Chapter 1128: Chapter 423: Old Friends, New Things
At the corner of the street outside the neighborhood, there was a stand based around a cart, with “Candied Chestnuts” written on the left and “Freshly Baked Sweet Potatoes” on the right.
A few high school-looking girls were standing in front of the cart, giggling softly while occasionally casting bright-eyed glances at the young man busy behind the cart.
The young man behind the cart wore a baseball cap and simple casual clothes. He was tall, and despite the brim of his cap shielding his face, it didn’t hide his handsome features.
“Boss, if I buy several portions of these chestnuts, can you give me something for free?”
One of the girls, nudged by the other two, asked with a cheeky smile.
“What do you want?”
The young man asked without looking up.
“Your WeChat!”
“… No way.”
With an indifferent expression, the young man shook his head and handed the three bags of chestnuts to the girls, “That’ll be 45 in total, just scan here.”
“10 portions, I’ll buy 10 more, then will you give us your WeChat!”
“No need to waste.”
Despite the girl’s coquettish pleas, the young man remained unmoved, still shaking his head.
“Well then… Boss, we’ll come by again tomorrow, okay!”
Seeing that the young man wasn’t swayed by sweet words, the girls were at a loss. They could only throw out that sentence before turning around and leaving, laughing and chattering.
It was then that Zhou Wang approached, his expression a mixture of emotions as he scrutinized the young man in front of him, the smile on his face fading for a moment.
The initial surprise had left Zhou Wang stunned; he hadn’t thought much in that first moment but now realized something was off.
How could he possibly be setting up a stall here?
If not for being so familiar, the chance of mistaking him for someone else would be almost zero, and Zhou Wang would hardly believe it.
“Old Guo?”
Hesitating for a moment, Zhou Wang spoke up.
The young man was startled, quickly raising his head. Upon seeing that it was indeed Zhou Wang standing before him, he was clearly just as incredulous.
“Brother Dog?”
“Whoa, it really is you, brat, hahaha, if it weren’t for you looking like this, I’d have almost mistaken you for someone else!”
All doubts gone, Zhou Wang laughed heartily, walking over and giving him a playful punch on the shoulder.
The young man before him was named Guo Nansheng, one of Zhou Wang’s college roommates.
The four of them from dorm 404 had become roommates voluntarily after a room switch in their second year, which is why they hit it off, sharing a deep bond over three years.
Strictly speaking, among the other three, the one with the strongest relationship with Zhou Wang was indeed Guo Nansheng.
Another roommate, Li Cheng, only had a natural closeness with Zhou Wang because they were both locals, but when it came to personalities, Guo Nansheng and Zhou Wang were the closest.
Guo Nansheng was from Magic City; back in college, even though he had a low-key personality, he was a prominent figure on campus.
Not only because he was handsome, being one of the few in their department who could rival Zhou Wang in looks… but also because his family was wealthy.
The rich second-generation types just stick out like a sore thumb—there’s no need to announce it, people could just tell.
Zhou Wang first realized Guo Nansheng was wealthy during the National Day holiday in their first year. At the time, none of the roommates wanted to go home, so they discussed going somewhere for fun. Then another roommate from Guang Province suggested, “Why don’t we go on a trip?”
Zhou Wang remembered adding somewhat foolishly at the time, “How about Chengjiang? I heard the scenery there is nice…”
Chengjiang is a reservoir in a county near Ming City; in short, it’s the kind of place you can reach by car in an hour or two, favored by ordinary local college students.
But that comment rendered his three roommates silent.
Zhou Wang was at a loss until the next day when Li Cheng dragged him out of bed, and the four of them took a taxi directly to the airport. Still dazed, Zhou Wang realized they were actually heading to Rong City after getting their plane tickets.
The tickets were booked by Guo Nansheng alone. While Li Cheng and another roommate chatted happily, Zhou Wang couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward:
“Um, Nansheng, I’ll pay you back for the plane tickets later…”
“No need.”
Guo Nansheng replied coolly, “I was the one who suggested going there, so I’ll cover it.”
“Hmm? Is that the logic?”
Naturally, Zhou Wang was still confused, but Li Cheng just laughed, putting an arm around his shoulder.
“I say, Brother Dog, you really don’t need to be polite with Nansheng. He mentioned it just so happened to be his birthday, so he’s treating us to a trip to celebrate. He’s already booked the hotel, no worries. We just need to treat him to a meal later…”
“Yeah, there’s no need to feel any burden when the rich are being generous; a pair of Nansheng’s shoes is worth my living expenses for a year!”
The other Guang Province roommate chimed in with a laugh.
So Zhou Wang took note of the shoes Guo Nansheng wore that day, secretly looking them up later, only to find out his Guang Province roommate had been conservative in his estimate.
Those AJ limited edition sneakers weren’t equivalent to his living expenses for a year, but actually for four years.
Though perhaps that’s just the case for someone like Zhou Wang.
But regardless, from that day on, Zhou Wang realized that the material gap between people could be so vast.
And from that day on, Zhou Wang started to notice other details that everyone else had long been aware of, details he had previously been oblivious to.
For instance, Guo Nansheng was already wearing a Blancpain in their first year and switched to a Lange in the second. His laptop was a ConceptD 9, and his phone was a Vertu…
Back then, Zhou Wang didn’t even know what those logos meant.