Chapter 374: Arriving in Qiantang
Zhao Xiao'an was naturally taken aback by how brazenly Li Yanxian spoke.
But she countered coolly, "Of course I'd mind. If I become Wang Chenning's wife, I'll mind anyone who covets him. Unless..."
"Unless you're just his lover!" Li Yanxian giggled. "Wang Chenning might be the most outstanding man I've ever met, but I've never thought about marrying him. Marrying him would offer no sense of security at all. Besides, if I married him, it would be impossible for me to build my own career and achieve anything on my own. Everything I did would become his achievement. So, I will only be his good friend, his good partner."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Zhao Xiao'an frowned.
"I know you also want to build a career, but you also want to be his girlfriend and wife!" Li Yanxian replied with a mysterious look. "What I really want to tell you is that no matter who he marries, I plan to continue being his lover. Only as his lover will he help me with all his might."
Then she added solemnly, "I want to be the next Ms. Pu!"
It took Zhao Xiao'an a moment to realize who Li Yanxian was talking about when she mentioned Ms. Pu.
Zhao Xiao'an was naturally surprised that Li Yanxian held such lofty ambitions.
But after thinking about it seriously, she had to admit Li Yanxian's ambition made sense.
With the mighty Shanxing Group backing her, it wasn't impossible for her to make a play for Cyan Flower Platform.
"Well, I wish you success then!" she said, offering a wry blessing.
"Marriage and love... they are what they are," Li Yanxian said wistfully. "From what I've seen with my father and my aunt, I already know what the best choice is for me."
Wang Chenning had booked business class tickets. The occupancy rate for the high-speed rail's business class was very low, and for now, they were the only passengers in their car.
Wang Chenning and Li Fuzhen wanted to discuss something privately, so they moved to another pair of seats to talk.
This left Li Yanxian and Zhao Xiao'an free to speak without restraint.
After her speech left Zhao Xiao'an stunned, Li Yanxian continued, "Xiao'an, after getting to know Wang Chenning, I've realized that being his wife wouldn't be a blessing, but a form of torture. Isn't it better not to marry him and just be his confidante? That way, you can treat his other confidantes as good friends, too. And every one of these 'good friends' of his is a person of immense influence in their industry. With their help, wouldn't it be much easier to achieve something great?"
"You're a college student who hasn't even graduated yet. How can you have such thoughts?" Zhao Xiao'an asked with a wry smile.
"I've seen too much," Li Yanxian sighed. "My youngest aunt died for love, and my eldest aunt was scarred by so-called love for her entire life. Tell me, why should we still drown ourselves in sentiment? Success is what's most important, and without exception, a woman's success depends on men. Isn't it better to use men as a ladder to your own success? To conquer the world by conquering men... how great is that?"
Zhao Xiao'an fell into deep thought.
Li Yanxian didn't say anything more to Zhao Xiao'an. Instead, she turned and joined Wang Chenning and Li Fuzhen's conversation.
At this time of year, spring hadn't truly arrived in the north. As the high-speed train sped across the North China Plain and the lands of Qi and Lu, the view was nothing but monotonous colors.
「After the train crossed the Yangtze River, the scenery grew more colorful.」
The scenery north and south of the river seemed to change in an instant, and everything came to life.
Even in the gathering twilight, one could still see flowers of all colors blooming brilliantly.
"The south is still better!" Wang Chenning couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the scenery outside. "At this time of year, spring hasn't arrived in the Guanzhong region either!"
"Jiangnan is already a tapestry of blossoms right now!" Zhao Xiao'an said with a smile. "The southern countryside looks like a stunning landscape painting!"
"Actually, you can feel the beauty and prosperity of Jiangnan from ancient poetry!" Li Yanxian chimed in with a grin. "You're a man well-versed in the classics. You should understand this better than I do, right?"
Wang Chenning looked pleased with himself. "On this trip to Jiangnan, I should be able to experience the beautiful sight of 'a beauty's face among the peach blossoms' for myself!"
In return, he received simultaneous eye-rolls from the two women.
Watching the three of them flirt and banter in front of her, Li Fuzhen didn't feel the slightest bit of jealousy.
'In fact,' she thought, 'I'm quite lucky. With so many beautiful women around Wang Chenning, isn't it fortunate that I can still receive his favor?'
She made up her mind. On this trip to Huaxia, she would definitely help things along between Wang Chenning and Li Yanxian.
With three beauties for company, the journey passed quite quickly. More than five hours flew by in a flash.
The high-speed train arrived on time at Qiantang East Station. Neither Wang Chenning nor Zhao Xiao'an had arranged for anyone to pick them up; they planned to take the subway instead.
The overall conditions in the Demonstration Zone for Common Prosperity were quite good. As the provincial capital, Qiantang was ranked among the first-tier cities, and its facilities were excellent in every respect. They didn't need to exit the station, transferring directly to the subway inside. After a few stops, they got off at Longxiang Bridge, and a short walk brought West Lake into view under the night sky.
"Is this your first time in Qiantang?" Zhao Xiao'an asked Wang Chenning as they walked toward the lakefront.
"I came here as a child, but I don't remember much," Wang Chenning replied with a smile. He then told the three women something he had never mentioned before. "My mom is actually from Qiantang. She lived here until she graduated high school. She met my dad in college and ended up marrying into the family in Chang'an. Later on, my maternal grandparents passed away in an accident, so we didn't come to Qiantang much after that. My paternal grandmother is also from Zhijiang Province. Her hometown is the neighboring city of Yuezhou—the hometown of the great writer Lu Xun, and the place where Wang Xizhi wrote the *Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection*. But I've never been to Yuezhou myself."
"Then you're half a Jiangnan local yourself!" Zhao Xiao'an said, looking at Wang Chenning with a half-smile. "You should come visit Jiangnan more often in the future!"
"I hope this trip to Jiangnan makes me fall completely in love with it!" Wang Chenning returned the smile.
Just as the group of four reached the shore of West Lake, the musical fountain show began.
So, the four of them strolled along the lake, thoroughly enjoying the spectacular performance.
After the musical fountain show ended, the group went to Zhiwei Restaurant for dinner.
It was already past nine o'clock, but Zhiwei Restaurant was still bustling with diners.
Zhao Xiao'an had been to Qiantang several times and was more familiar with the delicacies at Zhiwei Restaurant.
So Wang Chenning let her take the lead, and she ordered a large spread of food.
As they found a table and prepared to dig in, Li Yanxian snapped a photo of Wang Chenning sitting across from her. She then posted it on Weibo, along with pictures of the food from Zhiwei Restaurant and the musical fountain show from earlier.
"Touring Jiangnan with the handsome Teacher Wang. Mmm, the night view of West Lake is gorgeous, and the snacks at Zhiwei Restaurant are delicious!"
Wang Chenning and Zhao Xiao'an didn't post anything on Weibo. They were starving and wanted to fill their stomachs first.
Unexpectedly, when he was only about half-full, he received a call from a man named Wang Jiangxing, who introduced himself as being in charge of administrative affairs for Zhijiang and asked if he could pay him a visit shortly.