Huang Cheng said directly, "If you want to win over Xu Ya, you at least need to match Brother Cheng's conditions, or at the very least be on par with Li Xudong. Otherwise, would she even look at you?"
Zhou Zhiyun smiled and asked Jiang Cheng, "Brother Cheng, tell me, if I had around three hundred thousand, what car would you suggest I buy?"
"Three hundred thousand? For you to drive?"
Zhou Zhiyun nodded.
If it were seven or eight hundred thousand, Jiang Cheng would definitely suggest that Zhou Zhiyun follow Wang Jian's lead and buy a used supercar.
But for three hundred thousand, he'd pass. It wasn't that he couldn't buy one.
But after the purchase, the estimated costs for regular maintenance, repairs, and fuel would probably exceed that price.
"Go for a Mercedes-Benz or a bmw. As the saying goes: 'Be young and successful, drive a Mercedes-Benz, and love will no longer have disputes.'"
Hearing this, Zhou Zhiyun nodded in agreement. "Originally, I was thinking of just buying a Nissan since the maintenance is cheaper. But since you put it that way, I think it makes a lot of sense. I've looked into it; for three hundred thousand, I could get a new C-Class mercedes-benz, or if it's used and I'm lucky, I might even find a 2015 S-Class model."
Jiang Cheng wasn't particularly surprised by Zhou Zhiyun's plan to buy a car.
Zhou Zhiyun's family background wasn't bad.
For his eighteenth birthday, his parents had bought him a house.
Now they were getting a car ready for him.
This guy's future life was going to be very comfortable.
On the side, Huang Cheng and Wang Xiaochui weren't as calm as Jiang Cheng.
After the two of them finished setting out the meat and vegetables they had brought,
they asked with looks of disbelief, "Are you saying you're actually buying a car?"
"My parents are planning to buy me a car worth around three hundred thousand. Once I'm driving that, I feel like my chances of picking up girls should be a bit better."
Hearing this, the expressions on Huang Cheng and Wang Xiaochui's faces clearly shattered.
"We all agreed before to be poor losers together. Now, not to mention Brother Cheng, even you..." Huang Cheng pointed a shaking finger at Zhou Zhiyun, looking like he had been betrayed.
"Exactly! You traitor! We agreed that if we were going to be poor, we'd be poor together, and if anyone got rich, it would be me first! How could you do this?" Wang Xiaochui even grabbed Zhou Zhiyun by the collar, looking heartbroken.
Seeing how hard this was for the two of them to accept,
Zhou Zhiyun immediately broke free from Wang Xiaochui's grip and hid behind Jiang Cheng.
"Hey, not you two! Brother Cheng has so many cars and you don't act like this with him. I haven't even bought mine yet!"
"Is Brother Cheng the same as us? He's an exception! But the three of us were clearly supposed to be the same, and yet you insist on..."
"Sigh, I'm cutting ties with you. From this moment on, our brotherhood is over..."
By now, the two large hotpot burners on the kitchen island were already boiling.
In addition to the items Zhou Zhiyun and the others had brought,
the housekeeper had also brought out some prepared seafood and appetizers.
Jiang Cheng watched with amusement as Huang Cheng and Wang Xiaochui put Zhou Zhiyun in a headlock and started playfully thumping him.
Zhou Ying walked over and said with a smile, "What are those two doing? I think Zhou Zhiyun's clothes are about to be torn apart by them."
"Those two? They're 'Fighting the Landlord.'"
Hearing this, Xu Ya walked over.
"The Landlord? When did Zhiyun strike it rich? How come I didn't know?"
If this were the past, Xu Ya wouldn't have even bothered with Zhou Zhiyun.
But now, Jiang Cheng was different.
By extension, she didn't dare to treat Zhou Zhiyun so casually anymore.
As the saying goes, 'When one man finds the Way, even his chickens and dogs rise to heaven.'
Although it wasn't obvious yet,
if Jiang Cheng were to give him a leg up in the future, things would be completely different.
Seeing Xu Ya strike up a conversation with him, Zhou Zhiyun said to Huang Cheng and Wang Xiaochui, "Brothers, brothers, that's enough. Give me some face."
After their fooling around, Jiang Cheng started calling everyone over to eat hotpot.
The group gathered around the kitchen island.
Jiang Cheng picked up a glass of champagne that had already been poured and addressed the group.
"Come, come, let me propose a toast to you all. Happy New Year~"
After Jiang Cheng finished speaking, everyone clinked their glasses together.
They said in unison, "Happy New Year!!"
After taking a few sips of champagne, Zhong Chuxi let out a "Wow!"
"Wow, this is so lavish! There's even king crab."
Some of the girls present began silently taking out their phones to take photos of the glass cups and the hotpot food on the island.
After a few bites, Zhou Zhiyun immediately said, "Old rules: Three Heroes vs. Lu Bu."
Jiang Cheng replied dismissively, "With the alcohol tolerance of you three, even if you added three more, you still couldn't beat me. Believe it or not?"
Huang Cheng spoke up, "Brother Cheng, don't get careless. I've been drinking quite a bit in my school clubs lately. I'm not the man I used to be."
Hearing this, Wang Xiaochui chimed in, "I've also been practicing specifically for this. Brother Cheng, take this!"
Jiang Cheng shook his head upon hearing this,
then added, "The combat power of you punks isn't even as intoxicating as Zhou Ying calling me 'baby' once."
For a moment, the three of them didn't understand, their faces filled with blank confusion.
But after a few seconds, when it clicked, they couldn't help but clutch their chests and act nauseated.
"Ugh, Brother Cheng, you're absolutely toxic."
"This display of affection is making me physically uncomfortable."
Zhou Ying felt a bit embarrassed and gently nudged Jiang Cheng with her hand, signaling him not to talk nonsense.
While some felt the sweetness, others felt a sting.
For instance, Xu Ya, who had been looking for every opportunity to make her presence felt in front of Jiang Cheng... The group talked and laughed, and the atmosphere quickly heated up.
Looking at all the youthful faces, Jiang Cheng suddenly remembered fragments of his high school days.
Although he arguably no longer needed to associate with these people,
youth is something that one craves no matter what stage of life they are in.
This feeling makes you forget many material things.
There's no need to rank social statuses in your heart,
and even less need to be an adult who is successful in every aspect.
Occasionally letting oneself experience this feeling, to keep from being corrupted by social status and money,
was something Jiang Cheng felt was quite good.
Seeing Huang Cheng pulling the other two to start a tag-team drinking battle against him,
Jiang Cheng teased, "This guy is a terrible drunk. If he gets wasted later and does something out of line, please be prepared to protect yourselves."
Zhou Zhiyun added a jab, "Everyone here is a classmate. Make sure you recognize who's who later; don't go wild just because you're drunk..."