Love Apartment: Yifei is my junior aunt

Chapter 493 Zhanbo's Troubles

Zhanbo was speechless upon hearing this: "Do you think I look like someone who can sing?"

"Too."

Zhao Wuliang also took out a hamburger and took a bite, eating off a third of the entire hamburger.

Zhanbo only needed one glance to tell that this guy probably wouldn't be able to lose weight.

"Don't just focus on eating, I haven't answered the question I just asked you."

"What's the problem?"

Zhao Wuliang paused for a moment, then realized what he meant: "Oh, you're asking about my dream, right?"

He counted on his fingers: "Make money, buy a house, pick up girls, have kids."

"That's it?"

"That's all."

"that's all?"

"that's all."

Zhanbo frowned, his face full of disappointment: "Isn't your dream a bit too superficial? Don't you have any grander dreams?"

"A greater dream..."

Zhao Wuliang thought for a moment, a smile spreading across his chubby face: "When I was a kid, I did dream of a toad eating swan meat, a loser's rise to power and dating the heiress of an international bank. Was that a grand dream?"

"Get lost!"

Upon hearing the words "the daughter of an international banker," Zhanbo glared fiercely at Zhao Wuliang. However, his personality was too soft and his gaze too innocent. Even when he pretended to be fierce, he looked like a newborn kitten baring its teeth.

Zhao Wuliang was startled by Zhanbo's overreaction. He glanced at Zhanbo and asked, "Why are you reacting so strongly?"

"I...I didn't."

Even though Zhanbo and Zhao Wuliang have a good relationship now, she absolutely cannot reveal Wanyu's true identity to him.

Zhanbo nervously explained, "I just want to ask you, do you have a grander, more passionate dream, one that's worth fighting for your whole life?"

"what?"

Zhao Wuliang looked at Zhanbo as if he were examining an idiot: "I'm already exhausted from working all day to earn money, and you want me to fight for a great dream for the rest of my life?"

"But, but..."

Zhanbo originally wanted to say, "There should be more important things to do in life than making money," but he remembered that Zhao Wuliang had grown up relying on his grandmother since he was a child, and he just couldn't bring himself to say such a thing.

Zhao Wuliang vaguely guessed what Zhanbo had been troubling him lately. He took a big sip of his iced cola and said, "So you've been thinking about this useless stuff lately?"

"I don't quite understand why you've suddenly become so obsessed with your dreams."

Zhanbo, head bowed and utterly dejected, asked, "Zhao Wuliang, what do you think is the meaning of life?"

"What is the meaning of life...? How about some fries?"

While thinking, Zhao Wuliang took out some fries from his takeout bag and handed them to Zhanbo.

Zhanbo was both amused and exasperated: "I'm asking you about this very seriously."

"I'm answering you very seriously," Zhao Wuliang shrugged. "Anyway, I don't know what the meaning of life is. It's just that everyone is doing their best to live better, and I can't very well rush to die."

Zhanbo was at a loss for words.

He had discussed similar topics with everyone in the apartment before. Although they were always laughing and joking around, they were all a group of absolute idealists.

Even Zi Qiao, who seems to be drifting along and doing nothing, has his own set of bizarre yet logically consistent values ​​and dreams.

Aside from myself and Wanyu, everyone else seemed to have their own things they wanted to do and a strong inner spirit.

As for Zhao Wuliang's pure realism, simply because "everyone is trying their best to live better, so I can't very well rush to die," Zhanbo had never heard of such a thought before.

"Zhao Wuliang, actually... I have a friend who has recently encountered some troubles."

"Oh."

Zhao Wuliang was so amused by Zhan Bo that he almost spat out the food in his mouth: "The friend you're talking about, is it yourself?"

When his lie was exposed, Zhanbo blushed and stubbornly insisted, "No, it really is a friend of mine."

"What's his name? How old is he? Where does he live?"

"Chu Nanfeng, 22 years old, shares an apartment with us in Love Apartment... Why are you asking these questions?"

Feeling guilty, Zhanbo subconsciously used Nanfeng as a shield.

Zhao Wuliang was even less inclined to believe Zhanbo's nonsense now. What kind of logic is it to reveal a friend's identity just because someone asks a question on behalf of a friend?

Besides, the excuse of having a friend should be brought up before asking the first question, not halfway through.

However, Zhao Wuliang was genuinely curious about what trouble Zhanbo had encountered, so he could only feign ignorance and ask, "Then tell me... what's wrong with your friend?"

Zhanbo hesitated slightly, but still gave a brief account of what had happened between him and Wanyu over the past year. Of course, he still concealed Wanyu's true identity, only describing her as a runaway girl pursuing her dreams.

After Zhao Wuliang finished listening to Zhanbo's story, his initial curiosity turned into utter boredom.

"That's it?"

"That's all."

"that's all?"

"that's all."

Zhao Wuliang was speechless: "Zhanbo, have you been troubled by something like this for so long?"

"It wasn't me, it was a friend of mine..."

"OK! OK!"

Zhao Wuliang was too lazy to argue with Zhanbo any longer: "Since that's the case, let's make two assumptions now. Let's assume that you are your friend, and Wanyu is the girl your friend likes who ran away from home."

Zhanbo was taken aback. He pointed at himself in surprise, "I'm my friend?"

"right."

"Is Wanyu the girl my friend liked who ran away from home?"

"That's right."

Zhanbo really wanted to say that this just brought us back to square one, but he was worried that if he said that, Zhao Wuliang would find out that his friend was him, so he could only nod blankly.

"So now answer me, you've been bothered by this for so long?"

He continued nodding.

"Let me ask you again, why are you working so hard to find your dream? Is it because you want to change yourself, or is it to keep up with Wanyu?"

Zhanbo stammered, "Is there a difference between the two?"

"One is for oneself, the other is for others. Do you think there's a difference?"

Zhanbo fell silent.

After a long while, he murmured softly, "I think it might be because of Wanyu."

To be honest, Zhanbo didn't have much desire for his dream at first.

When he returned to China a year ago, all he thought about was settling down in this big city, building his own career, having a happy marriage, and having several lovely children.

Hmm, now that I think about it, my initial thoughts weren't that different from Zhao Wuliang's.

So what caused this stable, happy, yet somewhat mundane thought to change?

Because of Wanyu, of course, it's only because of Wanyu.

In his more than twenty years of life, he had never met a girl as vivid, lively, unique and bright as Wanyu.

She is like a free-floating cloud, and like a wind that moves at will.

She embodies freedom, dreams, aspirations, and unwavering determination—all the admirable qualities she longs for.

I want to approach her, hope to touch her, and even yearn to become her.

However, their relationship was always separated by a thin veil, a fact they both knew but neither was willing to break through.

He had been pondering why he didn't dare express his feelings to Wanyu until a few days ago when Wanyu confessed to him that she might leave the apartment to seek freedom.

Zhanbo then realized that perhaps his subconscious had sensed earlier than his reason that Wanyu wouldn't stay in Love Apartment forever.

He knew he couldn't keep Wanyu, because Wanyu was right.

Whether it was Nanfeng, her older sister, Yumo, or Ziqiao, they all told her that Wanyu should choose the kind of life she wanted to live.

What about yourself?

What kind of life should he lead, and how should he become a better version of himself?

Zhanbo wanted to catch up with Wanyu, and he vaguely sensed that if he fell behind, it would be completely impossible for him and Wanyu to be together again.

"Zhao Wuliang".

He looked intently at Zhao Wuliang and asked firmly, "What do you think about me leaving with Wanyu in six months to pursue my dreams?"

"madness!"

"idiot!"

"Pig head!"

"Idiot!"

"Idiot!"

……

Zhao Wuliang continued to curse, one curse after another, until Zhanbo looked like a wilted eggplant before he finally stopped.

He said with exasperation, "You call yourself a genius? Where's your intelligence? Did your second son take half of it?"

"Do your family and friends know about this? Didn't they call you a stupid pig who lost his mind because he was in heat?"

"It's not that exaggerated."

Zhanbo shrank his neck and mumbled timidly, "Although I haven't told them yet, everyone except my older sister is very supportive of me pursuing my dreams."

Huh?

He suddenly realized that he should have been talking about one of his friends, but now he was talking about himself.

Zhao Wuliang grew angrier upon hearing Zhanbo's words. He looked at Zhanbo as if he were looking at someone who had everything but didn't know how to cherish it.

"They support you because they love you and spoil you, so they allow you to be silly and want you to grow up slowly."

"Do you really think they don't know whether you're pursuing your dreams or chasing after a girl?"

As Zhanbo's arch-rival and friend, Zhao Wuliang speaks much more directly than everyone else in the apartment.

"Besides, I don't think you need to pursue any dreams right now. Your only dream right now is to chase girls."

I'm coming

The storyline involving Zhanbo and Wanyu... is particularly difficult to write, yet it's something I have to write.

The pigeons will do their best to give them a truly happy ending.

(End of this chapter)