Inside the private room, Chen Song stared blankly at the balance on his mobile banking app.
Even now, he could hardly believe it.
Just a few words...
And the money had been transferred on the spot?
"What are you doing? Come on, let's go sing!"
Li Hansheng, who had been tasked with rounding everyone up, hurried over to urge him along. "Where's Lu Yuan?"
Only then did Chen Song snap out of it. He recounted what had just happened, his voice trembling slightly with excitement.
"What are you thinking? Who just throws around five hundred thousand yuan like that? Lu Yuan might just be messing with you." Li Hansheng, still harboring a grudge against Lu Yuan for stealing his thunder, warned him to be careful and not get his hopes up.
"No, he isn't," Chen Song replied. "Lu really did transfer a three-hundred-thousand-yuan deposit to me."
Hearing that, Li Hansheng froze completely.
A casual transfer of three hundred thousand yuan... That was already the entire cost of his BMW parked outside...
Meanwhile, Zhou Yunqiong also witnessed the scene.
Her gaze, however, lingered thoughtfully in the direction Lu Yuan had left.
At the hotel's main entrance.
Just as Lu Yuan stepped outside, his phone vibrated in his pocket.
Two messages had arrived, each from a different sender.
Manager Zhang of Rongsheng Real Estate: *Hello, Mr. Lu. The contract for the farm you purchased has been signed.*
Lawyer Wang: *Mr. Lu, Mount Longhu has accepted your ten-million-yuan donation. As a token of gratitude, they invite you to come choose a site for your personal lay sanctuary whenever you have time.*
*Both settled, then?*
Seeing this, a faint smile appeared on Lu Yuan's face.
Although the process hadn't been entirely smooth, everything had worked out in the end.
Without dwelling on it further, he headed toward the parking lot.
"Lu Yuan."
Before he could get far, a cool, crisp voice called out from behind him.
Turning around, he saw that Zhou Yunqiong had emerged at some point, accompanied by the towering man known as Uncle Zuo.
"Is there something you need?" Lu Yuan paused, choosing not to ignore her.
After all, this woman was by no means ordinary.
"Nothing in particular."
Zhou Yunqiong stepped forward and tucked a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear, drawing side glances from the passing crowd.
She was truly stunning; wherever she went, heads turned. Yet the formidable presence of Uncle Zuo standing beside her was enough to snuff out any passerby's courage to approach her.
Paying no mind to the stares, Zhou Yunqiong simply said in a soft voice, "A whole year after graduation, you've changed quite a bit."
"Likewise. In the past, you never would have initiated a conversation with me," Lu Yuan replied in an indifferent tone.
Her expression flickered slightly at his words.
Soon, however, she returned his gaze with a faint smile. "Well, isn't that true?"
Ever since Zhou Yunqiong was born, practically everyone had revolved around her. No one ever ignored her words or her presence. Her parents had doted on her endlessly, treating her as the apple of their eye.
She relished that feeling, and it had been that way her entire life.
In her mind, she could dismiss others, but no one could dismiss her.
Just like today—Lu Yuan, who had cared about her so deeply during college, had treated her with sheer indifference, leaving her unsettled.
That was why she had ultimately decided to come out: she wanted to see whether his attitude was genuine or merely playing hard to get.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way," Lu Yuan said, sensing her thoughts but lacking the slightest interest in indulging them.
His dismissive attitude finally made Zhou Yunqiong furrow her brows, though she was adept at concealing her emotions. "Actually, I always knew you came from a good family—exceptional, even. The only reason I didn't say yes to you in college was because I felt we weren't from the same world."
At this point, she was desperate to regain the upper hand, so she took the initiative to bring up their college days.
Naturally, Lu Yuan's background had never been a secret to her.
Or rather, it couldn't be kept from the Wuzhou Group behind her.
"Are you finished? May I leave now?"
Lu Yuan truly had no desire to listen to her nonsense, nor did he have anything to say to her. He turned to leave.
After struggling at the bottom for ten years following the global mutation and witnessing countless cruelties, any lingering sentiment had faded long ago.
"Lu Yuan!"
Unable to keep her composure any longer, Zhou Yunqiong blurted out, "I just want to give you a piece of advice. Live well in the days ahead. Tremendous changes are coming, and everything will turn completely unfamiliar, no longer the world you once knew."
"Miss."
Just as she was about to say more, Uncle Zuo suddenly stepped forward and silently shook his head.
And Lu Yuan?
He didn't break his stride, continuing forward without stopping.
Yet he had heard every single word Zhou Yunqiong said.
*It seems certain people have already caught wind of—or even confirmed—the impending global mutation. The Zhou family is clearly one of them.*
*And this circle of people has likely been preparing in secret, gathering their strength for quite some time.*
Lu Yuan pondered silently. From those few words, he had deduced plenty.
The Zhou family and the Wuzhou Group backing them were extraordinarily mysterious. In his past life, he had merely considered them an ordinary corporate giant. But after the mutation unfolded, Wuzhou rose at breakneck speed, and the Zhou family produced an endless stream of powerhouses who shook the entire globe with their unfathomable strength.
Back then, he had assumed the Zhou family had achieved this solely by relying on the Wuzhou Group's vast corporate resources.
Now, however, it seemed that wasn't the case at all. Otherwise, Zhou Yunqiong wouldn't have said what she just did.
Lu Yuan suspected that mysterious factions like the Zhou family were likely far from rare, both domestically and across the globe.
Of course, he harbored no worry or apprehension toward them.
Because he possessed a massive advantage that no one else had: precise knowledge of how future events would unfold.
Where prime opportunities lay, where treasures were hidden, where fortuitous destinies would emerge—Lu Yuan knew every last detail.
As long as he seized hold of them all, what did the Zhou family matter?
What did any great faction matter?
He could face them all without fear and with absolute confidence!
Without another word, Lu Yuan got straight into his car and drove away from the hotel.
"Miss, you revealed a bit too much just now," Uncle Zuo couldn't help saying helplessly.
"I lost my composure."
Zhou Yunqiong nodded, taking a deep breath to fully regain her calm.
In the next instant, she reverted to her previous cold, unapproachable demeanor.
"Miss, I still don't quite understand why you bothered gathering with these people," Uncle Zuo continued after a moment of thought. "Even if they're former classmates, so what? In the end, you belong to a different world. Your bloodline is the purest our Zhou family has seen in generations. When the time comes, you will immediately stand as the proud daughter of heaven."
He added, "Whether those people in the hotel will even survive in the future is an open question. Even if they do survive, the gap between them and you will only grow wider, far beyond anything they could imagine."
His tone carried a distinct sense of condescension.
"I know, of course," Zhou Yunqiong smiled and held out her arm.
Under the sunlight, her skin actually emitted a faint golden glow, almost dreamlike.
Yet as she lowered her hand, the phenomenon vanished completely. She turned her gaze back toward the hotel and said softly, "I was just bored lately."
Uncle Zuo smiled, but then his phone vibrated. Glancing down at the message, his expression changed subtly.
"Miss, regarding the properties the patriarch instructed you to purchase... someone has beaten us to one of them."
"There's actually someone who got ahead of us?" Zhou Yunqiong was somewhat surprised. "Where?"
"The farm on the outskirts of Wuzhou."
Chapter 7