Time’s wheel slowly ground through their university days. Xing Wu and Qing Ye were usually very busy, not meet many times a week. Yet, being in the same place, their hearts remained so close that even while busy with their affairs, they felt completely at ease.

In Xing Wu’s freshman year, Qing Ye would always squeeze out two evenings every week to help him catch up with listening and pronunciation. Their regular dating spots were the school library, cafeteria, study room, or any place with seats.

Later, to train Xing Wu’s pronunciation, they began conversing in English during their meetings and phone calls, even flirting and arguing in English. Their romance as academic achievers had a quality that ordinary people might not understand, but they both delighted in it.

By the second semester of freshman year, Xing Wu could effortlessly understand any English-taught course. Under the tutelage of Qing Ye, the Foreign Language Department’s beauty, his spoken English became very authentic by sophomore year, without any trace of Chinese accent or hesitation.

Once when he gave an all-English presentation, Qing Ye secretly went to audit. In his crisp white shirt and black trousers, with his clean-cut, handsome profile, deep voice, and fluent English, he emanated an indescribable charm on stage. Qing Ye had never seen him so radiant, shining brilliantly within her field of vision.

She sat in a corner of the last row, smiling throughout. During the thunderous applause, he looked toward her. She gave him a thumbs-up, and his lips curled into a gentle smile.

They spent their twentieth birthdays by the sea, just as they had promised that year. Under blue skies and white clouds by the ocean, they rode speedboats and went diving and surfing. Xing Wu became wild with excitement, daring to take Qing Ye straight to the middle of the sea on his first jet ski ride, making all sorts of sharp turns until Qing Ye’s throat was hoarse from screaming.

When paragliding in mid-air, the azure sea and blue sky merged into one. The vast expanse of blue crashed into Qing Ye’s vision, making her feel like a bird soaring with spread wings.

Once, at her lowest point in life, she had fallen at Zha Zha Pavilion with a broken wing and wounds. It was this boy beside her who had carefully tended to her wounds, held up a blue sky for her, and personally lifted her to new heights. Now, he was by her side, crossing difficulties to swim alongside her in this sky.

She felt his breathing, his heartbeat, his gaze, and smiled, shouting toward the horizon where the sea met the sky: “Hey! I’m twenty now.”

“When will you marry me?”

“When the country allows you to marry me.”

Their voices echoed in the space between heaven and earth, lingering tenderly.

After coming to Beijing, Xing Wu’s life leaped from the sunless slums into a brilliant top university. There were diverse elective courses, various club activities and social practices, occasional ball games and gaming sessions with roommates, and sweet moments with his girlfriend.

Though every day was busy, his smiles increased. The fierceness and irritability in his expression gradually disappeared with his new life, replaced by an increasingly natural elegance.

He had never understood where Qing Ye’s mysterious confidence came from, but after truly entering her world, seeing what she saw, and experiencing what she experienced, he genuinely felt that powerful radiance.

Like a sponge, he continuously absorbed knowledge and information from all directions, transforming them into his shield. He realized that confidence didn’t come from others or fall from the sky, but stemmed from one’s solid foundation. Later, he too imperceptibly became increasingly mature and composed.

When he returned to Zha Zha Pavilion, even Da Hei and others barely recognized him. Perhaps environment shapes people – his demeanor had changed dramatically over these two years. He had completely transformed from a somewhat insecure, gloomy thug full of delinquent air into a refined, mature man.

The sharpness and intensity in his eyes when looking at people were no longer as fierce as before. His deep, handsome eyes revealed a touch of elegance when smiling. With increased social interactions, he learned to retract all his thorns. Perhaps only in front of Qing Ye did he still show that wild, unrestrained side.

Meanwhile, Qing Ye’s father, Comrade Qing Hong Zhi, hadn’t given up on the idea of an alliance with the Meng family. Firstly, he was old friends with Meng’s father, and secondly, as he grew older and less capable in some matters, he seemed eager to find a reliable family for his daughter to rely on. Therefore, he often invited Meng Rui Hang home under various pretexts like helping with this or that and then keeping him for dinner.

As this happened more frequently, Xing Wu simply stopped asking Qing Ye to help with his English documents. When he needed proofreading, he would go straight to the Foreign Language Department to find Meng Rui Hang. Before long, he had become close with the brothers from the Foreign Language Department, occasionally playing basketball together. This directly led to Meng Rui Hang later declining Qing Hong Zhi’s invitations out of consideration for Xing Wu.

During these two years of development, as Qing Gu’s model became increasingly mature, it indeed attracted attention from many investors and industry peers, including some good opportunities. However, neither Xing Wu nor Qing Ye was eager to enter the capital market and expand Qing Gu too quickly.

Their current focus remained on academics, treating Qing Gu more as a practice ground before truly entering society. They planned to solidify the enterprise’s foundation before considering future development.

For instance, the online platform’s development and maintenance during these two years provided Xing Wu with rich practical material for his undergraduate thesis. Meanwhile, Qing Ye personally oversaw matters involving corporate organizational structure, drafting various business documents, and even quarterly and annual reports. The advantage was that they were both utilizing Qing Gu to develop their strengths, learning, exploring, operating, and growing simultaneously. When faced with difficulties, they were surrounded by excellent academic achievers – the Computer Science and Economics Management departments never lacked talents, so they never worried about finding help. Therefore, their presence in Beijing indeed gave great confidence to the Quan Ya side in terms of both connections and technical aspects.

After the redistribution of Target Factory District Two, Qing Gu took over the entire area. Due to the state’s key support for high-tech industries, the county also gave Qing Gu maximum support, causing Boss Jiang’s original plan to take over Zha Zha Pavilion to fall through. He had attempted to move against Qing Gu twice, but because Qing Gu’s interest chain was too complex, not only was Fang Jie involved, but there were also interest transfers between the Target Factory and Qing Gu. With policy support and county leaders’ indirect pressure, Boss Jiang finally had to withdraw after two failed attempts, retreating to his territory.

Qing Gu’s real opportunity came in Xing Wu’s junior year when he encountered an industry enterprise, Xin Ke, during a foreign affairs event. At that time, his understanding of this enterprise only stayed at the product level.

Not long after the event, he received a detailed project proposal, which he didn’t pay much attention to at first and casually forwarded to Qing Ye.

Over these years, they had received olive branches from various parties multiple times, but this proposal caught Qing Ye’s attention. She specifically sacrificed dinner time to find him, enthusiastically pointing out several surprising aspects of the proposal. From this material, whether for them or Qing Gu, it was like a piece of fat meat delivered to their door or a pie fallen from heaven. The entire material was complete and clear in its thinking, without any roundabout parts, making Qing Ye feel the sincerity of the other party, though Xing Wu remained cautious.

What changed Xing Wu’s attitude was three days later when Xin Ke Group’s CEO personally flew to Beijing to meet him, which was indeed very unexpected for Xing Wu.

After all, he was just an undergraduate student, while the other party was the head of a multi-billion-dollar diversified information industry enterprise.

Before the meeting, Xing Wu heard the other party was called Zhao Qing, but upon actually meeting, he found CEO Zhao quite different from his imagination. Though in his early forties, he was tall and straight, full of energy, strikingly handsome, looking like he was in his early thirties. He came to the appointment alone, with just a driver downstairs, surprisingly not even bringing an assistant. Thinking of the business partners he had met before, whose companies weren’t very large but who brought whole teams of business managers, secretaries, and legal counsel just for a meeting, he couldn’t help but view CEO Zhao differently.

Xing Wu had thought the meeting would take at most an hour, but unexpectedly, he talked with CEO Zhao until dark. A meeting he hadn’t held much hope for unexpectedly opened a new door to the internet industry for him.

Even more surprisingly, during their conversation, Xing Wu discovered that their experiences were strikingly similar in some aspects. A poor youth, he went to UCL for graduate studies as a Ning University top student, worked as a doctor for several years, then around thirty, against everyone’s expectations, resolutely quit his seemingly stable profession. Initially starting with a few people in the startup team working day and night, he experienced venture capital, core platform transformation, and asset restructuring, struggling step by step to today’s success, taking only about ten years to develop into an industry standout.

The tenacious determination he possessed made Xing Wu see his resolve when first leaving Zha Zha Pavilion.

Zhao Qing was more wise and frank than he had imagined. Both coming from technical backgrounds, Xing Wu’s current team model was something Zhao Qing had also experienced. Unconsciously, their topics became increasingly engaging, from technology to development to business innovation.

Like old friends who regretted not meeting earlier, they talked until darkness fell unnoticed, and after dinner, they ordered light refreshments at the tea house.

A detail during dinner interested Xing Wu: when CEO Zhao received a phone call, his presence suddenly dropped from 1.8 meters to 0.8 meters. The person on the phone said something unknown, and he kept smiling and coaxing her, his tone becoming doting and gentle, saying he would return tomorrow and bring gifts to make up for it, before hanging up, he told the little person on the other end: “Tell mommy I’ll call her later.”

After hanging up, Zhao Qing told Xing Wu with an undisguisable smile: “My daughter, she’s throwing a tantrum because she heard I’m on a sudden business trip and won’t be back tonight.”

Xing Wu couldn’t help smiling too. Compared to business partners who wanted to take him to nightclubs for drinks at the first meeting, CEO Zhao’s family-oriented nature indeed made it easier for him to build trust, feeling he was someone who truly focused on business.

Though there was a gap of over ten years between him and Zhao Qing, they had many matching ideas and concepts. Often before Xing Wu could speak, the other party had already guessed his meaning. Such rapport made Zhao Qing stand out among all the people Xing Wu had met in these years.

Before long, Xing Wu decided to continue deeper contact with Xin Ke. Qing Ye was somewhat surprised by this – just what kind of impressive person was Xin Ke’s CEO? She had talked enthusiastically all evening that day without moving Xing Wu, yet this CEO Zhao had won over her stubborn boyfriend with just one meeting. Impressive indeed.

But as a businessman who had weathered many storms over the years, how could any of his decisions be casual or hasty? Long before approaching Xing Wu, Zhao Qing had thoroughly investigated his background. He didn’t like fighting battles without certainty, so from deciding to personally take action to later arranging the meeting with Xing Wu, everything carried strong purposefulness.

Xin Ke will enter the game development industry in the next five years. His choice of Xing Wu among countless others was because of three irreplaceable bright spots: first, his background and prospects from Qing University’s Y Class; second, his control of Qing Gu’s highly potential e-commerce platform; and third, his past experience in e-sports.

This background made Xing Wu the perfect candidate. Zhao Qing was willing to employ enormous funds and manpower to achieve comprehensive strategic cooperation with Qing Gu, even though superficially, Xin Ke wouldn’t receive any returns in the early stages. But only Zhao Qing knew clearly that the return he wanted was never Qing Gu’s rise, but rather the partner behind it.

He hadn’t held any of this back when first meeting Xing Wu, which was why Xing Wu, despite missing many resources over these years, ultimately chose Xin Ke – it was because of Zhao Qing’s frankness and their mutual understanding.

The sparks from this powerful alliance brought Qing Gu truly into public view. Within half a year, Qing Gu’s offline stores began opening nationwide, introducing a franchise model and developing a complete ERP system. Using integrated information management within the original supply chain integration concept, they completely broke free from traditional enterprise limitations. From establishing direct operation areas to successfully introducing PE, Xing Wu officially established Qing Gu’s headquarters in Beijing.

When headquarters moved to Beijing, Quan Ya was transferred from their hometown. That year, Qing Ye was a senior, and Quan Ya, whom they hadn’t seen for long, had changed significantly. No trace of his former self remained. He had always been fair-skinned and refined among the gang at Zha Zha Pavilion, and now after years of tempering, his demeanor and conduct had become even more composed and sophisticated.

It was then that Qing Ye heard from Quan Ya that Shu Han had married – in her second year in Shenzhen, she married an ordinary office worker. Early this year, she had given birth to a chubby boy and bought a house in Shenzhen. Qing Ye looked at Xing Wu in surprise, thinking he must have known but had never mentioned it to her.

When Quan Ya came to Beijing, he had wanted to bring Da Hei along to try their luck, but Da Hei refused. He said work should maintain hierarchy, and he couldn’t let Wu Zi and him down in Beijing. As an uneducated person, he’d better stay in their hometown – brotherhood was for life.

They heard he had found a girlfriend, not someone from outside entertainment, but an honest girl. He had also settled down to do proper business, opening a small restaurant. Though the place wasn’t big, Da Hei was good with people and had many brothers, so business was always good. His restaurant had even become the designated canteen for Huang Mao’s vehicle fleet.

After Quan Ya came, Xing Wu felt like he had gained strong support, and everything went more smoothly. With Xin Ke’s help, Qing Gu entered its most rapid development phase ever.

When Qing Ye graduated from senior year, Xing Wu gave her a Land Rover as a celebration, but she never had time to get her driver’s license, so later only Xing Wu drove this car to pick her up and drop her off.

The day Qing Ye’s graduate exam results came out, she went out to celebrate with Xing Wu. When he was sending her home, they were caught kissing in the car by Qing Hong Zhi, who happened to be coming out of the garage.

At that moment, the situation was incredibly awkward, but fortunately, Qing Hong Zhi was quite cultured and didn’t embarrass them on the spot, instead going straight home.

However, as soon as Qing Ye entered the house, Qing Hong Zhi talked with her. He didn’t approve of Qing Ye’s relationship with Xing Wu. Firstly, he looked down on Xing Wu’s family – Qing Ye’s mother had passed away early, and Xing Wu’s mother didn’t seem reliable either. He worried that after his daughter married into that family, there would be no one to help when she had children. Secondly, he had previously spoken harsh words to Xing Wu, and that face couldn’t be lost so easily.

This was the first time Qing Hong Zhi had so seriously discussed marriage with Qing Ye, making her very depressed for several days, even overshadowing her decent graduate exam results.

During that period, Qing Hong Zhi had been feeling unwell and was very anxious about his daughter’s relationship. Later, a hospital examination revealed problems with his intestines, and the hospital quickly arranged surgery. At that time, Qing Ye had just started her first year of graduate school, running between hospital and school, anxious all day. It was then that Xing Wu appeared by Qing Hong Zhi’s side. As Qing Ye was a daughter and couldn’t handle certain aspects of care, Xing Wu directly took over. Initially, Qing Hong Zhi strongly resisted, but unable to bear seeing his daughter so exhausted, he grudgingly accepted Xing Wu’s presence.

Xing Wu began frequently visiting the hospital, bringing soup and fruit. One day, seeing Qing Hong Zhi’s hair had grown too long, he brought a set of tools in the evening, took Qing Hong Zhi to the bathroom, put a large apron on him, and gave him a haircut.

The next day when Qing Ye came to the hospital and saw her father’s short textured haircut, she laughed for a long while and asked how he got his hair cut. Qing Hong Zhi somewhat awkwardly touched his hair and said, “Xing Wu cut it for me, not bad, right?”

Qing Ye’s eyes curved with laughter: “Very good, have you suddenly discovered your son-in-law is quite useful?”

Qing Hong Zhi angrily scolded: “What son-in-law? Have you no shame!”

After discharge, although Qing Hong Zhi never again mentioned wanting Qing Ye to break up with Xing Wu, whenever Qing Ye suggested inviting Xing Wu for dinner at home, Qing Hong Zhi would still stubbornly say: “If you dare bring that boy through the door, I’ll change the locks.”

After Qing Hong Zhi’s discharge, Qing Ye told him to rest more and work less at the company, questioning why he needed to work so hard at his age. However, Qing Hong Zhi has been worried about the company’s transformation lately. Currently, their business scope is becoming increasingly narrow. Some potential clients showed interest in cooperation, but they hadn’t entered the relevant supplier directory and didn’t meet procurement standards, causing a massive loss of business. Several younger shareholders collectively pressed for restructuring.

Qing Hong Zhi contacted an old friend to see what options were available. The old friend introduced him to a manager responsible for this business area, suggesting they connect to see if their qualifications could pass review and join their platform, which would make many operations more convenient. After learning about Qing Hong Zhi’s enterprise-scale and situation, the manager said they needed an evaluation report and to discuss it with their leader, but their leader had been unavailable recently. During Qing Hong Zhi’s hospitalization, his subordinates had contacted the manager several times without success.

Finally, just when they managed to arrange a meeting, the other party’s leader requested to visit his home. Though Qing Hong Zhi was surprised, he still extended a warm invitation.

He specifically told Qing Ye that he would be entertaining guests at home Friday evening – if she was coming home for dinner, come early; if not, come back later, don’t rush back halfway through looking improper.

When Qing Ye received Qing Hong Zhi’s call, she was preparing for her research project and absent-mindedly hung up after listening. So on Friday, she completely forgot what Qing Hong Zhi had said, and returned home at exactly seven-thirty, neither early nor late, after finishing her project proposal.

However, when she opened the door and entered, she was stunned. At the long dining table, Xing Wu and Qing Hong Zhi sat on opposite sides, not only drinking red wine but seeming to be having a pleasant conversation. Most importantly, what on earth was Xing Wu wearing?

A crisp black suit, smooth and refined profile, deep-set eyes and brows – his whole being exuded impeccable nobility. This was the first time Qing Ye had seen him dressed so properly, and he looked quite handsome.

She swallowed hard before asking, “Why are you here?”

Xing Wu suppressed the smile that wanted to emerge but was deliberately restrained, saying, “Here to discuss some business matters with Director Qing.”

Qing Ye put down her bag and looked at Qing Hong Zhi: “Your guest was Xing Wu? Didn’t you say if he dared come through the door, you’d change the locks?”

Qing Hong Zhi’s face instantly turned from green to white as he glared at his daughter: “Have you eaten?”

“No.”

He awkwardly stood up and called the housekeeper to get food for Qing Ye, then said to them: “You two eat, I’ll go upstairs to rest for a while.”

Qing Ye immediately pulled out a chair and stared at Xing Wu, looking him up and down, her eyes sparkling as she asked: “Why are you dressed so formally?”

Xing Wu finally released the smile he had been suppressing for so long: “Came to negotiate with your father.”

“And the result?”

He said seriously: “Judging by how your father voluntarily went upstairs to leave us alone, he’s probably prepared to sell you to me.”

The more Qing Ye heard the more things seemed odd. Thinking of how her father had been having work troubles lately, and how he had made such a fuss calling her a few days ago about entertaining important guests at home, Qing Ye’s eyes narrowed: “Did you set some trap for my father to fall into?”

Xing Wu spread his hands innocently: “Am I that kind of person? Your father came to me himself. He probably didn’t know that CEO Zhao had given me authority over Xin Ke’s North China regional business last year. He contacted Mao Ping Feng saying he wanted to meet me. When I received the news, I was at the hospital taking care of him. Only after he was discharged did I let Mao Ping Feng bring me the materials to look at. And when I looked – ha, it was your father.

He could see me every day, yet he wanted to make an appointment with me. Made me feel quite embarrassed – if I didn’t dress formally for this visit, it would seem like I was being arrogant, don’t you think?”

Qing Ye gave him a direct eye roll: “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He said matter-of-factly: “Afraid you’d spoil things. Of course, I had to have a round of talks with your father first.”

“And then?”

Xing Wu lowered his eyes and smiled: “You bet your future on me, so I’d stake everything I have to ensure you win. I asked your father for your hand in marriage.”

Qing Ye stared at his confidently flourishing brows and eyes, her red lips slightly parted, the gentle flames in her eyes emanating a brilliant light that illuminated his entire world.

The End.