CH 1

“Are you also an international student?” Kevin asked Xin Qianyu. “Which university? ”

Xin Qianyu said the name of a school. This name, regardless of where it was said, would generally receive praise like “Wow, top student”. 

But Kevin gave a mocking laugh. “Oh, that one.”

“That one”. This sentence was very short and did not contain any vulgarities, but it was like a slap on the face.

Xin Qianyu’s embarrassment went unnoticed by Su Zhong…

…even though Su Zhong was sitting next to Xin Qianyu, the closest possible position. 

Today, Su Zhong wore a three-piece suit. As usual, he was dressed meticulously, just like how he had combed his swept-back hair. He was very handsome, had a good temperament, and knew how to dress up. Every strand of hair had an elite aura, making everyone feel inferior -including his boyfriend, Xin Qianyu.

Xin Qianyu always felt that being with Su Zhong was like picking up treasure.

It was a blessing.

Unfortunately, Xin Qianyu was not the only one who felt this way. Almost everyone felt that being with Su Zhong was like Xin Qianyu picking up a treasure.

In other words, Su Zhong was a flower on top of cow dung.

Besides Xin Qianyu and Su Zhong, the others sitting at the dining table were all from the same industry as Su Zhong, that is to say, they were all “financial elites” to the masses. From this point of view, they were indeed qualified to look down on most workers.

Kevin was considered the arrogant type, so he made the “looking down on” very obvious.

There were also the subtle and more polite ones. A lady named Rui Lei helped Xin Qianyu to mediate the situation. “Well, then, Xiaoyu’s school is also an Ivy League.” 

Ivy Leagues were top-notch elite schools in the United States and the league of colleges and universities in the United States that produced the most Rhodes scholars. The Chinese were more accustomed to calling them “Chang Qing Teng“, but people in investment banks and foreign companies like to mix Chinese and English when speaking, so they say Ivy League.

In short, Rui Lei said this for Xin Qianyu’s dignity.

Kevin didn’t plan to let Xin Qianyu off like this, so he just smiled. “Rui Lei, you are too forgetful. Besides Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia, none of the rest count as Ivy Leagues.”

The organization that Su Zhong and the others work for basically only accepted people from the target schools. This resulted in them meeting face-to-face with top students, all from the world’s top 100 elite schools. However, such a “top student environment” did not make them feel appreciative of each other, instead produced an incomparably absurd “chain of academic contempt”. For example, those who studied in the United States looked down on those who studied in the United Kingdom, and those who studied in the United Kingdom looked down on those who studied in Hong Kong. Additionally, among those who studied in the United States, they were also divided into Ivy League and non-Ivy League. The Ivy Leagues were divided further into whether it was Harvard or Yale. There were sharp distinctions to all of this. 

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Seeing Xin Qianyu’s embarrassment, a man named Jones also helped to change the subject. “Did Xiaoyu just return home? What industry are you in now?”

Xin Qianyu replied slowly, “I’m teaching English.”

Jones was a little embarrassed. 

It wasn’t because of anything else but about 20 minutes ago, Jones had joked, “The bastards who study abroad all come back to teach English.”

By saying that, didn’t you just hit Xin Qianyu in the face?

Jones now really regretted what he had said 20 minutes ago. He just smiled and said, “Oh, that’s good, that’s good.”

Kevin wasn’t willing to let it go, so he pulled on Jones and said, “That wasn’t what you said earlier.” 

Jones pointed to the wagyu and sashimi on the plate and said to Kevin, “Such good wagyu can’t shut your stinky mouth?”

As he said that, Jones smiled apologetically at Xin Qianyu.

Xin Qianyu also nodded and smiled. He knew that Jones was not being malicious and that it was actually Kevin who was really being mean.

However, Xin Qianyu still felt quite aggrieved. 

His aggrievement did not come from what Kevin had said, but from Su Zhong not saying anything.

From earlier to now, Kevin had made quite a few snide remarks to Xin Qianyu. Even Rui Lei and Jones, who he was meeting for the first time, knew to help Xin Qianyu say a few words. But Su Zhong, who was sitting next to Xin Qianyu, never said a word.

Xin Qianyu couldn’t help turning his head to look at Su Zhong and saw champagne-colored lights pouring from the crystal chandelier onto Su Zhong’s emotionless face. His thin and pale lips moved slightly as if he was silently mouthing something – if Su Zhong was not wearing a suit with combed-back hair, the scene would be as if a holy monk was chanting silently. He seemed to be immersed in his own world, separated from the world of mortals by an invisible chasm.

Xin Qianyu now understood why Su Zhong hadn’t spoken at all, because Su Zhong wasn’t listening to what they were saying. Kevin probably realized it too, hence he was being so unrestrained. 

Everyone who was familiar with Su Zhong knew that Su Zhong was now likely calculating. As for what he was calculating, only he knew. Perhaps it was an analysis of today’s transactions, a review of today’s decision-making, or maybe he was thinking over whether the model he recently built had any issues. He could also have happened to see a mathematical problem and had a sudden need for mental arithmetic to answer it.

People had strange hobbies. Some people liked to dance, some people liked to sing, and Su Zhong liked to calculate.

He was very sensitive to numbers and addicted to them. Once he started a numbers game in his mind, he would be delightfully immersed and unable to stop.

This was particularly strange for the average person. But Xin Qianyu felt that this was not “strange”, but “different”. 

Xin Qianyu still remembered the first time he went on a date with Su Zhong, Su Zhong had stared blankly like this. Xin Qianyu whispered something, but did not get Su Zhong’s response. If it were someone else, Xin Qianyu would definitely have left angrily. But since the other party was Su Zhong, Xin Qianyu was very nervous. Was I too boring?

After being uneasy for some time, Xin Qianyu asked carefully, “Why don’t you speak…”

Su Zhong replied, “I am roughly estimating the turnover of this store.”

“What?” Xin Qianyu was stunned. “What do you mean?” 

Su Zhong looked at the front desk and said, “We have been sitting here for 30 minutes, and 15 people have paid the bill. If they ordered the standard lunch set, it should be 2,250 yuan. The lunch operating hours of this restaurant is three hours, so this number can be multiplied by 6: 13,500 yuan. According to the catering industry survey I have done, lunch in such restaurants in the CBD generally accounts for about 30% of the whole day. Of course, this is not necessarily accurate. We also have to consider, for example,” Su Zhong swiped on his phone and opened the weather app. “The weather forecast shows that it may rain tonight, and the customer flow will probably be affected. But regarding this, I had previously also made a model in passing when I was doing the statistics.”

Xin Qianyu, a mathematical idiot, had already begun to feel faint.

Su Zhong usually spoke very little, and only when he talked about calculations did he become incessant. However, this “incessance” was equivalent to not speaking to Xin Qianyu.

At that time, Xin Qianyu couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry, but he felt that Su Zhong was very cute. 

Probably it was beauty in the eyes of the beholder.

In Xin Qianyu’s eyes, even Su Zhong’s fart would be fragrant.

After saying goodbye to Kevin and the others, Xin Qianyu took the initiative to hold Su Zhong’s arm and asked him, “What were you thinking while you ate? You never said a word.” Xin Qianyu suppressed himself and tried his best to make his tone gentle, not wanting to sound critical.

Su Zhong replied, “I was going over today’s transactions.” 

“Oh…” Xin Qianyu nodded in understanding, but his expression couldn’t help showing some disappointment.

Today was the first time Su Zhong brought Xin Qianyu to meet his colleagues, but for 20 minutes of it, Su Zhong was distracted. By the time Su Zhong came back to his senses, the atmosphere was already very tense. But Su Zhong hadn’t felt anything.

Xin Qianyu sighed. He was actually a hot-tempered person. If he had met Kevin under normal circumstances, he would have made Kevin doubt his life. But in front of Su Zhong, Xin Qianyu had always held on to a weak, gentle, kind, and pitiful script, which couldn’t be broken.

But it was impossible to swallow the way he was spoken to. 

So, Xin Qianyu said bitchily, “Hey, does that Kevin like me?”

Su Zhong said, “You are my boyfriend. Why would he like you?”

Xin Qianyu: Damn.

Kevin was said to be a “golden collar” with an annual salary of a million, but he was still a worker in the end. His arrogance could only come from people who earned less than him. He might not need to have looked down on Xin Qianyu so obnoxiously. It was just that “disdain” was a way for him to regulate himself. 

Although his annual salary was almost one million, his mortgage for a year was already almost 400,000, not to mention the cost of maintaining a car and dressing up. People in professions like his were embarrassed to meet others without wearing a custom-made suit. When going about, they should also drive a good car. For all these things, spending money was as extreme as burning paper money.

He was honorable to the outside world, but he was like a dog to the boss and customers.

Now, there was another area to spend on, and that was his child’s kindergarten.

Since he prided himself on being “elite”, the child would definitely receive an “elite education”. Therefore, he had long targetted the most prestigious private kindergarten in the region. The cost of this kindergarten was 200,000 yuan a year, which did not include the various miscellaneous activities. 

Even so, highly paid parents still make every attempt to send their children in, holding out money and begging the kindergarten to charge them hundreds of thousands in tuition fees.

It wasn’t enough for parents to be able to pay the tuition fees. They had to be highly educated and decent-working people. It was best for moms to be full-time mothers, which could meet the various strange parent-child teaching requirements of the kindergarten.

In order to ensure that parents are “qualified”, the kindergarten not only interviewed the child, but also the parents.

That day, Kevin brought his wife and son to the kindergarten for an interview. As soon as he entered through the door, he was stunned. Xin Qianyu was sitting at the interview table. 

Kevin was petrified. His face froze and he couldn’t move.

Xin Qianyu gave a faint smile as if he didn’t know him. “Please sit down.”