Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 377: Full of Joy and Harmony During the New Year

Zhou Yuwen and Su Qing still shared the deep feelings of their previous life, so buying a small car worth over three hundred thousand yuan felt like no big deal to him. However, in the eyes of Zhou Yuwen's mother, Yang Lirong, this was a massive, earth-shattering event.Naturally, Elder Aunt whispering gossip in her ear played a part in this, but for any mother who had worked tirelessly to raise her son without enjoying any of his success herself, hearing that he was buying cars and houses for another woman was simply unbearable.

Even before Zhou Yuwen returned, Yang Lirong had been nagging her husband about it.

Zhou Guobin did not really mind. He felt that since his son's money was earned cleanly, he could do whatever he wanted with it.

Seeing her husband's indifferent expression made Yang Lirong even angrier. "I raised that boy, and I have never even driven a Mercedes-Benz, yet she gets to drive one?"

During the family meeting that evening, Yang Lirong looked like a judge presiding over a strict interrogation.

Left with no other choice, Zhou Guobin could only ask his son to confess everything honestly.

Zhou Yuwen finally understood what the fuss was about. "That is simple," he said. "We can just go back tomorrow. Mom, I will buy you a Mercedes-Benz too, alright? I will get you an E-Class, a whole tier higher than hers. How does that sound?"

"Is this just about buying a car?"

Yang Lirong was speechless. "You and that girl have not even settled your relationship properly, and you are already buying her a three-hundred-thousand-yuan car. When you two get married in the future, what are you planning to buy her then? Are you planning to give her our entire family?"

Yang Lirong's worries were perfectly normal. According to Zhou Yuwen, he only had about two or three million yuan to his name. Was he really just going to spend ten percent of his net worth on another woman like this?

"Son, do not think making money is easy. Just because you are earning this much now does not mean you will always be able to earn this much, right?" Saying this, Yang Lirong gestured for her husband to chime in.

"Ah? Yes, your mother makes a good point," Zhou Guobin nodded.

Yang Lirong then looked back at Zhou Yuwen, continuing her earnest persuasion.

Zhou Yuwen nodded, understanding his mother's thoughts, but he replied, "Mom, my relationship with Su Qing is a bit complex, and I do not quite know how to explain it to you. But the truth is, Su Qing has helped me a lot in achieving what I have today. You have probably read my novel; the female lead was written using Su Qing as the prototype. Furthermore, when I started my company in Jinling, she gave me a lot of help. Because of all that, I feel there is absolutely no problem buying her a car."

Yang Lirong thought to herself, 'Even if she was the main character, there is no need to spend so much money.'

However, before she could voice those thoughts, Zhou Yuwen let out a yawn. "Alright, Mom, I am tired."

"I am going to sleep. We can talk about anything else tomorrow."

"It is only a little over three hundred thousand, which is just about a month of my royalty earnings. If I truly lose it, I will just pretend I never earned it. Goodnight."

Saying this, Zhou Yuwen stretched lazily. Completely ignoring whether his mother agreed or not, he got up and headed off to bed.

This made Yang Lirong a little angry. She initially wanted to grab Zhou Yuwen and lecture him some more, but in the end, she held her tongue.

Turning to look at her husband, she saw him still sitting on the sofa, playing with his phone as if none of this had anything to do with him.

This sight infuriated Yang Lirong. She snatched her husband's phone away and snapped, "What are you playing at? All you know how to do is play! Our son is about to be kidnapped away by some girl!"

Zhou Guobin genuinely felt there was no issue.

"Did our son not just say it himself? That girl provided a massive amount of help for him to achieve what he has today. It is just a car, nothing to make a fuss over," Zhou Guobin replied.

Yang Lirong retorted, "It is fine for my son to give it, but look at that girl! She is so young, yet she just takes whatever my son hands her. I have never even driven such a nice car."

Hearing this, the corner of Zhou Guobin's mouth twitched into an amused smile. 'So you really do just care about that little detail,' he thought.

However, he kept quiet. No matter the reason, because of this incident, Yang Lirong had lost any good impression she had of Su Qing. She even gossiped about Su Qing behind her back with Zhou Guobin, mentioning how she had just opened the door earlier only to see Su Qing clinging to their son and kissing him.

"Right at our front door! A young child like her, having absolutely no shame."

Regardless, when it came to a mother-in-law looking at a daughter-in-law, she would never find her pleasing to the eye.

In their previous life, before Zhou Yuwen and Su Qing got married, the two women actually had a decent relationship. It was only after the marriage that their relationship began to rapidly deteriorate.

There was nothing that could be done about it.

In this life, the speed at which the two turned against each other had simply accelerated.

Because of this matter, Yang Lirong nagged her husband all night, still complaining even as they got into bed to sleep.

Zhou Guobin was far more open-minded. Lying in bed with his eyes closed, he simply stated that as long as their son liked her, anything was fine.

Hearing this, Yang Lirong directly punched Zhou Guobin.

This made Zhou Guobin feel very wronged. "What did you hit me for?"

Yang Lirong scoffed, "Listen to yourself! What if she is a bad woman here to scam your son out of his money? Would you still be fine with it?"

"She is not. Little Su is not that kind of person."

"Oh! So you know everything now?"

Zhou Yuwen was not actually that sleepy, but he did not want to bother himself with these trivial matters. He returned to his room, took a shower, and chatted with the other girls on his phone for a while before the night quietly passed by.

Early the next morning, he was awakened by the crackling sounds of firecrackers.

Today was New Year's Eve. Years later, when all city residents moved into high-rise buildings, living standards would increase, but the festive atmosphere of the New Year would grow increasingly faint. It was nothing like this era, where every family lived in a self-built house, and even before the New Year fully arrived, the streets and alleys were completely filled with children setting off firecrackers.

In the past, whenever the New Year came around, he only found the sound of firecrackers noisy. But now, after experiencing the sterile future and returning to this lively atmosphere, he felt a deep sense of nostalgia.

Bright and early, the courtyard was exceptionally busy. Several of his aunts had already arrived at Zhou Yuwen's home.

Just as Zhou Yuwen stepped out onto the balcony, the aunts in the courtyard immediately greeted him.

"Yuwen is awake! Why didn't you sleep a little longer!?"

"Cousin!"

Standing by the door were three younger cousins. Seeing Zhou Yuwen, they beamed with joy, waving the firecrackers in their hands and flashing toothless grins as they eagerly urged him to come set off explosives with them.

Well, perhaps there really was not much to be nostalgic about. Annoying things were still annoying.

Lu Wanting, on the other hand, found all of this incredibly novel. She actually led the group of younger cousins, running wildly down the streets to set off firecrackers.

This, however, spelled misery for Peng Xiaoyong.

Peng Xiaoyong, who meticulously maintained the persona of a mature and reserved twenty-six-year-old, was forced to chase after Lu Wanting and a bunch of kids while they blasted firecrackers everywhere.

There was even a mischievous little cousin raising a ruckus, clamoring for Lu Wanting to buy him some thirty-cent firecracker torpedoes.

He wanted to go to the riverside to blow up fish.

Lu Wanting curiously asked what firecracker torpedoes were.

The young cousin eagerly explained just how explosive and powerful those torpedoes were.

Lu Wanting was genuinely captivated and immediately wanted to go buy some.

Thankfully, Peng Xiaoyong stepped in to stop her. "That is way too dangerous!" he warned.

"I absolutely forbid you all from going!"

Among this group of young relatives, Peng Xiaoyong was the unpopular type. Hearing his strict refusal, the younger cousin immediately grew upset and went to pester Zhou Yuwen to buy them instead.

Zhou Yuwen simply said, "Cousin Xiaoyong is right."

"Think about it. The little fish are finally getting to celebrate the New Year in their homes too, and then you just toss a bomb down and blow them all up. Would you be happy if someone did that to you?"

It was true that Zhou Yuwen was trying to entertain and enlighten them, but these young children lacked that much empathy. They simply wanted to buy the thirty-cent firecracker torpedoes to play with!

Since Zhou Yuwen refused, they scurried off to beg the other adults.

However, Zhou Yuwen's words did manage to amuse Lu Wanting. Covering her mouth, she giggled and said, "Hey, Cousin, I did not expect you to explain things in such a vivid way!"

Looking at Lu Wanting as she smiled sweetly and charmingly, Zhou Yuwen merely chuckled along. To be completely honest, now that he knew Lu Wanting and Peng Xiaoyong were not actually a couple, things felt different.

Whenever he looked at the two of them now, he always got a very strange feeling.

Before the family's old residence was demolished, the relatives would gather there for the New Year every single year. This year, because Zhou Yuwen had become so successful, the relatives arrived even earlier and were far more enthusiastic than before. Some relatives even took the initiative to chat with him, asking how he wrote his novels and urging him to teach his younger cousins.

Zhou Yuwen offered a light chuckle, remarking that if it were so easy to teach, writers would be a dime a dozen by now.

Truth be told, Zhou Yuwen disliked it when a swarm of relatives—both close and distant—swarmed around him just to build connections.

Therefore, since Zhou Yuwen had other plans for today, he drove away from the house early in the morning.

As he was leaving, Yang Lirong asked him where he was going during the New Year festivities.

Zhou Yuwen bluntly replied that he had things to do and was busy.

Yang Lirong scoffed, "Going to find your little girlfriend again?"

Zhou Yuwen simply flashed a cheeky grin.

Yang Lirong glared at him, but Zhou Yuwen had already slipped away.

Given that it was the New Year, Yang Lirong could not really scold him too harshly.

Still, seeing Zhou Yuwen so infatuated with feminine beauty left her feeling deeply dissatisfied.

At that moment, Elder Aunt, who was helping to cook, chimed in at exactly the right time. "Sister-in-law, Yuwen cannot keep doing this. How can he just wander around outside instead of staying home properly during the New Year?"

Yang Lirong remained silent.

It had truly not been easy for Zhou Yuwen to finally escape the house. Not only did he have to get past his mother, but that supposed sister-in-law, Lu Wanting, had also been pestering him to take her out to play.

Fortunately, he had made a quick getaway.

Once outside, he finally felt free.

He took Su Qing and Pan Min—one older beauty and one younger beauty—out for a stroll through the streets.

The New Year brought a fresh atmosphere, and the mother and daughter duo had both changed into new clothes. Since Su Qing had traveled back from the future, her makeup skills were advanced, making her appear slightly more mature, right around twenty years old. Meanwhile, Pan Min looked incredibly youthful, appearing to be only in her early thirties. With both of them wearing matching outfits and being escorted by Zhou Yuwen, anyone passing by could not help but take a second glance.

In 2014, real estate in the county town was just beginning to take off. Even on the last day of the year, the various sales centers were already packed with people. Currently, the average property price in the county was around three thousand yuan per square meter. The slightly more branded developments, like Country Garden, sold for around four thousand yuan per square meter.

The real estate saleswomen were tirelessly introducing the apartment layouts to the prospective clients.

Zhou Yuwen took the mother and daughter to view three different residential property developments. Su Qing took a liking to Country Garden. The large brand was trustworthy, and she had renovated several apartments with this exact layout in her past life, making it highly familiar to her.

In truth, Pan Min also felt that Country Garden was the better option.

Seeing that both of them liked it, Zhou Yuwen casually decided they should buy a unit.

A 120-square-meter, three-bedroom apartment cost around four hundred eighty thousand yuan. To Zhou Yuwen, this was basically like getting it for free. If they lived in it for five or six years and then sold it for over a million, it would be an absolute steal.

However, truth be told, when it came to living comfort, Zhou Yuwen disliked high-rise buildings. He greatly preferred multi-story duplex villas.

Around this time, a few developments in the small county town were building exactly those types of houses, with the unit price hovering around four thousand yuan per square meter. Furthermore, because the real estate market was relatively unregulated back then, even though the ground-floor courtyard would not be explicitly written on the property ownership certificate, owners could fence it in however they pleased.

Some wealthy buyers even purchased the first floor just to illegally dig out a basement. These kinds of historical issues would be mostly ignored a few years down the line, with barely anyone pursuing legal action over them.

After buying the Country Garden property, Zhou Yuwen dragged the two women off to look at the villas, which had a gross floor area ranging from 180 to 200 square meters.

Zhou Yuwen fancied a 200-square-meter duplex covering the first and second floors, which also came with a garage.

The total price was only about eight hundred thousand yuan.

It was basically a steal.

Other clients might have shown some hesitation looking at these properties, but Zhou Yuwen did not hesitate in the slightest. He immediately signed the contract and paid the money.

Pan Min gently told Zhou Yuwen that buying such a massive house was not of much use.

"You and Qingqing do not even live here, and one apartment is more than enough for me. Leaving such a large house empty is too much of a waste."

Hearing this, Zhou Yuwen chuckled lightly and assured her it was fine.

"Aunt Pan, you can alternate between them. Once you get tired of living in the high-rise building, you can come stay in the duplex for a while. If you ever feel bored, you can even visit Jinling and stay with us for a bit."

Pan Min was entirely at a loss for words after hearing that.

There was a certain saying that rang true: No woman would ever explicitly tell you that she was materialistic.

But as long as you did not lack material wealth, you were destined never to lack women.

After a full day of house hunting, Zhou Yuwen not only bought two residential properties, but while they were strolling along the streets, he conveniently purchased three storefronts as well.

Buying a storefront in this era genuinely meant "one shop feeds three generations." A few years later, the market would flip entirely, turning into "three generations feeding one shop"!

The three storefronts combined cost less than 1.5 million yuan.

In Zhou Yuwen's own words, these three commercial properties were purely for Aunt Pan to collect rent from.

"These three shops should bring in about one hundred twenty thousand a year, and the rent will only increase in the future. Aunt Pan, Qingqing mentioned to me before that she feels being a teacher is too exhausting for you. With these three shops, you will have an extra layer of security. If you ever feel tired of going to work, you can simply resign. Either way, I can afford to provide for you!"

Upon hearing his bold declaration, Pan Min could no longer hold it in and burst out laughing.

She truly was a magnificent beauty; her laugh was genuinely enchanting.

Pan Min teased, "Since when do I need a young child to provide for me? If word of this gets out, will I not become the laughingstock of the town?"

Zhou Yuwen retorted confidently, "What is there to laugh about? Aunt Pan, a son-in-law is half a son! I am practically your son anyway. If I do not consider your well-being, who else's would I consider?"

Because of their marriage in his previous life, Zhou Yuwen genuinely respected and cared for Pan Min with filial devotion.

Standing by their side, Su Qing felt incredibly moved listening to his words.

After the things Zhou Yuwen had told her last night, Su Qing still felt a lingering sense of unease, constantly worrying about gains and losses to the point where she could barely sleep.

However, seeing Zhou Yuwen's loving attitude towards her and her mother today, that heavy burden finally lifted from her heart.

She thought to herself, 'This is actually quite nice.'

At the very least, Zhou Yuwen treated her and her mother exceptionally well.

Su Qing pondered deeply. As a young woman, she did not harbor any grand ambitions. All she wanted was for her man to be strong and capable of sheltering her and her mother from the storms of life. Now that Zhou Yuwen had completely fulfilled those desires, why was she still overthinking everything?

The experiences of her previous life had already proven that she could never bear to leave Zhou Yuwen.

So why torture herself with useless worries in this life?

Having figured all of this out, and looking at Zhou Yuwen as he continued to amuse her mother, Su Qing happily joined in on the banter. With a playful twinkle in her eye, she teased, "If you keep calling yourself her son-in-law, why are you still calling her 'Aunt'!?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yuwen laughed out loud and exclaimed, "Then I will gladly change my tune! Mom!?"

Hearing him call her that, Pan Min beamed with a smile that came straight from the depths of her heart.

In that beautiful moment, both Su Qing and Pan Min felt an overwhelming sense of joy.

For they had finally found a true pillar of support they could rely on.