One word: Unbelievable!
Cao Cheng looked at Wang Haodong, unsure whether to praise him or mock him. There was always a sense that his thought process was slightly off, yet upon closer reflection, it somehow made unexpected sense.
After all, wasn’t 2012 supposed to be the "end of the world"?
In his dreams, Cao Cheng had felt it clearly—that "apocalyptic" sensation wasn’t about the world being destroyed. Instead, it was a higher-dimensional shift, a change in the timeline.
After 2012, not only did time seem to fly by, but development also accelerated at an unprecedented pace, especially in the East.
Society became safer.
Technology exploded.
Military power rose.
All of it began in 2012.
That’s why later generations referred to this year as: The Dawn of the East.
It was as if someone had pressed the fast-forward button—everything moved faster and faster…
But perhaps because he had experienced this kind of "historical progression," Cao Cheng no longer wanted things to move so quickly.
He wanted to slow down, to personally witness the changes of this grand era.
So it wasn’t that he was lazy.
He was just nostalgic!
……
"Let’s set aside the whole ‘end of the world’ thing for now."
"You know I just got back from the capital."
"I checked out some entertainment companies there and found one with real potential—Time Peaks. They were just established last year, but their model is solid. They focus on training trainees, probably aiming for a boy group."
"I asked you to look into the trainee system over in Korea. You should know that no matter how popular girl groups get, the real money is in boy groups because female fans…" He didn’t finish, just tapped his temple.
"So,"
"Based on their model and training timeline, they’ll probably debut their first-generation boy group by 2012, or 2013 at the latest."
"What we need to do is launch our first-generation girl group before then and secure that ‘first’ position."
"Once we have that spot, everything else becomes easier."
"Bragging rights included, right?"
Cao Cheng laid it all out.
Wang Haodong understood.
But who was Wang Haodong?
Right now, he was riding high.
Wang Haodong frowned. "This Time Peaks is training boy groups. Shouldn’t they be in a different lane? No direct competition with us, right?"
This guy was really getting full of himself.
Since when did he start talking back?
Cao Cheng’s voice turned stern. "That’s just the first point. The second is that in Zhonghai, aside from your Balala Media, another company called Silk Media was founded this year—and guess what? They’re also doing girl groups…"
Wang Haodong exploded. "Who the hell are they? Trying to steal my business? I’ll get some guys to trash their office."
"Are you a damn gangster? Use your brain!" Cao Cheng snapped.
Wang Haodong was no pushover.
Sure, he might act like a simp around the Ren family’s young misses, but outside, he was your classic spoiled rich villain.
If Cao Cheng hadn’t kept him in check, he’d probably have run into some protagonist of fate and gotten himself killed by now.
Honestly,
Cao Cheng had basically saved his life.
Every time he thought about it, Cao Cheng felt like he’d earned some serious karma points.
Cao Cheng continued, "Don’t be stingy with the budget. Hire more professional trainers. Focus on refining their skills—music, dance, arts. If we’re going to do this girl group thing… I mean, if we’re serious about it… uh—"
"If we’re launching a girl group, it has to align with our cultural identity."
"None of that skimpy, skin-baring nonsense like the Koreans."
Wang Haodong blinked. "Then what’s the point?"
The butler facepalmed.
Young master, please rein it in.
Cao Cheng shot him a look. "Soft power, understand? We have five thousand years of cultural heritage—the Hundred Schools of Thought, the Warring States period, not to mention the diverse traditions of ethnic minorities. We have our own essence: classical aesthetics, Hanfu, ethnic styles. Any one of these is rich with song and dance."
"And,"
"Are we just in this for the money?"
Cao Cheng’s question cut deep.
Wang Haodong shook his head. "Nah, we’re in it for the girls."
"Damn it."
Always with the blunt honesty.
Cao Cheng lost his temper. "We’re here to preserve our cultural heritage and promote national spirit. Got it? Keep that mouth of yours in check. You want to shine? Right now, you’re heading straight for infamy."
"Right, right. Preserve culture, promote spirit."
……
They kept talking as they drove to Balala Media’s headquarters—a six-story building in an arts district.
The whole place had been leased.
Inside, the renovations were decent: eight dance studios, eight vocal training rooms, ten composition and choreography rooms, two professional recording studios, and two performance halls.
Since Cao Cheng had invested privately, this wasn’t technically a subsidiary of Miracle Media.
When they arrived, the company was quiet—no trainees practicing, no girls singing or dancing.
But that made sense.
This wasn’t Korea. The trainees weren’t full-time; most came only on weekends to train while attending school during the week.
Especially for the younger kids, studying is their main focus.
Those who are a bit older and more independent get more practice time.
"The environment isn't bad!" Cao Cheng had visited once before when it was still under renovation—this was his second time here.
After wandering around for a bit,
Young Master Cao reminded, "Put in the effort, but don’t turn the company into a mess. You’re the radiant President Wang, after all. If any bad rumors start spreading, you can forget about saving face."
"Don’t worry, I know better than to mess around where I eat. I understand the stakes."
"You’d better really understand."
Cao Cheng didn’t stay long, dropping that line before leaving.
Wang Haodong stood there dumbfounded for a moment, pointing at Cao Cheng’s retreating figure. "He… he—what does he mean by that?"
He turned to the butler. "He doesn’t trust me?"
The butler muttered, "Do you trust yourself?"
"What did you say?"
"I said, Young Master, this old servant believes in you one hundred percent."
"Your belief is useless. Keep an eye on the company for me. If anyone dares to mess around, they’ll regret it."
"This old servant understands."
"You’d better really understand."
"??"
The butler was taken aback—that line sounded familiar, Young Master.
Seriously, Young Master, you’re copying him right to his face?
But the butler could tell—Wang Haodong now deeply admired Young Master Cao, to the point of mimicking his words.
Even his tone and mannerisms were being copied.
It was all because Young Master had reaped the benefits of shining brightly, which made him trust Cao Cheng even more.
No helping it.
Ever since Young Master rose to fame, the old man had praised him countless times.
Before, President Wang would either yell at or scold his son.
Now? He either smiled while praising him or asked if he needed money.
The treatment was completely different now.
Young Master’s reputation had also brought significant benefits to the family.
Those trying to curry favor with the wealthiest—Cao Cheng and the Rens—also extended goodwill to the Wang family. Naturally, they secured quite a few projects as a result.
The profits from each project weren’t huge, but the sheer number added up.
No wonder Young Master was getting carried away.
It was the old man spoiling him!
The butler’s job was getting harder by the day…
……
Cao Cheng left first.
He headed straight for the Ren Corporation, which wasn’t far.
As a celebrity now, the security didn’t stop him when he arrived, and no one mocked him either—much to Young Master Cao’s disappointment.
The receptionist eagerly trailed behind him, offering to guide the way while sneaking countless glances at him along the route.
It was obvious—she was thirsting after Young Master Cao’s body.
Shameless!
"Mr. Cao, um… President Ren is still in a meeting. Would you like to go straight in or wait in the office for a bit…?"
"I’ll wait a little. Are you busy? If not, could you make me some tea?"
"Not busy at all! Mr. Cao, please wait a moment…"
The girl wasn’t bad-looking—otherwise, she wouldn’t have landed the receptionist job.
But her makeup was a bit too heavy.
And she probably wasn’t that young either.
Crash—
At that moment,
Cao Cheng’s sharp hearing caught the sound of something spilling in the meeting room.
Listening more closely,
he could hear his eldest sister’s voice, seemingly reprimanding someone.
Moving closer, he listened for a while and pieced it together.
Some within the corporation were slacking off, neglecting their duties.
Not surprising.
It was an old corporation, after all.
Overstaffed, with too many people just coasting along.
This time, a mistake in a project had caused significant losses for the company.
And it just so happened to coincide with eldest sister’s personality shift.
Everyone in the room was getting an earful from her.
This version of eldest sister was nothing like her former "motherly" demeanor.
Instead, she was embracing her true nature—cold, domineering, a true businesswoman.
None of her previous gentleness remained.
Perhaps because she had suppressed it for too long, this "true nature" was erupting even more fiercely.
Most people couldn’t handle it.
Especially after Ren's mother used the 2008 financial crisis to oust several shareholders and remove their spies.
Now, the corporation was truly the Ren Corporation in every sense.
So when eldest sister took control, her true nature exploded outward, giving off the faint aura of a tyrant.
Even outside the meeting room,
Cao Cheng, standing by the door, could feel the oppressive weight of her storm-like fury.
The receptionist returned with green tea.
Cao Cheng waved her off.
Then, holding the teacup, he stood by the door listening, unable to hide his smirk.
After who knows how long—
Click.
The meeting room door opened.
Secretary Zhang stepped out first, followed by eldest sister.
Their eyes met instantly.
(^▽^) "Eldest sister!"
"…" (▼ヘ▼#)
[Ding~ Negative emotions +20002!]
Caught eavesdropping, eldest sister didn’t know whether to feel embarrassed, angry, or both.
Especially seeing Cao Cheng standing there with his teacup, grinning like a fool, clearly enjoying the show—her negative emotions skyrocketed.
In this family, aside from second sister, eldest sister was the easiest to provoke into an outburst.
"Hmph~" Eldest sister snorted lightly, her high heels clicking sharply as she brushed past him without a word.
Cao Cheng trotted after her, inhaling the scent of her perfume. "Did yelling at them feel good?"
The eldest sister shot a sidelong glance, gritting her teeth. "When did you get here?"
"Right around when you said you were raising a bunch of good-for-nothings."
"..."
Well, damn. So he’d heard everything from the moment she started raging.
Eldest Sister, do I not get to keep any dignity?
She’d always maintained such a poised, intellectual image at home, and now her explosive side had been witnessed firsthand by the fifth sibling.
It felt like her carefully crafted facade had shattered into pieces.
Her high heels clicked faster as she hurried toward her office.
Young Master Cao smirked and quickened his pace to follow.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
spital. Good news: I've bound a system. Bad news: I'm still a baby. "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, do not bully the middle-aged for being poor — Divorce Comeback System." "Your marriage may have failed, but your luck in love has never run dry. Your childhood sweetheart, out of contact for twenty years, reappears. Her beauty remains, yet her eyes are brimming with tears." [Listen to the childhood sweetheart's sorrowful story.] Chen Zhi looked down at the diaper he was wearing, then at the little childhood sweetheart crying her heart out beside him, and fell into deep thought. Can anyone relate? I'm having a midlife crisis at an age where even rolling over is a struggle.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
