Chapter 50 Four years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Chapter 49

Summer in the north of the city is as scorching as ever; by 2 p.m., the outdoor chairs are already burning hot.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, scattering across the ground like scattered gold dust on the concrete.

Xia Zhiyu raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun, jogged a few steps, and got on Fang Xinle's newly purchased iced berry pink Paramela.

As soon as she entered the air-conditioned carriage, Xia Zhiyu let out a long sigh of relief, patted her chest with lingering fear, and sweat beaded on her delicate nose. "Why are there so many fans at this ribbon-cutting ceremony? I almost fainted when I saw so many people."

"Wow, you're a big blogger with tens of millions of followers across the internet, can't you even recognize your own popularity?"

"Just eight million, not even ten million yet."

Fang Xinle floored the gas pedal and sped off, leisurely saying, "Two million for crickets isn't a big deal, but why don't you hurry up and thank me for coming all the way to pick you up? I even skipped my data session with that handsome young man."

“From now on, Fang Xinle will be my biological father,” Xia Zhiyu said seriously, raising three fingers together, “the kind of biological father who is willing to give me 100,000 yuan in pocket money every month.”

"Get lost!"

If Fang Xinle hadn't been driving, he definitely would have given Xia Zhiyu a good whack on the head.

Time flies when you're busy, especially when you have to juggle your studies and work. Four years ago, after returning to Beicheng to work in self-media for more than half a year, Xia Zhiyu clearly realized her lack of professional knowledge and theoretical depth. She couldn't find the unique altruism that her videos could bring to the audience.

The self-media industry is indeed an important option for ordinary people to get ahead, but when your channel can no longer meet the emotional needs of the audience, the terrible sense of disappointment is even more despairing.

Xia Zhiyu has witnessed countless bloggers who were once successful, and she has also clearly seen how they were quickly abandoned by the audience after losing their unique characteristics.

So, after earning her first sum of money, Xia Zhiyu enrolled in a part-time postgraduate program in film and television media at her alma mater. While working, she forced herself to step out of her comfort zone and tried to reflect on the real shortcomings in her videos.

When accumulated to a certain point, the compound interest curve will rise sharply like an exponential function after the inflection point. The same applies to work. Xia Zhiyu focused on the most attractive selling point of her videos and revised her future plans.

Although those two years were very busy, they obviously brought her remarkable progress. Not long after graduating from school, Xia Zhiyu made great strides in the self-media industry. Last year, she bought a house outright with her own money. Although it wasn't big, it meant she had officially settled down in Beicheng. She has now officially joined the ranks of young wealthy women who have money, a house, a car, and plenty of free time.

As they passed a long street lined with plane trees on both sides, Fang Xinle turned down the car music, opened the sunroof, and let the wind, carrying warmth and a faint scent of iris, rush in and fill his nose. On both sides of the road were exquisite and beautiful white villas, with large swathes of roses climbing all over the windowsills, creating a romantic and pure scene.

"By the way, why didn't you drive today?"

The last note was scattered and fragmented in the wind.

Xia Zhiyu squinted, the wind carrying the rich scent of roses. "I parked the car downstairs at my junior's house. I drank too much with my colleagues last night and couldn't get a designated driver, so my assistant brought me back."

Fang Xinle's face lit up with a gossipy smile, his eyes gleaming. "Which junior brother, the Italian-style racing-level curly-haired guy or the French-style wandering artist?"

Several of Xia Zhiyu's next cohort of graduate students are foreign students. After graduation, they all chose to stay in Beicheng to develop their careers, and two of them joined Xia Zhiyu's self-media company.

“What kind of adjectives are these?” Xia Zhiyu’s eyes showed a hint of helplessness. “Joe and Andy were both here last night. We were having a celebration party.”

"Why didn't they hold the celebration party at a private party venue? Why did they go to their junior brother's house? Which junior brother? It can't be Andy, can it?"

"Because the two of them from abroad wanted to learn how to make dumplings, they went to my junior's house. Don't make wild guesses about me."

"So, is it Andy?!"

Xia Zhiyu was speechless for a long time before slowly saying, "Yes."

"That settles it," Fang Xinle slapped his thigh and said happily, "I told you that kid liked you. He's an Italian-imported racing-grade model. It would be such a waste if you didn't go for it."

"There's no such thing as a pity or not; I'm not interested in children."

Becoming a top influencer in the self-media industry certainly sounds impressive, but only Xia Zhiyu knows the hard work and exhaustion she has put in to get to this point. Let alone raising several young boys, she finds it difficult even to talk to these children.

Especially when the children's eyes lit up after hearing her glamorous reputation, Xia Zhiyu instantly lost any interest in learning more.

And what about those so-called mature men? They all stared at her assets with shining eyes, and their every word and action was aimed at finding out about her income and financial situation.

There's too much scheming and backstabbing in the adult world, and even pure love has become a limited-edition handbag that's hard to come by. In the year and a half since her work and life gradually got back on track, Xia Zhiyu has actually dated a few suitable people occasionally, but none of them have led to anything.

Fortunately, she still has friends like Fang Xinle and Ren Yu. Ren Yu is still working in Wangcuo's education career and has now risen to the position of dean of students, whom every student hates. Every day, he posts photos in their chat group of which kid is secretly playing on their phone or sleeping through the back window.

Fang Xinle said that he became insane after becoming the dean of students. He said that he had his umbrella torn off before, and now he wanted to tear other people's umbrellas off too.

After listening to Xia Zhiyu's recent thoughts, Fang Xinle clicked his tongue and shook his head with a look of regret, "Those two little foreigners are so good-looking."

Xia Zhiyu said sincerely, "If you like, we can go together at the next gathering, or I can ask them now if they would be willing to give you their contact information?"

As she spoke, she pretended to take out her phone to send a WeChat message to ask, which scared Fang Xinle so much that she begged for mercy. She had recently started dating a young model and was very jealous. She said that she would get a little jealous whenever she saw photos of Fang Xinle having dinner with several colleagues on her WeChat Moments.

"She's incredibly cute, and she's also incredibly capable when she's jealous."

Fang Xinle's eyes unconsciously revealed a hint of charm and satisfaction.

Before getting out of the car, Xia Zhiyu tapped a few times on her phone screen, then turned her head and said, "I bought two boxes of the ultra-thin wolf tooth model from JD.com and they've been delivered to your house. They'll arrive the next day. Remember to pick them up."

Before Fang Xinle could react and chase after her, Xia Zhiyu closed the car door and ran away as fast as if wasps were chasing her.

As she swiped her card to go upstairs and started changing her shoes at the door, Xia Zhiyu heard excited shouts from inside. The louder, deeper one was Lele, the corgi she had raised last year, and the smaller one was Xia Xiaojiang.

As soon as the door opened, Lele's tail was practically whipping around like a helicopter propeller, circling her calves. Xia Xiaojiang sat proudly on the cat tree she had customized for it by the door, casually glancing at the silly dog.

Looking at Xia Xiaojiang's disdainful meowing, Xia Zhiyu firmly believed that if cat language could be translated into human language, Xia Xiaojiang would be swearing quite filthily right now.

After playing with the kittens and puppies for a while, Xia Zhiyu snuggled up on the sofa with Xia Xiaojiang in her arms, looking at work-related WeChat messages. Lele was sleeping at her feet, intently chewing on her teething toy.

Although she had a second child, Xia Zhiyu always upheld the principle that Xia Xiaojiang was the eldest son and that she couldn't let the eldest child be sad. She tried her best to treat them equally while secretly showing more love to the eldest child. It had been a year and a half since she bought the second child from the dog meat shop. Apart from occasionally hitting the dog's head at the beginning, the two little ones got along very well.

Xia Xiaojiang stretched lazily in Xia Zhiyu's arms, his long tufts of hair around his mouth trembling, and he peacefully curled himself into a ball.

It was delivered to Xia Zhiyu by Jiang Zhiyan's assistant three years ago when Xia Zhiyu's career was just starting to take off. The assistant said that Xia Zhiyu's recent mental state had been somewhat listless, and the doctor was concerned that this might lead to depression. The assistant suggested that Xia Zhiyu's closest person spend more time with her.

Along with the cat came its toys, snacks, cat food, and three large baskets of cat toys. Even the cat tree was disassembled and reassembled from Jiang Zhiyan's house. The vet said that the kitten should recover slowly in its familiar environment.

So much so that every time Xia Zhiyu came home and saw the huge solid wood cat tree, she would unconsciously think of how she was with Jiang Zhiyan a few years ago.

Growing up alone over the past few years has gradually made her understand Jiang Zhiyan's painful helplessness, and also made her grateful for her youthful pride and courage to give up her comfortable life. Now it seems that those experiences were also indispensable stepping stones in her life. She has seen a bigger world and is good at writing and expressing her own views.

The arguments and pain of the past have gradually faded, retreating into the corners of memory and fading away. What remains are mostly ordinary and sweet memories, which now seem both numerous and full of happiness.

Recently, these memories have become more and more frequent as her workload has decreased, to the point that she unconsciously compares her dates to Jiang Zhiyan.

Speaking of which, she and Jiang Zhiyan have been separated for almost four years. Xia Xiaojiang is almost eight years old now, which is considered an uncle among cats. Xia Zhiyu stroked the soft, long fur on the back of Xia Xiaojiang's neck again and again, listening to the comfortable purring sound that was like the sound of a motorcycle, and lowered her eyelashes.

There will be a large business dinner in the evening, which Xia Zhiyu, as a startup founder who has emerged in recent years, will naturally have to attend. He also needs to network more to attract investment and strive to go public as soon as possible.

Xia Zhiyu entered the banquet arm in arm with her male companion. Her champagne-colored satin dress accentuated her slender and graceful figure, and her long, wavy hair cascaded down her back, creating a charming and alluring silhouette.

As soon as she entered the hotel, she saw her colleague Yang Yu, dressed in a striking red dress, who was the one who had spearheaded the organization of this banquet.

Yang Yu is considered her competitor, but the two have a good relationship in private and get along very well. Sometimes they even recommend jobs to each other.

"Oh, it's rare to see you bring people here personally," Yang Yu greeted with a smile, teasingly asking, "What, even the boss has to bring new people?"

This kind of business occasion is perfect for networking with people from all walks of life, and also for bringing your employees out to showcase their talents. It would be even better if you could secure a few advertising deals on the spot.

Today, Xia Zhiyu is bringing along a new streamer that their studio has been heavily promoting recently. The kid is young, sensible, hardworking, and has a particularly ambitious work attitude. Xia Zhiyu has always taken good care of young people like this, and even goes so far as to use her own traffic to pave the way for them.

After all, she had been through this stage herself, so she naturally understood the difficulties of being isolated and helpless. She was lucky to have received help from benefactors, which enabled her to make rapid progress in her career.

Xia Zhiyu curled her lips slightly and teased, "Even bosses have to work. I wonder if our CEO Yang has any partners recommended to our new leader."

"Xia the Skinflint, I invited you to the banquet and you still want to exploit me."

As one of the organizers of the banquet, Yang Yu knew better than anyone which big shots would be attending. "You're lucky. I just got the news. The Jiang family member is definitely coming tonight. Several of their products are currently in the promotion phase. You should seize the opportunity."

Xia Zhiyu's heart skipped a beat, and the arm she was holding in her male companion's arm tightened involuntarily. Clinging to her last glimmer of hope, she couldn't help but ask, "The Jiang family? Which one is it?"

"Speak of the devil and he appears," Yang Yu's eyes suddenly lit up as she looked towards the door. "Who else could it be? The Jiang family only has one CEO, Mr. Jiang."