Cultivating Both Inside and Out

The next morning, the first rays of dawn over the Magic City skyline roused Zhang Yang.

He gently withdrew his arm from beneath Bei Wei's thick, jet-black hair, rose from the bed, and stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, stretching his body.

On the bed behind him, Bei Wei was clearly awake, yet she pretended to still be asleep.

Her eyelashes fluttered wildly before she quietly opened her eyes.

With the broad back before her gilded in the golden morning light, the tempestuous passion of the previous night immediately flooded Bei Wei's mind.

"Mm!" She couldn't help but let out a soft, trembling sound.

Hearing the noise, Zhang Yang turned to look at Bei Wei and smiled. "Awake?"

The charade could no longer be maintained. Still feeling a bit shy, Bei Wei rose with a flushed face and, without a word, hugged Zhang Yang from behind.

Feeling the warmth and softness against his back, Zhang Yang turned to pull Bei Wei into his arms, kissed her cheek, and took the opportunity to whisper sweet nothings to her.

Whether a young girl or a mature woman, everyone needs to be coaxed.

A few simple gestures and a few words cost nothing, and since this was the moment Bei Wei was most sensitive and needed him, if he didn't show his affection now, when would he?

"Do you still have to go to work?" Zhang Yang asked with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Bei Wei felt conflicted.

If she went, she couldn't walk properly—it hurt with every step, which was too obvious. If she didn't go, she had already taken leave, and taking more would be hard to justify.

"Just take the day off and get some good rest at the hotel," Zhang Yang urged.

It was a hotel costing over a hundred thousand a night, after all; she might as well stay a while longer.

"Alright, I'll take another day off." Since Zhang Yang had said so, Bei Wei was immediately swayed.

As a young woman, she naturally had a desire to share her experiences, and she hoped to use the remaining time to explore the place, take photos, and post about it.

Zhang Yang pondered for a moment. "Bei Wei, have you ever considered moving out?"

It hadn't mattered before, but this time, he found it hard to tolerate. With a roommate who so clearly undermined her, how could he not mind?

"Huh? Moving out?" Bei Wei was stunned.

After all, she had lived in her current place for a long time and was used to it. To suddenly change it would be a bit...

"Move out, and I'll find you a new place. I just don't really want you living with her anymore," Zhang Yang said quite bluntly.

Bei Wei hesitated. On one side was a roommate who was practically a best friend; on the other was Zhang Yang, who had given her her first experience of life.

Damn, I never thought I'd be the type to value a man over friendship, she thought, cursing herself silently, yet the scales in her heart tipped toward Zhang Yang.

"I'll tell her tonight," Bei Wei finally nodded.

"That's the way," Zhang Yang said, reaching out to stroke Bei Wei's hair with a smile. "Don't feel embarrassed. You've taken advantage of her plenty over these years; I'll just pay her back on your behalf."

Before leaving the Bulgari penthouse, Zhang Yang kissed Bei Wei's forehead and set off for the office first.

Downstairs at the office, he parked his Bentley in a leisurely manner, secretly hoping to run into a colleague or even a manager so he could show off a little.

Alas, it wasn't his lucky day; he didn't run into a single person from the company.

After tidying up his work at the office, Zhang Yang had nothing to do, so he opened his phone to scroll through Little Blue Book for inspiration.

He had managed to build up quite a bit of traffic lately.

His latest post was flooded with replies, with all sorts of advice pouring in.

One comment in particular had a high number of likes.

"I'll be direct: having followed you for so long, I can see the blogger has truly achieved a massive transformation through hard work. However, everything requires cultivation of both the inner and outer self. May I ask what your current professional income is?"

"Right, don't mind us, blogger. Just treat us like family; we're all here to offer advice."

"Same here. But I get the feeling the blogger is an office worker, so your main source of income should be your salary, right? About how much is your monthly income?"

Zhang Yang looked at these comments and fell into deep thought.

How much was his income?

He was currently making fifty thousand a day, which was 1.5 million a month. Should he report one percent of that—fifteen thousand?

Zhang Yang thought for a moment and replied to these sisters in the comment section.

"My current monthly income is around fifteen thousand."

He refreshed the comment section a few times, and replies started appearing immediately.

"Fifteen thousand? That's not bad, but it looks like the blogger is in the Magic City?"

"The cost of living in the Magic City is high; the blogger needs to work harder!"

"I suggest the blogger take on some side jobs, like managing this Little Blue Book account—after all, we have traffic now. Or if you have a car, you could occasionally drive for Didi or work as a designated driver. It depends on your actual situation."

"Keep it up! Set a small goal first, like earning thirty thousand a month."

"Haha, looking forward to it! With the blogger's perseverance, you're definitely someone who will do big things. Achieving this goal will be no problem at all."

Zhang Yang read every single one of them.

Hmm... thirty thousand a month, multiplied by a hundred, that's three million. An average of one hundred thousand a day. How did they know their next goal would be one hundred thousand a day?

Ding!

System has adopted the reasonable suggestion.

New Task: Cultivate Both Internal and External

Task Content: Please attempt any part-time job, no restrictions on type or quantity, and earn an additional ten thousand in part-time income within one month.

Task Reward 1: 20 EXP

Task Reward 2: One complete optimization of facial features.

Zhang Yang read through the new task, clicking his tongue in wonder.

The system really is something! It's always dedicated to improving his hard power. Even with a monthly income of 1.5 million, it's still thinking about having him earn that ten thousand with his own two hands.

But he had to do this task!

That's 20 EXP!

He needed 50 EXP to level up; with this task plus the long-term task of maintaining his body fat percentage, he'd be halfway to completion in one fell swoop.

As for the facial feature optimization, Zhang Yang didn't care much about it.

While his features weren't exactly world-class handsome, they were definitely well-defined and quite masculine.

He was satisfied enough with them as they were.

"A part-time job, huh?" Zhang Yang muttered to himself while holding his phone.

What kind of part-time job should he do?

Self-media? Running this account? That was a good idea.

But it might not show results in the short term, and it would require a lot of effort to manage. It would be better to find a straightforward, one-off gig; he wasn't looking to do it long-term anyway, just to complete the task.

"Zhang Yang, Zhang Yang, let me tell you something." Across from him, Xiang Youde lowered his voice mysteriously.

"Huh? What is it?" Zhang Yang asked, snapping back to reality.

"I heard that Bei Wei seems to have a boyfriend," Xiang Youde whispered.

Zhang Yang was stunned. Bei Wei had a boyfriend? How did he not know about such a big deal?

"Last time Sister Liu and the others went out to eat, they saw Bei Wei get into a Porsche with their own eyes. I knew it—how could Bei Wei not be interested in anyone? Turns out she already had someone." Xiang Youde shook his head, sighing.

"Zhang Yang, stop thinking about things that aren't going to happen. It's better to just focus on your work."