Chapter 125: New Year’s Eve
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Zhou Chao rode his bicycle along the canal’s embankment. The willow trees along the bank added a unique charm to the canal.
By the time he returned home, it was already past 4 o’clock, nearly two hours of cycling. Along the way, whenever he saw beautiful scenery, Zhou Chao would stop and appreciate it.
With the space capsule backpack on his shoulders and a bag in his hand, he walked out of the garage, released Shoufu, and casually placed the bag on the table. Then he reclined on the sofa.
“All! After some exercise, lying down feels incredibly comfortable.” Zhou Chao stretched out on the sofa, let out a sigh, and spent over half an hour browsing short videos. Eventually, he sat up from the sofa.
He retrieved the bag he had brought from the table. It was a book he had purchased from a bookstore he passed by on his way back. Since acquiring the system, Zhou Chao had been constantly improving his moral and intellectual qualities. He believed that only by strengthening his inner self could he avoid being blinded by sudden immense wealth. Many people who suddenly became rich ended up ruined because of their lack of self-control, falling prey to fleeting fame and fortune.
Zhou Chao, on the other hand, had a laid-back personality from the beginning. Experiencing two lives made him relatively unfazed by money. From the initial nervousness to the current calmness, from signing in and obtaining significant shares in Tencent and Ali to the situation regarding the lithography system and special steel, all these changes were closely related to Zhou Chao’s character.
Zhou Chao enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere of being alone, which allowed him to better understand himself and what he needed to do.
With the book “Stay Birds” in hand, he read it carefully. Sometimes he laughed, and sometimes he contemplated silently. When he came across profound passages, Zhou Chao would study them closely. He didn’t even notice when Shoufu had crawled onto his lap.
Without his awareness, the sky had gradually dimmed. It wasn’t until Zhou Chao found himself completely absorbed in the book that he snapped back to reality. He looked at Shoufu, who was peacefully asleep on his lap. With a touch of resignation, he carefully set Shoufu down on the sofa.
Zhou Chao got up and stretched his body. Checking the time, it was already nearly 6 o’clock. He headed towards the kitchen, glanced into the refrigerator, and noticed there were plenty of fresh vegetables. Zhou Chao decided to prepare dinner for himself.
Zhou Chao took some beef, pumpkin, and greens from the fridge, intending to prepare a simple meal consisting of a meat dish, a vegetable dish, and a soup.
Without hesitation, he got to work in the kitchen. In about forty minutes, he proudly placed the final dish, a pumpkin soup, on the table. Dinner for the day was ready.
“Meow, meow!” Perhaps feeling hungry, Shoufu, who had been napping on the sofa, approached Zhou Chao and started meowing incessantly.
“Alright, alright, I’ll get your cat food right away. Be patient,” Zhou Chao replied, getting up and walking over to Shoufu’s resting place. He poured out about half a box of cat food and added some water. Shoufu immediately buried its head in the food.
“You only know how to eat. You should think about losing some weight. If you keep gaining like this, I won’t take you out to play in the future,” Zhou Chao said, patting Shoufu’s back.
Shoufu responded with a nonchalant “meow,” leaving Zhou Chao wondering whether it understood him or not. He shook his head and then got up to have his own dinner.
After an hour of cooking, he devoured his meal in just ten minutes. Zhou Chao swiftly finished dinner and tidied up the table. Sometimes, despite his newfound wealth, he couldn’t help but notice that his daily routines remained largely unchanged.
“Shoufu, I’m going for a walk. Stay home and behave,” Zhou Chao said to Shoufu, who had already finished its cat food and was now lying on the sofa, much like the old him.
Once outside, Zhou Chao noticed that there were more people out today than before. However, he didn’t pay much attention and strolled along the canal, taking a leisurely walk.
“Honey, it’s New Year’s Eve, and I just want you to be with me!” Zhou Chao stood on the canal embankment, enjoying the night view across the river, and overheard a young couple whispering nearby.
“New Year’s Eve? Is this year ending already?” Zhou Chao took out his phone and checked, indeed, today was the last day of the year. Tomorrow would mark the start of a new year.
After some contemplation, Zhou Chao dialed Jiang Li’s number.
“Ring, ring.” The phone barely rang twice before it was answered.
“Hello, Zhou Chao!” The voice of the person he had longed to hear came from the other end.
“Jiang Li, I miss you!” Zhou Chao tried to control his tone, making an effort to remain calm.
There was silence on the other end for two or three seconds before Jiang Li spoke, “I miss you too. I want to be with you every moment. Just wait for me for ten days. After that, I can be with you all the time.”
Jiang Li didn’t hide her feelings at all and expressed herself openly, causing Zhou Chao’s heart to beat a little faster.
“Yes, I’ll wait for you,” Zhou Chao’s words, though plain, were extremely resolute.
Sitting on a stone by the riverbank, Zhou Chao and Jiang Li seemed to have endless words to share, countless memories to recount, and exciting stories to tell, all the way until the stroke of midnight.
“Jiang Li, Hove you!”
“Zhou Chao, I love you too.” In the first second of the new year, they both said the same words as if they were in sync, and both couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“Zhou Chao, wait for me!”
“Yes, I’ll wait for you!” After some more sweet words, Jiang Li hung up the phone. By then, Zhou Chao’s face was no longer as calm as before; a smile had already spread across it.
“I’m home!” Seeing that there were still many people along both sides of the canal, Zhou Chao happily headed home, bouncing along like a child who had just tasted candy.
A silent night…
On the first day of the new year, Zhou Chao lay in bed until after 10 o’clock before getting up. After a quick wash, he went straight to his study.
Entering the study, Zhou Chao didn’t waste any time and immediately called Ye Zhengfeng. After coming back last night, Zhou Chao had thought about where to build his steel factory. After much deliberation, he came up with the idea of involving Ye Zhengfeng. He was now ready to call and see if it was feasible.
The phone rang for three or four times before it was answered.
“Hello, Zhou Chao.”
“Uncle Ye, sorry for calling so early to disturb your rest.”
“If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t waste time with these irrelevant words,” Ye Zhengfeng interrupted Zhou Chao when he heard him being polite.
“Uncle Ye, let me get straight to the point. 1 have a research institute under my command, and we’ve developed a special type of steel. All the parameters have reached or even exceeded the world’s most advanced levels. I plan to build a factory to produce it, and I thought of you in the end.”
“Can you produce this type of material? Aren’t you being too naive?” Ye Zhengfeng realized that this thing was not simple when he heard Zhou Chao talk about the quality of the special steel, with some parameters even surpassing the world’s most advanced levels.
“Uncle Ye, I’m calling you because it’s possible. Otherwise, 1 wouldn’t have called you!” Zhou Chao knew that Ye Zhengfeng was considering it eagerly from his tone.
“Alright, you’re quite something, kid. This could be considered strategic material. Come to Peng City as soon as possible. We can’t discuss everything over the phone. We’ll talk more about it when we meet.”
“Of course, Uncle Ye!” Zhou Chao also had a hunch that this matter was nearly resolved, and he might need to inconvenience Ye Zhengfeng.
After hanging up the phone, feeling that he had solved half of the problem, Zhou Chao felt much more comfortable. He picked up the book “Stray Birds,” which he had glanced through yesterday, and continued reading..