Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 504: Freshman Back-to-School Season

Whether it was Zhou Yuwen or Su Qing, both hoped Pan Min could go to Jinling with Zhou Yuwen. After all, she was different from Zhou Yuwen's parents. His parents worked here, and now that their son was successful and making his way in the world, the two of them just needed to live comfortably at home.As a single mother who had toiled for her daughter for so long, Pan Min truly deserved to enjoy some peace and quiet.

However, Pan Min remained hesitant. Besides, resigning from her job wasn't something that could be done in a day or two. Ultimately, she rejected Su Qing's offer.

Naturally, Zhou Yuwen didn't have that much time to manage Pan Min's affairs. He could only make sure to take extra care of her while he was home. Using his status, he greeted the deputy county head, stating outright that his mother-in-law was teaching at the city's Second High School, and requesting that she be transferred to a more leisurely position.

Zhou Yuwen had invested over a billion yuan into the county, and his later projects had yet to even break ground. The deputy county head didn't dare to neglect him. When the news reached the Second High School, it let everyone else know that Pan Min had a very capable son-in-law.

After handling all of this, Zhou Yuwen returned to Jinling.

By the time he returned to Jinling, it was already mid-September. The university had started its new term. In the sweltering late summer heat, the athletic field was packed with freshmen in camouflage uniforms, complaining endlessly as they underwent their military training.

A new semester brought a new atmosphere. The back-to-school season looked largely the same every year; the only difference, perhaps, was the perspective of the people involved.

Last year, Zhou Yuwen and Su Qing were still freshmen. Zheng Yanyan was a sunny and cheerful girl from Jingcheng, while Shen Yu was a greenhorn who couldn't even figure out where her dormitory building was.

For this year's opening, Zheng Yanyan still led the pack in style. Under the scorching thirty-degree Celsius sun, she wore a red off-the-shoulder crop top that exposed her slender waist and navel.

On her lower half, a pair of dark blue denim shorts tightly hugged her curvy hips. Her flawless legs were dazzlingly white in the sunlight. Shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand, she used the other to direct the people beside her. "Move the tables and chairs over here! The freshmen will be done with military training soon, and they'll be coming over to pick their favorite student clubs."

"Come on, why are you only getting here now? What kind of vice minister acts like this!" Zheng Yanyan had been waiting there for a long time when Lu Lin, dressed in a bark-brown sleeveless T-shirt and black flared denim pants, casually strolled over.

This made Zheng Yanyan quite angry.

But Lu Lin simply retorted, "Isn't having you as a vice minister enough?"

"Of course it's not enough! We need to pick out a few more true beauties this time, saving them for hubby," Zheng Yanyan hummed.

Lu Lin was utterly speechless at this. She said, "What do you think the university's Arts Department is? Your hubby's personal harem?"

"Hehe, he's your hubby too," Zheng Yanyan laughed.

Lu Lin instantly lost all desire to continue the conversation.

The Arts Department wasn't the only lively spot. Right now, all the school's departments and student clubs were bustling about on this open plaza. Aside from Zheng Yanyan, who took the field personally for this recruitment drive because she had managed to become a department head as a mere sophomore, the other departments had basically just sent their vice ministers to handle things.

For instance, Shen Yu, the vice president of the Student Union, lacked Zheng Yanyan's fiery temper. She directed her subordinates with a soft, gentle voice.

Meanwhile, Li Qiang, the vice minister of the External Liaison Department, was over there beating gongs and sounding drums, shouting, "Step right up, step right up!"

"Come take a look! Check out our External Liaison Department! Freshmen, do you need to buy a computer for the new semester? Computers are cheaper if you buy them through us!"

"We can even buy pots, pans, and bowls on your behalf! We offer a friendly discount here!"

Li Qiang was as business-minded as ever. Moreover, because he was currently living in cohabitation with Lü Hui off-campus, he worked even harder, unwilling to let a single money-making opportunity slip by.

Once the military training concluded and the freshmen actually flooded over, this previously desolate sunbaked plaza instantly became as bustling as a flea market. Li Qiang grew even more enthusiastic. Whenever he encountered a pretty girl in particular, he would vigorously promote the External Liaison Department, listing all its various benefits.

Zheng Yanyan's Arts Department, owing to its abundance of beautiful women, naturally attracted quite a few male students who stopped to inquire. Unfortunately for them, Zheng Yanyan had a domineering personality. She bluntly declared that the Arts Department was not recruiting any boys.

"How can you do that?" Hearing this, some people were very perplexed.

Other universities didn't have such a rule.

Zheng Yanyan's response was simple: "If other universities don't have this rule, then go sign up at those other universities."

"Our Arts Department is entirely made up of girls. Plus, the department is equipped with a dance studio and a yoga room, which are all for the girls to use. It would be inconvenient to have boys coming in. We're doing this to protect the girls."

What Zheng Yanyan said wasn't exactly flawed, but her blatant and unapologetic broadcast of this policy still provoked dissatisfaction among many, to the point where some even went to file complaints against her. Fortunately, she had Zhou Yuwen standing behind her.

Therefore, even if complaints were filed, they were guaranteed to just fade away into nothingness.

Then again, this year's batch of freshmen indeed had a few exceptionally pretty little flowers who stood out from the crowd. Their looks were not inferior to Zheng Yanyan and the others. Being students of dance and vocal music, their image and temperament captivated the gazes of numerous boys on the very first day of the semester.

Later, during the military training activities, they performed dances or sang, achieving fame in a single stroke and quickly blowing up on the school forum.

Even though Zhou Yuwen hadn't shown his face during this year's freshman opening, it was absolutely true that his legend could be found everywhere.

From the very first step the freshmen took onto the campus, there were older students hollering at them, "Hey there, classmate! Do you want to set up a phone card?"

After a year of painstaking effort, Zhou Yuwen's Xuhuai Association had essentially spread throughout all the colleges and universities in Jinling. Consequently, his phone card business had naturally reached the level of a total monopoly.

However, monopoly aside, the business model for the phone cards remained unchanged. The tasks were basically distributed downwards, allowing the students to manage things themselves. How much they earned depended entirely on their own abilities, with Zhou Yuwen only taking a small cut of the profits.

Even so, a single back-to-school season could bring Zhou Yuwen three to four million yuan in passive income.

For places like Nanjing University, as well as his own college, Zhou Yuwen had assigned the operations to Li Shiqi.

Of course, this was an opportunity Zhou Yuwen had secured for her.

He had been so busy these past few months that Zhou Yuwen had long since forgotten about his high school classmate.

Li Shiqi, however, had not forgotten Zhou Yuwen. She also frequently saw news about him in the media.

She remembered that back when Zhou Yuwen wasn't so famous, she would occasionally seek him out for a chat.

Like during the holidays and festivals.

For example, on the Winter Solstice, she would send Zhou Yuwen a message, telling him to remember to eat dumplings.

And during the Lantern Festival, she would also ask if he had eaten any sweet rice balls.

At that time, Zhou Yuwen would reply, saying thank you.

But after Zhou Yuwen became famous, the number of times Li Shiqi reached out to him dwindled more and more.

After all, the gap between the two of them had become too vast. Zhou Yuwen had a net worth of over three billion yuan, while Li Shiqi was still that same girl—a burden to her mother who wasn't even allowed at the dinner table during the New Year.

Driven by her pride, Li Shiqi truly lacked the courage to seek Zhou Yuwen out again.

It wasn't until the start of the new semester drew near, when she saw a crowd of people in the freshmen group chat talking about making money by selling campus cards.

Although Li Shiqi had been working part-time as a tutor throughout the previous semester, her tuition fees for the year still amounted to over ten thousand yuan. She was still just scraping by on the poverty line.

After a moment of hesitation, the long-silent Li Shiqi finally sent Zhou Yuwen a message: "You there?"

At the time, Zhou Yuwen was on his way back to Jinling.

Seeing the message from Li Shiqi, he paused in surprise for a moment.

After a slight hesitation, he replied: "Yeah."

"How have you been lately?" Li Shiqi asked.

"Not bad. I just got back from America. What about you? Your university should have started by now, right?" Zhou Yuwen asked.

Li Shiqi gave an "Mhm" in agreement. After that, she fell silent. Sensing that she definitely had a reason for reaching out, Zhou Yuwen took the initiative to ask her.

As a result, she still hesitated for a long time on the other end before finally saying, "Are you still doing the phone card business?"

Having said that, as if biting the bullet, Li Shiqi let out the rest of her thoughts. She explained that now that the semester had started, she wanted to get involved in the phone card business but didn't know who to approach.

If Zhou Yuwen knew, could he teach her?

"If you don't know, that's completely fine too,"

she quickly added after finishing her explanation.

Because she couldn't help but feel that saying all this made her seem very opportunistic, almost as if she were trying to snatch Zhou Yuwen's business.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yuwen looked at the message from Li Shiqi on his phone. He looked up and asked Liu Shuo who was currently in charge of the phone card business.

"Oh, I handed that over to Gao Yang. What's up, bro?"

Zhou Yuwen explained that Li Shiqi had reached out to him wanting to do the phone card business.

"I was thinking of assigning her university's area to her. Go have a chat with Gao Yang about it."

"That's a trivial matter, bro. I'll have Gao Yang contact her immediately," Liu Shuo hastily agreed. For them, the phone card business was now just something they managed on the side. Beyond phone cards, Zhou Yuwen's crew had currently monopolized all the student labor in the university town, along with the ground promotion work for QR codes. They were raking in several million a month.

This money was truly as if it had grown legs, automatically running into Zhou Yuwen's wallet every single day.

Even the underlings who followed Zhou Yuwen were living comfortably, rolling in dough.

While Liu Shuo went to pass on the word, Zhou Yuwen made a phone call to Li Shiqi.

Because Zhou Yuwen hadn't replied to her message for a while, Li Shiqi thought to herself, 'My chances are definitely dashed.'

Inevitably, this young girl found herself worrying about gains and losses in her heart.

She thought to herself, 'I was being somewhat impolite. I haven't contacted Zhou Yuwen in ages, yet the moment I do, it's to ask him to introduce me to some business. That is simply too mercenary.'

But what else could she do?

The more she thought about her own bitter struggles, the more Li Shiqi felt she shouldn't have approached Zhou Yuwen at all.

Yet before she could even sort through her thoughts, Zhou Yuwen's call came in.

Feeling a bit flustered, Li Shiqi quickly answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Shiqi,"

Zhou Yuwen's current way of speaking had somewhat taken on the style of a seasoned veteran. He told her that the campus card business in the university town was still under his control.

"However, we're using a distribution model now. I can give you the agency rights for Nanjing University."

Hearing this, Li Shiqi couldn't help but feel overjoyed, but she then added, "Won't that be a bit too much trouble..."

Zhou Yuwen replied that it wasn't a problem at all. They were already looking for an agent at every school anyway, and her side hadn't locked one down yet.

"Plus, we're operating under a corporate management system now. We look at the sales figures of every agent. Take it seriously, and if you do a good job, there will be other bonuses as well."

Li Shiqi grew even happier upon hearing this. "Then thank you, Zhou Yuwen!"

Zhou Yuwen said, "There's no need to be so polite with me. Just work hard, and once you start making money, remember to treat me to a meal. That's all."

At the mention of a meal, Li Shiqi's face instantly flushed red. She murmured that she had wanted to treat him to a meal last year, but there simply had never been the time.

Zhou Yuwen chuckled and said she definitely had to find the time to treat him this year.

"I'll be back at school soon."

"Are you back in Jinling?"

"Yeah."

Being able to chat with Zhou Yuwen over the phone visibly brightened Li Shiqi's mood.

Unfortunately, happy times were always fleeting. After a brief exchange, Zhou Yuwen mentioned that he had to hang up.

Helpless, Li Shiqi could only give a quiet hum of agreement.

When Zhou Yuwen returned to the university, the very first thing he noticed were the banners advertising phone cards hung up everywhere. Moreover, with the agents distributing the business layer by layer, even the freshmen had begun to dabble in selling phone cards.

It was hard to guarantee that his name wouldn't come up during their late-night dormitory chats.

They would say that a year ago, Zhou Yuwen had made over a hundred thousand just from selling phone cards, and now he was even capable of going to New York for stock trading!

It wasn't just the chatter about phone cards. Walking a bit further into the campus, one could also see Xianlin Cultural Media Co., Ltd. recruiting talent. These so-called talents were arranged to take on part-time jobs as car models or etiquette hostesses. The work was easy, and one could earn three to four hundred yuan a day—some even making as much as six to seven hundred.

Naturally, there was no need to worry about safety issues.

Because this was Zhou Yuwen's company.

"Do you know Zhou Yuwen? The guy who writes novels and opens companies! His food delivery company sold for tens of millions of yuan. We don't just run a cultural company; we have a security company too. Zhou Yuwen will assign specialists to protect you, ensuring you absolutely won't get hurt. Of course, if it's a completely consensual matter on your end, that's out of our hands."

For this year's university freshmen, the single unavoidable figure was perhaps Zhou Yuwen. Whether they were boys or girls, as long as they came to Jinling for university, it was impossible not to mention his name.

At night, the boys would chat about how badass Zhou Yuwen was.

They would even bring up the topic of the Xuhuai Association.

They would talk about how incredibly heaven-defying the Xuhuai Association was, and then claim that Zhou Yuwen was the boss behind its back.

At this point, someone would point out, "Doesn't that make it the mafia?"

Then a know-it-all would counter, "Hey, if he wasn't part of the underworld, how could Zhou Yuwen have grown his business this large? You have to be ruthless in business!"

There were definitely boys who worshipped Zhou Yuwen.

Meanwhile, inside the girls' dormitory, the topic of Zhou Yuwen was equally unavoidable.

Putting aside Zhou Yuwen's handsome looks, just his verifiable net worth of over three billion yuan—coupled with the fact that rumors of him could be heard anytime and anywhere around the campus over the past few days—inevitably sparked the curiosity of the girls regarding what kind of man he was.

Among the freshmen, the most beautiful girl was named Yin Songyue.

Coming from a dance background, she not only had a sweet appearance but also a tall, slender figure.

During military training, she performed her own choreography to the song "Nobody", prompting many to dub her the number one school beauty. She attracted the pursuit of countless boys, among whom there was no shortage of rich second generation heirs and highly educated handsome guys.

But so far, Yin Songyue hadn't accepted a single invitation from any boy.

At this time, a roommate asked Yin Songyue what kind of boy she wanted to find.

Yin Songyue smiled faintly and declared, "I want to find a boy who can conquer me!"