Chapter 18: Just Like Those Young Students

Mother Xu said over there, "Little Heng, since you have some spare money on hand now and are in a big city, like Beijing or Modu, why don't you buy an apartment? Dad and I will pay half for you."

In these two years, housing prices haven't reached such an exaggerated level yet; two or three million is indeed enough to buy a decent place.

Moreover, housing prices in a city like Modu will only rise and never fall in the future, so buying now wouldn't be a loss.

But Xu Heng didn't want to take the money out of the stock market to buy a house for the time being; if he were to buy, he could wait until after October when he had earned enough bull market dividends.

So he said to wait a bit longer, as he was still in university, and buying a house in Modu would just mean leaving it empty with no one to live in it, letting it go to waste.

Being sweet-talked by him like this, Mother Xu felt what he said made some sense, and Father Xu also chimed in from the side that Xu Heng was still young, and it wouldn't be too late to talk about it after he graduated from university.

Xu Heng sighed inwardly.

If he really waited until after he graduated from university to buy a house, it would be too late; in these few years, housing prices have risen like Penguin stock, and many people think housing prices have peaked and won't rise anymore, but in reality, even after a dozen years or so, housing prices still haven't peaked.

His excuse about not buying a house was just that—an excuse; once the momentum of Huachuan passed, he would definitely still invest a portion of his capital into the real estate industry, and as for the rest of the money, as long as he bought stock in Old Ma's and Little Ma's companies, he wouldn't lose.

In August, the Old Xu household added a sense of restlessness because of the fact that Xu Heng had earned two million, but it seemed there were no concrete changes.

Although the Old Xu household had few relatives, Father Xu and Mother Xu were also smart people and didn't go around proclaiming that Xu Heng had made a lot of money; they understood the principle of not flaunting wealth.

After Xu Heng told his family he had broken up, his younger sister's attitude toward him became increasingly indescribable, and she would bring her summer homework to his room from time to time to ask questions.

At his age, how could Xu Heng still remember high school knowledge? At most, he would open Baidu to search for her, and if he couldn't find it, he would just give up.

In 2007, there wasn't any software for checking answers like Homework Helper or Xiaoyuan Search Questions; the most useful thing was Baidu Zhidao.

Every time she saw him leave her aside and focus intently on typing and searching on the computer, the younger sister couldn't help but complain in her heart.

Was she missing those two questions to get into Tsinghua?

He didn't even understand this bit of intent; a hopeless idiot!

The idiot woke up later than usual today, only brushing his teeth and washing his face after nine o'clock.

At the end of August, high school classmates said in the Penguin group that they wanted to have a reunion; after starting university, not many people spoke in the group anymore.

Back when they had just graduated from high school, as long as there was some explosive news, they could chat for half a day.

If Xu Heng remembered correctly, this freshman summer reunion was also their last high school reunion; after this, there would be no more high school reunions, at most just small groups of friends keeping in touch with each other.

Times have changed, and things are not what they used to be.

Having not seen his old classmates for over a dozen years, Xu Heng still felt some nostalgia, so when someone in the group asked if Brother Xu was going, he replied that he was.

Whether he went or not, the high school group would still disperse, so he might as well take the opportunity to see his old classmates one last time.

……

In '07, the highest-grade establishment in the small county was a four-star hotel named Duhuang.

Xu Heng stood before those revolving doors, wondering if, as the protagonist of an urban novel, a fat best friend should be running over to him right now to call him brother.

Why must the protagonist's best friend be a fat guy?

Xu Heng didn't understand this question before, but after writing urban novels himself, he finally figured it out.

A fat best friend won't steal the protagonist's spotlight, and he looks safe, reducing the risk of being cuckolded.

Well, it's a pity Xu Heng didn't have a fat best friend, or rather, he didn't have many classmates he could play with in high school.

At that time, all he thought about every day was how to improve his grades; in the eyes of his classmates, he belonged to the type of robot with fixed programs set, his personality was very dull, and he almost never spoke to others, so naturally, no one wanted to be friends with him.

As for why everyone later affectionately called him Brother Xu, it was entirely because the matter of him and Ying Ziyun dating had spread to the high school group.

Time was too distant, and he didn't remember which busybody had said it, but this matter had shocked his classmates for a long time.

A piece of wood could chase after a goddess? This was simply the most inspirational chicken soup story of 2007!

Many high school classmates who had crushes but were slow to confess were encouraged by this to confess boldly, eventually walking down the aisle.

Whenever they got married, they would stand on the emcee's stage and tell everyone that it was their high school classmate Xu Heng who inspired them, allowing them to find such a good wife.

And what about Xu Heng?

Xu Heng had already broken up by then!

He attended classmates' weddings all alone.

The world is unpredictable; the person who once inspired others to confess had already broken up, while those who were inspired to confess had gotten married.

"Hello, sir, may I ask if you have a reservation?" A well-proportioned waitress walked up to greet him.

It must be said that as the only hotel with any face in Tong City nowadays, the service at Duhuang was still up to par.

Xu Heng nodded: "I have a reservation, Biquan Yingyue Room."

Biquan Yingyue was one of the three most expensive private rooms in Duhuang; getting two tables of food here would cost at least four or five thousand yuan, not counting the Wine money.

However, this time it was being paid for by a certain big spender, and the other classmates coming were free.

Hearing the name of the private room, the waitress's attitude became even more respectful, which gave Xu Heng a very good experience; at least that cliché of being looked down upon didn't happen.

In his past life, he hadn't come to Duhuang much; he only remembered that this hotel seemed to have gone bankrupt in 2011, allegedly because several high-level executives' relatives were corrupt and embezzled, causing a deficit in the hotel's accounts.

At that time in 2011, a sensational food poisoning incident also occurred in Tong City.

Using inferior ingredients and expired food, with various reports emerging one after another, Duhuang almost disappeared from Tong City completely overnight.

So Xu Heng, who had some small money after working, never had the chance to come to this place again.

Now, looking up at the shimmering gold characters "Duhuang Hotel" above, he thought that if he had the money to buy this hotel and reorganize it, it should be pretty good.

But soon he shook his head again, finding his own thoughts amusing.

Buying a hotel was something that could only be decided once he was truly wealthy.

His current assets weren't enough to support him in buying hotels or industries.

Entering the hotel lobby, under the guidance of the waitress, Xu Heng entered the reserved private room.

The classmates in the class had arrived for the most part, about thirty people.

Looking at these high school classmates he hadn't seen for many years, Xu Heng felt a bit dazed.

Time cannot change everything in the world, but it can easily change a person.

These classmates were far too different from the way they looked later when they were married and had families.

Those girls who had only recently learned how to dress up and apply light makeup still appeared somewhat callow.

As for the boys, the only thing they lacked was the vicissitudes of life that come with experience.

As for status...

The poor of today will still be the poor of tomorrow, and the rich of today will still be the rich of tomorrow.