“What?!”
All four heads snapped toward Xu Ye at once.
He stayed perfectly unbothered. “Made a little money over the summer, that’s all. Not a huge amount. Like I said, I’m thinking small-scale.”
Zhang Xinzhou leaned in, intrigued. “So what do you want to do?”
“Haven’t figured it out yet.”
Xu Ye grinned. “I’ll let you know once I’ve worked it out. For now, let’s eat. Eat first.”
Yanqing propped her chin on her hand, smiling. “Xinzhou, look at your roommate — barely a month into college and he’s already plotting his own business. And you? You planning on coasting through school doing nothing?”
“You know my situation,” Zhang Xinzhou said quickly. “My old man’s banned me from starting anything. Strict house rule.”
“Then why’d you even study finance?”
Yanqing had hit the nail right on the head.
Despite the surface-level laziness, Zhang Xinzhou actually had something to prove. He could see exactly how the rest of his life would go if he just went home to collect rent checks — and he didn’t want to end up like his father, who filled his days with fishing, mahjong, and golf and not much else.
That kind of life felt like a waste.
Zhang Xinzhou sighed, resigned. “Dad already told me — if I so much as try to start a business, he cuts off my allowance.”
Yang Fei, baffled, asked, “Why wouldn’t your dad let you start a business?”
Xu Ye fielded that one. “Because no matter how much money you blow on having fun for the rest of your life, you’re not going to bankrupt a fortune that size. But fail at a business, and you could end up signing away the family’s actual property. That’s why a lot of rich families would rather their kid spend his whole life doing nothing than let him go off and ‘prove himself.'”
“Think about it this way — say your family’s got a hundred million sitting in the bank. At the minimum rate for a large-denomination CD [TL: a certificate of deposit, a bank product offering a higher fixed interest rate for big lump-sum deposits], around four percent, that’s four million yuan in pure interest every single year, doing nothing. What business are you starting that guarantees four million in net profit every year? And if you’re not even hitting that — even just breaking even still counts as a loss.”
“Xu Ye, you really know your stuff.”
“Read it in a novel called Top-Tier Superstar.” [TL: a popular Chinese web novel — Xu Ye’s citing it half-jokingly, the way someone might credit a self-help book for an idea everyone secretly already knew]
Zhang Xinzhou said, half-joking, “Still — if your business idea’s solid, maybe I’ll go in on it with you.”
“Not worried your old man cuts your allowance?”
“Not worried at all.” Zhang Xinzhou threw an arm around Yanqing’s shoulder. “My buddy here can keep me fed!”
Yanqing rolled her eyes, though she didn’t seem to mind the arm around her at all — clearly this kind of casual touching was routine for them. She shrugged him off with a laugh. “Get lost.”
Once the crawfish hit the table, the five of them settled into peeling shells and easy conversation. Li Tongwen wasn’t much of a talker, but Xu Ye and Zhang Xinzhou had plenty to riff on, with Yang Fei and Yanqing keeping the energy up — the whole table clicked.
By the time the five of them stepped out of the eatery, it was nearly eight at night.
“We won’t be third wheels,” Xu Ye said, grinning. “If you’re not back in the dorm by eleven, I’ll just assume you’re not coming back tonight. Stay safe, though.”
He put extra weight on the words stay safe.
“Xu Ye, you absolute—!”
Watching Xu Ye, Yang Fei, and Li Tongwen disappear down the street, Yanqing let a smile slip. “That Xu Ye seems pretty sharp when it comes to reading people.”
“High emotional intelligence. Noticed it the first day of school,” Zhang Xinzhou said. “I was actually a little worried I wouldn’t click with any roommates in college. Guess I worried for nothing.”
“Where to now?”
“Calling my old man first.”
“For what?”
“Money. Told you I’d partner up with Xu Ye on the business.”
“What’s your excuse this time?”
“I’ll just say you’re pregnant and I need cash for the abortion!”
Yanqing’s foot found his backside before he could finish, her face flushing red as she snapped, “Zhang Xinzhou, you get lost right now!”
…
On the walk back to the dorm.
“Yang Fei, are you jealous of Zhang Xinzhou?” Li Tongwen asked, out of nowhere.
Yang Fei raised an eyebrow. “Where’s that coming from?”
“You said earlier today, spending money on a girlfriend’s nothing special, the real flex is getting your girlfriend to spend money on you. Looks like Zhang Xinzhou’s girlfriend just paid for dinner.”
Despite Zhang Xinzhou insisting Yanqing was just his “buddy,” anyone with eyes could see the two of them read a lot more like a couple.
Yang Fei dug his heels in. “Why are you telling me this specifically? You think Xu Ye’s not jealous either?”
“What do I have to be jealous of?” Xu Ye said, perfectly straight-faced. “My girlfriend spends money on me too.”
“Liar. Keep going.”
“Don’t believe me, then.”
Yang Fei scoffed. “If that’s actually true, your girlfriend’s probably some Ruhua type.” [TL: Ruhua — a famously unattractive character from a well-known Chinese sketch comedy, used colloquially as shorthand for an unattractive woman]
“Yang Fei, that’s just sour grapes talking. My girlfriend happens to be both gorgeous and loaded.”
“Sure she is~”
Yang Fei clearly wasn’t buying it. Xu Ye didn’t bother explaining further — even though he had photos of him and Chen Qingqing together right there on his phone, more than one.
By the time they got back to the dorm, Xu Ye checked his phone and found a string of messages from his best friend, Qin Zhiwei.
Qin Zhiwei: Training’s done on my end, yours should be over too, right?
Qin Zhiwei: We’ve got a day off tomorrow. Want to come find me, or should I come to you?
Qin Zhiwei: I want to go check out the Oriental Pearl Tower first. [TL: an iconic TV tower and one of Shanghai’s most recognizable landmarks]
Xu Ye: Can’t, I’m busy.
Xu Ye: Got plans with my girlfriend.
Xu Ye: Next time.
Qin Zhiwei: You’re seriously ditching your best friend for a girl, aren’t you?
Xu Ye: Yep.
Qin Zhiwei: Xu Ye, you really deserve to die for this. There’s only nine girls in our entire engineering class. Knew I should’ve never come to Shanghai.
Xu Ye: It’s fine, my school’s got plenty of girls. Once I’m settled in, I’ll introduce you to a few.
Qin Zhiwei: That’s a real promise?
Xu Ye: Trust me, completely real.
Xu Ye: What’s your type?
Qin Zhiwei: I’m not picky, I’d take someone just slightly worse looking than your girlfriend.
Xu Ye: Then you’re staying single for life, buddy.
Qin Zhiwei: ???
Qin Zhiwei: Xu Ye, what the hell is that supposed to mean!
Qin Zhiwei: I swear, I want to stab you!
…
Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Women’s Dorm, Room 205.
Chen Qingqing glanced at the delivery text on her phone and asked quietly, “Do you guys know where we pick up packages?”
“Usually right outside the library, across from the cafeteria. You’re going now?”
“Yeah.” Qingqing nodded. “Should be the stuff my mom sent me.”
Shen Xinyi got up. “I’ve got a package too, Qingqing. I’ll come with you.”
“Sure~”
The two of them left the dorm and made it to the package pickup spot quickly. Qingqing signed for hers, waited for Shen Xinyi to grab her own, and the two of them headed back together.
“What’d your mom send you?”
“A phone.”
“Both packages are phones?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t tell me one of them’s for your boyfriend.”
“His battery doesn’t last, and it keeps freezing up, so I just…”
“Okay, okay.” Shen Xinyi gave her a look that said she already understood everything. “No need to explain. I get it completely.”
She was, after all, a devoted fan of Korean dramas. She’d already seen every one of those romantic little moments play out on screen plenty of times.
Chen Qingqing glanced at Shen Xinyi, then down at the phone in her hand, and felt a small flicker of regret — she had no idea how she was going to hand this thing over to Xu Ye tomorrow without it being painfully obvious what it meant.
But then she pictured the smug, punchable grin he’d no doubt break into the second he saw it, and despite herself, she almost wanted to laugh.
Half a month.
Why was time moving so slowly?
(End of Chapter)