Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 500: Returning Home in Wealth

Qu Jing and Tao Tian wore the exact same style of slip nightgown. Qu Jing wore black, while Tao Tian wore red. It was the kind of sleepwear that featured a lace edge at the neckline and a pitifully short hem.Although the clothes were identical, the different figures of the two women created entirely distinct effects. Qu Jing was slender and graceful, whereas Tao Tian's nightgown was stretched taut over her generous curves. With an arm wrapped around each of them, Zhou Yuwen leaned in and kissed them one by one.

After staying abroad for so long, returning made him realize that his home country was still the best. After all, his wives were all here. To be honest, Zhou Yuwen was genuinely exhausted at this moment. Even with beautiful women by his side, he lacked the energy for anything else. Holding them close like this, he unexpectedly drifted off to sleep in no time.

When he woke up the next morning, he looked down at the two lovely women nestled in his embrace.

Because they were resting their heads against his chest, Zhou Yuwen's downward glance happened to catch sight of a pair of large curves and a pair of small ones. Just like that, the mood struck him.

Consequently, Zhou Yuwen and the two girls skipped work for the entire morning.

It was not until the afternoon that Zhou Yuwen finally brought the two girls to the office, all of them looking completely radiant with health and energy.

He felt that it was sometimes better not to be in a committed, conventional relationship. If he were dating Jiang Xinyi like a normal couple, where would he find such a wonderful situation? Things were perfect now. The two girls who loved to cause trouble were away. Once Lu Lin and Zheng Yanyan returned, he would be bouncing from one place today to another tomorrow, living an incredibly carefree life.

By the time September 10th rolled around, the framework for both the security company and the property management company had been fully established. In reality, neither of these two companies had any major core business yet; they were essentially just taking on part-time gigs like before.

A property management company could theoretically partner with real estate firms, but the problem was that most real estate developers already had their own in-house property management. Therefore, they had to rely on themselves to drum up business.

Either way, there was no real business right now. At most, those retired soldiers would follow Zhou Yuwen around, which was still good enough for putting on an intimidating front.

This time, the company had purchased two Mercedes-Benz G-Wagons, a two-million-yuan commercial van, and another two supercars specifically for Zhou Yuwen. He had Lu Wanting open a trading company next door, and simultaneously launched a cross-border e-commerce business domestically. The two companies could supply each other's needs.

After wrapping up all these matters, the school had already started its semester along with the freshman military training.

Of course, this had absolutely nothing to do with Zhou Yuwen, who was now a sophomore.

Zhou Yuwen pondered over it. Having been back in the country for a while now, it was about time he made a trip home.

And so, he had Liu Shuo take the lead. Driving the two G-Wagons and the commercial van, they cruised all the way from Jinling to Xuhuai in just three hours.

Zhou Yuwen had not informed his parents about his return this time. Ever since the news report about his sweeping victory on Wall Street came out, his mother had called him exactly once to ask a single question: "Is it true?"

Zhou Yuwen had chuckled and confirmed it was true. The three billion figure was not fake, though it was not in dollars.

There had been a long silence on the other end of the line before she simply replied, "Oh. The weather got colder, remember to put on more clothes."

After that, his parents had not given Zhou Yuwen a single phone call.

If he had not finally caught a break and thought about going home for a visit, Zhou Yuwen would have almost forgotten to contact his parents entirely.

By the time Zhou Yuwen arrived home, his parents were still at work.

The self-built houses in his family's neighborhood had never had any real planning to speak of. Row upon row of buildings were packed tightly against one another, and the concrete road right outside his door was riddled with potholes, having been laid down who knew how many years ago.

The two G-Wagons were parked horizontally right in front of the house, while the commercial van was parked directly across the street.

The five retired soldiers had changed into new suits. With their bulging muscles and dark sunglasses, they genuinely looked the part of professional bodyguards.

Zhou Yuwen had become fairly well-acquainted with Wang Yong, the leader of the veterans. His original intention was for all of them to just come inside and take a seat.

However, Wang Yong declined the offer, stating, "Boss, we've never been bodyguards for anyone before, so we have to learn the ropes gradually. We can't just toss out the rules on our first real outing, right?"

Zhou Yuwen thought about the bodyguards of the big shots he had seen in New York, and then recalled Liu Dongqiang's assistant. People who came out of the government system truly knew how to serve their leaders. It was all about the small details—eliminating any source of discomfort for the boss and anticipating needs before the boss even thought of them.

Zhou Yuwen felt that he ought to adapt to this kind of lifestyle.

Therefore, he let them be.

This group was also crossing the river by feeling the stones. They were highly experienced when it came to fighting and charging into battle, but how exactly were they supposed to act as security guards?

Originally, some of them had wanted to pass the time by playing on their phones in the car, but they were sharply reprimanded by Wang Yong, who barked, "The boss is paying you guys a salary of over ten thousand a month! Did he hire you just to sit around playing on your phones?"

One of his subordinates spoke up, feeling wronged, "Squad Leader, it's not like there's anything going on right now, is there?"

"If there's nothing going on, don't you know how to find something to do?"

As a result, the four burly, muscular men split up—two stood guard while the other two patrolled the perimeter.

This spectacle caused the neighbors passing by Zhou Yuwen's house to stare in sheer bewilderment.

They wondered to themselves, 'Did something happen to the Zhou family?'

'Could it be that someone is about to be thrown behind bars?'

But then they took a closer look at the two G-Wagons and the massive commercial vehicle bearing the Mercedes-Benz logo.

The passing neighbors quickly concluded that a major VIP had come to visit the Zhou family. At first, no one was entirely sure what was going on.

But later, recalling the recent news about Zhou Yuwen, people began to whisper amongst themselves, saying that the son of the Zhou family had returned.

"We all have sons, so how come his boy turned out to be so incredible?"

Zhou Guobin got off work right on time at five-thirty. As he walked out of his office building, his colleagues greeted him with bright smiles.

"Getting off work, Prosecutor Zhou?"

"Leaving so soon, Prosecutor Zhou?"

Life had not seemingly changed much from before. After the news broke that Zhou Yuwen had made a massive fortune on Wall Street, his colleagues at the unit were indeed quite shocked. Even Zhou Guobin's superiors had sought him out for a private chat.

Truth be told, if his superiors had not brought it up during that meeting, Zhou Guobin would not have even known that his son had caused such a massive stir overseas.

That phone call Yang Lirong made to Zhou Yuwen had actually been at Zhou Guobin's behest.

After confirming that the news really was about her son, his mother's emotions were incredibly complicated. If he had made a few tens of millions, she might have just been happy.

But this was three billion.

It was far too much—a number that completely exceeded the bounds of a normal person's imagination.

That night, she had not slept a wink. She simply lay in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling and sighing. At one point, she could not help but ask, "Hey, Old Zhou. Do you think... Wenwen is really our child?"

Zhou Guobin had also remained silent. Unlike Yang Lirong, he was not the type to wear his heart on his sleeve.

Yang Lirong had concocted countless wild hypotheses in her head. For instance, what if there had been a mix-up at the hospital when he was a baby, and Zhou Yuwen was actually someone else's child?

Or perhaps Zhou Yuwen had been secretly swapped out?

In short, her mind had raced with all sorts of crazy ideas.

Meanwhile, Zhou Guobin maintained his silence until the very end, finally replying in a dry and dull tone, "Just go to sleep. From now on, let's contact Wenwen less. In this lifetime, there's nothing more we can do for our son, so let's at least avoid causing him any trouble."

Hearing those words, Yang Lirong felt an unprompted stinging in her nose, and then she inexplicably burst into tears.

Zhou Guobin asked her what she was crying for.

Sniffling in the dark, Yang Lirong sobbed that she did not know either. She just felt like none of this was real. Sometimes, she truly wished her son could just be ordinary.

"My greatest wish in this life was for our son to find a good job, marry a good wife, live a safe and peaceful life, and give me a plump little grandson. But now... now..."

As she spoke, Yang Lirong could not hold back another wave of tears.

Originally, Zhou Guobin had not felt much of anything, but listening to his wife weep beside him, a complex mix of emotions suddenly welled up in his chest.

Other people always hoped that their children would be successful and achieve great things in their studies and careers. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, at that very moment, the parents genuinely wished their son was just a regular person. All of these recent events simply felt far too surreal.

During that period, the couple indeed went through a rather bizarre phase. Whether at work or in daily life, they were suddenly on the receiving end of far too much friendliness from everyone around them.

Ever since the news about Zhou Yuwen got out, even the superior at Zhou Guobin's workplace who had always been at odds with him started greeting him with a beaming smile. He even gave him a thumbs-up and praised, "Old Zhou, your son is truly exceptional!"

"The two of us might have had some minor conflicts at work, but in daily life, there's absolutely no bad blood between us!"

"Your son really made something of himself. Once you retire, won't you be heading straight to America to enjoy your golden years?"

The colleague's words were not mocking; they were laced with genuine envy.

Given the massive shockwaves Zhou Yuwen had sent through America, it went without saying as a matter of course that Zhou Guobin and his wife could effortlessly travel the entire globe, let alone just go to America to enjoy life.

The situation was identical on Yang Lirong's side. In the past, she would often bicker until her face was red with the other older women during their mahjong games. Now, however, those very same women were bending over backwards to subtly curry favor with her.

There were even acquaintances crawling out of the woodwork who had the audacity to try and play matchmaker for Zhou Yuwen.

They would confidently declare, "Hey, if I remember correctly, your son doesn't have a girlfriend yet, right?"

For a small county town to produce a financial genius with a personal net worth of three billion was nothing short of a massive earthquake.

Regardless of what his son was up to, Zhou Guobin continued to live his routine, three-point lifestyle. But when he returned home today, the scene before his house gave him quite a start.

At that moment, a sizable crowd of curious onlookers had already gathered a short distance from his front door.

This was a common sight in these older self-built housing areas. There were always idle people without jobs looking for some daily entertainment. Now that three luxury cars had parked outside Zhou Guobin's house, complete with dedicated guards, they naturally flocked over.

Everyone was clearly eager to soak up the drama.

The prevailing theory among the crowd wasn't that Zhou Yuwen had returned. Instead, a few schadenfreude-loving individuals insisted that Zhou Guobin had landed himself in deep trouble, and that the authorities had come to settle accounts.

Before they could even finish their gossip, a stern voice interrupted from behind. "What are you all talking about?" Zhou Guobin asked, having a cold face.

The crowd turned around and stared at Zhou Guobin as if they had just seen a ghost.

"Ah? Guobin, you're back?"

"Hurry up and take a look at your house! Those cars have been parked out front all afternoon! Has your family's golden boy returned?"

"Yeah! We honestly thought something bad had happened to you. Look, there are even guys standing guard! At first glance, you can tell those men just came out of the military!" Several military veterans living in the neighborhood chimed in eagerly.

Taking in the spectacle, Zhou Guobin was also struck with curiosity.

However, in his heart, he had already guessed that his son must have come back.

It was just that Zhou Guobin heavily disliked this kind of flashy display. The roads in the residential area were already a nightmare for parking, and now three massive vehicles were hogging the space. Where was he supposed to park his own car?

So, Zhou Guobin parked his car a bit further away and strode up to his front door on his own, intending to ask these men who they were.

"Halt!"

He had not even reached the threshold when he was abruptly stopped by this group of rookie bodyguards. Mimicking what they knew, they treated the front porch as if they were guarding a highly classified military base, shouting a harsh command the moment they saw someone approach.

That sharp shout genuinely startled Zhou Guobin.

He looked up to see the man knitting his brows together and demanding, "Who are you? What is your business here?"

Zhou Guobin's initial thought had firmly been that his son was home, but after being barked at by this stranger, he suddenly felt entirely bewildered.

Fortunately, Liu Shuo stepped out at that exact moment. Catching sight of Zhou Guobin, a wide grin spread across his face. "Hey! Uncle, you're off work! Bro, my uncle is back!"

Liu Shuo rushed down the steps to support Zhou Guobin by the arm while shouting at the top of his lungs toward the inside of the house.

The only reason he had peeked outside in the first place was because he heard the bodyguard yelling at the door. Now, holding onto Zhou Guobin, he could not help but scold the guards, "What on earth are you guys thinking?! This is my uncle! Your boss's father!"

Hearing this, a visible wave of panic washed over the bodyguards' faces.

Liu Shuo hurriedly offered an explanation. "Uncle, don't hold it against them. These are my bro's bodyguards. They've only been on the job for two days, so they're still not very good at it!"

Zhou Guobin had indeed been left a bit dazed by the abrupt reprimand earlier, but his expression softened slightly now. He gave the bodyguard who had yelled at him a deep, lingering look before finally letting out an "Oh."

He truly had not expected this.

To think there would actually come a day when he would be barked at for trying to enter his own home.

At that moment, Zhou Yuwen, having heard the commotion, also stepped outside.

When Zhou Yuwen emerged, the crowd of onlookers watching from afar collectively let out a gasp of realization.

It really was the young master of the Zhou family returning.

He truly was a golden child; his entire aura and demeanor were on a completely different level.

Zhou Yuwen was not actually wearing anything extravagant. It was early September, and although the weather was gradually getting cooler, it was not too cold yet. He was simply dressed in a basic tracksuit.

However, surrounded by a group of suit-clad bodyguards, his casual attire gave off a distinct aura of calm and comfortable authority.

As the two men's four eyes met, Zhou Yuwen found himself looking down at his aging father due to the steps leading up to their self-built house, while Zhou Guobin gazed up at the son standing before him.

His son was still his son, but...

There was just an indescribable feeling in the air.

He suddenly realized that he had to weigh his words carefully when speaking to his own son. For a moment, he genuinely did not know what to say.

Zhou Yuwen flashed Zhou Guobin a warm smile. "Dad, you're back?"

"Yeah," Zhou Guobin responded, nodding.

The atmosphere between father and son was undeniably a bit awkward at this moment. Thankfully, Liu Shuo was right there beside them. Completely oblivious to the subtle tension of the situation, he simply asked out of curiosity, "Hey, Uncle, why are you just standing out here? Hurry up and come inside! We can talk indoors. Let's go, let's go."

And just like that, Zhou Guobin was ushered into his own house.

A short while later, Zhou Yuwen's mother finished her grocery shopping and barely made it back home as well. Her return was not quite as awkward as Zhou Guobin's, though she too had been thoroughly intimidated by the imposing presence of the bodyguards at the front door.

That evening, Zhou Yuwen merely had a simple dinner at home, all while his bodyguards continued to stand guard outside.

Yang Lirong felt that it was somewhat improper to make the men stand outside constantly.

Zhou Yuwen, however, waved it off casually, stating that it was simply their job.

"Then where are they going to sleep tonight?"

Liu Shuo, who had stayed to freeload a meal, replied grinning, "Auntie, don't worry about them. They'll just sleep in the cars."