Financial freedom starts from graduation

Chapter 425: Old Friends, New Stories
At the corner of the street outside the community, there is a stall with a cart as the main body. "Sugar-fried Chestnuts" is written on the left and "Freshly Baked Sweet Potatoes" is written on the right.

Several girls who looked like high school students were standing in front of the cart, laughing in low voices and occasionally glancing with sparkling eyes at the young man who was busy working behind the cart.

The young man behind the cart was wearing a baseball cap and simple casual clothes. He was tall and although his face was covered by the brim of the hat, it still couldn't hide his handsome face.

"Boss, if I buy a few more of your roasted chestnuts, can you give me something for free?"

One of the girls asked with a smile as she was pushed by the two girls next to her.

"what would you like?"

The young man asked without even looking up.

“I want your WeChat!”

"……no."

The young man with an indifferent expression shook his head and handed three bags of roasted chestnuts to the three girls. "A total of 45, just scan here."

"10 copies. I'll buy 10 more. Just tell us your WeChat number!"

"No need to waste it."

Faced with the girl's coquettish pleas, the young man remained unmoved and continued to shake his head.

"Then... Boss, let's come back tomorrow!"

Seeing that the young man was unmoved, the girls were at a loss for a moment. They could only say this and turn around and walk away playfully.

Zhou Wang then walked closer and looked at the young man in front of him with complicated eyes, and the smile on his face disappeared for a moment.

Zhou Wang was so surprised at the sight just now that he didn’t think too much about it for a while. Only now did he realize that something was wrong.

How could he... set up a stall here?
If it weren't for the fact that they were too familiar with each other, the probability of mistaking someone would be basically 0, and Zhou Wang didn't dare to believe it.

"Lao Guo?"

After hesitating for a moment, Zhou Wang still spoke.

The young man was startled, then quickly looked up. When he saw that the person standing in front of him was Zhou Wang, he obviously couldn't believe it.

"Dog brother?"

"Fuck, it's really you, hahaha, with your appearance, I almost thought I recognized the wrong person!"

Zhou Wang, no longer having any doubts, laughed, walked over and punched him directly on the shoulder.

The young man in front of him was named Guo Nansheng, and he was one of Zhou Wang’s roommates at university.

The four people in their dormitory 404 became roommates after they voluntarily changed dormitories in their sophomore year. But because of this, they can be said to have like-minded friends. After three years of getting along, they have developed a deep relationship.

To be more strict, among the other three people, the one who has the best relationship with Zhou Wang is Guo Nansheng in front of him.

There is a natural closeness between the other roommate, Li Sheng, and Zhou Wang simply because they are both locals, but when it comes to compatibility of personalities, Guo Nansheng and Zhou Wang are the closest.

Guo Nansheng is from Shanghai. When he was on campus, although he had a low-key personality, he was actually one of the most influential figures.

It wasn't just because he was handsome, he was one of the few people in the department at that time who could compete with Zhou Wang in appearance...it was also because his family was very rich.

The second generation of rich people are just like ugly people. They don’t need to mention it, others can see it at a glance.

The first time Zhou Wang realized that Guo Nansheng was rich was during the National Day holiday in his freshman year. At that time, several people in the dormitory didn't want to go home, so they made plans to go somewhere to have fun. Then another roommate from Guangdong Province said, "Why don't we go traveling?"

Zhou Wang remembered that he had stupidly replied, "How about going to Chengjiang? I heard the scenery there is pretty good..."

Chengjiang is a reservoir in a county near Mingcheng. In short, it is the kind of place that can be reached by car in one or two hours and is very popular among local college students.

But Zhou Wang's words silenced all three roommates.

Zhou Wang was confused until the next day when Li Sheng pulled him out of bed. The four of them took a taxi and went straight to the airport. He got the plane tickets while still confused. Only then did Zhou Wang realize that they were going to Chengdu.

Guo Nansheng booked the plane ticket by himself. Seeing Li Sheng chatting and laughing with another roommate, Zhou Wang showed some embarrassment:
"Well, Nansheng, I'll transfer the air ticket money to you later..."

"Need not."

Guo Nansheng just replied coolly, "I said to go there, so I'll treat you."

"Hmm? Is that the logic?"

Zhou Wang was naturally still confused, but at that time, Li Sheng laughed and put his arm around his shoulders.

"Hey, Gouzi, you really don't have to be polite to Nansheng. He said it was his birthday, so he treated us to a trip to celebrate. He's already booked a hotel, so it's okay. We can just treat him to a meal together when the time comes..."

"Yeah, there's no psychological burden in killing the rich. A pair of Nansheng's shoes is equivalent to my living expenses for a year!"

Another roommate from Guangdong Province also laughed like that.

So Zhou Wang only remembered the shoes Guo Nansheng wore that day. He later checked secretly himself and found that what his roommate Guangsheng said was too conservative.

That limited edition pair of AJs was not enough for Zhou Wang’s living expenses for one year, but for four years.

Of course, this may only be the case for Zhou Wang.

But no matter what, from that day on, Zhou Wang realized that the material gap between people could be so huge.

It was also from that day that Zhou Wang slowly realized more details that others had already noticed but he was still unaware of.

For example, Guo Nansheng wore a Blancpain watch in his freshman year, and changed to a Lange watch in his sophomore year. His laptop is called ConceptD 9, and his mobile phone is Vertu...

At that time, Zhou Wang didn’t even know what those logos meant.

There were also some things he realized later, such as the fact that the counselor was very polite to Guo Nansheng, and even the dean of the department came to the dormitory to have a cordial conversation with Guo Nansheng. Later, Li Sheng told him that it turned out that Guo Nansheng's family had donated a sum of money to the school...

It was not until several years later, when Zhou Wang was standing there himself, that he suddenly realized that the amount donated by Guo Nansheng's family was probably not a small amount.

In short, Guo Nansheng, recognized by everyone as a super rich second-generation from Shanghai, and as Zhou Wang's first friend across social classes, had once shocked Zhou Wang a lot.

But at this time, he set up a stall on the street and sold roasted chestnuts.

Zhou Wang had a huge question in his mind, but he was not willing to express it at this moment.

Before and after graduation, Guo Nansheng was the first one in their class to leave school. He left in a hurry and didn't even have time to have a meal with the three of them. After graduation, Zhou Wang also contacted him, but received few responses. Later, after getting the system, Zhou Wang himself became busy and had no time to take care of them.

But later I heard Li Sheng mention that Lao Guo was probably busy inheriting the family business. He called him several times but couldn't get through, and several of his classmates in Shanghai had never seen him either.

Now seeing Guo Nansheng again and his current situation, Zhou Wang vaguely realized that things might not be that simple.

After taking a look, the only valuable thing on Guo Nansheng's body at this moment was probably the LV monogram cap on his head, but the brim of the cap had already shown signs of wear and tear, and it looked very much like a knockoff...

"Brother Gou, long time no see..."

Guo Nansheng's eyes when he looked at Zhou Wang were also somewhat complicated, with a hint of surprise, but Zhou Wang couldn't see much more. Although this old guy was a second-generation rich man, he was very sophisticated. Of course, in the eyes of those crazy girls at that time, a male god should be so "cold". Now Zhou Wang looked back, but had to admit that because of his experience and family education, Lao Guo was actually more mature than them.

"Why are you setting up a stall here? Are you trying to experience life, or are you planning to start your own business from scratch?"

Seeing that Guo Nansheng's attitude towards him was no different from before, still with that indifferent look, Zhou Wang couldn't help but made a joke with a little tentativeness.

"neither."

Guo Nansheng just smiled. At this time, a passerby came to buy chestnuts, so Zhou Wang had to stop eating for the time being and stood aside to watch Guo Nansheng busy himself.

"I can't make the honey one, how about the cream one? I'll give you a sweet potato as well?"

Seeing Guo Nansheng frying chestnuts and roasting sweet potatoes at the same time with little skill, Zhou Wang pursed his lips and sighed in his heart.

He doubted whether Guo Nansheng had ever eaten sweet potatoes before...

Jingle Bell!
The cell phone rang. Zhou Wang took it out and saw that it was Xu Wenxi who was standing by the car in the distance.

"Boss, are you okay? Mr. He from the property management said that we are about to miss the auspicious time for taking possession of the house..."

"Auspicious time?"

Zhou Wang wanted to say that he didn't believe this, but after thinking about it, he changed his words, "Xixi, you guys go in first, you can clean up the room for me, I think it will take a while."

"Well, but..."

"It's nothing, it's just a trivial matter, just be my representative, that's all."

Zhou Wang hung up the phone after he finished speaking. Xu Wenxi and others beside the car were helpless, but they still got in the car and drove to the gate of the community. Only Gao Xing and Xiao Wang were left standing far away on the side of the road, always paying attention to Zhou Wang's movements.

While Zhou Wang was on the phone, Guo Nansheng finished greeting the customers in front of him. He looked up at Zhou Wang and said, "Is there something urgent? Go ahead and do it first, we'll come back later..."

"Oh, what urgent matter can I have? I don't even have a proper job. I'm just an idle person... Come here, I'll help you."

Zhou Wang waved his hand to interrupt Guo Nansheng. Seeing two more girls coming to the street, he immediately walked to the back of the stall without saying a word. After taking off the "smiley face" worth 1800 million yuan on his wrist without leaving a trace, he rolled up his sleeves and started to help.

To be honest, Zhou Wang, who came from a poor family, was more efficient than Guo Nansheng in doing these things, and he quickly sent away the two reluctant female high school students.

"Both of these bosses are so handsome..."

"Yes, one is cool and the other has good taste in clothes."

Zhou Wang, who vaguely heard the two little girls' discussion, couldn't help but smile and put his hand on Guo Nansheng's shoulder.

"How about it, Lao Guo? Why don't you and I set up a stall together? Let's form a 'cool and impressive' group and make it bigger and stronger..."

"Then I choose 'handsome'."

"... Lao Guo, this is boring. I admit that you were a little more handsome than me before, but now, I'm sorry, I should be slightly better."

Zhou Wang was teasing Guo Nansheng when he heard shouting in the distance. He turned his head and took a look, only to see several tall and strong security guards in neat uniforms running towards him, shouting.

Before Zhou Wang could figure out the situation, Guo Nansheng at the side had already quickly cleaned up the mess.

"Thomson First Class security guards... go!"

Guo Nansheng whispered something, picked up the cart and ran to the other side.

When Zhou Wang heard that he was the security guard of Tomson One, he subconsciously straightened his back... After all, as one of the four most noble owners of Tomson One, Zhou Wang was half the owner of this place, and he was not at all intimidated.

But it wasn't until the security guards took out their rubber sticks and rushed over fiercely that Zhou Wang remembered something...

That is, they don't know themselves yet.

"Fuck, Lao Guo, wait for me!"

While stopping Xiao Wang who was approaching not far away, Zhou Wang, who was also running away with his head in his hands, turned around and followed Guo Nansheng's pace, pushing the cart along the street with him.

They didn’t know how far they ran until they turned into a secluded alley and stopped panting.

Turning back to see that the security guards had not followed them, the two looked at each other and smiled. Zhou Wang smiled even more exaggeratedly, patting Guo Nansheng on the shoulder while laughing:

"You... you bastard, I thought I was the only one who didn't neglect exercise, you... you're not bad either!"

Guo Nansheng was speechless for a moment, just waved his hand. Then he lowered his head and rummaged around, and took out a bottle of Niulanshan from the bottom of the cart, and gestured to Zhou Wang.

"Drink?"

"Drink something."

Zhou Wang nodded.

……

The sun was setting. At the corner of the park, Zhou Wang and Guo Nansheng were sitting on a small bench. The setting sun cast the shadows of the two men on the wall, leaving only cigarette butts on the ground.

This scene reminded Zhou Wang of his sophomore and junior years, when Guo Nansheng often asked him to go to the court for a one-on-one match. When they were tired of playing, they would sit on the edge of the playground. But Guo Nansheng at that time could not drink the cheap liquor in the supermarket, so he always took out a bottle of Cordon Bleu and drank with him.

The two of them didn't say anything. They just drank until they felt dizzy and then went back to the dormitory and lay down to sleep.

This time was similar. After being silent for half a bottle of wine, Guo Nansheng threw away the cigarette butt in his hand and spoke lightly:
"My family is...bankrupt."

"You can see, even if it's a little exaggerated, how it was broken so thoroughly."

Zhou Wang muttered something, then remained silent for a while, then said, "Old Guo, if..."

"Why, you want to help me?"

Guo Nansheng glanced at Zhou Wang and interrupted him in time, smiling gently, "Hermès haute couture autumn clothes, JOHN LOBB handmade leather shoes, your outfit alone costs more than 400,000 yuan. It seems that Li Sheng was not exaggerating, you have indeed turned things around..."

"Fuck, I thought you couldn't see it, and I was still thinking about how to be smooth and pretend to be cool with you."

Zhou Wang smiled and said, "How about it, Lao Guo? How about I invest a few million in you and you can at least open a store first. It's not a big deal to be chased away by people on the street all day."

"Not everything in this world can be solved with money."

Guo Nansheng said in a low voice, then suddenly stood up, "Brother Gou, I have to go. I have other part-time jobs to do in the evening... Contact me later."

"Row."

Zhou Wang opened his mouth but did not try to persuade him to stay, because he knew that Guo Nansheng would keep his word. If he said "I'll contact you later", then he would most likely contact him again.

Pulling the cart again, Guo Nansheng waved to Zhou Wang with a slightly heavy step, and left without looking back.

Zhou Wang just stood there and watched until Xiao Wang came over, "Mr. Zhou, Miss Miao has already driven the car over..."

At this time, Zhou Wang, who was frowning and thinking, came back to his senses. He said "hmm", thought for a moment before getting in the car and said to Xiao Wang: "Xiao Wang, please contact Lin Feng for me, use your channels, and help me check one more thing."

(End of this chapter)