mijobooks Chapter 35 is short, only 6 words.
Chapter 35 is short, only 6 words.
18: 24.
"I'll be there soon, Xu An."
"Okay, I'll come to meet you at the door."
Xu An walked to the roadside and watched the passing vehicles. Soon, a ride-hailing car stopped at the roadside.
The car door opened, and a woman carrying a bag stepped out.
Xu An went to greet her, and was slightly taken aback after seeing Zhang Leyao's face clearly.
"Xu An," Zhang Leyao called out with a smile.
Xu An snapped out of his daze. "They don't call me Brother Xu An anymore?"
Zhang Leyao wrinkled her nose. "Hmph, you're only two years older than me."
"Even if it's only one day bigger, it's still bigger," Xu An replied.
He led Zhang Leyao into the restaurant.
The door to the private room was pushed open.
Two young men were sitting inside.
Upon seeing Zhang Leyao following behind Xu An, both of their eyes lit up.
"Xu An, aren't you going to introduce him?" Zhao Chuan stood up and said with a smile.
"Let me introduce you, this is my good friend, Zhang Leyao," Xu An said.
"Hello," Zhang Leyao waved and said with a smile.
"This is the richest guy I mentioned to you, Zhao Chuan. You can just call him Brother Chuan."
"Hello, Brother Chuan." Zhang Leyao shook hands with the other person.
Zhao Chuan laughed and said, "Okay, Xu An, do you specifically seek out beautiful women as friends?"
"Then you've misunderstood me," Xu An said with a smile.
He continued, "This is Zhao Chuan's good friend, Zeng Jing."
"Hello, Brother Zeng." Zhang Leyao greeted him with a smile.
"Hello, hello." Zeng Jing grasped Zhang Leyao's hand.
Zhang Leyao tried to pull her hand away, but found that the other person was holding it very tightly, and her smile froze for a moment.
Xu An witnessed this scene.
Zhao Chuan, who was standing next to him, gave him an elbow strike and said irritably, "What are you doing?"
Zeng Jing released his hand without getting angry, and said with a smile, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I've never seen such a beautiful woman before."
Zhang Leyao gave an awkward yet polite smile.
Zhao Chuan, being perceptive, called out, "Waiter, bring the food!"
The four people took their seats.
The dishes were ordered in advance, and they were served very quickly.
"Xu An, we have to have a drink tonight," Zhao Chuan said, then asked, "Do you prefer domestic or international drinks?"
"Let's drink the domestic ones," Xu An said.
"White wine or beer?" Zhao Chuan continued to ask.
Zeng Jing chimed in from the side, "Of course we drink baijiu (Chinese liquor), beer is no fun."
"Let's listen to Zeng Jing and drink baijiu." Xu An nodded. "But let me make it clear first, I'm not a big drinker, I can't drink much, so don't say I ruined your fun."
"It's alright, you can't drink it all. There's a beautiful woman next to you who will help you drink it," Zeng Jing said with a smile.
I casually picked up the bottle of wine that the waiter had just brought in and opened it.
Xu An frowned almost imperceptibly and turned to look at Zhang Leyao.
"I'm sorry, my friend doesn't drink alcohol."
"Oh, what's the big deal? Drinking doesn't require learning; you'll get the hang of it as you drink," Zeng Jing said, having already poured four glasses of wine.
"Come on, help yourselves." He spun the wheel and brought the wine to Xu An and the other person.
Just as Zhang Leyao was about to grab the drink, Xu An raised his hand to stop her, saying, "My friend really can't drink, so I'll help her..."
Before Xu An could finish speaking, Zhao Chuan spun the wheel around and cursed, "Zeng Jing, have you drunk too much and gone mad? Alcohol isn't a good thing, why do you have to persuade others to drink?"
Zeng Jing chuckled and took the extra glass of wine off the turntable. "Alright, alright, I don't need to drink it then."
"Who said this wine isn't good stuff? If it weren't good stuff, why would they dare sell it to me for thousands of dollars?"
As he spoke, he picked up the glass of wine that was full, "Since this beautiful lady isn't drinking, then I'll toast her first."
After saying that, he finished the drink in his glass in one gulp.
The cup wasn't big, only about two ounces.
"Eat up, eat up," Zhao Chuan said, muttering, "My brother here is a drunkard, ignore him."
After saying that, he glared at Zeng Jing: "Don't go on a drunken rampage after a couple of drinks."
"No, no," Zeng Jing waved his hand.
While eating and chatting, Xu An raised his glass to thank Zhao Chuan for his support of "Covering the Sky".
As the two were chatting, Zeng Jing suddenly interrupted, "Chuanzi, no offense, but is this novel really that good? You can just read it and that's it, but you even borrowed money from me to tip you, and you've tipped over a million yuan in total."
Upon hearing this, the three people reacted differently.
Xu An frowned.
Zhang Leyao was startled.
Zhao Chuan was somewhat annoyed.
"You don't know anything. I've noticed you're being unusually talkative today." Zhao Chuan raised his hand and gave him an elbow strike.
Zeng Jing smiled and raised his hand to block, not caring about Zhao Chuan's attitude, and looked at Xu An: "Xu An, what's the name of that novel you wrote again?"
"Covering the sky," Xu An replied.
"Look, my brother has tipped you over a million yuan, and you haven't done anything about it? Even if it's just for going out, with my brother spending over a million yuan, at least my brother won't be sleeping alone at night." Zeng Jing said this.
A cold gust of wind swept over him, making Xu An's hair stand on end, and he felt a chill in his rear.
Noticing Xu An's gaze, Zhao Chuan couldn't help but elbow him again, cursing, "Can you even talk? If you can't, shut up!"
Zhang Leyao ate her meal quietly, glancing furtively at Zhao Chuan and then at Xu An.
Noticing Zhang Leyao's meaningful gaze, Xu An felt grief and indignation.
"How much money did Zhao Chuan borrow from you? I paid it back for him," Xu An said.
Zeng Jing's eyes lit up, ignoring Zhao Chuan's actions, "Not much, just 500,000."
"Okay, send me your card number and I'll transfer it to you right away," Xu An said.
"Alright," Zhao Chuan interrupted the two.
He took a deep breath and gave Zeng Jing a look.
Zeng Jing chuckled and lowered his head to eat.
"Xu An, I, Zhao Chuan, never ask for anything back after I give it away. I gave you the reward because I liked your book, not because I wanted anything in return."
"Just focus on writing your book."
"And another thing! I'm not gay!"
Zhao Chuan raised his voice for his last sentence.
"And you!" He turned and glared at Zeng Jing. "If you're going to eat, then eat; if you're going to drink, then drink. If you say another word, then go back home."
"Okay, okay, I'll shut up." Zeng Jing raised his hand in a gesture of surrender, chuckling as he spoke.
Zhao Chuan felt helpless about his good brother.
"My brother isn't a bad person, just ignore him. He's always been this unreliable," Zhao Chuan explained to Xu An.
The group continued eating and chatting.
Zeng Jing casually asked, "I heard from Chuanzi that your books are quite popular. How much do you earn a month?"
Xu An didn't understand the meaning behind his question, and replied casually, "Not much, maybe a million a month."
"Plus, I haven't received the money from the sold copyrights yet. To be conservative, I'd say I earned around 60 million yuan in the four months I was writing the book."
When the words "sixty million" were uttered, the private room fell into complete silence.
Zhang Leyao paused in her act of putting food into her mouth.
Zhao Chuan looked at Xu An, his pupils shrinking.
Zeng Jing's Adam's apple bobbed.
"How much?"
Xu An smiled slightly: "About sixty million."
......