Ch1 – Picking Up Treasure

“Are you also an international student?” Kevin asked Xin Qianyu.
“Which university? ”

Xin Qianyu said the name of a school.
This name, regardless of where it was said, would generally receive praise like “Wow, top student”. 

But Kevin gave a mocking laugh.
“Oh, that one.”

“That one”.
This sentence was very short and did not contain any vulgarities, but it was like a slap on the face.

Xin Qianyu’s embarrassment went unnoticed by Su Zhong…

…even though Su Zhong was sitting next to Xin Qianyu, the closest possible position. 

Today, Su Zhong wore a three-piece suit.
As usual, he was dressed meticulously, just like how he had combed his swept-back hair.
He was very handsome, had a good temperament, and knew how to dress up.
Every strand of hair had an elite aura, making everyone feel inferior -including his boyfriend, Xin Qianyu.

Xin Qianyu always felt that being with Su Zhong was like picking up treasure.

It was a blessing.

Unfortunately, Xin Qianyu was not the only one who felt this way.
Almost everyone felt that being with Su Zhong was like Xin Qianyu picking up a treasure.

In other words, Su Zhong was a flower on top of cow dung.

Besides Xin Qianyu and Su Zhong, the others sitting at the dining table were all from the same industry as Su Zhong, that is to say, they were all “financial elites” to the masses.
From this point of view, they were indeed qualified to look down on most workers.

Kevin was considered the arrogant type, so he made the “looking down on” very obvious.

There were also the subtle and more polite ones.
A lady named Rui Lei helped Xin Qianyu to mediate the situation.
“Well, then, Xiaoyu’s school is also an Ivy League.” 

Ivy Leagues were top-notch elite schools in the United States and the league of colleges and universities in the United States that produced the most Rhodes scholars.
The Chinese were more accustomed to calling them “Chang Qing Teng“, but people in investment banks and foreign companies like to mix Chinese and English when speaking, so they say Ivy League.

In short, Rui Lei said this for Xin Qianyu’s dignity.

Kevin didn’t plan to let Xin Qianyu off like this, so he just smiled.
“Rui Lei, you are too forgetful.
Besides Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia, none of the rest count as Ivy Leagues.”

The organization that Su Zhong and the others work for basically only accepted people from the target schools.
This resulted in them meeting face-to-face with top students, all from the world’s top 100 elite schools.
However, such a “top student environment” did not make them feel appreciative of each other, instead produced an incomparably absurd “chain of academic contempt”.
For example, those who studied in the United States looked down on those who studied in the United Kingdom, and those who studied in the United Kingdom looked down on those who studied in Hong Kong.
Additionally, among those who studied in the United States, they were also divided into Ivy League and non-Ivy League.
The Ivy Leagues were divided further into whether it was Harvard or Yale.
There were sharp distinctions to all of this. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection.
If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Ve Itbcu kjr nfgs obmerfv ktfc tf kbgxfv, rb tf cfnfg gfjiis cbalmfv atfrf asqfr bo vlralcmalbcr atja kfgf cfnfg fzqilmlais wjvf.
Yo mbegrf, atlr kjr jirb gfijafv ab atf ojma atja Ve Itbcu kjr ja atf abq bo atf mbcafwqa mtjlc.
Rb bcf ibbxfv vbkc bc tlw, jcv tf vlv cba ibbx vbkc bc jcsbcf.
Vb tf vlvc’a offi atf fzlrafcmf bo atf mbcafwqa mtjlc.

Seeing Xin Qianyu’s embarrassment, a man named Jones also helped to change the subject.
“Did Xiaoyu just return home? What industry are you in now?”

Xin Qianyu replied slowly, “I’m teaching English.”

Jones was a little embarrassed. 

It wasn’t because of anything else but about 20 minutes ago, Jones had joked, “The bastards who study abroad all come back to teach English.”

By saying that, didn’t you just hit Xin Qianyu in the face?

Jones now really regretted what he had said 20 minutes ago.
He just smiled and said, “Oh, that’s good, that’s good.”

Kevin wasn’t willing to let it go, so he pulled on Jones and said, “That wasn’t what you said earlier.” 

Jones pointed to the wagyu and sashimi on the plate and said to Kevin, “Such good wagyu can’t shut your stinky mouth?”

As he said that, Jones smiled apologetically at Xin Qianyu.

Xin Qianyu also nodded and smiled.
He knew that Jones was not being malicious and that it was actually Kevin who was really being mean.

However, Xin Qianyu still felt quite aggrieved. 

His aggrievement did not come from what Kevin had said, but from Su Zhong not saying anything.

From earlier to now, Kevin had made quite a few snide remarks to Xin Qianyu.
Even Rui Lei and Jones, who he was meeting for the first time, knew to help Xin Qianyu say a few words.
But Su Zhong, who was sitting next to Xin Qianyu, never said a word.

Xin Qianyu couldn’t help turning his head to look at Su Zhong and saw champagne-colored lights pouring from the crystal chandelier onto Su Zhong’s emotionless face.
His thin and pale lips moved slightly as if he was silently mouthing something – if Su Zhong was not wearing a suit with combed-back hair, the scene would be as if a holy monk was chanting silently.
He seemed to be immersed in his own world, separated from the world of mortals by an invisible chasm.

Xin Qianyu now