When You Fail, the Clown Follows Like a Shadow!

An Wuyang left home and first opened a map navigation app on his phone to hail a ride. His driver's license progress had reached Subject Three, and if nothing unexpected happened, he could indeed get his license before the end of the month.

Maybe I could try carpooling? An Wuyang suddenly had a thought he'd never had before while checking the map app to book a ride.

Yet the next moment, An Wuyang still chose Premium Ride.

Even though his family's business was currently in trouble, he had obtained the Happy Life System, so why should he make things hard on himself?

It was late June in Shengqing, a furnace of a city. Regular ride-hailing carpools might not even have the air conditioning on, and An Wuyang felt there was no need to suffer.

After all, An Wuyang had grown up accustomed to a life of wealth and luxury.

When An Wuyang selected Premium Ride in the map app, a notification popped up at the top of his phone screen, a message from the Class 3-6 WeChat group.

An Wuyang tapped to check the group messages.

'Sun Zhiming: @An Wuyang: Bro, I heard your family lost the pharmaceutical centralized procurement bid?'

'Yang Kai: Is that the recent Fifth Pharmaceutical Centralized Procurement?'

'Song An: I heard Brother Zhiming's family is also in pharma. Did Brother Zhiming get any inside scoop?'

An Wuyang quickly read through the messages. This Sun Zhiming had never gotten along with him, because Sun Zhiming was from Caimai Pharmaceutical.

The main reason Wugengtian Pharmaceutical had lost in the Fifth Pharmaceutical Centralized Procurement was that Caimai Pharmaceutical had slashed prices on Sodium Esomeprazole for Injection, dealing a blow to Wugengtian Pharmaceutical Group.

The rivalry between the two companies had spilled over onto An Wuyang and Sun Zhiming, making them dislike each other since childhood.

This time, Wugengtian Pharmaceutical had been undercut by Caimai Pharmaceutical in the Fifth Pharmaceutical Centralized Procurement, and Sun Zhiming deliberately rubbed it in the class group to annoy An Wuyang—that was just his standard move.

As for Yang Kai and Song An, they had no grudge against An Wuyang, but they were Sun Zhiming's lackeys, so of course they followed along to bite.

An Wuyang glanced at the group messages and directly closed the notification window, with no intention of replying to Sun Zhiming in the group.

How should he reply?

Pretend to be magnanimous and say Wugengtian Pharmaceutical Group didn't care about losing the Fifth Pharmaceutical Centralized Procurement?

Or lose his temper and trade insults with Sun Zhiming?

An Wuyang didn't want to be a clown raging impotently.

Faced with such a settled fact, the most dignified thing to do was to ignore it.

But An Wuyang's silence only made Sun Zhiming bolder.

'Sun Zhiming: @An Wuyang: Bro, why aren't you talking? In a bad mood?'

'Sun Zhiming: If you're feeling down, I can drink with you to cheer you up.'

'Sun Zhiming: After all, with this procurement failure, your group's situation is going to be really bad. Are you already facing bankruptcy?'

'Sun Zhiming: If you need any help, just reach out to your bro. I'll definitely help you!'

'Yang Kai: Brother Zhiming is so generous!'

'Song An: Brother Zhiming is such a loyal guy!'

The business situation of Wugengtian Pharmaceutical Group wasn't exactly a secret. Even though it wasn't a listed company and didn't need to disclose financial reports, everyone was a local big shot and a competitor in the same industry—how could Wugengtian's situation be hidden from Caimai Pharmaceutical?

So Sun Zhiming knew Wugengtian Pharmaceutical Group quite well, and he had no qualms about mocking An Wuyang in the class group.

What was wrong with kicking a competitor when they were down?

An Wuyang naturally saw the messages Sun Zhiming sent in the group, but he still chose to ignore them.

After all, it was just a dog barking!

However, just because An Wuyang ignored Sun Zhiming didn't mean others would ignore the messages Sun Zhiming sent.

About five minutes after Sun Zhiming sent the messages in the group, An Wuyang had just gotten into the Premium Ride heading to the driving school when he received a private message.

It wasn't Sun Zhiming privately calling him out, because An Wuyang had never added Sun Zhiming on WeChat.

The message was from An Wuyang's girlfriend, Su Yueling.

They were classmates. Su Yueling had pursued An Wuyang first. Although her grades weren't great, she had fair skin, a pretty face, and notably nice legs, so after the College Entrance Examination, they naturally got together.

'Su Yueling: Is what's in the group true?'

'An Wuyang: ?'

'Su Yueling: Sun Zhiming message screenshot.JPG'

'Su Yueling: Is this real?'

The screenshot Su Yueling sent was exactly Sun Zhiming's message in the class group saying An Wuyang's family business was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Looking at the message Su Yueling sent, An Wuyang naturally understood what she meant. He even knew the reason she had pursued him in the first place—it was simply because his family was well-off.

An Wuyang wasn't stupid, nor was he narcissistic. He knew the real reasons behind these things.

For example, why did Jiangnan's Number One Deep Affection, revered by many as a master, get the girls he liked?

Was it because he was handsome?

Driving a Ferrari with one hand was indeed handsome!

But too many naive people got the cause and effect backwards.

'An Wuyang: Don't ask questions when you already know the answers.'

Since Sun Zhiming had already called him out in the class group chat, this information had to be true—otherwise, wouldn't Sun Zhiming just be humiliating himself?

'Su Yueling: Then... is your family doing okay?'

'An Wuyang: Not really.'

'An Wuyang: The best-case scenario is probably just ending up debt-free.'

'Su Yueling: What does that mean?'

'An Wuyang: It means my family's going through bankruptcy liquidation—both the group assets and the family assets are all being used to repay debts and settle losses. After everything's sorted, there won't be any extra debt left.'

Su Yueling understood what An Wuyang meant. In short, the An family had fallen.

'Su Yueling: So what are you going to do now?'

'An Wuyang: I'm planning to study Marketing at Tianfu. It'll make finding a job easier later.'

Su Yueling frowned as she read his reply. She had pursued An Wuyang back then precisely because his family was well-off.

Now that his family had run into trouble, there was no way she was going to suffer through hardship with him, right?

So she replied with a hint of coldness.

'Su Yueling: My mom's calling me. Talk later.'

An Wuyang looked at the message, a flicker of disdain in his eyes. Was she in that much of a hurry?

The outcome wasn't set yet!

'An Wuyang: Sure.'

'Ding!'

'Random Event: She's Panicking! She's Panicking!'

'Since the host's girlfriend is panicking, please don't worry. The missed connection you think you've lost might just be fate shielding you from a romantic disaster!'

'Event Requirement: Please handle this relationship properly!'

'Event Reward: Rewards will be given based on the host's handling plan.'

The Happy Life System sent a notification through An Wuyang's mind, and a faint smile crept across his face as he sat in the back of the Premium Ride.

It seemed his girlfriend's change of heart wasn't entirely a bad thing.