The Character "Jian"

The brazier was filled with several long needles.

"Brother Wang, what are you planning to do?" a subordinate asked curiously.

First, pricking fingers, then using finger clamps, and now this brazier with needles—where did he even learn all this?

"Branding," Wang Hao said casually, crossing his legs.

Branding?

The subordinate was utterly confused.

What kind of branding?

Wang Hao explained, "I’ve been reading some palace intrigue novels on Feiyue recently. Some of the torture methods in there are quite fascinating, so I thought I’d let Lin Li try them out first."

The subordinates shivered at the thought.

Just looking at it made them wince in pain.

The charcoal in the brazier crackled as the flames burned, and the long needle inside began to heat up, turning red-hot.

Every second felt like an eternity of torment for Lin Li.

The firelight reflected on his face.

Lin Li stared at the burning brazier, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

When the needle was glowing red, Wang Hao, wearing a pair of heat-resistant gloves, pulled it out. With a grin, he said, "Young Master Lin, bear with it. It’ll be over soon."

Wang Hao pressed the tip of the needle against Lin Li’s chest.

The moment it made contact, a sizzling sound filled the air, accompanied by the smell of burning flesh.

"Ahhhhh—" Lin Li couldn’t help but scream in agony.

The pain in his chest was unbearable.

Sweat poured down Lin Li’s face.

When one needle cooled, another was used, until the character was fully branded.

Lin Li's chest was now a bloody mess, with a single character deeply carved into it: "Worthless".

The character was etched so deeply that it would likely remain with Lin Li for the rest of his life.

"Young Master Lin, enjoy the next few days," Wang Hao said with a kind smile. "Don’t worry, we have a doctor here. You won’t die."

"What we really want," Wang Hao added with a smirk, "is for you to live in misery."

Fear filled Lin Li’s eyes.

Lin Li and Qin Ruoyao were living in a living hell.

Meanwhile, Su Hua and Lin Xuan were immersed in their sweet romance.

The floor was covered with various women’s clothes, all of them rather revealing.

On the bed, only Lin Xuan lay alone. The enchanting woman from last night had already vanished.

After waking up, Lin Xuan lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling utterly defeated.

Damn it.

He had beaten Su Hua a few times before, but now he kept losing every time.

He strongly suspected that Su Hua had been going easy on him in those earlier matches.

Lin Xuan was deeply frustrated.

With dark circles under his eyes, he dragged himself downstairs, looking completely drained.

"Young Master Lin, your ten-ingredient tonic," Butler Wang said with a smile.

Lin Xuan usually woke up between seven and eight in the morning. If he slept until ten or eleven, it was a sure sign that he had been up late with the young miss the night before.

Butler Wang used this as a gauge to decide whether to prepare the tonic for Lin Xuan.

"Butler Wang," Lin Xuan said through gritted teeth, "this tonic isn’t working."

He had been drinking it for months, and yet Su Hua kept dominating him every time!

*#%#&*@#!!!

Butler Wang: "..."

He was being unfairly blamed.

The tonic really worked!

He couldn’t very well say that the young miss had also been taking supplements and had secretly been hitting the gym while Lin Xuan was at school...

After breakfast, Lin Xuan didn’t head to school. Instead, he went to the stock exchange.

He opened a stock trading account.

A stock on the STAR Market was set to surge today, and he needed to buy it before the price shot up.

Making money was one goal, but there was another reason: he wanted to mess with Lin Chang.

This was one of the stocks Lin Chang had invested in.

Lin Chang had received insider information and spent 300 million to buy this stock, only to find out that the information was wrong.

The stock price plummeted, and the 300 million investment had shrunk to 90 million.

Lin Chang wanted to sell the stock, but no one was willing to buy it.

Then, on this very day, the stock surged, not only recovering the initial investment but also turning a profit of 100 million.

Lin Xuan planned to invest a large sum of money to take over the stock from Lin Chang before the price skyrocketed.

After registering his account, Lin Xuan began checking the stock for Fenghui Technology.

Sitting next to him was a well-meaning middle-aged man. Seeing how young Lin Xuan was, he couldn’t help but ask, "Young man, is this your first time buying stocks?"

"Yes," Lin Xuan nodded. "First time."

"Well, young man, you shouldn’t just buy stocks blindly. You have to be careful, or you might end up losing everything," the man said earnestly.

"Take this Fenghui Technology stock, for example. Look, it’s already down 10% today. You should check the news—this company is on the verge of bankruptcy. You definitely shouldn’t buy it."

"If you end up holding it, losing money would be the least of your worries. If the company goes bankrupt, you might not get a single penny back."

"Here, take a look at my stock. See how well it’s performing," the man said, pointing proudly at his computer screen.

Lin Xuan glanced at it and frowned.

Xingji Real Estate?

He remembered that this stock was about to crash.

In his past life, an investor who had gone all-in on this stock had jumped to his death, and the incident had caused quite a stir.

Lin Xuan looked away and clicked to buy the stock, entering the amount he wanted to invest.

300 million.

Most of his money was tied up in investments for TV dramas and movies, so he didn’t have much cash on hand. These 300 million came from Su Hua’s black card.

The man next to him stared at the amount, his eyes widening.

Was he seeing things?

How many zeros was that?

One, two, three... seven, eight.

Eight zeros!

That was 300 million!

The man frowned.

The kid must have entered the wrong amount. How could he possibly have that much money?

But then, he watched as Lin Xuan tapped a few keys.

Transaction complete.

Holy—!

The man’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

It had actually gone through!

That was 300 million!

Kids these days were loaded.

As the man stared in disbelief, Lin Xuan logged out of his account, stood up, and patted the man on the shoulder. "This stock of mine is going to surge, while the one you’re looking at is about to crash. You might want to consider buying my stock instead."

"Young man, how can you be so sure? Do you have some insider information?" the man asked, leaning closer with curiosity.

Lin Xuan replied, "I’m a reincarnated soul, so I already know this stock will rise."

The man gave Lin Xuan a look.

It was the kind of look that said, "Do you think I’m an idiot?"

"Young man, you’ve been reading too many novels and watching too many dramas," the man said.

Reincarnation?

This was a scientific society. There was no room for such mystical nonsense.

Lin Xuan chuckled. "Alright, I’ll tell you the truth. The reason I think this stock will rise is because of my intuition."

He paused, then added, "A man’s intuition."