Chapter 81 - Seventy-Five: An Unforgettable Night
"I said the person I like is Zhou Yuwen, did you get that?"
Li Qiang let out a strange hum from his bed.
It was an odd sound, hard to describe with words, akin to a whimper of a dog when someone accidentally steps on its paw, and then it retreats to the corner of the wall to make that noise, really weird.
So when such a noise came from Li Qiang’s mouth, both Chang Hao and Lu Yuhang inevitably looked up in Li Qiang’s direction.
"Qiangzi, what’s wrong?" Chang Hao asked curiously.
Li Qiang buried himself in the quilt and didn’t answer him.
Chang Hao tilted his head for quite a while, but since Li Qiang didn’t respond, he didn’t pay much attention. He had his own troubles to deal with, so how could he care about Li Qiang’s issues?
Like Li Qiang, Chang Hao had also encountered a problem: Zheng Yanyan was ignoring him.
What really bothered Chang Hao was that he felt it was his own fault.
If he hadn’t hesitated at that moment and had been the first to come forward and take the blame, maybe Zheng Yanyan wouldn’t have this attitude towards him.
"Yanyan, have you returned to the dorm?"
Chang Hao couldn’t help but ask again.
"Mhm." Finally, Zheng Yanyan took the time to reply to Chang Hao with a brief and cool response.
Chang Hao sighed with relief, "You finally talked to me, I thought you were ignoring me?"
"Why would I ignore you?"
"Actually, I really wanted to stand up just now. I just didn’t expect Old Zhou to beat me to it," Chang Hao explained.
"This matter originally had nothing to do with you."
"Come on, Yanyan, your affairs are my affairs," Chang Hao quickly stated his position, but Zheng Yanyan didn’t pay attention to him.
"?" Chang Hao sent another question mark.
"It’s getting late, I’m going to rest," Zheng Yanyan sent the message.
"Oh, okay."
For some reason, Chang Hao felt that Zheng Yanyan was especially cold today. Could it be his imagination?
Probably not.
Perhaps it was just because too many things happened today and she was shocked.
When it came down to it, he should have stepped forward just now.
Damn it, he let Old Zhou have the chance to play the hero.
"Hey, Old Zhou, what does the school plan to do about you guys?"
"What else can they do, disciplinary probation, of course!"
While there was still time, Zhou Yuwen planned to quickly finish the two-thousand-word self-reflection paper. However, after spreading out the paper, he found it quite difficult to write. Damn it, might as well forget it. For twenty yuan in the school’s part-time job group, he could buy a two-thousand-word self-reflection paper.
Therefore, Zhou Yuwen opened up the part-time job group, randomly shouted out, and quickly someone took the job, after which he explained what needed to be done.
The remaining time was spent writing his novel. Although it had been less than a month, the book’s data was performing well; he estimated that the first month after launching, he could make at least thirty to forty thousand yuan.
For an ordinary college student, this was certainly a substantial income.
But for Zhou Yuwen, it was far from enough.
Zhou Yuwen originally planned to make enough money for a small Audi in two months after his rebirth.
But now, Zhou Yuwen had changed his mind; he planned to buy a house.
When he began university, Zhou Yuwen’s idea was wonderful: re-live the university era, fool around with his roommates, and before he knew it, four years would fly by.
However, after getting to know them closely for a month, Zhou Yuwen realized it was impossible.
He was no longer the eighteen-year-old youngster, and there was always some distance in his interactions with his roommates.
For example, Chang Hao and Li Qiang smoking without regards to the setting.
Then there was Li Qiang, who, after military training ended, would take off his shoes in the dorm, filling the room with the stench of ’82 salted fish, inciting Chang Hao to curse loudly.
There was also the issue with toilet usage, and how some people didn’t flush promptly after using it.
All these were minor issues; Zhou Yuwen during his previous university life wouldn’t have even taken notice of them.
But somehow, after coming back to life, they seemed to become problems.
Maybe he just became more sensitive. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Regardless, Zhou Yuwen felt that if he had the means to live better, then he had every right to buy a house and move out.
Once he made up his mind, Zhou Yuwen started thinking about other quick money-making methods that would allow him to make a fortune in a short period of time.
At that thought, Zhou Yuwen considered the stock market.
The year 2013 was a good opportunity. The Shanghai Composite Index skyrocketed in 2015 to break through 6000 points, but at this time in 2013, the stock market had already shown signs of a bull market.
For example, Charm Technology, which started with e-books and listed at a price of 6.3, rose to 77 yuan within a year in 2013.
Zhou Yuwen checked Charm Technology’s stock on the computer; the current price was thirty yuan. If he predicted correctly, in the coming week it would rise to seventy yuan, more than doubling.
And Zhou Yuwen had, at best, a total of fifty thousand yuan; putting it all in would only make a profit of one hundred thousand.
That definitely wouldn’t do.
To make money quickly, there was only one way: borrowing money to leverage.
Zhou Yuwen might have fifty thousand in hand, but with the brokerage office contract, he could make fifty thousand a month, which he could use as collateral to borrow about two hundred thousand.
Then, with the twenty-five thousand in hand, he could do ten times leverage and go all in on Charm Technology.
That was, go all in with two and a half million, and within a week, make two and a half million in profits.
Zhou Yuwen gazed at the stock navigation chart on the computer, and then doodled on a notebook.
"Hey, Old Zhou, I’m talking to you. What are you doing?"
Chang Hao had been calling Zhou Yuwen for quite a while, but Zhou Yuwen hadn’t responded, which made Chang Hao somewhat anxious. He raised his voice by several decibels, and only then did Zhou Yuwen notice and said, "Didn’t I say it already? Disciplinary probation for passing mil training."
"But you’ve taken such a long leave of absence, shouldn’t you already be passing?" Chang Hao was curious.
"I don’t know about that,"
Zhou Yuwen closed his computer and went to the bathroom.
Chang Hao asked a few more questions about Zheng Yanyan, such as how she was handling things and whether it was serious.
He finally expressed his gratitude to Zhou Yuwen.
Chang Hao said, "Old Zhou, I really owe you one this time."
"After the military training ends, Yanyan and I will treat you to dinner. We’ll invite Su Qing then."
"I’ll pass, you guys go ahead." After this incident, Zhou Yuwen had thought it through clearly, after all, they were not of the same age group, it’s better not to mix together.
"Don’t be like that. Let’s all get together and have a good time, or else, our two dormitories could have another joint event. Hey, Li Qiang, I’ll treat you to dinner next time, will you come?"
Chang Hao tried to bring Li Qiang into the conversation, but at that moment, Li Qiang had his head buried in the blanket without saying anything.
This left Chang Hao baffled.
On Lu Lin’s side, since she made her stance clear to Li Qiang and didn’t get a response for a long time, she wondered if she had been too harsh. Could it have a bad influence on Zhou Yuwen?
But then she thought about it, everything had actually started because Zhou Yuwen told Li Qiang about borrowing money from her; this was Zhou Yuwen’s just deserts.
So, after hesitating for a moment, she took a screenshot of her chat with Li Qiang and sent it to Zhou Yuwen.
It was just a part of the screenshot, so only part of Li Qiang’s passionate confession was shown.
Mainly, it showed Lu Lin saying she liked someone else.
Li Qiang asked who?
Lu Lin said, Zhou Yuwen.
After sending the screenshot to Zhou Yuwen,
Lu Lin added a line: Now we’re even.
By the time Zhou Yuwen had finished up his work, he got into bed and picked up his phone. He saw the message from Lu Lin, and also saw Li Qiang’s messages insisting he knew Zhou Yuwen needed money and that he was willing to give him any amount needed.
Just like what Lu Lin had said, it all started because of him.
"Hmm." Zhou Yuwen replied.
Lu Lin hadn’t expected Zhou Yuwen to respond so indifferently. After thinking it over, she sent him another message.
"I know why you told Li Qiang about me borrowing money."
"But it doesn’t matter, my offer still stands. Lend me two thousand, and I’ll be your girlfriend. It won’t affect your normal life."
The message sent was like a stone sinking into the ocean.
Zhou Yuwen didn’t reply.
Similarly, tonight Lu Lin was somewhat uneasy.
That night, there were too many people who couldn’t sleep.
Li Qiang buried his head in the blanket and cried for a long time.
Lu Lin was somewhat restless, occasionally checking her phone to see if Zhou Yuwen had replied to her message.
Chang Hao and Zheng Yanyan were also awake.
Chang Hao had Zheng Yanyan on his mind.
But Zheng Yanyan was thinking about Zhou Yuwen.
She was a proud girl. She had taken the initiative to kiss Zhou Yuwen; of course, she hoped Zhou Yuwen would take the initiative to chat with her. She didn’t believe anyone could resist her charm.
However, the fact was, Zhou Yuwen really didn’t chat with her that night.
The night was too complicated for Zhou Yuwen. Since his rebirth, Zhou Yuwen wanted to live a better life, but it seemed like a whole lot of messy things happened today, even getting a burger could turn into an event.
There was also Zheng Yanyan’s forceful kiss.
Lu Lin’s confession.
It was all a mess, and at that time, Zhou Yuwen’s mind wasn’t on Zheng Yanyan at all. Only Zheng Yanyan was anxious, lying in bed, fiddling with her phone, distracted from Chang Hao’s attempt at making conversation, wondering why Zhou Yuwen still hadn’t reached out to her?
She managed to hold out until eleven o’clock, then Zheng Yanyan couldn’t take it anymore.
"Alright, you win."
"I miss you..."
Zheng Yanyan couldn’t restrain herself and sent a message to Zhou Yuwen. After sending it, she regretted it, feeling like she had thoroughly lost. She hadn’t thought she would miss Zhou Yuwen that much, but after sending the message, she realized she truly did miss him. She actually felt anxious over a guy, something she had never experienced before.
Especially after sending the message, Zheng Yanyan became even more restless, wondering why Zhou Yuwen still hadn’t replied?
She had already humbled herself.
Couldn’t he at least acknowledge her?
Lights out in the girls’ dormitory.
A faint light still shone on Zheng Yanyan’s bed.
She was waiting for a reply from Zhou Yuwen.
But she never got one.
In the end, Zheng Yanyan couldn’t stay up waiting.
"Are you asleep?"
Two hours before, Zheng Yanyan had told Chang Hao she was tired and going to bed.
Yet two hours later, Zheng Yanyan couldn’t resist and went looking for Chang Hao again.
"Not yet? Yanyan, aren’t you sleeping? What’s wrong? Can’t you sleep?" Chang Hao replied instantly, actually having been thinking about how to explain to Zheng Yanyan why he hadn’t stood up for her earlier. He didn’t expect Zheng Yanyan to reach out to him first.
To her surprise, Chang Hao replied immediately, "How come you replied so quickly?"
Seeing the question, Chang Hao chuckled sheepishly and hesitated before replying, "I was thinking that I really should have stepped in earlier. If I had, maybe I would’ve been the one to accompany you to the administration building."
Zheng Yanyan asked, "What’s Zhou Yuwen doing?"
"Huh?"
"I need to talk to him, I sent him a message, and he hasn’t answered me," Zheng Yanyan said vaguely.
Chang Hao looked up at Zhou Yuwen’s bed and said, "Oh, he’s sleeping."
"Sleeping?" Zheng Yanyan asked.
"Yeah."
"Yanyan, when you guys went to the administration building, the teachers didn’t give you a hard time, right?" Chang Hao asked.
"No, I’m sleeping."
"Oh okay, good."