Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 542: Winter is Coming

The news about the land auction came out around Christmas Eve. At this time, the university was immersed in a festive atmosphere. In the blink of an eye, it had been three months since the start of freshman year. The sophomore year students, after undergoing such a long period of tempering, had finally shed their former childishness. Anyone with a bit of ability had basically achieved some minor success at the school. Even if they didn't hold an important position in a school department, they could find a path of their own.Zhou Yuwen had three roommates in his dormitory. The quietest one was Lu Yuhang. When their freshman year first started, he was often mocked by Li Qiang for being effeminate. But what they didn't know was that during the second semester of their freshman year, Lu Yuhang had a brief romance with a girl in their class named Li Jing.

Later, feeling that they weren't suitable for each other, Lu Yuhang took the initiative to break up. Because of this, Li Jing had even shed tears over it.

Later on, at the start of their sophomore year, Lu Yuhang went to study abroad in Europe under his family's arrangements.

Now a sophomore, Li Qiang had become the Vice Minister of the External Liaison Department. Although it was only a deputy position, Li Qiang was thick-skinned and shrewd. Moreover, having worked part-time outside throughout the previous year, he had accumulated a certain amount of connections.

Although the Xuhuai Association was currently a dominant force in the University Town, gathering a large group of people to monopolize the labor market, there were always some agencies that wanted cheaper labor. There were also some students without resources who would privately contact these agencies. This gave Li Qiang an opportunity. Relying on his sense of brotherhood, Li Qiang gathered a good number of freshmen around him who, like himself, came from small towns. Among them were even a few from his hometown.

During the period when the freshmen first started, Li Qiang had a constant stream of dinner gatherings every day. Many freshmen vied to treat Li Qiang to meals. Although these were just small taverns at the school gate, everyone ate happily. Amidst the flowing wine and flushed faces, they would inevitably boast and chatter. They would say things like, "I heard our school has a Xuhuai Association, and I heard it's incredibly badass!"

At times like this, Li Qiang would wave his hand dismissively. He would say, "What Xuhuai Association? Don't listen to those guys bragging. It's actually nothing special."

"Do you guys still think the boss of the Xuhuai Association is some guy named Liu Shuo?"

"Let me tell you, that Liu Shuo is just an underling. Do you know who the real boss of the Xuhuai Association is? The boss is Zhou Yuwen! That's my brother! During our freshman year, we were so close we practically shared a pair of pants! We even used to pick up girls together back then!" Having drunk a bit too much, Li Qiang slurred his words slightly.

Everyone wasn't entirely clear about the Xuhuai Association, but Zhou Yuwen's name rang like thunder in their ears.

Wasn't he a legendary figure?

"Damn, Brother Qiang, are you serious? You're friends with Senior Zhou Yuwen?"

"Nonsense! We're in the same dormitory!"

"Brother Qiang, can you introduce me to him? I really idolize Senior Zhou Yuwen. I want to be like Senior Zhou in the future!"

Li Qiang was speechless upon hearing this. He replied, "Old Zhou is busy. How would he have time to meet you? Besides, even if he is that badass, what does it have to do with you?"

"Out in society, it's a dog-eat-dog world. You need to have some value that others can use. Otherwise, why would they bother knowing you?"

Empowered by the alcohol, Li Qiang rambled on. It might have been just to show off, or it might have been his true realization. Regardless, he hadn't seen Zhou Yuwen in a long time and knew that the two of them were destined to live in completely different worlds.

Happy that day, Li Qiang had a few extra glasses. By the time the dinner gathering ended, Li Qiang was already quite dizzy, only managing to return to the dormitory with the support of two junior male students.

When boys bragged, it was always about one of two things: either their career or women. Speaking of women, the others couldn't help but ask, "Brother Qiang, you're so awesome, you must have scored a lot of girls, right?"

Li Qiang was noncommittal about this, saying, "Isn't that a given?"

He started counting on his fingers, "One, two, three."

Someone else chimed in, "Brother Qiang, you're drinking so much, aren't you afraid your sister-in-law will scold you?"

"Hey, what sister-in-law? Bro, let me tell you the truth. These women are all demons! You can't spend a single cent on a woman, you hear me? Not a single cent!"

At this point, Li Qiang grew somewhat sorrowful.

Without realizing it, winter was about to set in. Li Qiang and Lu Hui had broken up a long time ago. To this day, Li Qiang still felt that he had let Lu Hui down. Ultimately, he was just too poor. He couldn't give Lu Hui the life she wanted, but what else could he do?

To Li Qiang, Lu Hui was an unforgettable sorrow of his youth. But for Lu Hui, it was different. Lu Hui was already twenty-six years old. After the New Year, she would be twenty-seven. She couldn't possibly rely on the few thousand yuan Li Qiang earned every month from his part-time jobs to get by. She had to plan for her own future prospects.

During the time she was with Li Qiang, Lu Hui had also been in contact with Liu Shuo a few times.

To be honest, Lu Hui wanted to go back. She wanted to settle down and live a stable life with Liu Shuo. She had also realized that although this guy Liu Shuo did not understand romance, relying on a massive tree like Zhou Yuwen meant that he would at least become a multi-millionaire in the future, if not a billionaire.

So every time Liu Shuo called her out, although she felt some hesitation, she would eventually go. After satisfying Liu Shuo, she would act pitifully and pout, saying that she still couldn't forget him, hoping Liu Shuo would take her back.

To this, Liu Shuo merely sneered and said, "What are you dreaming about? We're just having a casual fling, and you actually want to be my girlfriend?"

"Look at how cheap you are. Me, take you back? Am I that cheap?" Liu Shuo snorted coldly. After pulling up his pants, he threw down eight hundred yuan once again and left.

This made Lu Hui see reality clearly. It was impossible for Liu Shuo to get back together with her. And Li Qiang was a penniless nobody with nothing to his name; he even struggled to support himself, let alone offer any future prospects.

So one evening, Li Qiang returned to his rented room from his part-time job, still holding a freshly bought milk tea in his hand. He was full of joy, wanting to share with Lu Hui how much money he had made from his part-time work again.

But when he pushed the door open and entered, he found the room unusually clean. Sweeping a glance around, Lu Hui's messy clothes that usually piled up on the bed were all gone.

Only a letter from Lu Hui was left on the table.

The letter was written very bluntly. Lu Hui wrote:

I'm leaving. You don't need to look for me.

Thank you, Li Qiang.

You're a good person, but unfortunately, we aren't suitable for each other.

You're only nineteen this year. You still have all kinds of possibilities in the future.

But once this year passes, I'll be twenty-seven. I don't have the time to keep walking this path with you.

I want to return to my hometown and find someone suitable to get married.

There were no extra words in the letter, only an uncomfortable reality.

Li Qiang held the letter and stared at it for a long time. He wanted to shed a tear or two, but for some reason, the tears just wouldn't fall. He didn't seem to feel that heartbroken.

Perhaps, during their few months together, Li Qiang had also realized that they weren't right for each other.

Li Qiang would remember that in his youth, there was an older sister a few years his senior who kept him company. But he wouldn't linger on it. Just as Lu Hui had said, his youth would still continue.

Every time he got drunk after that, Li Qiang would think of Lu Hui. He would even start crying hysterically, claiming that Lu Hui was the woman he loved the most in this life.

Of course, during this period, he also pursued other girls.

Unfortunately, he failed.

The intoxicated Li Qiang was carried back to the dormitory by a few junior male students. At the door of the dormitory, Li Qiang waved his hand at the juniors who had escorted him, saying, "No need, no need to see me off!"

"Hey, I could find my way home with my eyes closed!"

Li Qiang said, grinning.

Outside the boys' dormitory building, two girls were pleading with the dorm manager about something.

The girls were dressed very fashionably. Any man would take a second look at that combination of a pleated skirt and black long stockings. And it was exactly because he took those two extra looks that he heard one of the girls begging the dorm manager, "Auntie, please help us! Just help us deliver this milk tea to a senior named Chang Hao!"

The dorm manager resolutely waved her hand, indicating that there were hundreds of students in the dormitory building and she had no idea which one they were talking about.

Looking at the milk tea in the girls' hands, Li Qiang declared, "I know Chang Hao!"

The girls were overjoyed to hear this. They hurriedly gathered around and said, "Senior, please help us then!"

"Easy peasy! Haozi and I are the best of brothers who practically share the same pair of pants. I'll get him out to eat together sometime!"

Li Qiang took the milk tea from the girls, grinning as he spoke.

He bid farewell to the girls and swayed his head as he returned to the dormitory. Actually, he was a little perplexed. He felt that Chang Hao wasn't even as handsome as him. Why was Chang Hao so popular?

"Old Chang, look what I brought you!"

What was supposed to be a proper four-person boys' dormitory now only had two people left in it.

The dormitory was exceptionally quiet.

Chang Hao was still as skinny as before. However, compared to his freshman year, Chang Hao now wore black-framed glasses. Sitting in front of the computer, he no longer played games day and night.

"Yo, writing novels again?" Seeing Chang Hao clacking away on the keyboard, Li Qiang couldn't help but crane his neck to look.

Chang Hao quickly closed the window.

Seeing this, Li Qiang found it secretly amusing and said, "What are you afraid of? You're writing it for people to read, aren't you? Why be so shy?"

Chang Hao disliked the smell of alcohol on Li Qiang. He frowned slightly and asked, "Do you need something?"

"Heh, nothing. Just brought you a cup of milk tea. It's from two girls from the Environmental Art department," Li Qiang handed the milk tea to Chang Hao, unable to hold back his complaint. "Speaking of which, Old Chang, you never step out of the door all day. How do girls even fall for you?"

"When I came back, I saw those two Environmental Art girls outside. The dorm manager wouldn't let them in no matter what. It's a good thing they ran into me." After putting the things down, Li Qiang went to mind his own business.

Hearing they were from the Environmental Art department, Chang Hao knew exactly which girls they were. He just replied, "Oh, got it."

He pushed the milk tea aside.

Chang Hao continued clacking away, writing his novel.

Li Qiang didn't crowd around to watch anymore. He struggled to climb onto his bed and let out a long sigh as he laid down. The alcoholic flush on his face still hadn't faded. He smirked and said, "What time is it already, Old Chang? Don't tell me you still can't let go of Zheng Yanyan? If you ask me, just find any girl and be casual with love. As the saying goes, 'I urge you not to cherish robes of golden thread, I urge you to cherish the time of your youth. Pluck the flower while it is ready to be plucked, do not wait until there are no flowers and pluck an empty branch~'"

Li Qiang was truly drunk. He shook his head back and forth, slurred out a bunch of words, and then fell fast asleep, snoring loudly.

Listening to Li Qiang's words, Chang Hao didn't say anything.

He had originally wanted to keep writing his novel, but his train of thought had been disrupted by Li Qiang.

Coupled with Li Qiang starting to let out loud snores, Chang Hao completely lost the mood to write. He simply picked up a pack of Xuanhemen and a lighter, then headed out to the balcony.

With a 'click', he lit the lighter.

Chang Hao exhaled a long drag of smoke.

'Zheng Yanyan?'

Actually, the figure of this girl had already become very blurry in Chang Hao's heart. After being rejected by Zheng Yanyan, Chang Hao really fell into degeneracy for quite a while. During that time, he played games every day until, suddenly, he felt that gaming had grown dull.

He wanted to do something but didn't know what to do. Over the summer vacation, he enrolled in a guitar class, thinking of learning to play the guitar. But after only two days of lessons, he found it uninteresting again.

He suddenly thought of how Zhou Yuwen had made a lot of money writing novels. Truth be told, Chang Hao was quite envious of Zhou Yuwen. He also wanted to be like Zhou Yuwen—to achieve success in a certain field and then become the object of everyone's envy.

So he opened up a web novel site, wondering how these novels were actually written. Were they really that good?

The first book he read was the wildly popular "Battle Through the Heavens" on the internet. As a result, after just reading it once, he couldn't stop. He successively browsed through "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality", "Buddha is the Dao", and several other highly popular novels on the site. At this point, Chang Hao no longer lingered on romance. Instead, he immersed himself entirely in the fantasy world. He discovered that the world of novels was actually so fascinating.

Throughout the entire summer vacation, Chang Hao read one novel after another. He even read until he became nearsighted, but he still couldn't stop.

He wondered if perhaps he too could write a novel, just like Zhou Yuwen.

'Maybe it could become a hit?'

It was only a fleeting thought, but it lingered in his mind every single day after that.

Finally, on a certain sleepless night tossing and turning in bed.

Chang Hao got up from his bed, went to the computer, and typed out his first words: "Rebirth of"

Web novels weren't that easy to write. Unlike a heaven-defying genius like Zhou Yuwen, Chang Hao could only write a little bit of what he wanted to write. As for getting a contract, that was something completely out of reach for him right now.

But it didn't matter. For Chang Hao, it was just a way to find something of his own to do in the midst of his boring university life.

Everyone was busy with their own lives. Just as they were muddling through their busy university lives, the news about Zhou Yuwen auctioning for land was also released.

This news shocked everyone in the Jinling business circle, and to Zhou Yuwen's school, it was also a massive event that stunned everyone.

People truly couldn't be compared.

After seeing this news, Chang Hao couldn't help but think: 'Here I am racking my brains over getting a contract for writing novels, but Zhou Yuwen over there is straight up going to build a skyscraper.'

'No wonder Zheng Yanyan would choose Zhou Yuwen. If it were me, I would choose him too.'

As for Li Qiang, upon learning of this news, he naturally went around bragging. He boasted to every junior male student following him, "You guys know Zhou Yuwen?! He was a good brother who practically shared a pair of pants with me back in the day!"