Chapter 133: My Cousin Comes to Visit

There was a long silence in the chat window.

Zhang Yang didn’t pay much attention to it. Most people were quite shocked the first time they saw the Huangpu River and the Bund from that angle.

But it wasn’t his first time seeing it. After seeing it so often, he had naturally grown used to it.

Only after he had slowly finished his fried rice did Meng Baihan finally send a message.

“So beautiful. I can’t imagine how optimistic I’d be if I lived here every day.”

“Aren’t you already optimistic enough?” Zhang Yang laughed.

Sure, compared with him, there was no comparison. But in Yinghai, Meng Baihan’s family background and her own job were things that many people envied.

“I am optimistic, but I still have worries sometimes. But your kind of optimism-I truly can’t imagine what kind of worries you could possibly have,” Meng Baihan said.

Zhang Yang froze for a moment, instinctively wanting to say something modest.

Then he realized that Meng Baihan was actually completely right. Worries? Thinking about it, he really didn’t have any now.

Zhang Yang continued chatting casually with Meng Baihan.

At some point, they also talked about her summer vacation plans.

With the school’s summer break beginning, she, as a music teacher, was also about to enter a long summer holiday.

“Hiking, going to the seaside-what do you think? Interested? You can bring your girlfriend.”

“Well… let’s talk about it later,” Zhang Yang replied.

He certainly wanted to see mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, famous peaks, and great landscapes. But for now, he didn’t have much of an impulse to just leave at a moment’s notice. Maybe one day when the mood struck him, he would simply book a flight and go-that would feel better.

As the night gradually deepened, Zhang Yang chatted with Meng Baihan on and off, without any particular topic, just talking casually. Before he knew it, several hours had passed.

After coming out of the shower, Zhang Yang glanced at his phone and only then saw the good-night message Meng Baihan had sent not long before.

“It’s already been so long, no point replying now,” Zhang Yang said casually.

There were many messages in WeChat waiting for his response. Aside from the important ones, he suddenly noticed one unexpected message.

“Song Yumeng?”

Who was Song Yumeng? She was the daughter of his younger uncle’s family, his younger female cousin, currently studying at university away from home.

Although his younger uncle and aunt were rather harsh people, the daughter they raised had always been well-behaved, lovely, generous, and kind since childhood. It was honestly quite strange.

Naturally, Zhang Yang had always had a very good relationship with this younger cousin.

“Cousin, I’m on summer break and planning to come to Shanghai for a few days. Are you hosting me or not?”

“Of course, come on over. I’ll host you properly. By the way, are you coming alone? No handsome guys or pretty girls traveling with you?” Zhang Yang asked with a smile.

“Trying to trick me? No way. It’s just me and my roommate from the dorm. She’s coming to Shanghai this time to see her older sister,” Song Yumeng replied with a whole string of playful emojis.

“Alright then. What time? I’ll come pick you up,” Zhang Yang replied.

Not long after, his younger cousin sent him the time and location.

It happened to be tomorrow morning’s high-speed rail, arriving at around ten in the morning.

“That works out nicely. I’ll pick them up and then we’ll go eat,” Zhang Yang muttered to himself. Looking at the time, he lay down with his arms behind his head and gradually drifted off to sleep.

Early the next morning, Zhang Yang didn’t wake up until the sun was already high in the sky.

They say facing the sea brings spring warmth and blooming flowers.

When he woke up, the first thing he saw was the golden surface of the Huangpu River. The wind blowing across him was the river breeze, and before his eyes was the endless flow of traffic along the Bund.

It might not have been facing the sea, but the atmosphere was nearly the same.

“They’ve set off?” Zhang Yang glanced at the message Song Yumeng had just sent and unhurriedly walked to the bathroom.

He showered and washed up.

In the peak of summer, Zhang Yang, wearing only lounge pants and bare-chested, wiped his hair while casually walking onto the balcony and chatting with his younger cousin.

Just moments ago, she had sent him a photo of herself and her roommate together.

In it, she and her roommate were posing with peace signs. It was such a simple photo, yet with two girls as lovely as flowers standing together, the picture suddenly seemed full of charm.

“Cousin, see you in Shanghai at ten,” Song Yumeng sent.

“Got it,” Zhang Yang replied, then turned around leisurely to make breakfast.

After breakfast, he checked the time and put on a fresh and sunny-looking sports outfit. This time he wasn’t going for the mature style-he was switching to the image of a sunny, athletic campus heartthrob.

Zhang Yang’s fashion sense had already reached an extraordinary level. Paired with his physique and looks, this outfit immediately created the image of a bright, handsome school prince.

Absurdly handsome.

Before leaving, Zhang Yang looked at the car keys on the table and hesitated for a moment before taking the Porsche keys instead.

It wasn’t that he wanted to keep a low profile. The problem was that the moment his younger cousin knew, the whole family would know immediately. Since he wanted to take things step by step, it was better to keep a slightly lower profile in front of her.

A moment later, he headed straight to the underground garage, selected the extremely low-key Porsche Cayenne from among all the luxury cars, and drove directly to Shanghai Railway Station.

On the high-speed rail, still some time away from arriving, Song Yumeng and her roommate Le Yue sat together chatting.

The two girls were both delicate and youthful-looking, the kind of girls who had only just entered university at first glance.

“This novel is so infuriating,” Song Yumeng said angrily while reading.

Le Yue, sitting beside her, looked over curiously.

“What novel is making you this emotional?”

“The male lead’s crush went abroad, and the male lead, in order to give his family an explanation and also to make the crush jealous, entered into a contract marriage with the female lead. Three whole years-if it had been a stone, it should have been warmed by then. But in reality, as soon as the crush returned to the country three years later, the male lead immediately abandoned the female lead and went to find the crush.” Song Yumeng huffed angrily.

What she was describing was actually one of those overused tropes in female-oriented fiction.

But it didn’t matter that the trope was cliché. The author wrote it so compellingly, with such vivid characterization, giving readers hope at times and then stabbing them with heartbreak the next moment.

It felt so real that readers couldn’t help wanting the female lead to take revenge on the male lead and make him regret everything.

“So it’s that kind of plot.” Le Yue blinked as she listened, but then suddenly fell silent.

Song Yumeng didn’t pay much attention at first and kept reading. But when she looked up again and saw Le Yue staring out the window without saying much, she immediately noticed something was off.

“Le Yue, what’s wrong?” Song Yumeng asked quietly.

“Nothing.” Le Yue turned her head back and replied, then added, “By the way, do you believe novels all come from reality?”

Song Yumeng blinked.

“Yes, of course I do. Reality is always stranger than fiction. But why are you suddenly saying that?” she asked curiously.

“To be honest, my older sister is almost exactly the same as the female lead in your novel,” Le Yue said with a somewhat complicated expression.

Song Yumeng’s heart skipped a beat. Her curiosity suddenly flared up, though she didn’t want to show it too obviously.

“Really? If you don’t mind, you can tell me.”

“It’s nothing I can’t tell you.” Le Yue shook her head lightly and began speaking. “Three years ago, my sister met the man who is now my brother-in-law…”

As Song Yumeng listened, her eyes widened.

Hearing this real-life melodrama, the novel in her hands suddenly seemed far less interesting.

It turned out that a few years ago, Le Yue’s older sister had just joined a company as an intern. At that time, the boss’s son happened to be hopelessly in love with his own crush. But their families were at odds with each other, so naturally there could be no result.

The crush went abroad.

In order to resist his family, the boss’s son simply approached her older sister, and the two entered into a contract marriage, becoming a couple only on the surface.

“I asked my sister before-how could she possibly agree to such a ridiculous arrangement?” Le Yue shook her head in disbelief.

“Exactly. How could she agree?” Song Yumeng asked, astonished.

“Because he was handsome, and because he was the boss’s son. Lots of girls in their company had crushes on him. When he approached my sister, she still had illusions in her heart, thinking that after a few years she’d surely be able to warm his heart. Who could have guessed that the moment the crush came back, my cheap brother-in-law ran straight to her?”

Three years of youth wasted like water. Le Yue truly felt it wasn’t worth it for her sister.

“And then?” Song Yumeng asked eagerly, even more curious than when reading a novel.

“My sister became disheartened, and they divorced by agreement. To his credit, he was generous-ten million as a breakup settlement,” Le Yue said.

“But unlike the female lead in novels, she didn’t end up making the male lead cry and beg to remarry her. In the end, his heart was never with her. No matter how much you try to warm someone like that, you just can’t.”

Listening to Le Yue, Song Yumeng felt somewhat disappointed.

Because in novels, when the female lead finally leaves, that’s when the male lead gradually realizes how good she was and comes to understand that she was the right person all along.

Novels may come from reality, but their direction is ultimately too idealized.

Reality is still reality. Not every story gets a happy ending.

“Maybe it’s better that they separated. It’s not bad for her to go look for her own happiness,” Song Yumeng said softly. “Still, your brother-in-law was at least somewhat decent. Ten million, after all.”

“I’ll tell you quietly-he never even touched my sister, just to keep a promise to his crush,” Le Yue whispered.

“What?” Song Yumeng opened her mouth wide in shock, unable to believe it.

“Don’t think my sister is ugly or anything. If I could be half as pretty as my sister, I’d wake up laughing from dreams,” Le Yue said as she took out her phone and quietly showed Song Yumeng a photo of her sister.

Song Yumeng leaned over. The moment she saw the photo, she froze.

The woman in the picture had skin as fair as snow and a dignified, striking beauty. She looked both elegant and intellectual. This was Le Yue’s older sister.

To be fair, Le Yue really hadn’t exaggerated at all just now.

But on second thought, Song Yumeng found it not strange at all.

After all, he was essentially the future domineering CEO of the company. Even if he casually picked someone to marry, how could his standards possibly be low?

“Your sister really is the embodiment of elegance and grace. She looks exactly like the kind of perfect wife and mother. Honestly, I truly don’t understand what your brother-in-law was thinking. Or rather, I’m honestly curious what that crush looks like,” Song Yumeng said, unable to hide her astonishment.

“The one you can’t get is always the best, I guess. Anyway, I think my sister is the best,” Le Yue huffed angrily.

The two continued talking about the topic for quite a while.

“Oh, by the way, if you know any suitable guys, remember to introduce one to my sister, okay? My sister may be divorced, but like I said earlier, that… well, you know what I mean,” Le Yue said while holding Song Yumeng’s arm.

“With your sister’s qualifications, why would she even need introductions?” Song Yumeng said with a laugh.

Just then, a sudden thought flashed through her mind, and half-jokingly she said, “Coincidentally, my cousin is coming to pick us up later. How about I introduce my cousin to your sister?”

As a younger female cousin, it obviously wouldn’t sound right for her to directly introduce a divorced woman to her older male cousin.

But this woman had just received over ten million in assets from the divorce, and she was so beautiful. Most importantly, the marriage had only existed in name but not in reality. That was an incredible opportunity.

She felt that if this worked out, her cousin would definitely have to thank her.

“Your cousin?” Le Yue smiled. “Sure. By the way, do you have a photo? Let me see. Don’t misunderstand-I’m not obsessed with looks. I just want to see if there’s any sense of compatibility.”

“Compatibility? And you say you’re not obsessed with looks?” Song Yumeng mocked the excuse. “You’ll see him in person soon anyway.”

She did have photos, but the cousin in those pictures honestly didn’t look particularly handsome. However, during their last video call, he seemed to have lost weight and looked more energetic, which gave her a bit of confidence.

Maybe it could actually work?

“Alright then, I’ll do a preliminary check first.” Le Yue shook off her earlier emotions and started joking around with Song Yumeng again.

Both of them knew that what they had just said was mostly in jest.

Who would really take it seriously?

As ten o’clock approached, the high-speed rail pulled into Shanghai Station.

Song Yumeng and Le Yue grabbed their suitcases, got off the train with the crowd, and slowly walked toward the exit.

Along the way, Song Yumeng walked while glancing down at her phone, keeping in contact with Zhang Yang.

A moment later, she put away her phone and looked at Le Yue beside her.

“My cousin is waiting for us outside. Let’s go. He said he’s treating us to a big meal at noon.”

“Ah? That doesn’t seem right. After all, I…” Le Yue said a little awkwardly.

“Come on, don’t be polite with me. Besides, aren’t you supposed to introduce your sister to my cousin? If it works out, you’ll be his sister-in-law. What’s wrong with treating your sister-in-law to a meal?” Song Yumeng joked, exaggerating further and further.

“Does your cousin even know you’re planning this?” Le Yue laughed.

The two followed the endless flow of people out of the station and eventually reached the roadside.

Song Yumeng pulled Le Yue along while looking around.

Just as she was hesitating about whether to make a phone call, a Porsche Cayenne stopped steadily in front of the two girls.

The car door opened, and a tall figure stepped out.

Both girls watched as a sunny and handsome young man-good-looking enough to outshine any university campus heartthrob-walked toward them.

The smiling face before them was so handsome it made their eyes blur.

“Song Yumeng, get in the car. What are you standing there for?”

The moment the extremely handsome man spoke, Song Yumeng was completely stunned.

Her eyes widened as she stared blankly at the figure in front of her, then suddenly cried out in shock, “Cousin?! Cousin Zhang Yang?!”

Le Yue beside her was also stunned.

On the train, she had only heard Song Yumeng talk about him without ever seeing his photo. Based on what she heard, she had roughly imagined what Song Yumeng’s cousin might look like.

But the handsome man in front of her-someone who could easily become any girl’s youthful dream-was actually Song Yumeng’s cousin.

Was this a joke?

“Forget it, I’ll take the suitcase. By the way, this must be your roommate, right?” Zhang Yang looked at the two girls standing there blankly and laughed helplessly. Then he turned to the pretty girl beside Song Yumeng and greeted her first.