Chapter 119: Just a Small Favor from You

After sitting in the passenger seat, Li Xiaoxuan suddenly laughed.

“What are you laughing at?” Zhang Yang glanced at her and asked.

“President Zhang, that girl just now should have been the class beauty from your high school class, right? Your… crush?” Li Xiaoxuan asked while driving.

“What crush?” Zhang Yang burst out laughing.

“That’s true. Only the one you can’t get becomes the crush. Maybe she’s someone else’s crush, but in your eyes she definitely isn’t,” Li Xiaoxuan said softly and confidently.

“Who knows? Maybe in her eyes, President Zhang, you’re the crush instead.”

“Come on, do you know what I was like in high school?” Zhang Yang chatted with Li Xiaoxuan with interest, passing the time.

“What were you like?” Li Xiaoxuan asked curiously.

Zhang Yang only smiled without saying anything, with no intention of digging anything up to show her.

“By the way, what exactly did you want? You should say it now, right?”

“Actually, for you this is just a small favor.” Li Xiaoxuan hesitated, looking a little embarrassed.

“Go on, let me hear it.” Sitting in the passenger seat, Zhang Yang casually patted Li Xiaoxuan’s thigh, finding the position quite convenient.

“Mm… it’s like this. I want to rent a shop on the first floor of Starlight Plaza,” Li Xiaoxuan said carefully.

“Coincidentally, the current tenant’s lease is about to expire.”

“What difficulty is there? If the current tenant doesn’t renew, you can just rent it through the property management,” Zhang Yang said.

“What if… what if the current tenant plans to renew?” Li Xiaoxuan asked nervously.

“Isn’t that obvious? Of course the original tenant gets priority. We have to respect the priority renewal right,” Zhang Yang said without even thinking.

“Which shop location are you talking about?”

“A barbecue place along the street on the east side of the first floor, called Fengyun Barbecue,” Li Xiaoxuan said quietly. “Please think of a way and help me.”

They happened to be waiting at a red light.

When she looked at Zhang Yang, her eyes were watery.

“You do have good taste. That spot is one of the best locations on the entire first floor.” Zhang Yang quietly withdrew his hand.

Although the original tenant had priority renewal rights, he could easily raise the rent to make the tenant give up the lease voluntarily. That wouldn’t be difficult.

But the key question was why he should do that.

He and Li Xiaoxuan weren’t relatives or anything close. There was no reason for him to do something slightly unethical like that.

“Exactly, that location is really good. President Zhang, I know you must have a way.” Li Xiaoxuan pursed her lips and reached out to hold the hand beside her.

“That wouldn’t be appropriate.” Zhang Yang pulled his hand away and shook his head.

“Ah?” Li Xiaoxuan’s eyes immediately showed disappointment.

She bit her lip, wanting to hint more clearly, but her reserved nature meant that reaching out to hold his hand was already her limit.

“Alright, why don’t you look at other shops? It doesn’t have to be that one.” Zhang Yang looked out the car window.

It seemed they were already approaching his Starlight Plaza Commercial Plaza.

“How about stopping by the roadside here? You can head back to the shop,” Zhang Yang said casually.

“Shouldn’t I send you home instead? Otherwise you’ll have to call a designated driver,” Li Xiaoxuan asked softly.

“No need. I won’t go home. I’ll just find a hotel and stay the night,” Zhang Yang said.

“A hotel?” Li Xiaoxuan froze for a moment and repeated the word quietly.

Heaven as witness, Zhang Yang really didn’t have any other thoughts.

Desire for food and sex is human nature. But what he believed he should do was control such desires freely, not be controlled by them.

A moment later, by the roadside.

Zhang Yang got out of the car.

Li Xiaoxuan also got out beside him.

Late at night, beneath the hem of her stepmother-style skirt, her pair of legs looked plump and smooth.

“Alright, go back to the shop. Head home early. I’ll go rest as well.” Holding the car key, Zhang Yang spoke cleanly and decisively before heading toward the hotel.

Right next to Starlight Plaza stood an apartment building, and there was also a budget hotel upstairs.

Staying there for the night would be perfectly fine.

Li Xiaoxuan stood there blankly, watching Zhang Yang leave without hesitation. She wanted to call out to stop him, but that step was still too hard to take.

While hesitating, her cheeks became burning red.

By the time she came back to her senses, he was already far away.

She stood there, lightly stamping her foot, looking somewhat dejected and discouraged.

Zhang Yang entered the hotel and casually booked a room.

Late at night, after taking a shower, he remembered he had forgotten to send Meng Baihan a message, so he replied.

“I’m home.”

Not long after the message was sent, Meng Baihan replied.

“Okay, I just got home too.”

She replied cheerfully.

It was already quite late, but he didn’t feel sleepy, and it seemed Meng Baihan didn’t either. So he casually chatted with her while waiting for sleepiness to arrive.

“Hey Zhang Yang, besides being classmates, do we count as good friends now?” Meng Baihan asked seriously before going to sleep.

Zhang Yang blinked.

“Probably not. At most we’re friends. We’re still far from being good friends.”

“Alright then, I’ll work harder,” Meng Baihan suddenly replied.

“Work harder at what?” Zhang Yang asked.

“Huh? Nothing, nothing. By the way, I’m a bit sleepy now, I’ll go rest first. Good night…” Meng Baihan sent a string of small emojis.

Zhang Yang shook his head and casually put his phone aside.

Before sleeping, he carefully checked his current upgrade progress.

The total experience progress was currently 90. Only ten more experience points were needed to reach the next level.

At the next level, his daily income would be 150,000.

Calculating like that, his cashback alone in a year would be more than fifty million, over half a hundred million. Adding the more than ten million his businesses earned each year, plus the tens of millions in cash flow he already had.

As long as he didn’t invest recklessly, the sense of security was overwhelming.

“That means I just need to sign two more shops to level up. I wonder what the upgrade gift will be this time,” Zhang Yang murmured.

The upgrade gifts from the previous few times had all been item rewards.

Cars, watches, and the most valuable one was that 10% price real estate exchange voucher.

Honestly, those were all things money could buy.

For this upgrade, he had higher expectations. He hoped the system would give something different this time. If it was generous enough to reward him with another business or something, that would be a pleasant surprise.

Although he hoped for it, thinking about it again made it seem unlikely.

Compared with the previous upgrade gifts, the step this time probably wouldn’t be that big.

“Forget it, time to sleep.” Zhang Yang turned off the light, cleared the thoughts in his mind, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Zhang Yang casually found a breakfast shop downstairs from the hotel and had breakfast.

Such a large Starlight Plaza naturally had places selling Chinese breakfast.

He ordered a few buns and soybean milk. While waiting, he chatted with the owner and asked about business.

“It’s not bad. Look at my shop-right next to this apartment building. I also do some food delivery. Breakfast in the morning, then sell other things at noon and night. Life’s pretty comfortable,” the shop owner said while bustling around.

Zhang Yang nodded. Eating buns and drinking soybean milk, he was in a great mood.

He hoped all the shops on his commercial street would flourish. That meant popularity, and only popular places made shop values rise.

After finishing breakfast, he happened to pass by that Fengyun Barbecue.

Early in the morning, the barbecue shop had just gone through a night of bustle and was naturally closed.

“Look at the mess at the entrance.” Zhang Yang frowned slightly as he noticed the dirty wastewater still left at the doorway. He immediately called Manager Chen.

“Mr. Zhang, I’ll arrange for someone to clean it right away,” Manager Chen responded immediately.

After hanging up, Zhang Yang opened a local review website to check the ratings of this barbecue shop.

Searching for Fengyun Barbecue brought up a flood of reviews.

Came here because of the reputation. The taste is good, but the owner has a personality, and the food is expensive.

Eat at Fengyun Barbecue, experience the life of a sucker.

If you’re too few people, no service. If you bring children, no service. If you order too little, no service. You must order everything at once, no adding orders later.

If you’re using fake accounts to defend the owner, stop it. It’s not personality, it’s just bad manners.

Trash. I don’t understand why the business is so good.

Strangely enough, the more the owner scolds people, the more people come to try it. Don’t you realize you’re giving the owner the wrong impression?

After browsing through the reviews, Zhang Yang suddenly felt that things were not so simple.

“Didn’t expect this place to be an internet-famous shop.”

An internet-famous shop didn’t necessarily mean those heavily decorated trendy places. It could also include popular stores widely circulating on short-video platforms and review websites.

Judging from the reviews, this shop had been around for several years.

However, Zhang Yang had spent his university years and several years after working in other cities, so he hadn’t paid much attention to the local internet-famous shops.

“Why does this reputation feel a bit… notorious in a strange way?” he muttered to himself, shook his head, and left.

Today, Designer Lin Jingmin had arranged for him to come to the villa site to hand things over and also attend the groundbreaking ceremony.

Ordinary projects wouldn’t progress this quickly.

But his project was worth a full fifteen million, and the renovation company was practically mobilizing the entire company to push the progress forward.

So ever since the design plan was finalized, preparations had been underway without stopping.

Over the past two days, the on-site construction protection had already been completed. After the groundbreaking ceremony, the first step would be demolishing and modifying the main structure.

Late in the morning, Violet Gardens No. 1.

“Mr. Zhang, you’re here.” Lin Jingmin stood in front of the villa, her slender legs wrapped in black stockings.

Zhang Yang parked the car at the entrance, walked over, and casually wrapped an arm around Lin Jingmin’s slim waist.

“There are still people from our company inside the villa,” Lin Jingmin lightly scolded and reminded him in a low voice.

“Is that so?” Zhang Yang naturally withdrew his hand and walked into the villa.

Inside the empty rough shell space, elements of Jade Estate Design could be seen everywhere. A group of the company’s staff saw Zhang Yang walk in and all greeted him with warm and respectful smiles.

Lin Jingmin walked to the side and led Zhang Yang around the villa from top to bottom, giving an overall introduction of the upcoming construction process.

“Let’s go, the groundbreaking ceremony is waiting for you.”

In the empty space on the top floor, Lin Jingmin blushed and held down the hand resting on her body.

“Why make such a complicated process? Just start construction already,” Zhang Yang said with a laugh, shaking his head.

“How could that work? I specifically picked an auspicious day today. It’s suitable for starting construction. Of course we pay attention to these things,” Lin Jingmin looked around, then bravely stood on tiptoe and kissed Zhang Yang on the cheek.

Then she gently pulled Zhang Yang downstairs.

A moment later, in the living room on the first floor, there were firecrackers, flowers, champagne, and a banner hung on the wall behind.

On the banner, the four big words Auspicious Start of Construction were especially eye-catching.

Amid the crackling sound of firecrackers, the villa project officially began.

Zhang Yang also knew the company wanted to use this opportunity for promotion, so he cooperated by taking a photo and properly played the role of a promotional prop.

“How should I edit the caption again? Let me see.”

After the ceremony, Zhang Yang saw Lin Jingmin enthusiastically editing a promotional post for her social media and leaned over to take a look.

There was nothing special to say about the photo.

His photo wasn’t edited at all. He appeared completely natural without any filters, still looking handsome and stylish. Lin Jingmin wore a small suit and stood beside him in the photo as the representative of Jade Estate Design.

Violet Gardens No. 1 King Villa - Wishing President Zhang an Auspicious Start!

“Well? How is it?” Lin Jingmin looked up and asked Zhang Yang.

“It’s fine. Anyway it’s promotion for your company, I don’t mind. By the way, don’t forget to pay me an image usage fee for using my photo,” Zhang Yang joked casually.

“Ah? You want an image usage fee? Then how about this-I’ll treat you to a meal,” Lin Jingmin covered her mouth and laughed.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Zhang Yang waved his hand decisively.

A moment later, the two quietly left the villa.

They said they were going to eat, but it was still too early. Instead, the two tacitly went to a hotel first, and only came out in the afternoon when the sun was already high.

“You call this treating me to a meal? Just ordering takeout?” Zhang Yang had just sat up from the bed when a pair of fair arms wrapped around him from behind, soft warmth pressing against his back.

“You really never get tired. How about I give you something nourishing tonight?” Lin Jingmin murmured against his shoulder.

“Give me something nourishing?” Zhang Yang suddenly found it amusing. “How? Wait, are you actually daring to challenge me?”

He turned around and pulled Lin Jingmin into his arms.

Lin Jingmin quickly raised her hands in surrender.

After some playful tussling and wandering hands, the two finally quieted down.

“Want barbecue? Tonight I’ll take you to Fengyun Barbecue for some skewers,” Lin Jingmin asked with a smile.

“Where? Fengyun Barbecue?” Zhang Yang thought he had heard wrong. “The one on Starlight Plaza?”

“Yes, that’s the most famous one. I’ll order you a couple of big kidneys tonight,” Lin Jingmin said half-jokingly. “So? Want to go? I know you must be tired of fancy meals. Occasionally having some smoky street barbecue is pretty nice.”

“Alright, Fengyun Barbecue it is.” Zhang Yang nodded without much hesitation.

Just in time-he was already a bit curious about that place. Tonight he could go check it out himself. After all, hearing about something a thousand times is not as good as seeing it with your own eyes.