Gu Yuan, Hua Jianxing, and Zeng Guoyu were stunned again, especially Zeng Guoyu. He had lost the least of the three, only a little over 20 million. Even if each of them took 100 million, he would still be getting a huge advantage. Besides, he had been the one who had suffered the most damage, so not letting him take less was already being kind. Hearing Zhou Xuan's words, he felt it was still inappropriate and immediately waved his hands, saying, "Brother Zhou, no, no! You put in the most effort, so it's only right that you get the biggest share. In your mainland, isn't the most popular rule that the more you work, the more you earn? If it weren't for you, I'm afraid we wouldn't even have been able to keep our initial investment, let alone win any money!" (To be continued)
Volume 1, Chapter 287: Big Trouble
The two ugly men and women were in a grand and magnificent sprint. () Apart from the men in their finery, the other male and female guests were dressed in bright colors, with smiling faces.
As the saying goes, clothes make the man, and gold makes the Buddha. The women around Zhou Xuan were all stunningly beautiful. But Zhou Xuan felt nothing for them. No matter how beautiful they were, they couldn't compare to Yingying in his heart. These women were nothing more than wearing thick layers of makeup. Beneath those masks, who knew what kind of false faces they wore? In the upper echelons of wealthy families, the most common interactions were filled with hypocrisy, and the most lacking thing was sincerity!
Zhou Xuan casually picked up a glass of red wine from the tray of a passing waiter, swirled it, and took a small sip. It tasted very pleasant.
Just as Zhou Xuan was writing to himself, someone suddenly rushed over from beside him. Zhou Xuan was also holding a wine glass and turned slightly, and the two bumped into each other!
The woman screamed "Ouch!" as Zhou Xuan spilled the entire glass of red wine in his hand onto her chest!
Zhou Xuan froze. The woman stared at him, both annoyed and embarrassed. She looked familiar, but he couldn't immediately place her. She was wearing a white dress, but the chest was stained with red wine, a large red stain. Caught off guard, Zhou Xuan quickly put down his glass, grabbed a tissue from the table, and hurriedly said, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, let me wipe it for you."
However, the moment the tissue in her hand touched the woman's chest, the woman's eyebrows shot up, and she slapped her across the face, yelling, "You pervert!"
Although Zhou Xuan was somewhat flustered, his icy aura made him far more sensitive than the average person. When the woman's sudden slap was about to hit him, Zhou Xuan naturally turned his head to dodge, and the woman missed.
Zhou Xuan took a step back, about to get angry. But seeing the way the other woman's chest rose and fell, he realized she was a pretty girl. He had already embarrassed her by soiling her clothes, and now he was going to reach out and wipe her chest? How could she possibly stand that? Of course she'd call him a pervert!
Although the fault doesn't lie solely with Zhou Xuan, how can such matters be clearly explained? As a man, he should naturally give way to the woman.
After Zhou Xuan took a step back, since the girl hadn't hit him, he quickly said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I panicked a little!"
Looking at the girl's pretty eyes and delicate features, yet with a hint of fierceness, and her vaguely familiar appearance, Zhou Xuan was still trying to remember which childhood she was when the girl called out, "Mingyue, Mingyue. Come here!"
Hearing her call out "Mingyue," Zhou Xuan suddenly remembered who she was!
This girl is Gu Ailin, whom he met on the plane with Shangguan Mingyue when he and Wei Haihong came to Hong Kong!
On the plane, in those brief moments, Zhou Xuan knew that Gu Ailin was a spoiled rich girl—the type he disliked most. Unlike the wealthy heiresses like Shangguan Mingyue, Wei Xiaoqing, and Wei Xiaoyu, Gu Ailin had never experienced any hardship, growing up surrounded by smiles, wealth, and pampering. Aside from being spoiled, arrogant, and unreasonable, she remained spoiled, arrogant, and unreasonable.
Gu Ailin's scream, followed by a loud call for Shangguan Mingyue, quickly drew a crowd. However, apart from Gu Ailin and Shangguan Mingyue, no one else recognized Zhou Xuan. They were puzzled, but everyone's eyes were sharp. Zhou Xuan had an ordinary appearance, and his clothes were especially plain. Even the waiters' uniforms were custom-made and much more expensive than Zhou Xuan's clothes.
The young masters who had gathered around saw the beautiful Gu Ailin standing there angrily glaring at Zhou Xuan, her chest stained with a large red stain. They were both amused and jeering: "Who is this guy? Where did he come from? How did he sneak in?"
Shangguan Mingyue was also stunned, because Wei Haihong was nowhere to be seen. It was clear Zhou Xuan had come alone; how did he end up here?
This isn't a place for ordinary people. Even moderately wealthy businessmen in Hong Kong might not be qualified to be invited. Who is he? Wei Haihong might be a possibility, but Zhou Xuan clearly isn't. Yet here he is, and she finds him truly strange!
Shangguan Mingyue was pondering her options, but she didn't expect that Zhou Xuan was already surrounded and being jeering by a group of young masters.
Gu Ailin is a well-known socialite in Hong Kong, pursued by many young masters and gentlemen. As the hostess today, she has been humiliated by Zhou Xuan, so of course they all rushed to her defense.
Of course, if Zhou Xuan were someone they knew, or someone of high status like them, they would have some influence, and the matter would naturally be dropped. But Zhou Xuan was clearly someone without background, connections, or connections, whom they didn't know. You could tell just by looking at his clothes. No one else in this place would dress as plainly as him. They assumed Zhou Xuan was either a deliveryman or some servant hired by the Gu family. So what if he yelled? So what if he drank? Taking their anger out on someone like that, and making the beautiful Gu Ailin happy, was worth it!
Shangguan Mingyue then came to her senses. She quickly said, "Stop it, stop it, Ailin. You're the hostess today. You don't want to cause any unpleasantness at Grandpa Gu's birthday banquet, do you? I'll pay for this dress."
The group of young masters surrounding them were immediately taken aback. Shangguan Mingyue was far more popular than Gu Ailin; she had a good family background and was more beautiful than Gu Ailin. At this banquet, she was the center of attention. Her sudden act of standing up for Zhou Xuan left these young masters completely bewildered!
Gu Ailin understood, but she only gleaned a tiny bit of information from Shangguan Mingyue. She knew Zhou Xuan lived in the capital and didn't seem to come from a wealthy family, yet Shangguan Mingyue still liked him. Although Shangguan Mingyue hadn't explicitly stated she was standing up for Zhou Xuan, she offered to pay for the dress, seemingly trying to dissuade Gu Ailin from causing trouble—it was her grandfather's birthday banquet. But Gu Ailin felt uncomfortable. Her relationship with Shangguan Mingyue was too close. After seeing Zhou Xuan on the plane and realizing that Zhou Xuan was the person Shangguan Mingyue secretly loved, she felt deeply sorry for her. In her eyes, how could Zhou Xuan be worthy of Shangguan Mingyue?
Gu Ailin ignored everyone else, including Shi Shangguan Mingyue, and angrily said to Zhou Xuan: "How did you get in? Is this a place you can come to? Hmph, Mingyue, wake up! I despise guys who live off women!"
Gu Ailin thought to herself that Zhou Xuan must have used some fake performance to attract Shangguan Mingyue, and that he was definitely after Shangguan Mingyue's money, based on her impression of him. She assumed Zhou Xuan was just a penniless conman. But what she found strange was that men who live off women usually have handsome looks, right? How could Zhou Xuan, with his ordinary appearance, attract Shangguan Mingyue?
If it were the Zhou Xuan of the past, he would naturally feel hurt and have some thoughts of pride. But now, his mindset is no longer that of a naive and clueless young man. He smiled faintly, reached into his pocket, took out a check, grabbed a pen from his jacket pocket, and quickly wrote a check for 500,000 yuan on the stage. Then he tore it off and handed it to Gu Ailin, saying calmly, "This is a check for 500,000 yuan. Is that enough for the dress? If not, I'll write another one!"
I just overheard that pretty boy mention that Gu Ailin's dress costs over 300,000 Hong Kong dollars. Since the exchange rate of RMB is higher than that of HKD now, 500,000 RMB is roughly equivalent to 600,000 HKD. If Gu Ailin's dress is worth between 300,000 and 500,000 Hong Kong dollars, then it's not bad.
Gu Ailin's face darkened. She glanced at the check in Zhou Xuan's hand, naturally doubting its authenticity. Of course, she didn't care about the money for the dress, but Zhou Xuan's pretentious act annoyed her. She was thinking of ways to embarrass Zhou Xuan. Normally, she would have had a few people kick Zhou Xuan out, but Zhou Xuan was her good friend Shangguan Mingyue's sweetheart. Why not take this opportunity to expose Zhou Xuan's true colors, let Shangguan Mingyue see Zhou Xuan's real face, and make her wake up!
While Gu Ailin was still thinking this, the fair-skinned young man who had just stood up for her reached out and took the check from Zhou Xuan's hand. He glanced at it, then quickly tore it into pieces and threw it away, chuckling coldly, "Look at you, you're not even worth a thousand yuan, and this check for 500,000 RMB? Heh heh, you're kidding me, don't you even know what a check is?"
Looking at his rather arrogant demeanor, Zhou Xuan said calmly, "Your clothes are stained too. You don't believe my check. As for cash, I don't have any. Tell me, what do you want?"
Gu Ailin's eyes darted around, and she saw Shangguan Mingyue giving her a look to stop her. Pretending not to see it, she said to Zhou Xuan, "What? I don't want anything. You're just pretending to be rich, right? If you can't pay up, just kneel down here and apologize to me, and I'll pretend this never happened."
Shangguan Mingyue bit her lip anxiously. She understood Gu Ailin's spoiled and willful nature perfectly well. If it were anyone else, she wouldn't care, but Gu Ailin was her good friend. If she really offended Zhou Xuan in this situation, it could be a real problem! (To be continued)
Volume 1: The First Signs of Growth, Chapter 288: Four Million Dollar Waste Diamonds
The two men certainly didn't want to stoop to Gu Ailin's level. They were Gu Yuan's men, and presumably Gu Ailin and Gu Yuan were siblings. They figured they should at least give her some face, and besides, they didn't have any deep-seated hatred for the Gu family. Gu Ailin was just a spoiled young lady throwing a tantrum; they'd let her have her way.
"Here's the money. Believe it or not, it's up to you. As for your second condition," Zhou Xuan said with a faint smile, "As the saying goes, a man's knees are worth gold; he kneels to heaven, he kneels to earth, he kneels to his parents at home, and he kneels to his master when he goes out. Heh heh, what do you have that's worth me kneeling for? Of course, if you think there's any skill you're better at than me, and I want to learn it, then I'll beg you on my knees!"
Zhou Xuan spoke calmly, but there was an underlying air of arrogance. Shangguan Mingyue didn't know much else, but she knew that Zhou Xuan's identity was special and that he was someone not to be trifled with. Besides, Zhou Xuan had saved her life, and his mysterious and unpredictable skills were something she couldn't understand at all.
In her mind, Zhou Xuan was just that kind of person. When she first saw him, she thought he was ordinary and plain. He was like a bottle of water poured into the ocean. Could you tell him apart?
But the longer you know him, the more you realize Zhou Xuan is incredibly charming, and that charm only grows stronger. Both men and women feel this way. Despite Shangguan Mingyue's beauty and wealth, she wasn't captivated by Zhou Xuan; in fact, she was completely mesmerized by him and can't shake it off. She's fallen for him without even realizing it!
However, this was a secret known only to Shangguan Mingyue. No one else, including Gu Ailin, had ever dealt with Zhou Xuan, so how would they know anything about him? Gu Ailin kept asking Shangguan Mingyue questions, and Shangguan Mingyue only confessed to her that she liked Zhou Xuan, but did not reveal anything about Zhou Xuan's background.
Gu Ailin was taken aback by Zhou Xuan's words. It wasn't that she felt she was inferior to him in any way; rather, she felt she was superior to him in every aspect. What was there to be proud of? Because she was a woman and he was a man, they wouldn't even compare in appearance. As for family background, wasn't she better off than him? Look at his shabby appearance, while she wore designer clothes, carried designer bags worth hundreds of thousands, and drove luxury cars worth millions. In every aspect of her extravagant lifestyle, how could he compare to her?
Gu Ailin was about to mock Zhou Xuan. But seeing Zhou Xuan's nonchalant and indifferent expression, she suddenly thought, "This guy seems so confident; does he have a lot of assurance?"
What confidence could he possibly have? Gu Ailin thought for a moment, then realized that if this guy were to compete with her in eating, drinking, running, or physical labor, could she possibly beat him?
Seeing Gu Ailin's shifty eyes, Zhou Xuan knew she was trying to embarrass him. He then glanced at the group of young masters surrounding him, practically begging him to strip naked and make a fool of himself. He smiled slightly and said calmly, "You all want to show off in front of beautiful women, fine, I'll give you that opportunity. I'll be the foil. Tell me, what do you want to compare me to?"
Zhou Xuan didn't say anything else; he directly voiced these people's thoughts. Which of these young masters wasn't thinking about showing off their abilities and displaying their power in front of beautiful women?
However, these rich young masters usually only flaunt their money and cars. They all revolve around eating, drinking, and having fun. Truly cultured and pragmatic business people, on the other hand, don't care about such empty titles.