The curly-haired young master stood in the doorway and asked softly, “Twenty years of family affection, worth less than a single blood test. Tossed aside just like that. Are you telling me you feel no anger, no resentment at all?”

“Don’t you want to prove yourself to the He family? To show them that losing you was their loss?”

“Don’t you want to rise from the ashes, to rely on your own strength and become one of the capital’s new elite?”

He tilted his chin, gesturing toward the interior of the house. “Or are you content to start from this shabby little room, developing slowly and painstakingly?”

“At that rate, by the time you can openly return to the capital, Mr. He Senior will probably have been retired for years.”

There was no response.

Lin Chen glanced over and saw that He Wenyuan’s mouth was set in a flat line, his face devoid of expression. But the faint throb of a vein in his forehead betrayed his true feelings.

A look of delight crossed the curly-haired young master’s face. “You see, Mr. He Wenyuan? You have the ability, and I have the spare cash.”

“Don’t you think our resources are a perfect match?”

He Wenyuan said listlessly, “Two hours ago, He Zhengqi, through a servant, offered me a deal. As long as I was willing to leave the capital and never return, I could have ten million from him. I refused.”

“Over the past month, the Yu family, the Fang family, and the Yuan family have all approached me, wanting to invest. Their offers weren’t low, either. I refused them all.”

He lowered his eyes to the young master before him and asked calmly, “So, what about you?”

“What makes you any different from them?”

The curly-haired young master’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

He spread his hands and walked into the house without hesitation, slowly circling He Wenyuan.

“Is it the money you’re refusing, Young Master He?”

“No, of course not. You’re refusing Mr. He’s charity. You’re refusing the control the other families might exert over you. But me?”

“I’ve just arrived in the capital, just returned to the Qi family. The intricate social circles of this city have nothing to do with me. The Qi family’s power and influence are not in my hands.”

“Therefore, I am here representing only myself. I won’t manipulate you or control you. I have neither the ability nor the intention to use my family’s power to pressure or coerce you.”

“I provide the money, you provide the effort. I won’t meddle in any of your actions, nor will I interfere with any of your business decisions.”

A smile graced the young master’s face. Just as he circled back to the doorway, he opened his arms toward He Wenyuan.

His chin was lifted slightly, revealing a long, slender, and pale neck without a trace of defense. The last rays of the setting sun painted him in a final golden glow.

“I’ll cover your losses if you fail, and you’ll share the profits if you succeed.”

“A deal with no downside. Mr. He, aren’t you tempted to give it a try?”

The air grew still.

He Wenyuan stared fixedly at him, not realizing that his gaze had been locked on the other man from the very beginning, his head turning to follow his circling path.

The bewitching smile and the clean, lingering scent of cologne enveloped He Wenyuan’s mind and body.

The minus-five-degree wind suddenly didn’t feel so cold.

He Wenyuan blinked slowly and asked, “Angel investors have their pick of promising projects in the venture capital world. Why me? Right now, I can’t even produce a project proposal.”

Lin Chen smiled, his gentle voice like the sound of a devil drawing a bow across a violin, filling every atom of the air with a magical, infectious quality.

He said, “Because I see the potential in you, not in the potential of any single project proposal.”

“My investment is in you, the person, not in one of your projects.”

“As long as you nod, you can take this money and try any project you want. If you lose it, I’ll take the hit. If you make a profit, you give me my cut. It’s that simple.”

He Wenyuan calmly tugged at his collar, letting the frigid air rush in to cool his inexplicably feverish body.

An “investor” who wanted to bet on him, personally.

On him, He Wenyuan, and not on any connection he had to the He family.

If such an investment were ever exposed, it could even draw the He family’s displeasure, or even their enmity.

He Wenyuan wondered if this person was just impulsively ignorant or truly that audacious.

To dare to place his chips on the table and bet on him before he had proven anything at all.

He Wenyuan’s heart was beating a little fast.

His exhausted mind, running on fumes after thirty hours without sleep, tried desperately to find the traps and loopholes in the other’s words.

But he couldn’t.

“Qi Wendong’s” words were just like his smile—so clear and transparent they seemed to contain not a single falsehood.

After a moment of silence, he asked, “How much can you offer?”

Lin Chen smiled. “Thirty million for the first year.”

“Three million in seed funding. As long as you can show me your capabilities, I will follow up with two more rounds of investment after six months and one year.”

“I won’t ask for much of the profit-sharing rights, either. Just 60%. How about it?”

He Wenyuan said coolly, “A dynamic split. Before you break even, you take 70%. After, you take 40%. Since you promise not to interfere with my decisions, then all decision-making power belongs to me. How’s that?”

Lin Chen insisted, “60%.”

He Wenyuan raised an eyebrow. “It seems you are ve-ry optimistic about my future.”

Lin Chen offered a friendly reminder. “An investor as straightforward and proactive as me isn’t easy to find, you know.”

He Wenyuan was silent for a moment, then said slowly, “Fine. As long as my absolute decision-making power is guaranteed, the profit share is negotiable.”

Under the curly-haired young master’s bright gaze, he hesitantly reached out to shake hands, only to have his hand gripped tightly.

The young master’s burning gaze seemed to pierce right through his chest, his tone tinged with joy. “Are you free tomorrow evening at this time? CC Cafe, second-floor private room, B Street, A-District. I’ll have the contract ready.”

He Wenyuan stared at his inexplicably tightly held hand. “…Alright.”

The young master added cheerfully, “And after we break even, you have to compensate me three hundred thousand for getting my clothes dirty just now.”

He Wenyuan’s eye twitched. “Isn’t that a complete rip-off? A brand new custom order of this Fimmmm jacket wouldn’t even cost that much!”

The young master looked innocent. “Shouldn’t emotional damages be calculated? Or, if you don’t want to pay, you can apologize to me right now.”

He Wenyuan: “.”

He Wenyuan calmly chose, “Three hundred thousand.”

The young master beamed. “I’m delighted to have reached an agreement with you, Mr. He Wenyuan. Well then, please be punctual for our meeting tomorrow!”

…

On the way home, the System was ecstatic. “Host, your favorability score has gone from -1 all the way up to 10!”

Lin Chen: “Oh? That high? He truly is the protagonist of the original novel—so open-minded, tolerant, upright, and friendly!”

The System was melancholic. “But you didn’t complete the mission at all! The clothes and new residence He Wenyuan needs… you didn’t provide a single one!”

Lin Chen argued, “How is that not completing it? I offered him a grand vision, a clear path to rising again without any delay. How is that not a ‘different kind of warmth’?”

The System hesitated. “Is that… warm?”

Lin Chen’s voice boomed, “Thirty million!”

System: “That… does seem to make sense…”

“Wait, hold on…” The System’s world began to crumble as realization dawned.

“Host, you just promised away your only thirty million! That’s your entire income for the next year!”

“You even promised parts of it you haven’t received yet! This… this… if anything goes wrong on either end, what are you going to do?!”

A hidden, proud curve appeared at the corner of Lin Chen’s mouth.

He sat in the back of the taxi, his elbow resting on the open window, watching the unfamiliar scenery fly past. The thought of the large, city-center apartment he might one day earn in the capital lifted his spirits, and his tone softened.

Lin Chen told the System, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

“So—for the Qi family issue, trust me. For the investment issue, trust the original novel.”

“I would never joke around with my start-up capital.”

“And I certainly wouldn’t joke around with my new career.”

…

When Qi Wendong returned to the Qi family home, the butler had already summoned a team of security guards to stand by the bedroom door, ready to pry it open on command.

The butler himself was pacing back and forth outside the door, worried sick, occasionally knocking and offering a few words of earnest persuasion.

Upon seeing Qi Wendong, the butler’s eyes lit up with joy, and he hurried down the stairs to greet him.

“Young Master Wendong, you’re finally back!”

Qi Wendong: “Mm. Tell me what’s going on.”

The butler pulled him aside and whispered with a troubled face, “Young Master Xiuyi has locked himself in his room for a whole day. He won’t eat, won’t even use the bathroom! Before, he would at least smash things, but since this afternoon…唉, he hasn’t made a sound!”

The butler gave a wry smile. “We’ve tried everything, but Young Master Xiuyi won’t respond at all, let alone open the door. I-I was just so worried he might do something impulsive in there, that’s why I asked for your help.”

The butler said cautiously, “Young Master Xiuyi was, after all, raised by Mr. Qi for twenty years. Mr. Qi has no intention of kicking him out of the house. Young Master, you see…”

The butler wasn’t confident that this new young master would agree.

After all, logically, there was a huge conflict of interest between the new and old young masters. What if Young Master Wendong…

To his surprise, the new young master just gave him a faint glance and cut him off. “All I have to do is find a way to make him open the door?”

The butler was overjoyed. “Yes! Young Master, you have an idea?”

Qi Wendong nodded, walked past the butler, and went upstairs.

The servants quickly parted to either side, clearing a path for the new young master.

“Young Master!”

“Young Master.”

“Young Master…”

Qi Wendong raised a hand to stop their greetings, walked up to Qi Xiuyi’s door, and knocked.

Knock, knock.

No response.

The butler stood to the side, tense and hopeful. Seeing this, he gave the new young master a helpless look that said, “See? This is what I’m dealing with.”

Qi Wendong was in no hurry. He waited three seconds, then knocked twice more.

Knock, knock.

This time, he spoke to the door in a placid tone.

“It’s me.”

“Dad just called me. He asked how you and I are getting along. I told him we’re doing fine, that you like me quite a lot. What do you think of that answer?”

The moment he finished speaking, the door was violently thrown open.

A hate-filled gaze appeared, along with a clenched fist that rapidly grew larger in Qi Wendong’s vision.

“Qi! Wen! Dong! I’ll f***ing kill you!”