Throughout the journey from Xihu City back to Yanzhou, the eyes of the little sixteen-year-old girl were all teary as it suspiciously corresponded with how a newly married wife would look after the night of consummation, complete with bashful delicateness and lingering affection.

  Yet, such a thing had clearly not occurred! There had just been a bit of kissing and a bit of touching, and only the waist.

  Xu Tingsheng very much felt like saying: Yo, if you return home like this and your parents see, Uncle’s pretty much a goner.

  As they arrived at the doorstep of the Xiang family home, Xiang Ning asked, “Are you going to my house?”


  Xu Tingsheng answered, “I daren’t go.”


  Xiang Ning asked, “Why? Are you still afraid of Mum and Dad?”


  Xu Tingsheng said, “I’m afraid that you’ll keep on looking at me like this.”


  Little Xiang Ning showed her teeth in a grin, saying, “School’s about to start. It’ll be hard to see me then even if you want to, hmph.”


  Carrying her red backpack, she energetically hopped off the car. The young girl who was already evoking nostalgia in Xu Tingsheng whether in terms of personality or looks waved daintily at Xu Tingsheng.

  She scooped up some water by the clothes-washing basin in the courtyard and washed her face.

  Xu Tingsheng watched as she entered her house and waved goodbye. Then, he drove to a few real estate companies and chose a second-hand flat on the top floor located close to the district of Yanzhou’s old first-tier senior high. At 120 square metres in total, it also came with a small balcony.

  The flat itself had not been renovated much and was not all that aesthetically pleasing. Still, it was simple, and simple things were generally easier to accept. In order to move in as soon as possible, Xu Tingsheng did not intend to renovate the flat once more. Still, as other people had previously lived there before, using their old furniture just felt kind of strange. After receiving the house keys, Xu Tingsheng immediately made arrangements for cleaning, disinfection as well as the changing of most of the furniture.

  After completing the relevant procedures and paying the money, checking his card, Xu Tingsheng found that he had less than twenty thousand yuan still remaining.

  The sales lady from the real estate company chased after him and knocked on the car window, asking respectfully, “Sir, if we are able to get flats from Ning Garden at the eastern riverbank, would you be interested? While it may cost a bit more, I feel you should be able to afford it.”


  “The flats there are very desirable properties,” She added.

  Due to the high pricing of Ning Garden’s flats, quite a lengthy process was needed for the real estate companies to get their hands on them. Additionally, the flats would cost around twenty percent more. Most people could never accept this. Seeing as Xu Tingsheng had so readily dished out this amount for a flat, this real estate company saw him as a potential customer.

  Someone wanted to sell Xu Tingsheng a flat from Ning Garden.

  “Thank you. I know about that. Still, I can’t afford it,” Xu Tingsheng said.

  “How could that be? What a sense of humour you have, sir,” The sales lady said.

  “Really, I’m absolutely serious. That Ning Garden is really too expensive for me.”


  Xu Tingsheng forced a smile before revving the engine of his car and waving goodbye.

  The more he strove, the ‘poorer’ he got. The harder he worked, the more he lacked money.

  While he controlled Hucheng, Zhicheng and Xingchen Technologies and his family also had the Happy Shoppers franchise, Xu Tingsheng had never had sufficient liquid assets on hand before.

  Zhicheng had still not reached the point where money could be transferred away from it. Xingchen Technologies was still burning money to sustain Weibo. Coupled with his investments in a bar and movie, the initial sum of money possessed by Xu Tingsheng and Tianyi’s bonus were already no more.

  Happy Shoppers itself had never ceased in its development as it still required funds. Xu Tingsheng would feel embarrassed to ask for money from his family.

  Thus, it was only Hucheng from which he currently still derived a stable income, acquiring his funds. While Hucheng had resumed its free services as a platform, some hundreds of thousands came from ‘Are You Hungry’ every day, and there was also a big market for the sale of supplementary educational materials. Hucheng was already in the top three in the educational materials market, with much income flowing in from it everyday……

  The problem was that Xu Tingsheng could not always keep on taking from Hucheng. Many of Hucheng’s development plans were still being delayed due to insufficient funds.

  “Sometimes, I’m really tempted to sell Weibo, saving up a sum of money and some real estate before receiving bonuses from Hucheng and Zhicheng and living stably till old age just like that,” Xu Tingsheng thought.

  Yet, he had been satisfied simply with stability in his previous life, thus missing out on the years when he could strive freely towards his own career. He had thought that he could just live out his life till old age just like that……yet in the end, he had been unable to remain that way throughout his life, having taken a risk once and suffered multiple losses as a result.

  The heavens had given him a perfect opportunity in this life to start over again. Xu Tingsheng was unable to know if there might come a day when having given up, he wished to pursue his dreams once more, yet the chance for that was already past.

  “There’s still time. I should give it at least two more years.”
……

  Early September.

  Senior high started for Xiang Ning. She actually really made it into the experimental class. With her talent and foundation in studying, Xu Tingsheng felt that letting her stay in the experimental class might not be such a good thing. It was very possible that it would hurt her confidence and self-esteem instead.

  If Xu Tingsheng could be the decision-maker, he would switch Xiang Ning over to a normal class. That she could be a bit happier was still more important.

  Still, Xu Tingsheng had no say in it. Little Xiang Ning was still under the authority of her parents, who were currently over the moon and full of confidence at their daughter having entered the experimental class. Xu Tingsheng was not even qualified to go with her on the first day of school, let alone dish out such an opinion that was virtually equivalent to courting death.

  Standing on the balcony of the newly bought flat, he was able to see the school field of Yanzhou first-tier senior high’s old campus. Holding a glass of wine and standing there, Xu Tingsheng recalled those days when he had sat at the hill behind Xinyan Senior High for some entire afternoons.

  The house was bustling with activity. As the university semester began a bit later, his friends who were about to enter their third year of university and some of those from the Black Horse Club bought their own alcohol and food and came over, claiming that they wished to celebrate him buying a house whereas what they really desired was just someplace to hang out together.

  “Come back in, Xu Tingsheng.”


  “Yeah, ya beast, hurry up and come in.”


  Hearing this, Xu Tingsheng returned to the interior of the flat upon which he was pulled over before the computer to sit down.

  They said, “There’s an article here saying that your Xingchen Technologies has continuously been burning money, that your capital chain is going to break.”


  Xu Tingsheng looked and saw: minor farmer mentality, rejection of joint investment, lacking in funds, troubling predicament, prospects bleak.

  “The media’s great at talking rubbish.”


  “Just treat it like they’re farting.”


  Such were the comments.

  Xu Tingsheng lit a cigarette, smiling as he said, “What’s being said is right.”


  Cash is king. What Xu Tingsheng lacked most right now was none other than cash. It was not that he had never considered or discussed joint investment before. Still, perhaps it was really his ‘minor farmer mentality’ at work that with merely 32 percent of Hucheng’s shares and 23 percent of Zhicheng’s shares in his possession, Xu Tingsheng naturally wished to fully own Xingchen Technologies.

  He had to rely on Weibo for a lot of things. As the time of his rebirth was late, he had missed out on QQ as the possibility of toppling it was also low indeed. Xu Tingsheng’s hopes lay with being able to create a Weibo that was different from that in his previous life. To be precise, he wished to create a Weibo that was more QQ-like. There was much that could be done based upon that foundation.

  Therefore, to allow joint investment in the current Weibo……in terms of valuation, it was too much of a loss.

  “I have to think of a way to earn quick money in the short term. Even though the longevity of the projects may not be all that long, reaping in the cash is the most important.”


  This was not the first time he had thought about this.

  Yet, as he was basically a total scrub with regard to finance, Xu Tingsheng actually didn’t have many methods for this. His did not possess that much knowledge from his previous life, merely being a normal person. Hence, what he could think of were only games……even if he had to start from the simplest.

  If he were to develop games on the foundation of Weibo’s customer base, while there might not be much that he could do, it would also not be little.