Chapter 1407: Still Taking It

In the restaurant, it was extremely noisy when mealtime arrived.

Wang Yan and Seeing Nana sat at a table in the farthest corner by the window; four dishes were laid out on the tabletop, and the two of them were eating heartily.

"The taste is quite good, right?" Seeing Wang Yan eating with such relish, Seeing Nana felt somewhat excited. "This restaurant hasn't even joined the Know-Me Network; it built itself up purely on its good reputation."

"Indeed quite good; large portions, affordable, tasty, and the staff are polite and easy to talk to." Wang Yan nodded with a smile, giving a positive evaluation.

The Know-Me Network was not that domineering, and this restaurant was confident enough.

The function of the Know-Me Network lies in breaking regional restrictions, pushing storefronts before more people's eyes, letting people from other places know about this restaurant and come here to spend, thereby expanding the customer base.

But now, this restaurant does good business within a one-kilometer radius nearby; some people also recommend it to others and come specifically for its fame, so it is already booming and doesn't lack for customers, so there is no fault in not joining the Know-Me Network.

However, relatively speaking, restaurants like this one are not that numerous; otherwise, how could Wang Yan have previously managed to deal with those uncooperative merchants?

Wanting to accumulate a solid base of customers purely through reputation is no simple matter, especially for a restaurant like this one now, which remains steadfast under the siege of Know-Me Network partner shops all around; that is truly exceedingly difficult.

But since this shop has held firm, it naturally reaps corresponding benefits; after all, when other shops are packed and people see this one is just as packed, then turn their heads and discover it isn't yet on the Know-Me Network, they might just come over to try it when they have free time.

Nowadays, netizens have played all sorts of tricks with the public review system.

With offline restaurants constantly expanding and a flood of vouchers and set meals being issued, the dining trend in Jingcheng has been driven forward; on the Know-Me Network, some people have opened columns in the dining forum to conduct shop-visit reviews, and there are quite a lot of such people.

At the same time, the Know-Me Network has also launched personal blogs, and astute individuals have already utilized this point to begin managing blogs and conducting personal marketing.

As people continuously eat and drink, the public review system constantly refines itself, and the backend developers continuously support customer feedback.

In the current dining category of the public review system, the refinement has gone to a maniacal extent, down to individual dishes.

Enthusiastic netizens continuously experience various restaurants, starting to evaluate and rank them dish by dish.

Correspondingly, the review system has once again iterated the restaurant evaluation rules; after all, since it has been refined down to every single dish, a restaurant's overall evaluation must synthesize the evaluations of each of its dishes.

It is through such continuous perfection and iteration that the public review has, in fact, come to influence netizens' dining choices.

Recently, the company is researching setting up a filming team to film those head chefs whose certain dishes rank high, creating tutorials and releasing a cookbook teaching series.

What is even more awesome is that the current grand competition in the dining module has begun reviewing across different regions; furthermore, netizens are strongly appealing to launch a nationwide ranking list and produce a truly authoritative certification.

It was still Wang Yan who personally wrote the announcement, indicating acceptance of the netizens' suggestions and stating that this function would be launched in the future.

But at the same time, he also indicated that it would be very difficult to launch within the next few years, detailing in writing the factors of the nation's economic construction and development affecting tourism, as well as the different judgment angles that people from different regions and with different tastes have toward a certain dish, explaining the complexity of the evaluation factors, and inviting netizens to jointly perfect this plan.

The Know-Me Network has a dedicated module recording every platform announcement and open letter, which people can all see.

Precisely because of this, enthusiastic netizens have specially opened a column to debate how exactly to carry out this massive, complexly influenced dining evaluation metric, and the discussion is extremely fierce.

Affected by this, the keyboard-politics section, which explodes with heat every day, has quieted down considerably; the great gods have all shifted their battles over there...

Of course, there is no purely keyboard-politics section; the great gods mainly gather in the international and social sections to fight bitterly, truly battling until heaven and earth are darkened.

This is an era of the internet's wild development, where the scale of keyboard politics is very large; even Wang Yan wants to watch it out of love...

This was Wang Yan's answer, along with its extensions, to Seeing Nana's pressing question about why they were not developing this restaurant's entry into the Know-Me Network.

Seeing Nana nodded with sudden realization: "Indeed, to forge iron, one must oneself be hard."

"For a restaurant like this, as long as it maintains its standards without decline, doing business just within the surrounding two or three kilometers is enough for a modest wealth, let alone being able to open branch stores; manage it well, market it a bit more, and it is still possible to earn a fortune of ten or eight million from the restaurant."

"Uh... this is 'modest wealth'?"

"For them, it is." Wang Yan nodded with a smile. "If they are smart enough, own the property rights to this shop, ensure their branch stores also have property rights, and then invest some themselves, adding everything up, having a net worth exceeding one hundred million is no big problem; of course, the premise for all this is that their quality level can be maintained, and their service attitude can be maintained."

"I understand now; you are very optimistic about our country's future development, and also optimistic about the real estate development in Jingcheng, believing that houses in Jingcheng will have huge appreciation space in the future."

"I call it the opportunity of the era; falling upon an individual, I consider it a gift of the era's development; there has always been debate regarding choice and effort, genius and diligence, but I believe that in the end, it comes down to being born well.

Being born in the east is better than being born in the west, being born in the city is better than being born in the countryside, and being born in an era of the nation's vigorous development is simply better than during a time of slow development; of course, not everyone can be like this, but the opportunities for development are always greater."

"For example?" Seeing Nana asked expectantly, as if Wang Yan was about to recite a bible for getting rich and leaping across social classes.

"For example, university students; before the merger of admissions, university students were assigned jobs upon graduation, but afterward, not only were they not assigned, but enrollment was expanded; relatively speaking, university students in the past were better off than university students now; they had different developments in various positions, and by now, the last batch of those assigned jobs must have some who have climbed to the division level, wielding great power.

Current university students will again be easier to get by than future university students, because enrollment expansion has only been going on for a few years, university diplomas are still very useful, the nation is developing vigorously, job positions are increasing, and every industry needs high-quality talent.

Therefore, even without any opportunities, without much courage, and without any background, as long as one studies professional knowledge down-to-earth, one can always find a suitable job after graduation, continue to develop deeply within the industry, become a talent mastering advanced skills, or ascend to a leadership position; it is highly possible.

At the same time, although housing prices have been rising in recent years, they are still within a certain affordable range; graduate, work, have the family bear some of the cost, take out a loan, and buying a house is no big problem, so life does not have such enormous pressure; this itself is already a kind of success.

As for university students in the future, the number of university students will increase, housing prices will soar, and economic growth will tend to flatten, so naturally competition will become fiercer and life pressure will become greater."

Seeing Nana nodded thoughtfully, then looked at Wang Yan with admiration: "You are truly amazing, actually considering so much, and so far into the future."

"You also got into Beiqing through your own ability; it's not that I am so amazing, it's just that you haven't thought in that direction or researched it; since I do business, these related things are naturally received passively, and when I have free time, I just ponder over them."

Wang Yan looked at the Miss sitting before him, leaning forward with a face full of earnest attention, and smiled, saying, "You should eat; talk while eating, why make things so serious?"

"These are all words of gold and jade; I'm afraid I might miss hearing something."

Wang Yan knew she was joking, shook his head with a laugh, and said, "Just remember: if you have money, buy a house; one house means a stable life, two houses mean a worry-free life, three houses mean a wealthy life, four houses mean financial freedom; of course, I am referring to big cities like Jing and Hu; otherwise, you don't need that much money to be free."

"Understood; from now on I will save money to buy a house, then rent it out, then buy another house." Seeing Nana clenched her fists, cheering herself on.

After joking and laughing like this for a while, she turned and said, "You treat your girlfriend so well; it's spreading like crazy in the school, saying you opened a magazine society for her and provided a car, and even her roommates have risen to heaven along with the chicken and dog."

Where in the world is there any secret, especially since that Passat is parked right downstairs from Xiao Qianxi's dormitory; even though Xiao Qianxi previously said driving it was too eye-catching, now that they truly had a car, all four of them drove to class.

This attracted attention, so naturally people started asking around; this wasn't anything that couldn't be said, and Xu Lin's mouth isn't exactly small either, plus he has a hobby of showing off, so it spread, and gradually the students all knew about this matter, even students in adjacent schools gossiped about it.

"Although it looks like that, it cannot be summarized so simply," Wang Yan explained with a smile. "I was already going to start a magazine, and the Chinese Department major is a fairly good fit; secondly, it is because they are my girlfriend and friends that I let them do it.

It is not as the school rumors say, that I specially bought a car and opened a magazine society for my girlfriend; also, that car does not belong to her; it belongs to the company; she is just able to drive it."

Seeing Nana nodded, then looked straight into Wang Yan's eyes: "I venture to ask a question; you don't have to answer."

Seeing Wang Yan nod and likewise look straight at herself, she averted her gaze, fiddled with her chopsticks to pick up food, and asked, "Will you marry her?"

"No."

"No?"

Wang Yan said cheerfully, "For me, marriage cannot restrict me; this kind of forced binding of sexual relationships is useless to me; it won't hinder me from going to find other women, nor will it let anyone gain much benefit from marriage."

"So you won't get married? With anyone?"

"That is correct."

"You are so direct; does she know this too?"

Wang Yan nodded with a smile: "I consider this an unnecessary deception; I am a very sincere person."

"I can feel it." Li Nana was speechless, choking back her words.

To speak so freely with someone she had met only twice, without fear of damaging her reputation—could that be anything but sincere?

Wang Yan ate heartily, took a sip of his drink, and said, "I've noticed your questions are highly targeted."

"How so?"

"First you flattered me, then discussed life with me, afterward moved to relationships, brought up my girlfriend, and asked about my attitude toward marriage."

"Isn't that normal?" Li Nana said with a laugh.

Wang Yan shook his head: "You are someone who understands propriety; in the first place, you shouldn't have sought me out for a private meal, let alone discussed relationships with me."

"You are truly perceptive." Li Nana smiled brilliantly.

But in an instant her smile vanished; she let out a long sigh, held the words in her mouth for two minutes, and only then looked at Wang Yan and spoke.

"I... during the summer break, one day I was passing by the school in a car, at... that magazine office you run, and I saw you with... with..."

Wang Yan suddenly understood and laughed: "Kissing Wang Ying, then carrying her into the car, after which we went to a hotel, booked a room, and spent a wonderful night together."

"Uh..." Li Nana was at a loss...

"Since you saw it and thought of it, there is no point in hiding it, is there?" Wang Yan looked at Li Nana before him. "So, are you simply curious, or do you want to get closer to me?"

"Both, undoubtedly; from every perspective, you are an outstanding person."

"Thank you. Then what are you seeking?"

"If I say I seek nothing, would you believe me?"

"Of course. Since you've already called me outstanding, what reason would I have to doubt you?" Wang Yan chuckled as he ate. "Society has developed, minds have opened up; you sleep with me, I sleep with you—who can really say what's what? Let's eat; without a full stomach, there's no strength."

"Uh..."

Li Nana asked, "Aren't you really afraid Xiao Qianxi will find out?"

"She's not stupid."

"I have another question." Seeing Wang Yan nod, Li Nana asked again, "I looked into Wang Ying's matter; her family background is excellent. I don't understand why she would do it?"

"Now the question returns: you say you seek nothing, and I believed it—but do you believe it yourself?"

"I..."

Wang Yan shook his head: "Between her and me, it wasn't that complicated; we simply took a fancy to each other. She was a bit bolder, and I was a bit less human, so we ended up together. You've heard the song, right?"

"The one by Rene Liu?"

"'Some people, once missed, are gone forever.' Whether it's Xiao Qianxi or Wang Ying, they both operate on that mindset. So when you say I'm outstanding, I don't take it as a lie; otherwise, how could I possess such He Deheneng? Money isn't omnipotent, but it does prove my capability; otherwise, you wouldn't be directing your efforts toward me."

"I'm a little afraid; it feels like I have no secrets before you." Li Nana gave a bitter smile.

"What is there to fear? I won't eat you. Let's eat; until we reach the hotel, you have time to think carefully."

The two fell silent; Li Nana was indeed thinking, pondering whether she had been too rash.

She didn't know how the conversation had reached this level; she hadn't prepared to go straight to a hotel after the meal, but had planned for an initial contact followed by further understanding.

But she couldn't understand why, as they talked, it had suddenly come to the point where she had to make a choice...

This feeling of losing control left her heart hollow and filled with unease.

Yet she still hadn't realized that from the moment she crossed the boundary of strangers to seek understanding, she had already made her choice.

Even more so, when she accidentally witnessed what she believed to be Wang Yan's scandalous affair, went home tossing and turning, got up in the middle of the night to meticulously browse various discussions about Wang Yan on the 'Know Me' website, as well as various news reports, she had already made her choice...

Daily thanks to the good brothers who generously donate, cast monthly tickets, submit recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support!

(End of Chapter)