Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 517: Every Woman Has a Dream of Marrying into a Wealthy Family

Zhou Yuwen admitted that he was indeed not a good person, and he had a whole bunch of women around him. However, truthfully, Zhou Yuwen really could not imagine what Li Shiqi would be like as his girlfriend.After all, in Zhou Yuwen's impression, Li Shiqi had always been a very aloof girl. She was the type who should silently work hard on her own and eventually astound everyone. Just like in his previous life, her classmates would suddenly see Li Shiqi on television, wearing a crisp suit with a confident smile, speaking eloquently no matter what situation she faced.

The two of them were destined to be from different worlds. Now that Li Shiqi had suddenly made a confession to him, Zhou Yuwen truly found it unexpected.

Liu Shuo could not understand his thoughts.

Liu Shuo felt that since his brother already had so many women...

If Li Shiqi was willing to make a confession to him, it meant she did not care about that fact either.

Why on earth would anyone reject a woman who delivered herself right to their door?

Zhou Yuwen ignored Liu Shuo. After the car arrived at Zhonghai Garden, Zhou Yuwen headed straight to Tao Tian's apartment. Originally, Zhou Yuwen had bought one apartment each for Tao Tian and Qu Jing. However, after the two of them buried the hatchet, they essentially lived together in one apartment, leaving Qu Jing's place completely vacant.

Qu Jing sought Zhou Yuwen's opinion, wanting to rent out that vacant apartment.

Zhou Yuwen had no objections. He naturally did not lack that bit of money, but he still needed to find something for these girls to do. Zhou Yuwen owned a total of six apartments in Zhonghai Garden. Previously, two of them were occupied by his bodyguards, but after a unified dormitory was rented for them, those two apartments were also left empty.

He simply handed them all over to Tao Tian and Qu Jing to manage, allowing them to freely distribute the rental income. At two thousand a month per apartment, five apartments added up to over ten thousand.

These two girls had not yet graduated from university. Zhou Yuwen usually bought their makeup and other necessities, so a monthly salary of four thousand was plenty for them. They had never demanded anything from Zhou Yuwen either.

But the prerequisite was that Zhou Yuwen provided a foundation that satisfied their material needs, able to promptly take out a sum of money whenever they needed it. Otherwise, there was no way these girls would follow Zhou Yuwen and be so utterly devoted to him.

It was only three in the afternoon, and the sun had not even set. Tao Tian and Qu Jing should not be off work yet. Zhou Yuwen figured he would catch some sleep at Tao Tian's place, waking up just in time to eat the dinner they would cook that evening.

He entered the code on the combination lock and opened the door.

Looking up, however, he saw a somewhat flustered Minmin Xuejie.

In Qu Jing and Tao Tian's residence, there was a full-length mirror right in the living room. The two of them would often try on clothes there when they had nothing else to do. At this moment, Minmin was standing beside the full-length mirror, seemingly trying on clothes.

All over her body, she was wearing only a black bra paired with matching briefs.

In her hands, she held a black base layer shirt that Zhou Yuwen had bought for Qu Jing. It was brought back from abroad, costing around two hundred dollars when he purchased it.

Right now, Minmin was using this very shirt to cover her chest. The moment she saw Zhou Yuwen, her small face turned pale, looking exactly like someone caught red-handed doing something bad.

Zhou Yuwen took a couple of glances at Minmin. Minmin's figure was somewhat similar to Qu Jing's. However, seeing her standing there wearing only two small pieces of clothing, Zhou Yuwen could tell that Minmin's figure was a bit more voluptuous than Qu Jing's.

Although she used the base layer shirt to cover her upper half, the edges still exposed a bit of skin, and her long legs were slightly raised on her tiptoes.

Zhou Yuwen observed her for quite a while before asking, "Why are you here?"

This was Zhou Yuwen's apartment, and with the owners not home, her presence as an outsider—trying on someone else's clothes no less—made Zhou Yuwen's question a matter of course.

Minmin used the base layer shirt to symbolically shield herself a couple of times. Upon realizing it was Zhou Yuwen, she actually relaxed, seemingly no longer as eager to cover up. However, feeling guilty, she still stammered slightly.

She stuttered, "I, I..."

As it turned out, Minmin had just been optimized out of her company.

More accurately, she was fired.

The front desk position inherently had a high turnover rate and held no core value. If a company ran into problems and needed to optimize its workforce, the first to go would undoubtedly be the front desk.

Furthermore, Minmin's personality was a bit flawed. She was a gold digger, yes, but she did not just throw herself at any man. Her standards were incredibly high. Having worked at the front desk for half a year, if she had been willing to stoop down and let some of the pot-bellied company executives take advantage of her, she might have been able to stay.

The problem was that Minmin could never do such a thing.

Therefore, getting optimized out was a matter of course.

Having lost her job, the small apartment she rented next to the company also lost its value.

With no income anymore, spending a thousand a month on rent was entirely unnecessary.

She figured she would come over and crash with Tao Tian and Qu Jing for a few days. They were roommates after all; surely they would not refuse to help with something this small?

Besides, during Tao Tian's most difficult times, Minmin was the only one who stayed by her side. Tao Tian surely would not leave her in the lurch.

And so, Minmin moved in.

Tao Tian and Qu Jing had to go to work every day, leaving Minmin, an idle individual in society, simply lounging around the apartment.

A very obvious trait in most women was laziness. If they could lie around, they would absolutely never think about going to work.

Just like the current Minmin. She had never even considered looking for another job, opting to just lay back and take it one day at a time.

Staying at Tao Tian's place these past few days, with her food and accommodation all covered by Tao Tian, she truly had her eyes opened to the world.

The LV bags and Hermès items she used to only see on her phone were scattered everywhere in Tao Tian's home.

On her very first night there, Minmin was brimming with astonishment.

That evening, Tao Tian had brought her back.

Qu Jing, who was watching television in the living room, saw Minmin and asked with undisguised distaste, "Why are you here?"

It was already past eight in the evening. With Minmin showing up at this hour, she was definitely looking for a place to crash. Given Minmin's personality, she would certainly snoop around everywhere, which Qu Jing naturally disliked.

However, this time it was even more serious than she had anticipated.

Minmin looked at her pitifully and whimpered, "Jingjing, sob, I lost my job!"

"?"

So Minmin proceeded to exaggerate the entire story, the gist being that a fat, pig-like executive at the company tried to take advantage of her, and she refused.

And because of that, she was fired.

"That damn fat pig only compensated me with one month's salary, boo-hoo, I'm so pitiful!"

Minmin spoke sadly as she embraced Tao Tian.

Qu Jing, listening from the side, was entirely unimpressed. She asked, "If the job is gone, it's gone. Can't you just find another one?"

"But I'm homeless now," Minmin whined.

Only then did Qu Jing finally catch on. 'Wait a minute, are you trying to live at our place?'

"Sob, I won't stay for free, Jingjing. I'll help you guys wash clothes and cook!"

Minmin's words sounded very nice, but Qu Jing was having none of it. They had a part-time worker taking care of all those chores, so why would they need her to do it?

Qu Jing told her there was no need to act so pitiful. "We've all been out working for half a year now. Look at our classmates, which one of them hasn't changed jobs once or twice? Besides, your front desk job had no real value to begin with; it's better that you change it sooner rather than later."

"You know the situation here. If it was just Sweetie and me living here, it wouldn't be an issue if you came over. But right now, it's really inconvenient for you to be here. You can stay for one night at most, and tomorrow, have Sweetie accompany you to find a place and move out."

Qu Jing's words were very realistic, essentially showing she was unyielding. Out of options, Minmin could only cast a pleading gaze toward Tao Tian.

Tao Tian felt helpless and could only tell Qu Jing, "We were roommates after all. What's more, there just happens to be a small bedroom empty here. Wouldn't it be perfect if we tidy it up for her to stay in?"

Qu Jing said that was not the problem. "Let me ask you, when Zhou Yuwen comes over and finds an extra person here, how are you going to explain it?" Qu Jing was stern.

However, Tao Tian could not bear to be ungrateful. She could only reply, "I will explain it to him when the time comes."

Qu Jing was left utterly speechless but had no other choice. She replied, "Fine then. Since you put it that way, whatever you say."

Minmin, who had been eavesdropping on the side, instantly beamed with joy upon hearing this. "Mhm, mhm! I knew you were the best, Jingjing!"

And just like that, Minmin stayed. She happened to see the gifts Zhou Yuwen had brought back from New York for Qu Jing and the others, and she was filled with shock. "Is... is this a limited edition Hermès? The official retail price is over a hundred thousand!"

"And this LV bag! Oh my god, Sweetie, are these real or fake?"

Minmin picked up a designer handbag from the sofa and examined it repeatedly. Then she picked up another one to inspect, her face full of astonishment with each one.

Upon hearing this, however, Qu Jing grew highly displeased. "What do you mean, real or fake? Do you think Sweetie and I look like the type of people to use fakes?"

Only then did Minmin realize she had misspoken, and she hastily agreed, "Oh, right, right, right."

"How could the two of you possibly use fake goods? Jingjing, Sweetie, I truly envy you so much. Sigh, we clearly used to share the same dormitory, but right after graduation, you guys are living in a huge apartment and have all sorts of designer handbags and clothes. Meanwhile, I can't even keep my job. Ah, this base layer shirt is so beautiful!"

"Don't touch that!"

Just as Minmin reached out to touch Qu Jing's base layer shirt, Qu Jing unceremoniously snatched it away. Qu Jing snapped, "Zhou Yuwen brought this back from America for me. Don't get it dirty!"

"I..."

Every single word Qu Jing spoke showed little respect for Minmin.

But there was nothing she could do about it. When standing under someone else's roof, one had to bow their head.

Minmin could only lower her eyes and remain subservient.

Qu Jing, on the other hand, never offered Minmin a friendly face. Snorting coldly, she grabbed her base layer shirt and walked into her room.

Leaving only Tao Tian and Minmin behind, Tao Tian told Minmin, "Don't take it to heart. Her personality has always been like this."

Minmin replied, "How could I ever hold it against her? I'm already incredibly touched that you guys are willing to take me in. Sweetie, thank you so much, really!"

Tao Tian told Minmin not to say such things.

Wasn't this just the right thing to do?

And so, Minmin settled in.

Taking advantage of the time the two were at work, Minmin gazed at the casually scattered designer handbags and various branded clothes. She was genuinely consumed with envy. She felt that even the boutiques she had visited at Deji Plaza did not have a collection as complete as the one here.

Just what kind of immense karma did these two women cultivate in their past lives to be favored by Zhou Yuwen?

Thinking about the news she had heard over the past few days, Minmin was truly somewhat jealous of Qu Jing and Tao Tian.

In the past, Minmin used to secretly mock the two of them behind their backs, thinking they had never seen the world. Zhou Yuwen was wealthy, yes, but compared to the truly rich, he was only average.

Who could have imagined that after taking a single trip to America, Zhou Yuwen's assets would suddenly skyrocket?

A personal net worth of three billion.

How many Hermès bags could that buy?

Minmin did not actually envy Tao Tian, but she was intensely jealous of Qu Jing.

She and Qu Jing were clearly on par in terms of looks, and their figures were roughly the same. Yet, this Qu Jing was just lucky enough to catch Zhou Yuwen's eye. Now that they had entered society, Qu Jing did not even need to look for a job herself. Not only did she have an apartment to live in, but she also got to wear such high-quality clothes.

But what about herself?

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Minmin felt that if she had known things would turn out this way, she should have sold out Tao Tian and made her move before Qu Jing did.

Now Qu Jing and Tao Tian were still acting like loving sisters.

It felt like their relationship was even better than the one she shared with Tao Tian.

While trying on the clothes, Minmin was filled with boundless regret over her past choices.

As a result, when Zhou Yuwen suddenly walked in at that very moment, it gave Minmin a massive fright.

She recounted the entire story of her resignation to Zhou Yuwen exactly as it happened. She even squeezed out a few tears, claiming that an executive tried to take advantage of her, and she had resisted to the bitter end.

Zhou Yuwen, having had some alcohol, had absolutely no desire to listen to her sob story.

Understanding only that she had been taken in by Tao Tian and was staying here, he merely gave an apathetic, "Oh."

Minmin told Zhou Yuwen that she was not staying for free; she had been cleaning the rooms and taking care of the hygiene.

Zhou Yuwen said, "Oh," without adding anything else. He got up on his own and walked into Tao Tian's room.

Seeing that Zhou Yuwen was not speaking, Minmin was afraid that he disapproved. She abruptly called out to him again, "Zhou... Zhou Yuwen, is it okay if I stay here?"

Zhou Yuwen replied, "You're already staying here, so just keep staying."

"Go do whatever it is you need to do. I'm going to sleep first," Zhou Yuwen finished, and then shut the door.

Minmin originally wanted to say something else, but she never expected Zhou Yuwen to close the door so decisively. It instantly choked all her words back down her throat, leaving her feeling somewhat lost and empty for a moment.

It had to be known that Minmin had always harbored intentions of clinging to the rich and powerful. Especially after seeing how lavishly Qu Jing and Tao Tian lived, she had dreamed countless times of latching onto a massive tree like Zhou Yuwen so she could eat well and drink heartily for the rest of her days.

She had finally stumbled upon a rare opportunity to be alone with Zhou Yuwen.

Minmin definitely wanted to seize this chance.

Unfortunately, Zhou Yuwen was not giving her the opportunity.

To the point that even though Zhou Yuwen had already closed the door, Minmin was still pacing anxiously outside, trying to think of a way to attract his attention.

Right, Zhou Yuwen seemed to have been drinking.

Should she go make him a glass of honey water?

If Zhou Yuwen woke up and saw the honey water she had made for him, he would surely be deeply moved.

Perhaps then...

At this thought, Minmin suddenly became energized. But then it hit her—they had no honey in the apartment.

No, she absolutely had to seize this chance.

Just like she had read online.

High-quality men never lacked for women by their side.

If she wanted to snag a high-quality man, she had to rely on herself!

Therefore, without a second thought, Minmin quickly threw on some clothes and hurried out the door, heading straight to the residential area's convenience store to buy honey.