit store at the school gate, Shen Qingning listened to Cheng Zhu’s words and was instantly stunned.
“Hello there, rumored girlfriend?”
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It seemed there was nothing wrong with what he said, quite the opposite, it was as if Cheng Zhu himself had descended into the arena to enjoy the drama, playing off his own meme.
But this guy inherently looked a bit ruffian-like, with naturally upturned eyebrows, which gave off a somewhat malicious vibe when he smiled at this moment.
Shen Qingning, a person with a strong presence like a luxurious human-made flower, hadn’t quite encountered something like this before.
And for some reason, her heartbeat subtly quickened, and she felt a hint of embarrassed annoyance.
...
He’s teasing me, isn’t he?
He’s definitely teasing me!
“What are you talking about!” Shen Qingning’s delicate brows furrowed, and she even felt like smashing the bird’s nest fruit in her hand into his face.
But she ultimately wasn’t the unrestrained type like Lin Lu. To act in such a way would be akin to flirting.
Cheng Zhu looked at her, the smile on his face not diminishing, and he directly began to look at the fruit plates in the cooler next to her.
“He sure is at ease!” Shen Qingning didn’t know why, but she still felt a bit annoyed.
What was even more irritating was that after Cheng Zhu picked out a chilled watermelon fruit cut, he turned to her with all seriousness upon paying and asked, “Shen Qing… no, senior sister, do you have a discount card for this place?”
…
…
Just like that, Cheng Zhu borrowed Shen Qingning’s membership card to get a discount, and then he transferred money to her via WeChat.
Shen Qingning initially didn’t want to accept it, but felt this guy had just been teasing her on purpose, so within this cold and detached girl, a voice spoke up, “I definitely don’t want to treat him to watermelon!”
As a result, Cheng Zhu directly unwrapped the cling film from the fruit cut and offered it to Shen Qingning, “Want some?”
“No thanks.”
“This piece looks like it’s from the center, really red and crisp.” He picked up that piece of watermelon with a fork and then, under Shen Qingning’s gaze, took a big bite, “Hear that crunch?”
“Boring!”
The two of them left the store and then discovered that the street was indeed crowded.
And her rate of turning heads on the street had always been quite high.
Speaking of which, the gossip on the forums had only appeared for one day and one night, and although it spread quickly, it wasn’t possible that everyone had become an onlooker and caught the whole scoop.
But people are influenced by their psychology.
And a certain jerk had just greeted her in a very unique way.
All of this made her feel a bit uncomfortable, as if everyone who looked her way was gossiping about their relationship.
Even though she had told Lin Lu with scorn that she wouldn’t bother with such things, and she was confident she wouldn’t care, maintaining a cold stance towards rumors, standing next to Cheng Zhu amongst the crowd still left her with a strange feeling that she couldn’t quite place.
Ironically, the male lead in the rumors, he was too comfortable.
On this sultry evening, he was enjoying his chilled watermelon bite by bite, seemingly in great pleasure.
“I parked my car over there; I’m leaving first,” Shen Qingning said to him.
“Sure, I was planning to head in that direction too, so we’re going the same way.” Cheng Zhu glanced over.
When they arrived at the white Land Rover Range Rover, Shen Qingning, before getting in, noticed Cheng Zhu looking around at each store, so she asked, “What are you looking for?”
She thought Cheng Zhu might not be familiar with the street outside the school and was searching for a particular store, in which case she could give directions.
“I’m thinking of renting a space for a store,” Cheng Zhu replied directly.
If an ordinary girl were standing in front of him, hearing that a freshman was considering renting a store to do business, she would likely be astonished at his financial capability.
But Shen Qingning had a brother who was a wastrel, disinterested in the family business, eager to start his ventures, opening one failed store after another during his university years, essentially being a walking trial-and-error entrepreneur.
The reserved young lady standing beside the car asked, “How big of a store are you planning to rent?”
“Two units will do,” Cheng Zhu responded.
For this kind of store, if you make it look small and intimate, renting just one unit is enough.
But Cheng Zhu was not that kind of small-minded person.
Such a small space, where would all my sisters stand!
However, two units were indeed almost the limit. Three units would only increase the difficulty of making a return.
A claw machine arcade is not worth that much trouble.
“There are two units up for rent over there, but you’ll have to wait about ten days; they aren’t available until the leases are up in another couple of weeks,” Shen Qingning pointed out a sushi store to the left.
“Is that so? The location is really good, very noticeable,” Cheng Zhu took a glance.
These kinds of stores outside the campus change hands every year.
Many people think that as long as the location is good, the store will make money, but it’s not that simple.
“You could consider it, and if you’re interested, send me a WeChat,” Shen Qingning said as she opened the passenger door of the car and placed the fruit inside.
“Huh? Don’t tell me you’re the landlord,” Cheng Zhu commented astutely.
Shen Qingning nodded.
Cheng Zhu couldn’t help wanting to applaud for her.
Indeed, those two stores were hers, gifts from her father when she was admitted to university.
To be so young and already at university, and to start being a landlady already, right?
Cheng Zhu was reminded of a news story he had read about the founder of Amazon, Bezos, who had been the richest man in the world for several years and faced a troubling problem: his little daughter just didn’t spend enough money.
He gave his daughter a five-figure US Dollar allowance every week, but she always saved a lot of it.
Once, he even found out she had bought a pair of discounted shoes, which deeply depressed him.
To encourage her to spend, he even told her, “You can’t keep buying useless assets, like if you’re so fond of ‘Star Wars’, why not just buy its rights?”
Goodness, we like to buy merchandise, but you’re talking about buying rights.
When his daughter thought about traveling, wanting to go on vacation, he just bought an island.
It’s worth mentioning that this daughter was also an adopted child Bezos had taken in from a welfare home in Changsha.
Upon the release of this news, countless people shed tears of envy and commented, “Does Bezos still want a daughter?”
After reading this, Cheng Zhu thought to himself: The rich aren’t showing off in Versailles, they are genuinely concerned about this matter, thinking about how to reverse their daughter’s perspectives on spending and investing.
For people like them, money isn’t saved, it’s spent.
Cheng Zhu, understanding this principle, was very clear that for girls of Shen Qingning’s caliber, even if they were still in school, they already held certain resources in their hands, with parents possibly already guiding their children to start dabbling.
There are indeed differences between people.
But Cheng Zhu never harbored any resentment towards his parents.
Because he knew very well that for the wealthy, they were just loosening a bit from between their fingers, letting their children grow. After all, it didn’t make sense to hand over a vast fortune to such young individuals.
But for many ordinary parents like Cheng and Xu Yun, they were already giving their utmost effort, standing on their tiptoes, raising their arms, supporting their children, trying their best to give their children a broader perspective from the highest point.
At this moment, after a few more words with Shen Qingning, she drove away.
Cheng Zhu went over to have a look at the sushi store; the business was indeed poor.
“If I were to date a little rich woman, would I not even have to pay the rent? Euphemistically called ‘investing as a stakeholder with rent.’ ” He jokingly thought to himself.
“Don’t say dating a rich woman is about getting money; how vulgar.”
“That’s called receiving support in business!”
And so, Cheng Zhu continued forward, commencing his inspection of the off-campus market, intending to explore the entire street tonight.
Having Shen Qingning as the landlord was indeed not a bad choice. But Cheng Zhu wouldn’t just turn back and stop wandering the streets for other options due to this.
Many people end up regretting because they don’t do all their preparations at the beginning.
On the other hand, Shen Qingning quickly drove to the shared living space with Lin Lu.
Lin Lu was in the room watching anime. Shen Qingning was not interested and simply said to her, “I’ve left the fruit on the table.”
“Awesome! Thanks!” Lin Lu sat in front of the tablet computer and gestured a heart with her hands.
Shen Qingning took a bird’s nest fruit and returned to her room, then like usual, started to read a romance novel out of boredom.
As mentioned before, she was a seasoned romance novel enthusiast and had a particular fondness for torturous stories, not even bothering with non-torturous plots.
She had been feeling a book drought recently, so she revisited the well-known “Silent Separation.”
Strictly speaking, this novel wasn’t very torturous, and she had read it several times before.
The reason for choosing it again was that she had heard it was in line for a drama adaptation this year, and she might get to see the adapted TV series by 2015, so she decided to revisit it.
And reading a book again after some time can bring a new perspective.
The book wasn’t long, and she quickly arrived at the part where the male lead He Yichen and the female lead Zhao Mosheng were in their school days.
This part of the story talked about how the school was buzzing with the news that the notable figure from the law department, He Yichen, had a girlfriend whose name was a mouthful, Zhao Mosheng.
At that time, Zhao Mosheng was already pursuing He Yichen, but she had not yet succeeded, so upon hearing the rumors, she immediately ran to find him to clarify anxiously, “It wasn’t me who spread the rumors, believe me!”
She received a response from He Yichen, “I know.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
“Because I was the one who spread them.”
When Shen Qingning read the book in the past, she simply found this part of the story to be sweet.
But today, for some reason, Cheng Zhu’s face inexplicably came to mind.
The plot in the book was vastly different from what was happening to her in reality.
The only similarity was that there were rumors going around the school about both of them.
The “mastermind” on her end was the next-door fool who was joyfully binge-watching anime!
But somehow, Shen Qingning couldn’t help but remember the way Cheng Zhu looked in the fruit store, the infuriating smile on his face, and that phrase, “Hello there, rumored girlfriend.”
In an instant, she felt as if an electric current passed through her body, and she locked her phone screen.
No more reading for her tonight!