In the middle of a crowd, being called “President Zhou” made Zhou Chaosheng instinctively frown.
He didn’t even need to think to know that this was the serious impact caused by a photo of him accidentally being leaked by a reporter a month ago.
Zhou Chaosheng didn’t recognize the four young people in front of him, and the “President Zhou” the chubby man mentioned was probably referring to the online joke…
After all, ever since his photo had been overly exposed, many people had started calling him “President Zhou,” to the point where Zhou Chaosheng often couldn’t tell whether the person using this title was just a gossiping netizen or one of his subordinates.
Jiang Yuanye nudged him with his elbow, “They recognized you.”
Zhou Chaosheng glanced at the man who was enjoying his misfortune, “Did you join the tour for this?”
Jiang Yuanye said leisurely, “I really did have that thought at the time. I just didn’t expect you to be this famous… So, do you want to switch groups if you mind?”
“You willing?” Zhou Chaosheng raised an eyebrow.
Jiang Yuanye chuckled ambiguously, “Whether I’m willing or not, doesn’t it all depend on President Zhou’s wishes?”
The two chatted as they walked toward the tour guide and the four others. Just before reaching them, Zhou Chaosheng finally said, “Forget it. Save your money.”
Jiang Yuanye burst out laughing and leaned in close to Zhou Chaosheng’s ear, teasing, “Oh? Already starting to feel sorry for my money?”
Zhou Chaosheng raised his hand and pushed Jiang Yuanye’s head away, expressionless, “Stay away from me.”
Jiang Yuanye laughed even more, “If you’re shy, just say it, what’s there to be embarrassed about?”
While the two whispered to each other, the four people on the other side were already in complete shock internally.
Aside from Fang Yi, who recovered from his initial shock quickly, the other three remained frozen in disbelief for a long time.
The chubby man, Zhuo Chenyang, had joined Huajie as an intern two years ago after graduating from university. Back then, he often said the company had great benefits and paid several times higher than others, but the workload was exhausting. With constant overtime from morning till night, the intense pressure eventually made him quit and switch to being a self-media blogger.
It wasn’t surprising that Zhuo Chenyang recognized Zhou Chaosheng.
As for Jiang Man and her best friend Jiang Yunzhi, the former was a wealthy heiress, naturally well-informed, while the latter was a small-time model in the entertainment industry. Although not particularly famous, she still had access to some inside information.
It wasn’t strange that they could recognize Zhou Chaosheng either.
Among the four, the only one without skills, family background, or connections was Fang Yi. He only knew about Zhou Chaosheng because he happened to catch a glimpse of the full-face photo that had been completely wiped from the internet while keeping up with gossip.
That brief moment, he never expected to encounter him in real life.
Unlike the cold and distant figure in the photo, the living person in front of them showed many expressions and movements never seen by the public.
Wrapped in a black-and-white checkered scarf, wearing a long apricot-colored coat over a white wool sweater, his tall and upright figure resembled a green velvet poppy growing on a snow-covered mountain—cold, distant, unapproachable.
Lucas, a 2G internet surfer was surprised by something completely different from everyone else. He opened his mouth wide in disbelief and said, “You guys know each other?”
Jiang Yuanye and Zhou Chaosheng had just walked over. They were about to respond when Chen Yang beat them to it, quickly waving his hands.
“No, no, no, how could we… I mean, we know President Zhou, but President Zhou doesn’t know us…”
Zhuo Chenyang was rambling incoherently, and as he spoke, his face flushed red. It was probably similar to how a fanboy reacts when seeing his idol in person, unable to contain his excitement.
Jiang Yuanye found it amusing. “Why ‘President Zhou’? Does he look old to you?”
Only then did Zhuo Chenyang turn to look at Jiang Yuanye. With just one glance, his eyes almost popped out of his head—t-this, wasn’t this his boss—no, his former boss’s biggest rival?!
“N-not old, not old at all! President Zhou is the most handsome!” Zhuo Chenyang shook his head like a rattle drum.
“See? There you go again. From now on, call him Zhou-ge, got it?”
Jiang Yuanye had both hands tucked into his coat pockets. It was a seemingly careless gesture, yet when he did it, it carried a certain roguish charm.
Zhuo Chenyang tilted his head slightly, cautiously glancing at Zhou Chaosheng’s expression. Seeing that the man remained indifferent, showing no reaction, he hesitated. “President Zhou, I—”
Seeing that Jiang Yuanye was about to say something outrageous, Zhou Chaosheng promptly grabbed his arm, stopping him from speaking further. At the same time, he turned to Zhuo Chenyang and said, “Do as he says. Since we happened to end up in the same tour group, we are no longer in a superior-subordinate relationship.”
Zhuo Chenyang scratched his head awkwardly.
Jiang Man, standing beside him, mercilessly exposed him, “He quit a few months ago.”
Zhuo Chenyang became even more embarrassed. “Xiao Man…”
In the brief silence that followed, Zhou Chaosheng spoke calmly, “Huajie isn’t your only option. The fact that you were selected out of tens of thousands of applicants proves that your skills are solid. Even without Huajie, you can still find success in other fields.”
Zhuo Chenyang froze for a moment, then his eyes welled up with emotion. “President Zhou…”
Jiang Yuanye cleared his throat.
Zhuo Chenyang immediately got the hint and corrected himself, “Zhou-ge, thank you! I really… I never even dared to imagine this. Just being in the same tour group as you today already feels like the luckiest moment of my life, but I never thought you’d actually comfort me…”
Zhou Chaosheng felt that if this continued, the guy might actually start crying. He was already getting a headache—he really wasn’t good at dealing with sentimental moments like this.
Just as he was about to speak, a tall and slender man standing beside Zhuo Chenyang suddenly extended his hand toward him. "Zhou-ge, nice to meet you. I'm honored to be in the same group as you. My name is Fang Yi. I look forward to your guidance over the next few days."
Zhou Chaosheng politely shook his hand. "Nice to meet you."
Fang Yi quickly let go and turned to Jiang Yuanye. "How should I address you?"
Jiang Yuanye casually said, "Just call me Lovien... And the two ladies?"
Jiang Man brushed her hair aside. "You can call me Xiao Man or Manman."
Jiang Yunzhi covered her mouth and chuckled. "Jiang Yunzhi, but you can call me Yunzhi."
After the two ladies introduced themselves, Lucas waved the small flag in his hand. "Alright, now that we all know each other's names, let's go have breakfast."
Zhuo Chenyang quickly raised his hand. "Wait, wait! I haven't introduced myself yet."
Jiang Yuanye was amused. "What's your name?"
"Zhuo Chenyang. Zhuo as in Zhuo Wei, Chen as in morning light, and Yang as in the sun. I'm currently in the self-media industry."
Jiang Yuanye nodded in understanding and pulled out his phone. "Got a social media account? I'll follow you."
Among everyone present, Zhuo Chenyang was the only one who knew Jiang Yuanye’s identity. Seeing his idol and his idol’s former rival together had already been a shock, and now he was even more overwhelmed. "Jiang—"
Under Jiang Yuanye’s raised eyebrow, Zhuo Chenyang quickly corrected himself. "Jiang Taigong Travels the World. You can find me on Bilibili or Douyin."
Jiang Yuanye followed him on both platforms and skimmed through his content. It seemed similar to a travel vlogger’s style.
"You’ve got quite a lot of followers." Jiang Yuanye scrolled through and tapped on a video. The thumbnail showed a snowy landscape in Norway, captioned 'A Glimpse of the Icebergs at the Edge of the World' over a million views and 100,000 likes.
Zhuo Chenyang scratched his head sheepishly. "Not really, nothing compared to the big creators."
"No need to compare yourself to others. You're already doing great." Jiang Yuanye tossed him a casual compliment. "If you want to compare, just compare yourself to yesterday. Right now, you have 507,000 followers so how about aiming for a round number by tomorrow? Think you can do it?"
Zhou Chaosheng, walking behind the tour guide, deliberately slowed his pace and kept a certain distance ahead of Jiang Yuanye. When he heard this, he couldn't help but glance back.
Jiang Yuanye had already slung an arm around Zhuo Chenyang’s shoulders. The latter was grinning, though he still scratched his head hesitantly. "That’s kinda hard, Jiang-ge."
"What’s so hard about it?… You’ve got a camera in that backpack, right?"
"Yes, and a drone too."
"You’re well-equipped. Are you planning to film every scenic spot today?"
"Yeah, but don’t worry, Jiang-ge. I definitely won’t record you or President Zhou."
"That’s not what I meant. I just noticed something while watching your videos—you always film beautiful landscapes, but you don’t do any narration or insert any commentary." Jiang Yuanye paused deliberately before adding, "But your music timing is great. If you added some narration, it would be even better."
Zhuo Chenyang seemed to realize his own shortcoming and scratched his head. "My voice doesn’t sound good… And I never know what to say. I'm afraid I'll mess up the video."
"No problem, I’ll teach you. Take out your camera." Jiang Yuanye said casually.
Zhuo Chenyang took off his backpack and pulled out his camera bag. As Jiang Yuanye walked beside him, he naturally got a clear view of the items inside.
Jiang Yuanye glanced at the figure walking ahead and chuckled. "You really are deeply attached to your former company. You’ve already quit, but you're still using their products."
"Jiang-ge, that’s not it. Huajie’s drones are really good. Not just that, they’re top-notch in the industry." Zhuo Chenyang’s tone carried an unmistakable pride, as if he were still part of Huajie, sharing in its success.
Even now, hearing praise for Huajie didn’t stir any feelings of rivalry or resentment in Jiang Yuanye. Instead… he couldn’t quite describe it. Maybe it was a strange kind of satisfaction.
"Is that a Nikon Z9?"
Zhuo Chenyang was quickly distracted by the question. "Yeah! You’re amazing, you recognized the model at a glance."
"Of course. I’ve researched pretty much every electronic product out there. Don’t believe me? Show me a random picture, and I’ll tell you the model in one look." Jiang Yuanye said.
Zhuo Chenyang, perhaps influenced by his old company, had often compared his "competitor" and its founder, Jiang Yuanye, to his own President Zhou in private discussions with colleagues.
Now, hearing this, Zhuo Chenyang couldn’t resist the urge to test him. He immediately pulled out his phone and started searching for images.
"Jiang-ge, what about this one?"
"Canon 5D Mark IV, released in 2016."
"…And this?"
"Sony A7S II, released in 2015."
Zhuo Chenyang refused to accept defeat and insisted on finding a model that was not commonly seen on the market. “Jiang-ge, one last one.”
Jiang Yuanye asked, “Can you zoom in?”
Zhuo Chenyang used two fingers to enlarge the image. Jiang Yuanye leaned in, carefully examined it for a few moments, then smiled and said, “Peony Large Crank Twin-Lens Reflex Camera, produced in 1974.”
After three rounds, Zhuo Chenyang was completely convinced. “Jiang-ge, you really are good.”
Jiang Yuanye replied modestly, “Just average, just average.”
Walking not far ahead, Zhou Chaosheng overheard this and couldn’t help but curve his lips slightly. What ‘just average’? Clearly, he can’t wait to announce to the world, ‘I’m the best’, not third in the world but number one.
The tour guide was introducing local culinary specialties to the group ahead, speaking loudly enough for the voice to carry several meters. Yet, Zhou Chaosheng could only focus on the conversation happening behind him.
“Come on, you shoot, I’ll do the commentary on the side.”
“Is that okay, Jiang-ge?”
“Of course, what’s the big deal…” Jiang Yuanye paused for a moment. “But I’m only demonstrating this once. Next time, you do it yourself.”
“Got it, Jiang-ge.”
Their tones were filled with enthusiasm.
“Wait a sec,” Jiang Yuanye suddenly thought of something. “Are you allowed to film?”
“Yes, as long as I don’t capture faces,” Zhuo Chenyang said.
Jiang Yuanye responded with an “Oh,” then signaled for Zhuo Chenyang to aim his camera at the vibrantly colored houses along the street. Most of these houses were short, with low floors and steep roofs shaped like triangular cones, resembling the wooden rooftops from Up.
“Three, two…”
Zhuo Chenyang pressed the record button.
Zhou Chaosheng turned around, his gaze passing through the bustling street crowd, landing directly on that figure.
Jiang Yuanye stood with his back to him, people constantly passing by, brushing past his shoulders and arms, dissolving into shifting light and shadow. The fading silhouettes dragged out their afterimages, gradually blurring from Zhou Chaosheng’s view.
Only the person at the center became clearer, bit by bit.
“Strolling through Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, in this candy-colored city, every sight is a picturesque scene…”
Jiang Yuanye’s voice was unlike his usual lazy, unhurried, and carefree tone. Instead, it was calm, carrying a warmth and clarity, like a tranquil spring gently flowing.
“This is the first stop on our journey through Iceland.”