Chapter 919

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

After hanging up Niu Chunsheng's call, Zhang Yueran carefully mulled over the words Niu Chunsheng had said to her.

Treating marriage as an investment — this was the first time she had ever heard such a notion.

In the past, she had always felt that marriage should be the destination of love; only with love could one marry.

So she had always been waiting for her destined Prince Charming to appear.

But as she grew older, gained more experience, and went through family upheavals, she gradually began to compromise with reality.

The reality was that for a woman like her — ordinary in looks and with an extremely narrow social circle — working a rigid nine-to-five routine, it was almost impossible for a Prince Charming to take the initiative and appear.

So she strongly agreed with Niu Chunsheng's view.

Since she had no fate with love, she might as well treat marriage as an investment.

Since it was an investment, one naturally had to maximize the returns.

This maximization of returns was not short-term gain, not bride price, not a house or car; only short-sighted people would fixate on short-term gains. This maximization of returns was long-term maximization — one had to consider the entire span of married life.

One needed to comprehensively weigh the other party's earning ability, capability in handling affairs, empathy, and so on; as for looks, that was actually the most insignificant minor factor.

According to Niu Chunsheng, the Shanhai Real Estate that Wang Erhai once ran had its moment of boundless glory in the county town; at Shanhai Real Estate's peak, the sales agency rights for more than half the housing projects in the county town were his.

Now, although Shanhai Real Estate had gone bankrupt, Wang Erhai did not become dispirited because of it; instead, he quickly pulled himself together, returned to his hometown to run a restaurant, develop a farm, and even served concurrently as a Temporary Village Cadre.

Leaving aside whether these businesses of his can make money, just that kind of undying, cockroach-like tenacious willpower is something few people in this world can match.

If someone else encountered Wang Erhai's kind of setback — company bankrupt overnight, instantly turning from a millionaire into a debtor owing millions — they would likely have been crushed and never recovered.

Wang Erhai possesses this quality, so the probability of him staging a comeback is still quite high.

This is also the reason why Niu Chunsheng has always been so optimistic about him.

Now, happening to catch Wang Erhai at his lowest point, Zhang Yueran being with Wang Erhai at this time could indeed yield the greatest returns with the lowest investment.

Moreover, a woman who appears during a man's low point is often the one most able to capture his sincere heart.

After thinking of these things, Zhang Yueran immediately opened WeChat and found Wang Erhai:

"Mr. Wang, Uncle Chunsheng said your restaurant in town has quite a few local delicacies; may I go taste them this weekend?"

Zhang Yueran typed this long string of text in the WeChat chat box, but then immediately felt the intention was too obvious — would being too proactive make her seem cheap? Thinking this, she deleted all the text she had just typed.

Then she rethought: how should she phrase it?

Just communicating on WeChat definitely wouldn't be enough; she had to create more opportunities for offline contact.

It was just a pity that as a High School Teacher, she was usually busy to no end; only Saturdays and Sundays did she have a little free time.

Zhang Yueran typed again:

"Mr. Wang, are you free this weekend?"

This intention was even more obvious, so she deleted it again.

She typed once more:

"Mr. Wang, what do you think of me as a person?"

Sending this, the other party probably wouldn't even know how to reply.

So she deleted it once more.

After tossing and turning for a good while, she still hadn't sent a single message.

Zhang Yueran wore a face full of distress; she truly didn't know how to start a conversation with Wang Erhai.

She was just this kind of person — unable to take the initiative.

If her personality were just a bit more proactive, perhaps she would have been single no longer long ago; why would she have had to wait until today?

Just as she was feeling stifled, at this moment Wang Erhai actually took the initiative to send her a WeChat message!

Zhang Yueran was immediately overjoyed.

"I just got home; have you gotten home yet?"

Wang Erhai sent a voice message.

"I've been home for a good while."

Zhang Yueran hurriedly typed a reply.

She didn't like sending voice messages directly.

But Wang Erhai just happened to prefer sending voice messages.

However, this was no great harm — it was merely a difference in living habits, not a personality clash, let alone a difference in values.

Wang Erhai sent another voice message:

"Uncle Chunsheng is coming to my town restaurant to eat this weekend; do you want to come along? The White Cut Chicken here is all home-raised, purely natural green food."

After listening to this voice message, Zhang Yueran busily typed a reply:

"Sure, coincidentally I have nothing to do this weekend either."

Wang Erhai sent another voice message:

"When the time comes, you can also drop by Shangou Village; I'll take you to see the farm I'm currently building."

Zhang Yueran felt that always typing back seemed a bit disrespectful.

So she switched to voice messages as well:

"Sure, sure. I heard Uncle Chunsheng say the scenery around your hometown is quite nice."

The two began using voice messages, chatting back and forth.

The topic opened up, and the chat that followed went much more smoothly.

Rambling here, rambling there.

Chatted about everything under the sun.

Most of what they chatted about was nonsense.

But it was precisely the nonsense that could deepen the feelings between both sides.

The two chatted until past eleven at night; Zhang Yueran had to get up early for class tomorrow, so she said goodnight to Wang Erhai.

After parting with Zhang Yueran, Wang Erhai immediately called Niu Chunsheng back:

"Uncle Chunsheng, I need you to do me a favor."

"What favor?" Niu Chunsheng asked doubtfully; it was the middle of the night, and he didn't know what Wang Erhai wanted him to help with.

Wang Erhai said:

"I just told Zhang Yueran that you're coming over to my place for a meal this weekend, and asked if she wants to come along with you."

Hearing this, Niu Chunsheng suddenly realized, then laughed:

"Sure, no problem. This Saturday I'll bring a client to your place for a meal, and bring Zhang Yueran along by the way. By the way, this client is also in the real estate industry; you can chat with him properly then, maybe some sparks will fly."

Hearing this, Wang Erhai immediately expressed thanks:

"Then thank you, Uncle Chunsheng!"

Niu Chunsheng laughed:

"You're welcome. See things through to the end, help someone all the way. Since I'm playing matchmaker in the middle, I naturally have to see this match through to the end!"

Then he joked with a laugh:

"But speaking of it, you kid really know how to handle things. To create a chance to meet Zhang Yueran, you actually acted first and reported later. If I had to go on a business trip outside this weekend, how would you explain it to Zhang Yueran?"

Wang Erhai smiled:

"Then I'd just have to apologize to her, tell her Uncle Chunsheng you suddenly had something come up and couldn't make it, it was my poor planning, and I'll treat her to a meal to apologize."

Hearing this, Niu Chunsheng laughed again:

"That move of yours is clever; either way you can get Zhang Yueran to come out and meet again!"

That Wang Erhai could come up with this move was also to be expected.

After all, he had several dating experiences; the way of getting along between men and women came naturally to him.

Unlike Zhang Yueran, shy and hesitant, not even knowing how to start.