“Don’t panic, tell me slowly.” Tao Mu frowned and calmed the other patiently.

Da Luo on the other end of the phone seemed to be at a complete loss. A grown man, squatting in the hospital corridor, crying and sniffling: “Brother Gou had an accident while hanging on the wires. He fell and broke his waist. The doctor said that he must have an operation immediately. But Yu Mei, that stinkin’ bitch, actually ran away with the money…..And the hospital won’t do the operation without the money, brother Gou’s mother is also nearly sick with panic…..Tao Mu, what can we do…..”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Da Luo was crying on the phone, and his speech was also not very clear. Tao Mu listened for a long time. During this period, he kept interrupting Da Luo’s crying to chase the key point. It took more than half an hour to finally make sense of it all.

——Similar to Tao Mu’s memory in his previous life, Gou Rixin really had an accident while hanging on the wires. He fell from a height of more than six meters and broke his waist directly. Because the injured place was too close to the lumbar vertebra, the doctor said that even if the general operation was successfully completed, it was very likely to become high paraplegia. Unless he went under an operation with a particularly complicated name, if the postoperative recovery was good, he might recover into a normal person again. However, this kind of surgery alone cost more than 500,000 yuan for the initial surgery, plus various postoperative rehabilitation treatments, so based on a conservative estimate, the total cost would be about 1.2 million yuan.

Because Tao Mu had bought accident insurance for Gou Rixin before, he could afford the one million yuan. Coupled with the fact that Gou Rixin had some savings as a martial artist extra for so many years, he did have the money for the operation. Da Luo and the whole gang of brothers felt very fortunate and so they quickly called Gou Rixin’s family. Gou Rixin only had his mother left, and mother Gou rushed over as soon as she received news. The claims settlement also went very smoothly, and the group of brothers thought that there would be no problem.

“I accompanied brother Gou’s mother to the insurance company that day to settle the compensation. But Yu Mei also insisted on following. Since brother Gou had the accident, this woman had been busy waiting on and taking care of all of his needs. Helping with sanitation, feeding him meals and wiping his body clean. Everyone thought she had changed her ways and was really ready to spend the days with brother Gou. We were all quite happy for brother Gou.”

“After finishing settling the insurance, I wanted to send mother Gou and Yu Mei back to the hospital to pay the operation money. But I got a call halfway through, saying that something happened to our crew and insisting that I had to let go back. Yu Mei said to give the money to her and she’ll take mother Gou back to the hospital to make the payment.”

At that time, Da Luo didn’t think anything about it, so he directly handed over the bank card to Yu Mei. As a result, when Yu Mei arrived at the hospital, she left mother Gou in the ward, saying that she would go through the payment procedure while mother Gou took care of Gou Rixin.

Mother Gou waited in the ward all afternoon, but 

Yu Mei still did not return. Feeling something was wrong, she went down to investigate and found that Yu Mei didn’t go to make the payment at all. She actually ran away with the bank card.

Mother Gou panicked. She didn’t know how to use the phone, nor was she familiar with Gou Rixin’s friends. In the end, she begged the nurse at the nurse station to call with the contact information that the nurse found. Only then did Da Luo and the rest learn that Yu Mei actually took the money and ran away: “…..You say, isn’t she too cruel? Brother Gou has been so good to her for so many years. Before the accident, he even wanted to marry her. You say, how could she do this kind of cruel thing? She is basically forcing brother Gou to die!”

“It’s my fault too.” Da Luo cried on the phone, slapping himself with his other hand: “I shouldn’t have gone back to the crew. How could that mess be as important as brother Gou? Tao Mu, you say, what can we do now?”

“It’s alright.” Tao Mu had a headache from Da Luo’s crying, he soothed the other while saying, “I’ll make a call first and see if I can transfer brother Gou to Beijing’s hospital. After all, Beijing’s medical level is definitely better than H Town’s. Even if he needs to go under surgery, there is more guarantee about doing the operation in Beijing than in H Town. As for the money, you don’t have to worry about it.”

Tao Mu asked again: “Has Yu Mei’s matter been reported to the police?”

“Huh?” Da Luo was stunned for a moment, and then said with some embarrassment: “Would brother Gou let us?” His woman ran away while he was sick. Such a shameful thing, with Gou Rixin’s temperament, he would want nothing more than to cover it up, so how could he have someone call the police?

“Who cares if he is embarrassed or not at this point. This is a crime.” Tao Mu was so angry he wanted to crawl over the phone line and beat Da Luo up: “In short, call the police first. Wait for the police to file a case and catch the person. “

After a pause, Tao Mu asked again: “The incident involving the wire accident…..”

“What?” Don’t know why but despite Tao Mu being so much younger than them, after this large group of older brothers listened to Tao Mu’s instructions, they all seemed to have found their pillar of support immediately. Da Luo held the phone and listened with great focus. When Tao Mu suddenly stopped talking, he couldn’t help asking: “What’s the matter? Tao Mu, what do you want to ask?”

“Nothing.” Tao Mu originally wanted to ask whether Gou Rixin’s wire accident was man-made or a real accident. However, considering the IQ of Da Luo and the rest, he probably wouldn’t know even if he asked: “Let’s talk about it when we meet.”

Gou Rixin’s injury was the most urgent thing at the moment.

After putting down the phone, Tao Mu immediately found Yun Xingjian’s contact information.

As the director of the Beijing No. 1 People’s Hospital, Yun Xingjian had a clear grasp of the internal situation of the Beijing medical system. For example, for the operation of Gou Rixin, which hospital’s relevant department was the most authoritative, which chief surgeon was the most skilled, and which chief surgeon was best at rehabilitation…..

Gou Rixin was also one of Yun Duo’s life-saving benefactors. After receiving Tao Mu’s call for help, Yun Xingjian immediately prepared the procedures for the transfer to Beijing’s hospital without saying a word. He also personally called the H Town hospital to learn about Gou Rixin’s situation and coordinate the transfer.

On this side, Tao Mu had to ask for leave from the school. He really didn’t feel at ease about leaving Da Luo and the rest to their own devices, and planned to go to H Town to personally handle the transfer of Gou Rixin as well as Yu Mei’s case.

Asking for leave at the beginning of the semester would inevitably leave a bad impression on the school. However, Tao Mu had a credible reason, and his creation of FlyNews also gave him a lot of impression points. The school didn’t make it difficult for him, and gave him leave happily.

Tao Mu took the plane that night and arrived in H Town early the next morning. Qin Miaoru, who had long received the news, drove their inn’s van to pick him up and send him to the hospital as soon as possible.

Gou Rixin’s gang of martial arts brothers were all in the hospital, and there was also an old lady in her sixties in the ward, her face full of tears, eyes so swollen from crying they almost went blind. She was also continuously blaming herself.

“It’s all my fault, I should have followed that girl. If only I had kept an eye on her…..”

Gou Rixin was lying on the hospital bed. He was originally a burly person but in just a few days, he lost a shocking amount of weight. His complexion was also very pale and looked very bad: “Mom, don’t cry. It’s not your fault. “

“Mom, I don’t feel good. Don’t cry——”

Before he finished speaking, Qin Miaoru’s excited voice interrupted: “Tao Mu is here!”

“Tao Mu?”

“Taozi is here, that’s great! You tell us quickly, what should we do now?”

“In the afternoon the hospital told us that they would be transferring brother Gou to the Beijing No. 1 People’s Hospital. Did you help with this matter?”

“We have already called the police for Yu Mei’s matter. The police have also filed the case. The officer in charge of this case is the officer Yao from before. He has been promoted. He also said that he will try his best to help us catch Yu Mei.”

The arrival of Tao Mu turned the panicked ward into a noisy ward. The martial arts brothers headed by Da Luo rushed forward and surrounded Tao Mu. It was so noisy that Tao Mu had a headache.

He frowned and walked over to the hospital bed. He first greeted Gou Rixin’s mother, introduced himself, and then said to Gou Rixin, “Don’t worry, I’m here.”

With just a few words, Gou Rixin, a tough northeastern guy who was more than 1.8 meters tall, bursted into tears.

Gou Rixin held Tao Mu’s hand tightly. He had suffered too much these days. From being valued by the Hong Kong director and being able to audition for the second male lead, as well as about to prepare for marriage with Yu Mei, to the possibility of being paralyzed for the rest of his life when the wire snapped and he accidentally broke his waist, as well as learning that his fiance ran away with all the money. The ups and downs during the past few days had directly crushed this upright man.

His mother was in her sixties, sitting in front of his hospital bed all day long and crying, blaming herself; his brothers were also panicked and ran around everywhere to raise money. But this large group of martial arts brothers who only knew to enjoy the moment when they had any money in their hands, and from time to time even having to rely on his help. It was impossible for them to have much savings on hand. After running around for a long time, in the end it was Qin Miaoru who finally helped raise 300,000 yuan. But this was already the limit.

Gou Rixin was usually the big brother and leader in front of his brothers. So even if he had frustrations and sorrow deep in his heart, it was not easy to talk about it with his brothers, so he could only suffer it on his own. After holding back these few days he had nearly gone crazy. So now seeing Tao Mu——even though this kid was only eighteen this year, a decade younger than him, Gou Rixin felt that Tao Mu could hold up against anything and understand him.

Tao Mu looked at Gou Rixin who could barely breathe from crying so hard, stretched out his other hand and patted him on the shoulder. Without saying any comforting words, he simply explained what he had done during this time. “…..I have already contacted director Yun Xingjian who will help to complete the operation procedures. The best expert in the country was invited to perform surgery for you. Follow-up rehabilitation treatment has also been arranged. When we fly over there, you will be hospitalized for observation for two days, and if there is no issue the surgery will directly be performed.”

“Don’t worry about the money issue. Just take it as me lending it to you. Don’t think too much, just take care of your health. When the time comes you can make money from filming, so you will soon be able to pay me back——I will give you an interest rate that is the same as the bank’s. So you don’t have to worry about rushing to repay the money.”

Before his words even finished, Gou Rixin’s mother had already grabbed Tao Mu’s arm in excitement and was about to kneel. Tao Mu quickly grabbed onto her: “Auntie, what are you doing? I am friends with brother Gou, and this is just something that I should do. Brother Gou also helped me a lot before.”

“Young man, I thank you very much. If not for you, our family would be completely finished. You say, I only have one son, Xiao Xin, my entire life. If he…..how would I explain to his father?”

Tao Mu had no parents himself, so he felt especially emotional when he saw other people’s parents caring about their children. He quickly soothed and said: “Auntie, don’t worry. It’s going to be alright. As soon as director Yun heard about brother Gou, he immediately called the best expert in the country to take care of brother Gou. You don’t know, this director Yun’s daughter once came to H Town and was deceived by some bad guys. It was brother Gou who helped rescue her. So brother Gou is a good person who will definitely be fine.”

Gou Rixin’s mother cried silently, continuing to hold onto Tao Mu by the arm. Tao Mu patiently comforted mother Gou. Gou Rixin also cried and looked at Tao Mu with tears and snot. Tao Mu pulled a piece of tissue and handed it to him in some disgust.

Gou Rixin blew his nose loudly, and only then did his emotions finally calm down: “Tao Mu, thank you. If not for you, I really don’t know what to do.”

Seeing that Gou Rixin and his mother’s emotions finally stabilized. Tao Mu then went to see Gou Rixin’s attending doctor, wanting to understand Gou Rixin’s condition in detail.

The hospital where Gou Rixin stayed at was the hospital that received Yun Duo and the other human trafficking victims. The doctors and nurses here still remembered Gou Rixin and Tao Mu, and of course they also had a very good impression of them. So even if Gou Rixin had no money for surgery, his medication was still the best. The hospital also wanted to maintain Gou Rixin’s physical condition and increase the success rate of Gou Rixin’s surgery in Beijing.

After Tao Mu learned about Gou Rixin’s condition in detail, he went to the local police station to consult on Yu Mei’s situation. He was received by officer Yao, the officer who had helped them on Yun Duo’s case the last time.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Officer Yao explained to Tao Mu that the police had just opened the case and were investigating the whereabouts of the suspect in all aspects. According to the surveillance of the hospital, they had tracked Yu Mei getting into a taxi. Knowing the license plate number of this taxi, someone had already been sent to investigate further. There was no news yet.

While talking, they saw Qin Miaoru rushing into the police station with her group of brothers. She said breathlessly: “I, I want to report! I have some clues!”

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Tao Mu regarded Li Xiaoheng as a possible future golden thigh. In order to make Li Xiaoheng trust him more in the field of venture capitalism, Tao Mu would naturally not conceal anything——of course, certain secrets such as his source of funds must be kept. Besides, the reason why Tao Mu’s rate of return was so high was not because he was so good at trading stocks, but because his vision and experience far surpassed his peers, as well as the inexplicable intuition that appeared every time he traded. This all added up to make it very easy to determine the volatility trend of international oil futures. But if one really wanted to talk about the subtlety of the trade and the theoretical knowledge, a professional top trader like Li Xiaoheng would definitely be able to leave him in the dust.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

However, a thing like intuition or instinct was fine as a trader or small investor. Whereas acting as someone else’s private investment consultant, it was not so easy to explain. Just a little carelessness and people could misunderstand and see him as a swindler.

But fortunately, people like Li Xiaoheng understood the importance of talent and intuition in the financial field.

——Many times, data analysis was not even worth the trader’s single flash of inspiration. Li Xiaoheng had personally experienced this himself.

“I knew your financial sense was very keen, but I didn’t expect that I still underestimated your ability.” After listening patiently to Tao Mu explaining the series of operations, Li Xiaoheng couldn’t help but exclaim with emotion: “Your short-selling skills and ability to predict rising prices when compared to mine are much stronger.”

Tao Mu smiled and said very humbly: “I just operate by intuition. If it comes to professionalism, I’m not as good as brother Li.”

Li Xiaoheng smiled: “Don’t be so humble. How old are you now? When I was your age, I just began to study in M ​​country. Every day I only knew how to study hard and occasionally try my hand at the stock market, but I didn’t have Xiao Mu’s courage to fight to win or die.”

That’s right, with Li Xiaoheng’s trading experience and professional skills, he only needed to take a look at Tao Mu’s investment capital and operation mode, and he could immediately conclude that Tao Mu had definitely invested all of his wealth——not only that, but also the “private money” of relatives and friends was also thrown into the stock market.

Li Xiaoheng had always believed that he was an extremely conceited person in the professional field, but at Tao Mu’s age, he had to admit that he did not have the courage and boldness to throw in everything like Tao Mu.

Li Xiaoheng’s sincere praise caused Tao Mu to be unable to help but blush. If it weren’t for his rebirth and the knowledge of the next ten years, even if he had the courage to make a desperate bet with his capital, he likely would not have the boldness to persuade Liu Yao, Meng Qi and the others to follow along.

Therefore, compared with big shot Li who could set up Xiaoheng Capital in his first semester of college, his tossing around was really just relying on his lucky rebirth, so there was nothing to brag about.

Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu with a gentle smile. Speaking of which, he had always been puzzled. In his opinion, with Tao Mu’s talented achievements, he should be an extremely confident person. However, just from the two times Li Xiaoheng had contact with Tao Mu, he already vaguely discovered that Tao Mu seemed to unconsciously reveal a bit of inferiority and anxiety in his speech and behavior.

Li Xiaoheng thought about it several times in private, and felt that Tao Mu’s mentality probably originated from his life experience as an orphan. Didn’t the field of psychology make an argument, the absence of a family could cause a person to be extremely insecure in the process of growing up. Li Xiaoheng guessed that Tao Mu was the same. But what he didn’t know was that Tao Mu’s experience was far more bizarre and tragic than this kind of basic psychological analysis.

Li Xiaoheng observed his private investment adviser subtly. While chatting, he would raise his chopsticks to add certain food from the dishes to Tao Mu’s plate based on wherever Tao Mu’s eyes looked.

This table etiquette was so meticulous that Tao Mu, who was used to taking care of others, even felt a little unaccustomed.

“Brother Li, don’t just look after me.” Tao Mu looked at Li Xiaoheng: “Between us, you don’t have to be so polite.”

“Okay.” Li Xiaoheng said, putting down the shared chopsticks in a personable manner, and suddenly sighed: “In so many years, except for the New Year’s family dinner, I seem to have not eaten such a rich meal in a long time. Speaking of which, I have to thank you Xiao Mu. I would have been too lazy to spend so much time eating a single meal if it weren’t for you accompanying me.”

Tao Mu smiled and said, “Every second is money to brother Li, naturally you are different from ordinary people like us.”

“What’s the difference?” Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu with scorching eyes, that pair of pitch-black eyes were warm and bright, Tao Mu’s figure clearly reflected within: “Whatever we spend time and energy on, what we ultimately want is to meet our expectations. It’s just that some people like to eat, drink and have fun, and those like us just like to work.”

Having said that, Li Xiaoheng turned the topic to Tao Mu’s short-selling international oil: “…..I heard Luo Yang say that in order to watch the market, you barely sleep at night, and you also have to take care of your studies and FlyNews. Isn’t it too tiring?”

Tao Mu shook his head and smiled: “As you said just now, the reason why we do so many things is because we like it. Since it is something I like, how can I feel tired?”

“But you shouldn’t work too hard and ruin your health.” Li Xiaoheng chuckled and said: “You are still young, and you don’t know that one’s energy is actually limited. If you overexert yourself now in exchange for wealth, then you may have to use your wealth to exchange for health in the future. Xiao Mu is smart so you wouldn’t do this kind of loss-making business, would you?”

After Tao Mu heard this, he looked at Li Xiaoheng a little hesitantly. He seemed to guess what Li Xiaoheng wanted to say.

Sure enough, seeing Tao Mu look over, Li Xiaoheng smiled and put down his bowl and chopsticks, and said, “My personal opinion, since Xiao Mu, you are my private investment adviser, I won’t mention anything else for now. Just on shorting the international crude oil, our goals and interests are the same. In that case, why can’t the two of us work together. With your vision coupled with my trading skills, I believe that we will have great rapport when working together.”

The most important thing was that after the two of them cooperated, Tao Mu wouldn’t have to stay up late every night due to time difference, staring at the market all the time, for fear that he might miss something and blow up his trading account. Li Xiaoheng could also use Tao Mu’s vision and judgment to do more sophisticated trading.

This was a partnership of mutual benefits, and it was a powerful partnership where one plus one was greater than two. Li Xiaoheng couldn’t think of any reason for Tao Mu to refuse.

Sure enough, Tao Mu pondered for a moment, and also felt that there was nothing wrong with Li Xiaoheng’s proposal——not only could they make more money, but it would also deepen the connection between the two. This interpersonal relationship bound by such interests would become more stable. It also fit Tao Mu’s original intention of getting along with Li Xiaoheng.

Tao Mu secretly made some calculations in his heart, and readily agreed.

As soon as he spoke, Tao Mu felt that the atmosphere in the private room suddenly became more relaxed and warm. Tao Mu looked at Li Xiaoheng, and felt that it was likely due to the sudden strengthened cooperation between the two that boosted the personal relationship between them.

Indeed, this was the truth. At least in Li Xiaoheng’s opinion, since Tao Mu agreed to cooperate——his job function being elevated from Li Xiaoheng’s personal investment consultant to his chief analyst, then the relationship between the two could not be so casual like before where “you just ask and I just answer”. In order to ensure that Tao Mu could guide his stock trading at any time, Li Xiaoheng believed that the two must ensure that they would be able to contact each other at any time within 24 hours.

In addition to these obligations that must be fulfilled, the corresponding rights must also be in place. For example, in terms of revenue sharing, contracts must be strictly followed. In this way, Li Xiaoheng could use Tao Mu with confidence.

So Li Xiaoheng made an overseas phone call that night and directly instructed Xiaoheng Capital’s legal counsel to draft an employment contract that was based on the treatment of Xiaoheng Capital’s partners, and set out in detail Tao Mu’s due profit sharing and his necessary performance obligation. There was also a contract for Tao Mu to open an account with Xiaoheng Capital. Then in the next morning, he personally delivered it to Tao Mu.

Tao Mu was still completing military training at that time, so after receiving a call from Li Xiaoheng, he immediately asked for leave from the instructor and ran out.

The autumn breeze was cool and the camphor trees on both sides of the street were already rendered golden yellow. Large tracts of camphor leaves fell on the clean streets, sunlight poured down from the gaps in the camphor trees, mottled light and shadow danced in the air, and the entire campus seemed to have been casted in a golden light. Tao Mu ran across the field wearing a military training uniform with black high boots. The vigor and life in his appearance was so handsome it charmed all those who saw him. Sitting in the car, Li Xiaoheng suddenly felt his heart skip a beat as he watched Tao Mu running towards him under the sun.

When Tao Mu opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat next to him, Li Xiaoheng felt a hot wind blowing in his face, mixed with the scent of autumn grass and sunlight, causing him to feel slightly intoxicated.

Li Xiaoheng handed his handkerchief to Tao Mu and motioned him to wipe the sweat on his face.

Tao Mu really didn’t expect that in this era, there were still people carrying handkerchiefs around, and he was a little dazed for a while.

When he came back to himself, Tao Mu smiled and waved his hand to refuse, wiping the sweat from his forehead and cheeks with his sleeves without much care: “No need. A day’s sweat is unavoidable when doing military training. I won’t waste your handkerchief.”

Li Xiaoheng could only repocket his handkerchief and hand over the contract to Tao Mu solemnly, and said with a serious expression: “Take a look, if you have any suggestions, I will ask my lawyer to change it immediately.”

The contract Li Xiaoheng asked his lawyer to draft was very formal and rigorous, fully taking into account the rights and obligations of both parties so Tao Mu made no complaints. He decisively signed his name on the contract, smiled and stretched out his right hand to Li Xiaoheng: “Happy cooperation.”

“Happy cooperation.” Li Xiaoheng squeezed Tao Mu’s right hand firmly, eyes drooping, staring at Tao Mu’s neat and beautiful nails: “Then, starting from this evening, we will have a phone call every day. If you have any questions, we can speak about it over the phone.”

This was an obligation stipulated in the contract, and Tao Mu had no objection: “Okay.”

In the next moment, Tao Mu transferred his account to Li Xiaoheng to take care of. He had disposed of a large number of sock puppets overnight, shifted thousands of hands in the international futures market, erased all traces, and finally aggregated all the funds into one account to hand over to Li Xiaoheng.

This account contained not only Tao Mu’s capital, but also the private money of Liu Yao and Meng Qi, and the pocket money of Da Mao and Xiao Pang, as well as the idle funds of the company that uncle Wang, Dao Mao’s dad invested recently.

After finishing up everything, Li Xiaoheng looked up at the sky, and saw that it was almost noon: “Would you like me to treat you to lunch?”

There wasn’t that much tasty food near the school. At least Tao Mu didn’t think it would be to Li Xiaoheng’s taste. Aside from——

Tao Mu thought of this and asked, “Do you like to eat lamb? Wen Juxiang, run by my roommate’s family, is also one of Beijing’s time-honored brands. Very authentic.”

Looking at Tao Mu talk about his classmates and roommates, Li Xiaoheng found that he exhibited a rare energy. He suddenly said, “Actually, I prefer to eat the food you make.”

Both of them were a little stunned when these words were spoken. Without waiting for Li Xiaoheng to apologize for his recklessness, Tao Mu suddenly smiled and said: “Okay. What do you like to eat, why don’t we go to the vegetable market and see, and I will make it for you.”

Li Xiaoheng pondered for a few seconds: “Will it be too troublesome?”

“No.” Tao Mu shook his head: “I haven’t eaten my own cooking for a long time. Anyway, we don’t have military training until 2:30 in the afternoon, so we have plenty of time.”

Knowing Tao Mu’s train of thoughts, he likely still regarded Li Xiaoheng as a rare business partner. There would be no rudeness in his gestures, and he would even go to the effort to not disappoint his business partners. But in the bottom of his heart, it was hard to tell whether or not he was slandering the other as being too difficult to deal with.

Li Xiaoheng fell silent for a long while, but was still unable to resist Tao Mu’s cooking skills, so he could only toughen his skin and sigh with emotion, “Then I will have to trouble you.”

The plane ticket Li Xiaoheng booked was at 8 o’clock in the evening, and the plane would fly for 13 hours. When he arrived in M country, he would still have plenty of time to be able to catch up with the opening of the stock market. Therefore, Li Xiaoheng did not have the urgent need to make up for the time difference. He was more willing to go to the farmer’s market with Tao Mu than go home for sleep. Feel the noisy crowds around them, as well as those housewives and vendors who loudly bargained with each other. This kind of life was something he had never experienced before.

Expensive handmade custom leather shoes stepped on the ground full of stagnant water. Li Xiaoheng looked around and asked Tao Mu: “Why don’t we go to the supermarket?”

“Because the fresh vegetables in the supermarket may not be all that fresh.” Tao Mu turned his head and glanced at his business partner who was wearing a three-piece haute couture suit under a black windbreaker. For the nth time, he persuaded: “You should wait for me in the car. Here it is too dirty, don’t stain your clothes.”

Before his voice fell, a loud “Coming through!” sounded behind Li Xiaoheng. Immediately after a gust of wind passed by, Li Xiaoheng instantly turned around, narrowly avoiding a bald-headed vendor pushing a tricycle into the market. There were several pots of live fish and shrimp piled on the vendor’s cart, the fishy smell extremely heavy.

Tao Mu looked down at the lively bass and shrimp, and asked Li Xiaoheng, “Do you want to eat steamed fish and braised prawns?”

Li Xiaoheng tucked his hands in his pockets, and replied very seriously: “I want to eat boiled fish.”

He had no preference for how to eat fish. But he remembered that Tao Mu liked spicy food. As for prawns…..he recalled that Tao Mu didn’t seem to like to peel prawns. This was no problem, his prawn peeling skills were at the professional level. Every year during New Year’s, he would help the female elders in his family to prawns.

The prawns he peeled were particularly beautiful.

Li Xiaoheng, who had no talent in cooking, could only find some dignity in this kind of thing.

Of course, in addition to this, he could also do the job of washing vegetables.

“Why use rinsed rice water to wash the vegetables?”

In the 38-square-meter small apartment, Mr. Li, who had never gone into a kitchen before, wore an apron and stood next to the sink, watching Tao Mu pour the rinsed rice water into the basin to wash the vegetables and was unable but to ask curiously.

“It can reduce pesticide residues.” Tao Mu answered patiently.

The daylight was just right, Tao Mu took off the jacket of the military training uniform, and also took a quick shower in passing. He was now wearing house clothes and standing in a small kitchen with a dark apron tied around him. He felt that the tall, clingy guy behind him, his business partner who would turn into a curious baby from time to time, was a bit of a hindrance.

“It’s better for you to go to the living room and wait first. I will work fast so we’ll be able to have lunch soon.” Tao Mu patiently suggested.

Li Xiaoheng also seemed to notice that his existence was a bit in the way. He was a little embarrassed: “I thought I could help you.”

He looked at Tao Mu with a serious expression: “At least I can learn.”

Tao Mu: “…..” This kind of workplace newcomer line was really not suitable for Li Xiaoheng.

“Um, you should go out and rest for a while.” Tao Mu glanced at the time. Military training would start again at 2:30 in the afternoon, and it was almost twelve now. If he didn’t hurry, it really would be too late.

He seemed to have been rejected. Li Xiaoheng rubbed his nose in an embarrassed manner and exited the kitchen that was so small that only one person could turn around in it. He then looked at the layout and furnishings in the room, and asked politely: “Can I take a tour?”

Tao Mu replied loudly in the kitchen: “Go ahead.”

With the permission of the owner, Li Xiaoheng wandered around the small and exquisite apartment.

This was probably the smallest residence he had ever seen——the whole apartment was not even as big as a bathroom in the old manor of the Li family. But the decoration in this apartment revealed the master’s meticulousness and care. From the photo wall at the entrance hall to the potted trees on the balcony, there was a lively and warm atmosphere of life everywhere.

Standing in front of the photo wall, Li Xiaoheng looked at the photo of Tao Mu, three or four years old, sitting on a small wooden horse and smiling at the camera. His plump and small delicate face was very cute. He couldn’t help but smile: “I also have a similar photo. It’s just that my photo was taken on my first birthday. By the way, where did you take this photo? Maybe we even took it in the same photo studio.”

Tao Mu in the kitchen was silent for a long time before responding: “I don’t know. I don’t have any memory before the age of five.”

Li Xiaoheng was startled when he heard this.

Tao Mu said: “I heard from the dean that when I was five years old, I came down with a high fever. The fever was particularly severe. I don’t remember anything before.”

“I’m sorry.” Li Xiaoheng returned to the kitchen door.

The sunlight on the top floor was very strong. The dazzling sunlight poured in from the window, seeming to want nothing more than to envelope the young man wearing an apron in its halo. Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu’s thin and straight back, and suddenly asked, “Then do you want to hear about my childhood?”

Tao Mu was a little startled, he looked back at Li Xiaoheng. After a long while, he suddenly smirked, “Why, when you were a kid, did you peek at girls taking baths and pull at girls’ pigtails?”

“That I haven’t done.” Li Xiaoheng put his hand in his trouser pocket, and half leaned against the door of the kitchen: “I grew up with my grandfather when I was young. My grandfather is very strict, so when I was young, my personality was relatively dull. Apart from reading books, I was always obsessed with studying and unable to extricate myself from reading the news and financial reports. Later, I went to Stanford University and was busy creating Xiaoheng Capital. As a result, I have been single until now.”

Tao Mu laughed: “No wonder the first time I saw you, I felt that you were very calm and steady when speaking and doing things, because it turned out you have been influenced by the elderly.”

“You want to say that I’m old-fashioned.” Li Xiaoheng chuckled: “My younger brothers and sisters often complain that I can’t keep up with the times, and that there is a generation gap between me and my peers. I also felt the same way before. But after meeting you, I feel that the reason I haven’t met a friend who I can talk to is all because the right person hasn’t arrived yet.”

Tao Mu paused slightly in cleaning the prawns. He then heard Li Xiaoheng continue to ask: “What about you? You are so handsome and have such a good personality. Are there many girls who like you?”

Tao Mu thought of the growing and learning environment Li Xiaoheng grew up in——they were very different from those of ordinary people, and coupled with his long stay abroad, perhaps many of his Chinese vocabulary was not so accurate. He should not be too oversensitive.

Thinking about this, Tao Mu smiled slightly and said: “I am in the same situation as you. I am addicted to making money, unable to help myself.”

“Then we are really like-minded.” Li Xiaoheng said. Seeing Tao Mu pouring the boiled fish into a large blue and white bowl, he immediately reached out to take it: “I think your tableware is also very fun.”

“Be careful, it’s hot.” Tao Mu avoided Li Xiaoheng’s hand and brought the boiled fish to the dining table with a smile: “My grandfather specially went to the glassware factory to find someone to custom make it.”

“You also grew up with your grandfather?” Li Xiaoheng eagerly climbed up the pole handed to him: “I really think there is so much in common between the two of us. No wonder we can get along like this.”

Next, Tao Mu made braised prawn, steak with red wine, crabmeat with pork meatballs, edible jellyfish with cold vegetables dressed with sauce, and osmanthus glutinous rice lotus root.

When the dishes were ready, Li Xiaoheng, who believed they got along extremely well, took the initiative to move the plate of braised prawns in front of him, rolled his sleeves up, put on plastic gloves, and began to peel the prawns.

He peeled it extremely fast, his slender fingers moving dexterously. After a short while, he placed a peeled tender prawn directly into Tao Mu’s plate.

Tao Mu was startled again. Li Xiaoheng smiled and said, “Look, I peel prawns very well while you like prawns. Don’t the two of us have a particularly tacit agreement?”

Before Tao Mu had time to speak, Li Xiaoheng chuckled and said, “So from now on, I really have to trouble you to work hard in advising me on the futures market. Although you don’t need to stay up and watch the market all night like you did before, our line of business is like this. A little negligence may result in the loss of billions of dollars. Coupled with the problem of time difference, I may sometimes have to call you at three or four in the morning. I hope you’ll forgive me for any offense.”

Tao Mu suddenly understood. Li Xiaoheng probably still felt a little worried about his professional ethics, afraid that he would choose to quit at any time, or that he could not be found at a critical moment, or that his attitude would not be so positive after a long time. All in all, all kinds of subjective negligence might cause mistakes that would result in huge losses.

With Li Xiaoheng’s manners and character, he was obviously not the kind of person who could speak ugly words beforehand. Besides, with the business relationship between him and Li Xiaoheng, as well as it being just the beginning of their cooperation, it was not suitable for there to be an “ugly talk first” style. So after thinking about it, the intimate exchanges these days could probably fall under the four words “having appreciation for talents.”

No wonder he could create the huge Xiaoheng Capital at such a young age. And in the future, be able to reach top billionaire status through investing in high-tech industries. This professional quality of being able to take and give was really not something ordinary people could possess.

Tao Mu believed to have grasped Li Xiaoheng’s thoughts, and immediately smiled, “You can rest assured that even if you call me at 3:30 in the morning every day, I will be full of energy to give you advice.”

“After all, my wealth and life are in your hands.”

Tao Mu said jokingly. Li Xiaoheng responded solemnly: “I have never worried about such things. After all, I am a very good judge of character.”

Tao Mu chuckled. He was indeed worthy of being a capitalist who could accumulate such wealth in the future. Towards this unique self-praising technique, he was indeed convinced.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

The two of them chatted away, lunch passing by in a happy atmosphere. Moreover, by the time they finished the meal, the two felt that there was a lot of tacit understanding between each other, so it became even easier to get along. It really did seem like they were two old friends.

After the meal, Li Xiaoheng said goodbye and left. As soon as Tao Mu returned to school, his cell phone suddenly rang.

For some reason, Tao Mu’s heart jumped. He answered the phone and listened to Gou Rixin’s good brother Da Luo’s panicked voice saying on the other side: “It’s not good, Tao Mu, brother Gou got into an accident.”

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TN: the much overdued bonus chapter💕

Luo Yang was true to his words and he really introduced Tao Mu to his sister at noon the next day.

The eldest miss of the Luo family, Luo Xi, graduated from Cambridge University. Twenty-eight years old this year, she was a typical Miss Perfect, fair-skinned, rich and beautiful. She had a strong family background and she herself was very famous in the capital business circle.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Of course, it was expected that she hated her brother and all the people and affairs related to Luo Yang.

When she saw Tao Mu, her attitude was expectedly bad.

“I can only give you ten minutes.” At a cafe opposite the Luo Group, Miss Luo’s had the most simple coffee and sandwich combo set on the table in front of her. She gestured to Tao Mu while eating: “You can start.”

Luo Yang sat on the side, frowning very unhappily: “Sister, it’s fine for you to give me a cold face every day but can you not do the same to my friends? Besides, Tao Mu is a private investment consultant hired by Li Xiaoheng and to Xiao Heng his opinion in finance is very important. You treating Tao Mu like this, isn’t it too much?”

Hearing Luo Yang mention Li Xiaohang, Luo Xi’s attitude shifted and her face eased a lot: “Sorry, Mr. Tao, don’t blame me for having preconceptions. It is really because my little brother is too unreliable, and his friends are all the same. At times it really annoys me.”

Tao Mu smiled slightly and didn’t mind at all: “It’s fine. I can understand Miss Luo’s attitude.”

Luo Yang snorted, as if he was accustomed to the scene before him.

Luo Xi put down the coffee. In just a few minutes, she had completely sorted out her emotions. Looking at Tao Mu with a decent smile, her attitude gentle and polite and her tone approachable with a little curiosity: “Mr. Tao may not know that in the eyes of us rich second generation, the grandson of the Li family has always been a model child. While in his first year of studying abroad at Stanford, he created his own financial capital. Just relying on himself he gained a foothold on Wall Street. It can be said that he is a very proud person in the financial field and only trusts his own vision and judgment. Since Mr. Tao can actually become Li Xiaoheng’s private investment consultant, you must have real talents and learning.”

“It happens that I am also very interested in the international crude oil futures recently. If Mr. Tao don’t mind, could you discuss this topic with a layman like me?”

This was to test him. After all, Luo Xi still didn’t completely believe Luo Yang’s words. She just used another more tactful way to test Tao Mu’s real ability.

Tao Mu smiled slightly, he was not afraid of Luo Xi trying to sound him out. Because while on the one hand, it meant that there was doubt and suspicion; but reading it from another angle it also meant interest as well.

If there was really no interest, then there wouldn’t even be any probing.

“Miss Luo is too courteous. In truth, I am not an expert. Like Miss Luo, I am just interested in this field.” Tao Mu pondered for a moment and took the initiative to ask, “I wonder what Miss Luo wants to discuss?”

Seeing Tao Mu’s confident appearance, Luo Xi took a sip of coffee and asked maliciously: “Is Mr. Tao also shorting the international crude oil market yourself?”

Tao Mu smiled privately. This question was very interesting. If he answered no, it meant that he was just all theoretical and no practical knowledge. Like those so-called financial experts who made analysis in financial columns. They speak beautifully, but they themselves would not personally test their analysis. No matter what they were reluctant to spend a penny and instead focused on making theories and debates, and moreover, their opinions would change along with the changes in the current situation. They belonged to the professional level fence-sitters who would always bend with the wind.

Luo Xi’s unspoken words meant that she was afraid that Tao Mu was also such a person. After all, with Li Xiaoheng’s shrewdness and sophistication, even if Tao Mu talked nonsense in front of him, Li Xiaoheng would not directly slap him in the face. But if this was the case, Tao Mu’s credibility would be greatly reduced.

Now, Luo Xi put emphasis on whether Tao Mu was actually short-selling “himself” with the intention of cutting off any bragging behavior or using Li Xiaoheng’s name to gain profit and benefits.

——After all, Tao Mu was just an 18-year-old college student, and one who majored in drama. It was not that Luo Xi was arrogantly speculating, but it was really unconvincing that a student of this major would have any insightful knowledge of the financial economy. The gap was just too wide.

Luo Xi felt that she didn’t need to put things out in the open to embarrass everyone but just give a hint or two. If Tao Mu was smart, he should retreat in the face of difficulties.

Unfortunately, Luo Xi made the wrong calculation. Tao Mu was truly not the kind of person who would brag and swindle investment money under the banner of Luo Yang and Li Xiaoheng.

In fact, the reason why Tao Mu approached Luo Xi had nothing to do with Luo Xi herself. Even negotiating with Luo Xi to let Longteng Entertainment’s artists enter FlyNews was just an excuse Tao Mu casually made in order to get close to Luo Xi.

Tao Mu’s ultimate goal was just to find an easy to control chess piece that could allow him to take part in the internal fighting of the Shen Group, Sheng’an Group and Luo Group at any time.

It just so happened that Luo Xi had the brains and the shrewdness. The most important thing was——thanks to Tao Mu’s previous life knowledge, he was aware of Luo Xi’s fatal weakness. So Tao Mu was not afraid of Luo Xi going back on her words half-way through.

“I am ashamed. Although the time difference between China and M country is a bit big, I am really interested in the international crude oil market, and want nothing more than to stay up all night and watch the market. So in recent months, my skin condition has been particularly poor. Even my person is not as handsome as before. But fortunately, I have some luck, and I managed to live up to the hard work.”

Tao Mu’s remarks were well versed in the essence of subtle bragging. Sure enough, Miss Luo was interested. She raised a pair of extremely delicately trimmed eyebrows, and asked with a half-smile: “Oh. I wonder if I can take the liberty to ask, how is Mr. Tao’s profit?”

Tao Mu thought about it in his heart, and said with a smile: “So far, the return rate is pretty good.”

Tao Mu reported a number. Luo Xi’s face changed slightly: “This seems to be a higher rate of return than Li Xiaoheng’s?”

Tao Mu smiled suddenly: “After all, I am his private investment consultant.”

The role of investment advisors was to guide buyers on how to choose stocks and how to operate. Therefore, Tao Mu’s personal return rate being higher than that of Li Xiaoheng’s was not something too unreasonable.

Of course, if based on the theory of base capital, Li Xiaoheng’s profit was definitely higher than Tao Mu’s. This was something that could not be helped.

Tao Mu was not afraid that Luo Xi would investigate this matter privately and Luo Xi did not worry that Tao Mu was lying. After all, when Tao Mu withdrew the funds from the futures market, he would have to pay taxes.

It was unlikely that he could be so amazing in the early stage, but at the last juncture, he squandered all the profits. Even if he was that unlucky, there was always a trail to be traced in the futures market exchanges.

Thinking about it this way, Luo Xi’s attitude towards Tao Mu suddenly became more friendly.

“I didn’t expect Mr. Tao to have such a talent at such a young age.” Luo Xi smiled gently, seeming to admire Tao Mu’s talent: “I heard Luo Yang mention that you also created FlyNews website and now the website is developing in full swing. And finding me this time, you also hope to persuade me to let all the artists of Longteng Entertainment join FlyNews. I just don’t know, what benefits are there for our Longteng Entertainment?”

“Miss Luo, please take a look——” Tao Mu said, taking out a publicity plan from his bookbag and handing it to Luo Xi.

Although it was just an excuse to get close to Luo Xi. But with Tao Mu’s shrewdness, Luo Xi would never suspect his true motives. So Tao Mu also carefully made preparations. If Longteng Entertainment agreed to cooperate with FlyNews’ publicity plan, its artists would naturally gain publicity as well.

“Military uniform photo National Day celebration day?” Luo Xi opened the publicity plan that Tao Mu had written overnight, frowning: “This idea is a bit particular. Do you think it will be effective?”

“Establishing a positive image, promoting positive energy, guiding netizens to recall the bitterness and think of happiness, and celebrating the birthday of this country.” Tao Mu said solemnly: “Such a mainstream publicity activity will definitely have a positive response in society. I think no matter if it is for the artists under Longteng Entertainment or for the image of the Luo Group itself this will bring good publicity.”

As for how to make an impact, it depended on how everyone interacted with the media.

Luo Xi asked thoughtfully: “You mean, on National Day, I should also upload a military uniform photo of myself to cooperate with FlyNews’ publicity plan?”

Tao Mu smiled slightly, and hinted: “I heard that Chairman Luo, who founded the Luo Group singlehandedly, is actually a veteran soldier. Chairman Luo can protect his family and the country with his strength as well as lead the economy with his intelligence. He is really a character to be admired by our generation.”

Luo Xi’s slender fingers painted with red nail polish unconsciously flipped through the corners of the plan: “I can’t make the final decision. I have to go back and discuss it with my father.”

Tao Mu smiled: “This is natural.”

Luo Xi looked at Tao Mu and suddenly asked, “You are not afraid that I will reveal your plan? After all, it is not only FlyNews that can initiate this activity on the Internet. As far as I know, Weibo has also recently been trying every means to attract netizens and attract more people to register. If your publicity plan is given to Weibo, I’m afraid it will attract more people’s attention.”

Tao Mu smiled slightly: “I believe that Miss Luo is not that kind of person.”

That kind of person? Luo Xi raised her eyebrows slightly, and didn’t ask any more questions.

In fact, Tao Mu was indeed not afraid that Luo Xi would reveal this plan to Weibo. Because Tao Mu had actually created two plans originally. Plan A was a positive plan shown to Luo Xi, to be used by FlyNews in the absence of any wind and waves. Plan B targeted the possibility that Luo Xi revealed this plan to Weibo, in which FlyNews would launch a counter-attack publicity move——it would not only discredit Weibo, but also use Weibo as a stepping stone to promote his own website.

Of course, it was possible that the latter’s publicity effect would be better. After all, Weibo was a big business and was more famous than the newly launched FlyNews.

Tao Mu always prepared with both hands. As for which hand to use when the time arrived, it all depended on the situation at that time.

Of course, Luo Xi didn’t know that Tao Mu dug so many holes for her. She had a good time chatting with Tao Mu. During the period, she was especially eager to consult Tao Mu about how to start shorting international oil futures if she were to try a hand as well.

The Luo family and the Li family were family acquaintances, and the return rate of Xiaoheng Capital created by Li Xiaoheng had always been among the best on Wall Street. As a business partner of the Li family, the Luo Group naturally also opened an account at Xiaoheng Capital and handed over most of their idle funds to Li Xiaoheng for operation.

However, Tao Mu knew that Luo Xi had set up several shell corporations and personal vaults without the Luo Group and the Luo family’s knowledge. Asking Tao Mu about shorting the international crude oil, she must also want to operate quietly on her own.

Tao Mu was happy to see this too. Luo Xi wanted to make money, wanted to be recognized by Chairman Luo, and wanted to gain a higher position and greater authority in the Luo Group. Then she would definitely have a need for Tao Mu. People who had wants and desires meant they also had weaknesses to be exploited.

Tao Mu was more afraid that Luo Xi would have no wants and desires. So, he began to give Luo Xi some guidance carefully. The advice he gave was both convincingly logical and would yield immediate results. This caused Luo Xi to smile in joy, and when she looked at Tao Mu, it was the gaze of one looking at her own little brother——oh, that’s not right, given the relationship between Luo Xi and Luo Yang, this gaze was one looking at someone even closer than a little brother.

This meal was very enjoyable. When the three of them realized it, the ten minutes that Luo Xi had said had already doubled several times, and it was time to go to work. Miss Luo reluctantly bid farewell to Tao Mu, and left with her fiancé who came to pick her up——in the afternoon they had to go to the second party’s company for inspection.

Tao Mu looked at the back of the two of them leaving, and smiled meaningfully: “Your sister and her boyfriend are really a suitable match.”

“As if.” Luo Yang curled his lips: “That man is my sister’s college classmate. His family is in the countryside and extremely poor. He is basically useless except for that face. His character is also a spineless yes-man. In front of my dad he can’t even say a word. I’m afraid he’ll be marrying into our family in the future as well. I don’t know why my sister has fallen in love with him. And even making a scene and throwing a tantrum if we don’t let her. My father and mother introduced her to so many young talents but she won’t even take a look. It’s simply an embarrassment to our family.”

“Our relatives all say that my sister is too stubborn. But my dad actually let her continue acting out like this. I really don’t know what he is thinking.”

Luo Yang glanced at Tao Mu out of the corner of his eyes, seeing the other’s expressionless face, his heart jumped, and he said, “But my sister, a person who always talks about interests and profits, would actually date her college classmate for so many years and even plan to get married together. Actually, I was also quite surprised. How to say it, it can be considered as deep affection indeed. And most importantly my father and mother don’t really care about it either.”

Luo Yang said, with a look of envy: “If I can marry anyone I want to marry then that would be great.”

A spineless yes-man with deep affection?

Tao Mu thought of the tactics used by Luo Xi and her husband to drive out the tigers and wolves from the Luo Group after the death of Chairman Luo in his previous life.

Tao Mu returned to Beijing Film that afternoon. However, for once he did not go look at financial news and his website, but searched for the recently released movies and restaurants near the movie theater.

The three roommates wiggled their eyebrows and leaned in: “Mu, do you…..have good news?”

“What good news?” Tao Mu was slow to respond: “What is it?”

“That kind of good news!” Wen Bao gestured at Tao Mu’s computer screen with his chin: “For no reason, why are you looking for movies and restaurants? Are you going on a date with a girl?”

“Who is it? When did you meet? We practically stay with you all day, why don’t we know?” Du Kang scratched his chin, and picked through all the information of the ’08 Beijing Film girls in his head. But still he couldn’t think of who actually managed to snag Tao Mu away.

“Is it Kou Xiaona who was the first to yell out about keeping you that day? Or Liu Hai’er, who comes to give you water every time the military training is over? Or——”

“What, no!” Tao Mu interrupted Du Kang’s speculation, feeling exasperated and amused: “A friend of mine came back from M Country for two days, and I don’t know where to go to play. I’m going to accompany him around.”

“Oh?” The three roommates dragged out the syllable and said, “So it’s a childhood sweetheart?”

“A guy.” Tao Mu broke his roommates’ illusion with one sentence: “He can also be said to be the future bankroller of FlyNews——my friend is a financial venture capitalist. If FlyNews can really get listed on the stock market, his help would be indispensable.”

Tao Mu spoke casually, explaining to his friends his relationship with Li Xiaoheng. The three roommates took it seriously: “So, there will actually be a future IT boss in our dormitory?”

“Aiya, then we must not let you slip away. In the future, when we make a movie or TV series or something, we must find you to be the investor!” Du Kang hurriedly massaged Tao Mu’s shoulders. Seeing that Tao Mu was stumped about choosing a movie, he made a friendly suggestion: “I think the “Plan B” released two days ago is pretty good. Hong Kong movie, a police movie starring Zhou Yanqing. Its reputation is pretty good.”

Tao Mu thought for a while, and checked the time and number of movie screenings in nearby cinemas on the Internet. Then he sent a message to Li Xiaoheng: “Is this okay?”

Li Xiaoheng was probably also fiddling with his mobile phone at the time so in a couple seconds there was a response: “Of course. I have troubled you.”

“It’s nothing, you are too courteous.”

This was the first time the two had sent messages since they met each other, and they both could not help but be restricted by social etiquette. Seeming to have considered that Tao Mu did not have a car, Li Xiaoheng also offered to come to Beijing Film to pick him up. Tao Mu knew the location of the Li family manor, which was almost half a city away from Beijing Film. This was future Mr. Bankroller, and he would be too embarrassed to have Li Xiaoheng go to that much trouble.

So the two met directly in the cinema Sunday morning.

On weekend mornings, those who would choose to watch movies as a pastime were usually young couples who were in love. The appearance of the two grown men like Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng, immediately aroused the interest of many onlookers. Fortunately, both of them had tough skin and appeared very natural, causing the group of onlookers to feel as if they were making a fuss about nothing. After entering the movie theater, the lights went out and everything was black, so even more so no one paid them any attention.

Li Xiaoheng sat next to Tao Mu and couldn’t help paying attention to Tao Mu’s actions during the entire movie. When Tao Mu just sat down, he took out a small notebook from his pocket. From the beginning of the movie, he had been writing and drawing on that small notebook. What plot point in five minutes, what method did the actor use to show a certain emotion? What kind of meaning did the director hoped to convey through the set furnishings…..

The movie theater was very dark, and the light from the big screen shone brightly on Tao Mu’s face, highlighting Tao Mu’s features even deeper.

In this dim light, Tao Mu sometimes bowed his head to take notes, and sometimes raised his head to seriously observe the actors’ performance.

He truly liked acting.

This kind of comprehension rose in Li Xiaoheng’s heart.

After the movie ended, Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng walked out of the cinema along with the crowd. Tao Mu, who had been immersed in analyzing the plot, suddenly came back to himself and asked Li Xiaoheng with a smile: “What do you think of the movie?”

“Very good.” Li Xiaoheng nodded. In truth, he didn’t pay much attention to the plot, he was not interested in such things by nature. Compared with the joys and sorrows in the movie, he felt that Tao Mu’s various small expressions when analyzing the movie were more interesting.

“I see you took a lot of notes while watching the movie. Is this the legendary film analysis?” 

“Yes.” Tao Mu nodded, feeling that neglecting Li Xiaoheng with his habitual actions when watching movies seemed to be not so good, and then explained: “For those of us studying acting, in addition to practicing our speaking voices and body gestures, our daily tasks also include film analyzing. It’s almost an occupational disease by now.”

In fact, Tao Mu had seen this movie in his previous life. It was just that after many years, he now had a different mindset and different way of looking at things. So after analyzing it again at this moment he learned quite a lot.

Li Xiaoheng smiled and said, “Why do you feel embarrassed? Doing things seriously is a very rare and precious quality. Besides, we are here to watch a movie. But compared to movies acted by others, I look forward to works starring you more.”

Tao Mu smiled upon hearing this: “Then you have to wait another two years. Our school stipulates that students are not allowed to accept acting jobs before their junior year.”

“Aren’t there still stage plays? And there are also presentation performances at the end of each semester at your school.” Li Xiaoheng smiled and said, “When you perform, can I reserve a ticket?”

Tao Mu smiled and said: “It seems that Mr. Li also knows our profession very well.”

“Because my most important partner likes this profession.” Li Xiaoheng smiled: “Let’s go eat.”

“You invite me to watch a movie, and I invite you to dinner. How about it?”

When Tao Mu texted Li Xiaoheng about the location of the cinema and the number of screenings, he did not mention the follow-up meal. So Li Xiaoheng also asked people to search for restaurants near the cinema. Then, very strangely, the two actually chose the same restaurant.

After arriving at the restaurant, Tao Mu told Li Xiaoheng about this matter. Li Xiaoheng also thought it was a special coincidence: “It seems that the two of us are gold medal partners as expected. There is a tacit understanding in work and a tacit understanding in getting along with each other in private.”

Actually there wasn’t. Because of the occupational disease of financial practitioners, Li Xiaoheng did not have much particularity for food. The reason why he chose this restaurant was entirely because of Tao Mu’s taste——the two had a meal in H Town. From that meal alone, Li Xiaoheng basically understood Tao Mu’s eating habits and taste preferences.

Sure enough, after the two got the menu, the dishes Tao Mu ordered were not much different from what Li Xiaoheng expected.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

It was because of their “common hobby”, financial stocks, that they got acquainted with each other as well as the fact that they both shorted international crude oil at the same time, the two of them turned to this topic again without realizing it.

Li Xiaoheng already knew from Luo Yang that Tao Mu was also shorting international oil futures, and the return rate was even higher than that of Xiaoheng Capital. This caused Li Xiaoheng to develop admiration for him and become more curious about Tao Mu’s operations in the international futures market. Now that he finally had the opportunity, of course he must discuss it with the other and ask for advice.

It was also to pave the way for his suggestion later.

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Tao Mu recalled that at this point in his last life, he just returned to the Shen family, and because of the huge gap in expectations, he had a strong hostility towards Shen Yu. However, everyone in the Shen family chose to not use their brains when dealing with matters related with Shen Yu, choosing Shen Yu’s side no matter how ridiculous, which greatly affected Tao Mu. Regardless of the opposition of the Shen family, he insisted on driving Shen Yu out of the Shen family——his attitude was quite fierce and his methods were quite clumsy.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

For example, he transferred to the college where Shen Yu studied at, and applied for the finance major to prove that he was better than Shen Yu who majored in literature; forcibly squeezed into Shen Yu’s circle of friends, inciting Shen Yu’s friends to target Shen Yu; deliberately suppressing Shen Yu during filming. He even went to the shop where Shen Yu worked part-time and acted as a villain…..Now that he thought back about it, Tao Mu himself felt ridiculously retarded.

That was to say, everything that he did to make trouble for Shen Yu were basically things that could only happen in such immature “abusing the heart” silly white sweet plot stories. In the normal world, it was likely that only mentally retarded people would do these kind of idiotic things.

But at that time, it was precisely because of Tao Mu’s brainless actions that those who originally didn’t like Shen Yu or had no feelings in regards to Shen Yu gradually became attracted by Shen Yu. They felt that this young man was pure and removed from this earthly world, completely different from the many cheap sluts in the entertainment industry. He had a crystal heart, untainted by the world, a little angel who had a slender and gentle appearance but tough and kind-hearted soul.

As a result, these admirers began to act as Shen Yu’s protectors. Not doing anything every day, except for saving Shen Yu from any minor difficulty, all they did was to make trouble for him. Although they didn’t like each other, in the end, in the process of constantly face-slapping him, they forged a strange friendship of comrades-in-arms. Finally, under Shen Yu’s influence, they all put down their grudges and lived harmoniously. They even joined hands to form a business alliance with the Shen family at the core.

After being reborn, out of the influence of IQ-lowering buff, Tao Mu jumped out of the plot logic and reviewed the past again, and found that many plot points were actually worth pondering. Such as——

“Xiao Mu? Xiao Mu?”

After being patted on the shoulder a few times, Tao Mu came back to himself: “Huh?”

“What are you thinking, so immersed in your thoughts?” Meng Qi chuckled softly, “What do you think of your brother Yao’s proposal?”

“What?” Tao Mu looked at Liu Yao blankly.

Liu Yao gave his cub an annoyed look. One shouldn’t be distracted when talking about business!

“What I and your brother Xiao Qi mean is that the waters in Shanghai are too deep and the situation is too complicated, so you little children should not get involved.” It was too easy to accidentally smash the pot! (TN: expression for messing things up, getting in trouble)

“Leave it to us.” Liu Yao said: “I will have Da Hui make a trip——”

“It’s best not to have brother Da Hui go.” Tao Mu said out of caution, “Brother Da Hui had been tailing Luo Yang. If he appears in Shanghai at this juncture, it may attract the attention of interested people. “

After being reborn, Tao Mu would never underestimate the luck of Shen Yu and his group of admirers. So he would be more careful when doing anything——and even still, there was no guarantee. But so long as he could delay for a while while he completed his early stage accumulation to the point he had the ability to stand up against the storm, it wouldn’t matter how he exposed himself then.

In Tao Mu’s original plan, he prepared to act on his knowledge of future decisive opportunities. With Tao Mu’s understanding of Yao Wenxiao, so long as Yao Wenxiao saw Luo Yang shamelessly sticking around Shen Yu, he would definitely not be able to bear it. At that time, if Yao Wenxiao acted the same as in the previous life and decided to one sidedly make enemies with Luo Yang, then he would not do anything. Tao Mu would just choose the right opportunity to hand over the photos Feng Yuan took. If Yao Wenxiao unexpectedly decided to endure it, then he would find a way to add more fire.

As for the way of delivering the photos, this was also something that required particular attention. Tao Mu hadn’t figured out yet, whether posing as paparazzi and post some photos in some gossip tabloids to attract Yao Wenxiao’s attention, or just send the photos to Yao Wenxiao directly.

But he didn’t need to worry too much about such trivial matters. Tao Mu’s real killer move would be in the business circle, instigating the two families and their businesses to fight each other——

Although Sheng’an Group made a fortune from restaurants and catering, it had been operating well over these years and possessed sufficient funds, even beginning to expand to other industries. And in China, if one had capital and connections, the best business to do was real estate.

So long as the Sheng’an Group was not stupid, it would naturally focus on this slab of fat meat.

Tao Mu recalled that at this point in his previous life, Sheng’an Group was planning to buy a plot of land and officially enter the real estate industry in Shanghai. It happened that both the Shen family and the Luo family took a fancy to this plot of land. The three major groups would participate in the bidding held by the Shanghai Municipal Government in October. The person representing the Shen Group was Shen Chen, the person representing the Sheng’an Group was Yao Wenxiao’s second uncle, and the person representing the Luo Group was Luo Yang.

Although Tao Mu didn’t know what father Luo was thinking, actually going to the extent of rejecting the opinions of the board and sending such a useless guy to preside over such an important project related to the future development of the group. But all in all, according to the plot development in the previous life, Luo Yang would definitely unwittingly reveal the base price of the Luo Group while getting in a jealous spat with Yao Wenxiao. However, Yao Wenxiao did not tell the Sheng’an Group after learning this information, but revealed the Luo Group’s base price to Shen Chen. In the end, the Shen family defeated the Luo Group by a mere one million to obtain the land.

After getting the land, the Shen family did not choose to eat the meat alone in order to appease the Sheng’an Group and the Luo Group. Instead, they agreed to join forces to develop this land. This was also the first time Shen Yu’s admirers and the Shen family joined forces in the business circle.

At that time, Tao Mu had just returned to the Shen family’s house, and as an 18-year-old boy who had just come from the bottom of society and had no sense of business, he was completely unaware of the inner workings of such things. But after being reborn, Tao Mu could see a lot of things from Shen Chen’s move.

What was more interesting was that Tao Mu also knew the base prices of all bidding companies.

Then there were many tricks he could play on this matter.

In the next week, the development of FlyNews, as Tao Mu expected, quickly expanded to Yan Film and other universities in Beijing. Even the drama academy in Shanghai had been affected by the school beauty and hunk competition, and students started to register FlyNews accounts one after another.

In addition, Tao Mu once advertised on Weibo, so even some social netizens also joined in the fun and registered a FlyNews account. However, after Tao Mu perfected the programming code, these idle members of society could no longer participate in the selection of school beauty and hunk, which was dominated by universities and colleges. They could only vote.

On the other side, under Long Tianao’s active supervision, Summer Star Entertainment’s artists had also begun to move into FlyNews. The entry of these stars also brought along a group of fans. The input of these fans allowed Tao Mu to launch voting activities outside of the school beauty and hunk competition to Most Beautiful lists.

In addition to the independent selection of school beauty and hunk, this ranking was aimed at people in society who had never studied at university or had already graduated. Taking into account the status quo of a large number of stars automatically bringing along fans, this ranking could basically be regarded as the most beautiful in the entertainment industry.

This headline, which looked very attention grabbing at first glance, immediately aroused the excitement of all fans. Fans who had other idols couldn’t tolerate Summer Star Entertainment idols acting like the “Monkey King”, and began to upload photos of their idols to FlyNews to participate in the competition. Under such operation, the number of website visits soared.

Long Tianao reported to Tao Mu the number of celebrities who had joined FlyNews every night. Inspired by those excited netizens, Long Tianao was not satisfied after all the artists of Summer Star Entertainment registered on FlyNews. He even used his uncle’s influence to privately contact the agents of those artists who were uploaded by their fans and passively participated in the ranking of “Most Beautiful”. And then politely invited these people to register for a FlyNews account. This level of effort was simply comparable to that of the as yet to be employed advertising department and outreach department managers of FlyNews.

Long Tianao’s uncle was the largest shareholder of Summer Star Entertainment, and Long Tianao was the most favored young master of the Long family. Although these agents were puzzled when they received the call from Long Tianao, they did not want to throw a wet blanket on Long Tianao’s interest because of such a trivial matter. So they also registered without giving it much care. At the beginning they truly didn’t care all too much, but soon, this group of people felt the benefits of Internet celebrities and Internet traffic.

But these were all in the afterword.

On Friday night, Tao Mu treated Long Tianao to dinner to express thanks for Long Tianao’s hard work——he had to admit that this kid really helped a lot. Tao Mu was really surprised by the capability of this rich second generation.

“How about it, I’m amazing!” In the elegantly decorated private room, Long Tianao crossed his arms over his chest and proudly asked for credit: “Now you know that having a friend like me is especially useful at critical times, right!”

Tao Mu smiled lightly, and answered “Yes” decisively, taking the initiative to pour Long Tianao a glass of beer.

Long Tianao also felt a little flattered. Omg, so many days of hard work was really not in vain, you finally showed a good face towards this brother.

“In fact, in addition to the celebrity artists, I also asked my friends to register at FlyNews. They are all crazy for it now, saying things like ‘don’t know who is so talented, actually inventing such an awesome website’. This was simply a beauty ranking plus magical dating device. And they all agree that the person who can invent this kind of website must be the same people. They even rushed me to invite you over to play together so that they can know you.”

As Long Tianao spoke, he paid attention to Tao Mu’s expression: “But I know you are very busy lately and don’t have time to deal with them so I didn’t agree. But I have to say, my friends are from very influential backgrounds. If you need it, you can get to know each other. Everyone is about the same age and can play together.”

There was a pause. Long Tianao seemed to still be pissed, and muttered: “Don’t worry, my friends are very different from people like Luo Yang.”

Tao Mu chuckled lightly. He knew what Long Tianao meant. He wanted to say that he would not bully people like Luo Yang. But who knew how much truth was in it. After all, Long Tianao also knew Shen Yu, and the relationship between the two seemed to be pretty good.

After being reborn, Tao Mu dared not underestimate Shen Yu’s protagonist halo. If he didn’t take precautions carefully, maybe one day, this kid Long Tianao would successfully stab him in the back. He couldn’t afford such a thing.

However, Tao Mu would not show the slightest hint of his true thoughts on the surface. He picked up the wine glass and knocked it against Long Tianao’s, warmly coaxing: “Young master Long is a loyal and reasonable person, you are definitely different from surname Luo.”

Long Tianao liked to see Tao Mu smiling gently at him, even his bones felt lighter by two pounds, and his big tail couldn’t help but wag wildly behind him. He lifted his chin proudly: “Of course. I’m definitely not going to bully you. We are good friends. If you don’t believe me, go outside and find out, I am known to treat my friends well.”

Tao Mu had met many people in his two lifetimes, but this was the first time he had seen someone who shamelessly praised himself like Long Tianao.

Long Tianao looked at Tao Mu who suddenly laughed, and chuckled along stupidly: “Right. You believe it too?”

“I believe it.”

If Tao Mu was willing, he could lower his posture to please anyone. Even Cheng Baodong’s constant stubbornness was not a problem. What’s more, Long Tianao was much simpler and easier to get along with.

Therefore, Long Tianao ate very happily during this meal. He felt that he and Tao Mu could finally put aside the grudges of the past and happily make friends. He even offered to introduce Tao Mu to a possible girlfriend——

“My sister, blood related, let me tell you she is very cute. When you see her you will definitely like her. I think that with you being so handsome and so talented my sister will also like you. How about on another day you let me introduce the two of you? Let me tell you, my dad and my mom really cherishes her. If you really marry my sister, you will be able to struggle arduously in your career at least 20 years less.” Long Tianao was a little bit drunk, showing two fingers with a serious face to Tao Mu, insisting on Tao Mu becoming his brother-in-law.

Tao Mu didn’t expect that he only gave Long Tianao a few smiles, and yet coaxed Long Tianao into actually willing to go to this extent. Maybe he went a little overboard.

“No, no, there’s no need. I’m still young and don’t want to have a girlfriend.”

“Don’t mind! You are so handsome, it would be wasteful not to have a girlfriend. I tell you, my sister is really cute. She has a very good personality, much better than mine. And she likes handsome guys the most. If she sees you she will definitely fall in love at first sight and insist on marrying you and no one else!”

If that was the case then they definitely should not meet.

“I am an actor. I cannot have a girlfriend so early. It will affect future development in the entertainment circle.”

“Nothing to it! I tell you, my uncle likes my sister a lot too. If you are with my sister, my uncle will definitely support you. As long as Summer Star Entertainment has the resources, you can have your pick. I will also have my uncle find his old classmates for resources that we don’t have. Let me tell you, do you know who my uncle’s old classmates are? What director of this TV station, the director of that department, the award winning directors, the producers, etc. My dad knows everyone. Just say what you want to act.”

“I don’t want to act in anything. Just don’t introduce your sister to me and I will thank you.”

Tao Mu looked at Long Tianao, who was obviously drunk, with black lines on his face. He could feel a splitting headache. Finally, he managed to send this drunk away. The next day, he still had to go to Li Xiaoheng’s welcoming dinner.

In fact, Tao Mu didn’t understand why Li Xiaoheng returned to Beijing at this juncture. This was the point when the international oil futures market was most turbulent. The market shakes were particularly severe. Anyone who was not careful might risk a forced margin call. Tao Mu didn’t even dare to sleep at night, staring at the market like a hunting eagle. He was almost at the point of drinking some stimulants to stimulate the brain.

And Li Xiaoheng unexpectedly ran back at this time!

Oi, could you have some damn awareness of doing business? (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

But after the meeting, Tao Mu realized that Li Xiaoheng actually had serious things and must come back——the most important life event of all serious things!

“What. Auntie actually pretended to be sick to deceive you to return to China for a blind date?” Luo Yang couldn’t help but laughed in the luxuriously decorated private room, “I say, auntie is too talented.”

“I didn’t expect my mother would actually do such a thing.” Li Xiaoheng sighed particularly helplessly. He was really busy in M country. More than one billion dollars sounded like a lot, but the current international crude oil market had accumulated a huge pool of at least hundreds of billions of dollars under the impetus of those international capitalists. Under the agitation of those international investors, private investors like him were nothing at all.

It was like being in a fishing boat struggling constantly in a turbulent tsunami. If one was careless, one could either be crushed by the frantic and turbulent market or torn apart by the aftermath of the continuous collision of many sides. The pressure was so high that he couldn’t even sleep every day, practically having developed neurasthenia. And yet his family was making trouble for him.

Li Xiaoheng felt a headache and pressed his temples. He then looked at Tao Mu with emotion: “I heard Luo Yang say that you created a very interesting website. I tried it myself last night and also thought it was really good. Whenever you need financing, you can come to me.”

Tao Mu smiled warmly: “Thank you, brother Li.”

He looked at Li Xiaoheng subtly. The other was still in a classic three-piece suit, black hair all combed back, revealing a smooth forehead. His eyes were deep, the bridge of his nose was tall, his appearance handsome, and demeanor elegant. His whole person looked like a typical Wall Street person——his whole body exuding the powerful aura necessary for the financial elite. As if he was ready for a high-intensity business negotiation to come at any time. However, the bloodshot eyes and constant movements of massaging his temples all revealed his fatigue.

Tao Mu’s eyes flickered slightly, and he said very considerately: “I think you look tired and you should take a good rest. Don’t drink Pu’er tea, you can change to a pot of valerian root tea. After eating this meal, go back and get a good night’s sleep.”

The hand Li Xiaoheng stretched towards the teacup paused for a moment, and then retracted without a trace. In truth, he didn’t want to participate in any welcoming dinner today. He had always hated noisy venues and urgently needed sleep. But Luo Yang told him that today’s welcoming dinner only consisted of them and Tao Mu.

Li Xiaoheng didn’t know what he was thinking, he just heard Tao Mu’s name, and when he had come back to his senses he had already agreed to Luo Yang’s invite.

“Alright.” Li Xiaoheng obediently replaced the Pu’er with valerian root on Tao Mu’s suggestion.

Luo Yang watched his childhood friend, who had always been stubborn, actually abandoning his beloved Pu’er under Tao Mu’s persuasion, and suddenly he seemed to have seen a ghost: “You would listen to him?”

Li Xiaoheng smiled when he heard the words, and looked at Tao Mu with an affectionate expression: “In our business, we must listen to what investment consultants say.”

Luo Yang was stunned when he saw this, but before he had time to ask when Li Xiaoheng had become so familiar with Tao Mu, Li Xiaoheng had already got close to Tao Mu and began to talk to Tao Mu about his experience in shorting international crude oil in M country during this period of time.

Tao Mu did not mention to Li Xiaoheng that he was also shorting international crude oil. But he did have a lot of his own thoughts after personally trying his hand for a few months. Usually he had no one to discuss and could only think about it by himself. But at this moment, from his discussion with Li Xiaoheng he benefited a lot.

Luo Yang didn’t understand any of this and was of course not interested in the exchanges of financial terms between the two. It was just that  watching these two people so engrossed in talking, he suddenly had the illusion that he was an electric light bulb. (TN: electric light bulb is same as third wheel)

Luo Yang shook his head a little amused, and forcefully interrupted: “I say you two, don’t discuss such boring topics when you come out to eat. The food will be indigestible discussing such things.”

Li Xiaoheng laughed involunatrily and looked at Tao Mu apologetically and said, “Sorry, my occupational disease. I really shouldn’t talk about these things when I come out to dinner. How about you invite me to watch a movie another day?”

Tao Mu was about to speak when he suddenly reacted and realized that Li Xiaoheng said “you invite me to watch a movie”.

Luo Yang was also puzzled: “What the hell is asking people to treat you to a movie? Shouldn’t the normal way of speaking be you asking him to watch a movie?”

After a pause, Luo Yang still felt that something was wrong. Two grown men, why ask each other to watch a movie?

Li Xiaoheng continued to smile warmly, and patiently explained: “Because I am not proficient in this area. Xiao Mu is a professional. Of course he knows which movies are good and which are not good. He chooses what he is interested in, and I appreciate a high standard film. Isn’t this the best of both worlds?”

Could this be understood in such a way? Luo Yang looked dazedly at his childhood friend, feeling that something was wrong here.

Tao Mu also felt that this way of thinking was a bit different from ordinary people. However, those who have worked on Wall Street for many years were not the same as normal people. So Tao Mu didn’t feel conflicted too much, in any case, he also wanted to make good friends with Li Xiaoheng. There was nothing wrong with spending more time with each other. Thinking about this, Tao Mu patiently asked, “How long can you stay in China?”

Li Xiaoheng couldn’t get angry with his own mother, so he casually taught an aunt, who instigated his mother to pretend to be sick, a lesson. After that, Luo Yang called him out for this welcoming dinner. Now when seeing Tao Mu, he suddenly felt that his decision not to go back immediately was correct.

“I can stay here for two more days. I will return to M country in two days.” Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu with warm eyes, waiting patiently for Tao Mu’s reply.

Tao Mu: “…..”

Tao Mu: “I’ll go back and check if there are any good movies recently. I’ll call you later.”

“Great.” Li Xiaoheng still had a warm smile on his face. Agreeing very happily.

Luo Yang looked at Tao Mu and then at Li Xiaoheng, and couldn’t help but ask: “Then uh, what’s the fun of two grown men watching movies, why don’t you take me together——”

“We two grown men can watch the movie and meanwhile also discuss finance and economics.” Li Xiaoheng looked serious and said, “Don’t you dislike these topics? Besides, you will represent the Luo Group to Shanghai in two days at the land bidding. Don’t you need to prepare for such a big project?”

Tao Mu’s ear twitched, and he immediately looked at Luo Yang: “Are you going to Shanghai?”

Tao Mu’s attitude towards Luo Yang had always been very cold. Suddenly speaking to him at this moment, Luo Yang was a little flattered and nodded again and again: “Ang~ Our Luo Group wants to develop a piece of land in Shanghai. My dad asked me to bid for it.”

Tao Mu hooked up a corner of his mouth and looked at Luo Yang with a half-smile: You actually know competitive bidding?”

“I don’t know.” Luo Yang’s face blushed: “But I don’t need to know. The people under have already prepared, and they know everything that must be done. My role is to just be a human bidding machine. Just submit the bidding proposal at the bidding meeting.”

After speaking, Luo Yang moved closer with a smile: “Why, are you also interested in real estate?”

Tao Mu shook his head and spoke very straightforwardly: “I just heard that Miss Luo takes care of most of the affairs of the Luo Group. I thought Miss Luo would be responsible for such an important project as the group bidding.”

Luo Yang sneered: “Of course she wants to be responsible. It’s a pity that my dad wouldn’t let her. I don’t know what my dad is thinking. You say, my sister is doing a good job so why force me to do it. Now every day she looks at me like I’m her enemy.”

Tao Mu said thoughtfully: “I heard that Miss Luo is also responsible for the management of Longteng Entertainment?”

Luo Yang squinted his eyes as he looked at Tao Mu: “Why are you always asking about my sister? She is ten years older than you!”

Tao Mu gave Luo Yang an annoyed look: “My FlyNews needs influential stars to register and promote it. I hope to talk to Miss Luo and see if she can get Longteng Entertainment’s artists to enter FlyNews. “

Luo Yang suddenly realized: “I heard that the artists of Summer Star Entertainment have also joined FlyNews. That kid, Long Tianao is quite sincere.”

As he spoke, Luo Yang’s tone became more and more sour: “In fact, you can ask me for help on this matter.”

Tao Mu looked at Luo Yang and responded unceremoniously: “Do your words count at Longteng Entertainment?”

Luo Yang: “…..”

Luo Yang looked at Tao Mu with an aggrieved look: “I will tell my sister about this tomorrow. But let me give you a heads-up first. My relationship with my sister is not very good. Don’t think she will directly help you because of me.”

Tao Mu smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I know. You only need to introduce your sister to me.”

“So confident?” Luo Yang squinted his eyes as he looked at Tao Mu: “Are you planning to use the honeytrap scheme?”

Tao Mu was too lazy to bother responding to Luo Yang. But Li Xiaoheng, after hearing this, looked at Tao Mu thoughtfully.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

The dinner lasted more than two hours. After dinner, Li Xiaoheng sent Tao Mu back to school. Before getting out of the car, Li Xiaoheng suddenly stopped Tao Mu——

“Huh?” Tao Mu looked back.

Li Xiaoheng hesitated for a while, and said with a smile: “Good night. Rest early.”

Tao Mu smiled: “You too.”

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Prev

Tao Mu’s face went dark. When he posted on Weibo, he knew that he might attract a bunch of ghosts and monsters. But he didn’t expect that the fastest one turned out to be this one.

“What kind of expression is that?” Long Tianao saw Tao Mu’s tiny expression of disgust, and instantly exploded: “I’ve been here waiting for you for a long time. Even if you don’t give me a warm hug, at least shouldn’t you show me a good expression? I haven’t even waited this long for my girlfriend!”

Classmate Long Aotian felt really aggrieved.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

“Also, I don’t even mind you standing me up back in H Town. You say, you have been back to Beijing for so many days, and changed your phone number for so long, why didn’t you tell us? Do you not take us as friends or what?”

Us?

Tao Mu raised his eyebrows.

Classmate Long Aotian explained: “Just me and Shen Yu. The two of us couldn’t get in touch with you, and heard someone say that you changed your number. We talked and guessed that you were absolutely intentional. I say, do you dislike us that much?”

Tao Mu snorted softly: “You have a good relationship with Shen Yu.”

Long Tianao was taken aback for a moment, and subconsciously explained: “I met him when we visited your film set last time, and then exchanged Weibo and chatted a few times. I just felt that everyone got along with eavh other.” They mostly got together and talked about Tao Mu.

Tao Mu smiled: “Yes, it seems that you two are really easy to play together.”

Long Tianao: “…..” What did that mean?

Long Tianao looked at Tao Mu in vexation, and asked again: “Don’t change the subject. You say, did you not take us as friends at all?”

Tao Mu rolled his eyes, his expression as clear as day.

Long Tianao’s expression went dark! Fine, he knew he shouldn’t come here to insult himself.

“Let’s go.” Tao Mu was not interested in talking to Long Tianao. The main reason was that there this person was no use to him.

Seeing that Tao Mu was about to slip away in front of him, Long Tianao felt anxious and immediately shouted, “Tao Mu!”

Tao Mu didn’t stop, then he heard Long Tianao yelling from behind: “I can have all the artists under Summer Star Entertainment sign up for FlyNews accounts!”

Tao Mu paused, and when he turned around, his smile was as warm as a spring breeze: “What did you say?”

I just knew you would put on this face!

Classmate Long Aotian lifted his chin so high it practically poked the sky and snorted: “Apologize to me!!!”

Tao Mu looked at Long Tianao blankly, turned around and left.

“Hey, hey, hey, come back.” Long Tianao was frustrated and scolded: “You must be born in the year of the dog! Turning your face just like that. Okay, I won’t have you apologize to me. Phone number. Just give me your mobile phone number. This should be okay, right?”

“Young master Long, you are too polite.” Tao Mu’s smile was once again warm and friendly as ue took out his phone: “Is it convenient to tell me your phone number?”

Damn, no wonder he was in the drama department. Turning his face faster than one turned the page of a book.

Long Tianao grumbled in his heart, but he didn’t dare to show it on his face, quickly reciting his mobile phone number in a straightforward manner.

Tao Mu saved it, and then called Long Tianao. Long Tianao saved the number as quickly as possible, and couldn’t help complaining: “You’re too much. It’s fine if you change your phone number and don’t tell me, but you even delete my phone number! How could you?”

Tao Mu continued to smile softly: “When I returned to Beijing, my phone had an accident and everything was lost.” When necessary, Tao Mu could always tell the right lie to make the situation less embarrassing.

Long Tianao snorted, as if he believed a word!

“Then, have dinner together tonight?” Long Tianao asked Tao Mu: “I can also ask Summer Star Entertainment’s people to come out. We can discuss the specific matters of having the artists register for FlyNews accounts.”

“I really don’t have time.” Tao Mu looked at Long Tianao apologetically, with a sincere expression: “How about noon the day after tomorrow? And it also happens to be Monday. Let’s meet at a coffee shop near your company?”

“Uh, there’s no need?” Long Tianao hurriedly waved his hand and shook his head. He just wanted an excuse to have dinner with Tao Mu, he didn’t want to go to the company!

“Then how about this, I will take full responsibility for this matter, and I will definitely take care of it properly. You can find a time to treat me to dinner as thanks.” Long Tianao said, fearing Tao Mu would slip away again. He immediately added: “Next week, you can choose any day.”

“OK.” Tao Mu responded decisively. Going over the itinerary in his heart: “Then next Friday——”

“Tao Mu!” A voice sounded from across the street, interrupting Tao Mu.

Everyone turned to see a handsome young guy in an equally flashy attire getting out of a sports car and walking towards Tao Mu: “I didn’t expect you to kick up such a storm in Beijing Film. As expected of someone I like, I knew you could do it.”

“Luo Yang?” Long Tianao frowned and stood in front of Tao Mu unhappily: “What are you doing here?”

“Does it have anything to do with you?” Clearly, Luo Yang also hated Long Tianao. Hearing this, he shot back unceremoniously: “What’s it to you?”

Long Tianao didn’t want to point out how Luo Yang made things difficult for Tao Mu back in H Town in front of Tao Mu’s roommates lest Tao Mu lose face. Hit by an inspiration he replied: “Of course it’s my business. We are good friends. I even have his phone number!”

As Long Tianao spoke, he shook his cell phone in front of Luo Yang, “And you, what are you doing here?”

“Of course I came to see Tao Mu.” Luo Yang said, looking at Tao Mu with a smile on his face, “Treat you to dinner next weekend?”

“Not going.” As expected, Tao Mu’s reaction was extremely cold.

Luo Yang didn’t mind too much, stretching out his hand and scratching his nose, he then leaned toward Tao Mu with a smile: “You are still angry with me? I found out you are quite temperamental. I apologized to you several times!”

The three roommates of dorm 301 had been standing beside Tao Mu silently for a long time. At this moment, it was obvious that the atmosphere was wrong, and so they asked suspiciously: “Mu, who is he, do you know him?”

“An investor in the crew I was acting as a martial arts body double.” Tao Mu’s introduction was very objective.

Luo Yang sighed with a smiling face, pretending to be sad: “Why are you so cold towards me, Mu Mu. Are we at least ordinary friends? I even ate the chicken feet you personally made!”

As Luo Yang spoke, he said to the three roommates very familiarly: “By the way, have you ever eaten Tao Mu’s personally cooked food? He cooks very delicious food.”

The three looked at each other, not knowing how to react.

They kept getting the feeling that Luo Yang’s tone and content were implying that he was very familiar with Tao Mu. However, Tao Mu’s attitude was so cold.

Long Tianao snorted unconvinced: “That’s only because you were so brazen and shameless. Tao Mu does not have a good relationship with you. Do you have his phone number?”

Luo Yang: “…..”

Luo Yang couldn’t help but hit back at Long Tianao: “Acting as if you had it from the beginning. If I’m not mistaken, you only get it just now, didn’t you?”

Long Tianao snorted, unwilling to show weakness: “Anyway, you don’t have it.”

“I have it now.” Luo Yang snorted, and as if wanting to piss off Long Tianao, he turned his head and smiled at Tao Mu: “Tell me your new phone number~”

Tao Mu was tired of people like Luo Yang. However, while he might be sick off him, he would not hold back in using him.

While looking at Long Tianao gloatingly, Luo Yang secretly glanced at Tao Mu, who was still as cold as ever, and suddenly said, “By the way, Xiao Heng will be back next week. I am going to hold a welcoming banquet for him. I remember that you two have a good relationship. I would like to invite you to come as well. Tell me your phone number and I will call you then.”

Tao Mu paused, and he directly informed the other of his phone number: “When Mr. Li comes back, you can send me a text message directly.”

Long Tianao sneered, privately thinking that at least his phone number was saved by Tao Mu himself, and then personally called him. You don’t even have this treatment, and you dare to say that you are Tao Mu’s friend. It was likely that the one called “Xiao Heng” was Tao Mu’s friend, right?

You are just a shameless rascal riding the coattails of your friend! What big wolf are you even pretending to be!

Long Tianao and Luo Yang exchanged looks, sparks crackling in mid-air. After a while, they turned their heads away reluctantly.

Luo Yang knew very well that he made a very bad impression with Tao Mu. It was likely that no progress would be made if he continued like this. He looked at Tao Mu unwillingly. After thinking for a while, he finally left, deciding to leave in a dignified manner.

Long Tianao stood next to Tao Mu, watching Luo Yang drive away with a gloating expression on his face. Then he turned to Tao Mu and said, “This kind of person is really shameless, right?”

Tao Mu coldly looked at classmate Long Aotian who was practically shaking his tail and waiting for approval, and said, “You also go back first. See you next Friday night.”

“Wu!” Long Tianao flicked his tail unhappily, and reluctantly said: “Then, then I will go first. I will ask Summer Star’s artists to register for a FlyNews account as soon as possible. I will keep you updated.”

Long Tianao put a little thought in his words here. He felt that if he said that, he would be able to use the excuse of official business to continue to send messages and call Tao Mu. And Tao Mu would definitely not refuse.

Tao Mu’s response was just a wave of his hand, a polite smile on his face: “Be careful on the road.”

In Long Tianao’s ears, it automatically and consciously transformed into “You hurry up and piss off”.

Classmate Long Aotian was particularly unwilling, letting out a howl in his heart. Privately thinking that he hadn’t ever been this timid before, but how come he couldn’t refuse Tao Mu. Sure enough, at that time he shouldn’t have listened to the company’s idiots and taken over Tao Mu’s role.

But then thinking about it again. If he hadn’t taken Tao Mu’s role in the first place, he wouldn’t have met Tao Mu. Then there was no such thing as afterwards! This was really fucking…..too damn conflicted!

The melancholic classmate Long Aotian waved his paw to bid farewell to Tao Mu, and stomped on the accelerator.

The three roommates looked at the car exhaust left in the air, then at Tao Mu and asked carefully, “You don’t like them?”

Tao Mu didn’t intend to speak out about H Town to gain sympathy, but he also didn’t want to hide his emotions in front of his real friends——although he had known dorm 301 for less than half a month. But whether it was character, personality or other aspects, Tao Mu was very satisfied with his three roommates.

Since he wanted to develop a deep friendship, Tao Mu didn’t bother to hide his real self: “I really don’t like them very much. These two people are typical hedonistic sons of wealthy parents. We ordinary people can’t afford to play with them.”

After all, they had to follow the plot. But he just wanted to mind his own business.

The three roommates nodded thoughtfully. Just now Long Tianao and Luo Yang did indeed act very arrogantly, everyone could see it. With Tao Mu’s disposition, it was normal not to like this kind of person. They didn’t like it either.

“That’s right.” Tao Mu recalled something: “I won’t be going back to the dormitory tonight. I have to go back and see our old man.”

Tao Mu promised to go back to visit Song Daozhen every weekend. Military training started last weekend so Tao Mu didn’t bother. But this weekend he must go back. Besides, he also had to discuss with Feng Yuan.

The other three nodded. Chu Sui’an had always been attentive and he asked: “By the way, I found that from just now, some classmates responded in the online message area. In our school beauty and hunk competition, they found that there are a lot of pictures of girls from other colleges and universities. Most of them are girls in Yan Film. They want to ask what’s going on?”

“The registration for FlyNews was originally open to everyone.” Tao Mu didn’t care: “This was my negligence. I’ll fix it up later.”

However, while he said that, Tao Mu had never been a negligent person. In doing so, he naturally had his own “evil motives”——he wanted to take the opportunity to raise the competitive consciousness of Beijing Film and Yan Film, and even several other domestic film and drama colleges. So long as more people participated in the competition, correspondingly, these people would mobilize more people to register on FlyNews in order to get votes for themselves.

Tao Mu was a businessman. Of course, he hoped that the more registered users on the website, the better, and the greater the number of traffic, the better. But this kind of calculation was not easy to put out in the open.

Tao Mu didn’t want to hide his thoughts in front of his friends so the three of them could naturally see through his little calculation. Wen Bao smiled and nudged Tao Mu, and even Du Kang, who had always been obtuse, said, “Don’t mind it, I think it’s good. As they say, unintentional actions may bring unexpected success. Let’s take this opportunity to make it even more big and turn it into a competition for all Beijing schools, or even a nationwide competition for school beauty and hunk. See who is the most handsome and most beautiful college student in China.”

As expected of the best director who could kick up a bloody storm in the entertainment circle when participating in variety shows. Du Kang’s awareness in such things was far beyond that of others.

Tao Mu looked at him with interest: “Are you saying that we should vote for national school beauty and hunk?”

“National school beauty and national school hunk!” Du Kang thought it over, and thought this title was quite interesting: “Yeah. Anyway, the more people there are, the more lively it will be.”

As he spoke, Du Kang winked at Tao Mu: “Don’t you also want it to get more lively?”

Tao Mu was silent but smiled. However, after he went back, he still made some changes to separate the various colleges and universities’ school beauty and hunk voting activities. It was just that that happened three days later. In the past three days, the major colleges and universities in Beijing, especially the students of Beijing Film and Yan Film, had been instigated by some netizens, whether deliberately or unintentionally, during the voting process. All leaving shoutouts in the message area one after another, calling all voters to vote for their classmates to win the title of school beauty and hunk of all Beijing schools.

This competition soon expanded and even included the senior brothers and sisters of Beijing Film and Yan Film who had already graduated. These A-list film emperors and empresses, who were quite famous in the circle, were all pushed out by their own schoolmates in order to wave the banner as if it was a tiger skin (TN: idiom for borrowing sb’s prestige). And the fans of these A-list stars, under the call of these melon eating netizens, even registered for a FlyNews account to vote for their idols. Eventually it evolved into the selection for female idol and male idol in the entertainment circle. What Four Great Kings, Four Queens, Newcomers of the Year…..

But that all happened in the afterword.

In the evening, after the military training, Tao Mu packed up and prepared to return to the orphanage.

Liu Yao, who got the news early, drove his Grand Cherokee to pick up Tao Mu at the school gate. The seat next to him sat Meng Qi as always.

Tao Mu got in the back seat of the car and then greeted brother Yao and brother Xiao Qi with a smile. In order to divert attention, he dragged the topic directly to his own FlyNews website.

Meng Qi smiled and said, “I saw it with your brother Yao. Followed your Weibo and went straight over. Also registered a FlyNews account. I say, you kid, only just a few days in school, and already making such a big commotion. Did your school teacher look for you?”

“Not yet.” Tao Mu chuckled, “Today is Saturday. It is likely that they will find me on Monday.”

Liu Yao, who was driving, squeezed his fingers and said nothing.

Upon seeing this, Meng Qi smiled and asked, “Is there anything you need to help with? Say it early, otherwise your brother Yao will be angry.”

Liu Yao glanced at Meng Qi and snorted. He still didn’t say a word, looking very much like a tsundere.

Tao Mu scratched the back of his neck and said, “There is really one thing. I want to rent an office as soon as possible, the location must be near the university town. It will be convenient for me to recruit programmers and other employees in the future.”

Meng Qi asked again: “How are the business licenses? And also computer servers. Are you still using Beijing Film’s school server? It’s okay now but when the traffic gets heavier, will they still let you use it?”

“I have prepared for that.” Tao Mu had asked Feng Yuan to run the errands for him when he first studied the source code of the website. The business agent he found completed the necessary procedures for a few hundred dollars. As for the server, he also contacted the operator in advance and signed a lease contract.

Tao Mu planned to keep it like this for a few months first, and when his money was drawn from the international oil futures market at the end of the year, he would then buy his own server.

So up to now, the only problem was really the office location. The main reason was that Feng Yuan was unfamiliar with this, and Tao Mu himself didn’t have time to look around. He couldn’t even spare the time to contact the real estate agent to see the venue. So after thinking about it, he could only ask brother Yao and brother Xiaoql Qi to find one for him.

So he really was not casually brushing them off with a perfunctory request.

Listening to Tao Mu’s explanation, Liu Yao stopped harrumphing this time and said directly: “What need is there to look for other offices? Your brother Xiaoqi’s house is big and close, and the environment is not bad either, isn’t it just right? “

Meng Qi nodded, particularly in agreement.

Tao Mu shook his head decisively and said straightforwardly: “That’s not good. Home must be separated from the company. I don’t want a lot of colleagues wandering around in brother Xiao Qi’s house all day long.”

Liu Yao and Meng Qi were taken aback at the same time. This kid was still so distinct as always. Drawing a line that clearly distinguished insiders from outsiders. And the main thing was that the both of them were inside the line.

Meng Qi hooked up a corner of his mouth, feeling suddenly happy: “Okay. We listen to you. Let’s find another place.”

The Grand Cherokee drove all the way to Houhai and stopped at the entrance of the orphanage. Tao Mu first took his brother Yao and brother Xiao Qi to see the old man in Song Ji next door.

Because of the phone call in advance, Song Daozhen had prepared the dinner early. It was all Tao Mu’s favorite dishes. And knowing that Tao Mu was going to be discussing things, he also let the workers in the store off early.

At this moment, looking at the two tails trailing behind Tao Mu, the old man didn’t say anything and just snorted.

It was not just a year or two that Liu Yao and Song Daozhen disliked each other. So no one really paid it any mind. They all washed their hands and sat down to eat while smiling. Anyway, no matter how old man Song acted stubborn and unfriendly, his cooking skill was definitely the best.

Feng Yuan, who had been guarding the door of the orphanage, saw Liu Yao’s car, and hurriedly followed them, greeting them with a smile: “Brother Mu, brother Yao, brother Qi, grandpa.”

“Yo!” Liu Yao looked at Feng Yuan in amazement, stretched out his hand to rub his head, “No longer stuttering?”

“No.” Feng Yuan shook his head. He had been tailing Luo Yang recently and found that his stuttering was too obvious of a trait. It would not be good if it was noticed by someone. So after thinking about it, while he couldn’t change it, he could talk less.

So as a result, his talking style became brief and minimal. People who didn’t know better would only think that this kid just had a cold temper.

Hearing Feng Yuan’s explanation, everyone laughed. Liu Yao nodded his head appreciatively: “Yes. This kid is very careful!”

Because Feng Yuan took the initiative to talk about this matter, Meng Qi did not hesitate, and asked Tao Mu, “What are you going to do about this?”

Hearing this, Feng Yuan also looked at Tao Mu eagerly.

Tao Mu smiled slightly and spoke as he ate, “Luo Yang has a capable sister who has always been a pillar of the Luo family, and is highly valued by the family and group shareholders. As far as I know, there is now a large part of the Luo family business that is taken care of by Luo Yang’s sister. But the father Luo has never recognized Luo Yang’s sister. He wants to hand over the inheritance rights to Luo Yang. Luo Yang’s sister is naturally unconvinced. It’s just that she has yet to find Luo Yang’s weakness before.” After all, he was just a useless dandy who didn’t go to work in the company, and didn’t bother to care about the family business. Otherwise, how could he have the time to serve the plot every day!

“The Luo Group wants to bid for a piece of land in Shanghai. In order to pave the way for Luo Yang, father Luo tried his best to let Luo Yang take charge of this bidding. But the reason why Luo Yang accepted the project was so that he could see his sweetheart, Shen Yu, under the cover of a business trip. And this Shen Yu has many admirers. One of them is Yao Wenxiao, who has a cruel personality and despicable methods. So, I plan to send someone to Shanghai.”

“Are you planning to sow discord?” Liu Yao immediately understood what Tao Mu meant.

Men, especially young people, what couldn’t they do out of jealousy? Tao Mu’s scheme was indeed good. Throwing the dirty work to others, while he could stay back and get involved.

Not only that. Meng Qi blinked thoughtfully, resisting the urge to look at the old man.

The location was in Shanghai, and the admirer was surnamed Yao. This kid must be thinking of setting up an enemy for the Yao family!

Tao Mu was silent but smiled. In truth, this could not really be counted as setting up an enemy. These two were eventual enemies anyway. After all, in his previous life, Luo Yang liked men, and it was Yao Wenxiao who revealed this to father Luo. He just didn’t expect that a coward like Luo Yang actually dared to come out of the closet in front of father Luo, and thus angering father Luo to death——

Of course, these were all one-sided words from Yao Wenxiao when explaining to Shen Yu. As for whether he expected such an outcome, of course outsiders wouldn’t know.

But Tao Mu could clearly recall that after Luo Yang, Yao Wenxiao also used the same method to deal with Yan Sheng. It was just that no one in the Yan family had heart disease, and Yan Sheng’s character and ability could not be compared to that of Luo Yang who was just a rich second generation——he had his own acting career and also founded his own film and television company. In a word, people who were financially independent had a straighter spine than the rich second generations who spent their parents’ money.

Therefore, Yao Wenxiao’s strategy not only failed to make Yan Sheng retreat. Instead, it led to Yan Sheng coming out to his family. Although the Yan family’s opposition was fierce at the beginning, Yan Sheng subsequently won the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement for a film and came out directly in front of a global audience at the Oscars awards ceremony.

The Yan family couldn’t stop it, and saw that although Shen Yu was not the real son of the Shen family, he was valued by the Shen family, and had even more importance than their true blood related son. In addition to the fact that Shen Yu was also in the entertainment circle at the time and his popularity was not much less than that of Yan Cheng, so they could only pinch their nose and accept reality.

However, from this point alone, Tao Mu believed that Shen Yu’s harem group was by no means truly united. It was just that in the last life they were crushed by the plot halo and couldn’t make any waves.

In this life, Tao Mu didn’t directly and obviously make any trouble for Shen Yu, and as a result he didn’t give those admirers an opportunity to unite and deal with him together. He even avoided the center location of the plot, Shanghai.

He wanted to see, without him as their public enemy, would this group of admirers still be able to act harmoniously like one big family.

He wondered if Yao Wenxiao, who was a possessive psychopath that wanted nothing more than to kill all the bastards who dared to get close to Shen Yu, be able to hold back his claws and not reach out against Luo Yang?

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Of course, even if he really held back, he wasn’t afraid. After all, Tao Mu’s existence was to make it so he couldn’t bear to not strike against Luo Yang.

But it was not enough to provoke just these two people. What Tao Mu had to do was to use this bidding for land to provoke Sheng’an Group and the Luo Group to fight each other.

Otherwise, it would be harder to take down Sheng’an Group in the future.

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Prev

In order to make a big splash, Tao Mu specially chose to put FlyNews online at 12 o’clock at midnight on September 9th.

In fact, before going online, through the efforts of dorm 301, all the freshmen of the 2008 Beijing Film class, including some senior students, all knew about this.

So on the night of September 9, 2008, almost all of the Beijing Film students who possessed a computer waited in front of their computer to enter the website at first notice.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

It was the first day of the website’s launch and the only activity that was up on the website was the polling for campus belle and campus hunk. Since Tao Mu only got photos of the 2008 freshmen, it seemed that for now it was more appropriate to call it class belle and class hunk.

At the same time, in order to attract more students to register on the website, Tao Mu also encouraged older years to register for an account to upload photos and join in the competition.

“Ao ao ao ao, I want to vote for our Mu Mu, where is the photo of our Mu Mu~~”

In Beijing Film dorm 002, a girl sat at her desk, registering an account as quickly as possible, and directly entered the voting area. She wanted to vote for her heart’s choice for school hunk. But it turned out that she couldn’t vote directly. Instead, it was a multiple choice format in which users had to compare two photos and slowly choose until they reach their Mr. Perfect!

The reason Tao Mu chose this algorithm was mainly to increase students’ sense of participation. After all, they were all classmates, and whether it was out of a mentality to join in the fun or to give him face, participating was the same as supporting him.

Tao Mu didn’t want to put up distinct barriers like those voting idol shows, at least initially. The main concern was that if the number of votes was clear at a glance in the form of a bar graph from the beginning, those with a large number of votes would naturally be pleased, but for students with few votes or none at all it would be too hurtful.

Taking into account the issue of getting along in the future, Tao Mu decided it was best to put up a harmonious facade at first. At least after the end of the first round of votes when the boys and girls who made it to the finals all have a certain popularity base and support rate, then in the next round of competition the votes could be shown clearly.

In this way, ordinary students would have a sense of participation, and even if they were not voted into the finals for the ultimate selection of campus belle and hunk, they would still come away with some degree of recognition among all the students. And the students who made it into the finals would have established a basic popularity value. And finally, the website would subtly enter the life of Beijing Film students.

But in the eyes of the students who don’t know the truth, Tao Mu’s behavior was simply the most shameless way to deceive clicksヽ(｀Д′)?︵┻━┻┻━┻

Of course, there were also many girls in the 2008 class who entered the voting area as soon as they registered their account, but for a different motive from the selection of campus belle and hunk——to search for their own photos: “I just want to see what kind of photo Mu Mu took for me?”

In order to collect more photos of the new students, the photos of the boys were taken with the help of the three roommates in dorm 301, while the female classmates were left to Tao Mu to personally convince. Considering Tao Mu’s appearance and affability, almost no girls refused.

However, in order to maintain a sense of mystery, Tao Mu did not let the girls see these photos in advance. Instead, he had everyone search on FlyNews on the first day of its online launch.

In view of the fact that Tao Mu was too handsome——handsome enough to be the most wanted man to be kept by the 2008 class girls. So even if Tao Mu resorted to using such a beating inducing method for increasing website traffic, the girls resisted the desire to beat him up and waited patiently for the day when the website went online.

“…..Acting so mysterious for just taking a photo. Say, could it be Tao Mu is not good at taking pictures, so that’s why he doesn’t dare show it to us and come up with such a trick instead.” Beijing Film dorm 002, a girl with a beautiful face and white skin wearing a bunny ears headband sat chattering in front of the computer. Her hand holding the mouse was so tense that the palm began to sweat: “Let me tell you, if Mu Mu took an ugly picture of me and also have me appear ugly in front of all the students in the school, then, then I must have him treat me to dinner to compensate for my psychological distress——”

“Wow, it’s so beautiful!” Before the girl finished her words, her roommates standing behind her had already called out in surprise. They couldn’t help nudging the roommate sitting in front of the computer: “Yao Yao, look, this photo of you is so beautiful, it’s actually more beautiful than you in person.”

“Mu Mu is this good at taking pictures. This light! This angle! This snapshot! How did he do it! So beautiful!”

“Ai?” The girl who was grumbling earlier was stunned. Did Tao Mu really take a good picture of her? It couldn’t be, Tao Mu was a boy!

The girl thought this in her heart and looked at the computer screen suspiciously——

On the computer screen, she saw a girl with long and fluttering hair wearing a military uniform and looking over her shoulder at the camera with a smile. The strong afternoon sunlight which poured down from the upper left of the photo, rendered the entire back view brighter. The girl stood in the bright circle of light, looking back and smiling, her long hair fluttering, was so beautiful that it was almost suffocating.

“Definitely worthy of a handsome guy who used to be a part-time photographer. Our Mu Mu really has a pair of eyes that are good at discovering beauty. I can’t take it anymore, I have to see how he photographed me.”

Another girl said, squeezing away her roommate sitting in front of the computer, and eagerly searched for her own photo. Then clicking it to enlarge——

“Wow!”

In the enlarged photo, a girl in a military uniform with short ear length hair stood under a camphor tree. The bright sunshine rendered the lush camphor tree leaves into a more fresh and green color. The girl had an arm slightly raised to cover her forehead, eyes slightly squinting mischievously as she raised her head slightly to smile at the camera. The sunny smile appeared to be even brighter than the sun.

“It’s so beautiful. I didn’t expect Tao Mu to take such a beautiful picture of me.” The girl clasped her hands together in disbelief and covered her mouth, saying in a particularly surprised tone: “Back then it was because I saw our Tao Mu looking so handsome so I didn’t refuse when he came over with a camera.”

After all, it was a handsome guy who wanted to take their pictures; such a thing gave one a lot of face.

But now it seemed that Tao Mu’s photography skills could crush 80% of professional photographers. So this photo taken not only had face, but also substance_(:з)∠)_

Moreover, Tao Mu not only knew how to take photos, he also knew how to photoshop. All the photos he took of the girls of the 2008 class were beautified even more with photoshop!

The beautiful and fresh artistic style immediately attracted all girls who love beauty.

Soon afterwards, the other girls also eagerly searched for their photos.

In the photos, a girl was bending a leg and leaning on the trunk of a tree while looking up at the dappled sunlight through the leaves, or lying on the lawn looking up at the sky, or sitting next to the lotus pond and gently kissing the lotus petals, or sitting on the balance bar of the track field, head bowed and smiling…..

All in all, every photo was very high-quality, depicting beauties of every type, such as delicate and pretty type, gentle and graceful lady type, or pure and lively girl next door type, or cool older sister type, or charming, or glamorous…..such superb photography skills instantly captured the hearts of all the girls in the 2008 class.

“What are you all doing?” Probably because the buzz in the freshmen’s dorms was too big, the senior sisters who lived upstairs and downstairs came over to visit. After seeing the photos that were comparable to professional stills, they also couldn’t help but agree that Tao Mu’s photos were very beautiful.

When they learned that they were selecting the campus belle and hunk, the senior sisters joined in the fun and followed the selection for a while. When they went back to their dorms, they immediately opened their computers to register for a FlyNews account. Of course, at first they were a bit embarrassed to upload their own photo directly, and instead uploaded a photo of a roommate or best friend, or uploaded a photo of their heart’s choice for school hunk to the website, and then entered the voting area.

Then in the voting process, all the senior sisters were conquered by Tao Mu’s superb photography skills without exception.

If the response from the girls was very enthusiastic. Well, among the boys from Beijing Film, the response towards this campus belle and hunk competition activity could be said to be explosive.

Whether it was an otaku or a jock, it seemed that guys were always more excited about these things than girls——this could be seen from the wolf howling that bursted from several male dorms from time to time.

“No way, no way, this one is too cute!”

“Wow, this senior sister is simply the goddess of my dreams. Ahh, I must vote for her!”

“This junior sister looks very gentle at first glance. She can still look so beautiful in a military uniform. I can’t wait to see her in person.”

“Damn, the number of registered users exceeds 500!”

“The number of hits has exceeded 1,200!”

“The number of registered users has increased again, and it is now 602.”

“The number of hits has exceeded 2,000.”

“The number of registered users exceeds 1,000!”

“Mu, you are too awesome. We have only around 3,000 students in Beijing Film. Your website has covered one third of the school.”

In the 301 dorm, three roommates had their faces stuck to the screen, occasionally clicking on their computers to vote for the campus belle, while also craning their heads to look at Tao Mu’s computer. Their appearance that of extreme excitement.

Tao Mu said with a smile: “Thanks to you guys for helping me promote among our classmates. Otherwise, there would not be such high traffic.”

The three roommates turned their heads to look at Tao Mu and squinted their eyes: “Although we want to say you are welcome, this is what we should do. But Mu, why don’t you seem excited at all?”

“Your website attracted one-third of Beijing Film’s students to register on the first day it went live. The number of hits exceeded…..” Chu Sui’an glanced at Tao Mu’s computer: “It’s now over 5,000.”

“Hnn.” Tao Mu nodded. Could he say that he was waiting for Beijing Film’s server to crash? Just like in the movies. Speaking of, he had even prepared the hype announcement. But the result——

Tao Mu glanced at the computer screen. Only five thousand hits!

Ai! Worrisome!

Tao Mu propped his chin on his hand and looked at the computer screen pitifully. Speaking of, would he even be able to witness Beijing Film’s server crash today?

——The answer was obviously no. By 6 o’clock in the morning, FlyNews had more than 1200 registrations and more than 50,000 hits but Beijing Film’s server was still running well.

“I only learned today that Beijing Film, as an art college, actually has such a good quality server.” Tao Mu was still sighing when he walked out of the door of the dormitory building: “Our school must be very rich.”

“Of course our school is rich.” A voice suddenly sounded from behind, responding to Tao Mu’s words.

The four roommates of dorm 301 turned their heads and saw a handsome boy with a dignified bearing standing behind them. His gaze fell on Tao Mu: “This is Beijing Film after all. There are often senior brothers and sisters who come back to donate after they have made it outside. Our school has an education reserve fund that is specifically used to encourage students to create their own movies. The annual funding amount is in the millions.”

After the boy said this, he paused slightly and smiled as he stretched out his right hand: “You are Tao Mu, right? I am Liang Chenyi. I played FlyNews the whole of last night. It was very interesting.”

Tao Mu looked at this familiar face, smiled and stretched out his own hand to shake Liang Chenyi’s hand: “Nice meeting you.”

Wen Bao and the others stood beside Liang Chenyi, looking at Liang Chenyi’s military training uniform, they asked curiously: “You are also a freshman of ’08 class? Just came to report? Why haven’t we seen you before during military training?”

“I went out to play with my friends during the summer vacation and accidentally met with an accident. I just left the hospital.” Liang Chenyi explained with a smile: “But I think I came back at the right time.”

“Then did you participate in the voting for campus belle and hunk competition?” Du Kang smiled like a thief: “Although you missed the unified registration time. But you can still upload your photo by yourself.”

Liang Chenyi laughed heartily: “Of course.”

As he spoke, he looked at Tao Mu again: “I heard brother Boyuan mention you. He said you are very amazing. And after seeing you today, I have to say it is a fully justified reputation.”

“Oh, brother Boyuan is Wang Boyuan. Our two families have been neighbors since childhood. His dad and my dad are old classmates, so we all know each other. This time when brother Boyuan came back from filming he often praised you in front of us. He said that you are around the same age as me but is very mature and steady and even suggested it would be good for me to learn from you.”

Tao Mu was slightly surprised. He didn’t expect that Liang Chenyi already knew Wang Boyuan at this time. But thinking about it carefully, that Liang Chenyi could be the lead actor of that movie two years from now as a junior, it made sense to have already known Wang Boyuan and Cheng Baodong.

But this way, things have become more interesting.

The corner of Tao Mu’s mouth curved upwards, showing a meaningful smile.

Obviously, Liang Chenyi didn’t know what Tao Mu was smiling at. However, he received Wang Boyuan’s advice, and he obviously wanted to establish a friendly relationship with Tao Mu. What’s more, the creation of FlyNews also proved that Tao Mu really had the value of making connections with.

“Are you going to have breakfast? Mind if I join you guys?”

Faced with Liang Chenyi’s goodwill, the roommates of dorm 301 also responded with enthusiasm: “Of course we don’t mind, we are all classmates after all. It’s just a meal.”

So on the way to the cafeteria, Liang Chenyi once again witnessed Tao Mu’s popularity. Almost every freshman wearing military uniforms would greet the four people of dorm 301, especially Tao Mu and Du Kang, whose popularity was as good as that of campus celebs.

“Because the two of them made their debut in the C position!” Wen Bao laughingly teased. Before he finished speaking, he saw Du Kang flap his hand again and again: “You can just talk about our Mu, as for my glorious deeds please just forget about it.”

“Oh?” Liang Chenyi looked back at Tao Mu and asked curiously, “Is there any glorious deed of Tao Mu that I still don’t know?”

Tao Mu, who was walking on the campus grounds, suddenly felt a vibration in his trouser pocket. He stopped and took out his cell phone. It was a call from Feng Yuan.

“You guys go ahead first. I have to answer the phone.”

The three roommates nodded, and Chu Sui’an asked: “Are you still red date porridge with custard bun?”

“No. I want to eat egg and lean meat porridge with egg pancakes today.” Tao Mu thought for a while: “Get me a potato pancake also.”

Chu Sui’an smiled and responded with an affirmative.

Tao Mu walked to a remote place with his mobile phone in his hand, and answered the phone: “What’s wrong?”

“Brother, brother Mu, you, you told me to keep watch on that, that guy has left Beijing. Should I continue to follow?”

Tao Mu said: “No need. Safety is the most important. By the way, how is the collection of photos?”

“About, about all of it. Brother, brother Mu, who is he? His private, private, private life is so messy.” Feng Yuan frowned. These past two days he listened to brother Mu and followed surname Luo around. What he saw had him really disgusted.

“A disgusting person.” Tao Mu said with a smile: “Xiao Yuan, you have been working hard these days.”

“No, it’s not hard. It’s just too, too, too expensive.” Feng Yuan’s face fell. In the past few days, in order to follow surname Luo, he had either squatted at nightclubs or KTV every day. The money used was also brother Mu’s money. Those kinds of places do very black business. A glass of ice-cola could be sold for 20 yuan.

There were also many high-level clubs that only members could enter. Feng Yuan couldn’t get in at all. However, Tao Mu considered Feng Yuan’s safety and refused to let him go in anyway. He just had him follow from a distance and seize the opportunity to take a few photos of Luo Yang fooling around with men.

“That’s right.” Feng Yuan suddenly remembered something and said: “When, when I was following surnamed Luo I think I saw Da Hui as well.”

Tao Mu felt his heart jump: “Did you maybe see wrong?”

“No, I didn’t.” Feng Yuan said affirmatively: “It’s him.”

Da Hui was Liu Yao’s most respected and trusted subordinate. He and Luo Yang had never met. But now Feng Yuan, who had been following Luo Yang, found that he was also following Luo Yang. Then it could only be one case.

Tao Mu ended the call and quickly called his brother Yao. After three rings, the call was connected. On the other side of the receiver, Liu Yao was in a good mood and joked: “Why did you remember to call me? Do you want to bring your classmates over to play?”

“Brother Yao, did you have brother Da Hui follow Luo Yang?” Tao Mu asked straightforwardly, not bothering to talk nonsense at all.

Liu Yao was silent for a moment, and then sneered, “Why, that little guy bullied my person, can’t I find someone to get back at him?”

“How did you know?” Tao Mu felt a headache, for fear that his brother Yao would act impulsively: “Did Da Mao and Xiao Pang tell you?”

“You’ve already spoken ruthlessly with them, how could they dare to say anything?” Liu Yao coldly snorted, “Don’t wrong them. I sent someone to H Town to inquire about it. Such big news has already spread throughout H Town. If I didn’t send someone to find out, I wouldn’t have known you were so bullied. Since surname Luo dares to pluck the tiger’s hair then if I don’t give him a bit of a lesson he’ll think I, Liu Yao’s people are that easy to bully.”

“Brother Yao!” Tao Mu frowned, he really didn’t want Liu Yao to intervene in this matter: “Brother Yao, don’t take action. I will avenge my own hatred.”

Liu Yao was very distrustful of their puppy: “How do you plan to avenge? How long has it been already——”

“Brother Yao, you have to believe me.” Tao Mu softened his tone and patiently persuaded: “How do you think I knew you sent brother Da Hui to follow Luo Yang?”

Liu Yao didn’t say a word.

In order to appease his brother Yao, Tao Mu could only reveal a little bit of his plan: “Don’t worry. I have arranged everything. Brother Yao, please have brother Da Hui withdraw. Don’t let him be discovered. “

Liu Yao was silent for a while: “Can you really do it?”

Tao Mu replied: “You still not assured about me handling things?”

Liu Yao was silent for a while again: “Okay. I’ll wait first. I’ll give you half a month. If surname Luo is still safe and sound…..”

Tao Mu frowned: “All right.”

After hanging up, Tao Mu called Feng Yuan again and agreed to meet up at the orphanage at night. Counting his two lifetimes, Tao Mu had always believed that it was never too late for a gentleman to avenge himself. Luo Yang played such tricks on him like that in H Town, it was impossible that Tao Mu would just brush it aside.

Besides, Luo Yang was Shen Yu’s suitor, and Tao Mu, because of old man Song’s relationship, would definitely come head to head with another suitor of Shen Yu in the future. This group of people did not believe that one should hold oneself solely responsible for what one has done. They liked to gang up instead. If one didn’t know better one would think they had extremely good relationships with each other. Sometimes it was even hard to believe that these people were actually fucking love rivals.

But having said that, Shen Yu’s ability to turn all rivals into friends and maintain a friendly relationship was really impressive. Don’t know if it was due to plot halo or protagonist halo.

All in all, in order to carry out the subsequent plans more smoothly, Tao Mu could only strike first and gain the upper hand. Before this group of people united, he planned to weaken their individual influence and provoke animosity among them. The more chaos they faced, the more time and leeway was left for Tao Mu.

Thinking of this, Tao Mu suddenly took out his mobile phone and took a selfie. He then uploaded it to Weibo, promoting FlyNews in passing.

Tao Mu had not opened his Weibo since he returned from H Town. The fans who stayed had long been waiting to be fed. Seeing that Tao Mu took a rare selfie, they immediately began to simp over his face with excitement. After simping they curiously clicked the link to FlyNews. All of a sudden, they saw the hot campus belle and hunk competition at Beijing Film School on the website.

This was really a carnival for simps!

In a short time, Tao Mu’s Weibo immediately boiled with excitement. The Weibo friends who have been following Tao Mu also noticed that Tao Mu went online. They forwarded Tao Mu’s Weibo and left comments.

The Young Master Who Owns A Mine At Home: “As expected, my brother Mu is so talented. This website turned out to be made by my brother Mu himself. Also, the girls from Beijing Film are so beautiful. I think each one is a campus belle. Of course the campus hunk must be my brother Mu.”

Melon Eater Official: “I particularly agree with the statement on the right.”

Young Master Of The Shen Family: “Ying ying ying, Mu Mu, you finally showed up. Did you change your phone number after you returned to Beijing? Why can’t I contact you?” (TN: ying ying ying=sound of crying)

Ye Yao: “Tao Mu, you kid! Is this you taking the road of domineering CEO? And, can Yan Film graduates also join in your campus belle selection? By the way, I have already registered a FlyNews account and uploaded my photo, please let me participate in the competition, I also want to be a campus belle.”

Gentle Little White Rabbit: “Damn. As expected of the man I admire, he is so talented from the inside out. Your photo has been downloaded and printed and hung on the bedside. From now on, I can realize the happy life of you being my first and last sight every morning and night!”

Long Aotian: “Wtf, you are finally online. Do you know that I was waiting at the airport until midnight on the 24th. You dared to stand me up! And you also didn’t tell us that you changed your number after going back to Beijing? Do you not want to live!!!”

Hedonistic Son Young Master Luo: “…..You actually already returned to the capital? When did you come back? And you didn’t even tell me. I still want to call you out to play!”

Tao Mu scrolled down until he reached Luo Yang’s comment, the corner of his mouth curving upwards, and then exited his Weibo.

When Tao Mu walked into the cafeteria, the three roommates and Liang Chenyi were almost finished eating. Seeing Tao Mu’s unhurried look, they frowned: “Why so slow? The porridge is already cold.”

“The phone call took a long time.” Tao Mu said with a smile.

Liang Chenyi was a little curious: “Girlfriend?”

“No.” Tao Mu shook his head and sat down for breakfast.

This morning, Tao Mu, who had just launched FlyNews website and promoted Beijing Film’s 2008 campus belle and hunk selection activity, deservedly became the most well-known among all freshmen. Even many senior brothers and sisters ran over to the field to watch Tao Mu during break.

There were even senior sisters who came to send water and towels during military training. While expressing their affection for Tao Mu, they also begged Tao Mu to take pictures for them when he had time.

“We also have to hand out our resumes when we are out auditioning. If the photo is beautiful, the chances of passing the screening will be higher. Brother Tao Mu, you are so good and kind, please help us.”

What could you do when beautiful young ladies surround you pretending to be pitiful and using gentle tones to request for a favor?

Tao Mu’s smile was warm and gentle: “If it’s an everyday photo, I can do it at any time. If it’s a professional photo, you need to arrange a photo studio, or I can arrange it. But you need to pay for this cost yourself.”

“No problem, no problem, this is how it should be. Thank you so much, brother Tao Mu.” A beautiful long-haired senior sister said and took the initiative to give Tao Mu a hug. Seeing this, other girls followed suit.

All of a sudden, those single bachelors who still stayed on the field and paying close attention to this side all became crazily jealous.

“Damn! It’s just a picture! He just look a little bit handsome! Why don’t I have this treatment. I also want a hug from senior sister——”

“I want a hug too——”

“So shameless, they actually dared to take the opportunity to hug our Mu Mu. Us ’08 girls haven’t even hugged Mu Mu yet!”

“That’s right, that’s right, it’s simply too hateful!”

At noon, classmate Tao Mu, who caused the anger of boys and jealousy of girls, suddenly didn’t want to eat in the cafeteria: “The military training has left me too tired in recent days, I want to eat lamb.”

Wen Bao heard this and immediately said: “Okay. Then let’s go. In fact, I have long wanted to eat our shop’s lamb. Just worried if you guys might feel that it’s too greasy.”

“You are too modest, young master Wen. How can we feel that such delicious lamb is too greasy!” Classmate Du Kang immediately rubbed his hands and said with a smile: “In fact, I really want to eat it too.”

Chu Sui’an, who was not very talkative, nodded shyly. He also craved it too.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

So the four of them decided. Taking advantage of the lunch break they immediately went outside the school. But just as they left the school gate they came face to face with a global limited edition red sports car parked arrogantly outside the gate.

A rich young master dressed from head to toe in brand-names and big movie star sunglasses stood leaning against the car door. After seeing Tao Mu, he took off his sunglasses and walked over like a peacock showing off its tail feathers, asking in a proud tone: “How about it? Even if you ignore me, didn’t I still find you?”

“Treat you to dinner tonight, you coming?”

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