Chapter 22: Chapter 21: The Bootlicker is Crying, the Scumbag is Growing

Luo Jingwei completely snapped.

He never could have imagined that the lucky one who snagged the spot was his romantic rival, Li Yuan.

It’s actually that bastard Li Yuan. If he hadn’t also applied to Daxia University, I might have been the one to luck into a 985 university. Damn it, I really want to smash him to death! Damn it all, I’m furious. I scored 580, not much lower than him. If it weren’t for my poor performance in math this time, scoring over 600 would have been a breeze. My 985 university… Li Yuan, you really are my nemesis. I swear, this isn’t over between us!

Luo Jingwei roared hysterically. He had applied for that same coveted 985 spot at Daxia University. With Li Yuan accepted, he missed the cutoff and would have to repeat a year. He clearly had the chance to get in by a fluke…

If one sentence could describe his feelings at that moment, it was as if he was being force-fed a basin of shit.

After his bout of anger, Luo Jingwei felt helpless. The Goddess, Bai Weixi, already had an ambiguous, flirtatious relationship with Li Yuan. Now that they were attending the same university, his chances were even slimmer.

No, I must study hard for the retake. My performance this year was not reflective of my true capabilities. Next year, I must get into Daxia University. Li Yuan, I won’t let you win. Bai Weixi will be mine.

That night, Luo Jingwei thrashed in his bed, his sheets becoming soaked with sweat again and again.

At the internet cafe, Li Yuan received a QQ message from Bai Weixi. This was the first time she had messaged him since the class meeting.

“Li Yuan, thank you for what you did for me. I’m really touched. Also, I’m looking forward to seeing you at the university! (shy face)”

Seeing the message, Li Yuan realized Bai Weixi had indeed misunderstood him.

He replied directly, “Don’t flatter yourself. I didn’t do it for you.”

Soon, a new reply came from Bai Weixi. “Brother, you finally replied to my message! (happy face)”

“Brother, when the time comes, can we travel to Modu for university together?”

“Hehe, if you don’t say anything, I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Brother, I knew you were the best to me.”

Li Yuan was speechless. This woman loved to make assumptions. The nicer you were to her, the more arrogant she acted. But if you were aloof and didn’t take her seriously, she would start fawning over you and take the initiative to contact you.

What was that saying again?

The favored are always fearless. As the patriarch of scumbags once said, you can’t be too nice to women. Women are meant to be attracted and won over, not fawned over. Is this an inadvertent stroke of genius? Once I’m in university, maybe I can get her under my thumb. Playing hot and cold, pushing and pulling—who doesn’t know how to do that?

After earning his first pot of gold through the lottery and stocks, his assets of over 31 million yuan already made him a bona fide first-generation wealthy man. For the rest of his life, he could live comfortably just off the interest from putting the money in a bank.

Money is a man’s courage. With cash in hand, Li Yuan was no longer so concerned with so-called beauties. Although Bai Weixi was gorgeous—a top-tier campus goddess—Modu was teeming with beautiful girls. It was a gathering place for some of the most stunning young women in the entire country. As long as you had money and property, you didn’t even need good looks; beautiful girls would throw themselves at you like moths to a flame.

And he now possessed all three.

Now that he wasn’t fawning over Bai Weixi, having removed the “first love” filter from his perception of her, Li Yuan suddenly felt that this was much better. He could do what he wanted and say what he wanted without having to be as cautious as before, constantly thinking of ways to make her happy. If he felt like replying, he would. If not, he would just turn on ’Do Not Disturb’ and pretend she didn’t exist.

This was so much more refreshing. To hell with everyone else.

I’m no pathetic simp.

Having been granted a second chance at life by the heavens, he decided he would live even more wantonly from now on. He would date, of course, but being devoted to just one person ever again was impossible. A man only truly falls in love once in his life; once it’s over, he can never go back.

He was going to have an entire forest.

Too lazy to reply to Bai Weixi’s message, Li Yuan took a break and turned his attention back to the stock market.

It was late July 2008, and the Beijing Olympics were about to begin. The long-sluggish domestic stock market was gradually starting to recover.

Regarding stocks, he only knew that Tengxun and Maotai shares were currently very low. Due to the economic crisis, they were at a historic low point, making it the perfect time to buy. After the Olympics, the stock market would see a rebound, especially Maotai’s stock. Despite some fluctuations, it was set to soar in the future.

Li Yuan checked and saw that Maotai was currently trading at just 44.8 yuan per share. If he recalled correctly, its price had skyrocketed to over 2,000 yuan per share before his rebirth, with a market capitalization exceeding 2 trillion yuan. If he invested 10 million yuan now, it would grow to over 500 million in a little more than a decade, even if he did nothing.

Li Yuan calculated that he had just over 31 million yuan in cash. After subtracting the 550,000 yuan for the two properties, he had exactly 31 million left. He thought it over. Once he started university in Modu, he planned to buy a house and a car, and then start a business. But with over a month until school started, putting the money in the stock market was definitely better than leaving it in the bank, regardless of the potential earnings.

Maotai’s market was much larger than that of Salt Lake Shares, so Li Yuan didn’t invest all his funds. He decided to put in 10 million yuan first to test the waters. If the price dropped, he’d play the long game. If he profited, he’d pull the money out to buy real estate.

In the coming years, investing in property was the fastest way to see appreciation.

Don’t buy a house this year, or you’ll be in tears next year.

Your full payment will become a down payment, and your down payment will become a garage.

That saying was completely true for this period. In his past life, even before he graduated from university, he had witnessed housing prices in Modu explode from 10,000 yuan per square meter to 40,000 or 50,000. After graduating, he wanted to settle in Modu, but faced with the astronomical prices, he couldn’t even afford a toilet, let alone make a down payment.

Right now in Modu, there were no purchasing restrictions, making it simple to buy property. He planned to hoard houses, using property to finance more property—a much simpler strategy than starting a company. Of course, he still wanted to start a business. He never had the chance in his previous life, so he had to try this time.

He wanted to see if what Lei Bus said was true: if you’re standing in the right place at the right time, even a pig can fly.

In a great mood, Li Yuan immersed himself in online writing again, continuing his grind. Although he no longer cared about the income from web novels, it was still a decent profession that could help him build a fan base.

Time flew by, and soon it was August 3rd. After a month of explosive updates since his novel went premium, today was the day he would see his first month’s earnings.

In the 31 days of July, Li Yuan had updated around 20,000 words daily. His average subscriptions had reached about 60,000. For a solid month, his novel consistently held the top spot on both the monthly ticket and bestseller charts.

At ten in the morning, Li Yuan immediately logged into the author’s portal to check his earnings from the previous month.

Hehe, it broke a million, just as I thought! This month’s earnings reached 1.6 million yuan, much more than I expected. Not bad, not bad at all. Worth all my hard work. A house a month—I wouldn’t have dared to dream of this in my previous life.

Li Yuan was extremely satisfied. It was only 2008, and an income like this already put him at the absolute pinnacle of the industry. Even the senior executives of publicly listed companies would find it hard to match this monthly salary.

In mid-August, the Beijing Olympics concluded, and the start of the university semester drew closer. Xia Qin called him. “Yuan, your dad and I are coming back to our hometown tomorrow to throw you a celebration banquet for your college admission.”

Li Yuan asked uneasily, “Um, Mom, is it okay if we don’t have the banquet?”

He actually hated the “celebration banquet” custom from his hometown. In his rural village, a child getting into university was a huge deal. Relatives and friends would be notified, a festive date would be set, and there would be a big feast with gongs and drums.

Once the banquet started, countless relatives would pry into every detail, putting you on a pedestal and talking about how amazing your future would be. However, Li Yuan understood that the more glorious the celebration was now, the more humiliating it would be if he were to fall from grace in the future.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep