Chapter 185: A Mess of Feathers

Zhao Dasheng's villa was located in the finest residential area in the entire City H. Situated right by the bank of the Song River, it was a genuine river-view villa, far more luxurious than Zhen Youcai's river-view suite.

It was currently morning, and the slowly rising sun cast a shimmering, sparkling light across the river surface. Viewed from afar, it looked like countless fish with silver tails leaping out of the water.

Boats occasionally passed by on the river, leaving behind trailing wakes of shimmering ripples and drawing straight white lines across the water.

Not far away, pedestrians gathered in small groups, sitting on the riverbank chatting and joking, presenting a picture of peace and prosperity.

"Do you like it here?" Zhao Dasheng asked, noticing that Chang Yu kept gazing at the scenery on the river.

"I really do," Chang Yu replied. "The river view is so vast. Staring at it for a while makes one feel relaxed, happy, and free from worries."

"Boss Zhao, you really picked a great place," he said with envy.

"What boss, call me brother!" Zhao Dasheng waved his hand casually, suddenly acting like an old friend.

It was a mystery how a man approaching fifty could bring himself to call a twenty-year-old young man his older brother.

And even more so, how he could expect that twenty-year-old youth to call him younger brother...

Such thick skin, tsk tsk, was truly peerless.

Following Zhao Dasheng into his villa, Chang Yu discovered that Zhao Dasheng's home was actually larger than Fat Wang's, and both the level of luxury in the interior decoration and the value of the furniture significantly surpassed those of Fat Wang's house.

Clearly, although Fat Wang was wealthy, he still could not compare to Zhao Dasheng.

The villa was vast and somewhat desolate, lacking personal belongings. It seemed that the only person living in the entire mansion was Zhao Dasheng himself.

"Such a huge villa, and you live here all by yourself?" Chang Yu asked Zhao Dasheng with a strange expression.

"Yeah, just me," Zhao Dasheng replied matter-of-factly.

"Don't you feel lonely living in such a big house by yourself?" Chang Yu still believed that living in a large house was better when it was lively and bustling.

Zhao Dasheng smiled. "My parents are in the countryside enjoying their retirement. Compared to the bustling metropolis of flashing lights and neon signs, they prefer the tranquility and leisure of rural life."

"It's not that I haven't thought about bringing them to the city, but none of them were willing. After thinking it over, I just let them be."

"However, it's fine. Sometimes Yanyan comes over to keep me company. Oh right, Yanyan is that qipao-wearing beauty who is always by my side."

"You're at your age, you must have children by now, right? Don't they come to see you often?" Chang Yu transformed into a gossip-loving busybody, beginning to probe into someone else's privacy.

"My ex-wife bore me a son, whom I sent abroad to study. We don't even see each other once every year or two." Zhao Dasheng's gaze dimmed for a fleeting moment. Not having his child by his side certainly filled him with longing.

Nowadays, wealthy families loved sending their children abroad to study, though the exact reason remained a mystery; Zhao Dasheng was no exception.

"Sigh!" Chang Yu couldn't help but let out a sigh, beginning to feel a hint of sympathy for the man before him.

Clearly, he was a renowned entrepreneur; clearly, he possessed endless wealth that could never be spent.

Clearly, he had achieved successes ordinary people could not attain in eight lifetimes; clearly, he was a winner in life who reaped boundless envy and jealousy wherever he went.

Yet his life... how was it lived even worse than that of an ordinary person?

An ordinary family of three at least had a warm home with a wife and children, and at least someone would leave a light on and a hot meal ready when they returned home late!

How was it that Zhao Dasheng ended up guarding an empty house all by himself?

"Perhaps in the eyes of many ordinary people, the lives of us rich folks are colorful and varied. But living in this world, how can anyone go through life without difficulties?" Zhao Dasheng let out a deep sigh, laying bare the hardships and helplessness of life.

"Even wealthy people have their hardships and worries. In short, whose life isn't a mess behind closed doors?"

"It's no big deal, I'm already used to it." Zhao Dasheng slumped onto the sofa and sighed.

"Having lived to this age, I can still endure this bit of solitude and loneliness."

"Fine then, with me keeping you company these few days, you won't be entirely alone anymore." Looking at Zhao Dasheng's weathered profile, Chang Yu's expression suddenly relaxed. "By the way, why did you and your ex-wife divorce?"

Chang Yu was an absolute layman regarding so-called marriage; he couldn't understand why so many people were enthusiastic about getting married, only to find themselves forced into divorce in the end.

"Wasn't it because of poverty?" Zhao Dasheng held nothing back when talking to Chang Yu, telling him everything he knew.

Even though these matters were his personal privacy and a part of his private life, he showed no intention of hiding them from him.

"You were poor?" Chang Yu was baffled on the spot, feeling convinced that Zhao Dasheng was merely flexing his wealth.

If even Zhao Dasheng counted as a poor person, then there were no rich people left in this world.

"Ha, don't look at how wealthy I am now, I was poor back in the day too." Zhao Dasheng's expression turned melancholic, as if recalling the glorious trials of the past.

"No one's money drops from the sky, and I wasn't a second-generation heir born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Everything I own was earned through my own struggle."

"Back when I was at my lowest, not only was I penniless, but I was also deeply in debt, and even my house was mortgaged."

"At that time, there wasn't a shred of hope for me. My ex-wife thought I was poor and ran off with a wealthy man."

"To be honest, I don't resent her at all. Failing to provide a good life for my wife and child was fundamentally my fault as a man."

After hearing Zhao Dasheng's words, Chang Yu suddenly felt that Zhao Dasheng was also a person of flesh and blood, no different from himself or anyone else in this world.

"I really wouldn't have guessed that someone like you would have such unbearable past events," Chang Yu remarked with emotion.

Even a big figure like him possessed a sorrowful past he was unwilling to mention.

"Well, all these years have passed, and now that you're wealthy, why haven't you remarried?" Chang Yu asked curiously.

Having said that, fearing that Zhao Dasheng might misunderstand his meaning, he quickly explained, "I mean getting properly married, not that kind of sugar-daddy relationship between you and the qipao-wearing beauty."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Dasheng fell silent for a long moment, a complex expression of neither joy nor sorrow appearing on his face.

"In this world, money can solve over 90% of problems," he said. "Yet emotions happen to belong to the remaining 10%."

"Money cannot buy true affection. It might buy you a marriage, but it cannot buy a wife's genuine devotion."

"I know Yanyan dreams of marrying me, but that's because she has her eyes on my money, not because she values me as a person."

"You see, only after a person becomes wealthy do they realize how precious genuine affection is in this world."

"Because of money, how many fathers and sons turn against each other as enemies? How many brothers oppose one another? How many marriages exist only in name?"

"Actually, over the years, I've noticed a very strange phenomenon: when I had no money, everyone around me was willing to offer me genuine affection."

"Yet once I became wealthy, I suddenly realized that those people who were once willing to offer genuine affection began to turn hypocritical, and that little bit of sincerity from the past had long since vanished into thin air."

"In the past, I could rely on my handsome appearance, extraordinary eloquence, noble character, and good habits to attract those beautiful women, making them infatuated and crazy for me."

Extraordinary eloquence, noble character, and good habits?

Are you sure you're talking about yourself? Chang Yu mentally complained.

"But once I got rich, I suddenly realized that those internal qualities I used to take pride in didn't matter at all against the backdrop of money," Zhao Dasheng continued.

"Not a single woman cared about my internal qualities; the very first thing they saw was simply the money in my hands."

"The banknotes in my hands were like dazzling suns, eclipsing the shining points on my body and reducing me to an ordinary, mediocre man."

"That really is tragic," Chang Yu sighed with a complex expression.

For some reason, he thought of Katerina.

Katerina was truly a good girl; she wasn't materialistic at all and was the type who could share both wealth and woe with someone.

In this day and age, girls like her were truly rare.

If he were to marry her, life would probably be very happy, right?

......

An ordinary day passed just like that.

Chang Yu and Zhao Dasheng spent the entire day doing nothing at all, huddled on the sofa watching television.

The imagined sudden attack on Zhao Dasheng's residence by members of a cult did not happen, which left Chang Yu slightly disappointed.

After all, he had spent the entire day waiting for those cult believers to come looking for trouble.

In contrast, Zhao Dasheng was very happy today. For him, having no one trouble him was a wonderful stroke of luck.

To ensure Chang Yu wouldn't find the long wait too boring, Zhao Dasheng specially opened his most cherished wine cabinet and took out his long-stored vintage liquors.

Martell, Remy Martin, Hennessy, Chivas...

Bottle after bottle of world-famous liquors, some known to Chang Yu and others unheard of, were lined up on the table by Zhao Dasheng.

While popularizing the history of these world-famous drinks to Chang Yu, Zhao Dasheng retrieved two wine glasses from somewhere and enthusiastically poured the wine full for Chang Yu.

Chang Yu accepted the glass filled with amber liquid, feeling a sense of flattered surprise in his heart.

After all, the man personally pouring him a drink right now was a figure whose mere stomp could make the entire City H tremble.

And now, this big figure was holding his wine glass high, looking at him with a flattering expression...

Nothing more needs to be said; it was simply exhilarating!

"Come, come, come, little brother, I'll toast my older brother first."

Zhao Dasheng was decisive and straightforward. Without waiting for Chang Yu to react, he tilted his neck back and directly downed the wine in his cup.

This flamboyant move completely stunned Chang Yu. Wasn't foreign liquor something...

Meant to be sipped slowly, mouthful by mouthful? Since when could it be chugged in one go?

Chang Yu looked at the glass in his hand, hesitating somewhat.

Since Zhao Dasheng had already chugged it all, wouldn't it look a bit bad if he didn't drink his down as well?

With this thought, Chang Yu gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and poured the alcoholic liquid straight into his stomach.

The fiery, pungent liquid slid down his throat into his esophagus, and the blazing burning sensation almost made Chang Yu choke into a cough.

Foreign spirits certainly packed a punch; with just a single glass down his hatch, Chang Yu's face turned beet red in an instant.

"Bold and unrestrained!" Zhao Dasheng heavily patted Chang Yu's shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up.

As an expert drinker, Zhao Dasheng liked people who drank with bold abandon the most.

Chang Yu's previous display of bold drinking hit right at Zhao Dasheng's sweet spot.

Perhaps infected by Zhao Dasheng's straightforward actions, Chang Yu suddenly felt that Zhao Dasheng not only lacked airs, but was also very easygoing in nature.

In short, he wasn't as difficult to get along with as imagined.

Emboldened, he asked, "Boss Zhao, you are a successful person standing at the top of the pyramid. Can you tell me how you achieved your success?"