"Look here, Ah Wang."
"If a girl doesn’t like you, it doesn’t necessarily mean she has no taste."
"Sometimes, you need to reflect on yourself—have you worked hard enough all these years? Wait, no—have you actually been putting in the effort?"
"??"
Wang Haodong was speechless.
Cao Cheng continued, "What I mean is, you need ambition. You can’t just laze around all day. Slacking off is unacceptable. People must work, strive, and fight for something."
"I know your family is wealthy, just like mine."
"But look at me—have I rested? Have I slacked off? Have I been idle?"
"No, I’ve been busy nonstop."
"Just last month, I was on a business trip to Hong Kong for a whole month, swamped with work. Sometimes, I didn’t sleep until four or five in the morning. Can you even imagine that?"
Wang Haodong shook his head. Now that was dedication!
Cao Cheng straightened up. "When is a man at his most attractive?"
"Ask any girl, and the answer will probably be—when he’s focused."
"And when is a man most focused? When he’s working, making money, striving, fighting for something."
"Does that make sense to you?"
"..."
Wang Haodong’s expression gradually darkened. "It does!"
Cao Cheng nodded. "So, you can’t just coast through life, living off your family’s wealth, taking it for granted. Uncle Wang worked his way up from nothing, built a fortune, and ensured you’d never want for anything. Was that easy for him? No, it wasn’t, Ah Wang."
"Right!" Wang Haodong grimaced.
Cao Cheng pressed on, "We’re meant to inherit our fathers’ legacies, but wealth isn’t just money—or rather, it’s not just about money. It’s about hard work, perseverance, relentless effort. It’s a spirit."
"The youth are the future of the nation, Ah Wang!"
Wang Haodong felt spiritually cleansed.
He had an epiphany.
"Brother, just tell me straight—what should I do?"
"What you do isn’t the point, Ah Wang. You’re still missing it. I’m talking about a spirit, a shining quality you should embody."
"Everyone has a shining quality—some are obvious, like mine."
"And some aren’t, like yours!"
"So, if girls don’t like you, maybe it’s because your brilliance hasn’t been uncovered yet. You need to shine, to glow brightly."
"Once you do, how could girls not like you?"
Wang Haodong’s eyes lit up.
Right!
"Then… what’s my shining quality?"
"Money!"
"??"
Wang Haodong was confused. "I thought it was supposed to be about hard work and perseverance?"
"Damn it, that’s ‘hard work and perseverance.’ Whatever, it doesn’t matter. What matters is, with money, you can do a lot. Your starting point is higher than most people’s…"
"So, what should I do?"
"Entertainment."
"Huh?"
"The entertainment industry!" Cao Cheng declared confidently.
"Entertainment industry? Female celebrities?"
"Come on, let me explain properly how to make a splash in the entertainment world. Let’s talk over tea."
"Let’s go, let’s go." Wang Haodong eagerly followed him to the side.
What followed was a discussion between the two brothers about how to become the ‘disciplinary inspectors’ of the entertainment industry.
Forget that so-called ‘Si Cong.’
He’s nothing.
There’s only the great Haodong!!
Being a disciplinary inspector was a thankless job, and Cao Cheng didn’t dare stir up trouble recklessly.
But Wang Haodong? He had no fear.
What did he care?
Besides, if Cao Cheng pushed him into this role, he could indirectly harvest emotional energy.
With his hacking skills and fragments of memories from dreams,
the number of fallen stars would be staggering.
If Wang Haodong teamed up with Zhuo Gou, the entertainment industry wouldn’t stand a chance.
As the mastermind behind the chaos, Cao Cheng would undoubtedly reap even more emotional energy.
Perfect!
……
Half an hour later.
The Wang father and son took their leave!
Back in the car.
Wang Haodong’s face was flushed with excitement, leaving the butler stunned.
In the past, the young master had never gained an upper hand in the Ren household.
Every time, he’d arrive eager and leave dejected.
But today… he looked radiant?
Wow~~
"Young Master, did Third Miss Ren accept you?" The butler raised an eyebrow, his tone teasing.
Wang Haodong snorted arrogantly and shook his head. "I didn’t even see her."
"..."
The butler’s face twisted. "Then… why are you so happy? What happened?"
"You wouldn’t understand."
"If you tell me, Young Master, this old servant might."
"Well… I didn’t really understand most of it either." Wang Haodong scratched his head.
"?"
There had been too much talk.
By the end, he’d forgotten the beginning.
But the gist stuck with him.
A man… must rely on himself.
He must have a shining quality.
He can’t afford to idle aimlessly.
He must work.
He must strive.
Hmm~~
The entertainment industry.
First, gain fame.
Make the name Wang Haodong known to all, so everyone sees him not as a spoiled heir but as a positive force.
Then…
Well, that was the plan for now. The rest could come later.
Anyway, it all made perfect sense.
"Enough nonsense! How could a butler possibly grasp the matters discussed between gentlemen? Drive!"
"Yes, sir!"
Young Master, you’re becoming more and more manly!
……
……
New Year’s Eve arrived in the blink of an eye.
This was Cao Cheng’s second Spring Festival in Zhonghai.
The atmosphere was noticeably livelier than the year before.
It also marked a full year since Young Master Cao had arrived in Zhonghai.
Everything seemed to have changed.
Yet, in some ways, nothing had.
Old Cao remained the quintessential antagonist, bullying Young Master Cao without restraint. If not for Ren's Mother’s protection, Cao Cheng wouldn’t have known how to endure.
Eldest Sister was still the same. After fulfilling the ten bets, her defenses had cracked slightly, but with little interaction, things hadn’t progressed further.
Her condition wasn’t easy to treat.
Young Master Cao was busy, too.
He figured he’d focus on her properly once things settled down. Traditional Chinese medicine could handle even stubborn ailments like depression.
No rush.
Second Sister had returned this year, free of major cases, but she ignored Cao Cheng entirely.
He was baffled. For no apparent reason, she’d started giving him the cold shoulder.
Ah, a woman’s heart is as deep as the ocean.
Had he done something?
Probably not.
So, she was just being difficult.
The Third and The Fourth?
Carefree as ever!
Since none of the siblings were married, they all received red envelopes for the New Year.
Fifth Brother got the fattest one—Ren's Mother gifted him another car.
This year, Cao Cheng had received plenty of presents.
Naturally, he’d given out just as many.
It was all about reciprocity.
Birthdays for the four sisters, though not celebrated with grand parties, were marked with family dinners.
And Mother’s Day—a major event in the household, rivaling even Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival in importance.
All in all,
it was a lively holiday.
Between the social obligations and accompanying Ren's Mother on her rounds, Cao Cheng found traditional customs exhausting at times.
The streets were alive with dragon dances, lion dances, and firecrackers…
The riverfront on New Year’s Eve was packed.
Even with masks on, the family turned heads wherever they went.
If anyone was unhappy this Spring Festival,
it was the investors.
Their New Year’s feast might as well have been cardboard.
The "Stock God Aotian" never appeared again, plunging everyone into despair.
Cao Cheng no longer paid attention to the stock market—not even the overseas markets. Professionals were handling it, and Tang Xin was keeping an eye on things as well.
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
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...
