Guan Baiyu noticed that Shi Zhen kept smiling at him today.

That smile was strangely alluring.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, he secretly kissed Shi Zhen: "Brother, what are you laughing at?"

Shi Zhen said, "It's nothing, I just like you when I see you."

He imagined Guan Baiyu pretending to be his girlfriend at school and showing off their affection to others, and he couldn't help but laugh.

Guan Baiyu is really cute these days.

In his past life, Guan Baiyu was actually a bit cold, no matter how he acted in front of him. Back then, when they met people outside, Guan Baiyu would smile at them but never mention them when he got home. His opinion of those people was also not good.

He thought back then that if he hadn't gotten Guan Baiyu when Guan Baiyu was in the most difficult time, Guan Baiyu probably wouldn't have bothered with him once Guan Baiyu's situation improved.

Of course, when he thought about it carefully later... no matter how Guan Baiyu treated others, he was genuinely good to him. He not only did his laundry and cooked for him, but also comforted and helped him whenever he had any problems.

None of that was fake.

The reason he had those thoughts was because he was too insecure and lacked a sense of self-esteem... He got stuck in a rut, to the point that when Guan Baiyu was in a bad mood, he didn't even care, and he was out early and back late every day...

"I like you when I see you." Guan Baiyu kissed Shi Zhen again.

His brother's frankness is so endearing!

But thinking about how his brother ended up like this, he felt a little sad.

In another chapter of his life, his brother actually had some flaws, but now he has corrected them... This was by no means an easy thing.

He would rather his brother had never experienced anything and remained the same as before... Even if he was a busybody, had bad habits, a terrible temper, and never said he liked him... that would still be the Shi Zhen he liked.

He himself is not a perfect person.

The two were very affectionate, and the next day when Guan Baiyu arrived at the company, he was in a particularly good mood and everything seemed pleasing to the eye.

Qi Xiaowu is a bit of a sensitive person. Yesterday, he "sold out" Guan Baiyu in front of Shi Zhen and made a blunder, which made him particularly regretful. He was conflicted all night, afraid that Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu would have a problem with him.

Putting everything else aside, just consider what he said to Shi Zhen yesterday. If Guan Baiyu finds out... Guan Baiyu will definitely distance himself from him.

I wonder if Shi Zhen will tell Guan Baiyu... Qi Xiaowu didn't sleep well all night, but seeing Guan Baiyu so happy today, he finally felt relieved and asked, "Why are you so happy today?"

Guan Baiyu lowered his voice and chuckled, "I went on a date with someone I like last night."

"Your... older sister?" Qi Xiaowu asked.

Guan Baiyu was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "You know?"

"I overheard a few words about it at school before..." Qi Xiaowu said somewhat embarrassedly.

There were many people at school, and Guan Baiyu knew that there was a high chance that others had overheard what she and Lu Mingqi were saying. She wasn't surprised at all, and instead said, "It was him. We had a great date yesterday."

Qi Xiaowu was bewildered. Could it be that what Guan Baiyu said wasn't made up, and that there really was someone he didn't know about?

Just as Qi Xiaowu was thinking this, Guan Baiyu said again, "How can he be so cute! When I see him, I want to kiss him!"

Qi Xiaowu was conflicted. Shi Zhen asked him to keep an eye on Guan Baiyu and see if Guan Baiyu had any suitors... Should he say this?

And is this even real?

Qi Xiaowu ultimately didn't tell Shi Zhen, since he had already said it once, and it wouldn't be appropriate to say it again.

But he couldn't help but care more about Guan Baiyu.

But Guan Baiyu didn't have any women around him other than Zhao Qiujuan. As for Zhao Qiujuan...

He overheard Guan Baiyu introducing Zhao Qiujuan to potential blind dates!

It's clearly impossible for these two to be together.

Qi Xiaowu was still struggling with this dilemma when one day, while serving dishes at a night market, he saw Shi Zhen, Guan Baiyu, and Liang Qinxuan.

The three of them ate together at a night market stall, ordering several dishes.

Across several stalls, Qi Xiaowu saw them, but they didn't see Qi Xiaowu.

The next day...

Guan Baiyu said, "We went on a date again yesterday. We ate at a night market called 'Old Place.' The snails there were pretty good, but it's a pity he wouldn't let me drink... even though I can hold my liquor really well!"

Qi Xiaowu: "..." He would never believe Guan Baiyu's words again!

Guan Baiyu and Shi Zhen felt that the summer vacation before their senior year of high school was exceptionally short.

The new house has just been renovated, and Guan Baiyu is about to start school.

For several days in a row, Shi Zhen felt unwell.

"Weren't you happy when you sent me to No. 1 High School?" Guan Baiyu held a grudge and pinched Shi Zhen's waist.

Shi Zhen said, "Don't be silly... I wasn't happy back then either. I really wanted to rent a house in Changxi City... but I was afraid I would scare you..." When Guan Baiyu first went to No. 1 Middle School, he didn't dare to go to Changxi City to develop his career.

He was afraid he wouldn't be able to control himself.

"It would be strange if you could scare me," Guan Baiyu said.

Shi Zhen: "..." Don't underestimate him!

Three years ago, when Guan Baiyu went to study at No. 1 Middle School, Shi Zhen hesitated to buy him things because he couldn't afford many of them.

At that time, he had just brought his family over, and Shi Ting was about to go to school, so he didn't have much money on him.

But now... although he doesn't have a lot of money, it's enough to buy Guan Baiyu all kinds of daily necessities.

Finally, Guan Baiyu stopped him from buying more: "There's too much stuff, we can't even fit it all in the dorm!"

“I’ll rent you a place near the school,” Shi Zhen said. “You need a computer for your courses, so we can buy one in the rented place and get a phone line for you to use the internet. You can put anything you can’t fit in your dorm room there.”

That was exactly what Guan Baiyu thought.

However, he still had some money. He had originally planned to rent a house and buy a computer in the provincial capital, but now that Shi Zhen wanted to go with him, that would be best.

Nowadays, universities start their semester later, since exams are only finished in July, and there's a lot of work involved in admissions and other tasks. Some universities don't even start until October.

In mid-September, Guan Baiyu's school will be opening for the new semester. Early that morning, Shi Zhen took him to the office building of Baishi Construction and picked up Qi Xiaowu, who was waiting there.

Qi Xiaowu and Guan Baiyu went to the same school, so Shi Zhen let him go to school with them.

As for Lu Mingqi, although he also studied in the provincial capital, the school was different and the start time was different, so he couldn't go with them.

Not to mention that his family wants to go to his school with him. When Lu Mingqi goes to the school, he will probably bring his whole family with him.

Shi Zhen spent most of his previous life in Changxi City and rarely visited the provincial capital. However, in his memory, the provincial capital was extremely large, while the current provincial capital is quite small.

The schools these days... are quite small.

But this place is completely different from Changxi City today. For one thing, the students at the university are dressed very fashionably.

The two successfully completed their enrollment procedures, and a senior student even came to help them carry their belongings.

However, Guan Baiyu didn't need it. Shi Zhen had taken all his things for him, leaving him empty-handed and feeling very relaxed.

Qi Xiaowu glanced at it and felt a little envious.

Other people's older brothers are just so good!

This isn't his biological brother, this is his cousin!

Qi Xiaowu and Guan Baiyu were not in the same dormitory; they separated after arriving at the dormitory.

The beds have been assigned, and names are posted on them. Guan Baiyu was assigned the upper bunk by the window.

Shi Zhen was very satisfied with the location and began to help Guan Baiyu make the bed.

As he was tidying up, other people started arriving one after another, and some even greeted Shi Zhen: "Hello, classmate..."

Some parents even pointed at Shi Zhen and said to their children, "Look at him, he does everything himself."

Standing to the side, Guan Baiyu smiled again, his face full of pride: "That's my brother, not a freshman."

He just stood there doing nothing!

Sigh, his brother is so kind!

Guan Baiyu's dormitory room houses eight people. While they were making their beds, they met two of them.

After they finished tidying up, Shi Zhen took Guan Baiyu to rent a house nearby.

At that time, very few college students rented apartments outside, but similarly, very few people were renting out apartments.

They contacted a real estate agent and found that there were no houses that met their requirements.

Shi Zhendu was considering buying a house for Guan Baiyu, but after asking the real estate agent... goodbye!

In the provincial capital, new residential buildings are selling for over 4,000 yuan per square meter, with the most expensive ones costing over 5,000 yuan!

Not long ago, Shi Zhen returned to Anshan Town and chatted with Guan Jianguo. When they talked about Shanghai, the house price in Pudong was only a little over 2,000 yuan.

Of course, in this era, housing prices are mainly affected by supply and demand. It can only be said that there are few new houses here, and everyone is scrambling to buy them, which is why housing prices are so high. Meanwhile, Pudong, which is still under development, has no shortage of houses.

In fact, for many years to come, the housing prices in Anshan Town and Changxi City were about the same, which was because there were fewer new houses in Anshan Town, while there were relatively more new houses in Changxi City.

The apartment he recently bought in Changxi City, which is over 130 square meters, was sold for 140,000 yuan in cash. If there were such a nice apartment in Anshan Town, it could sell for the same price.

Shi Zhen had just spent all his money not long ago, and now he couldn't come up with several hundred thousand yuan to buy a house, so he had to give up.

"Brother, what do you think of this house?" Guan Baiyu asked Shi Zhen, pointing to a rental listing.

Shi Zhen glanced at it, somewhat puzzled: "Xiao Yu, this... isn't it uncomfortable to stay here?"

"Brother, I'll probably go back to my dorm tonight," Guan Baiyu said. "Let's go check on him."

The house Guan Baiyu was referring to was actually a shop, meaning the ground floor of a building.

They went to see it together and found the house to be quite nice.

In recent years, the provincial capital has been undergoing demolition and reconstruction. Some villages have been completely demolished, and the houses allocated to each family are four-story buildings with a small attic on the top.

The houses were arranged in neat rows. Most of the residents lived on the third or fourth floor, while the ground and second floors were rented out.

The second-floor apartments that have undergone simple renovations are all rented out, but many ground-floor apartments remain unrented.

After looking at the place, Guan Baiyu decided to rent the ground floor of one of the outermost buildings.

The house isn't even furnished yet...

However, the location of this house is not bad, mainly because it is close to the university.

"Xiaoyu?" Shi Zhen looked at Guan Baiyu in confusion.

Guan Baiyu said, "Brother, I want to open a study abroad agency."

"Study abroad agency?" Shi Zhen was a little confused. Study abroad agency?

Guan Baiyu nodded affirmatively.

When Guan Baiyu was using his computer recently, he would go online every day to check various news. While browsing, he discovered that many people on some forums were asking about studying abroad.

He suddenly remembered seeing a news report in another part of his life, about how some study abroad agencies were making a lot of money.

In this era, many people dream of going abroad and even try every means to do so.

But they don't know how to go abroad or how to contact schools overseas.

Study abroad agencies help students contact schools, find recommenders, and even create a professional profile for them so they can get into schools abroad.

Guan Baiyu wasn't sure if he could do it, but he wanted to give it a try.

There are already many wealthy people in this era who send their children to study abroad and can make a lot of money.

Most importantly, most people don't understand this. They think it's difficult to send their children abroad to study, but it's actually not that difficult.

Especially if you don't need a good school.

This is a highly profitable industry.

Of course, those who go abroad in this era are not at a loss either.

Guan Baiyu remembers that a few years later, overseas students were the most sought-after. Some people could earn high salaries even if they studied at a very ordinary university abroad, as long as they returned from overseas.

He was taking civil service exams at the time, which brought him into contact with people he wouldn't have met before, and that's how he learned about the Sun family.

At that time, he heard them talking about an international student.

That person failed to get into high school or vocational school after graduating from junior high school. In 2000, his parents sent him abroad to live with a family and study there.

When he returned after four years, his math skills were not as good as when he left. He was only fluent in English, but only in spoken English—his vocabulary was very limited, probably only a little over a thousand common words.

But this very person, because he had studied abroad, was hired as a translator by a large company.

Someone who took the civil service exam with Guan Baiyu back then was angry when he mentioned him, saying that he didn't know any professional vocabulary and couldn't translate anything even slightly difficult, but the boss believed him...

Shi Zhen had no idea what Guan Baiyu was thinking.

He just thought... studying abroad agencies sounded impressive.

In his past life, he never went abroad even once.

When Guan Baiyu was alive, he thought that they would travel abroad together in the future, but after Guan Baiyu passed away... he lost interest.

So studying abroad is something that seems very distant to him. He only heard about it and thought it would be very difficult to do.

More importantly… Shi Zhen grabbed Guan Baiyu’s arm: “Xiaoyu? You want to go abroad?” Why would Guan Baiyu want to do this? He wants to go abroad?

Guan Baiyu said, "Brother, I want to make money... I looked into it online before and thought it was worth a try. Don't worry, I will never leave you in this lifetime."

Shi Zhen is now... somewhat insecure.

He had no idea that his brother could also lack a sense of security...

Guan Baiyu felt a pang of sadness and then carefully explained his thoughts.

He is not actually someone with special talent in any particular area.

For example, although he did well in mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc., he was not top-notch.

He always gets good overall scores because he does well in every subject.

Of all the courses, his English was the best.

In junior high school, this was his weak point. Later, his brother bought him a radio to learn from, and he began to like English, getting better and better as he learned...

He recently visited some foreign websites to learn about the admissions situation of foreign universities.

Once he gets more familiar with the process, he'll be able to try helping people apply to universities abroad.

Guan Baiyu wanted to give it a try, and Shi Zhen naturally supported him, renting the ground floor of the house for Guan Baiyu.

The lease is for two years, with an annual rent of five thousand.

After renting the house, Shi Zhen didn't rush to leave. Instead, he stayed for two more days, working with Guan Baiyu to fix the plumbing and electrical work, and also found someone to install internet.

The plumbing and electrical work is quite simple for this type of shop.

He also wanted to buy Guan Baiyu a computer, but Guan Baiyu refused—the house wasn't finished being renovated yet!

At that time, it was not allowed to bring a computer to school, since there was no internet access.

"Xiaoyu, I'm going back now. I'll come back in a while, and I'll help you renovate this place then," Shi Zhen said.

"Okay." Guan Baiyu smiled.

In fact, he had already planned to renovate the house himself.

He studied carpentry in his previous life, so his skills are quite good.

Of course, he decided to do it himself mainly because there wasn't much work.

On the night Shi Zhen left, Guan Baiyu stayed with him at a nearby hotel as usual.

He didn't return to school until very early the next morning.

Guan Baiyu has been appearing and disappearing mysteriously these past few days, and he doesn't stay at school at night. The people in his dormitory don't know him well.

When Guan Baiyu returned to the dormitory, he found that the people in the dormitory had been divided into three groups.

Two of them are locals from the provincial capital and they usually hang out together.

Two more came from the north and were inseparable.

There are three people left... one of them comes from a well-off family, and the other two come from less well-off families. The two from less well-off families always follow the one from the well-off family.

If Guan Baiyu hadn't gained another set of memories, he would definitely have befriended them, or at least found someone to be his friend.

But now... he feels that being alone is quite nice.

He planned to make friends at university, but he didn't intend to eat or attend classes with others like a regular student.

Just then, Qi Xiaowu came to find him: "Guan Baiyu, you have class this morning, don't forget... Have you had breakfast? Do you want me to go buy it for you?"

Guan Baiyu: "..." Okay, he already has someone to attend class with.

"I've already eaten," Guan Baiyu said, following Qi Xiaowu out of his dorm room. "Qi Xiaowu, I'm planning to start a business. Would you like to work with me?"

"Start a business?" Qi Xiaowu was a little confused. They were only freshmen. Starting a business?

"Yes, start a business. If you work with me, I'll pay you a salary."

"Guan Baiyu, starting a business isn't that easy. Do you want to reconsider?" Qi Xiaowu admired Guan Baiyu, but he also felt that starting a business wasn't something that could be done casually.

"It's alright, don't worry, I have experience," Guan Baiyu knew that at this time, he needed to demonstrate his abilities and also offer promises to his employees, so he immediately said, "You know Huaguang Stationery, right? That's what Liang Qinxuan and I made."

Qi Xiaowu: "!!!" He hadn't really believed Zhao Qiujuan's previous comments about Guan Baiyu being smart, but now he truly believed it.

He still remembered that Guan Baiyu always gave them the new Huaguang Stationery products, and he was curious at the time about where they came from...

It turns out that Huaguang was founded by Guan Baiyu!

“Liang Qinxuan and I were just testing the waters back then. Later, Liang Qinxuan’s father found someone to manage Huaguang, and we only took a share of the profits… Now I’m planning to start my own company. If you work with me, you’ll be a company veteran.” Guan Baiyu said with a smile.

Qi Xiaowu replied without hesitation: "I'll do it with you!"

“Okay! Of course, let’s be clear from the start, the salary won’t be too high at first, since you’re only doing it part-time… I’ll pay you 300 a month, and if the business is successful, I’ll give you a commission,” Guan Baiyu added.

Three hundred yuan a month is a lot for Qi Xiaowu, a boy from the countryside.

He used to work part-time at a night market stall, where he was paid eight yuan a night.

Of course, he didn't work for very long, from about five or six o'clock to nine o'clock.

The two talked a lot, and even though he didn't know what Guan Baiyu was going to do, Qi Xiaowu was already excited.

Qi Xiaowu didn't know how Huaguang Stationery fared in other places, but in Changxi City, almost every student knew about Huaguang Stationery.

After all, all the stationery stores near the school gate have the Huaguang Stationery sign.

Guan Baiyu was actually the founder of Huaguang Stationery... At this moment, he was full of hope for the future.

Then... he was dragged by Guan Baiyu to the house Guan Baiyu rented to renovate the house.

With the plumbing and electrical work completed, Guan Baiyu bought wooden planks and rented tools to start his carpentry work.

Although the location of the house is remote, it is still relatively easy to find. The shop they rented actually has two storefronts, totaling about 120 square meters.

Guan Baiyu felt that... he could decorate this place in a very high-end style.

He doesn't have much money right now and needs time to understand the situation, so he'll just do this work himself! Qi Xiaowu had spent the previous eighteen years of his life studying and rarely did any manual labor, so his practical skills were very poor. He could only assist Guan Baiyu, and he was also quite confused: "Guan Baiyu... how come you know how to do this?"

“I’ve studied this before,” Guan Baiyu said. “Have you forgotten? My brother works in this line of work.”

Guan Baiyu even studied this kind of thing! Does he have that much time? How can he still do so well on exams after learning so much?

That academic genius is definitely different from him!

I just don't understand why Guan Baiyu made up a girlfriend...