Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 492: Don't Make Her Angry

In truth, for someone at Liu Dongqiang's level of business, a fifteen percent interest rate might not hold much allure. However, Zhou Yuwen was talking about a guaranteed fifteen percent return on principal. He was probably the only one who dared to make such a claim. It was one thing for other private equity funds to make high profits, but they inevitably had times when they lost money. Leaving everything else aside, the current year was 2014, and the economic situation was excellent. But what about five years from now? Or ten years?When that time came, who would dare to claim they could guarantee a profit without any losses?

Zhou Yuwen had that absolute confidence.

However, in the current era, everyone was overly optimistic about the future economy. Liu Dongqiang admired the way Zhou Yuwen had dominated the stock market over the past few days, but when Zhou Yuwen actually proposed starting a private equity fund, Liu Dongqiang carelessly brushed it off with a laugh. He felt that a fifteen percent profit was too small. Going by his underlying meaning, Liu Dongqiang was essentially saying: my friend, why don't you just invest your capital directly into our JD.com?

JD.com has already built numerous logistics warehouses domestically, and our future goal is...

Perhaps because he had been drinking, Liu Dongqiang spoke with little restraint or filter.

Zhou Yuwen emphasized once again that he was guaranteeing a fifteen percent return on principal. Given the economic conditions of the next few years, he felt he could easily achieve thirty percent.

"Then, my friend, may I ask which industries you are most optimistic about?"

"Speaking of industries, everyone actually knows the answers. It's nothing more than e-commerce, semiconductors, real estate, and then new energy and AI. These sectors are all blue oceans right now, and I believe you can see that too, Brother Dong. But when it comes down to actual investment, you don't just blindly rush in because you favor an industry. You definitely have to pick the best of the best."

Take Nvidia, for example, which was relatively obscure right now. In 2014, Nvidia was just a small company still in its developmental phase. Yet, even though it was still growing, it wasn't a game Zhou Yuwen could afford to play. His current total assets were only around one hundred million dollars.

At present, Nvidia's market value had already surpassed ten billion dollars and was heavily backed by various capital groups. It would be quite difficult for Zhou Yuwen to enter the market and invest in Nvidia purely on his own. The only feasible approach was to pool together some capable businessmen to grab a slice of this massive cake.

One had to realize that ten years later, Nvidia's market value would reach a staggering 3.3 trillion dollars.

That was the true definition of a massive cake.

Naturally, Zhou Yuwen would only discuss which sectors had potential with Liu Dongqiang; he would never pinpoint a specific company. For instance, Zhou Yuwen mentioned that new energy vehicles were currently very popular abroad, and he asserted that they would definitely become a major trend in the future.

To put it simply, the vast majority of the gasoline car market was controlled by foreign entities. It was already impossible for domestic companies to dominate the market relying solely on traditional fuel vehicles. If they wanted to sell their products, their only option was to open up a new market, and new energy vehicles perfectly met this domestic demand.

Liu Dongqiang had genuinely never considered this point. After listening to Zhou Yuwen's explanation, he could not help nodding repeatedly.

He had read plenty of news about new energy vehicles while abroad and knew of a foreign businessman named Musk who was deeply involved in it, but he had truly never thought this concept would blow up domestically in the future.

It was not that Liu Dongqiang was foolish, but rather that new energy was still a concept five years ahead of its time. He currently spent every day pondering over the internet and O2O models; how could he possibly pay attention to new energy?

As JD.com strengthened its cooperation with Tencent, JD.com was directly integrated into WeChat, and they were also developing their consumer financing. This path was so bright and promising that Liu Dongqiang had inadvertently overlooked other avenues for making money.

It was not until this casual chatting with Zhou Yuwen that he heard about this prospect.

Only then did Liu Dongqiang sense that this could genuinely be a highly profitable venture.

This Zhou Yuwen really knew his stuff.

Zhou Yuwen reiterated his point: he wanted to set up a private equity fund, and guaranteeing a fifteen percent return on principal would be no problem at all.

Liu Dongqiang laughed and said, "My friend, I just came over this time to treat you to a meal and get to know you. How about this, let me think about it."

"Besides, a private equity fund isn't something you can just start on a whim, and the two of us certainly can't get it off the ground alone. Someday soon, I'll invite a few more people out, and we can all gather together. I'll host."

Since Liu Dongqiang had already put it that way, Zhou Yuwen did not press the issue any further.

However, Zhou Yuwen's remarks just now had left a profound impression on Zhang Tianze. Perhaps because she spent her time by Liu Dongqiang's side, the information she absorbed was entirely focused on e-commerce and O2O models. The concept of new energy that Zhou Yuwen brought up today gave her a fresh perspective.

Furthermore, Zhou Yuwen's speech and demeanor were vastly different from Liu Dongqiang's. The contrast between a young man and a middle-aged man was stark. Zhou Yuwen was merely nineteen years old, yet his conversation and thinking were not the least bit inferior to Liu Dongqiang's. He even faintly controlled the rhythm of their exchange. On the contrary, Liu Dongqiang seemed a bit out of his depth here, deliberately avoiding any deep discussions with Zhou Yuwen regarding financial investment knowledge.

Zhang Tianze already viewed Zhou Yuwen through a halo of admiration.

She thought Zhou Yuwen was a genius. He had established a sixty-million-yuan company back in their home country and was now actively stock trading abroad. Therefore, no matter what Zhou Yuwen said, Zhang Tianze instinctively felt he was right.

She was naturally drawn to strong and capable individuals. After witnessing this scene tonight, her good impression of him subtly and steadily deepened.

After the meal, Liu Dongqiang had his driver take them back. This time, Zhang Tianze also took the car back to the school because Liu Dongqiang had a video call meeting scheduled shortly.

During the car ride back to school, Su Qing could not help but ask Zhang Tianze out of curiosity, "Brother Dong rarely visits. Don't you need to accompany him?"

Zhang Tianze shook her head and replied quite indifferently, "Oh, we are currently still in the normal dating phase. Plus, he is usually very busy, so we rarely spend time alone together."

"Oh, is that so?"

Su Qing found this hard to understand upon hearing it, but it was actually quite logical. Liu Dongqiang taking Zhang Tianze as his girlfriend was fundamentally more of a publicity stunt than a practical relationship.

Furthermore, he was a forty-year-old man. Someone like Brother Dong had weathered many storms and certainly did not lack women. He could find women anytime and anywhere, so he could casually hook up in private. As for the one presented publicly, it honestly didn't matter whether he touched her or not.

Although such matters were generally harmless.

However, since it had already been publicized, if they maintained a respectful distance and the media found out about it, wouldn't it make their relationship seem even more pure?

It wouldn't just be perceived as a simple case of a lustful man and a greedy woman.

Su Qing felt all of this was completely unnecessary, but upper-class society always overcomplicated things.

It was almost ten o'clock at night by the time they returned to the school.

Normally, Zhang Tianze would return to her villa on the weekends, but she would usually stay in the school dormitory otherwise. As a side note, Su Qing was now sharing the same dormitory with Zhang Tianze.

Unfortunately, Su Qing could not accompany Zhang Tianze in the dormitory tonight. She was going out to stay with Zhou Yuwen.

After getting out of the car and hearing this news, a hint of disappointment flashed through Zhang Tianze's eyes. However, she quickly recovered and smiled. "Alright then, I'll head back first."

"Mm."

Su Qing waved her hand at Zhang Tianze.

And so, the two groups parted ways.

The living conditions at Barnard College for Women were considered excellent among all American universities. Their dormitory was a suite where all four girls had their own separate rooms. They could watch television, enjoy casual chatting, and eat together in the living room while still retaining their own private spaces.

Besides Su Qing and Zhang Tianze, this dormitory also housed two rich girls from the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Southern Fujian regions.

If singled out, Zhang Tianze was undeniably an excellent girl, but practically everyone who made it here was the type of girl with impossibly high standards who looked down on others.

When Zhang Tianze returned to the dormitory, the other two girls were chatting in the living room. Seeing Zhang Tianze return by herself, they asked, "Huh? Weren't you and Su Qing out eating together? Why are you back all by yourself?"

"Oh, she went out to stay with her boyfriend tonight," Zhang Tianze replied casually.

Upon hearing this, an intriguing expression flashed across the two girls' faces.

Perhaps due to the foreign educational environment, these students spoke quite directly. One of the girls quickly asked out of curiosity, "Hey, Tianze? Don't you feel a sense of unfairness deep down?"

At that moment, Zhang Tianze was rummaging through the refrigerator for a drink. Hearing this, she was slightly puzzled. "Unfairness? What do you mean?"

The girl laughed and said, "I mean Su Qing. I heard she just comes from a small county town in Northern Jiangsu, but her boyfriend is handsome and talented. I recently heard he's made a fortune in stock trading too. Compared to her, your boyfriend is already forty years old. He might be rich, but the overall experience has to be completely different, right?" At first, Zhang Tianze was genuinely curious about what her classmate meant by unfairness, but by the time the girl finished speaking, her expression had turned somewhat peculiar.

To be completely honest, although Zhou Yuwen was highly excellent, she had never thought to compare him with Liu Dongqiang.

Not until her roommate so bluntly pointed it out without any filter.

Moreover, the other roommate decided to join in and continued, "If it were me, I'd definitely feel it was unfair, wouldn't I? After all, I would never date someone older than my own father."

"So, purely from that perspective, I really admire Tianze!"

The roommate who had spoken first smiled and winked at Zhang Tianze.

After understanding what they meant, Zhang Tianze smiled and said, "Actually, I feel quite fine with it. Hmm, Su Qing's boyfriend is indeed very excellent, but my boyfriend isn't bad either. Since going public, JD.com has been steadily climbing. I think that if Su Qing's boyfriend works hard enough, he should also be able to own a publicly traded company by the time he reaches my boyfriend's age."

Zhang Tianze kept her smile, but her response carried a tone of elegantly deflecting the conversation with deliberate irrelevance. This made the two roommates feel rather bored, as their barbs had failed to pierce her, and they still wanted to find more words to mock her.

However, Zhang Tianze proactively stated, "Alright, it's getting late. I'm going back to my room."

"You guys should rest early too."

With that said, Zhang Tianze took the lead and returned to her room.

She left behind the two roommates who exchanged a glance before one of them silently mouthed a single word: 'Pretentious'.

Ever since high school, Zhang Tianze had never been popular among her female peers. But this was practically inevitable; after all, she had always been exceedingly excellent, and she was constantly surrounded by various rumors and gossip.

Leaving everything else aside, simply finding a boyfriend who was twenty years older than her was enough. To her face, there were definitely many people who told her that age didn't matter and expressed how much they felt envy that she had found a boyfriend who truly loved her.

But behind her back, they would undoubtedly mock her.

These girls who were studying abroad didn't rely on her for anything. Furthermore, in their eyes, Zhang Tianze was just being pretentious, so they naturally took every available opportunity to throw sarcastic jabs at her.

As for whether Zhang Tianze felt distressed in her heart.

No one really knew the answer to that.

Liu Dongqiang's driver took Zhou Yuwen and Su Qing directly back to the hotel. Zhou Yuwen was about to suggest they return to the villa to stay, but Su Qing interjected, "Isn't Lu Wanting also at the villa?"

"What exactly do you want to do?" Su Qing looked at Zhou Yuwen.

Zhou Yuwen replied that he didn't want to do anything; he simply wanted to show her the house he had bought.

Su Qing insisted that they just stay at the hotel.

"I still have classes tomorrow morning. The hotel is closer to the school, so it'll save us from having to rush around tomorrow."

Since Su Qing put it that way, Zhou Yuwen didn't say anything further.

After arriving at the hotel, the two of them started sharing gossip, just like they usually did.

Liu Dongqiang and his partner could be considered the first celebrities from their previous life that Zhou Yuwen and Su Qing had encountered since their rebirth. Su Qing's impression was that these two didn't seem quite as glamorous in reality as they appeared on the internet.

Su Qing spoke quite directly, saying she genuinely admired Tianze for having such immense courage.

That man was clearly in his forties. The scent on his body was exactly the same as her high school math teacher's. Even though he had sprayed cologne, that underlying smell was still quite unpleasant.

Zhou Yuwen couldn't help but laugh out loud upon hearing this. Naturally, he knew exactly who Su Qing's high school math teacher was. Wasn't that just the quintessential scent of middle-aged men?

Zhou Yuwen told her she was worrying over nothing. How other people chose to live was their own business; why overthink it so much?

"You can say that, but it's genuinely a pity for such an excellent girl like Tianze to be with a man so advanced in age." Su Qing truly felt it was unfair for Zhang Tianze because, according to the news from their previous life, Zhang Tianze had indeed ended up feeling wronged.

Zhou Yuwen, however, remarked that women were simply like this; they always let a single leaf block their view of the entire forest.

"You're only considering the fact that Zhang Tianze is a beautiful young woman barely out of her teens, but you haven't factored in Brother Dong's current achievements. Let alone finding one twenty-year-old girl, finding a hundred would be more than easy for him. The fact that Brother Dong can offer her a marriage shows he's actually taking responsibility for her. Honestly, it's fortunate she has some level of fame."

Su Qing remained noncommittal about this, simply stating that Zhou Yuwen's mindset was steeped in too much male chauvinism.

Zhou Yuwen just chuckled. "I've always been this way. What, is this your first day knowing me?"

As he spoke, Zhou Yuwen turned around, suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist, and hoisted Su Qing up into a princess carry.

This startled Su Qing, and she demanded to know what Zhou Yuwen was doing.

Zhou Yuwen smiled teasingly. "What do you think I'm doing? You went out of your way to sniff the scent on another man's body, so why don't you take a whiff and see what scent is on mine?"

With that, he carried Su Qing over to the bed. Su Qing was wearing a long skirt today, but when Zhou Yuwen lifted her, the fabric naturally rode up, exposing her calves.

Su Qing wore a pair of women's shoes and white openwork socks that featured a delicate lace edge.

Su Qing felt utterly helpless at Zhou Yuwen's eager and lustful demeanor, but she still cooperated. She gave a slight pout and remarked, "What's so good about the smell on your body? You reek of old man!"

"Oh, is that right? You dare say I smell like an old man? Watch how I deal with you!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Zhou Yuwen pounced on Su Qing.

Su Qing let out a brief squeal before she, too, couldn't help but burst into laughter.

The two playfully wrestled on the bed for a while.

Right at that moment, Zhou Yuwen's phone suddenly rang.

Su Qing nudged him to answer the phone call.

He waved it off, saying it was fine. It was probably just a spam call that would hang up on its own after ringing for a bit.

As it turned out, the phone kept ringing for a good while without stopping.

It was undeniably ruining the mood.

Feeling utterly speechless, Zhou Yuwen picked up the phone to check, wondering internally, 'Who could be so profoundly bored?'

Yet, when he saw the caller ID, he was genuinely caught off guard.

Meanwhile, Su Qing had also spotted the caller ID. She immediately smoothed down the long skirt that Zhou Yuwen had hitched up to her waist and let out a soft "Oh" of realization. "It seems your cousin-in-law is missing you. Hurry up and answer the phone; don't make her angry."