Page 31

"Chrysanthemum tea! It clears liver fire." Zhou Xiaoting said, "I've been busy writing my thesis lately and accidentally steeped too much. I figured you're into health preservation too, and since you stayed up late again last night, I brought you the extra tea."

Gu Chen hesitated for a moment. "Thanks?"

Zhou Xiaoting waved her hand. "You're welcome. Remember to transfer me the money for the thermos. Forty-two fifty."

Gu Chen nodded and reached into his pocket for cash.

Seeing this, Zhou Xiaoting raised her brows in disbelief. "You're not planning to pay me in cash, are you?"

Gu Chen did not understand. "What else would I use?"

"Add me on WeChat and transfer it." As Zhou Xiaoting spoke, she held her phone out in front of Gu Chen.

Gu Chen added Zhou Xiaoting and transferred the money to her.

Looking at Gu Chen's WeChat profile picture, Zhou Xiaoting shook her head in disdain. "Your profile picture is actually the default one... And why is there nothing on your Moments? You didn't block me, did you?"

"I've never posted on Moments," Gu Chen explained. He had only gotten his phone two days ago. Counting everyone, he only had Zhongli Sui, Assistant Lin, his coworkers in the sales department, several major clients he had received at the sales office, and Wang Lin, the designer he had added last night.

"So that means I'm the first student at A University to add you on WeChat?" Zhou Xiaoting raised her brows.

Gu Chen nodded.

"Fine!" Zhou Xiaoting snorted, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. Watching Gu Chen eat breakfast while still reading Economic Law, she hesitated before asking, "Gu Chen! Have you... looked at the campus forum?"

Gu Chen: "?"

Zhou Xiaoting said, "Last night, whose car did you take back to school? Someone took pictures and posted them online."

Gu Chen did not need to think to know what Zhou Xiaoting wanted to ask. He sneered and shook his head. "What story did they make up from those pictures this time?"

"Hey!" Zhou Xiaoting bit her lip awkwardly, trying to comfort him. "You don't need to get angry. Some people are just bored and love gossiping about this stuff."

Seeing that Gu Chen remained unmoved, Zhou Xiaoting thought for a moment and asked again, "So that woman?"

"She was the interior designer hired by my client." If anyone else had been curious, given Gu Chen's temperament and experiences, he might not have bothered explaining. But Zhou Xiaoting was, after his rebirth, the first person to extend an olive branch to him, and she had spoken up for him more than once. Although Gu Chen had long grown numb to such baseless slander, he still patiently explained, "The client I signed on my first day. He's out of town and can't come back, but he's in a hurry to renovate. After thinking it over, he pressed me into service and asked me to keep an eye on the renovation progress."

"Oh!" Zhou Xiaoting suddenly understood and seemed to let out a breath of relief. "I knew it. How could you possibly be interested in an old woman like that?"

"Huh?" Gu Chen looked puzzled.

Zhou Xiaoting suddenly came to her senses. "No. I mean, you look like the kind of person who has his own ideas and a clear plan for the future."

As if afraid Gu Chen would keep asking, Zhou Xiaoting hurriedly changed the subject. "I heard you signed another deal yesterday. And you helped other employees in Sales Team One close quite a few deals too. A lot of major clients gave you their business cards and want to poach you from our sales office?"

Zhou Xiaoting was very curious. "They all said you know a lot about IPOs and private equity. I've been wondering—where did you get all that information, and when did you find the time to read so much material?"

Gu Chen smiled. "Miss Zhou's information network is pretty extensive, huh?"

"Of course. I have informants at the sales office." Zhou Xiaoting paused, then added, "Cao Yan is just that kind of person. Don't take him to heart. I'll warn him. You're someone I strongly recommended to headquarters—how could I let him bully you?"

Gu Chen smiled but said nothing. He did not actually care much about Cao Yan. Even though Cao Yan's hostility was obvious and he targeted Gu Chen at every turn, Gu Chen never felt much of a sense of crisis.

Without family connections backing him, Gu Chen did not believe that, with his experience, he could not handle a sales manager at a real estate office. Besides, although Cao Yan was hopping around fiercely, he had not caused any actual harm to Gu Chen's immediate interests so far. Gu Chen could not be bothered to argue with him.

Living another life, Gu Chen had long accepted the fact that he was not well-liked. So many people in the world disliked him. If he took issue with every last one of them, he truly would never be able to keep up.

Watching Gu Chen lower his eyes and smile faintly to himself, Zhou Xiaoting awkwardly tightened her grip on her chopsticks. "Um, military training is over. You know that, right? Starting tonight, you officially have to attend the university basketball team's training. You need to practice for at least two hours every evening."

Gu Chen nodded. "I know." This had been the condition for his internship at Great Zhou World's new development. Since Gu Chen had agreed to it, he would keep his word.

Zhou Xiaoting asked Gu Chen, "Do you think joining the basketball team and training for two hours every night is a waste of time?"

"No." Gu Chen shook his head. Joining the basketball team was part of the plot setting, something Gu Chen could not avoid. Besides, it was part of his deal with Zhou Xiaoting. Since the deal had been made, there was no need to waste breath complaining about trivialities.

"That's good." Zhou Xiaoting smiled. "Then I'll wait for you at the basketball gym tonight."

"Why are you two together again?" Huo Mingzhang and his two childhood friends entered the cafeteria after finishing basketball practice and ran into Zhou Xiaoting and Gu Chen eating breakfast together again.

Huo Mingzhang felt like he had caught these two together more than once already.

"When did you two get so close?"

"None of your business!" Zhou Xiaoting glared at Huo Mingzhang. "I was checking on Gu Chen's internship at the sales office. And reminding him not to forget that he has to start training at the basketball gym tonight. What about you? I heard Gu Xiu went to a student's home to teach yesterday, and you drove him there?"

"Wasn't I just being friendly and helpful too?" Huo Mingzhang guiltily rubbed his nose.

Zhou Xiaoting snorted. "The moment the student's parents saw that Young Master Huo had brought him over, they immediately called me. When they learned he was also someone you recommended, they booked him without another word."