Financial freedom starts from graduation

Chapter 567 Heart's Delight
At first glance, Zhou Wang looks like a lunatic.

Since there was no one else around, only a young couple hiding behind the bushes, who were making out tongues, were startled by Zhou Wang and hurriedly left.

But Zhou Wang wasn't in a hurry, because he knew that the other party should have realized long ago that he had discovered her existence.

Zhou Wang pulled out a pack of cigarettes he had taken from the leader's house during dinner from his pocket, and then waved it behind him without turning his head.

"Hey, do you recognize this cigarette?"

There was a moment of silence, followed by a soft voice replying:
"Special supply?"

"As expected of someone from a large family, their taste is different... It's definitely a special edition, a brand I've never even heard of before, something like Harbin Central Street. The packaging inside is really interesting, let me open it and show you."

Zhou Wang said with a smile, while opening a cigarette box, "Speaking of which, today is also the first time I've drunk Moutai with an iron cap. I've always wanted to buy it, but it's basically impossible to find it on the market."

(Special edition - looks something like this)

Zhou Wang showed the opened cigarette pack to the other person and asked, "Would you like one?"

"I don't smoke."

"Do you mind if I smoke?"

The girl shook her head.

At this moment, Zhou Wang patted the empty seat next to him and then lit a cigarette.

The girl hesitated for a moment, then walked over to Zhou Wang, picked up the warm milk tea, and sat down.

At this moment, Zhou Wang turned his head and stared at her:
"Tell me about it."

"say what?"

Zhou Wang's natural words and actions had already eased much of her tension, but upon hearing his question, the girl stiffened again.

"Tell me, why have you been following me all this way, even from Shanghai to Shenzhen?"

Zhou Wang spoke casually, as if he were merely recounting a trivial matter.

As he was speaking, Zhou Wang suddenly turned his head and, before she could dodge, saw directly into her eyes.

She had mentally prepared herself for what she would do if the two of them faced each other again, but when she was actually in the situation, she found herself at a loss just from being stared at by Zhou Wang.

Her mind went blank. The first thing that surfaced in her mind wasn't the strange images that haunted her dreams, nor the complex emotions that churned within her, emotions she couldn't quite decipher. Instead, it was...

She tilted her head back eagerly, sucking on his lips like a madwoman.

While the girl was slightly dazed and unable to say anything for a moment, Zhou Wang was admiring her beautiful face under the bright spotlights on the green belt.

There are many beautiful faces in this world, but the face before me undoubtedly has many unique highlights.

As we all know, most girls don't have eyebrows, but the woman in front of us not only has slightly thick eyebrows, but her eyebrows also arch slightly to the sides, forming the "sword eyebrows" in martial arts novels.

Her dark eyes, as clear as autumn water, naturally exude a sense of coldness when set against such eyebrows. Combined with the girl's distinct jawline and high, straight nose, she possesses an air of heroic spirit.

"Autumn waters and cold stars, jade-like face and thin lips."

These eight words unconsciously surfaced in Zhou Wang's mind again.

The girl in front of me had no makeup on her face except for a little moisturizing lip gloss, but when I looked at her up close, I could hardly find any flaws. Instead, she became more and more attractive the more I looked at her.

Even now, Zhou Wang noticed a small, inconspicuous mole below her earlobe, like parting the morning mist in a birch forest and suddenly seeing a small flower hidden under the roots of a tree... The vibrant color was hidden in the details.

Zhou Wang had already witnessed her blossoming alone.

He noticed that Qu Peining's gaze was also somewhat unfocused, her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her eyes, which dared not meet his gaze, moved slightly downwards, and then... seemed to fix on his lips.
Zhou Wang wasn't quite sure, but judging from where the other person's gaze fell, it seemed to be this position.

Ok?
What does she want to do?

Zhou Wang became alert. As a boy his age, he naturally needed to protect his own initiative.

"You...what do you want to do?"

In a moment of panic, Qu Peining finally realized what was happening and quickly distanced herself.

Her buttocks didn't move, but her body leaned back at an angle, her slender waist showing amazing control.

If she had slowed down just a little bit, their lips would have touched.

"I thought you wanted to kiss me first."

Zhou Wang shrugged, indicating his innocence.

"You bastard...you shameless!"

Qu Peining was unsure whether she felt more ashamed or embarrassed. She muttered a curse under her breath, then quickly got up and looked around. Seeing that there seemed to be no pedestrians passing by, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhou Wang, however, saw the weakness beneath her anger. Even her cursing was so unoriginal. After all, given Qu Peining's skills, if she really wanted to slap him, Zhou Wang would most likely not be able to dodge it.

However, he knew when to stop. Physical flirting was ultimately meaningless; when dealing with girls like this, it was best to "win their hearts and minds."

So Zhou Wang returned to his original question.

"You haven't answered me yet."

"I……"

Qu Peining opened her mouth, but then found herself at a loss again.

Deny it?
How to deny it?

Even though she knew Zhou Wang was surrounded by skilled guards, she still inexplicably bought a ticket on the same flight as him and came to Shenzhen. From the moment she arrived, she had already anticipated this day.

No, he might not even have needed to board the plane; perhaps he had already sensed it while still in Shanghai.

When she "escaped" from the Shanghai club, Qu Peining, having calmed down, realized that Zhou Wang was no ordinary person at all.

The "encryption level" I saw earlier was not a coincidence. Since I could find out his whereabouts, he could definitely find out about mine.

After her experience in the Shanghai metropolis, any sane person's first reaction should have been to flee the city. The fact that she chose to stay shows that she had already become abnormal...

But why?

Qu Peining herself couldn't explain it.

She was unwilling to return to Beidu just like that because she had no idea how to face Jiang Mo.

She came to Shanghai to seek justice for her senior, Jiang Mo, but in the end, not only did she fail to get justice, she also ended up having a series of intimate encounters with Jiang Mo's boyfriend...

No matter how unwilling Qu Peining was to admit it, and no matter how inexperienced she was, she knew that it had crossed the line. Her innocent body, which she had never shown to anyone before, had been completely exposed, not to mention the countless kisses they had shared. And yet, there were probably one or two times when Qu Peining, despite being fully conscious, still found herself lost in the moment…

Yes, addiction.

Qu Peining was reluctant to use that word to describe it, but in the past two weeks, she had been distracted by the memory of that time more than once, and even subconsciously touched her lips.

No matter how much she tried to escape her feelings at the time, Qu Peining knew at least that she... wasn't disgusted.

Qu Peining's mind was in turmoil.

While she was trying to escape back to Beijing, she was also deliberately ignoring a fact... that the person she should really be running away from was actually in Shanghai.

"I just want to put an end to this. I left in such a hurry that day, I can't just let it go like this, without clearing things up?"

Ultimately, Qu Peining found a perfectly legitimate reason for her inexplicable behavior.

So when she learned that Zhou Wang was going to Shenzhen, she bought a ticket for the same flight as him without even thinking.

It wasn't until she boarded the plane that Qu Peining was filled with immense regret, wondering what she had been doing and what her current behavior was all about.

Unable to explain the problem, she couldn't help but follow Zhou Wang all the way.

On several occasions, she even saw Gao Xing deliberately dart around in front of her, as if to remind her or to warn her.

At that time, Qu Peining thought, why not just have a fight?

In the past, during training, she would often use some "self-torture" behaviors to inflict pain on her body in order to make herself more alert.

But then, Gao Xing appeared in front of me a few times and then disappeared without doing anything else.

Qu Peining didn't know what Zhou Wang was thinking, so she simply treated this strange trip as a way to relax.

While Zhou Wang and the four girls were shopping at MixC, Qu Peining sat in the Starbucks in the mall and drank her first cup of coffee.

...Because of her strict family upbringing, her older and younger brothers never touched these "foreign gadgets," and this was her first time trying them.

But why isn't it bitter at all?
The "vanilla latte" recommended by the barista turned out to be so sweet that it was almost cloying to Qu Peining, and for a moment, it brought her back to that hazy night.

While Zhou Wang was strolling around the museum, Qu Peining was also curiously riding the "capsule elevator" up and down, secretly taking a few photos of herself.

She found her smile to be stiff, and that she felt more natural when she wasn't smiling.

There was a photo that wasn't taken very well, but Qu Peining couldn't delete it because she happened to capture Zhou Wang's back in the distance in that photo.

While strolling along the beach at Jiediaosha, Zhou Wang bought a swimsuit, but never had the courage to wear it.

When Zhou Wang watched the sunrise at Wutong Mountain, she watched as the dawn gradually painted the horizon red and felt a sense of ease she had never experienced before.

Zhou Wang watched the sunset, and she followed suit.

Zhou Wang was having morning tea, and she followed suit.

After Zhou Wang ate the Flaming Drunken Goose, she bought a goose leg to try it out...

In those two or three days, Qu Peining indulged in eating, drinking, and having fun, and the smiles she unconsciously showed were probably more numerous than in the previous two or three years combined.

She found herself having different feelings when she looked at the four brightly dressed girls around Zhou Wang.

She was still somewhat resentful because she discovered that Zhou Wangyuan was even worse than Senior Sister Jiang had described.

The beholder is clear.

Qu Peining's intuition told her that the way these four girls were looking at Zhou Wang was unusual.

But somehow, after following their itinerary for several days and watching the four girls chattering away and seeming happy every day, Qu Peining's strongest feeling was... envy.

After observing Zhou Wang silently for so many days, Qu Peining has gained a better understanding of him.

Putting aside his unpleasant side, Zhou Wang seems to be quite an interesting person.

For example, if she saw a lost little girl on the beach, the normal person's reaction would be to immediately look for her parents or seek help from the staff...

But Zhou Wang did not do that.

He and the four girls spent the whole afternoon playing with the little girl on the beach, even buying her a lot of toys. It wasn't until the little girl's parents rushed over that they were met with a cold, harsh scolding from Zhou Wang before they could even question them.
"What are you good-for-nothings? How can you be parents like this? If I were a human trafficker, I would have kidnapped your daughter to Malaysia long ago..."

Perhaps it was because Zhou Wang's air of wealth was too overwhelming that the couple were scolded and remained meek and submissive, without showing any temper.

Qu Peining watched this scene from afar and found it amusing.

If you call him a good person, why was he so fierce? He was the one who spent the whole afternoon playing with that little girl, causing her parents to be unable to find her anywhere, and yet he acted so righteously…

But calling him a bad person doesn't seem quite right, because the little girl did seem to be having a lot of fun and was reluctant to leave, while Zhou Wang was all smiles when he met her, and seemed very easy to get along with.

There are many similar small details. This man would smoke in public places, but when he passed by a trash can, he would pick up the plastic bottles scattered next to him and throw them into the trash can.

The more she learned, the more confused Qu Peining became.

She could no longer discern what impression Zhou Wang left on her.

So, faced with Zhou Wang's calm question, all the answers she had previously envisioned—such as a righteous and assertive rebuke, a feigned angry outburst, or simply using her status as a pretext—suddenly became unsuitable.

She could only part her thin, bright red lips helplessly, her hand gripping the milk tea cup tightly, completely at a loss for words.

"Qu Peining, something seems off about you."

Just then, Zhou Wang casually remarked something that made Qu Peining's ears turn completely red.

Could it be... that he noticed something?
Just as Qu Peining was about to get up and leave, Zhou Wang suddenly leaned back and laughed:

"Since we're already here, why don't we take a walk together?"

Qu Peining didn't know why Zhou Wang had suddenly let her go, but she still breathed a long sigh of relief, and her earlier thought of escaping disappeared.

When Qu Peining regained her senses amidst the noise, the two were already in the shopping mall of the shopping park.

The surrounding lights and revelry, the unconventional music, the pervasive smell of alcohol, and the fashionable young men and women all made Qu Peining feel uncomfortable.

"Never been here before, have you? Would you like to go in and take a look?"

Zhou Wang laughed.

Qu Peining wanted to refuse, but in the end, she nodded slightly.

(End of this chapter)