The next day, Cheng Zhu got up early.
"A nearly thirty-year-old body and an eighteen-year-old body really can't compare." He was extremely delighted about this.
Every morning's morning wood told him: "Your body is fantastic!"
For this Guanyun trip, Cheng Zhu planned to bring Wang Anquan.
He currently had two best friends—one was Jiang Wanzhou, one was Wang Anquan.
Jiang Wanzhou's yin energy was too heavy. Cheng Zhu didn't want to bring him to this kind of place, lest he open the door to a new world.
Wang Anquan was hot-blooded. It was time to open the door to a new world for him.
And don't forget, as mentioned before, based on past life experience, Cheng Zhu and Jiang Wanzhou couldn't partner in business. These two—separately they were both awesome, together they were a pile of shit.
But Wang Anquan was different. His character was solid, honest and reliable, especially obedient. Cheng Zhu trusted him very much. In his past life, he'd also followed Cheng Zhu.
TL: It was introduced before—Wang Anquan's father was a firefighter. Based on the phrase "safety first," he named his son Wang Anquan, hoping both for his lifelong safety and implying he was number one.
Cheng Zhu's family lived on the third floor. A few years ago, the family on the second floor had a fire. The flames spread all the way to the third floor. In the end, it was Wang Anquan's father who put it out.
"Their family has been kind to our family." Cheng Zhu always remembered.
In the afternoon, he picked up his phone and sent Wang Anquan a WeChat message.
"I'm planning to do some e-commerce to earn living expenses. Come with me somewhere in a few days. I'll cover all expenses."
Soon he received Wang Anquan's reply: "Sure Zhuge, where are we going? I'm going stir-crazy at home."
You could tell Wang Anquan was treating it like a vacation.
"Man's paradise." Cheng Zhu sent the WeChat.
"Could it be going to that city in Guangdong..." Wang Anquan's eyes lit up, but he didn't dare type out the city's name.
In many young men's hearts, that was a forbidden yet sacred legendary city.
Looking at the message, Cheng Zhu suddenly remembered that legendary city famous worldwide for its thorough service was swept clean this year.
From then on, market prices went chaotic.
"Otherwise, I heard that city needed at least 300,000 pieces of sexy lingerie per year in just one district." He recalled news he'd seen before.
Cheng Zhu was too lazy to keep him guessing and directly typed: "Not where you think. We're going to Guanyun."
"Where's Guanyun?"
"Why so many questions? Just follow along. I guarantee it'll open your eyes."
Wang Anquan replied with a "roger that" emoji.
After chatting with his little brother, Cheng Zhu started collecting information he needed online.
Regarding making money, his attitude was still very serious.
Although the goods we're selling don't seem that serious, business is still legitimate business that can be sold openly and aboveboard.
He didn't feel there was anything unseemly about it, didn't feel it was embarrassing.
He could let go and do it freely, so he deserved to make money.
Moreover, these were daily necessities, normal living supplies for many ordinary people. No big deal.
You can't say "Victoria's Secret" is high-class while "Guanyun's Secret" is vulgar, right?
"As society develops, more and more people are starting to care about... well, let's just say quality of life." Cheng Zhu thought.
"This industry's prospects really do get better year by year."
"This business is good now because people are too embarrassed to go to physical stores."
"But later on, this business is still good purely because market demand is growing."
"If I remember the data correctly, in recent years, the mainstream age of buyers was around 28."
"But later, the mainstream age of buyers became 22-25."
In his past life, Cheng Zhu was also an expert in this area, having seen all kinds of styles.
Except they were all sensible women who bought them themselves—he'd never bought any himself.
This was grandmaster-level expertise.
"You know what, maybe if I design some myself, I could even lead trends." Cheng Zhu had this thought.
After all, strictly speaking, this was also a branch of the fashion industry.
In the fashion industry, trends were especially important. You had to compete on styles.
In this area, the experienced him was very confident.
"Then let me be that trendsetter leading the tide."
"Then, lead customers to ride the waves together."
...
...
Cheng Zhu made his plan, preparing to leave the day after tomorrow.
Of course, he'd lie to his parents saying he was going out to play with Wang Anquan for a few days.
These days, kids studying was too competitive.
Summer vacation after elementary school graduation, you tutored to learn middle school content. Summer after middle school graduation, you tutored to learn high school content.
After the college entrance exam, you really should relax appropriately. Parents wouldn't disagree.
Close to 5 PM, Cheng Zhu went home to change clothes.
He didn't specially dress up, just wore a simple white T-shirt, lower half distressed jeans, then paired with canvas shoes that were still fairly popular at this stage.
Before long, his phone vibrated—Jiang Wanzhou was already in the complex to pick him up.
"Speaking of which, his house isn't very close to mine."
"Completely didn't need to come pick me up."
"Probably just enjoys the feeling of being together on the road, like going to the bathroom together after class in school."
Jiang Wanzhou today very rarely drove the Porsche 911 Targa version that his dad gave him as a coming-of-age gift.
This generation of 911 still didn't have the later wraparound taillights.
As soon as Cheng Zhu got in the car, he asked: "Where are we eating?"
"Jinsha Hall." Jiang Wanzhou said: "Shen Minglang picked the place."
Cheng Zhu nodded, knowing the cost there was quite high.
When they arrived at Jinsha Hall, they found Shen Minglang had arrived even earlier than them.
"Rare that you're actually on time for a meal this time." Jiang Wanzhou started mocking his cousin again.
Listening from the side, Cheng Zhu could increasingly confirm from the side: "That best friend of Shen Qingning's is probably really good-looking."
Today's Shen Minglang wore a Givenchy Rottweiler T-shirt and had specifically gone to a salon to get his hair styled.
As soon as Jiang Wanzhou sat beside him, he immediately covered his nose in disgust: "You even sprayed cologne?"
"How is it? That counter girl told me this is one of the world's most beloved men's colognes by women—Hermès [Terre d'Hermès]." Shen Minglang radiated confidence from head to toe.
"Stinky tofu becoming fragrant is still just tofu." Jiang Wanzhou rolled his eyes.
At this moment, Jiang Wanzhou definitely sat next to his cousin, while Cheng Zhu sat next to Jiang Wanzhou.
This meant a girl would definitely sit beside Cheng Zhu.
Everyone's agreed time was 6 o'clock. At 5:58, Shen Qingning arrived gracefully with Lin Lu.
She didn't like people who weren't punctual, and she herself wouldn't be unpunctual. Among women, this was actually a pretty good quality. After all, these days quite a few girls deliberately weren't punctual, deliberately late.
Today's Shen Qingning still wore a black-toned dress, except she'd changed from a knee-length dress to a long dress, covering her proportioned straight legs.
However, the dress had an obvious cinching effect at the waist, letting people see at a glance her heaven-defying lower body proportions.
To match her outfit, today she also wore four or five centimeter heels—classic Louboutins, the shoe surface black but the sole red.
Cheng Zhu couldn't help thinking of a saying: "Black and red facing heaven, boundless magical power."
These shoes, for men, increased attack speed.
And you had to admit, Shen Qingning's aloof aura was truly powerful. Walking in her heels, she gave the feeling this restaurant was hers.
Lin Lu walked beside Shen Qingning with a completely contrasting style.
Her face had a bit more fleshiness than Shen Qingning's. Her eyes were especially beautiful, very lively—really like a little deer in the forest.
Her height was estimated around 165, shorter than Shen Qingning.
Her clothing style was also different. Upper body wore a Miu Miu white short-sleeved shirt, lower body was a black little skirt from the same brand, paired with white short socks and black round-toe Mary Janes.
Style-wise, more on the sweet girl side. She smiled greeting Shen Minglang and the others—she even had dimples.
Cheng Zhu felt when she smiled, she was twice as pretty as when she didn't smile.
The two women sat at the table. Shen Qingning naturally sat on Shen Minglang's other side, making Lin Lu sit beside Cheng Zhu.
Shen Minglang, considering himself in the C position, started hosting, introducing Cheng Zhu and Lin Lu to each other.
TL: C position means central/main position
Lin Lu was the type with a fairly outgoing personality, also lively.
When Shen Minglang said she was a very talented voice actress, Cheng Zhu looked at her with slight surprise.
But the little girl met his gaze, calmly nodded, very seriously following Shen Minglang's words and gave herself another wave of self-affirmation: "Very talented."