Chapter 182: Strength Greatly Increased

“All of you…” Zhang Yang looked at the group of guys unanimously speaking up for Xiang Xiaotian and felt somewhat helpless.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help. The problem was that this favor was far too sensitive.

Watching them nagging like monks chanting scriptures while Xiang Xiaotian kept shaking his arm back and forth-

“Alright, alright. How about this-you know I have to check my work schedule. I’ll give you an answer later, okay?” Zhang Yang pressed down Xiang Xiaotian’s hand and said with a laugh.

“Brother Zhang, I’ll wait for your reply. You must help me,” Xiang Xiaotian said pitifully.

“Got it. I’ll try,” Zhang Yang said casually.

As for whether he would actually help, he was inclined not to. This kind of thankless task wasn’t appealing. But with so many people watching, he couldn’t appear too cold.

So he planned to take a more indirect approach.

A moment later, Boss Qian from Imperial Motorworks personally brought over the car keys.

“Brother Zhang, your car has been washed.”

“Alright, you guys keep chatting. I still have things to handle at the company,” Zhang Yang said as he took the keys and greeted everyone before preparing to leave.

Jin Yanchao and the others quickly stood up.

“I’ll walk Brother Zhang out.” Xiang Xiaotian stepped forward, hooking her arm into Zhang Yang’s without caring about the others’ gazes.

Moments later, outside the shop.

“Xiaotian, I’m heading out. You don’t have to keep walking me out,” Zhang Yang said, looking at Xiang Xiaotian, who had lowered her eyes and remained silent.

“Brother Zhang.” Xiang Xiaotian gently raised her head, as if wanting to say something but hesitating.

Before Zhang Yang could say more, he suddenly felt warmth around his waist. Xiang Xiaotian had lightly embraced him.

“Brother Zhang, if you don’t want to help me, I won’t blame you. I’ll just feel a little regret,” Xiang Xiaotian said softly, tilting her face up. “But when you think about it, life can’t go perfectly. There will always be regrets.”

“You’re playing psychological tactics now?” Zhang Yang couldn’t help wrapping an arm around Xiang Xiaotian’s slender waist.

“I’m just gambling. Gambling that Brother Zhang has at least a little bit of fondness for me,” Xiang Xiaotian said softly. “Even if it’s only a little.”

Zhang Yang pinched Xiang Xiaotian’s cheek and said nothing.

Xiang Xiaotian stepped back slightly and stood to the side, silently watching Zhang Yang get into the car.

A moment later, Zhang Yang drove off.

As he left, he glanced at the rearview mirror and saw Xiang Xiaotian still standing by the roadside, her figure unmoving for a long time.

Around noon, Zhang Yang arrived at the company.

“Chairman Zhang.” The moment Bai Xiaomi saw Zhang Yang, she hurried over to greet him. “Chairman Zhang, have you eaten?”

Zhang Yang glanced at the pretty Bai Xiaomi while continuing to walk. “Not yet. Just arrange something for me. Nothing fancy.”

“Alright, I’ll arrange it immediately,” Bai Xiaomi responded quickly.

A moment later, Zhang Yang sat in the chairman’s office and waited for the meal Bai Xiaomi brought up.

“Chairman Zhang, it’s from the restaurant downstairs-the one you said tasted pretty good last time.” Bai Jingyi carefully arranged the meal boxes beside him, took out the chopsticks, and waited for Zhang Yang to start eating.

“Mm, not bad.” Zhang Yang ate while glancing at Bai Xiaomi. “Have you eaten?”

Bai Xiaomi very consciously took out another pair of chopsticks.

“I knew it. The portion was so big-you prepared for this already, didn’t you?” Zhang Yang laughed.

To be honest, boundaries should exist.

But he wasn’t someone who liked putting on airs. He didn’t spend all day with a stern face pretending to be old-fashioned and dignified.

He saw through Bai Xiaomi’s little thoughts but didn’t say anything, simply allowing it.

As he spoke, Zhang Yang pushed some of the food toward Bai Jingyi.

“Thank you, Chairman Zhang.” Bai Jingyi cheered happily, then sat down on Zhang Yang’s thigh with a smile and picked up the disposable chopsticks.

After taking the first bite, she first fed it into Zhang Yang’s mouth.

After quite a while, Zhang Yang himself wasn’t sure how a meal ended up taking more than half an hour.

After the meal, he closed his eyes slightly and enjoyed Bai Xiaomi massaging his shoulders.

“How’s the car? Easy to drive?”

“It’s amazing to drive, and it looks so cool. It’s basically my dream car,” Bai Jingyi said happily, bending down and whispering near Zhang Yang’s ear. “It’s just a little eye-catching.”

“Just drive it.” Zhang Yang replied vaguely, feeling a little ticklish as her breath brushed his ear.

A small assistant being too high-profile might not look good elsewhere.

But in this company that revolved entirely around him, it wasn’t really a problem.

It didn’t matter.

“Chairman Zhang, you’re so good.” Hearing that, Bai Xiaomi immediately kissed Zhang Yang on the cheek happily.

Without even opening his eyes, Zhang Yang followed the feeling and pulled Bai Xiaomi behind him onto his lap, while his mind wandered.

Who said a boss had to be constantly busy?

Sitting around the company with nothing to do, chatting with the little secretary, listening to compliments or flattering words-wasn’t that wonderful?

No wonder throughout history, sycophants were always favored.

Human nature!

In the afternoon, Zhang Yang finally received good news from Zhou Zhaodong. The candidate for Chief Financial Officer had finally been confirmed and would soon officially join.

This person had extremely impressive credentials.

A finance master’s graduate from Peking University, a former partner at PwC, and someone who had worked there for a full ten years-a truly high-level talent.

“Great.” Zhang Yang couldn’t help squeezing the thigh beside him.

Immediately, Bai Xiaomi beside him let out a soft cry. “Chairman Zhang, that hurts.”

Zhang Yang looked up at Bai Xiaomi, whose eyes were watery, and patted her waist.

Bai Xiaomi immediately stood up obediently.

“Go pour me a glass of water,” Zhang Yang instructed, but his attention was already completely immersed in his mind.

With the final senior executive joining, it meant his task was finally complete. But why hadn’t the system given a notification yet?

Before the doubt could settle, as Bai Xiaomi quietly walked in to serve tea and water, the long-awaited pleasant system notification finally sounded in Zhang Yang’s mind.

Ding.

Overwhelmed with excitement, Zhang Yang couldn’t suppress the surging emotions in his heart. He walked straight to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked out at the dense skyline of Lujiazui.

His heart was filled with boundless exhilaration.

System notifications rang continuously in his mind.

Completing the task didn’t just mean completion-it meant he had successfully leveled up, and that a wave of rewards was coming.

A huge harvest.

Ding!

Congratulations, host. You have reached Level 7.

You have an unclaimed level-up gift package.

“Calm down first.” Zhang Yang steadied his excitement, returned to his desk, took a sip of tea, and focused completely on his mind.

Bai Xiaomi stood nearby. Seeing Zhang Yang’s expression, she didn’t even dare breathe loudly and quietly remained at the side.

“Three major gains,” Zhang Yang felt joy flowing through his heart.

One random industry.

Daily cashback increased from 150,000 to 200,000.

And a level-up gift package.

Just the daily cashback of 200,000 alone meant his annual income had reached more than seventy million.

Even if he had no businesses at all, he could still earn that amount every year just by lying down.

As for the next level, where daily cashback would increase to 250,000, it required a considerable amount of experience points. At the moment, Zhang Yang was immersed in his harvest and had no time to think about advancing further.

“Random industry, level-up gift package.” Zhang Yang murmured and decided to open the random industry first.

Ding!

Congratulations, host. You have obtained the Intercontinental Hangzhou Garden Hotel.

Soon, the industry blind box opened.

The first thing Zhang Yang noticed was that this was a property located in Hangzhou-and it was a hotel?

“Doesn’t Xiang Xiaotian’s family operate hotels in Hangzhou?”

The thought flashed through Zhang Yang’s mind before he carefully studied the hotel he had just acquired.

The Intercontinental Hangzhou Garden Hotel is a five-star hotel located in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, situated along the Qiantang River in the core CBD of Qianjiang New City. The hotel covers nearly 100,000 square meters (~1.08 million sq ft) and is valued at 1.5 billion yuan. It has nearly 300 rooms, ranging from dozens of square meters (~hundreds of sq ft) to several-hundred-square-meter (~thousands of sq ft) river-view suites.

The Intercontinental Hangzhou Garden Hotel is a five-star hotel located in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, situated along the Qiantang River in the core CBD of Qianjiang New City.

That scale was impressive.

Zhang Yang sighed inwardly.

A property worth 1.5 billion yuan had directly pushed his total assets close to 5 billion.

Now, he could be considered a wealthy man owning multiple industries: office buildings, a five-star hotel, commercial streets, investment companies, and more.

He could barely say one thing now: diversified assets.

According to the system prompt, the ownership transfer procedures were currently being handled. It seemed he only needed to wait for the system notification.

According to the system’s capabilities, the process would be completed within a day at the fastest, or within a few days at the slowest. When the time came, he would calmly become the owner of this five-star hotel located along the Qiantang River.

Moreover, according to what he knew, this hotel was considered a quality asset. It wasn’t the kind of property being sold due to poor business operations.

That meant he would earn tens of millions more every year.

“My annual income is rising again.”

Prosperity Plaza together with its attached commercial areas already brought him tens of millions in annual profit. This Intercontinental Garden Hotel would bring in another tens of millions, and the small property in Haicheng produced income at the ten-million level.

Add to that his annual fixed cashback.

Wouldn’t his cash flow alone exceed two hundred million a year?

Not to mention Nimbus Capital, which had an annual investment quota of three hundred million.

Zhang Yang suddenly realized that he finally looked a bit like a real tycoon now. At the very least, based on his current wealth and income, he could already be considered a newly emerging small-time tycoon.

“Oh right, there’s still the level-up gift package.”

Zhang Yang hadn’t forgotten that another reward was waiting to be claimed.

Every time he leveled up, besides the increase in fixed cashback, this level-up gift package was always the most exciting part.

“System, claim the level-up gift package.”

Zhang Yang silently said in his mind.

Ding!

Congratulations, host. You have obtained a Double Cashback Consumption Privilege. Cashback cap: 300 million.

Zhang Yang’s expression brightened again.

No fancy gift packages could compare with real cash.

Real estate, luxury cars, watches-if he had money, couldn’t he buy them himself?

And now, Zhang Yang had finally received that long-awaited double cashback consumption privilege.

The cashback cap was three hundred million.

In other words, he could theoretically spend up to 150 million.

With that much money, what couldn’t he buy?

With multiple rewards arriving at once, Zhang Yang’s strength and financial power had once again undergone a leap.

His power had surged dramatically.

In his good mood, Zhang Yang suddenly remembered Xiang Xiaotian, who was waiting eagerly for his reply.

“Since I have to go to Hangzhou anyway to take over the property, accompanying her for the trip doesn’t matter,” Zhang Yang said to himself, immediately reaching a decision.

Stopping by along the way was just one reason.

The sudden surge in his strength also made him feel a burst of confidence. Matters like this suddenly seemed trivial in his eyes.

“Chairman Zhang, um… are you… alright?” Bai Xiaomi finally dared to speak softly from the side.

Zhang Yang looked up and saw Bai Xiaomi standing there the entire time, looking nervous.

“I’m fine now. Come here, let me hold you,” Zhang Yang said with a smile, waving her over.

Bai Xiaomi immediately came over obediently and sat on Zhang Yang’s lap.

While gently stroking Bai Xiaomi’s thigh, Zhang Yang took out his phone and called Xiang Xiaotian.

When the call connected, Xiang Xiaotian’s voice sounded cautious and hesitant.

“Brother Zhang… are you willing to accompany me?”

“Alright, I’ll go with you. It’s no big deal. But let’s be clear first-you can go back and meet him. What if you end up liking him?” Zhang Yang said half-jokingly.

“No way. After seeing the best-Brother Zhang-you, everyone else is just passing clouds,” Xiang Xiaotian said without hesitation.

Zhang Yang chuckled awkwardly, feeling slightly embarrassed.

What kind of situation was this?

How did he suddenly become “the best”?

Well, thinking about it, aside from being a bit of a playboy, he could barely qualify as the best.

“Hey, I’m just pretending to be your boyfriend. I’m not actually your boyfriend. If you end up missing out on someone because of this, don’t blame me,” Zhang Yang emphasized.

“Even if I stay single my whole life, I wouldn’t blame you, Brother Zhang. I’d only blame myself for not being charming enough to win your heart,” Xiang Xiaotian replied.

“There you go again.” Zhang Yang was speechless.

This sudden emotional confession and direct hint caught him completely off guard. Thinking back now, that stolen kiss the other night had probably been a sign.

A moment later, he arranged a date with Xiang Xiaotian to go to Hangzhou together.

Since he was pretending to be Xiang Xiaotian’s boyfriend, there was naturally no need to hide his strength.

He would simply drive his Cullinan openly.

As for the Phantom, well, there was no need to be too formal. The Cullinan was enough.

After putting down his phone, Zhang Yang glanced at Bai Xiaomi, who had clearly been listening carefully nearby, and lightly slapped her.

“What did you hear?”

“Nothing at all.” Bai Jingyi hurriedly waved her hands and denied it.

“Let’s pretend you didn’t hear anything.” Seeing Bai Xiaomi’s anxious denial, Zhang Yang found it amusing and waved her out of the office.

This trip to Hangzhou wasn’t just about taking over the property and accompanying Xiang Xiaotian.

He also had his own plans.

For example, he now had 150 million he could freely spend. Perhaps he could look around Hangzhou and buy a villa or luxury apartment.

As a wealthy man, even if he didn’t have properties all over the country, he should at least have one in each major first-tier or new first-tier city.