Chapter 411: Chapter 411: Ideas
On the second floor of Dongji City’s State-owned Hotel, Yi Roujing and her group entered Room 3. The second floor not only has private rooms but also a hall, unlike the first floor, which only has a counter for ordering and picking up meals.
At this moment, there were quite a few tables occupied in the hall, with several being occupied by students from East Province University.
"Hey, wasn’t that just Zhang Erqiang and his partner who went in just now?"
"And Dai Zhenyan, Dai Zhenhua siblings too, hey, the other one seems familiar as well. Seems like it’s from Zhang Erqiang’s partner’s dormitory."
"Yeah, that’s Guo Xiangxiang. I didn’t expect they all knew each other."
"The Gu Family siblings are also there. Zhang Erqiang has really hit it big, getting friends with all these people?"
"But who’s the prettiest girl? She looks unfamiliar."
"What girl, didn’t you see she has a son already."
...
This table consisted of three guys and three girls, all students from East Province University. They hadn’t gone home for the holidays, but the reasons for staying behind varied.
Those from well-off families spend money to look around, while those from less well-off families stay to save on travel expenses and use the summer to work and study, earning quite a bit of money to send back home.
The reason these six people were eating together today was to help facilitate a romantic connection between one of the pairs.
And there are quite a few with this mindset. Who wouldn’t want to find a partner in university and have a job assignment right after graduation? The aim is not just to find a partner, but a future life partner who can offer a secure future together. Among them, Fang Wenjie from Zhang Erqiang’s dormitory had thoughts of establishing a relationship with Tian Meimei across the table.
Fang Wenjie’s family conditions aren’t great. He’s from a village, family with many kids; he has three older brothers, two older sisters, a younger brother, and a younger sister. Trapped in the middle, neither here nor there. But his sweet talk and persistence gained him a chance to study. His good grades meant he didn’t pay tuition in high school and gradually received attention from his family, who did not expect that when the entrance exam system was reinstated, he directly got admitted, making more of an impression at home.
But even so, he still had to send a portion of his stipend home, having agreed to it long before.
But Tian Meimei is different. She is a local of Dongji City, her parents work in a machinery factory, her father is actually a technician with a status similar to that of the factory leadership, and her brother works in city government, indicating excellent conditions.
Fang Wenjie is quite good-looking, attracting many girls, and Tian Meimei is one of them. Fang Wenjie has his own tactics when it comes to dating. He has not accepted Tian Meimei, but neither has he rejected her, keeping her on edge with a very respectable reason, saying he currently doesn’t match up to her and wants to provide security through hard work.
Hearing this, Tian Meimei is even happier, feeling she hasn’t chosen wrong. Occasionally, she would send Fang Wenjie food, drinks, and even high-end nutritional products like malted milk. Though Fang Wenjie has tried refusing, he eventually couldn’t do anything about Tian Meimei and had to accept them.
Gradually, Tian Meimei came to believe she was already Fang Wenjie’s girlfriend, and others thought the same.
Today they were invited as experienced acquaintances to help match another pair in the same school.
"Wenjie, what are you looking at?" Tian Meimei asked curiously when she saw Fang Wenjie looking at the door of Room 3 for a long time.
"I’m just wondering why Erqiang and his partner, and another person, know the Dai family siblings and the Gu family siblings, and how they ended up eating together." Fang Wenjie expressed his thoughts, truly not deceiving.
Even though Fang Wenjie, who shared the same dorm as Dai Zhenyan, was obviously more enthusiastic towards him compared to Zhang Erqiang, he still didn’t understand why Dai Zhenyan preferred Zhang Erqiang.
They were unclear about the specific situation of Dai Zhenyan’s family, but it was clear their conditions were undoubtedly good. Occasionally, he would bring food to the dormitory, giving each person a portion. Sometimes it was meat buns, sometimes egg pancakes, and sometimes slices of sauced pork... because of him, their dorm’s meals were much better than others.
Even if the situation of the Dai family siblings was unknown, many at East Province University knew about the Gu family siblings because when the Mayor of Dongji City came to school for research, the Gu family siblings called him uncle privately, though there were always people overhearing, which spread rapidly. Now, not knowing is more of a rarity.
Judging from the way the Gu family siblings treated the Dai family siblings, a keen observer would feel the Dai family is even stronger. This kind of family was something Fang Wenjie desired, but he was aware of his own limitations, unlike Guo Xiangxiang.
Guo Xiangxiang is better-looking than Tian Meimei. Despite being a nursing major, the nurse’s job is good. People are always welcome in hospitals.
"You’re talking about Guo Xiangxiang? She shouldn’t have much of a connection, otherwise, all at East Province University, we would have seen them interacting privately if they were."
Fang Wenjie temporarily set things aside, but when they went downstairs to pay, Guo Xiangxiang also came down just behind them to pay.
Seeing Guo Xiangxiang take out several banknotes and various tickets, paying swiftly, Fang Wenjie watched admiringly.
"Guo Xiangxiang," Tian Meimei directly called out.
Guo Xiangxiang turned back and saw they were all classmates from East Province University. "Tian Meimei."
"We saw you upstairs just now, but since there were unfamiliar people inside, we thought it might be inappropriate to greet you," Tian Meimei said, just as Yi Roujing and her group came down.
"Student Dai Zhenhua, Student Gu Jianing..." Tian Meimei greeted the classmates she recognized with a soft and gentle tone.
"Who is this?" Tian Meimei, looking at Yi Roujing, asked awkwardly.
"This is my cousin-in-law," Dai Zhenhua smiled and introduced. "I never expected my cousin-in-law to be a good friend of Xiangxiang, and we only found out today when she came over."
"This student," a server, who had just received the payment from Guo Xiangxiang, another person dressed in a Zhongshan suit, introducing himself as the office director of the state-owned hotel, approached them.
"Apologies," the office director said apologetically, "this comrade wasn’t aware just now, but the bill for Room 3 has already been settled."
"Paid already?" Guo Xiangxiang was startled, looking at Yi Roujing first.
"I didn’t go out; it wasn’t me who paid," Yi Roujing firmly denied.
"Neither did we."
Guo Xiangxiang thought about it and realized that none of them in the room had left.
"It was the mayor’s secretary who paid," the state-owned hotel’s person explained with a smile. "They said it was to entertain Comrade Yi Roujing and the students. The city is very supportive of such exchanges between Jing University and East Province University students."
Yi Roujing raised her eyebrows, such a legitimate reason, yet it sounded quite true.
The Gu family siblings glanced at each other, knowing from the words that their uncle must have been looking out for Yi Roujing, indicating she had an extraordinary background.
"I promised to treat you all, thank you, but I didn’t expect this..." Guo Xiangxiang was a bit helpless.
Since Xu Ancheng was present before, this matter must have had his tacit consent, and with Yi Roujing accepting it calmly, she suggested, "Since it’s already settled, you can treat us to something else later, or maybe a movie?"
"That sounds good."
