How can I justify myself as a Magnate if I don't indulge myself?

Xiaoshan Airport was quite a distance from the Hangcheng District, and it took He Jing over an hour to finally arrive at the company’s building.

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"Gu Heng, we’ve arrived." @@novelbin@@

He Jing gently nudged the sleeping Gu Heng and softly woke him with her voice.

Rubbing his eyes, Gu Heng glanced at the familiar scenery outside the window and lazily said, "That quick?"

He Jing rolled her eyes helplessly and replied, "Not quick at all. There was a traffic jam in the district, and I’ve been driving for over an hour, okay?

You’ve been sleeping since you got in the car, of course, it feels fast to you!"

Listening to He Jing’s complaining tone, Gu Heng smiled a bit awkwardly, "Sorry, after more than ten hours on the plane, I really was a bit tired, so I fell into a deep sleep."

No matter what, He Jing was still a friend, not his personal chauffeur. She had come all this way to pick him up, so he needed to show the right attitude. It’s not like he could just start thinking the whole world owed him service because he was wealthy, right?

So Gu Heng’s apology was completely heartfelt, with no pretense.

He Jing was silent for a moment upon hearing Gu Heng’s words...

She realized she had misunderstood...

She had thought that Gu Heng, having become so rich, might distance himself from an ordinary old friend like her.

But that wasn’t the case...

Aside from wealth and status, which were worlds apart from before, the Gu Heng in front of her maintained the same easygoing and warm personality, which pleasantly surprised He Jing. The hints she thought she had tamped down about Gu Heng sprung back uncontrollably...

If Gu Heng remained the same as before, then becoming his woman wouldn’t seem like a bad deal, right? And her friendship with Gu Heng ran much deeper than Lin Jiayun’s.

With this added layer to their relationship, maybe the benefits she could reap would be even greater than Lin Jiayun’s...

But He Jing didn’t declare her position right then and there. Instead, she spoke coquettishly, "What good does an apology do? I’ve been your driver for over an hour; my lumbar disc is almost herniated. You’ve got to make it up to me somehow, right?"

Gu Heng, clever as he was, clearly picked up on He Jing’s change in attitude and smiled, "Then tell me, what would you like as compensation? As long as I can do it, I definitely won’t refuse."

"How about this, I remember when you left the company, you treated me to a meal at YF Hotpot, and I’ve been thinking about it for months. How about you treat me again?"

Gu Heng knew that a smart woman like He Jing wouldn’t make any excessive demands. A meal at YF Hotpot was all it was; back then, their extravagance cost them 170,000, which was indeed luxurious since he had just gotten the system not long ago, and his net worth had not yet surpassed a million.

But now, 170,000, in his eyes, was nothing...

To put it bluntly, his daily meals sometimes even exceeded the so-called luxury of YF Hotpot.

He nodded without a second thought, then teasingly said, "What, haven’t you indulged yourself and gone back a few more times since then?"

He Jing rolled her eyes, the signature move returning, "I’m telling you, Mr. Gu, you’re utterly clueless about the common struggles. A meal that costs tens of thousands, let alone now that I’m just an ordinary employee with an income of just over ten thousand a month, even back when I had four million followers and was a hotshot on the internet making hundreds of thousands a month, I’d be reluctant to splurge on that. If not for the chance to fleece you, a fat cat, today, I’d probably never go to such a place for a second time in my life."

"Fine, I’ll play the sucker today and let you have your feast!"

They exchanged knowing smiles and got out of the car together...

At this moment, the lunch break had just ended, and it was the start of the work hours. The entrance to the building was bustling with hurried office workers.

Gu Heng looked at the scene before him and inexplicably tugged at the corner of his mouth in a smile.

Just a few months ago, he’d been one of them, even at the bottom level; and in just a few months, he’d become a person from a completely different world. The thought still brought some strange feelings.

Seeing the smile at the corner of Gu Heng’s mouth, He Jing asked in confusion, "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing much, just feeling a little sentimental. Let’s go up."

"Okay."

Seeing that Gu Heng did not go into detail, He Jing did not press further and led him toward the elevator.

...

...

Minutes later, the elevator reached the floor housing Galaxy Media. Gu Heng and He Jing stepped out side by side. Once the elevator doors had completely closed, Gu Heng waved away the lingering bad smell from his nose and took a deep breath of fresh air.

It wasn’t that he was being fussy.

Lately, wherever he went, he always took the VIP route, and that included using elevators. Suddenly cramming into an elevator with over a dozen people, especially in the heat of summer with that unbearable mix of body odors, it was a bit too much to handle...

That he managed to wait until the elevator closed before showing how affected he was spoke to his good manners...

He didn’t know how his past self endured such scenes every day, squeezing into buses and subways with a crowd, living in cramped and tiny rented rooms, but if the system disappeared now and he had to go back to experiencing the life of an ordinary person, he probably wouldn’t be able to survive...

The old saying that it’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to return to frugality, was vividly embodied by Gu Heng...

He Jing was unaware of Gu Heng’s internal struggles. Though she too found the smell in the elevator unpleasant, she had grown accustomed to it with daily exposure, assuming it was just Gu Heng not being used to it anymore. She said nothing about it and led Gu Heng through the doors of Galaxy Media.