Prince charming, your persona has collapsed!-Chapter 765 - 323: Past and Present Lives, Looking Back at the Old Country_2

Chapter 765 -323: Past and Present Lives, Looking Back at the Old Country_2

Back then, Zhou Yuwen was in high school and would go out shopping with classmates.

There was a woman at a street stall who kept staring at him.

Zhou Yuwen didn’t think much of it at first.

Until the girl grabbed him and asked, “Are you Zhou Yuwen?”

It took Zhou Yuwen a moment to register, before he finally remembered who she was.

She was running a balloon popping stall at the time, and Zhou Yuwen was surprised to see her. He asked how she ended up there.

She gave an embarrassed smile and said, “Well, I’ve spent all my money, so I’m out here trying to earn a bit with my man.”

This experience made a deep impression on Zhou Yuwen, because the girl was the same age as him, yet had he not been greeted by her, he would have to call her ‘Auntie’.

They talked a little more afterward.

She was quite warm to Zhou Yuwen, asking him, “Where do you work at?”

At that time, Zhou Yuwen felt a sense of superiority, saying, “Oh, I’m still studying.”

After Zhou Yuwen said that, the other person was visibly taken aback, the look of familiar recognition in her eyes dimmed, and it took her a while to respond with an ‘Oh’.

Then the conversation died down, and while Zhou Yuwen and his friend were popping balloons, she didn’t charge him, but Zhou Yuwen paid nonetheless.

Zhou Yuwen’s family always had tenants, so since elementary school, he always had many people to play with.

By the time he was in high school, there was a group of older sisters who moved to the city for work and they would often flirt with him.

This continued all the way through college until Zhou Yuwen left his hometown.

Latter on, Zhou Yuwen’s family went through demolition and relocation.

In 2016, when the real estate market was booming.

Zhou Yuwen didn’t know how much compensation they received because his parents never mentioned it, but afterward, they owned seven or eight properties, including the large flat in Jinling.

Because of this, Zhou Yuwen had to endure quite a few sarcastic comments from his cousins.

Implying that since the house belonged to his grandfather, by rights it should have been shared among the family.

However, the uncle’s side really didn’t handle this well.

They didn’t share any of the compensation money and kept it all for themselves.

Zhou Yuwen didn’t know what to say about these comments, because the facts were just as they were.

Zhou Yuwen, being thin-skinned, even specifically discussed this issue with his mother, asking if she had considered giving a share to his aunts during the relocation.

But before he could finish his sentence, he was scolded by his mother.

His mother said, “What does this have to do with you?”

At the time he was young and didn’t understand the situation.

Now, looking back, he realizes that indeed, what does this have to do with him? It’s better to just be an honest ostrich.

However, it was also because of this issue that Zhou Yuwen’s family became somewhat estranged from their relatives, with the most distant relationship being with his Aunt’s family – she raised the issue multiple times at the dinner table, making it uncomfortable for everyone.

Of course, these events happened after 2016.

It’s only 2014 now, and the family relations are still harmonious.

This year, Zhou Yuwen’s cousin returned from across the ocean with a master’s degree, sporting gold-rimmed glasses, dressed in a dapper suit, a real handsome figure.

This was the first time Zhou Yuwen brought Su Qing home, and it was quite amusing. Peng Xiaoyong’s speech was interspersed with English, with two out of every three sentences being something like, “On this matter, I think the domestic approach is really bad, overseas it’s like this and that.”

Then Mr. Zhou asked him about his career plans.

You could say Peng Xiaoyong was quite fortunate.

He graduated in 2014, with a master’s degree.

Mr. Zhou heard that there was a vacancy in the municipal office, and Peng Xiaoyong just happened to fit the bill perfectly, no need to take any exams.

But at that time, Peng Xiaoyong was quite proud and scoffed at the offer, saying he didn’t need it as he already had many job offers from companies.

“On this matter, I think the domestic approach is really bad. People here care too much about a steady salary, always looking for stability, whereas overseas is better,” he said.

“Oh.”

After such a response, there was nothing more Mr. Zhou had to say.

Peng Xiaoyong struggled in the big city for six years and finally, in 2019, bought his first apartment there.

It turns out that under the grand backdrop of the era, we are all but insignificant specks of dust.

In 2019, both Zhou Yuwen and Su Qing got divorced, and Peng Xiaoyong wasn’t even married yet.

Ah, bygones are bygones. Everything is vividly etched in Zhou Yuwen’s mind as if it all happened yesterday.

Su Qing still had a deep impression of Peng Xiaoyong, and this time she wanted Zhou Yuwen to take her to see him again.

That’s because she remembered how Peng Xiaoyong’s glasses almost fell off when he first saw Zhou Yuwen bringing Su Qing home.

It wasn’t that he was surprised at how beautiful Su Qing was.

But what shocked him was that his cousin, being the kind of guy he was, could actually get a girlfriend!

Yeah.

In his view, aside from his own overflowing talent!

Zhou Yuwen, other than having affluent parents, isn’t much of anything else.

How can he have a girlfriend? frёewebηovel.cѳm

What struck Zhou Yuwen the most at that time was his cousin Peng Xiaoyong repeatedly asking three times, “This is your girlfriend?”

This nearly killed Su Qing with laughter; at night she even played with her phone while resting on Zhou Yuwen’s waist, saying: “See, even your cousin thinks you don’t deserve me.”

A few people were chatting; they left at eleven in the morning, and by two in the afternoon, they were still less than halfway through their journey.

They took another break at a rest stop, and used the restroom.

Today’s rest stop was indeed swarming with people.

The two girls took their time in the bathroom.

Liu Shuo took the chance to have a smoke outside the car, offering one to Zhou Yuwen, who shook his head and refused.

Asked him if he was tired from driving?

Liu Shuo grinned and said no.

Zhou Yuwen said: “Come on, I’ll drive for a while.”

“Bro, I’m really not tired,”

Liu Shuo said.

Zhou Yuwen said, okay, okay, I get it.

There were quite a few students at this service area who were studying in Jinling, and after the end-of-term exams, they also found part-time jobs in Jinling, so groups of students recognized Liu Shuo.

Seeing Liu Shuo, some couldn’t believe their own eyes and hurried over to greet him.

And they all called him “Brother Shuo!”

Before they could finish speaking, a cigarette was already handed to Liu Shuo.

Liu Shuo greeted them back in his casual and unconcerned manner, then introduced Zhou Yuwen to them.

“You are Brother Zhou?”

For them, recognizing Liu Shuo was impressive enough.

But they had heard plenty of stories about Zhou Yuwen.

So when they learned that the person before them was the founder of the Xu Huai Association and had, single-handedly, done so much for the college students, their eyes lit up, like meeting an idol.

Zhou Yuwen’s reaction was quite calm, he nodded slightly, and asked: “Heading home?”

“Yes!”

“Where’s home?”

Upon asking, they discovered they were all from the same county.

Then they talked about which high school they went to.

Zhou Yuwen and Liu Shuo went to County No. 1 High School, but these few were from township middle schools, so they couldn’t quite connect on that.

But Zhou Yuwen noticed that this Xu Huai Association that Liu Shuo had set up was really quite significant; at first, he thought there were just a few, but as they chatted, nearly thirty more showed up. Of course, only a few were from the same county, but they were spread out across different areas of Xu Huai, and after seeing Zhou Yuwen and Liu Shuo, they all came over to greet them respectfully.

Liu Shuo thought this was a very imposing situation.

Zhou Yuwen, however, always felt it was a bit odd.

After leaving the service area, Zhou Yuwen took over the driving.

Su Qing asked Zhou Yuwen: “Zhou Yuwen, who were those people greeting you just now?”

Zhou Yuwen said: “I don’t know them.”

“They don’t know you but greeted you?”

“Sis-in-law, you just don’t understand, those are all my brother’s followers! How about that? Quite something, right?” Liu Shuo said with a grin.

Zhou Yuwen told him to stop talking nonsense.

But Liu Shuo said it was true.

He said, “Bro, even though you’re not in the Xu Huai Association, our buddies really admire you! Hey, bro, but speaking of which, I’ve realized there are quite a few brothers from our county. What do you say, during the New Year, should we call everyone out for a get-together?”

While Liu Shuo was speaking, he had already started chatting in the group.

Zhou Yuwen asked him how many people there were.

Liu Shuo said a few hundred maybe.

Zhou Yuwen said: “Don’t mess around.”