Fang Ji: “!”

Fang Ji was tempted and hesitant. “He Wenyan? That’s a good suggestion, but he must be very busy with the early stages of his startup. How would he have time to help me?”

Li Yunhui: “Oh, that’s simple.”

Li Yunhui made a call on the spot. “Hello? Wenyan? Are you busy lately? I want to discuss something with you… Hey, don’t be so quick to refuse. Haven’t you been trying to land that supplier from Country A and haven’t been able to? What a coincidence, he’s the friend of the son of the aunt of the great-uncle of my godfather’s cousin… Yes, just come over now. The Fang family’s main residence, you remember where that is, right? Okay, waiting for you.”

After hanging up, he gave Fang Ji a triumphant look and smiled. “How about that? I did you a big favor. You’re welcome.”

Fang Ji clapped his hands dramatically, his jewelry clinking and clattering. “Wow, as expected of A’Hui! Okay, don’t you worry. If your dad ever really cuts you off financially, I, Fang Ji, will definitely support you fully. I’ll never let you end up on the streets.”

Just as Fang Ji finished speaking, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure suddenly appearing.

Fang Ji looked up joyfully and saw that it was indeed his brother coming out.

He waved to his brother and called out, “Brother, do you want to come down for some fruit!”

Fang Chengyu descended the stairs unhurriedly and took the grape his younger brother handed him.

Then, his smiling eyes turned to Li Yunhui. “What were you two just talking about that made you so happy?”

After Fang Ji eagerly explained to his brother, Fang Chengyu asked curiously, “Oh? Does Yunhui have a wide social circle?”

Li Yunhui replied modestly, “My father has been doing business abroad for many years, so we have accumulated more connections overseas. I occasionally get to meet some people.”

Fang Chengyu: “Oh—”

Fang Chengyu smiled. “If Yunhui were to do business, with such strong connections, many things should become much easier, right?”

Li Yunhui said with regret, “Not really. Our family’s connections are mostly overseas and are relatively concentrated in certain areas. They’re rarely useful for regular business.”

Fang Chengyu chatted with him with considerable interest for a few more sentences, then sat down on the side under the pretext of eating fruit.

It wasn’t long before a white SUV drove into the front yard of the Fang residence, visible through the large floor-to-ceiling windows.

Li Yunhui was the first to notice. “Hey, he’s here!”

Fang Ji stood up, pressed his brother back onto the sofa, and popped a piece of watermelon into his mouth, smiling. “Brother, you wait here. A’Hui and I will go out to greet him.”

Fang Chengyu blinked slowly and said, “Okay.”

The two stood up and went out.

Lin Chen crossed his legs, rested his elbow on the sofa, and looked outside.

He Wenyan was wearing a black suit today, the white shirt underneath unbuttoned slightly at the collar. A wine-red tie, long since pulled off, was draped over his arm.

He greeted Fang Ji and Li Yunhui, and while taking off his black suit jacket and draping it over his arm with the tie, he spoke to the two of them, striding towards the main entrance of the Fang residence.

His steps were large and fast, and he immediately quickened Fang Ji’s and Li Yunhui’s pace.

Li Yunhui joked, “Yo, CEO He, what’s the rush today? It’s still so early.”

He Wenyan said calmly, “It’s 4:30. I have a meeting with a very important client at seven tonight. I have to leave by six. So let’s make this quick. We can schedule another time for any unresolved issues.”

Fang Ji was shocked. “An hour and a half! Is that enough??”

He Wenyan asked quickly, “Quick, tell me what the situation is. You want to start a business? What industry? What product? What are the product features and positioning? What about the target customer group? What’s the current market for this product? What’s the initial investment? What’s the estimated team size?”

Fang Ji: “…”

Fang Ji’s little bells stopped ringing. He answered drily, “The jewelry industry. Mainly creating and selling musical art jewelry designed by me. The initial investment is…”

Just as the three of them entered the house, Fang Chengyu saw this scene.

He Wenyan was striding forward, rolling up his sleeves, his head tilted to the side. Fang Ji, next to him, was answering haltingly and with great difficulty, looking like a student who had been caught daydreaming in class and was now being grilled.

Fang Chengyu sighed and stood up.

“The initial investment is within twenty million, and the team size, excluding the manufacturing department, is estimated to be within 30 people.”

A slightly unfamiliar voice suddenly interjected into the conversation. He Wenyan couldn’t help but look up at the man inside the house who had stood up and was walking towards them.

Long, wavy hair came into view, and He Wenyan immediately remembered where he had seen this person before.

He subconsciously looked at Fang Chengyu’s eyes. Those eyes were not as distinctive as the fox-like eyes of the two native residents of the Qi family, but they were incredibly quiet and deep, with what seemed like specks of starlight at the very bottom, quietly twinkling.

They were exactly the same as someone who had just passed away at the beginning of this year.

The familiar and strange feeling of “seeing a ghost” once again washed over He Wenyan’s entire body after many days.

He Wenyan’s sleeve, halfway rolled up, suddenly stopped.

His gaze was stunned. The moment his eyes met Fang Chengyu’s, a cold numbness spread up his spine, as if he had been quietly entangled by something like a ghost.

Fang Chengyu smiled and walked to Fang Ji’s side, patting the head of the poor little bell that had stopped ringing, as if to comfort him.

Then he naturally extended a hand to He Wenyan. “Hello, Wenyan. I’m Fang Ji’s older brother, Fang Chengyu. I only returned to the Fang family a few months ago. This should be our first formal meeting, right?”

He Wenyan: “…”

He Wenyan reached out his hand, reservedly and trying hard to remain calm. “Yes, hello. I’m He Wenyan. I’ve heard your name, Teacher Chengyu.”

Teacher Chengyu gave him a gentle smile. “No need to call me ‘teacher’ outside of school. You can call me ‘brother’ like Xiao Ji does.”

He Wenyan followed his lead. “Brother Chengyu.”

Fang Ji, who was being held by his brother at this moment, heard this and immediately turned his back to the two guests, his lips drooping in a pout towards his brother, looking very displeased. He successfully received a gentle pat from his brother and only then reluctantly accepted it.

He Wenyan could also see that Fang Ji’s idea was not well-thought-out, probably an impulse that had just arisen today. Seeing that it was impossible to help him solve the problem in an hour and a half, He Wenyan was no longer in a hurry.

He first chatted with Fang Chengyu and Fang Ji for a while, got a general idea of the project situation and ideas, and then began to discuss his own thoughts and suggestions with Fang Ji, based on his less than two years of experience.

Li Yunhui also listened with great interest on the side, occasionally interjecting with questions he was interested in.

Only Fang Chengyu, as the elder and, in a sense, an “outsider” to the circle of friends, barely spoke again after helping his younger brother out of a tight spot and answering some questions he couldn’t answer at the beginning.

He sat quietly on the side, eating fruit in small bites, seeming to be listening to their conversation, but also seeming to be just sitting there to accompany his younger brother.

Besides them, there was actually another entity listening to their conversation.

The system listened carefully and was very dissatisfied. “Host, why is so much of what this He Wenyan is saying the same content you taught him last time?”

Lin Chen was calm. “He has thought about it and internalized it into his own knowledge. Not bad.”

The system listened carefully and was very shocked. “Wow, when did this He Wenyan secretly land so many big orders and make so much money?”

Lin Chen was puzzled. “Didn’t you look at my bank card? The principal of thirty million has all been paid back.”

The system was bewildered. “Host, the last time I looked at your bank card, it seemed like there wasn’t much money left?”

Lin Chen: “Oh, sorry. I forgot I secretly invested the money again behind your back.”

The system was shocked, the system was heartbroken, the system wailed loudly.

When it realized the host was ignoring it, the system sadly stopped crying.

The system was puzzled. “Host, you’ve already earned back your initial principal, but you don’t seem very happy?”

Lin Chen said calmly, “I’m thinking, isn’t his money-making speed a bit slow compared to the original novel?”

System: “?”

The system hesitated. “Host, your current progress is already two years ahead of the original novel! To earn thirty million for you from scratch in a year and a half… is… is that still slow?”

Lin Chen was pensive. “The supplier from Country A. In the original novel’s fourth year, midway through, He Wenyan spent two months and eight visits to finally win them over. After securing this supplier, ‘Tianyan’ created its first blockbuster product, and from then on, the company’s and his own net worth skyrocketed. In just half a year, he successfully led the rising Tianyan company back to the Imperial Capital.”

The system was shocked. “Host, you can recall it so quickly. Don’t tell me you’ve already memorized the entire rise of the original protagonist!”

Lin Chen ignored the system and continued to think. “But in the current plane, according to their chat just now, He Wenyan has also been stuck on this supplier for two months, but with little progress.”

Lin Chen: “Of course, there will be the influence of other factors, such as time, experience, and so on. However…”

The system was nervous. “What?”

Lin Chen’s eyes suddenly flew open. “This time, he did not make eight visits to the thatched cottage.”

System: “?”

Lin Chen concluded, “This means that in this life, he hasn’t lowered his head yet.”

System: “!…?”

Lin Chen said calmly, “He Wenyan is inherently a very proud person. Rejecting the He family head’s ten million, rejecting the olive branches from his former circle of friends… in the end, this is a manifestation of his pride.”

The system was not quite sure. “That… seems to make a lot of sense!”

Lin Chen: “In the original novel, after he was kicked out of his home, he suffered a lot from refusing to ‘bow his head and pick up money.’ For this, he shivered in a dilapidated wooden house, for this, he ate instant noodles for a month straight, for this, he was bullied and mocked by many young masters who disliked him…”

“So, he darkened.”

“After his darkening, he would stop at nothing to fight his way back to the Imperial Capital. This, of course, included bowing his head whenever necessary, deceiving whenever necessary. At the same time, his heart was ruthless and his hands were harsh, so his money-making speed naturally took off faster.”

The system produced by Green River Group asked hesitantly, “Host, you… you mean that in a complimentary way?”

Lin Chen: “But in this life, he was helped up by a kind angel investor right after he fell. He didn’t take the beatings he was supposed to take, nor did he fully eat the bitterness he was supposed to eat…”

Lin Chen clicked his tongue in frustration. “Sunny, positive, optimistic, hardworking, studious, able to work overtime and make money. It’s good, but it’s just, hmm… compared to the darkened version, it’s still a bit slow.”

The system felt the approach of an evil aura.

The system’s voice trembled. “Host, so are you planning to… to make He Wenyan darken again to speed up the money-making process?”

Lin Chen was shocked. “No, no, no, how could I do something as evil as making someone darken? The place we are in is the Green River novel plane!”

Lin Chen: “Besides, when choosing an investment target, it’s best that they have potential and can last for the long term.”

“After his darkening, he was indeed able to achieve success faster. But in the end? Weren’t all his paths blocked by my original self?”

“The darkened He Wenyan could certainly go faster in the early stages, but he would also offend many people because of it, causing his later journey to be unstable, and he would never be able to reach the end.”

The system was bewildered. “Then what is your plan, Host…?”

Lin Chen rested his chin on his hand, thought for half a second, and revealed a gentle smile like Fang Chengyu’s. “Hmm… let’s make up a story for him.”