Chapter 174: I’m Proud of You

“What you just said has a lot in common with what that President Liu said.” Zhou Xiaoyi looked at him with endless curiosity. “Old classmate, is your company mainly doing investment?”

“Yes.” Zhang Yang nodded.

“So, old classmate, if a young person full of drive and imagination for the future stood in front of you and asked you for a few million to realize a dream, would you think that’s a lot?” Zhou Xiaoyi joked.

“Where? You?” Zhang Yang smiled. “Spending a few million to invest in a young person with great potential and a lot of drive really isn’t much.”

“Oh no, you’ve made me way too excited all of a sudden.” Zhou Xiaoyi’s eyes sparkled as she patted her chest.

During the afternoon,

Zhang Yang and this old classmate he hadn’t seen in many years sat in the office in Pudong, drinking tea, chatting, and quietly admiring the vast skyline outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.

At such close range, Zhou Xiaoyi looked at the old classmate in front of her-so calm, composed, and imposing-and more than once she fell into a daze.

Zhang Yang was clearly right in front of her.

But somehow, she could feel a sense of distance from him that seemed visible yet untouchable.

Ten years apart, and the two of them were already people from different worlds.

Even though Zhang Yang was chatting and laughing with her now, if not for their old classmate connection, she might not even have had the chance to meet him.

At three in the afternoon, there was a knock on the office door.

“Come in,” Zhang Yang said after glancing over.

Driver Xiao Sun gently pushed the door open. “Chairman Zhang, I brought the car back.”

He handed over the key to Zhang Yang’s Rolls-Royce Phantom.

“Good. I’ll call you when I need the car.” Zhang Yang nodded and casually placed the key on the table.

Zhou Xiaoyi curiously glanced at it, then quickly drew back with a click of her tongue, because she saw the dazzling double-R logo on the key. It was a Rolls-Royce key.

“Lunch was a little simple. Shall I arrange dinner?” Zhang Yang looked at the time, planning to book somewhere Michelin or Black Pearl level and properly host this old classmate.

“No, no. Wasn’t lunch grand enough already? Let’s keep dinner simple. How about home-style food?” Zhou Xiaoyi quickly waved her hands and declined.

“At your place, would that be convenient?”

“Sure, nothing inconvenient about it. But we’d need to buy groceries first.” Zhang Yang agreed readily. “By the way, you’ve got plenty of material from this visit already, right?”

“More than enough. It’s honestly an unexpected delight,” Zhou Xiaoyi said with a smile.

A moment later, the two of them went downstairs and headed straight to the parking garage.

“Old classmate, please take the passenger seat.” Zhang Yang opened the door of his Cullinan and invited Zhou Xiaoyi in.

“I’m flattered.” Looking at the Rolls-Royce in front of her, Zhou Xiaoyi suppressed her shock. “Was the car your driver brought back just now this one?”

“No. Who uses a driver for a Cullinan? It was the Phantom.” Zhang Yang pressed the key.

Not far away, the Phantom-with an aura so powerful it made even the Cullinan seem lesser-flashed its headlights.

Zhou Xiaoyi instantly fell silent.

Holding her breath, she got into the passenger seat, trying her best to act natural.

At least natural enough to deserve sitting in the passenger seat of a Cullinan.

Once she sat down and the door closed, her female sensitivity picked up more than one kind of perfume lingering inside.

“Zhang Yang, let me ask you something. Among all the women who’ve sat in this passenger seat, am I the one with the lowest level, the least attractive?” Zhou Xiaoyi looked at Zhang Yang and asked nervously.

“Be more confident. Don’t put yourself down like that,” Zhang Yang said with a smile after glancing at her.

“Alright then. That’s mildly comforting.” Zhou Xiaoyi took out her phone. “Can I shoot a short clip?”

“Sure, go ahead.” Zhang Yang nodded. “But when you edit it later, hmm… could you blur me out?”

The classmates in Zhou Xiaoyi’s other videos-whether they were doing well or poorly-had nothing to hide. But in his case… honestly, it wasn’t him being difficult.

If he could avoid appearing on camera, that would be best.

“Like that? Alright, I understand.” Zhou Xiaoyi immediately understood what Zhang Yang meant. This old classmate still wanted to stay low-key.

“Thanks. I’ll cook personally tonight.” Zhang Yang waved a hand.

A while later, he drove straight to the city’super store in IFC. The ingredients there were quite high-end, and basically any premium ingredient you wanted could be found there.

If someone bought aggressively enough, spending hundreds of thousands in one trip was entirely possible.

As someone wealthy, Zhang Yang naturally didn’t need to look at prices. He simply pushed the cart, thought about what dishes he wanted to make that night, and picked up whatever he needed.

Zhou Xiaoyi, on the other hand, was completely stunned.

A bottle of red wine-three hundred thousand…

A single small ham-tens of thousands…

Thinking those items were already expensive enough, she figured maybe she should look at household basics instead.

Sure enough.

She casually picked up a bottle of honey and looked at the price-8,888. Then she thought maybe vinegar would be more reasonable.

She checked the price.

7,888.

Zhou Xiaoyi’s hand trembled, and she didn’t dare look anymore.

She raised her head and looked at Zhang Yang ahead of her, casually picking up item after item without checking the prices. Once again, she felt deeply shaken and stunned.

“Alright, alright, old classmate. This is really just a home-cooked meal. Have you added up how much all this costs?” She quickly stepped forward and tried to stop Zhang Yang.

“The price? No, I haven’t counted.” Zhang Yang shook his head.

With his level of wealth, if he still had to calculate prices while shopping-even in a high-end supermarket like this-that would be exhausting.

“It’s fine. We can keep them at home. If it’s inconvenient to go out sometime, they can still be used.”

At checkout, Zhou Xiaoyi watched the total keep climbing and felt her heart trembling.

Just one trip to the supermarket had cost seventy to eighty thousand.

Zhang Yang casually paid, then looked at his old classmate, who seemed a little dazed. “Let’s go. We’ve got everything.”

Zhou Xiaoyi snapped back to reality and nodded quickly.

In the evening, at COFCO Seaview No. 1.

“Sit wherever you like.” Zhang Yang casually turned on the lights.

The enormous flat was instantly flooded with light.

Zhou Xiaoyi stood there somewhat stiffly, looking at everything before her and feeling the luxurious atmosphere wash over her, leaving her momentarily speechless.

“Your home is really huge.”

“It’s alright. There are plenty bigger than mine,” Zhang Yang said with a smile, ushering Zhou Xiaoyi inside and handing her fruit and snacks. “I’ll go cook first.”

“Um, can I walk around?” Zhou Xiaoyi couldn’t sit still at all. She only wanted to experience the place further.

“Go ahead,” Zhang Yang said.

Then he went to the kitchen.

Suppressing the shock in her heart, Zhou Xiaoyi wandered through the enormous flat.

Neighboring Tomson Riviera, priced at several hundred thousand per square meter (~tens of thousands per sq ft), a single apartment easily worth over a hundred million, and bearing every kind of label that defined a top-tier luxury residence—it truly deserved the title back then. What had Zhou Xiaoyi ever done to deserve being a guest here at this moment? Most importantly, the owner was personally cooking dinner for her.

And all of this came only because of that almost nonexistent middle school classmate connection, preserved purely out of politeness.

She slowly stepped onto the balcony, feeling the Huangpu River breeze, looking at the century-old Bund across the river spread out before her in incomparable splendor, and at the distant Shanghai skyline. She took a deep breath.

At that moment, all that remained in her heart was indescribable shock.

Zhou Xiaoyi raised her phone and took a picture of the scene. She had already thought of the caption she would use later.

“Standing on the balcony of Zhang Yang’s apartment at this moment, looking at the century-old Bund across the river, I finally understand the meaning of striving.”

“Perhaps it’s just like that saying: thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. The boy who stood in the corner ten years ago has finally reached a height far beyond what we can attain.”

Zhou Xiaoyi turned back to look at the figure in the distant kitchen, blinked, and suddenly felt a little melancholy.

If nothing unexpected happened, this was probably the only intersection her life would ever have with Zhang Yang.

As for whether she had any other thoughts, whether her heart was moved-

Come on, of course it was.

The classmate from back then had now become a rich and handsome male god. Who wouldn’t feel something for a male god like that?

But she knew she was not worthy.

“Damn this funny-girl personality.” Zhou Xiaoyi sighed in defeat and silently returned to the living room.

At dinner, the table was incredibly lavish.

As Zhou Xiaoyi tasted the food, she almost felt she could hear money clinking.

These ingredients had all been outrageously expensive.

“Eat. Why do you look like you can’t bear to pick up your chopsticks?” Zhang Yang said with amusement, watching Zhou Xiaoyi holding her chopsticks indecisively.

“No, no. There’s just too much good food. I don’t know where to start.” Zhou Xiaoyi swallowed lightly and carefully picked up a piece of Kagoshima black pork stir-fried by Zhang Yang.

Top-tier ingredients, home-style preparation.

Absolutely incredible.

“Take your time. Have you booked a hotel? I’ll take you there later,” Zhang Yang asked.

“I booked one, I booked one. I’ll just take a cab later. No need to trouble you, old classmate.” Zhou Xiaoyi smiled awkwardly, feeling she had already inconvenienced Zhang Yang too much.

“Don’t be polite with me about this.” Zhang Yang replied with a single firm sentence.

Zhou Xiaoyi had no choice but to obediently stop arguing and quietly enjoy this costly dinner, carefully savoring an experience she might never have again in her life.

After dinner, Zhang Yang invited Zhou Xiaoyi to sit a little longer. They drank tea and chatted for a while.

It was like putting a full stop on this reunion that had crossed ten years.

“Huh? Your phone is ringing.” Zhou Xiaoyi had sharp eyes and immediately noticed a video call coming through on Zhang Yang’s phone, and the profile picture was of a girl.

Definitely not some random internet picture.

These days, anyone daring to use their own photo as a profile picture had to be unusually confident.

“Oh, I’ll take this.” Zhang Yang glanced at it. It was a video call from Bei Wei. He casually accepted it and walked to the side.

Zhou Xiaoyi quietly sipped her tea at the side while pricking up her ears to listen carefully.

Judging from the tone of their conversation…

Was that the official girlfriend?

She secretly glanced at Zhang Yang’s phone screen in the distance. She could vaguely see a girl whose skin seemed to glow with fairness. From her voice, she also sounded very sweet.

“If I had a boyfriend like that, I’d be sweet too. I’d instantly turn into the sweetest girl in the world,” Zhou Xiaoyi muttered to herself, feeling nothing but envy toward that girl.

A moment later, Zhang Yang ended the video call and sat down again.

“Your girlfriend?” Zhou Xiaoyi asked with a smile. “Checking in on you, or checking up on you?”

“Checking up on me?” Zhang Yang shook his head with a laugh. “That doesn’t exist.”

“True. A smart girl should know that if she watches a boyfriend like you too closely, she’ll only lose him faster,” Zhou Xiaoyi thought for a moment. “Turning a blind eye sometimes is the way to keep things lasting.”

“Oh? That idea is quite clear-headed,” Zhang Yang said in surprise. “Then your future boyfriend…”

“That wouldn’t work.” Zhou Xiaoyi said without hesitation. “It depends on the person. If someone without that kind of ability still wants to cheat around, they can go to hell.”

Later that evening, Zhang Yang drove Zhou Xiaoyi back.

On the way, Zhou Xiaoyi was unusually quiet. She seemed to have suddenly gone from being lively and talkative to completely silent.

“After meeting so many classmates, you’re the one who moved me the most. I don’t even know how I’m supposed to edit this episode when I get back.”

“I don’t understand editing, but what you did before was pretty good. My episode shouldn’t be an exception, right? Anyway, keep it up,” Zhang Yang said as he looked at Zhou Xiaoyi’s slightly troubled expression. “I wish you more and more success.”

“By the way, although this might sound a bit presumptuous… from middle school until now, the two of us haven’t really had much interaction, and we certainly weren’t exactly friends. But now, can I officially become your friend?” Zhou Xiaoyi suddenly asked nervously.

“Is it really necessary to make it so formal?” Zhang Yang laughed. “Even strangers can become friends without ever meeting. Not to mention you, an old classmate.”

“Alright then. So I’m just a tiny bit better than a stranger.” Zhou Xiaoyi laughed, then looked at Zhang Yang and suddenly said very seriously, “Zhang Yang, I’m proud to have a classmate like you.”

Zhang Yang was slightly stunned. Looking at Zhou Xiaoyi’s sincere expression, he felt an indescribable emotion in his heart.

Since he had become successful, among the people who once knew him- there had been envy, shock, all kinds of reactions.

But no one had ever said something like this to him as a classmate.

In front of the hotel, Zhang Yang felt moved. He suddenly opened his arms, his eyes clear and sincere.

“Let’s have a hug.”

“Alright.” Zhou Xiaoyi smiled and stepped forward to hug him. “The first time in my life hugging a male god. Worth commemorating.”

A moment later, Zhou Xiaoyi walked toward the hotel and disappeared inside the entrance.

Zhang Yang got back into his Cullinan and drove away.

Even though they had said they were friends, he knew that his connection with this suddenly reappearing middle school classmate would probably end here.

After all, they weren’t in the same circle. Showing a little hospitality as a host was enough.

“I really didn’t expect that among my middle school classmates there would be a suddenly viral blogger,” Zhang Yang muttered to himself while casually looking at the road ahead.

“Huh? What’s that up ahead?”

He suddenly noticed a familiar figure standing by the roadside.

Outside a lounge bar, Bai Jingyi had just finished gathering with a few classmates and came out to call a taxi.

These were all people who had stayed in Shanghai after graduation-some were dorm mates, some were male classmates.

There were six or seven of them in total.

“Bai Jingyi, I think you should really think carefully about your current job. Being a personal assistant means you could easily run into a boss with bad intentions,” the male classmate Gao Fei said worriedly, repeating his warnings.

“Yeah, Jingyi. Gao Fei’s concern isn’t unreasonable. You can’t be dazzled by the current compensation and benefits. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world,” her dormmate An An also tried to persuade her.