Chapter 161: The West Asia Club

Cui Jinghui didn't directly ask Zheng Qian what he was doing now, but instead asked where he was developing his career; this was a tactic he'd learned from his father.

Zheng Qian nodded. "Yeah, still developing in Yebai."

"Oh, I've been in Yebai the whole time too, how come I haven't seen you around?" Cui Jinghui feigned surprise. "I thought you'd gone off to develop in some big city."

Although the city of Yebai couldn't compare to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Shenzhen, it wasn't small either, so it was normal not to have crossed paths.

Zheng Qian quickly realized that Cui Jinghui's tactics were just a way to ask what he was currently doing.

Cui Jinghui still didn't ask what Zheng Qian did, but instead asked: "So, Qian'er, where are you living now? Is it far from here? If you drink too much later, I can find someone here to take you home."

"It's my dad's place, so don't worry about it."

"I only started looking for a place today, so for now, I'm staying at my girlfriend's place in Jiangshan International," Zheng Qian answered truthfully.

Jiangshan International?

That was one of the top villa districts in Yebai; even the cheapest villa there cost over twenty million.

Was Zheng Qian's girlfriend really that rich?

Living in a twenty-million-plus luxury mansion, driving a car worth millions.

Shi Yuzhu realized immediately that Zheng Qian had latched onto a rich woman!

However, he didn't look down on Zheng Qian; as long as Zheng Qian was living well, that was all that mattered.

Besides, Zheng Qian wasn't bad either; maybe she just liked him for his good character.

The others' thoughts were different from Shi Yuzhu's.

No wonder Zheng Qian could work out at such an expensive gym, wear designer brands from head to toe, drive a BMW, and wear an Omega watch on his wrist; it turned out he was a kept man for a rich woman.

A gigolo!

A look of disdain flashed across everyone's eyes.

Lu Shanshan: Favorability - 5.

Yu Nana: Favorability - 2.

"So, what do you do now?" After learning that Zheng Qian was a kept man, Cui Jinghui couldn't be bothered with word games anymore and asked directly.

"Me? Just busy with nothing much, not really doing anything," Zheng Qian said. He felt embarrassed to say he was the chairman of the Qianhe Group, which had a market value of over a billion; they wouldn't believe him anyway.

"What about you guys? What do you do now?" Zheng Qian asked in return.

Back in the day, Zheng Qian was mediocre in every way—bad at sports, average looking, with only his grades being somewhat decent.

After learning that Zheng Qian was a kept man, they lost interest in associating with him and spoke with a hint of showing off.

"Me? I was selected for the provincial basketball team in college, then I retired, and now I'm helping out with the family business," Cui Jinghui said nonchalantly.

"Oh, Jinghui, don't be so modest. Weren't you selected as a seed player for the CBA? If it weren't for that ankle injury, why would you have chosen to retire?"

Zheng Qian glanced at Yu Nana; her Favorability toward him was: 5 points.

Just as expected!

After hearing Yu Nana's words, Cui Jinghui was practically preening with pride.

The one who said this was Yu Nana; she and Cui Jinghui were a match made in heaven—one arrogant and domineering, the other extremely materialistic.

Back in college, Cui Jinghui often got into fights, frequently fighting with fellow students and occasionally with students from other schools. Each time, he'd call in dozens of people, and everyone in the university town knew him.

Yu Nana was Lu Shanshan's best friend. Coming from a middle-class background, she was pretty and knew how to dress well. Back in school, she had many boys pursuing her and received plenty of gifts, but she never agreed to date any of them.

Eventually, Cui Jinghui set his sights on Yu Nana and pursued her crazily, sending her only designer brands—Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Burberry, and other luxury goods—and finally won her over.

Zheng Qian didn't expect their relationship to last this long.

They had been dating for several years; Cui Jinghui must have spent quite a bit of money.

"Right, Xingyu, you're about to graduate too, right?" Cui Jinghui took the opportunity to shift the topic to Tang Xingyu.

His own achievements were nothing; Tang Xingyu was the most impressive person among them.

He refused to inherit his family's massive business, choosing instead to pursue power.

Although Yebei University wasn't a "Double First-Class" institution, it was considered one of the top key universities in Yezhou.

After graduating from Yebei University, Tang Xingyu didn't stop there; he took the postgraduate entrance exam and was admitted to Shanghai Jiao Tong University on his first attempt.

However, Tang Xingyu didn't choose that school; he took the exam again and was directly admitted to the Political Science and Law department of Renmin University of China.

"Yeah, almost graduated," Tang Xingyu nodded slightly, while glancing at Zheng Qian nonchalantly. "But I still have a long way to go."

"What long way? I heard that after you guys graduate, you get assigned jobs directly, and the rank isn't low either, right?" Cui Jinghui asked.

"Well... I still have to start from the grassroots level, but it's certainly not low."

Cui Jinghui and the others already knew these things; their intention in asking him again was obvious: they wanted to make Zheng Qian understand.

Everyone here made it on their own merits.

What about you?

Are you only sitting here with everyone because you're a gigolo?

Don't you feel ashamed?

Have you no shame?

Meanwhile, the look in Lu Shanshan's eyes as she gazed at Tang Xingyu became even more intense.

Her father was an official in Yezhou; she knew better than anyone the prospects of this line of work.

In the face of power, wealth was nothing.

Since college, Lu Shanshan had admired Tang Xingyu, though they rarely saw each other after graduation, they still kept in touch via phone.

Today was her birthday, and Tang Xingyu had flown back from the capital just to spend it with her, which moved Lu Shanshan deeply.

"Jinghui, how's the family business lately? You haven't kept me company for days," Yu Nana said, clinging to Cui Jinghui's arm and snuggling into his chest.

"My fault, my fault. I've been really busy lately."

"You know Red Rose, right? My family has been preparing to take over that bar these past few days."

Red Rose?

Cui Jinghui's family was in the entertainment industry—bars, KTVs, nightclubs. In places like these, vicious competition was inevitable; one could even say it was almost entirely vicious competition.

Hearing Cui Jinghui mention Red Rose, Zheng Qian became interested.

"My family's Seattle Club is just on the street next to Red Rose. Not long ago, we hollowed out Red Rose's foundation and established a monopoly on liquor, causing Red Rose's procurement costs to be 50% higher than everyone else's. They're already on the verge of going out of business."

Whenever Cui Jinghui brought this up, he felt a rush of excitement. Since he started gradually taking over the family business, this was the first time he'd gone to war with someone, and he had orchestrated everything himself.

"No way, I was just at Red Rose with some friends not long ago. There were plenty of people there; business seemed to be booming!"

Shi Yuzhu asked, puzzled.

"There was even a rich guy who ordered 99 bottles of ace of spades and even paid for everyone's tab. How could they be going out of business?"

Lu Shanshan and Yu Nana had both heard about the 99 bottles of ace of spades and the incident where someone paid for the whole venue, and they were all curious.

"Ugh, you guys aren't in the industry, so you don't know what's going on."

"Tell us about it then," Yu Nana said, getting gossipy.

Cui Jinghui hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should tell them.

Forget it, the outcome was already sealed; the situation was set. Red Rose was a dead end anyway, so there was no harm in saying it.

"The truth is, those 99 bottles of ace of spades weren't ordered by some mysterious tycoon, but by Red Rose's owner, Tian Kaixuan."

"That kid is smart. After ordering so much alcohol and giving that mysterious tycoon plenty of face, he went to negotiate business with him."

"Red Rose was originally worth eighty or ninety million. That kid was afraid of being bankrupted by me, so he sold it to that mysterious tycoon for just fifty million."

Everyone nodded, looking suddenly enlightened.

"If you put it that way, didn't that mysterious tycoon get ripped off?" Shi Yuzhu frowned and asked.

"Exactly. That mysterious tycoon didn't understand the current situation at Red Rose at all. He was just a rich fool who bought it straight away—a total sucker."

"It's said that after Tian Kaixuan got the money, he ran straight overseas."