Chapter 340: Chapter 228: The Throes of a Breakup? (Part 2)

"Oh, okay, how much is a membership?"

"A Gold membership is 80,000 a year, Platinum is 120,000, and Diamond is 240,000."

"How much!?"

"Haha... no need to be so surprised. You could also try a quarterly Gold membership, sir. It’s only 28,888."

"You’re not talking about Happy Beans, are you, miss?"

Chen Yuan was genuinely stunned. He’d expected this place to be expensive, but not on this level. Besides, he wouldn’t be coming every day, so even a quarterly membership would be a huge waste of money.

Seeing Chen Yuan’s shocked expression, the receptionist figured he’d probably never been to a private club like this before.

’But he is kinda cute.’

An impulse to tease him suddenly came over her.

"Of course not, sir. I see you have a bag, so you must be here for badminton. We have a small court you can try for free, it’s just not open yet."

"When does it open?"

"The key is in my hand. If you add me on WeChat, I might consider letting you in," she said, tilting her head as her ponytail swayed gently.

Chen Yuan had initially felt a little charmed by the receptionist’s pretty smile, but as soon as she said that, he immediately pegged her as a crass woman.

"No, thanks. At least tell me what benefits the membership includes. It has to be worth that much money."

"Of course. We have top nutritionists, athletic trainers, and retired national team athletes under contract, as well as many specialized training partners. Memberships come with complimentary points, which can be used for the training partners... Here, let me give you a list of the benefits."

Annoyed, Chen Yuan snatched the list to have a look. ’There’s no way this stuff alone is worth tha—’

"You also include a fifteen-day ski resort experience every year?"

"We do."

"And a rally car racing experience?"

"That’s right!"

Chen Yuan pulled a card from his pocket, his face expressionless. He figured he should correct his overly frugal habits. Otherwise, it would take him decades to spend just his living allowance.

Now it was the receptionist’s turn to be astonished. She never thought this young man, who looked like just another clean-cut college student, would actually have the money to get a membership.

She took the card, half in disbelief, and even asked, "Are you sure you want to sign up?" After getting an affirmative reply, she activated a Gold membership for Chen Yuan.

Once the transaction was successful, the receptionist became even more enthusiastic.

’This isn’t something a student from an ordinary family could afford.’

"I’ll show you the way."

"Don’t you need to help other customers?"

"It’s fine, someone will cover for me... By the way, sir, did you not bring any friends?"

"No, I’m by myself."

"In that case, would you like a badminton training partner? The complimentary points have already been added to your account."

"That sounds good."

The receptionist handed him an iPad. The screen was filled with a row of young women, every one of them fair-skinned, beautiful, and in the bloom of youth.

He randomly tapped on one, and a detailed profile appeared on the left.

Chen Yuan picked one that caught his eye. According to her profile, she was a long-legged woman whose looks gave off the vibe of a Hong Kong movie star from the last century.

Before long, the training partner arrived carrying her racket. She was dressed in sportswear that hugged her curvy figure, with gray over-the-knee socks. She walked in and looked over at Chen Yuan, who was searching for a racket on the side.

"Mr. Chen, are you ready to get a workout in with me?"

The training partner blinked, and two dimples appeared on her cheeks.

...

After a whole morning of badminton, dripping with sweat, Chen Yuan completely forgot about the gloom of his breakup. His training partner was also very talkative and had amazing athletic talent.

Every time she leaped up to hit the shuttlecock and landed, Chen Yuan felt too embarrassed to look.

The two of them talked about a lot of things, from college to good food, and then to which local restaurants were the best.

After that, they went to play tennis.

Chen Yuan was so exhausted he chugged two or three bottles of mineral water. While he was resting on a bench, the woman even came over to wipe his sweat for him, which made him blush beet-red and wave his hands in refusal.

Nearing noon, he took a shower, dried his hair, changed his clothes, and walked out of the sports club. Then he drove to the company.

He had made a detailed plan for the entire day, ensuring that by the time he got home at night, he would fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Like a robot that had run out of battery.

It wasn’t rush hour, so the traffic was smooth the whole way. Chen Yuan got to the company and went straight to his office.

He was growing more and more fond of this top-floor office. From the window, he could overlook half of Lanjing West City. At night, it was even more brilliant with lights, and the city’s nightscape was breathtaking.

Quiet, comfortable, with an understated luxury—it was indeed everything a successful man should have.

Of course, Chen Yuan had no time to savor any of it. After all, he hadn’t built the company with his own two hands. No matter how valuable these things were, they gave him no sense of personal accomplishment.

He sat in his office chair, stretched, and opened the book he’d had trouble getting through before, preparing to cram in all the knowledge he needed.

’Diligence! Progress! Strive to become the person I want to be!’

’As for love? To hell with that stuff. I don’t need it right now.’

’There’s an infinite amount of beauty in this world waiting for me to discover. There are plenty of girls better than Jiangg Ning and Jiangg Yao. Just let them wait and see what a terrifying man they made a fool of.’

Chen Yuan frantically hyped himself up, then lowered his head and started flipping through the book.

’Truly live, enjoy, and experience the prime of my youth.’

「In the blink of an eye, it was noon.」

Downstairs, Pei Youwen arrived late. Last night, he had been entertaining a client, a developer from Dongbai. They drank together until past two in the morning and then went through a whole VIP service package.

The night ended with a few of them screaming Cantonese songs at a club.

The burly old boss from Dongbai had really belted it out with all his might, and it had sounded truly awful. To this day, Pei Youwen couldn’t forget the horror of being subjected to that demonic noise last night.

The dual torment, both mental and physical, left his face looking haggard even now.

"Haaah~"

He yawned as he walked to the project department head’s office to ask about the latest progress.

"...and that’s the situation," the slightly balding department head reported.

"Mm, compile a document and have your assistant send it to my office."

"Understood, President Pei. By the way... should I also send a copy to Chairman Jiang?"

"He’s here?" Pei Youwen asked, a little surprised.

"A department member saw him."

"Alright then, send it over. Whether he reads it or not is another matter..." Pei Youwen scratched the back of his head. "Forget it, just print a copy for me now. I’ll take it to him."

A moment later, Pei Youwen got into the elevator and rode it all the way to the top floor.

He knocked on the chairman’s office door. When there was no answer, he let himself in. But there was no one inside. He figured it was lunchtime, so Chen Yuan must have already left.

Pei Youwen had no choice but to put the document down.

In the silent room, a window hadn’t been fully closed. A slight breeze blew in, rustling through a few pages of a book on the desk. His eyes fell on it.

He saw that the blank spaces were filled with annotations.

...

「In a somewhat greasy Sha County Snacks eatery.」

Chen Yuan and Liu Nan each had a plate of duck leg rice and were currently devouring it. They were too busy eating to wipe the grease from their mouths, feeling so hungry they could have stuffed the plates into their stomachs.

Halfway through their meal.

Chen Yuan twisted open a cold soda water and took a refreshing gulp.

"You didn’t eat this morning either?" Liu Nan asked.

"I did eat."

"Then how come you still have such a big appetite?"

"I went to play ball this morning, I’m dead tired. Hey, we agreed, when we get to the internet cafe later, you can’t play Elise or Nidalee. Pick Zhao Xin and be my dog."

"Fine, fine, I get it."

Next door to the Sha County Snacks was a nicely decorated internet cafe.

Chen Yuan booked a private room for two. The moment they walked in, they heard the CLACK-CLACK-CLACK of keyboards, which instantly ignited their competitive spirits.

They couldn’t wait. They turned on the computers, logged into their accounts, and immediately started duo queue.

Gaming was the best way to kill time and distract oneself. In high school, Chen Yuan’s only recreational activity was playing League of Legends after school let out for vacation.

He used to play ADC, but now he wanted to switch to top lane.

He had his preferred champions too: Jayce, Camille, Riven, and Cute Riven.

Top lane is a very artistic role—the mind games between every last hit, the setup for every trade, the deception and spacing in every movement.

It’s what makes countless people fall in love with it.

Chen Yuan locked in Riven and turned confidently to Liu Nan. "Gank for me early this game. I’ll definitely smash my lane. Malphite can’t stop me."

"Don’t you worry!"

「Three hours later.」

They walked out of the internet cafe, still arguing nonstop from the moment they left the private room.

"1-9, 3-8, 3-10! Your best game you had 4 kills and 11 deaths! You think Faker himself could carry you?"

"No, that’s not it! I need to establish a rhythm as a jungler. When the enemy invades my jungle, I don’t know how to play anymore."

"I told you to pick a strong jungler! You keep picking Sejuani and Gragas. Are you worse than the enemy jungler? Why are you picking weak junglers?"

"I played Zhao Xin too, and we still didn’t win, did we?"

"Who told you to gank bot at level two?"

"What’s wrong with that? Clearlove ganks bot at level two!"

"You’re unbelievable..."