Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 353: Small Town Brahmin

Zhou Yuwen had been stuck in traffic on the expressway all day today. To be honest, he was quite exhausted. Being forcefully dragged toward the study room by his mother left him feeling somewhat helpless. With a wry smile, he said, "Mom, can't whatever this is wait until tomorrow?"But with such a massive event happening in the family, the older couple had been sitting at the dinner table with their minds full of question marks. Now that they finally had the chance to close the door and speak privately, how could they possibly let Zhou Yuwen off so easily?

If Zhou Yuwen did not explain everything clearly today, he could forget about sleeping.

"What is there to explain?"

Zhou Guobin's study room had only been renovated in the past couple of years. Unlike commercial apartments where people had to count every square foot, the advantage of a self-built house was its sheer size. Therefore, although it was a study room, it was spacious enough to be partitioned into an office area and a reception area. Usually, Zhou Guobin would sit here to drink tea, smoke a cigarette, or just relax.

Right now, Zhou Yuwen sat alone on a single-seat mahogany sofa, while his parents sat diagonally opposite him on a larger sofa. Faced with Zhou Yuwen's question, the middle-aged couple first exchanged a glance.

Zhou Yuwen's mother, Yang Lirong, spoke first. "Tell us about this novel-writing business of yours first. What exactly is going on!"

The two of them currently only had two major burning questions.

The first was that they originally thought their son coming home from school was a very simple matter. So how did he inexplicably end up driving a luxury car worth over a million yuan and suddenly possess several million in savings?

This matter absolutely had to be explained clearly.

The other question was, what was the deal with that girl?

Zhou Yuwen replied that this was something anyone with eyes could see. He had loved writing since he was young. In high school, he did not have the time to write, but now that he was in university, he naturally wanted to do the things he loved.

And then, just like that, he accidentally became famous.

"You made a few million, right?" his mother asked.

"Not a few million. It is over ten million," Zhou Yuwen said casually.

"Over ten..." His mother was nearly so shocked she could not catch her breath.

His father actually handled it better. With the cases he dealt with, amounts over ten million were rare a couple of years ago, but he had grown numb to them recently.

Seeing their son succeed genuinely made them proud as parents. This was especially true during the dinner with their relatives earlier, where one relative after another offered sincere praise, saying that Yuwen had really made something of himself.

That felt far better than being praised themselves.

To be honest, half a year ago, the couple had been quite worried about Zhou Yuwen. His grades were not stellar, and he had barely managed to get into a second-tier university. The children of his parents' colleagues were all attending Project 985 or 211 universities, and some even got into the National University of Defense Technology. Naturally, those families threw massive celebratory banquets. With Zhou Yuwen only getting into an ordinary second-tier school, the couple had felt too embarrassed to host a college enrollment banquet of their own.

But now everything was fine. Their son had found his own path, and the two of them felt immense relief.

Yang Lirong kept pressing Zhou Yuwen about exactly how much money there was and how he had spent it.

Zhou Yuwen told the truth, saying he had bought a car.

Then he added that he had bought a villa in Jinling. The car cost over a million, and the house was over five million.

After all the miscellaneous expenses, he still had over three million left.

"It is all in this card," Zhou Yuwen said, placing the prepared bank card on the coffee table. He had to give his parents some sort of explanation anyway. This three million could just serve as their pocket money.

After Zhou Yuwen finished explaining everything, the old couple remained silent for a long time. It took a while before his mother could not help but stand up and smack Zhou Yuwen on the shoulder. She scolded, "You kid! With something this massive happening, why did you not say anything sooner!?"

Zhou Yuwen asked how he was supposed to bring it up.

"If I told you, would you not have just confiscated all the money?"

"Hey! I am your mother! Is it not perfectly natural for me to manage your money for you!?"

Although she was lecturing Zhou Yuwen, Yang Lirong had a bright smile on her face. It was obvious she was genuinely thrilled.

She had broken the ice, but she could not be the only one asking all the questions. She gestured for Zhou Guobin to start speaking.

The family of three had actually been chatting for over ten minutes by now, but Zhou Guobin had remained very quiet. Now that it was his turn to speak.

Zhou Guobin was not quite sure how to ask. He pondered for a moment, then pulled a half-empty pack of cigarettes from the chest pocket of his shirt. He took one out and placed it in his mouth first. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he waved the cigarette pack forward and asked Zhou Yuwen if he wanted one.

Zhou Yuwen quickly waved his hand, saying he did not smoke.

"Oh," Zhou Guobin gave a dry and dull reply.

After thinking for a second, he took the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Pfft!"

Seeing Zhou Guobin act like this, Yang Lirong could not hold back a sudden burst of laughter. She stood up and said, "You father and son chat first. I will go boil some water for you!"

With that, she got up and left the study room.

In truth, the father and son did not have much to talk about. Even though Zhou Yuwen's parents were not divorced, he was essentially raised by his mother. His father was always busy with work year-round, and his job rarely kept him at the local office. Being out of town for ten days or half a month at a time was a common occurrence. As a result, their father-son relationship was not particularly close. After he went to university, he had not been home for a full four months. Frankly speaking, suddenly being left alone together was a bit awkward.

After a long pause, Zhou Guobin finally asked, "That girl, how did you meet her?"

Zhou Yuwen explained that they were high school friends and now attended the same university.

"Are you two dating?"

"Not really, we are just ordinary friends," Zhou Yuwen replied.

"Mhm."

Zhou Guobin nodded.

In his past life, when Zhou Yuwen brought Su Qing home, the atmosphere had been quite similar. His father had asked about Su Qing's family background, and upon hearing it was a single-parent family, he had merely frowned slightly. Other than that, there were no major issues.

In this life, because Zhou Yuwen claimed they were just ordinary friends, his father did not even ask about her family.

He did, however, add an evaluation, remarking that the girl seemed heavily driven by ambition and was quite calculating, not at all like a typical eighteen-year-old little girl.

Zhou Guobin and his wife had just been discussing this very topic earlier. Their underlying implication was a worry that Zhou Yuwen might get taken advantage of.

The main issue was that the young girl was simply far too beautiful. Under normal circumstances, she would not even look twice at Zhou Yuwen.

It was a good thing that their son was writing a novel, making money, and showing promise.

But looking at it from another angle, was this girl only after their son's money?

After all, the gifts she had presented to the couple perfectly catered to their specific tastes. If she did not come with an ulterior motive, how could she have tailored her gifts so flawlessly?

He originally wanted to have a serious talk with Zhou Yuwen about this, but since Zhou Yuwen insisted they were just ordinary friends, Zhou Guobin did not know what else to say. He could only give Zhou Yuwen a brief lecture about how sinister people in the outside world could be and advise him not to be too flashy.

"It is a good thing that you can make money writing a novel. Both your mother and I are proud of you. But as the saying goes, complacency brings ruin, while modesty brings benefits. Too much of a good thing leads to a downfall. Take that car you bought, for instance."

Initially, seeing that his son did not smoke, Zhou Guobin had not wanted to light up either. But as the topic opened up, he could not resist lighting a cigarette anyway and continued chatting with Zhou Yuwen.

Buying a car was a good thing.

You have grown up, and I support you buying a car.

But there really is no need to jump straight into buying a car worth over a million right off the bat.

Zhou Yuwen thought to himself, 'I did not buy a million-plus car right off the bat. My first purchase was a sports car worth seven or eight hundred thousand.'

However, Zhou Yuwen kept that thought to himself.

He simply listened honestly to his father's lecturing.

Yang Lirong walked in carrying tea. From quite a distance, she could hear Zhou Guobin saying, "Look at your cousin Peng Xiaoyong. He is already twenty-six, yet he only thought about buying a fifty or sixty thousand yuan second-hand car for practice."

"You just went and bought a car over a million right out of the gate. How are other families going to look at us?"

Hearing this, Yang Lirong became quite displeased. What was wrong with how they looked at them?

"How can that precious nephew of yours even compare to my son?"

With just one sentence, Yang Lirong directly managed to retort against Zhou Guobin. Zhou Guobin had just hit his stride in the conversation, but hearing this rendered him immediately speechless. He muttered that he was just trying to educate their son.

"Why bring up your nephew while educating your son? Are their situations even the same?"

"When he went abroad, he borrowed a hundred thousand yuan from our family and has not even mentioned paying it back. Now he is talking about buying a car. Oh, is he your son now?"

Zhou Guobin did not care about such small amounts of money. No matter what, his eldest sister was still his older sister. She had undoubtedly doted on Zhou Guobin when they were young. If she casually brought up a few childhood memories, Zhou Guobin would naturally hand over the money.

But Yang Lirong felt entirely different.

That was their family's money!

Money meant for their own son, and you just give it to outsiders?

"My son bought a car relying entirely on the money he earned himself. No matter how much he spent, it proves his own capability. Since your nephew is so amazing, having studied abroad and returned, then let him buy one himself! Why does he need us to sponsor him?" Yang Lirong had long been harboring a grudge about this matter, and she immediately took this opportunity to spit it all out.

Zhou Guobin's expression turned slightly sour upon hearing this. With a look of disgust, he said, "Why are you acting like a shrew? What do you mean 'my son'? Pay attention to your attitude."

"Hmph!" Yang Lirong dismissed him. She turned to Zhou Yuwen and said, "Son, you made a great purchase, and Mom supports you. Some other day, Mom will drive your car for a spin around my workplace and let my colleagues drown in envy!"

Hearing this, Zhou Guobin instantly could not sit still anymore. He said, "Yang Lirong, do not mess around!"

"How is that messing around? I want to drive my son's car. Is there a problem?" Yang Lirong asked.

Zhou Guobin was nearly infuriated, thinking to himself that the situations were entirely different.

This was exactly what was bad about small county towns. Even if Zhou Yuwen drove a luxury car and lived in a villa in Jinling, it would not cause any ripples.

But if they flaunted it like this in their own hometown, even a non-issue would spiral into a massive controversy.

That was why Zhou Guobin kept emphasizing the need to keep a low profile.

It was best not to drive this car out for joyrides.

Yang Lirong retorted that Zhou Guobin was just being pretentious. As a petty official the size of a sesame seed, who would even care about him? Did the children of his superiors not also drive cars worth four or five hundred thousand yuan all over town?

Yes, but their superior's child was already thirty years old and was only driving a car worth four or five hundred thousand.

Meanwhile, a mere university student was going out driving a car worth over a million.

Either way, it was simply not allowed.

Yang Lirong continued arguing with Zhou Guobin.

Then the two of them started bickering. It could not really be considered arguing, just a simple debate, though their voices did grow a bit louder. Zhou Yuwen found it highly annoying. After listening for a while, he started covering his ears and declared, "Alright, alright. If you want to keep arguing, go ahead. I cannot take this anymore."

"I am going back to sleep."

Seeing that Zhou Yuwen was about to leave, the two of them quieted down for a moment. Yang Lirong even called out, "Hey, son, have a sip of water first!"

Zhou Yuwen waved his hand dismissively and left the room.

After Zhou Yuwen left, his parents finally settled down, watching his retreating back.

Feeling somewhat emotional, Yang Lirong said, "Our son has truly grown up."

Zhou Guobin nodded, but he did not appear to be all that pleased.

Puzzled, Yang Lirong asked if something was weighing on his mind.

Zhou Guobin replied that he had indeed grown up.

"It is just, it feels a bit weird."

"Weird? What is weird about it?"

Zhou Guobin said, "I feel like he is no longer my son."

Hearing this, Yang Lirong immediately burst out laughing and said, "Not your son? What do you mean by that, Zhou Guobin!?"

Yang Lirong suddenly caught the implication.

"No, no!" Zhou Guobin also realized his phrasing had been quite poor. He quickly clarified that he did not mean it like that. It was just that Zhou Yuwen had been gone for four months, and he had truly changed so much.

"Of course I know he is my son!"

"Is change a bad thing? Children have to grow up eventually."

Zhou Guobin sighed and admitted, "Yes, children have to grow up eventually."

While the couple was deep in thought, Zhou Yuwen had returned to the room he had been away from for so long.

Fortunately, his memories from his past life were still intact, so he could easily find his own room.

Zhou Yuwen's room was on the second floor, located directly above the living room. It was about thirty square meters and quite cozy. The moment he stepped inside, long-lost memories flooded his mind. In an instant, everything before his eyes felt incredibly familiar, even though it had been five or six years since he had last been in this bedroom.

Zhou Yuwen's family was genuinely considered quite well-off for a small city.

His room was a bit nicer than those of other children. The bookcase was lined with all sorts of reading material, including things like "A-Shuai", "Xingxing Jiuyue Tian", "Comic Patty", as well as "Dragon Raja" and "Soul Land".

And a whole series of others. These were all books he had read during middle school or high school.

Looking at them again through the lens of his future self, he felt an inexplicable sense of nostalgia. Taking them out to flip through now still brought him a distinct sense of enjoyment.

Zhou Yuwen took out his phone, only to discover that countless people had already sent him messages. Naturally, the first one he clicked on was from Su Qing.

She asked if he had made it home yet.

"Zhou Yuwen, my mother really likes you." Su Qing happily shared this with him.

Hearing this, Zhou Yuwen could not help but smile. He leaned against the window of the balcony.

That was right, Zhou Yuwen's bedroom also featured a small balcony.

Zhou Yuwen replied, "We are doomed. My parents do not seem to like you very much."

"???"

Upon reading this message, Su Qing replied instantly, asking what the situation was.

Zhou Yuwen texted back, "I told you before that it was best to keep things as they were, but you refused to listen. Although the gifts you gave them were exactly what they liked, they feel that you are far too calculating for doing so."

"Ah? What should I do then, hubby?" Su Qing immediately acted pitifully.

Zhou Yuwen replied that there was nothing to be done now. It was her fault for not listening to him.

"I was wrong, hubby (pitiful),"

"I will listen to you from now on."

Zhou Yuwen watched her act like this and found it secretly amusing.

While leaning on the balcony, Zhou Yuwen suddenly noticed his cousin Peng Xiaoyong walking out from the stairwell in the courtyard.

Zhou Yuwen and his parents lived in the main house, while Lu Wanting was staying on the second floor added to the annex, which was the room diagonally opposite to Zhou Yuwen's.

After Peng Xiaoyong walked out, he immediately spotted Zhou Yuwen on the second floor.

Zhou Yuwen greeted him, calling out to his older cousin.

"Heading home, cousin? Are you not staying here tonight?"