TN: bonus chapter!💕

Qin Miaoru was still decked in a non-mainstream outfit. Her gang of brothers were still the same bald-headed, covered in tattoos and had gold chains around their necks. Their appearance in the police station looked more like they were there to give themselves up to the authorities than report on a crime.

However, the policemen at the police station in H Town still remember that Qin Miaoru and her gang assisted the police in cracking the MLM abduction case, and they knew that they were good people who just happened to have a non-mainstream sense of fashion.

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Qin Miaoru rushed over Tao Mu and officer Yao, her gang of brothers in tow. She didn’t directly elaborate on the clues she found, but looked at Tao Mu and asked strangely: “Why is your phone turned off?”

“Huh?” Tao Mu took his phone out and saw that it was out of battery.

From the time he received the call from Da Luo, he contacted director Yun, asked for leave from the school, took a plane to H Town, went to the hospital to see brother Gou, and then finally came to the police station to ask about the situation. It took more than ten hours of barely non stop tossing around. The battery of smartphones was inherently worse than other phones. Fortunately, Tao Mu carried a charger with him.

“I’ll charge it for you.” Officer Yao took the initiative to take over the phone to help Tao Mu find power. As soon as it was turned on, “ding ding dong dong” sounded, displaying several missed calls. Among them, Qin Miaoru called the most, as well as Da Mao and Xiao Pang, and brother Meng Qi. The last call was from Li Xiaoheng.

Thinking of his agreement with Li Xiaoheng, Tao Mu quickly dialed back.

It was four o’clock in the afternoon here, and the time in country M was four o’clock in the morning. As soon as Tao Mu dialed back, he realized the time difference and was afraid that Li Xiaoheng might still be sleeping. Before he could hang up the call, Li Xiaoheng’s voice sounded from the receiver.

“Xiao Mu?”

“…..You haven’t slept yet?” After Li Xiaoheng answered the phone, Tao Mu immediately apologized: “Sorry, I didn’t notice the time difference. Did it bother your sleep?”

“I haven’t slept yet.” On the other side, Li Xiaoheng’s voice sounded wide awake with a trace of a smile: “Where are you? Was your phone out of battery?”

Tao Mu let out an “en” and explained very briefly: “My friend got in an accident. I am in H Town now.”

“I knew it. If it weren’t for an unexpected situation, you would definitely have answered my call.” Li Xiaoheng said confidently.

Tao Mu didn’t pick up on Li Xiaoheng changing the meaning of his words. In any case, in his thinking, “the phone being turned off” and “not picking up Li Xiaoheng’s calls” meant the same thing.

“Do you need my help?” Li Xiaoheng asked particularly enthusiastically on the phone.

Tao Mu knew of Li Xiaoheng’s abilities and also knew that the Li family had great status in China. If a friend around him really needed help, even if asking Li Xiaoheng for a favor would affect his weight in the eyes of his business partner, Tao Mu would still speak out. After all, there were times when asking for help could deepen the relationship between two people.

But Tao Mu felt that he could solve Gou Rixin’s problem and he didn’t want to waste this connection that Li Xiaoheng provided. So Tao Mu thanked Li Xiaoheng for his kindness very sincerely. He also explained Gou Rixin’s situation concisely. Of course, he also left himself some leeway: “When it’s confirmed that brother Gou can be transferred to Beijing’s hospital, and the surgery is finalized, if the money is not enough, I will definitely let you know.”

Most of Tao Mu’s money was in the international crude oil market, and Li Xiaoheng knew of this matter clearer than anyone else. And based on the two people’s cooperation scale which amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars, borrowing a few hundred thousand yuan was not considered borrowing at all.

On the other end of the call, Li Xiaoheng could naturally pick up on the social niceties under his words of gratitude. He was a little bit disappointed but immediately cheered himself up, saying: “I also knew some medical students and professors when I was studying at Stanford. If you have a need regarding this, I can help to introduce some international experts to help with your friend’s operation.”

Tao Mu expressed his gratitude again, and immediately asked Li Xiaoheng why he had called earlier: “Is there something wrong with the international oil futures?”

“No.” Li Xiaoheng explained with a smile: “Because our cooperation has just started, so I just wanted to make a routine call and communicate with you.”

Tao Mu recalled that the time when Li Xiaoheng called him was around ten o’clock in the evening, which would have been around ten o’clock in the morning when converted to country M’s time difference. At that point in time, it was likely that Li Xiaoheng had just gotten off the plane, and shouldn’t have met with any issue yet.

Indeed, Li Xiaoheng really didn’t have any problem. He had just gotten off the plane and habitually called Tao Mu to report his safe arrival. But Tao Mu’s phone was turned off automatically because of no battery. It caused Li Xiaoheng to be a little worried, not knowing what happened to Tao Mu for him not to pick up his phone. Fortunately, this was the year 2008 when the smartphone was just launched. If this happened ten years later, it was likely that with Li Xiaoheng’s rich imagination he would have called the police already.

Tao Mu smiled and said, “It’s good that nothing is wrong. You can call me whenever you have to. When I return to Beijing, I will buy a new phone and make sure my phone is open 24 hours a day. Today’s situation will absolutely not appear again.”

Although Li Xiaoheng had already stated that he had nothing important to discuss with Tao Mu. But as a competent partner, Tao Mu must review the mistakes he exposed in this matter. He should be grateful that Li Xiaoheng had nothing important that needed discussing with him this time. If there was anything important but he was unable to be found due to his phone being turned off at the critical moment, then he was definitely a failure as a business partner.

This was a low-level mistake that would never be tolerated in the workplace.

Tao Mu did not hide anything, and straightforwardly admitted to his negligence and also promised to never commit it again in the future. The attitude was very sincere and humble, but it only made Li Xiaoheng feel very depressed instead.

From the perspective of a business partner, of course Li Xiaoheng appreciated Tao Mu’s work ethic very much. In fact, Li Xiaoheng was a very strict person when it came to business. If this situation happened with any employee of Xiaoheng Capital, while Li Xiaoheng would not dismiss the other immediately, he at least would have asked the other to conduct a public review at the morning meeting, as well as deduct a month’s salary in order to make an example.

But when changed to Tao Mu, Li Xiaoheng felt that Tao Mu’s attitude was a bit distant. Although the two of them were business partners, it was not like they were superior and subordinate after all. Tao Mu had no need to apologize to him for such a small matter. Besides being business partners, they were also friends.

There were no friends who would seriously review and reflect on mistakes because of such a trivial matter.

“You being like this, I won’t dare to call you casually in the future.” Li Xiaoheng said with a smile on the other end of the phone: “I feel very guilty. It’s not like you could help it. Because your friend had an accident and so you needed to catch a plane. And on the plane, it’s not allowed to have the phone turned on.”

“Call whenever, call whenever.”

Tao Mu didn’t realize at all that his relationship with Li Xiaoheng went from a “routine work reporting relationship” to a “friend who could call casually” in just a few words. He was still immersed in the atmosphere created by Li Xiaoheng, and tried his best to appease the other: “It was originally my fault. Before I get on the plane, I should have told you in advance. Lest you can’t find me when you call.”

“I was also on the plane at that time. I wouldn’t be able to answer your call anyway.” Li Xiaoheng took the blame back onto himself in a particularly confident and justified manner. The speed and efficiency caused even Tao Mu to be speechless.

The layout of the H Town police station was similar to that of the Beijing police station. Officer Yao put Tao Mu’s mobile phone on the power strip next to his desk to charge it.

Tao Mu squatted under officer Yao’s desk and chatted with Li Xiaoheng for twenty minutes. When he finally hung up, everyone, including Qin Miaoru and officer Yao, felt a little bit full inexplicably. (TN: full of dog food. To feed others dog food is slang for showing off your lovey dovey relationship with your other half)

Taking advantage of this time, among the gang of brothers who came with Qin Miaoru, a certain brother with a shaved head, a dragon tattoo on his back and a large gold chain on his neck also elaborated on the clues he knew in detail several times.

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“You mean, you accidentally discovered that Yu Mei appeared near Da Xiong’s rental house. Who is this Da Xiong?”

“I don’t know what this Da Xiong’s birth name is. Everyone calls him that. He is also one of the group extra leaders of H Town Studios. Similar to Gou Rixin, they are all martial arts extras. And I heard that this Da Xiong and Gou Rixin originally had conflict between them. It seems that the two groups of people often fight over film scenes.”

After saying this, one thing suddenly came to mind: “By the way, I heard from that group of extras. It seems that after Gou Rixin’s accident, the role of the male number two lead was replaced with Da Xiong.”

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“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…..”

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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.

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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!”

TN: bonus chapters coming up!

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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.

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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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