I became financially independent right after entering college.

Chapter 132 Peace
Hearing the discussions coming from the office, Tan Xuan suddenly froze. Her hand on the doorknob trembled slightly, and she swayed uncontrollably backward in a daze.

Bai Chou quickly raised his hand to support Tan Xuan's shoulder, simply offering her a place to lean on, without saying a word.

Man, what can I say?

Are you OK?

Just a little bit of wind and frost.

In this situation, it's inappropriate to say anything, as it would always have an element of kicking someone when they're down or taking advantage of their misfortune.

"Thank you."

A distraught Tan Xuan leaned on Bai Chou's shoulder, her eyes downcast, filled with endless despair. She recognized all the voices in the office.

After more than a month together, she got along quite well with everyone in the office. They ate together, went shopping together, chatted about gossip, and occasionally complained about how difficult a certain class was to manage...

They might not be considered bosom friends, but their relationship certainly goes far beyond that of normal colleagues. Within this ivory tower, even the relationships between counselors possess an extra layer of simplicity and purity that is absent in society.

Just now, Tan Xuan thought that there would be no problem this time and that her colleagues would most likely still trust her. She never expected that she would hear her colleagues talking badly about her when she came back after only going back to the dormitory to change her clothes.

"Which drawer do you have the key in? I'll go in and get it for you," Bai Chou said softly.

"No need, I'll be fine after a while."

Tan Xuan shook her head slightly, forcing a smile through her bitterness: "The situation isn't too bad. At least there's still one person willing to believe me, isn't there?"

The only person willing to believe Tan Xuan was the slightly chubby, bespectacled female counselor from before; she did say something in Tan Xuan's defense to some extent.

"That's true." Bai Chou nodded slightly.

About seven or eight seconds later, Tan Xuan, whose dizziness had subsided considerably, pushed Bai Chou away and said, "You wait here, I'll go in and get the key by myself..."

If he went in with Bai Chou, who knows what those gossipy colleagues would think.

Bai Chou understood immediately and stepped aside to make sure that the other counselors in the office couldn't see him when Tan Xuan opened the door later.

Tan Xuan gave Bai Chou a grateful look, took a deep breath to cheer herself up, and pushed open the door to enter the office as usual.

The noise in the office suddenly stopped, and everyone shut up at the same time, either typing on their keyboards or staring at the documents in their hands, pretending to be nonchalant.

"What were you all talking about just now? It was so lively. Why did everyone stop talking as soon as I came in?" Tan Xuan asked her colleagues with a smile as she walked behind her workstation.

The female counselor who was just talking badly about Tan Xuan laughed and said, "We were just talking about you and that crazy woman. I said that crazy woman was slandering you. She doesn't even realize that our Xuanxuan is so beautiful, why would she need to be a mistress..."

"Thank you, Sister Qingqing, for believing in my innocence."

Tan Xuan sneered inwardly. Just now, you were the one who said the most bad things about me, like seducing leaders, being a mistress, and harboring malicious intentions to seduce students…

Did you change your tune and become a nice person the moment I came in?
If I hadn't listened at the door for a while, I would have actually believed it.

"If others don't believe you, how could I not believe you?" Tan Xuan stood at the door listening for a while, and Sister Qingqing continued to pretend to be a good person.

The slightly chubby female counselor with glasses hesitated to speak. She had a pretty good relationship with Tan Xuan, and she felt really uncomfortable seeing Sister Qingqing talking badly about Tan Xuan behind her back while pretending to be a good person.

"By the way, what about the student who helped you earlier? What did he want to see you about?" Sister Qingqing asked again. She remembered Bai Chou; it was hard for a rich and handsome guy like that not to be remembered.

"He went to ING Plaza."

While rummaging through the drawers, Tan Xuan explained, "He applied for student entrepreneurship support a few days ago, and the office space approved by the school has been secured. He came to me today to pick up the keys."

As she spoke, Tan Xuan found the key, stood up, and smiled at everyone, saying, "Everyone, please go ahead with your work. I'll take our students to see the office first."

"Okay, Xuanxuan, you go ahead."

Without saying anything more, Tan Xuan pushed open the office door and walked out. The moment she closed the office door, she felt a wave of dizziness and subconsciously reached out to support Bai Chou beside her.

Just now, she had been going through the motions with the counselor, who was called Sister Qingqing, which had almost exhausted all her energy and spirit. Now, just thinking about it made her feel boundless resentment and dizziness.

Generally speaking, Tan Xuan has a straightforward personality. She doesn't mince words and doesn't like to scheme or plot against others.

The reason for escaping back to the ivory tower is also to avoid the backstabbing and meaningless social interactions with colleagues in the real world.

However, Tan Xuan did not expect that even after Run returned to the ivory tower, she would still face countless rumors and backstabbing. She could even imagine that after she left, Qingqing and her group would most likely continue to speak ill of her.

Bai Chou helped Tan Xuan walk out of the office building and asked in a low voice, "Do you have work tonight?"

"What, do you want to be like those domineering CEOs in movies and novels, taking me to find a tree hollow, to ride the Ferris wheel at an amusement park, or to watch dolphins at an aquarium to relax?"

Tan Xuan forced a smile: "Let's save our breath, Bai. I still have a lot of things to do. After showing you the office, I have to go back to the counselor's office."

Besides, movies are all lies; a person's troubles won't disappear just by yelling into a tree hole or riding a Ferris wheel.

Relaxation and romance won't solve problems. As long as we continue to live in this society, troubles will always exist, relentlessly haunting everyone.

"If you don't like it, then forget it." Bai Chou gave up the idea of ​​taking Tan Xuan out to cheer her up.

Tan Xuan was slightly disappointed. She didn't know why she was disappointed when Bai Chou said to forget it. It was probably because she actually longed to go out and clear her head.

The important thing isn't to dwell on worries, but to clear your mind. Even if the problems persist, it's good to ease your mood.

Unfortunately, she couldn't leave. Being a counselor requires handling a lot of miscellaneous tasks, and now that the semester has just started, she can only continue on, exhausted.

Until I can't hold on any longer.

The distance from the counselor's office to ING Plaza wasn't particularly far, and Bai Chou suggested driving there, explaining that he would have to leave the school after visiting the office and wouldn't be coming back to drive.

Tan Xuan is in such a good state that even a short rest would be ideal. This time, Tan Xuan didn't refuse; a ride along the way would also speed up her work efficiency.

Bai Chou considerately opened the car door for Tan Xuan. Normally, she wouldn't open the car door for a girl, so Tan Xuan was a special case.

To be honest, the seats in this GT3RS aren't very comfortable. Although they offer excellent support, they're on the firm side. Even so, Tan Xuan felt like she was sitting on a Simmons mattress.

As soon as she got in the car, Tan Xuan closed her eyes to ease her tired mind.

Bai Chou glanced at Tan Xuan beside him, whose brows were slightly furrowed and whose expression was filled with endless sorrow, and without saying anything, he started the engine and drove towards ING Plaza.

He drove very slowly, slower than ever before, and parked the car slowly, just like Li Xue usually did, taking a full ten minutes to park it properly.

Bai Chou had intended to stay in the car for a while to give Tan Xuan more time to rest, but as soon as he parked the car, Tan Xuan opened her eyes, as if she had recovered all her energy. She got out of the car before Bai Chou, smiling and urging him not to dawdle, as she still had work to do.

Leading Bai Chou to two offices in the corner, Tan Xuan took out her key, opened the doors, and explained the details of the offices to Bai Chou. Southern University of Media and Communications has two campuses; the North Campus, where ING is located, is a relatively new campus, and even now, many shops and warehouses in ING Plaza remain vacant. Naturally, several offices managing these shops are also empty.

According to the "milk-pouring theory," logically speaking, even if a school has empty rooms, it wouldn't give them to college students starting their own businesses.

And who knows if you're genuinely starting a business or just faking it?

However, Bai Chou's situation is special; both of his companies have a registered capital of one million yuan, which is very rare among college students starting businesses. Furthermore, when applying, Tan Xuan described Bai Chou's special skill to the leadership: he is extremely wealthy.

这是一项得天独厚的优势。想用几千几万块赚到100万很难，但是想用100万赚到200万、500万甚至是1000万，却非常的简单。

Everyone has their own area of ​​expertise. As long as you don't blindly follow trends or jump on bandwagons, and simply operate within your area of ​​knowledge, anyone can achieve something if they have initial capital.

This kind of "action" certainly cannot be compared with those well-known business cases that are famous throughout the country or even the world, such as Xiaomi, Renren.com...

But for Nanjing University of Communication, a new school that only separated from the Central Media Group in the last two years, it can already be regarded as a small benchmark for student entrepreneurship.

Taking all factors into consideration, the school decided to provide two warehouses for Bai Chou's use.

"The school's subsidy for you is two warehouses with four years of free rent. You'll have to pay for the water, electricity, and internet yourself. Whether you want to renovate is up to you."

The school's only requirement is that if your two companies fail in the future, they hope you won't..." Tan Xuan hesitated, then stopped.

"Don't just occupy the toilet without doing your business, huh?"

Bai Chou smiled and nodded: "If it can't be operated, I will definitely return these two offices to the school."

Overall, Bai Chou was quite satisfied with the two offices after touring them.

Both offices are around 70 or 80 square meters in size, similar to Tan Xuan's office. They also have a similar decorating style, with simple campus-style decorations, white paint, flooring, and network cable ports.

In the short term, the space is more than enough for the two companies, Bai and Chou. They can be put into use immediately after a simple cleaning and the addition of some office supplies.

In the early stages, a headphone studio doesn't need too many people. Before it grows and becomes stronger, the core team can be reduced to about ten people. The only problem is that it may be necessary to set aside a separate area as a listening room.

As for the short drama studio, it may hire more staff after expanding the team in the future, but whether the company can actually develop is still uncertain. For now, it's enough.

Tan Xuan handed the key to Bai Chou: "I'm giving you the key. You can handle things here yourself. I have something to do, so I'll be leaving now."

"Wait a moment."

Bai Chou suddenly grabbed Tan Xuan's wrist.

Tan Xuan, who was already disoriented and out of sorts, was pulled so hard that she stumbled and almost fell into Bai Chou's arms.

Tan Xuan glared at Bai Chou with a hint of anger in her phoenix eyes: "Is there anything else?"

"Since you've gone all the way, Sister Xuan, could you help me clean this office first?" Bai Chou said with a grin, holding onto Tan Xuan without letting go.

"I have things to do!"

“There’s always work to be done. Besides, if my two companies succeed, it will be a great achievement for you, Sister Xuan.”

"What does political achievement have to do with cleaning?" Tan Xuan said, both amused and exasperated.

Bai Chou refused to let go, so Tan Xuan had no choice but to agree. The two untied brooms and dustpans from the nearby office and began cleaning haphazardly.

These two offices have been unused for a long time, and the floors, walls, and ceilings are covered with a lot of dust. It would definitely take two people to clean them.

Besides, we'll be buying all sorts of office supplies in the future, so it's definitely more appropriate to hire someone to clean it.

Bai Chou was just using this as an excuse to keep Tan Xuan there; for Tan Xuan at this point, that counselor's office was nothing short of hell.

Although running away won't solve the problem, Tan Xuan will eventually have to return to the counselor's office to face it.

It feels so good to escape problems.

After sweeping for about ten minutes, Bai Chou put down the broom and complained that he was exhausted and they should take a break.

"You've only been cleaning for a short while and you're already complaining about being tired." Tan Xuan was both amused and exasperated; she genuinely wanted to clean.

Bai Chou snatched the broom from Tan Xuan's hand and threw it aside: "There's no way around it. I've never suffered or done housework since I was a child. Sister Xuan, you don't need to do it either. I feel bad if you do it while I rest."

"You're actually quite nice; you even know to rest with me."

"That is."

Bai Chou glanced around the empty office, where there wasn't even a chair to sit on. He simply took off his coat and used it as a rag to wipe the walls, then turned it over and laid it on the corner of the floor.

"Come on, Sister Xuan, let's sit here. Don't get your new clothes dirty."

Pulled along by Bai Chou, Tan Xuan sat side-by-side against the wall on her coat, feeling an unprecedented sense of ease. Sitting was more comfortable than standing, and being here was more comfortable than going back to the counselor's office; in short, it was an unprecedented feeling of ease.

After sitting down, Tan Xuan deliberately moved to the side, creating a distance of about 15 centimeters between herself and Bai Chou, still harboring resentment because Sister Qingqing said that she had seduced a student.

Bai Chou didn't chase after him. Instead, he sat there with his knees up, took out his phone, opened a job search website, and replied to the people who had submitted their resumes.

Tan Xuan hugged her knees with her legs together, her long hair falling naturally in front of her. She tilted her head and casually asked Bai Chou, "How much did your coat cost? You're just using it as a rag and a cushion."

"Twenty or thirty thousand, maybe more or less, I don't remember the exact price." It's really not worth remembering such a small thing.

Tan Xuan was somewhat astonished: "A high-end brand worth tens of thousands of yuan made a rag cushion just to avoid getting my clothes, which cost two or three hundred yuan, dirty. I might as well just sit on the ground."

“That’s romance,” Bai Chou shrugged.

"Thank you," Tan Xuan suddenly whispered her thanks.

It wasn't that Xie Baichou gave her a coat worth tens of thousands of yuan as a cushion, but rather that Xie Baichou asked her to stay and rest there because she genuinely didn't want to go back to the counselor's office.

"Let's take a rest."

"Um……"

Tan Xuan responded softly, hugging her knees and burying her head in her arms. She slowly closed her eyes, her eyebrows trembling slightly before quickly regaining their composure, letting go of all pressure and emptying her mind...

The Holy King of Bright Moon once said that no matter how strong a person is, they all need a kind of peace that can empty their mind, and this peace can only be obtained in sleep.

Tan Xuan felt that she had found peace at that moment.

(End of this chapter)