His sister's simple sentence made Cheng Zhu's heart melt.
Damn it, my sister is really adorable!
With Cheng Zhu's current mentality and experience, ordinary women couldn't move his heart at all. But with a few sweet words from his little sister, and he would be willing to do anything she asked.
It was like being in the clouds, completely surrendered!
How could he not get his beloved princess a castle?
Making money, in this life, required even more effort to achieve.
While drinking the green bean soup, Cheng Zhu immersed himself in his memories.
"Thinking about it, I still feel I owe Youzi", thought Cheng Zhu.
In his memory, his sister Xiao You, when she was small, was an especially lively and mischievous girl. However, after entering middle school, she began to become increasingly reserved and shy.
Cheng Zhu discovered by chance that during secondary school she had suffered verbal bullying from some female classmates, simply because she had developed earlier than others.
Even the loose uniform couldn't hide it, and that led to her being called derogatory names.
This made Xiao Youzi start to hunch over and walk with her shoulders drooped, which over time affected her posture and undermined her confidence. For girls, posture and bearing are really important. The same face can look completely different depending on the bearing and confidence one has.
This matter was told to him by a close friend of Xiao Youzi, which made Cheng Zhu angry to the point of wanting to confront those girls who had bullied her.
That girl loved chatting with Cheng Zhu, thinking that her best friend's older brother was completely different from the boys at school.
Cheng Zhu later tried to get his sister to take pilates classes, which cost hundreds per session, and hired someone to correct her posture, but the personality change was difficult to reverse.
"In the future, I will have to pay more attention to these problems," he said to himself.
With this thought, he got up and headed to the restaurant kitchen.
"Did you arrive?", his father, Cheng Donglai, glanced at his son and said, with a neutral tone.
The Cheng family was known for being more affectionate with daughters than with sons. Cheng Donglai was a devotee of his daughter, and treated his son in a more relaxed way, as long as he didn't cause trouble outside.
"Dad, is there anything I can help with?", he asked.
Old Cheng, while frying meat with peppers, looked at his son with a bit of surprise and only said a few words:
"Go out and enjoy the air."
Cheng Zhu didn't insist, and obediently left the kitchen.
Old Cheng looked at his son's back and murmured to himself:
"What a strange thing, this slacker offering help."
Cheng Zhu returned to the table, and while sitting down, began to reflect again.
"If I remember correctly, this year the uncle will come to scam us out of money, leaving our family without savings in the following years, and my father Cheng will have to work hard."
"After that, his health was never good, probably because he worked too much during those years."
This world is like this for the poor: everything that can be solved with money is often solved at the expense of something more valuable, like health, life, time, dignity...
Many people sacrifice their health to earn money while they are young, and then spend that money trying to recover their health when they get sick.
Fortunately, after that, Cheng Zhu's career was quite successful, and he always worried a lot about his parents' health. Over time, Old Cheng's health improved year after year, and his mother, Xu Yun, became younger and younger.
He was lucky that his success coincided with his parents' aging.
"The desire to care for parents, but not having time to do it, is something not everyone achieves," thought Cheng Zhu.
"But since I have been reborn, I should ensure they live even better," he promised himself.
Making money, he had to do it as fast as possible.
With this thought, he took his phone and opened WeChat. To get his first capital, he needed to contact someone immediately.
This person was called Jiang Wanzhou, one of his closest friends, besides Wang Anquan.
Both had been classmates since elementary school, secondary school, and also in the same college, practically they had grown up together.
The name "Wanzhou" comes from a poetic line that means "boat at sunset, singing on the shores of the vast lake."
Yes, it is the same line that everyone in school memorized with difficulty from the essay "The Tower of Prince Teng".
Cheng Zhu remembered that studying and memorizing was painful, but after leaving school, over the years, he understood that what was in the language books were precious gems.
He checked the conversation history with Jiang Wanzhou to catch up with the current status.
Soon, his attention focused on a message where Jiang Wanzhou had told him that his cousin had opened a new bar and invited him to visit it.
Many people, during their school years, seemed to have in their class an "effeminate" boy and also very rich classmates. But in Cheng Zhu's youth, these two combined in one: Jiang Wanzhou.
He was a boy with delicate features, soft voice, and feminine gestures, emanating an essence that made him look like an 'intriguing' youth.
If Cheng Zhu sweated a lot, he simply wiped his face with his hand.
Jiang Wanzhou, on the other hand, used his hands to fan himself delicately.
But despite his appearance, Jiang Wanzhou had the dream of becoming a business president. Can you believe it?
"What domineering president walks in small steps wearing a black coat?", Cheng Zhu thought to himself.
However, one had to admit that Jiang Wanzhou really had money.
During school, it was rumored that his family owned a complete street of shops.
Cheng Zhu didn't believe it, since he had never seen Jiang Wanzhou spend money extravagantly, never wasted food, and had never seen him show off.
When he commented this to Jiang Wanzhou, he immediately denied it with a gesture:
"Impossible! It's not that exaggerated!"
"That's what I said!", laughed Cheng Zhu.
Later he found out that Jiang Wanzhou's family really did have a street of shops, but he had denied it because, in his mind, to consider owning a whole street, he had to have shops on both sides of the street, not just one side.
Since then, Cheng Zhu started calling him "Jiang Zong" (Boss Jiang), while Jiang Wanzhou kept calling him "Zhu Ge" (Brother Zhu).
With such a wealthy childhood friend, one would think Cheng Zhu's business path would be easier.
But it wasn't like that.
They seemed to have bad luck working together.
However, when they separated, both prospered individually.
It could be said that "separated they were incredible, together they were a disaster."
Cheng Zhu used to think: "His yin energy is too intense, probably affecting me negatively."
At that moment, he wrote a message:
[You said you would invite me for a drink at your cousin's bar [Jiu Yin], how about we go tonight?]
Look how he asks to be invited, and even chooses the date!
"How dare you talk to me like that! Call me Jiang Zong," replied Jiang with a joking tone, but his message was immediate.
"Jiang Zong! Invite me!", replied Cheng Zhu.
He could understand Jiang Wanzhou's frustration because upon checking the history of their conversations, he noticed that Jiang Wanzhou had invited him several times during the summer, but Cheng Zhu was more focused on his romantic relationship, leaving his friend aside.
Now is the time to bring him out of oblivion!
Besides, Cheng Zhu proposed spending the night together in a hotel.
The reason was simple: he planned to work late that night, and if he returned home at dawn, his parents wouldn't react well.
It would be better not to return and tell them he would stay at Jiang Wanzhou's house.
As for Jiang Wanzhou's family, it was curious. They didn't accept their son returning at dawn, but they did accept him not returning at all.
Cheng Zhu's family feared he would get into trouble if he didn't return home.
Jiang Wanzhou's family, seeing him always so refined, feared he would never get into trouble.
"Fortunately, now it is 2014, and there aren't so many intriguing characters in society yet."
"If things were different, Jiang's family would probably be more worried."
Of course, Cheng Zhu knew that Jiang Wanzhou was not gay, despite his appearance, he had no interest in men, he was just naturally refined.
Cheng Zhu's mother, Xu Yun, upon knowing he would spend the night at Jiang Wanzhou's house, wanted to ask more, but today, flattered by her son and in a good mood, she didn't say anything more.
As night fell, before ten, Jiang Wanzhou arrived in his Mercedes Benz G to pick up Cheng Zhu.
Both had finished high school and quickly obtained their driver's licenses.
The difference was that Cheng Zhu had a license but no car, while Jiang Wanzhou had so many cars at home that he didn't know which one to choose.
In 2014, the Mercedes Benz G had not yet been redesigned and did not have the reputation it would acquire years later with the nickname "rascals drive G".
Many people didn't even know its price, thinking it was just another Mercedes.
But upon getting in, Cheng Zhu noticed that the comfort wasn't the best, and felt a bit uncomfortable.
Jiang Wanzhou, at his age, should prefer his mother's white Bentley.
However, although he had a delicate air, his dream was to be a domineering president, so he preferred a more imposing car.
Cheng Zhu got into the car and closed the door, listening to the characteristic "door closing" sound of a Mercedes G, like loading a bullet.
"Long time no see, Jiang Zong!", greeted Cheng Zhu sincerely.
"Do you still remember how much time has passed?", replied Jiang Wanzhou, giving him a light slap on the arm.
"Why didn't you go to your date today?", asked Jiang with an ironic tone.
Cheng Zhu remembered that Jiang Wanzhou had always been against his relationship with Li Xinyue, thinking she wasn't good for him, but Cheng Zhu hadn't listened to him.
"We broke up," said Cheng Zhu.
"What!?", Jiang Wanzhou was surprised, and started giving him pats on the shoulder, more and more excited.
"Focus on driving!", exclaimed Cheng Zhu, worried.
"So, did you remember me because you got dumped and want to drown your sorrows? When you were in a relationship, you couldn't even make time to have dinner," replied Jiang Wanzhou, in a joking tone.
"I didn't get dumped! Why are you so anxious to compete for attention?", replied Cheng Zhu, annoyed. "Which side do you stand on when you read stories of domineering presidents?"
"Stop talking nonsense!", exclaimed Jiang Wanzhou.
Cheng Zhu noticed he was wearing gold metal glasses.
But far from looking like a president, he looked more like a shy intellectual.
He decided to stop joking and asked:
"Jiang Zong, how is business at your cousin's bar?"
"It wasn't going well, but with the World Cup it's full of people, drinking and watching football. My cousin, who is a big fan, even asked me if I wanted to bet, that he could place a thousand bet for me."
Cheng Zhu, for several reasons, had met Jiang Wanzhou's cousin in his past life, a generous boy, lover of spectacle, and a football fan.
Apparently carefree, Cheng Zhu asked with a plan in mind:
"Could you help me make a bet?"
"Sure, add him on WeChat and make a transfer to him. He always tells me his betting odds are better than the official ones," replied Jiang Wanzhou.
"How many hundreds do you plan to bet? This CEO will play with you," added Jiang Wanzhou, showing interest.