Chapter 34: I

Lin Xiwei's outfit today had a touch of delicate charm, but her personality was actually quite lively; hearing Hu Chuan say that, she teased right away: "Then you'd better keep waiting for other passengers."

"We're not going the same way—we're headed to different destinations!"

After saying that, Lin Xiwei sat down in the empty seat next to Zhao Peng.

【3】 Lin Xiwei sat down in the empty seat next to Zhao Peng.

"Don't be like that—I'm totally free now! Wherever you want to go, I'll take you!"

Hu Chuan was all about thick skin; he grinned, then moved to sit beside Lin Xiwei—but Xu Yuanyuan beat him to it and slid right in next to her.

"Peng Ge, switch seats!"

Hu Chuan immediately turned to Zhao Peng, who was sitting between Zhang Xian and Lin Xiwei.

"No."

"I just finally got to hang out with Xian Ge—we've got a lot to talk about!"

Zhao Peng firmly refused; though he used Zhang Xian as an excuse, he really just wanted more time with Lin Xiwei—he'd been the sports monitor in high school, a semi-celebrity on campus as a top athlete, and had once had feelings for her, though he never showed them as openly as Hu Chuan did.

Later, when Lin Xiwei started dating Zhang Xian, he quietly buried his feelings; now that he saw his old goddess again and found she was still single, it was impossible not to have thoughts.

But Zhao Peng had gotten way too fat now, and he felt a bit insecure—if he'd known he'd be sitting beside his former goddess today, he'd have gone on a crash diet to lose weight.

Lin Xiwei's arrival as the former campus beauty instantly ignited the guys' desire to impress; each one strutted like a peacock, trying to draw her attention.

Of course, Zhang Xian—the only man who had ever dated Lin Xiwei—wasn't in that group; now that he'd given up on everything, he was all about staying low-key.

"Xian Ge, where are you making your money these days?"

After boasting about his family's "business," and seeing Zhang Xian stay silent, Hu Chuan decided to contrast himself with Lin Xiwei's ex-boyfriend.

He wanted Lin Xiwei to realize the campus days were over—now that they were in society, family backing mattered more; take him, for example—his parents were secondhand car dealers who ran a showroom with decent income.

After graduating from a second-tier university, he followed in his parents' footsteps and became a secondhand car dealer; sure, the industry was cutthroat, but running your own business was still way better than being a wage slave.

Plus, since he was a secondhand car dealer himself, he got to drive different luxury cars every day—which made picking up girls super easy.

But most of those luxury cars he drove were pretty old; they couldn't fool anyone with experience, only those with little exposure.

In comparison, Lin Xiwei—the former white moonlight—was incredibly attractive.

When Hu Chuan asked about Zhang Xian's job, everyone else's eyes turned to him too; everyone here had only recently graduated, and jobs were still a major benchmark.

How well you were doing could be judged by your job.

"Me? I'm unemployed."

Zhang Xian answered honestly.

Hearing Zhang Xian had no job, everyone was surprised—he was a college graduate, a Beijing local; even with connections, he could've found some job to get by, not end up jobless.

"Xian Ge, I remember you studied Trade and Economics—hard to find work?"

Zhao Peng added.

"With this economy, do you think Economics majors have it easy finding jobs?"

Zhang Xian shrugged.

He'd studied at Beijing Technology and Business University, majoring in Trade and Economics.

Among Beijing's many universities, Industrial University was utterly unremarkable—not a 985, not a 211, and many people had never even heard of it.

"Xian Ge, don't lose heart—why not join me? Sell secondhand cars—you'll make tens of thousands easily every year."

Hu Chuan grinned: "You studied Trade and Economics—secondhand cars are trade too!"

"Bro, stop with the magic tricks!"

Zhao Peng cut in: "Your secondhand cars are sold to individuals—that's just being a car peddler; real trade means bulk exports overseas!"

"Secondhand car dealer? I'm a car merchant!"

Hu Chuan hated being called a car peddler; he immediately protested.

"Wait a minute, Xian Ge—you don't have a job but you drove a Wenjie M8 here? That car costs over 400,000!"

At that moment, Xu Zhiyang spoke up skeptically—he'd just met Zhang Xian when he arrived and knew he'd come in a Wenjie M8.

"What? Xian Ge, is that Wenjie M8 outside yours?"

Hu Chuan stared at Zhang Xian in shock; as a car dealer, he knew prices best—among current domestic new energy vehicles, especially high-end ones, the Wenjie M8 held its value well.

But value retention wasn't the point now—the point was Zhang Xian was driving a 400,000-yuan car; everyone here had only recently graduated, most didn't even own cars, and those who did had only 100,000-yuan commuter vehicles—driving a 400,000-yuan car meant you were clearly a "dragon among men."

Of course, that was in real life—on TikTok, where everyone owned a Ferrari, it was different.

"Xian Ge, you're hiding your true colors!"

"No wonder you don't work—you're not short of cash!"

"Xian Ge, take me with you—how do you get a Wenjie M8 at 22?"

Everyone began murmuring in awe; their eyes on Zhang Xian had changed completely—he'd claimed to be unemployed, but he was quietly getting rich.

Zhang Xian looked around at them all, then grinned: "Alright then, since it's come to this, I'll just come clean."

"Fine, I'm not pretending anymore—I'm a star kid!"

"Star kid??"

Everyone stared blankly; since they were all high school classmates, they knew Zhang Xian's dad was a singer—but he wasn't famous, was he?

Just then, the wedding host stepped onto the stage; before the ceremony officially began, there was a performance—earlier, a girl had played violin solo, drawing quite a bit of attention.

Now that her performance ended, the host returned to the stage and announced: "The final performance before the wedding ceremony: please welcome the renowned singer Zhang Dongshan, performing 'Apple Fragrance'!"

Whoa~!

"'Apple Fragrance'!"

"It's so hot right now!"

"They actually got the original singer?"

Hearing the host's announcement, the crowd erupted—"Apple Fragrance" had gone viral online, nearly everyone, young and old, had heard it.

And yet, this ordinary wedding had actually invited the original singer??

In an instant, everyone's gaze converged on the center of the stage.

Zhang Dongshan, dressed in a casual outfit, strode onto the stage in high spirits. As the prelude played, he began to speak: "Liu and I have been neighbors for decades, and I watched Dong Xu grow up. Today is Dong Xu's wedding, and as his uncle, I am deeply gratified. I'd like to sing a song to offer the newlyweds my sincerest blessings!"

In the past, as a no-name singer, Zhang Dongshan had done plenty of performances at weddings and funerals, and had cooperated with many wedding ceremony companies.

So this kind of occasion was second nature to him — but things were different now. Before, he had been an obscure no-name singer, and even when he performed on stage, hardly anyone paid attention. Now it was different: nearly everyone in the audience had their phones raised, and he had become the focus of the entire hall's attention, the big star everyone was chasing.