Although some distance away, the man exuded a strong presence, the kind that marked a successful individual.
His walk was filled with the confidence of someone who held a superior position.
Guan Mengmeng and her group were seated quite close to the entrance of the banquet hall, and Yang Hao spotted Meng standing up from her seat as soon as he looked over. He strode over confidently and then took the seat Guan Mengmeng had reserved for him.
“Mengmeng, aren’t you going to introduce me?”
Xia Ying sized up Yang Hao while giving Guan Mengmeng a meaningful glance.
“Yeah, you’ve got to let us know who’s taken away our class beauty!” someone echoed.
Guan Mengmeng pursed her lips and then began to introduce Yang Hao to the classmates present:
“Yang, this is my high school classmate, Xia Ying.”
“And that’s Liu Ting…”
After going around with the introductions, she hooked her arm in Yang Hao’s, looking affectionately at him as she said, “This is my boyfriend, Yang Hao!”
“Hello everyone.”
Yang Hao waved his hand modestly, “I’m probably a bit older than all of you, so just calling me ‘Yang’ is fine.”
“Yang, if I may ask, how much older are you than Mengmeng?”
Although Yang Hao said calling him “Yang” was fine, Xia Ying still respectfully addressed him as Yang, which was decent of her considering she had also stepped into the working world, and had that basic level of tact.
“What do you think?”
Yang Hao actually found this question a bit difficult to answer, as it hit a sore spot.
“Eight years?”
Xia Ying guessed that this Yang must be around thirty, while Guan Mengmeng was one of the younger members of their class, being twenty-two this year.
Xia Ying herself was twenty-three, with most classmates being her age, and a few even a year older.
Yang Hao smiled and shook his head, “No, that’s not it.”
“But your guess does make me happy.”
“Yang, what do you do for work?”
This was when Xu Xiaodong, who had been quietly observing Yang Hao, suddenly asked.
At first glance, he felt that the other’s presence was quite strong, but after Yang Hao sat down and chatted with everyone for a bit, he seemed much more approachable, like a gentle and warm ‘big brother’ type.
“I run my own business.”
Yang Hao didn’t want to show off in front of a bunch of young people, so he gave a vague reply.
However, Xu Xiaodong wasn’t ready to let the subject drop just like that, and he pressed for more details, “Specifically?”
“Which industry?”
Yang Hao glanced at the younger brother sitting to his left. When Guan Mengmeng had introduced the young man, Yang Hao had felt that his gaze towards both himself and his own Mengmeng was a bit off.
Now he was doggedly inquiring about his information, clearly with some intent in mind.
Alas, in all honesty.
I really didn’t want to show off to these “kids”!
In Yang Hao’s eyes, Xu Xiaodong, Xia Ying, and the rest of Guan Mengmeng’s classmates were just like “kids.”
After all, with a gap of twelve or thirteen years, calling him ‘uncle’ wouldn’t be excessive.
“I’m involved in a variety of industries.”
“Mainly media, entertainment, and the restaurant business.”
Yang Hao’s reply was still rather vague. He truly wasn’t keen on dropping a title like CEO, which would seem a bit like bullying the youngsters.
“Media, entertainment, restaurants?”
“Yang, that’s not enough money for you to make, is it!”
Xu Xiaodong smirked lightly, feeling that the older man was deliberately avoiding talking about his work and then being pretentious by making his career sound more general and bigger than it probably was.
“Just busy with work, actually not making much money.”
Yang Hao humbly added another line.
“Yang, I’m quite interested in restaurants. What kind of establishment do you have?”
Xia Ying asked curiously.
“A hot pot restaurant, located on Star Cloud Commercial Street. It’s called ‘Yang’s Hot Pot’.”
“I welcome all of you to come and support it~”
Yang Hao took the opportunity to advertise his own hot pot restaurant.
Because the “System” benefits were proving to be more effective than he had imagined.
Yesterday, on the opening day of the hot pot restaurant, the total turnover from card purchases and spending had reached 120,000.
However, the bulk of it was created by Wei Zhengyi and the employees of Jiangcheng Newspaper Group.
With Wei Zhengyi taking the lead by recharging a membership card with ten thousand, the others also followed suit, recharging their cards with amounts ranging from five thousand to a minimum of one thousand.
And based on the rules, the “System” returned 240,000 to Yang Hao.
This money was like a windfall, so naturally, Yang hoped that the hot pot restaurant would thrive.
“Yang, as far as I know, the dining industry is still really competitive; you could be crushed if you’re not careful.”
“Many large chain hot pot restaurants have gone out of business.”
Xu Xiaodong talked about the prospects of opening a hot pot restaurant, but he was actually telling Guan Mengmeng: Even though your boyfriend is a small boss, it’s particularly unstable.
A hot pot restaurant can go out of business just like that!
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“It’s indeed not easy to make it in the food and beverage industry.”
Yang Hao nodded, expressing agreement with Xu Xiaodong’s point of view.
But just as he finished speaking, someone patted his shoulder from behind.
Yang turned his head instinctively and then saw his cousin, Yang Peng: “Oh, Dapeng? What a coincidence!”
“Bro, I was surprised to see you here!”
“I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, so I came over to check.”
Yang Peng had glanced over to Guan Mengmeng’s table subconsciously, mainly to check out the beauties, to feast his eyes.
Unexpectedly, he found his elder cousin, Yang Hao.
“Bro, what’s your relationship with the bride?”
Yang Peng asked curiously because Yang Hao was sitting with the bride’s family, all relatives and friends of the bride.
“Let me introduce.”
“My girlfriend, Guan Mengmeng.”
“Mengmeng, this is my cousin Yang Peng, just call him Dapeng….”
Yang placed a hand on Guan Mengmeng’s shoulder to introduce the two.
However, upon hearing the introductions, Yang Peng was completely dumbfounded.
A girlfriend??
Another girlfriend!!
Just how many girlfriends does the elder brother have??
Besides, having many girlfriends isn’t the point; the point is that each and every one of them is incredibly beautiful.
Take this one in front of us, for example; she is absolutely the most beautiful woman in the entire banquet hall, or else she wouldn’t have caught Yang Peng’s attention.
“Uh, hello sister-in-law!”
Although shocked to his core, Yang Peng still politely greeted her.
In fact, he really wanted to add the word “little” before sister-in-law because Guan Mengmeng seemed younger than him.
Guan Mengmeng’s cheeks turned slightly red when called sister-in-law since Yang Peng was clearly older than her, but she was actually quite happy inside.
Yang Peng, Yang Hao!
One could tell at once that this was a brother from the same family, meaning she had now met a relative of “Brother Yang.”
“Hello, Dapeng.”
Guan Mengmeng smiled and greeted him, then asked curiously, “Are you a relative of the groom?”
“Oh, that’s not right!”
“Then why isn’t Yang considered one?”
Guan Mengmeng was a bit puzzled, as the two were brothers, so in theory, Yang Peng’s relatives should be Yang Hao’s relatives as well.
“The groom is my wife’s cousin.”
Yang Peng explained and then turned to Yang Hao, “Do you know someone with the surname Wei?”
“Said to be the President of Jiangcheng Newspaper Group.”
“Someone with the surname Wei??”
“Bro, you’re being a bit disrespectful calling Mr. Wei like that!”
Before Yang Hao could respond, Xu Xiaodong immediately interjected, taking offense on behalf of Wei Zhengyi.
“Uh?”
“I misspoke.” Yang Peng scratched his head, looking somewhat bewildered.
At this point, Xu Xiaodong turned to Yang Hao and said, “Yang, your brother seems a bit rude!”