Chapter 457

At first, Ruan Guan was very sure that Wang Yan was aiming for her, but later she wasn't so sure.

Wang Yan sat down here and chatted enthusiastically with Li Weijuan. The two whispered and occasionally suppressed their laughter; although it didn't affect other students reading, it affected her. So, for the past period of time, although she appeared to be focused on reading, she had heard the entire conversation between the two from beginning to end.

Humorous, witty, knowledgeable, and well-traveled—that was her evaluation. At the same time, he was also very good at guiding, because she recalled that during this process, Li Weijuan was doing most of the talking, and Li Weijuan hadn't even noticed; when he left, she was still feeling unfulfilled. This was very impressive.

Normally, doing this should be to attract her attention, like a male peacock spreading its tail to court, showing off its beautiful feathers. But Wang Yan didn't; in the half hour he spent chatting with Li Weijuan, his gaze fell on her no more than three times, and he wasn't looking at her on purpose—he was just glancing over her casually when other students walked by. For the rest of the time, his gaze was mostly on Li Weijuan.

She was certain she hadn't seen wrong, which couldn't help but make her suspect if she had become ugly. She had been receiving love letters since she was a child. Her being single-mindedly with Zhao Shiyong was one thing, but others not taking her seriously was another.

An interesting male student...

Feeling the gaze on him disappear, Wang Yan, under the sunlight, casually put the book he had roughly flipped through back in its place, then continued to reach out and rest his hand on the bookshelf, walking further and further away.

Youth is the age of eighteen or nineteen; it is looking back many years later.

Youth can be everything in this world: the laughter of a sunny male student, the faint smile of a girl one likes, the hem of a skirt lifted by the wind, messy strands of hair, the carefree times of friends playing together. It is the young man sweating on the court under the spring sunset, the little girl picking flowers in autumn with a heart full of sorrow, the test papers blown by the wind in summer, the snowballs flying through the air in winter. It can also be Wang Yan, flipping through books in the library of the Sipailou campus of Southeast University at the end of September, illuminated by the afternoon sun.

He is very good at positioning himself...

Actually, truth be told, he didn't have any big ideas about Ruan Guan; it wasn't like he hadn't interacted with her before. The mission was not to die, and according to normal circumstances, as long as there wasn't that car accident later, there basically wouldn't be much of a problem.

Of course, he didn't have any big ideas, but he did have some small ones. After all, different styles, right? He didn't mean anything else; he just wanted to experience what it was all about. And the mission was there, too—where else could there be safety if not by his side?

However, he wasn't in a hurry. School had just started, and there was still a long time to go.

After staying in the library until evening and eating dinner at the cafeteria, he returned to the dormitory and got busy doing laundry. This was what had accumulated during military training; although there were military uniforms and shoes and such, he hadn't really worn his own clothes, but after a month, it was still necessary to do a big wash.

It wasn't until after nine o'clock, when the dormitory was about to close, that Wang Yan went to the water room to wash up and shower, and returned to the dormitory once more. Only then did the day end, and the daily idle chatter began.

Glancing at Wang Kang, who was flipping through the newly issued textbooks, Wang Yan, who was wiping his hair with a dry towel, asked, "Did you go take your medicine?"

"I went, I went. That Dr. Li even asked me to tell you, saying that if you have time, you should go over; he wants to exchange more ideas with you."

Wang Kang couldn't help but smile when he spoke; the acne that had plagued him for many years was gone, so of course he was happy. After drinking one dose of the medicine before, he had already clearly felt that the acne on his face had faded a bit, but military training had delayed it. This time, he was very expectant. Because Wang Yan had said that if he didn't have acne, he would be very handsome. He felt the same way when he looked in the mirror; it was just ruined by the acne.

He was very convinced. Back in his hometown, his studies were top-notch; he was a famous young man in the surrounding villages. Only after arriving at university did he see what it meant to have people beyond people.

Wang Yan nodded: "Don't squeeze the acne you have now. You drink the medicine for three weeks first, and after that, I'll prepare an ointment for you to try and remove the acne marks."

Wang Kang nodded in response.

"Tomorrow is a holiday. What are your plans? I want to go see the famous historical sites in Jin Ling, see the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, the Confucius Temple, and there are quite a few other attractions. It's not called the ancient capital of six dynasties for nothing. Do you want to go together?"

These few boys had only been watching movies during the day; they hadn't heard a word of the conversation between Wang Yan and Zhang Kai... He shook his head and said, "Let's see when there's time in the future. Tomorrow I plan to go to Zhujiang Road to see if I can find a part-time job and earn some money to spend."

"Part-time job?" Wang Kang was stunned for a moment: "You're not short of money, right?"

Next was Zhou Jianguo's three-part question: "Where is Zhujiang Road? Why go there to find work? Can you take me along too?"

Sun Mingbo didn't speak; he was also a bit puzzled, not understanding why Wang Yan was in such a hurry to find a part-time job. After getting along for a month, he considered himself to have figured out the dormitory. The one in the worst condition was Wang Kang; Zhou Jianguo was a bit better, but not by much. His own family was okay; his parents were both employees, both in state-owned enterprises, and his dad was even a small leader.

The richest was Wang Yan. Those clothes and shoes and such were all new; although they weren't very expensive, they weren't cheap either. The watch on his wrist was a Longines, the cigarettes he smoked were Furongwang, and sometimes even Zhonghua. Although he had only been in the dormitory for three days, he had brought them breakfast twice. Since he had known him, except for starting to treat Wang Kang's acne, the word "money" had never appeared in his mouth. He looked like someone who didn't take money seriously—very tough.

"Not short of money? Silly boy, who would dislike having too much money? Ten years ago, people were still shouting about being 'ten-thousand-yuan households'; look at now, ten-thousand-yuan households are like crucian carp crossing the river—who still takes ten-thousand-yuan households seriously? They were already unsatisfied long ago. Besides, I have a clear goal: I'll be doing design in the future. If I have my own money, can't I build whatever I want? Why would I need to look at other people's faces? Why would I need to participate in some competition and let others recognize me? That feeling, you guys should experience it..."

Wang Yan explained with a smile: "Zhujiang Road is not far south of our school. It's all about selling computers and computer accessories; it's very hot. I was just thinking about going there to try my luck. Zhang Kai told me this afternoon that there are quite a few students from our school on Zhujiang Road, delivering goods or handing out flyers, and they can all earn some money. If you want to do it, there's no rush for these few days; wait for me to go scout the path first."

The three boys nodded to show they understood. Sun Mingbo said, "Then we three will go out for a stroll tomorrow."

After that, there was no more talk. Clearly, they were imagining the scene Wang Yan had described. The Department of Architecture belonged to the design field; there were various domestic and international design competitions. Although the founding purposes of those organizers were all very awesome—all for the future of human society—in the final analysis, it was still about authority.

Of course, this authority was indeed very good; after all, being able to compete on the same stage with so many outstanding contestants should be a happy event. If one won an award, there would also be honor and a sense of achievement. The higher the level of the competition, the greater the sense of achievement, and the fame and fortune brought by it were also moving. But in the end, it was still about being judged by others. People are all the same—who would feel they are inferior to others?

On the other hand, those who do design can't escape the client in the end. There are always people pointing fingers, saying this won't work, that won't work, wanting this, wanting that—it's always very troublesome.

So, in summary, having your own money, designing however you want, and the key is that what you design can be built into a real object, without having to go anywhere to participate in some competition to get other people's recognition, and without a client acting as a father over your head, saying this won't work, that won't work. This kind of scene—which designer wouldn't want it...

Wang Yan saw the expressions of the few people in his eyes. Although what he said, in the eyes of normal people, was wishful thinking, but not to mention whether he could do it, isn't it nice to think about it? It's not like you can't daydream. As for what these boys were thinking, he didn't count on these unrealistic words having any influence on them. After all, the goal was too big—to have money, to have enough money to build a building, and even more to have money to be fine even if the building failed. Who could really be that willful?

Of course, it was he, Wang Mou, who could be willful. Isn't it just real estate? He's very professional; he'll just play with it...

The next day, it was another early wake-up, running a lap around Xuanwu Lake, and doing two sets of boxing, arriving at the Haoyun Steamed Bun Shop at seven o'clock.

Seeing Wang Yan come over, Sister Zhu greeted him: "It's National Day holiday today, why are you up so early?" Although she had only seen him twice, Wang Yan left a particularly deep impression on her. Before, she thought the young man was good; later, it was what Zhu Xiao Bei, who had returned from military training, said—even those instructors in the military camp couldn't beat him, and he even performed in the program.

"I've been used to it for so many years; I wake up when the time comes. I'm envious watching my roommates sleeping soundly." Wang Yan shook his head and looked at Zhu Xiao Bei, who was busy on the side: "Isn't it the same for Xiaobei? Coming over to work early in the morning. Keep it up, I'm rooting for you."

While speaking, he also reached out and patted her thin shoulder.

Zhu Xiao Bei casually patted away Wang Yan's big hand and laughed: "Still a bowl of white porridge, a dish of pickles, two tea eggs, and three baskets of steamed buns?"

"Of course, hurry up; I'm starving."

Wang Yan went inside and sat down with someone again: "You're here again, Grandpa."

It was still the old man from the previous table-sharing. He nodded with a smile: "My family lives not far from here. In the morning, I like to go for a stroll at Xuanwu Lake. Their buns taste pretty good, and mainly they are quite affordable, so I just came."

Are there more good people or bad people in the world? The definition of good and bad is different, and with so many people, of course, there is no way to count. Wang Yan had also been mixing for over five hundred years. In his long life, he observed that there were more ordinary good people, and more bad people with money and power.

Clearly, the old man sharing the table was one of the ordinary people. He knew about the misfortune of the Zhu sisters; he couldn't help with big things, and he couldn't help with small things. Coming to eat breakfast every morning was the greatest help he could give. This could also be considered doing one good deed a day. Very good, isn't it?

After packing up a bunch of breakfast and leaving a ten-yuan bill, he carried the things back to the dormitory.

Actually, Zhu Xiao Bei's life wasn't that bitter; it was just that the two sisters didn't hire anyone, and they were doing breakfast, so they had to get up in the middle of the night to get busy, which was very hard work. At the same time, they had to bear rent, tuition, living expenses, and so on. But the bun shop was opened not far from the school, so no matter how bad it was, it couldn't be that bad. Although it wasn't very good, it wasn't very bad either. If one really had to compare one, two, three, Zhu Xiao Bei was living much better than many people at this time. It was just that she was sensible and always frugal.

He bought breakfast here and brought it back. For one thing, it was indeed to support the business; after all, one always had to eat, and eating anywhere was eating, it was the same. For another, it was to take care of Wang Kang and Zhou Jianguo in the dormitory.

Both of them had several children in their families, and they were the only university students in the whole family. It was all quite difficult; otherwise, they wouldn't have wanted to follow along as soon as they heard about part-time work to earn money, wanting to reduce the burden on their families. He occasionally bought some meat buns back, which could also be considered giving them some nourishment, so they wouldn't have to eat shredded potatoes every meal. The sturdy Zhou Jianguo had even lost weight...

As for Sun Mingbo, he was a sensible person; of course, he wouldn't eat his for nothing, and there would definitely be a place to make up for it. Calculating like this, just eating breakfast casually helped three people. He helped occasionally, not eating buns every day, and there was no saying of kindness turning into hatred; it was a very good thing.

Returning to the dormitory, the three boys were still sleeping, or rather, the whole dormitory building was quiet. At this time, one couldn't blame mobile phones; people who stayed up late stayed up late, and without entertainment activities, playing cards or mahjong, they could still do it for half the night. Of course, this was Southeast University, and this was the nineties; most people were reading and studying until the middle of the night, and perhaps there were those staying up late to read martial arts novels.

Putting the breakfast on the table, Wang Yan didn't disturb anyone's dreams and silently carried his yellow washbasin out to the water room.

Not everyone stayed up late, such as Chen Xiaozheng, this alternative in Zhang Kai's mouth.

"You are called Chen... Xiaozheng, right?"

"You know me?"

"Zhang Kai said so. We live next door, so I just asked."

"Hmm."

There was no more talk. Chen Xiaozheng was again hanging his dead-man face, brushing his teeth one by one in front of the mirror, clearly having no desire to talk. Of course, Wang Yan wouldn't ask for trouble; he was just saying hello normally, and it wasn't like he had to get to know Chen Xiaozheng.

Of course, he understood Chen Xiaozheng's appearance. After all, his father died early, and his mother had high demands, managing him like that from childhood to adulthood, so he had some mental problems, and being withdrawn was of course normal.

It was just that after he got into a relationship with Zheng Wei, some things were not very easy to understand. After all, Zeng Yu had been following him for so long without any indication, but with Zheng Wei, they were together instead.

If one really had to explain it, it might be mysterious and profound—what no one believes, but everyone firmly believes—the so-called feeling, the so-called right person. Adding Zheng Wei's personality, she was outgoing and lively, which was exactly what Chen Xiaozheng lacked, and perhaps what he had been longing for immensely after suppressing it for many years...

In Chen Xiaozheng's eyes looking at livestock, he poured several basins of cold water early in the morning, then washed up nimbly, even casually washing the underwear he had changed, and then turned around and left gracefully. The whole process took less than ten minutes—very crisp.

Returning to the dormitory, he quietly changed his clothes and left directly.

It was also autumn; although it was still very hot during the day, there was a chill at night, so the window was left with a crack for ventilation. A crack, of course, couldn't ventilate very well, and after being stuffy all night, there was also some smell in the room. Although it wasn't eight o'clock yet, the shops on Zhujiang Road hadn't opened yet, but rather than being stifled in the room, it was better to go out early for a stroll.

Leaving the house, he first went to Jiming Temple and Beiji Pavilion for a rough look, and only then turned south and went to Zhujiang Road.

As the saying goes, there is Zhongguancun in the north and Zhujiang Road in the south. In 1990, more than twenty computer companies collectively moved in. In 1992, the Jin Ling government promulgated policies to build a high-tech industrial development zone, create a Jin Ling technology street, simplify industrial and commercial tax procedures, provide one-stop service, and act as a service-oriented government. The status of Zhujiang Road was thus further advanced.

Under the agglomeration effect, Zhujiang Road became even more prosperous. There were dozens of shops selling computers, shopping malls, and quite a few internet companies that had never been heard of starting businesses here.

Today was the National Day holiday, and many people who wanted to buy computers came here to stroll; even those who didn't want to buy came to take a look. There were big loudspeakers shouting about National Day discount activities, people holding flyers asking everyone they saw, and the flow of people in each shop was moving—very lively.

Walking from the beginning of the street to the end, he roughly looked at dozens of computer shops. Wang Yan strolled into a shop that was medium-to-small in scale and somewhat deserted.

He looked at the clerk who came to greet him with a smile: "Hello, I'm looking for your boss. I want to find a part-time job in your shop."

"Want to learn about the latest high-end configuration computers?"

Wang Yan joined the ranks of handing out flyers, under the scorching sun of the autumn tiger, asking everyone he saw the same way. But his eyes were observing the passing pedestrians back and forth, looking for targets.

Selling computers, there was no way to sell them into flowers. All the big and small shops on the street, the only difference was that because of the difference in their shipment volume, the prices they got from the manufacturers were somewhat different; everything else was the same stuff, and no one was better than anyone else.

Now the bosses selling computers on Zhujiang Road were all fighting a price war. However, the prices weren't too different; the cheapest and the most expensive differed by less than a thousand yuan. And among them, there were some differences in configuration to deceive customers, so in the end, the cost was about the same. In such a situation, it was clear that the bosses of these dozens of shops had gathered together for tea before National Day.

Of course, he couldn't work for others and earn that hard-earned money. He cooperated with a boss and gave the boss some ideas, such as customizing the computer case to change a color, such as finding some repairmen to provide after-sales service, guaranteeing the price, such as extending the business hours to nine or ten o'clock at night.

This was a person with good fortune; after all, he met him. And now, when it was still a time of blood-fighting prices, a guarantee of after-sales service could clearly attract a lot of business, enough to earn a ticket.

The boss doing this, of course, offended his peers. However, there were people everywhere who didn't like those dirty tricks, and there were people everywhere who challenged so-called authority. The boss he found was such a player. Of course, there was another trick called drawing the firewood from under the cauldron; he also asked, and this boss was still capable enough at the manufacturer's side, and at the same time had his own accessory factory—quite capable. It was also like this that he got a good price from this boss.

He didn't think about setting up a shop here to sell computers; he just wanted to earn a little bit this time. Otherwise, he would have done it himself; why would he give ideas to others?

As for why he came out to work, what the family had and what he earned himself were clearly two different things. And the two hundred thousand in his hand wasn't easy to do anything with; who would dislike having too much money?

He had already mobilized Wang Kang and Zhou Jianguo, who were short of money, as well as Sun Mingbo, who was joining in the fun, and some other students who wanted part-time jobs, to go to various universities to hand out flyers. He himself was looking for big clients on Zhujiang Road.

There were many universities in Jin Ling: Jin Ling University, Southeast University, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Science and Technology, Normal University, and so on and so forth. His price was quite a bit cheaper compared to what was sold on Zhujiang Road, and he also supported customization, delivery to the door, and they were all students, so there could be some trust.

Although there were many people who were not rich now, there were never a shortage of rich people at any time. For those with some conditions, it wouldn't be a big problem for several people to buy together. Taking down the students in these universities, he didn't even need many—just selling a few dozen units would already be enough to earn a sum.

Of course, he couldn't count on Wang Kang and others to sell computers. Now it was just to spread the word first, hook their desire to buy computers, let them go and ask about the price, and have a number in their hearts.

Later, he would personally go to the door to fool them...