Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 623: Class Reunion

In 2016, Zhou Yuwen invested the majority of his funds into the internet sector, while allocating a smaller portion to real estate development and investment. Relying on the Jiang Family Estate's connections, Zhou Yuwen developed two residential property developments in Jinling. Additionally, he indirectly invested in two real estate companies in Hangzhou and participated in the incubation and development of their tech companies.Over the next three years, riding the favorable winds of the era, Zhou Yuwen's career entered a period of rapid growth. The companies he invested in went public one after another. From the Shared Bicycle Project to food delivery platforms, and then to Douyu and Bilibili, the listing of these emerging internet companies brought Zhou Yuwen hundreds of billions in wealth.

As for Zhou Yuwen's batch of peers, they could be considered the last generation to reap the benefits of this economic wave.

Take those from slightly better-off families, for instance, people like Zhao Yang and Chang Hao. After graduation, the very first thing their families thought about was buying them cars and houses.

Zhao Yang already owned an apartment near the school during his university days. When he bought it, the average price was just over six thousand per square meter. By 2019, it had already surged to fifteen thousand.

Moreover, in this era, a commercial housing apartment was no longer simply an asset, but a status symbol. For women working in Jinling, telling them that you owned a fully paid-off apartment in Jinling completely changed the way they looked at you.

Relying on this apartment, Zhao Yang dated quite a few girlfriends. Many women even desperately clung to him, threatening self-harm over their relationships. During the graduation period, he even had a brief fling with his former classmate, Li Jing.

Later on, the two broke up due to incompatibility.

During that time, Li Jing was constantly distraught, making a scene every day and feeling as though everything was her own fault.

Meanwhile, on the very next day after breaking up with Li Jing, Zhao Yang got together with the former class beauty from the neighboring class. Ultimately, they even stepped into the halls of marriage.

On the day of the wedding, Zhao Yang had a few too many drinks and spilled his true thoughts to Chang Hao, who had come to attend the ceremony.

"I never even fucking thought about marrying Li Jing. She is from Northern Jiangsu and has a younger brother at home. How could I marry her? Damn, if I actually married her, my parents would break my legs!"

Chang Hao replied, "But isn't your current wife also from Northern Jiangsu?"

"How is that the same? Look at how beautiful she is!"

Had Chang Hao never met Zhou Yuwen, he likely would have ended up just like Zhao Yang—fooling around for three years after graduation before finally getting married. Unfortunately for that timeline, he did meet Zhou Yuwen. He had long grown disdainful of seeking freedom through women. Three years ago, he entered into marriage, and with the financial support of both sets of parents, he purchased a 150-square-meter commercial housing apartment in Jingcheng. Over these past three years, Chang Hao had diligently done his duty at his company, getting promoted to manager, and even had a beautiful daughter.

At Zhao Yang's wedding, a girl wearing a white hip-hugging skirt arrived. With her flowing, jet-black long hair, she instantly became the center of countless people's attention the moment she appeared.

Zhao Yang couldn't even tear his eyes away.

She walked right up to Zhao Yang and gave him a stunning smile. "Congratulations."

Only then did Zhao Yang rub his eyes in disbelief, exclaiming, "Gu Yaoyao!?"

Gu Yaoyao chuckled softly. "What's wrong, groom? Don't recognize me anymore?"

Seeing Gu Yaoyao at this moment, Chang Hao was also startled. Ever since university, Gu Yaoyao had possessed a fresh and refined aura. Now, three years later, her temperament was even more extraordinary. Her smile carried a gentle, water-like tenderness, giving people a comforting feeling, much like a warm spring breeze.

This year, she had just graduated as a postgraduate student and had smoothly secured an offer from a major tech giant.

A full table of university classmates sat together. Since Zhao Yang was the groom and had to go greet guests, the rest remained seated, chatting about their developments over the past few years.

During university, Gu Yaoyao was the female class monitor. Aside from the first semester of their freshman year when Zhou Yuwen concurrently held the male class monitor position, Chang Hao had served in that role for the remaining two and a half years.

Therefore, Chang Hao and Gu Yaoyao were fairly familiar with each other.

The two quickly fell into a natural conversation.

Some people nearby started teasing them, saying that Chang Hao and Gu Yaoyao were a perfect match of talent and beauty.

"The most successful people from our class are probably you two!"

This statement wasn't false. After all, Chang Hao was now a high-level executive at a well-known enterprise in Jingcheng, while Gu Yaoyao possessed both beauty and brilliance. Sitting together, they truly looked like a flawless pairing.

However, Gu Yaoyao simply smiled and said, "Hasn't the most successful person in our class always been Zhou Yuwen?"

Gu Yaoyao's words instantly jogged everyone's memory.

Their class also had Zhou Yuwen.

Well, because they hadn't contacted him in so long, they had genuinely forgotten about the guy.

Actually, it wasn't exactly that they forgot.

It was just that Zhou Yuwen was too far out of their reach.

Three whole years had already passed.

Thinking back on it now, they couldn't even believe they had actually been classmates with that Zhou Yuwen.

Zhou Yuwen's current wealth was practically on par with the Two Mas. Not long ago, they had even seen news about him online, stating that as Tesla expanded into the East, they had hired Zhou Yuwen to serve as their President of the Asia-Pacific Region.

"Later on, it seems Zhou Yuwen turned them down."

When a group of classmates gathered, they mostly chatted about major national events. Even though these things had little to do with them, everyone still talked about them with great relish.

Tesla originally wanted Zhou Yuwen to be the Asia-Pacific President, but they changed candidates later.

"They changed it to Jiang Xinyi."

"Huh? Jiang Xinyi? That name sounds awfully familiar."

"That's Teacher You's ex-girlfriend." "Ah, her!"

Everyone suddenly remembered, and simultaneously understood why the position had been given to Jiang Xinyi.

They couldn't be more familiar with Zhou Yuwen's romantic affairs.

Speaking of university, everyone laughed and remarked that it felt like their entire college life revolved around gossiping about Zhou Yuwen.

"It couldn't be helped. Zhou Yuwen was just too famous back then. He was an absolute legend!"

Even now, when they gathered together, no matter what they chatted about, they could never escape the inevitable cycle of bringing up Zhou Yuwen.

Sitting on the side listening to her classmates chat, Gu Yaoyao couldn't help but smile.

Chang Hao asked Gu Yaoyao how her life was going these days.

Gu Yaoyao replied that it was quite good. Living as one person, she had no worries about making ends meet.

"Still haven't found anyone suitable?" Chang Hao asked.

Gu Yaoyao smiled, saying that being single was perfectly fine.

"What about you? I heard a while back that you got married. How is it? Married life must be nice, right?" Gu Yaoyao asked.

Chang Hao merely offered a tight smile.

The Gu Yaoyao sitting before him was no longer the university student from three years ago. At twenty-four, she was right in the middle of transitioning from a young girl into a woman. And although Chang Hao was more mature than Zhao Yang, he was ultimately still a man.

Years of dry, monotonous married life.

Coupled with this university reunion and seeing a former goddess-level figure from his past.

Chang Hao still couldn't stop his heart from being stirred.

Thus, driven by some unknown psychological urge, Chang Hao finally let slip the cliché: "Actually, my wife and I don't really have any feelings for each other."

"Hm?" Gu Yaoyao raised an eyebrow, shooting Chang Hao a rather surprised look.

Chang Hao told Gu Yaoyao that he and his wife had met through a blind date back then.

Sometimes he genuinely regretted it, feeling like he had gotten married too early.

"It's not nearly as freeing as being single like you guys." Chang Hao looked at Gu Yaoyao and chuckled.

Afterward, the two of them chatted about other things. Chang Hao learned that Gu Yaoyao was currently working in Shanghai. Since she had no place to stay in Jinling, she had to stay at a hotel just like him.

This couldn't help but cause Chang Hao's already middle-aged-leaning heart to stir with restlessness once more.

At the dinner table, Chang Hao confessed that back in university, there was a period of time when he really liked Gu Yaoyao.

Gu Yaoyao was a bit surprised to hear this. "Oh, really?"

"If you're not busy later, want to go grab a drink?" Chang Hao invited her with great sincerity.

"Um," Gu Yaoyao hadn't expected the present-day Chang Hao to be so forward. However, she maintained her polite smile and said, "Class Monitor Chang, you still don't know where I'm currently working, do you?"

"Where? They all say you're at a major tech giant, but I don't know just how big it is," Chang Hao said with a laugh. In his mind, he thought, 'No matter how big your enterprise is, it can't be as rock-solid as my own firm.'

"At Tesla," Gu Yaoyao answered.

"Not bad, a foreign enterprise. Actually, I've been wanting to buy a Tesla recently too. I wonder if you have any recommendations?" Chang Hao asked.

Gu Yaoyao saw that Chang Hao completely missed her point.

She let out two dry coughs and said, "Ahem, it was Zhou Yuwen who gave me the recommendation to get in."

"What?" Chang Hao froze.

After attending the wedding, the two of them walked out of the hotel. Gu Yaoyao had a gorgeous figure, with a small Chanel bag slung over her shoulder, her slender legs standing in breezy high heels.

Right at that moment, a low-profile black Mercedes-Benz gave a short beep in the distance.

Gu Yaoyao flashed a smile at Chang Hao. "My boyfriend is here to pick me up. Class Monitor Chang, I'll be going now."

With that said, she turned and walked away.

Meanwhile, Chang Hao stared blankly at that black Mercedes-Benz in the distance.

Even though they were quite far apart, Chang Hao could still clearly see the man sitting in the car.

That...

The man he could never hope to reach, even if he spent his entire life trying.

Even three years later, his sheer existence was still enough to make Chang Hao question his own life.