I'm back in 1990

Chapter 412: The Modern-Day Lord Mengchang

This isn't a joke, it's a recommendation for the amazing book "1990, I'm Back":

After An Cheng and Jiao Zhiyong sat down, they curiously looked around the wedding banquet venue. They noticed that the restaurant staff were busy preparing new tables, and guests were coming in one after another.

An Cheng patted Jiao Zhiyong on the shoulder and asked, "Old Jiao, how many guests did Old Huang invite? It seems like there aren't enough seats; the waiters are setting up tables."

Jiao Zhiyong had already noticed: "Yes! I didn't expect Lao Huang to be so popular; so many people came!"

An Cheng suddenly noticed someone who looked familiar, so he nudged Jiao Zhiyong and pointed to Zhang Gaolei, who was not far from them, and asked, "Old Jiao, do you know this person? I feel like I've seen him somewhere before, but I just can't remember his name."

Ma Yifeng and Sang Weihong were sitting at the same table with An Cheng. After hearing An Cheng's words, they all looked in the direction An Cheng was pointing.

Sang Weihong knew Zhang Gaolei, and she casually said, "Oh! Zhang Gaolei, Huang Xiaochuan's roommate and classmate. The one with small eyes is Ding Yi, the one with thick eyebrows and big eyes is Wu Duo, and the one with glasses who looks more refined is Chen Zhe. They are Huang Xiaochuan's best friends."

After hearing Sang Weihong say the name, An Cheng was so surprised he almost dislocated his jaw. Zhang Gaolei? Good heavens!

"Is he Zhang Gaolei, the founder of Gaze Browser?" An Cheng asked Sang Weihong again, his face full of shock.

"Yes! It was him. He was even invited back to give a speech to the students, and he also donated one million dollars to the school."

An Cheng, Jiao Zhiyong, and Ma Yifeng were all stunned. "Holy crap!" they exclaimed. "They've actually seen a living billionaire? He just casually donated a million dollars? In US dollars?"

An Cheng finally understood why Huang Xiaochuan had given him over a dozen genuine Windows 95 operating systems without batting an eye.

As a computer professional, he was aware of all the major and minor events in the computer industry. The fact that Gaze browser company and Microsoft held shares in each other had made the news, which meant that this IT upstart was also one of Microsoft's shareholders.

Judging from this, a dozen or so genuine software programs are nothing! Old Huang is amazing. I never expected that he and this guy were roommates and best friends?

"Damn, is Lao Huang really that awesome?" An Cheng muttered to himself.

Sang Weihong and An Cheng were separated only by Ma Yifeng, so it was no surprise that Sang Weihong overheard An Cheng's words.

She then pointed to another person and asked An Cheng, "Do you know who that is?"

An Cheng glanced at it, didn't recognize it, and shook his head.

Sang Weihong smiled sweetly: "You might not even know the names, but you know Times Supermarket and Times Super Shopping Center, right?"

An Cheng nodded: "I know it? It's the largest chain supermarket in Shanghai. I go to their Yangpu store to buy things several times a month. They have everything, and I can get everything I need in one trip."

"He is Jiang Bixing, the general manager of Times Supermarket. He also graduated from our school, one year ahead of me. His relationship with Huang Xiaochuan is also quite special. Whenever Huang Xiaochuan asks him to do something, he does it immediately!"

"what?"

Ma Yifeng, An Cheng, and Jiao Zhiyong's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in surprise. Who were the people Huang Xiaochuan knew?

Seeing the three of them like this, Sang Weihong felt particularly pleased, and she continued to introduce them to the people she knew.

Do you know who that person with the small eyes is?

Jiao Zhiyong had a good memory; he seemed to have just heard Sang Weihong say that the small-eyed man was named Ding Yi.

"You just said his name is Ding Yi, right?"

"His name is Ding Yi, but you don't know he has another name."

"What's your name?"

"The Stock Market God of Shanghai!"

"Really?" The three of them were somewhat skeptical.

"Believe it or not, I heard from others that he made hundreds of millions in the stock market. Didn't you see he had two bodyguards with him when he arrived?"

"Wow!" Jiao Zhiyong's eyes widened. Were all Huang Xiaochuan's roommates that fierce?

Ma Yifeng nudged his wife with his shoulder: "What does that polite, bespectacled guy do?"

Sang Weihong knew immediately who her husband was asking about: "His name is Chen Zhe. He's currently pursuing his master's degree at Shanghai Dan University across the street. He's just very good at studying; I haven't heard anything else about him."

"And what about the one next to him?"

"That guy is Wu Duo. He's currently pursuing his PhD at MIT. He and Zhang Gaolei went to the United States in the same year."

The three of them felt a little better after that. If these two were also geniuses, wouldn't all of Huang Xiaochuan's roommates back then be prodigies? But this was still pretty impressive. One was a graduate student at MIT, and the other was a graduate student at Shanghai University. They would be considered the pinnacle of talent by most people's standards.

Just then, Sang Weihong saw Zhang Yun again and said with a strange expression, "Why is she back?"

Ma Yifeng asked curiously, "Who is this woman? Do you know her?"

"She was a teacher in our department when I was an undergraduate, but she didn't teach me. She taught Huang Xiaochuan, but not for long, I think it was only two semesters? Later she went to the United States and I heard she joined Goldman Sachs."

Jiao Zhiyong exclaimed with admiration, "Wow, how come Lao Huang is so popular? Even his former teacher came all the way from America to attend his wedding?"

Sang Weihong said matter-of-factly, "Otherwise, how could we have called him a big shot back then? He was like Lord Mengchang in ancient times, with a house full of guests. When he was in college, people from Jiaotong University and Tongji University would come to visit him every week. Not to mention the students from Shanghai Dan University, do you see that table over there? Those are all from Shanghai Dan University."

"Let me tell you something else and you'll understand why he's so popular."

"What's the matter?" The three of them were intrigued.

"This guy wrote a paper on the tax-sharing system when he was a freshman, and it was even published in Renren Daily. Just because I helped him collect some data, he listed me as the second author of his paper. Wu Duo and Ding Yi are the same. He never forgets anyone who has helped him. And that teaching and learning center, the idea came from him, but he gave all the benefits to me. How could someone like him have bad interpersonal relationships?"

Besides, I didn't collect the data for him for free; he paid me. Who among you would do that?

An Cheng was utterly impressed: "Wow, Old Huang is actually this awesome?"

Sang Weihong then gestured towards the department leaders and Wang Deyi.

"Do you know why Academician Wang is so good to Huang Xiaochuan?"

The three of them stared intently at Sang Weihong, not daring to blink, eager to hear what she would say next.

"I only heard about it from Academician Wang's assistant. He said that when Academician Wang was seriously ill, he was alone in the hospital with no one to take care of him. He was all alone. Huang Xiaochuan took care of him and kept him company every day. He not only took care of his bodily needs but also used his connections to transfer Academician Wang to Ruijin Hospital. At that time, the two were not related and were not teacher and student. But ever since then, Academician Wang has treated Huang Xiaochuan like his own son."

Have you ever seen someone graduate with a master's degree in just one year? Huang Xiaochuan is one, and he did it all based on his own merit. He published five papers in core journals on his own within a year. How about that? Are you impressed?

Ma Yifeng, An Cheng, and Jiao Zhiyong were all utterly impressed. Huang Xiaochuan was just too damn awesome! It was impossible to be envious of him. The only thing to do was to try to befriend him, because being with someone like him could only bring benefits and no harm.

Many people knew about Huang Xiaochuan's wedding. Because of his good reputation, more than 200 people came to attend his wedding. The catering department of the West Suburbs Hotel was very busy. There was definitely not enough food. They urgently arranged for people to go and purchase more. It was the first time the restaurant manager had encountered such a situation. He was sweating profusely!

Huang Xiaochuan originally invited a dozen or so tables of guests, but in the end, he set up nearly fifty tables. Money didn't matter, but he had to toast each and every one of the guests, right? People can take care of the bride, but I've never heard of taking care of the groom.

As expected, Huang Xiaochuan drank too much and was eventually carried home by Ding Yi, Chen Zhe, and the other two.

After arriving home, he wasn't close to anyone except the toilet. He hugged the toilet and vomited repeatedly, refusing to leave no matter who tried to pull him away.

Yu Xiang didn't sleep well all night because she was busy taking care of him!