Chapter 42: I Just Want More People to Find Happiness
Chapter 42: Chapter 42: I Just Want More People to Find Happiness
8:30 a.m., outside the Provincial Library.
"Rich bro, you’re here again today! With such a passion for learning, your future is limitless!"
Seeing Zhang Yan arrive, Old Niu enthusiastically greeted him. It seemed the red envelope from yesterday had greatly closed the distance between them.
However, his praise about a "passion for learning" was quite insincere, as the person who had helped Zhang Yan reserve a seat earlier had already secretly shared some gossip with him. Paying to come to the library just to read *Jin Ping Mei* in broad daylight—if that wasn’t some weird fetish, there was definitely something wrong with his head. Either way, it had absolutely nothing to do with a passion for learning.
"Same spot as yesterday," Zhang Yan said.
"Okay, saved it for you. Let me check my messages... Perfect, the guys already grabbed it. I’ll mark it for you on the seating chart, and you can just head right up."
Zhang Yan finally arrived at the so-called Divine Throne he had been dreaming about for days.
The seat was tucked away in a corner on the top floor. It was a couple’s seat, and due to the layout, there were barely any other tables around—only a few bookshelves—making it practically undisturbed. The two seats were located by the window, but since they faced due north, they didn’t get much direct sunlight throughout the day. This ensured excellent natural lighting without the heat.
The view right outside the window was also genuinely nice—colorful and vibrant, with a wide, open sightline. If one got tired of reading, looking out would surely relieve fatigue and quickly relax the mind. The spot was indeed great; twenty bucks well spent.
Oh, wait, he spent fifty. Thinking about it that way, the scenery suddenly didn’t seem quite as beautiful.
BEEP!
The person collecting the mobile payment was a male student with a hint of youthful handsomeness. However, after taking the money, he didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he stood behind a girl sitting in the adjacent seat, and they began chatting in low voices. It turned out they were a couple doing this part-time job together.
Zhang Yan glanced at the girl. She was undeniably young and fresh-faced, her looks roughly on par with Xu Fei, the bespectacled girl he had met last time. But as a high schooler, she hadn’t fully matured into her features yet, nor had she mastered the art of makeup, so there was still plenty of room for improvement.
Noticing Zhang Yan’s gaze, the girl didn’t react much, but the boy shot him a highly vigilant glare and shifted his body to block Zhang Yan’s view of her.
Zhang Yan thought indignantly, "Do I look like the kind of guy who preys on little girls?"
He idled for a moment, not immediately starting to read. He wanted to see who the other seat was sold to and whether he’d be lucky enough to run into that mysterious beauty today. Men were just like that sometimes; the harder something was to get, the more desperately they craved it.
However, the person who eventually came up was just another guy wearing glasses. They exchanged a look of mutual disappointment.
Zhang Yan took out the book he planned to read today: *Intimate Relationship*. It was a classic in the field of psychology, primarily exploring the nature, formation, development, and maintenance of intimate connections between people, especially couples and spouses.
Adjusting his mood, Zhang Yan drank his daily dose of Concentration Potion.
The book read, "Intimacy is not simply loving each other, but being able to frankly expose your most vulnerable side and be accepted by the other party."
"Love is a kind of freedom. True love makes us a better version of ourselves."
An hour later, Zhang Yan closed the book and rubbed his sore eyes.
The book’s language was easy to understand, and its case studies and advice were highly relatable to everyday life, making it a breezy read even without a professional background in psychology. Therefore, under the effects of the Concentration Potion, Zhang Yan read through it once and easily reached the level of [Comprehension]. Now, his progress on the task of improving cognition had already reached 60%!
He thought, "That makes a lot of sense. Love should be free; we shouldn’t use marriage to bind each other!"
He could always glean his own unique interpretations from reading. Whether they made sense or not was secondary, but they were definitely useful. Ever since he acquired the system and a massive amount of wealth, he had been constantly building his own mental framework.
"I am going to possess so much in this life. Letting only one girl enjoy it all would just be too unfair to everyone else!
"I just want to give more people a warm and free home!"
With all these justifications, Zhang Yan reinforced his beliefs every single day. By now, he had almost completely convinced himself.
The boy at the next table was there to seriously study. Seeing Zhang Yan pack up his things to leave, he shot him a look of disdain and muttered, "What a poser. You don’t even flip through a comic book that fast!"
In his eyes, Zhang Yan was either putting on a show to appease his family or was purely there chasing after so-called beauties. Either way, it had absolutely nothing to do with studying.
Zhang Yan didn’t care about others’ opinions. After all, he had genuinely learned something. And this knowledge would definitely come in handy when interacting with his future partners.
11:50 a.m., at an intersection in the core business district.
Zhang Yan checked his watch. It was already twenty minutes past the time he had agreed to meet Xia Xiqing.
"Did she spend too much time doing her makeup?" he wondered.
On second thought, that was unlikely. Even if Xia Xiqing’s true nature wasn’t as aloof as she seemed, she wouldn’t obsess over her makeup to the point of being late for someone like Zhang Yan, whom she had only met once.
"Could she be the unpunctual type?"
There were indeed girls like that—the type who only started getting ready right before the meeting time. Ultimately, they simply didn’t care about the person waiting for them, and might even derive satisfaction from making the other party wait longer. If they were in a good mood, they’d offer a token excuse like traffic. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t even bother explaining.
Zhang Yan frowned slightly, thinking, "She doesn’t look like that kind of person."
He waited a little longer, finally spotting a hurried Xia Xiqing in the distance. Even amidst the crowd, she was incredibly eye-catching.
As she approached, Zhang Yan noticed a light sheen of sweat on her forehead and cheeks. Her breathing was uneven, as if she had rushed a long way.
"Traffic," she said, panting slightly.
Zhang Yan believed her.
Today, she was wearing a white slip dress. It was elegant and simple, but the fabric exuded quality, clearly indicating a hefty price tag. The A-line hem naturally flared out, accentuating her graceful waistline while highlighting her long, fair legs. A few perfectly chosen, minimalist pieces of jewelry adorned her wrists and neck, adding a touch of nobility to her naturally aloof temperament. Her smooth, waist-length black hair was half draped over her back and half gathered over her right shoulder, looking natural and elegant.
When his gaze finally fell upon her stunningly beautiful face, Zhang Yan’s heart skipped an inexplicable beat. Carefully dolled up, Xia Xiqing’s beauty was genuinely breathtaking. It was no wonder she was so highly sought after.
Taking one last greedy glance, Zhang Yan smiled and said, "Looks like you had to run a bit. I set the meeting place here assuming you’d have a private car to drop you off."
"I don’t have one anymore."
Hearing this, Zhang Yan raised an eyebrow.