Studio Startup

Before seeing Zheng Wei and Ruan Wan off on the train, Wang Yue gave each of them several books on interior design and decoration materials, telling them to take them home and read them.

Ruan Wan accepted the books and did not forget to thank him. Her gentle manner made people feel as if they were basking in a spring breeze.

Zheng Wei, meanwhile, complained that he was already exploiting her before she had even joined the company—a heartless capitalist.

Wang Yue's mouth twitched furiously. He kept telling himself, She's not one of ours. She's not one of ours!

Only then did he stop responding to Zheng Wei and turn to chat with Ruan Wan instead.

He had spent less than a week at home during this summer break, yet he had traveled all over the country and closed several major deals. Not only had he paid off the remaining balance for the sales office, but he had also become well-funded again. At the very least, there was more than enough to support this ragtag crew!

Did going from nothing, from knowing nothing at all, to learning how to establish a company count as learning a skill? Or did running a company count?

Ah, how depressing.

Before summer break ended, Wang Yue's studio had been fully renovated, and the office equipment he had purchased had all been installed. It would be ready to open once school started.

Wang Yue tracked down the salesman from that day and had Xiao Zhang help bring in clients. He could work part-time here and receive commissions at the industry rate. If he introduced other people who brought in business, he would also receive a certain percentage.

When Xiao Zhang heard there was such a good deal, he thought it over and took a box of Wang Yue's business cards. They agreed that any card bearing Xiao Zhang's name meant the client had been referred by him.

Next, Wang Yue found the boss who had handled his own renovation and negotiated a partnership. From then on, all renovation projects taken on by Wang Yue's company would be contracted out to him for construction.

The three brothers from the dorm returned early as well. Once they had all arrived, Wang Yue brought them to the office and assigned them workstations as they stared in stunned disbelief.

"Boss! This is where we'll be working from now on?" Zhang Yang had always been fairly steady, but even he shouted in shock at that moment.

"Yeah! Unless something unexpected happens, we'll be here at least until we graduate from university!" Wang Yue said calmly as he watched their excited expressions, as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

"Boss, you're incredible!" Han Wen was also quite excited.

"Boss, my 150 pounds are yours now!" Liu Lei was more straightforward.

Two days before the official start of school, everyone in Zheng Wei's dorm had arrived. Wang Yue immediately arranged for Ruan Wan to start doing some simple design work.

For the time being, Zhu Xiaobei and Li Weijuan needed to organize all kinds of materials and learn from Zhang Yang and Han Wen.

As for Zheng Wei, Wang Yue sent her to register the business license. He felt that with her personality, she might get it done faster than he could himself.

And indeed, work that might have taken others two or three months, or even longer, was completed by her in just over twenty days. When the sign for Weimei Decoration Design Studio was put up, Wang Yue readily gave her a 1,000-yuan bonus.

The bosses who had worked with Wang Yue before all expressed their interest in partnering with him after hearing that he had opened an interior design studio.

Wang Yue welcomed everyone, and the new company suddenly became exceptionally busy.

One Saturday, Zheng Wei was sorting through the company's client files in the office while chatting with Ruan Wan and Zhu Xiaobei. Suddenly, she felt someone's gaze fixed on her.

When Zheng Wei turned around, she saw Lin Jing standing outside the floor-to-ceiling window, staring at her without moving. The noon sunlight shone on one side of his face, leaving the other in shadow. It was just like Lin Jing's feelings—he wanted to embrace his Little Flying Dragon, yet felt there was an insurmountable gulf between them.

Zheng Wei's eyes instantly filled with tears—tears of grievance and anger. She slammed the files in her hand down hard and headed outside.

The two argued for quite a while. More accurately, Zheng Wei alone was raging, while the other person simply stood there and listened to her accusations, offering the occasional defense.

In the end, after venting enough, Zheng Wei buried herself in the young man's arms and cried bitterly. Then the two disappeared together.

Not long after they left, Wang Yue arrived at the company with several of his dorm brothers.

Just before entering the company, Wang Yue seemed to sense something and glanced across the street. He saw a thin, tall figure slowly walking away. It seemed to be Chen Xiaozheng.

After Wang Yue entered the office, Li Weijuan told him that a young man had come looking for Zheng Wei, that Zheng Wei had cried, and that the two had gone out together in the end.

Ruan Wan and Zhu Xiaobei had not expected Li Weijuan to be so nosy, and they glared at her.

"Mm." Wang Yue responded and went into the office. The person who had gone out with Zheng Wei was not Chen Xiaozheng—could it have been Lin Jing?

For a moment, Wang Yue frowned deeply as he looked at the scenery outside through the thick glass window.

Seeing Wang Yue lost in thought, Ruan Wan unconsciously frowned as well.

"Ruan Ruan, Lin Jing explained everything to me!" After pushing open the dorm door that evening, Zheng Wei could not help telling Ruan Wan about what had happened that day.

"So? What are you planning to do?" Ruan Wan looked at the excited Zheng Wei.

"What do you mean, what am I planning to do?" Zheng Wei looked confused, not knowing what Ruan Ruan was asking.

"Lin Jing, Chen Xiaozheng, Xu Kaiyang, and..." Ruan Wan was still struggling with it when Zhu Xiaobei cut in, "Yeah, which one are you choosing?"

"Xu Kaiyang and I are just good buddies!" Zheng Wei hurriedly argued.

"What about Lin Jing and Chen Xiaozheng?" Ruan Wan sighed and asked anyway.

"Chen Xiaozheng and I have already broken up!" Zheng Wei's good mood suddenly vanished. She knew very well that although she and her older brother Lin had cleared up their misunderstanding, Lin's Mom still stood between them.

"How about considering Wang Yue?" Li Weijuan suddenly interjected.

"Wang Yue? He's pretty great, but I feel like he's a mystery. Better not!" Zheng Wei froze for a moment before ultimately refusing.

"Even Chen Xiaozheng, whom you hate, was acceptable. Why not Wang Yue?" Zhu Xiaobei spoke up for Wang Yue.

Yeah. Had she hated Chen Xiaozheng so much simply because he was the first person to make her feel wronged?

Why had my attempt at revenge ended up costing me my heart?

Seeing Zheng Wei sink into her own thoughts, the girls did not disturb her and went back to their own business.

Wang Yue worked late at the company before heading back. As he passed the pedestrian street, he saw that Xiaonan Steamed Bun Shop was still open.

Only then did Wang Yue suddenly realize that, as one of the owners, he seemed to have forgotten about this shop.

"Sister Xiaonan, why are you still open so late?" Wang Yue walked to the entrance and greeted the busy person inside.

"Oh, business was good today. The two student temp workers just left, so I'm cleaning up. Where do you want to sit? I'll make you a bowl of wontons!" With that, she immediately got busy, without waiting for Wang Yue's reply.

Wang Yue sat on a chair outside. Seeing that the newly opened Malatang shop next to the bun shop had a transfer sign posted up, he asked Zhu Xiaonan, "Sister Xiaonan, what happened to the Malatang shop next door? Bad business? Why are they transferring it?"

"How long has it been since you came by? The previous place did good business, but the landlord raised the rent, so they moved to the other end of the pedestrian street. This one was opened later by the Boss himself." Xiaonan chatted with Wang Yue while she worked.