Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 570: Silly Boy

Zhou Yuwen briefly discussed things with Su Qing, and she immediately started making phone calls. The planning company had been single-handedly founded by Su Qing. In her previous life, she had worked in the Student Union for a period of time, so she was familiar with the future trajectories of those people. Because of this, she had managed to recruit quite a batch of individuals she considered to be "talents".In truth, Zhou Yuwen did not care about this. The ceiling for a planning company was far too low, and it was a labor-intensive industry. Simply put, it required a lot of effort without making much money.

If it weren't for the fact that Su Qing couldn't bear to part with it, Zhou Yuwen could have easily sold it off to Gao Bide and his company. He estimated it could fetch around two million.

After hanging up with Su Qing, Zhou Yuwen called Lu Lin, telling her to prepare to take over the cultural media company. Lu Lin felt a headache coming on when she heard this. "Are you trying to make things difficult for me?" she asked.

Zhou Yuwen explained that he had no other choice. Qu Jing was going abroad soon, and with Chen Wan suddenly pulling this stunt on him, he had no one else available by his side.

"Take Yan Yan with you and carefully think about how to handle it," he said.

"I'm involved too!?" Zheng Yanyan had already returned from her home in Beijing, and the two of them were still living in the large flat. These two girls usually didn't have much to do, spending their time playing games and attending classes.

Recently, because the short-video app Zhou Yuwen created had become popular, Zheng Yanyan had registered her own account and would post dancing videos. Similar to a future blogger known as "Sisters", she would post videos of herself dancing with Lu Lin. However, their account was private, basically only open to acquaintances.

Following Zhou Yuwen, she had seen billions worth of gold, so Zheng Yanyan no longer cared about empty reputation. She felt that just playing around in her own small circle was perfectly fine.

As for Zhou Yuwen asking her to come out and work, Zheng Yanyan actually found it quite novel.

At the very least, Zhou Yuwen was acknowledging her personal abilities.

'I used to be the Minister of the Arts Department,' she thought. 'Managing a cultural media company will be a piece of cake!'

Lu Lin, on the other hand, thought much more about it. She mentioned that she hadn't been to that company in a long time.

"Besides, your current cultural media company is completely different from what it used to be."

"I heard we even have to train artists and post videos. I don't know the first thing about any of that."

Zhou Yuwen replied that she could learn if she didn't know how. She should just take it as familiarizing herself with the business in advance; when the industry expanded in the future, she couldn't just slack off forever.

"Why not?" Lu Lin scoffed with disdain.

"Exactly!" Zheng Yanyan agreed, looking entirely unconcerned.

Zhou Yuwen chuckled. "You two are going to die of laziness."

"When you get old, fat, and useless, I'll just toss you both aside."

Hearing this, Zheng Yanyan immediately got fired up.

But before she could even speak, Zhou Yuwen cut her off. "Alright, that's an order. Come to the company to work tomorrow."

Just as he said that, Su Qing's call came in, and Zhou Yuwen switched over to answer it.

Something seemed off with Su Qing's tone. "Zhou Yuwen, I just received some news," she said.

"What is it?" Zhou Yuwen asked curiously.

"My mom is already in Jinling."

Su Qing's tone was genuinely shocked, mixed with a hint of speechlessness.

It turned out that Pan Min had resigned and come to Jinling a while ago, but she hadn't told Zhou Yuwen. Not only had she kept it from him, but she hadn't even told Su Qing.

Just now, while making calls and wondering who could serve as Zhou Yuwen's assistant, Su Qing had suddenly thought of her mother. After all, Su Qing was in charge of the planning company, and several of their current classic proposals were originally her ideas. Naturally, she wanted to find a trusted confidant to take over.

That was when Su Qing remembered her mother, who was about to resign.

She made a phone call to check on how her mother was doing.

As it turned out, she wouldn't have known if she hadn't asked.

Pan Min had actually resigned quite some time ago and was currently staying with a former colleague in Jinling.

In truth, Pan Min just wanted a change of pace. She had no idea what kind of life she would face in the future. She could have easily gone to Zhou Yuwen or even Su Qing, but she wanted to try making it on her own first.

It wasn't until her daughter called her that Pan Min finally confessed.

Zhou Yuwen was also somewhat surprised to hear this. "Why didn't Aunt Pan tell me she was coming to Jinling?"

"Who knows? She's staying at a friend's place right now. It seems she just arrived recently. If I hadn't asked, I wouldn't have known at all," Su Qing replied.

Zhou Yuwen felt a bit helpless. He pointed out that it wasn't like they didn't have houses; how could they let her stay at someone else's place? Wasn't that just imposing on others?

Su Qing felt the same way.

At this moment, their conversation truly resembled that of a young married couple working hard in the city, suddenly discovering their parents had arrived in the big city without saying a word.

In times like these, they really felt that Pan Min was being far too polite.

Su Qing's intention was to see when Zhou Yuwen would be free to pick Pan Min up; they simply couldn't let her keep staying at someone else's house.

"I'll go pick her up right now. Send me the location," Zhou Yuwen said.

"Okay. By the way, Zhou Yuwen, do you think my mom could temporarily manage the planning company?"

"Uh, will that really work?"

Zhou Yuwen felt that, no matter what, Pan Min was getting older and her way of thinking might be a bit outdated. A planning company required wild and unconstrained imagination.

Su Qing said it shouldn't be a big problem.

"Because the framework of the plans is already something I came up with. What I need is an executor, and my mom is a perfect fit," Su Qing explained.

By then, Su Qing had already sent the location to Zhou Yuwen.

Zhou Yuwen took his car keys and went downstairs. Today, he was driving his Porsche Cayenne, naturally followed by two imposing Mercedes-Benz G-Wagons. Bodyguard vehicles like these followed him constantly, though they rarely interacted directly with him on a normal basis.

"Sometimes you're just too self-centered," Zhou Yuwen remarked over the phone. "You think Aunt Pan is suitable, but you haven't even asked for her opinion."

"Oh, come on. She resigned and has nothing to do anyway. I think you might as well hire her into the company and let her give it a try."

Zhou Yuwen replied that he didn't care either way; the company wasn't his anyway.

"What are you saying? Isn't it enough that I am yours?"

"Sigh, I can't kiss you or touch you right now, so what does it matter?" Zhou Yuwen joked.

Su Qing found it amusing. "Then come over here," she teased.

"I'm going to stop chatting with you for now," Zhou Yuwen said.

"I'm going to pick Aunt Pan up."

"Alright."

And with that, they hung up the phone.

At nine o'clock at night in Jinling City, under the dim yellow streetlights, whether on the elevated road or the newly paved asphalt roads, sedans with their headlights on could be seen everywhere. The downtown area was basically congested for quite some time, and the honking of horns rang non-stop.

The location Su Qing had sent was a residential area developed by Greenland Group, located near the South Railway Station. It took about thirty minutes to get there from Zhou Yuwen's current position. This particular residential property development had only recently been handed over to owners, so the overall occupancy rate was low, leaving the entrance of the complex looking somewhat empty.

The boom barrier wasn't lowered, so Zhou Yuwen drove straight in. The entire residential area appeared rather dim. After Zhou Yuwen entered, the two Mercedes-Benz silently followed suit one after another.

A situation like this was quite conspicuous.

Zhou Yuwen parked his car by the fountain in the center of the complex and then called Pan Min.

The call was quickly connected, and Pan Min's serene voice came through the line.

"Hello?"

"Aunt Pan, I'm at the Greenland entrance. Which building are you in? I'll come pick you up." Zhou Yuwen's words left Pan Min momentarily at a loss. Feeling a bit helpless, she said she had explicitly told Su Qing not to tell him just a moment ago.

Zhou Yuwen stated that Su Qing had done the right thing by telling him.

"It's not like we don't have houses in Jinling. How could we possibly let you stay at someone else's place?" Zhou Yuwen said directly.

Regarding this point, Zhou Yuwen even wanted to criticize Pan Min. Resigning was such a major event, yet she hadn't even mentioned a word of it to him.

Hearing this, Pan Min didn't know what to say and could only give a wry smile.

She had wanted to settle down in Jinling first before telling Zhou Yuwen.

Now that Zhou Yuwen was already downstairs in the residential area, Pan Min couldn't argue. She could only ask for his specific location and then prepare to head down.

Currently, Pan Min was staying at the home of a former colleague. Xu Qing used to be a teacher at No. 2 High School as well. After her divorce, she had ventured into Jinling. She usually worked as a teacher at an educational institution and occasionally took on private tutoring. Her life in Jinling was quite comfortable, and the two of them had always kept in touch.

Recently, Pan Min had toyed with the idea of moving to Jinling, so she had asked Xu Qing how things were over there.

Naturally, Xu Qing had praised it to the high heavens.

The advantage of a big city lay in its sheer size and diversity; nobody knew who you were. Here, a colleague you joked with today might fade entirely from your life the very next day.

The nights could be incredibly lonely, but they also allowed one to return to true inner peace.

Xu Qing fully supported Pan Min coming to the big city to carve out a new path.

Recently, with pressure mounting from all sides, Pan Min, who had been wrestling with hesitation for a long time, ultimately chose to resign.

Fortunately, the principal had already received word and knew that Teacher Pan had quite a deep background.

After all, even the Education Bureau had come over asking for her.

Therefore, the principal advised, "Don't be in such a rush to resign. If you quit now, you'll lose all your years of service."

"How about this? I know you've been under a lot of stress lately. I'll give you a long vacation. Go out, take a walk, see the sights. Once you've thought things through, it won't be too late to resign then."

Pan Min felt it was unnecessary, but the principal adamantly refused to process her paperwork. Zhou Yuwen had directly pulled out two hundred million to invest in the education sector. If he managed to keep Teacher Pan here, maybe his school would get a share of the new buildings in the future.

And so, carrying this sense of being utterly confused, Pan Min had arrived in the big city.

Suddenly leaving her small town to step into a completely new life truly gave her a refreshing feeling. Xu Qing took her out to eat barbecue and soak in hot springs. While taking the subway, watching strangers bustling about gave her a different perspective. However, late at night, being alone as one person in an empty rented apartment inevitably brought on a sense of melancholy, making her feel as though she had lost something.

Xu Qing told her she would introduce Pan Min to her educational institution to work as a teacher.

With Pan Min's teaching experience, her base salary plus commission would bring in at least over ten thousand a month.

"Just you wait and see. In a big city, making money is possible everywhere!"

Xu Qing said encouragingly, but Pan Min only smiled upon hearing this and didn't say much.

Until Zhou Yuwen came over.

The residential area was still quite deserted. When Zhou Yuwen mentioned his location, Xu Qing, who was standing nearby, heard it and thought, 'Isn't that right downstairs?' She hurriedly pulled open the curtains.

Downstairs by the fountain, parked in the illuminated area, she spotted three vehicles: a Porsche and two Mercedes-Benz G-Wagons.

Xu Qing was completely stunned.

At the time, Xu Qing was only 32. Being a divorced teacher meant she was an educated woman who refused to settle for a mundane life. Braving Jinling alone, she occasionally indulged in novels about overbearing CEOs.

Strictly speaking, women like Xu Qing were the exact target audience for that kind of novel.

When she saw the three cars downstairs, she froze completely.

As Pan Min hung up the phone and prepared to leave, Xu Qing couldn't help but ask, "Wait a minute, Pan Min. Are the people downstairs here looking for you?"

By then, Pan Min had also seen Zhou Yuwen's cars from the balcony. She nodded and said, "I'm heading out for a bit."

With that, Pan Min went downstairs.

Xu Qing, however, stared downstairs, unable to calm down for a long time.

'What the hell!?'

'How does Pan Min know such rich people?'

'Could she be in an online romance with an overbearing CEO?'

'Is this really a case of an overbearing CEO falling in love with a menopausal woman?'

'No wonder she decided to come to Jinling at the drop of a hat.'

'So she had already found a wealthy backup.'

For a moment, Xu Qing didn't know how to feel.

When Pan Min first came to Jinling, Xu Qing had been genuinely happy.

But right now, Xu Qing wasn't so happy anymore.

In any case, she was in a terrible mood.

Xu Qing just stood on the balcony, staring fixedly. Did Pan Min really know the people in that Porsche and those Mercedes-Benz?

The night wind was a bit strong.

Pan Min was only wrapped in a long knit cardigan, making her figure look somewhat frail.

Just like that, wearing her slippers, she walked out of the apartment building.

Then, under Xu Qing's incredulous gaze...

...the door of the Porsche opened.

A tall, handsome man stepped out.

Most importantly, the man was incredibly young.

The moment she saw Zhou Yuwen, Xu Qing was truly dumbfounded. She honestly couldn't understand it—had she wasted the last five or six years living in Jinling for nothing?

Zhou Yuwen asked Pan Min why she hadn't told him she was coming to Jinling.

Pan Min felt a bit guilty and replied that she hadn't wanted to bother him.

This made Zhou Yuwen a little angry. He asked how she could possibly be a bother.

"Aunt Pan, what are you thinking? We are family!"

Zhou Yuwen genuinely blurted out those words because he and Su Qing had been married in his previous life; he truly considered Pan Min to be family.

But hearing this, Pan Min only smiled. She wanted to treat Zhou Yuwen as family, but after that night, she felt she should keep her distance from him.

It was only after saying those words that Zhou Yuwen realized how wrong it had been for him not to contact Pan Min after that night.

Feeling somewhat ashamed, he didn't know what to say.

He explained that he had always treated Aunt Pan as an elder and as family, but he really shouldn't have stayed over at her house that night, because... well, because men and women were different after all.

Zhou Yuwen simply didn't know how to articulate it.

After listening to him, Pan Min merely found it amusing.

Pan Min looked at this boy, who was so much taller than her, with a gentle gaze. Reaching out a soft hand, she stroked Zhou Yuwen's cheek and whispered, "What a silly boy."