Chen Zhi leaned back on the sofa, staring at the tightly shut security door at the entrance, then glanced at the long black box on the coffee table.
He tugged at his hair in irritation.
What a mess tonight was.
His phone buzzed, the screen lighting up and casting a small halo of glow across the dim living room.
Chen Zhi glanced at it. It was a voice call invitation from the WeChat group [404 Father-Son Group].
His mind was a tangled mess, and he didn’t want to answer, but the invitations kept coming, as if they’d keep ringing until he picked up.
He sighed and swiped to answer.
“Holy crap!!!”
Chen Zhi quickly held the phone away from his ear.
“Chen Zhi! Are you seriously the nineteen-year-old founder of DeepSpace Tech, worth fifteen billion?”
Guo Yang was clearly losing it. “Dude, when I saw you limping out on crutches in today’s livestream, I thought it was some unfortunate guy who just looked like you. Then you opened your mouth, and you scared the hell out of me!”
Chen Zhi’s head throbbed.
“It’s the middle of the night. Are you summoning spirits?”
“Don’t change the subject!” The screen shook as Li Zicong and Zhang Tianyang squeezed into the frame.
The three roommates were in their shorts, huddled around one phone screen, staring wide-eyed at Chen Zhi.
“Brother Zhi, I’m speechless,” Li Zicong swallowed hard. “You’re worth fifteen billion US dollars? And you used to mooch my Hua Zi cigarettes in the dorm every day? Don’t you have a conscience? When you didn’t come back at night, we thought some rich woman from Guanghua had taken you in. Turns out you’re the biggest capitalist yourself!”
Zhang Tianyang’s voice was subdued.
“Last month on your birthday, the three of us pooled our money to buy you a cheap 19.9-yuan cake from outside the west gate.”
“You ate it with such joy, saying it was the best cake you’d ever had.”
“Chen Zhi, with acting skills like that, the Oscars missed out.” Zhang Tianyang sighed. “At the time, I thought we overpaid for that 19.9-yuan cake. Now I realize it was the most successful venture capital investment I’ve ever made.”
Chen Zhi looked at these three clowns on the screen, and his earlier irritation eased a little.
“Let’s keep things separate,” Chen Zhi said, shifting to a more comfortable position. “The money in the capital market is just numbers. But our 404 father-son bond? That’s priceless.”
“Get lost!”
Guo Yang cursed, then switched his tone to flattery.
“Godfather!”
Guo Yang rubbed his hands together, grinning slyly.
“Godfather, save one of those 3999 phones for me! I was scrambling under the covers earlier and couldn’t grab a single one!”
Li Zicong shoved Guo Yang’s face aside.
“Get out of here. With your slow fingers, you couldn’t snag a phone anyway.” Li Zicong looked at Chen Zhi. “Brother Zhi, I want one too. I watched the launch livestream today. That Moss is incredible. My iPhone suddenly feels so ordinary.”
Chen Zhi couldn’t help but laugh at their shameless antics.
“Look at you guys, so easily impressed.” Chen Zhi snorted. “One for each of you. I’ll have someone deliver them in a few days.”
“Long live the Godfather!”
Cheers erupted from the dorm.
Guo Yang kept shouting about how Chen Zhi had to treat them to a big meal when he got back to school. Chen Zhi grunted a few perfunctory replies and hung up.
The call ended with a tone, and the living room fell quiet again.
The smile faded from Chen Zhi’s face.
He tossed his phone onto the sofa and stared blankly at the empty room.
Those few minutes of joking with his roommates had briefly masked the mess.
Now, in the silence, all those chaotic thoughts came flooding back.
The success of the launch was expected.
Moss was a game-changer. Meizu’s solid hardware, combined with the friend-price of 3999—this combination crushed every competitor.
DeepSpace Tech’s valuation was bound to skyrocket.
The billion-dollar annual bet agreement was off to a perfect start.
But the romantic mess he’d left behind was a hundred times harder than corporate warfare.
Pei Ningxue had bolted. She returned her shares, cleared out her stuff, and threatened to go abroad. Though Chen Zhi had managed to keep her at Peking University with a bit of emotional manipulation, their relationship was now in shambles.
Lin Wanwan had finally exploded today. That girl, who had always followed him around since childhood with nothing but him in her heart, looked at him with a cold, unfamiliar gaze for the first time.
Li Zhiyi was the most understanding, so understanding it hurt. She seemed to guess everything, quietly cleaned up the mess, and even voluntarily left to give him space.
Chen Zhi rubbed his temples.
Living a second life, he could command the capital markets.
But when it came to handling women, he hadn’t improved much from his previous life.
Just as he was about to close his eyes and rest, his phone screen lit up again.
It was a text message.
From the bank.
[Dear Customer, your supplementary credit card ending in xxxx was used for a purchase of RMB 285,000 at 23:45 on August 15.]
Chen Zhi froze.
He only had one supplementary card.
That one was in Pei Ningxue’s hands.
Since that night in Jiangcheng when she’d left without a word, she hadn’t used that card. She’d even returned her DeepSpace Tech options, determined to cut all ties with him.
Now, in the middle of the night, she’d dropped 285,000 at SKP?
SKP closed at 10 p.m. She must have had the mall open just for her or had the boutique send items to her place to choose.
Miss Pei always had her lavish ways.
Chen Zhi stared at the message and suddenly smiled.
This woman.
At heart, she was still a tsundere.
If she was using his card, it meant she was still paying attention to him. Maybe she’d even watched tonight’s entire launch.
This purchase was like an outlet—a covert way of checking up on him.
The dark clouds in Chen Zhi’s heart lifted.
As long as she was still willing to spend his money, things could still be salvaged.
If she were truly done with him, she wouldn’t have even glanced at that card.
He opened WeChat, found her blocked profile, and tried sending a punctuation mark.
A red exclamation mark popped up.
She was still on his blacklist.
Chen Zhi wasn’t annoyed.
He tossed his phone onto the sofa, gripped the armrests, and slowly stood up.
The cast on his left leg was heavy, making walking difficult.
Limping to the entrance, he unwrapped the carbon-fiber crutches Lin Wanwan had bought him.
They were light in hand and felt excellent.
Chen Zhi propped them under his armpits and tried a few steps.
He turned to look at the night view of Beijing through the window.
The business battle was just beginning.
And the fires at home would have to be put out slowly.
No rush.
No rush.
nce】【Lighthearted Comedy】【Ultimate Gentleman's Novel】【Viewer Discretion Advised for Under 16】 The mightiest human hero, Sharen Morian, is resurrected after a thousand years by his wife—the Demon King. This is not your typical hero-vs-demon-king tale.
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
