Inner and Outer Growth

The first rays of dawn over Magic City's skyline woke Zhang Yang early the next morning.

He gently pulled his arm out from beneath Bei Wei's thick, dark hair, got out of bed, and stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, stretching his body.

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

Her eyelashes fluttered wildly before she secretly opened her eyes.

The broad back before her was gilded by the golden morning light, and memories of last night's storm immediately flooded Bei Wei's mind.

"Mm!" A soft, shivery sound escaped her.

Hearing it, Zhang Yang turned to look at Bei Wei and smiled. "You're awake?"

She couldn't keep pretending any longer. Still a little embarrassed, Bei Wei sat up with a red face and said nothing. Then she wrapped her arms around Zhang Yang from behind.

Feeling her soft warmth against his back, Zhang Yang turned around and pulled Bei Wei into his arms. He kissed her cheek and spoke to her gently for a while.

Whether a girl or a mature woman, they all needed to be coaxed.

A few simple gestures and a few words took no effort. Besides, Bei Wei was feeling especially vulnerable and needed him right now. If he didn't show her how much he cared, when would he?

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

At that, Bei Wei immediately looked conflicted.

If she went, she could barely walk, and every movement hurt. It would be too obvious. But if she stayed home, she'd just taken a day off. Asking for another one so soon didn't seem right.

"Take the day off. Get some proper rest at the hotel," Zhang Yang advised.

The hotel cost over a hundred thousand a night, after all. They might as well stay a little longer.

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

She was a girl, of course she wanted to share things. And she wanted to use the extra time to explore the place, take some photos, and share them too.

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

Before, he hadn't minded. But this time, he couldn't quite stomach it. How could he not mind her living with a roommate who so obviously undermined him?

"Huh? Move out?" Bei Wei was taken aback.

After all, she'd lived where she was for a long time and had gotten used to it. The thought of suddenly changing things felt a little...

"If you move out, I'll find you somewhere else to live. Anyway, I don't really want you living with her anymore," Zhang Yang said bluntly.

Bei Wei hesitated. On one side was a roommate who was almost like her best friend; on the other was Zhang Yang, the man who'd given her her first experience of love.

She'd never thought she'd be the kind of person to neglect a friend for a man.

Bei Wei silently scolded herself, but her heart tipped toward Zhang Yang all the same.

"Then I'll talk to her tonight," Bei Wei said, nodding.

"That's more like it." Zhang Yang reached out and stroked her hair, smiling. "And don't feel bad about it. You've lived with her for years and benefited plenty from it. I'll pay her back for you."

Before leaving the top-floor suite at Bulgari, Zhang Yang kissed Bei Wei on the forehead, then headed to the office.

Downstairs, he parked the Bentley without hurrying. He'd actually hoped he might run into a coworker or even a manager, just so he could put on a ridiculous show.

But it wasn't meant to be. He didn't run into a single person from the company.

After taking care of a few things at the office, Zhang Yang had nothing to do, so he opened his phone and started browsing Little Blue Book for inspiration.

He had a bit of a following now, after all.

The latest post was getting a steady stream of replies, with all sorts of advice coming in.

One comment had quite a lot of likes.

"I'll be blunt. Watching you for this long, it's clear you've made a huge transformation through your own efforts. But it's important to develop both inwardly and outwardly. What do you do for work, and how much do you earn?"

"Right, don't take offense, poster. Think of us as your own family. We're all just trying to help."

"Agreed. Though I get the feeling the poster is an employee, so your main source of income is probably your salary. About how much do you make a month?"

Reading the comments, Zhang Yang fell into thought.

How much did he earn?

He was making fifty thousand a day now, or one and a half million a month. Should he claim just one percent of that—fifteen thousand?

Zhang Yang thought it over, then casually replied to the women in the comments.

"My current monthly income is around fifteen thousand."

He refreshed the comments a few times, and replies started appearing right away.

"Fifteen thousand? Not bad. But it seems like you're in Magic City?"

"Living in Magic City is expensive. You'll have to keep working hard!"

"I suggest doing some side jobs. You could manage this Little Blue Book account, since you've got a following now. Or, if you have a car, you could drive for Didi now and then or work as a designated driver. It depends on your situation."

"Keep it up! Start with a small goal, like earning thirty thousand a month."

"Haha, looking forward to it. With your determination, you're bound to do great things. I'm sure you'll reach that goal!"

Zhang Yang read every comment.

Hmm... thirty thousand a month, multiplied by a hundred, came to three million. That averaged out to a hundred thousand a day. How did they know his next goal was to earn a hundred thousand a day?

Ding!

The system has accepted a reasonable suggestion.

New task: Inner and Outer Growth

Task details: The host must try any kind of part-time work. There is no limit to the type or number of jobs. Earn an additional ten thousand from part-time work within one month.

Task reward 1: 20 experience points

Task reward 2: One overall facial-feature enhancement

As Zhang Yang read through the new task, he couldn't help but marvel.

That was the system for you! It was always focused on improving his real-world abilities. Even though he was already making one and a half million a month, it still wanted him to earn ten thousand with his own two hands.

But he had to complete this task!

It was worth 20 experience points!

He needed 50 experience points to level up. With this task and the long-term task of keeping his body fat in check each month, he'd be halfway there in one fell swoop.

As for the facial enhancement, Zhang Yang wasn't especially concerned about it.

He couldn't say his features were exceptionally handsome, but they were definitely well-defined and quite masculine.

He was pretty satisfied with how he looked anyway.

"A side job?" Zhang Yang muttered to himself, phone in hand.

What kind of side job should he do?

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

But it might not pay off in the short term, and it would take a lot of effort to build the account. A quick, straightforward gig would be faster. He wasn't planning on doing it long-term anyway; he just needed to complete a temporary task.

"Zhang Yang, Zhang Yang, I've got something to tell you." Across from him, Xiang Youde lowered his voice conspiratorially.

"Huh? What is it?" Zhang Yang asked, coming back to himself.

"I heard Bei Wei might have a boyfriend," Xiang Youde whispered.

Zhang Yang froze. Bei Wei had a boyfriend? That was huge news. How had he not heard about it?

"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 there was a reason Bei Wei turned everyone down. Turns out she already had someone," Xiang Youde said with a shake of his head.

"Zhang Yang, stop getting your hopes up. You'd be better off focusing on your work."