I became financially independent right after entering college.

Chapter 133 Romanticism
Tan Xuan ultimately didn't return to the counselor's office. Instead, she sat quietly, resting and enjoying the rare tranquility outside of hell...

Bai Chou sat next to Tan Xuan, chatting with Jin Xiaozhou, Li Xue, and the other applicants, initially screening and assembling the core team based on the resumes provided by the applicants.

It wasn't until five or six o'clock in the afternoon that Tan Xuan, slowly waking up, got up, arched her slender and graceful waist, stretched, and swept away the gloom of the afternoon, bidding farewell to Bai Chou with full energy.

At least they seem full of energy.

"You recovered so quickly?" Bai Chou asked with some doubt. Tan Xuan's chaotic experience that afternoon was undoubtedly a major blow.

"What else can I do?"

Tan Xuan sighed softly and said helplessly, "Ordinary people like me will encounter countless surprises, troubles, and setbacks, but life always goes on."

What else can I do besides grit my teeth and persevere? Quit my job and go back to my hometown? I don't want to work for those companies outside. The school is the best working environment for me. If I quit again, I can only go back to my hometown and become a shut-in.

I complain about the unfairness of fate while helplessly living on, drifting through my life in a daze, leaving no trace to prove that I ever existed in this world.

This is how we ordinary people live.

I don't think there's anything unusual about you.

"If you're trying to say that I'm beautiful and therefore not ordinary, then you can shut up. I know I'm beautiful, but I'd rather not have this kind of beauty."

Tan Xuan stubbornly insisted on her belief that beauty and a good figure were a burden rather than a treasure to her.

“That’s not what I meant. What I meant was that you’re a very courageous person.”

Bai Chou changed her approach to communicating with Tan Xuan: "Do you remember Romain Rolland's famous quote that has been quoted to death in various online novels and fictions?"
There is only one true heroism in the world: to see life as it is, and to love it. In that respect, I think you are quite courageous.

Does Tan Xuan love life? Or does the vast majority of people in this world, who are trapped in ordinariness and suffering throughout their lives and can only provide emotional value to pay-to-win players in the online game "Earth Online," love life?
Bai Chou felt it was something she loved.

Every day, I complain about how hard life is. I am often defeated by hardship and setbacks and I always feel regretful when I look back on the past in the quiet of the night.

Then, when the sun rises as usual the next day, grit your teeth and continue living, continuing to swim in the cesspool of this cesspool of Earth's online world, instead of taking a leap to solve all your problems.

It takes a lot of courage to grit your teeth and keep living.

"I don't think I love life at all, I just can't express it," Tan Xuan sighed pessimistically and continued to complain.

"Can't spit it out?"

"From Romain Rolland's novel Jean-Christophe: We are fed far too many lies from childhood to adulthood, and the first step to maturity is to vomit, to vomit out all these lies."

After a pause, Tan Xuan added, "You just quoted Romain Rolland, and I thought you liked his work."

I'm truly sorry if I'm illiterate!

Bai Chou frankly admitted that he was illiterate: "I have indeed read a few of Romain Rolland's works, but my idol is the famous basketball player LeBron James."

"Hmm?" Tan Xuan was a little confused. What was the relationship between Le Bon James and Romain Rolland? Was this topic jumping around too fast?
Bai Chou shrugged and said with a humorous laugh, "We James fans always learn from our idol's words and actions in various fields, such as only reading the title page of a book."

Tan Xuan couldn't help but burst out laughing, finally understanding the meaning behind Bai Chou's joke.

After chatting with Bai Chou for a while, Tan Xuan felt much better and formally said goodbye to Bai Chou: "I really can't chat anymore. I'm going to eat now. I have to do room checks tonight."

Gazing at Tan Xuan's slender figure disappearing into the crowd, Bai Chou pondered for a moment, finding a way to get along with Tan Xuan and gaining a deeper understanding of her.

Tan Xuan possesses a "complexity" that is consistent with Kim Hyo-joo, Lee Seol, or rather, with everyone in the world.

Kim Hyo-joo can create the most perfect romantic experience for her lover, adding little romantic touches to the relationship in almost every detail. But in reality, like Baek Choo, Kim Hyo-joo is an extreme realist and very rational.

It is precisely because of rationality that we can more rationally examine the creation of romance through emotions, just as true racists can cleverly avoid all the red flags of racial discrimination.

Li Xue's complexity lies in her seemingly self-centered and incredibly confident nature, yet she is actually quite insecure in real romantic relationships, or rather, she constantly oscillates between arrogance and inferiority.

Tan Xuan's complexity lies in the conflict between her ideals, perceptions, and reality from childhood to adulthood.

She advised Bai Chou to join Ocean Butterflies Music and debut as a singer, advised Bai Chou not to study journalism and speak ill of her own major, and complained about the deceit and treachery in society. She seemed to be a realist who liked to care about money, rewards, and material things.

But in reality, Tan Xuan was probably a very pure romantic.

She pursues freedom, equality, and a more ideal world where everyone has a bright future.

Or rather, before being brutally beaten by society and reality, she firmly believed that the ideal world of freedom, equality, and a bright future for everyone, which the unspeakable being had described to her since childhood, was real.

Then reality dealt Tan Xuan a heavy blow, showing her what it means for packaging images to be for reference only, and what it means to be completely different.

Tan Xuan complains about this and that, offering advice to Bai Chou from a realistic and materialistic perspective, not because she is materialistic.

Her complaints all revolve around the discrepancies between reality and the ideal world. She gives Bai Chou more realistic advice because it is through that method that she can enter the ideal world and ascend to heaven.

She wasn't just saying she couldn't vomit; she meant it.

The most obvious proof is that Bai Chou repeatedly hinted that she could be a little more realistic in using her beauty, but Tan Xuan stubbornly refused to listen or accept it each time.

When Bai Chou turned around and talked to Tan Xuan about ideals and Romain Rolland, trying to instill idealism in her, Tan Xuan became more energized and willing to continue the conversation with Bai Chou.

Fine.

Bai Chou could only silently bless Tan Xuan in his heart, praying that the world could be gentler towards every idealist and romantic.

After saying goodbye to Tan Xuan, Bai Chou met up with Jin Xiaozhou and they randomly chose a restaurant in ING Plaza for dinner. After all, she was his official girlfriend, so he wanted to spend more time with her. During dinner, Jin Xiaozhou complained to Bai Chou a little, saying, "You've been so busy these past few days, you haven't had time to spend with me, and we haven't done 'that' for several days."

Kim Hyo-joo is now genuinely feeling a sense of crisis.

She enjoys the feeling of being in love, but at the same time, she approaches and thinks about all the issues in a relationship from a rational perspective, and doesn't let herself be led by her emotions.

The honeymoon phase between her and Bai Chou, when they got to know each other and felt something new every day, was already fading. Shan Meng was also watching them closely from the sidelines. Besides, Bai Chou didn't seem like a "deeply affectionate" person at all; at least, he wasn't deeply affectionate towards her.

Kim Hyo-joo felt that Baek Chou might have wronged her subjectively, but it was unlikely that he had completely wronged her.

This is a bit convoluted, but basically it means that Bai Chou has the subjective possibility of cheating on her and breaking up with her, and there is a high probability that he will give her extremely generous material compensation after cheating and breaking up.

But Kim Hyo-joo didn't want any compensation; she just wanted to live a good life with Baek Choo for the rest of her life.

To achieve this, Kim Hyo-joo believes she must adjust her style of doing things, change the way she interacts with Baek Choo, and continue to be 100% compatible with Baek Choo.

As things stand, Kim Hyo-joo believes that while Baek Choo strives for progress, it is more appropriate for him to work even harder and provide all possible assistance to Baek Choo during her startup phase.

Based on this strategy, Kim Hyo-joo tentatively voiced her complaints to Baek Choo.

Bai Chou, who was being complained about, explained that she had been really busy these past few days, and even showed Kim Hyo-joo the keys she had received that day and the chat logs with the job applicants.

See? I'm really busy.

“Honey, you don’t need to be so busy all by yourself. I can help you.” Kim Hyo-joo offered to help Baek Chou with the renovation of the two offices.

After thinking it over, Bai Chou realized that it was indeed a good idea to hand it over to Jin Xiaozhou.

Kim Hyo-joo certainly couldn't get involved in the specific core team building or equipment procurement; he had his own ideas, and this wasn't an area Kim Hyo-joo was familiar with.

But the office renovation could indeed be entirely delegated to Kim Hyo-joo.

It's called renovation, but it's really just about buying some tables and chairs, standard office equipment, cleaning, and connecting the internet... It's not difficult in itself, but the tasks are too tedious and take up a lot of time.

Theoretically, there was no problem. Kim Hyo-joo also had a strong desire to do so. He very decisively handed the matter over to Kim Hyo-joo, appointing him as the logistics director of the two "shell companies" and instructing him on various details.

For example, all expenses during this period must be processed through the two companies' corporate accounts separately, without mixing them up. It's better to be a little slower than to make a mistake.

Kim Hyo-joo patted her full chest and said no problem, feeling happy to have initially established herself as a good wife.

Hmph, while Shan Meng was still dreaming of a sweet romance, I already knew that I was a good wife and was starting a business with my husband, helping him with some affairs.

What can she possibly use to fight me?

After having dinner with Kim Hyo-joo, I pretended not to understand her implication that we could drink ice water today, and rushed back to the villa, where Lee Seol was still waiting!
So dating two girlfriends at the same time is really exhausting. I don't know how the protagonists in novels manage their time, dating multiple girlfriends at the same time while juggling career and love.

As soon as Bai Chou entered the villa's living room, he saw a table full of delicious-looking food... all of which were in takeout boxes, so Li Xue definitely wouldn't have cooked.

"My dear, you're back!"

Upon hearing the engine sound, Li Xue excitedly rushed out of the indoor elevator from the fourth floor to the first floor, like a fawn bursting into spring, jumping up and pouncing on Bai Chou for kisses and hugs.

After being affectionate for a while, Li Xue pushed Bai Chou onto the sofa, solemnly tied her apron, and said, "Darling, you rest first, I'll go heat up the food."

It really was just a quick reheat; not in a pot, but in the microwave. Even when reheating the food, Li Xue was afraid of the hassle of washing the dishes later, so she didn't even want to pour the food into a bowl before reheating it.

Even so, Li Xue was still a bit flustered, and figuring out how long each dish needed to be heated was also a problem.

"Step aside."

Bai Chou slapped Li Xue's pert little bottom while standing up, poured all the food into bowls and plates and put them into the microwave to heat up, then sighed and said, "Why don't you just wait for me to come back before ordering takeout?"

"They wanted to give you that feeling of coming home to a table full of food, that warm and cozy feeling," Li Xue pouted her rosy lips and explained weakly from the side.

The two contrasting traits of a pampered rich heiress who never lifts a finger and a virtuous wife are strangely intertwined in Li Xue.

For example, Bai Chou only wants 100,000 yuan as pocket money out of 500,000 yuan; or, for example, she wants to play the role of a virtuous wife, but she can't cook, so she orders a table full of takeout in advance...

Compared to a truly virtuous and capable wife, Li Xue is undoubtedly not good enough, far from it. Comparing her to those model wives is an insult to the latter.

But Bai Chou could see that Li Xue was really racking her brains to play the role of a qualified, virtuous, and excellent girlfriend who conformed to universal values.

During dinner, Li Xue enthusiastically recounted her afternoon's experiences to Bai Chou: driving her Lamborghini to Deji Plaza, having mall staff carry over twenty shopping bags while she swaggered through the mall, and spending over 300,000 yuan at Hermès to get a Birkin bag—the same style as Kim Hyo-joo's but a different color—which she planned to give to her mother in Bai Chou's name for her birthday, as her mother had wanted that bag for a long time…

Of course, there's also the indispensable act of taking photos and posting them on WeChat Moments to show off to high school classmates.

This is Li Xue's "small" happiness. Compared with the near-perfect female characters in most online novels, she seems to lack vision and is very vain, but this is exactly what Bai Chou likes.

Because he can provide everything Li Xue needs without any pressure, which is a very important point. Being able to meet most of the other person's needs will also give him a certain sense of accomplishment.

Furthermore, Li Xue has a narrow perspective and is timid, easily frightened when faced with problems, which means that Li Xue will not cause him any trouble that is difficult to handle.

She is unlikely to become a qualified and perfect wife or mother, but considering only her status as a girlfriend or lover, Li Xue's personality is actually just as perfect as Jin Xiaozhou's, in another sense.

While Li Xue was speaking, Bai Chou sat quietly beside her, listening attentively, occasionally touching his chopsticks. Having just had dinner with Jin Xiaozhou, he really couldn't eat anything more.

Fortunately, Li Xue was oblivious and didn't notice that Bai Chou hadn't touched his chopsticks much.

(End of this chapter)