Financial freedom starts from graduation

Chapter 526 Lessons
As a highly urbanized first-tier city, Shenzhen does not actually have a city center in the strict sense.

However, according to general understanding, the most prosperous place here is either the CBD in the central area of ​​Futian, which, together with the Beijing International Trade Center CBD, Guangzhou Tianhe CBD, Shanghai Lujiazui CBD, and Hong Kong Island Central CBD, is known as one of the "Five Major CBDs in China".

...Speaking of which, once Zhou Wang arrived in Shenzhen, he was already very close to three first-tier CBDs.

Alternatively, it's the old city center surrounding "Luohu-Guomao-Dongmen," which was once the core of Shenzhen's reform and opening up in its early days. Although some functions were later diverted to Futian District, its rich commercial heritage remains.

However, judging from the direction the vehicle is traveling at this moment, it seems that they are not going to either of the two places mentioned above.

However, Zhou Wang had learned these postures from books, so to confirm, he took out his phone, opened the map, and glanced at it.

Sure enough, just as he had guessed, the vehicles were traveling from south to north and had already moved far away from "Fukuda" and "Luofu".

Because he wasn't quite sure what was going on, Zhou Wang didn't speak rashly. Anyway, Xiao Wang and Gao Xing's car was right behind them, so Zhou Wang wasn't worried about any danger.

Ultimately, it turned out that Zhou Wang seemed to be overthinking things, yet also not thinking at all.

According to the map, the vehicle eventually stopped at a location on the border between Guangming District and Longhua District in Shenzhen. In the distance, some lush low hills could be seen, next to which were overpasses and scattered high-rise buildings, interspersed with what appeared to be some urban villages...

The four girls, including Su Yajing, were visibly confused after getting off the bus.

It's not that remote, though. It's a bustling area, but can you really see mountains like this in a bustling area?

"Ladies, this way please. I'll take you to your rooms."

Following the driver, the group entered a rather old residential area. After taking the elevator to the fifth floor of one of the buildings, they first registered briefly in one of the open rooms. Then, the driver led them to the door of a room at the end of the corridor.

Su Yaqing opened the door with the password sent by the platform via SMS. After entering the room and glancing at the old furniture in the cramped living room, Su Yaqing finally couldn't stand it anymore.

"Wait a minute, boss, is this what you call a 'three-bedroom, two-living-room' luxury guesthouse?"

"It is indeed a three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment. You can see for yourselves; it definitely has three bedrooms..."

By this time, they all realized that the driver who brought them here was actually the owner of the place. However, there was no point in arguing about it, since Su Yaqing had agreed to let the owner provide the pick-up and drop-off service.

But hearing the middle-aged man's confident arguments, even Shen Yutong, who was the most experienced in this area, couldn't help but speak up.

"Even if the room matches, the photos you posted on the platform are all fake, right?"

Shen Yutong said angrily, "Ranran showed us the link. None of the photos you posted match this dilapidated old house."

"Hey, don't talk nonsense, how could it be fake?"

The shop owner, however, completely denied it, simply laughing and saying, "Every photo above is a real shot. You can compare them yourself if you don't believe me..."

Su Yajing, of course, didn't believe it. She immediately opened the app specifically for booking homestays, found the promotional photos on the order, and started questioning the owner.

"Look at the living room in your photo, it's clearly not this cramped..."

"Then you need to look at it from this perspective."

The boss patiently gestured for Su Yajing to stand in another corner.

Su Yajing went to the corner he pointed to and was immediately stunned. Sure enough, from this angle, the living room was still the same living room, but because of the angle, it seemed to be much wider.

Moreover, what's blocking the view is one of the few relatively new pieces of furniture in this living room.

She compared the photos on the platform again and then realized that the owner had cleverly used a wide-angle lens when taking the photos, making the living room, which was only five or six square meters in length and width, look like it was more than ten or twenty square meters.

Add in photo editing, color correction, and so on, and it's like the buyer's show and seller's show of a cheap lingerie outfit on Taobao. They're clearly not the same thing, but you can still find some similarities.

The same goes for the bedroom. The only redeeming features of the master bedroom are the floor-to-ceiling window and the fairly spacious bed. As for the advertised "starry sky ceiling," it's just a layer of starry sky stickers stuck to the ceiling. After some camera angles and photo editing, it looks dreamlike in the pictures...

The only one in all the photos that wasn't faked was the "terrace hot tub".

However, the so-called "terrace hot tub" was obviously built by hand. The dark blue bricks looked nice in the pictures, but a quick look with the naked eye revealed the cement oozing out of the cracks, making it extremely rough.

Su Yajing was almost in tears from anger, but the boss still argued vehemently:
"See, little girls, I didn't lie to you, did I? 'Luxury B&B with starry sky rooftop terrace and hot tub,' you said we didn't have it, right?"

"But didn't you say it was in downtown Pengcheng? This place doesn't count, does it?"

Shen Yutong pulled Su Yajing aside and asked the middle-aged man in front of her one last question, "There are even urban villages next door, so what kind of city center is this?"

"How can this not be considered the city center?"

The boss, however, remained completely unfazed. "If you don't believe me, open your phone's map and see where our neighborhood is located. It's in the heart of Shenzhen."

Zhou Wang, who had been silent the whole time, was almost amused by the unscrupulous boss.

In a city, "geographical center" and "commercial center" are clearly two different concepts; it can only be said that he understands the literal meaning.

"you……"

Shen Yutong was clearly surprised that the boss could be so shameless. She was so angry that her chest heaved, but she didn't know what to say.

"But...but even if everything you mentioned is there, this kind of room can't possibly be worth 1888!"

For the first time, Yu Duo mustered up the courage to speak up. She said indignantly, "Even a five-star hotel wouldn't charge this much, would it?"

"Is this your first time in Shenzhen?"

The boss then smiled with a hint of disdain, "This is a top-tier city. Do you know how much the housing prices are here? 1888 is just a discount for new customers. Normally it's over 2000. This price is already very cheap for you."

Su Yajing and the others were speechless. In essence, they were just third-year college students and ultimately lacked social experience.

Su Yajing, with her rather complicated life experiences, is already quite experienced among them, but compared to the seasoned veteran of society, the guesthouse owner, she is clearly still quite naive.

Seeing that Zhou Wang remained silent, Shen Yutong took a deep breath and stepped forward, saying, "Boss, you're just putting up a false front. Either you refund our room and transportation fees, or we'll file a complaint against you on the platform."

"complaint?"

The boss sneered, "Do whatever you want, but I must warn you, I don't know what the outcome of a complaint will be, but if you pull this stunt, then I'm sorry, not only will you not get your room fee back, but you can forget about getting your room fee and deposit back either."

"you……"

"Don't worry, I'm not finished yet."

Just as Shen Yutong was about to lash out, the owner smiled and said, "Either you stay here in peace and give me a five-star review, then I can consider giving you a discount. The room rate is originally 1888 per night, but I'll only charge you 1500. How about that? Isn't that a good deal?"

Seeing that Su Yajing and the others were speechless for a moment, the boss revealed a victorious smile.

"I wish you all a pleasant stay. By the way, there is a problem with the water meter, so hot water will not be available until after 8 p.m. If you want to take a shower, please wait until then."

After saying that, the boss closed the door and left on his own.

Su Yaqing glanced at Zhou Wang and, seeing that he didn't seem angry, felt a little relieved. However, she didn't understand why Zhou Wang remained silent and didn't express his opinion. Feeling uneasy, she could only twist her fingers and say:

"Sisters, how about we find somewhere else to stay?"

“Changing locations isn’t out of the question, but what about the room fees we’ve already paid? And judging from the owner’s words, they won’t refund our deposit. We booked two nights, which is almost six thousand yuan.” Shen Yutong frowned. “Are we really just going to give it to him like this? I feel so unwilling…”

"How about... we just stay here for the night and talk about it tomorrow?"

At this moment, Yu Duo glanced at Zhou Wang, who was sitting on the sofa fiddling with his phone, and then timidly voiced her opinion.

"I think that's fine too."

Choi Min-ah, whose expression wasn't good, spoke up at this moment, "I'm not familiar with the situation in China, but in our peninsula, this kind of complaint might not be very effective. Anyway, we're only staying in Shenzhen for two days, so we can make do..."

Cui Min'er actually had her own unspeakable difficulties. The room fee was split equally among the five people, and if she had to rebook the hotel, it would mean incurring new expenses. Several thousand yuan was certainly not much for Su Yajing, but if she couldn't get the money back in time, she would be in a tight financial situation when she had to book a new hotel.

But this reason couldn't be stated, which is the real reason why Choi Min-ah, despite being the one most dissatisfied with this terrible environment, never spoke up.

"Then let's assign rooms, ladies. You guys pick first. We'll stay one night, and I'll take a look around later. We'll move to another hotel tomorrow..."

Su Yaqing forced a smile and gestured for the other three girls to go and choose their rooms first.

There were three rooms. The original arrangement was that Su Yajing and Zhou Wang would share one room, Yu Duo and Shen Yutong would share another, and Cui Min'er, who had a severe case of mysophobia, would have to stay in a room by herself.

When she heard about the room assignments, Choi Min-ah didn't stand on ceremony and dragged her suitcase to choose the only room with a window among the two secondary bedrooms.

She didn't dare to take the master bedroom, after all, the man who had left her with serious psychological trauma was still sitting there, and Cui Min'er knew her limits.

Yu Duo and Shen Yutong went to the smallest bedroom to put away their luggage. As for Su Yajing, after biting her lip, she sat down next to Zhou Wang and timidly said:

"elder brother……"

"what happened?"

Zhou Wang looked up from his phone screen and smiled at Su Yajing.

"You...you're not angry, are you?"

Su Yaqing carefully checked Zhou Wang's eyes.

"I won't get angry about this."

Zhou Wang shook his head, "But..."

"Just what?"

Su Yaqing sensed Zhou Wang's hesitation and was about to press him for an answer when a scream came from the second bedroom that Cui Min'er had entered.

Zhou Wang reacted first. He stopped the three girls who were also about to step forward and rushed to the door of the second bedroom. But as soon as he got to the door, Cui Min'er opened the door and rushed out.

Before Zhou Wang could react, Cui Min'er had already rushed into his arms and hugged him tightly.

With a soft squeeze, Zhou Wang heard Cui Min'er's intermittent exclamation: "There are bugs... cockroaches, there are cockroaches in the bedroom!"

Her face was deathly pale, as if she had been quite frightened. It didn't seem like she was acting, so Zhou Wang didn't push her away. Instead, he gently patted her shoulder.

"I gonna go see."

At this moment, under the strange gazes of the other three girls, Cui Min'er realized that her behavior was somewhat inappropriate, and quickly blushed as she let go of Zhou Wang.

Zhou Wang went inside and looked around, but didn't see the so-called cockroaches; they had probably run off to some corner.

After this little incident, Cui Min'er was clearly too afraid to enter the room again. However, Yu Duo and Shen Yutong were also afraid of cockroaches, and the appearance of this cockroach made it hard not to think that there were more cockroaches in the room...

In the end, the four girls sat back down in the living room, looking troubled, and started discussing what to do.

Zhou Wang, who had smoked a cigarette on the balcony, felt that he had had enough. If they continued to stalemate, his stomach would become empty. He sighed and waved to Su Yaqing.

Su Yaqing got up and obediently came to Zhou Wang's side.

"elder brother……"

"Do you know you're wrong, but do you still want to persist?"

Zhou Wang asked softly.

Su Yaqing clearly knew that this was what Zhou Wang had wanted to say but hadn't, and her eyes immediately reddened. She said in a pitiful voice, "I'm sorry, brother, I didn't expect..."

"Do you know where you went wrong?"

Zhou Wang pinched Su Yajing's smooth cheek.

"I shouldn't have only thought about taking care of their feelings and forgotten about yours, brother. You're the most important person to me..."

"wrong."

Before Su Yajing could even open her mouth, Zhou Wang shook his head, interrupting her. As Su Yajing looked up blankly, Zhou Wang said:

"This trip was originally a promise made by your dorm, and I was just accompanying you, so your own feelings are the most important thing. That's where you went wrong, but... silly girl, are you that poor yourself?"

"I……"

"You're trying to say that's all my money, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"But what difference does it make?"

Seeing Su Yaqing's tearful face, Zhou Wang felt both heartache and a little angry. "I told you before, I may not marry you, but I will definitely support you for the rest of my life. So, my money is your money anyway. Why don't you dare to spend it openly?"

"You're only thinking about maintaining the friendship, trying to prevent things from going bad, but who says that will cause things to go bad?"

Zhou Wang admonished, "Ranran, I understand that you want to cherish your friendship with them so much that you want everything to be pure and don't want them to think that you are any different now, but... why bother?"

"You clearly have the ability to live a better life, and you clearly have the ability to let them benefit from your success. Since you consider yourselves true best friends, why do you have to be so clear about the distinction?"

"I...I understand...Brother, I was overthinking things before. I was wrong, I'm sorry. I'll listen to you from now on, please don't be angry, okay?"

Su Yaqing wiped away her tears, not refuting Zhou Wang, but for a moment, she secretly glanced at Zhou Wang and her gaze seemed a little strange, unsure if it was because Zhou Wang's words had made her think of something...

"It's good that you've thought it through. Tell them to stop discussing it and leave everything to me."

Zhou Wang waved his hand, then took out his phone and called Huang Duming, saying calmly:

"Come up."

Given his current status and position, if he had to personally handle such a minor farce, then all the people he'd been supporting would have been for nothing...

(End of this chapter)