Chapter 31: Spending Money on Men

"President, guess what I just captured? Xu Zhirou is having a meal with a handsome guy. The one next to her must be her best friend—the one with the small chest."

"What kind of handsome guy?"

"Very tall, very handsome. He looks a bit like John Lone, but also has the vibe of Takeshi Kaneshiro. In short, he's a high-value hunk."

"Any distinct features?"

"Does he have any special characteristics?"

On the other end of the phone, Cheng Zhihong’s tone turned urgent. Everyone in the Accounting School knew he was currently pursuing Xu Zhirou.

A notorious player who had dated over a dozen girlfriends since middle school, Cheng Zhihong had never truly settled down. Just in the first semester of his freshman year, he had used his superior badminton skills to juggle three different relationships with upperclassmen from the badminton club, none of which lasted more than half a month.

It was at an "ACCA International Accounting Challenge" that he met and got to know Xu Zhirou. After some investigation, upon learning that her father was a legendary academician in the medical field, Cheng Zhihong began to carefully craft his image, posing as a deeply devoted man to launch a frantic pursuit of her.

He had expected that his years of experience in manipulating women would make this an easy win, but three years had slipped by in the blink of an eye. With graduation approaching, Cheng Zhihong felt the pressure mounting.

Graduation season is often synonymous with breakup season; many university couples split the moment they graduate. Not to mention that Cheng Zhihong and Xu Zhirou hadn't even made any real progress yet. If he didn't secure her before graduation, he would have no chance at all.

"Features..." The student acting as the informant observed Zhang Yang from a distance before adding, "His eyes. There's a sense of depth in his eyes."

"Depth..." Cheng Zhihong searched his memory but couldn't come up with anything. "Take a secret photo and send it to me on QQ. Don't let him notice."

"Got it."

The informant acknowledged the order, shielding his phone with his arm as he stealthily pressed the shutter.

A moment later, the photo arrived.

Cheng Zhihong clicked on it, and a wave of anxiety washed over him. He whispered, "It’s actually Zhang Yang. Has Zhang Yang started seeing Xu Zhirou?"

"No!"

"That's not right!"

He noticed Xu Zhiruo in the photo as well.

"Xu Zhiruo is there too, and they’re sitting together, acting so intimate. Could it be that Xu Zhiruo is the one dating Zhang Yang?"

He felt his composure fraying. Cheng Zhihong didn't actually care for Xu Zhirou that much; he just wanted to leverage her father’s connections to pave his own way. After all, everyone faces the inevitability of aging and death; the professional network of a medical academician was enough to guarantee him a smooth path to success and a lifetime of security.

In his best-case scenario, he would use Xu Zhirou’s family background to land a spot at one of the "Big Five" accounting firms, and only after securing enough resources would he slowly let his true colors show. But now, with Zhang Yang inserting himself into the picture, Cheng Zhihong felt a deep sense of unease.

...

Meanwhile, at a casual café.

Zhang Yang couldn't resist Xu Zhiruo’s repeated recommendations and took a small bite of the café’s tiramisu. He offered his critique: "The overall texture is passable, but they’ve added too much sweetener, which masks the subtle bitterness of the coffee. It makes me feel like I’m just eating cake."

"Ah, isn't tiramisu just cake?" Xu Zhiruo asked, blinking.

Sitting across from them, Xu Zhirou chimed in, "Tiramisu is a pastry. You wouldn't expect it to be bitter, would you?"

"It definitely needs a bit of bitterness, and that bitterness is essential," Zhang Yang replied coolly.

"Why?"

Xu Zhiruo and Xu Zhirou asked in unison. Despite their vastly different personalities, they looked like twins at that moment, both blinking as they waited for an answer.

Zhang Yang took a sip of coffee to cleanse his palate before explaining: "There are two theories regarding the origin of tiramisu: the romantic origin and the restaurant origin."

"The romantic origin story goes that during World War II, when Italian soldiers were heading to the front, their wives would crush biscuits, bread, and other ingredients together to make tiramisu as dry rations for their husbands. In Italian, 'tiramisu' means 'pick me up' or 'take me away,' symbolizing separation and love."

"As for the restaurant origin, it’s said that a chef named Roberto Linguanotto was making vanilla ice cream when he accidentally dropped some mascarpone cheese into a mixture of eggs and sugar. He combined this mixture with soft sponge cake soaked in coffee and sprinkled it with cocoa, ultimately inventing tiramisu."

"Whether it’s the romantic theory or the restaurant theory, chefs always add a hint of bitterness using espresso mixed with Marsala wine. That is the hallmark that distinguishes tiramisu from a regular cake."

"Wow!"

Xu Zhiruo exclaimed in awe. She hadn't realized that such a small piece of tiramisu held so many stories.

"Did that Italian soldier make it home safely?" Xu Zhiruo asked, resting her chin on her hand and gazing at Zhang Yang’s profile.

"Given how quickly they surrendered, I imagine he made it home just fine," Zhang Yang said with a faint smile.

"That's good." Xu Zhiruo’s eyes curved into crescents.

Across the table, Xu Zhirou took another bite of the tiramisu. Only after tasting it carefully did she realize there was indeed a faint bitterness from the coffee, though it was unfortunately buried under too much sweetener, making it taste almost cloyingly sweet.

"How does he know everything?" Xu Zhirou whispered to herself. She couldn't help but look at Zhang Yang with newfound respect; she was beginning to understand why her sister was so willing to be a little sycophant.

Even though the tiramisu wasn't quite right, Zhang Yang finished it anyway. "Let's stick to the 100,000 yuan we agreed upon. I'll send you my bank account number in a bit."

"No problem!" Xu Zhiruo made an OK gesture.

After a few brief pleasantries, Zhang Yang left the café directly.

Watching his retreating figure, Xu Zhiruo smiled dreamily. "Don't you think he’s incredibly charming? Like a sexy man?"

"Whether he’s sexy or not is up for debate, but you should wipe your drool. You look like a pervert from a Japanese movie," Xu Zhirou said, crossing her arms and legs.

Xu Zhiruo picked up a napkin to wipe the corner of her mouth. There was no drool, just a bit of cream left over from the tiramisu.

"You’re lying again!"

Xu Zhirou ignored her and continued, "Aren't you the one lying? If you want to spend money on a man, just say so. You didn't need to make up an excuse about wanting an internship at Huaxin Securities. Please."

Setting aside the connections of their academician father, their mother was a partner at the "Red Circle" law firm, JunHe. One word from her would be enough to get them into any top financial institution.

Note: That’s to get a job, not an internship!

In every country, human connections play a role. The positions you dream of are easily accessible to children with family backing; that is the resource provided by the "amniotic fluid."

This is also why the rise of a self-made person is always more admirable than the success of a wealthy heir; the difficulty level of their respective journeys is not even on the same scale.

Seeing that her ruse had been exposed, Xu Zhiruo raised her voice slightly to hide her guilt. "What do you know? I just don't want Mom and Dad to owe anyone favors. You should learn a thing or two!"