Chapter 47: The Hometown is No Place to Stay Long

Early the next morning, Lu Liang was woken up by the chatter and laughter outside the house.

After a night of fermentation, the news that Lu Tiechui’s son had made a fortune in Shanghai and driven back a four-million-yuan luxury car had already become known to everyone in Luhe Village.

Third Great-Uncle and Old Uncle Chun—the two of them combined were almost 150 years old. Even if they wanted to do manual labor, their descendants wouldn't dare let them. Every day, they were so bored that they walked around visiting neighbors.

With just over three hundred households and a population of less than two thousand, it was hard for anything new to happen in this peaceful little village. Old stories from past decades had been told and retold countless times. Finally, a genuinely fresh piece of news had come up, and they had even received packs of premium Soft Zhonghua cigarettes, so naturally, they boasted about it to everyone they met.

Therefore, starting from the morning, visitors to the Lu household came in an endless stream. Even those who wanted to go to work or school would make a special detour just to see what kind of luxury car could be worth four million yuan.

"Uncle, Auntie, please have a seat and take your time."

Lu Liang recognized a few of them, finding them vaguely familiar, but he had no idea what to call them. Knowing that the root of all this commotion was the car parked outside, he finished his breakfast and found an excuse to leave the house.

Lu Liang didn't go far; he drove to a newly built residential complex not far from Luhe Village.

Units had gone on sale a few years ago with an average starting price of 5,800 yuan per square meter, but since almost everyone back home owned land, sales were genuinely terrible. After all, a saying still circulated among the locals: only the poor bought commercial apartments, while the wealthy built their own houses. A commercial apartment was just a single unit—even a duplex was nothing special—and you were surrounded by strangers living upstairs and downstairs.

Self-built houses were completely different; you could build them however you wanted. You could even put two Roman pillars at the entrance and turn it into a European-style palace. More importantly, rural land rights were practically permanent, unlike commercial apartments with expiration dates, and you didn't have to pay property management fees either.

Lu Liang arrived at the sales office and picked out a 120-square-meter unit. Because sales were sluggish, the total price was only 650,000 yuan, and it even came with a parking space.

The old family house was going to be knocked down and rebuilt. Given his parents' personalities, they would definitely borrow a place to stay from relatives and friends, which would inevitably incur favors they owed to others. Since it was something that could be resolved with money, there was no need to owe favors. To prevent that from happening, Lu Liang had gone out to find a place for them.

A simply decorated, large three-bedroom apartment of 120 square meters was priced at 5,800 yuan per square meter, yet the annual rent alone would be thirty thousand yuan. Upon hearing the rental price, Lu Liang decided against renting; it wasn't that much money anyway, so he might as well just buy one. With his professional real estate eye, he quickly selected a low-floor unit with rooms facing both north and south for optimal ventilation.

He viewed the house in the morning and signed the contract at noon. Although the property ownership certificate would take a few days to arrive, they could move in right away.

Lu Liang called his parents to say he wouldn't be coming back for lunch, then headed into town to search for childhood memories. He ordered a few specialty snacks he had loved since he was little, sat on a small stool by the roadside, and checked the stock market trends.

The upward movement of Teli A had not yet started. Today was yet another day of slow, grinding decline. The current drop was 1.5%, with the stock price at 9.61 yuan. The trading volume of individual stocks was like a microcosm of the A-share market—constantly shrinking, with capital only flowing out and none flowing in.

The word "numb" best described the sentiment of market investors nowadays. Those who could bear to cut their losses had already done so, and those who couldn't bear it had emptied their family savings to keep adding to their positions. The stock crash was an unstoppable trend; they could only watch their assets shrink again and again, completely powerless to save the situation.

"Aside from real estate, what other industries can I invest in?"

For a moment, Lu Liang's thoughts wandered. Aside from the one hundred million he partnered with Meng Changkun on, he still had 13.9 million US dollars, equivalent to about 88 million RMB. Given his current asset allocation, he probably couldn't borrow much from a bank because he lacked fixed assets.

The stock market consisted of virtual assets, and a single stock crash was enough to cut assets in half over and over again. Only tangible industries could bring peace of mind.

Lu Liang pondered for a long time, searching the major financial boards for new concepts and themes. Finance was at the pinnacle of all industries. Even if the government didn't want finance to grow too strong, it couldn't change that fact. Investors were like sharks in the ocean; the moment they caught a whiff of blood, they would swarm forward and hype up concepts.

Storm Technology back then had relied on the new concept theme of "Internet Plus" and, driven by interested parties, exploded across the entire market the moment it went public. Moreover, with Lu Liang's capital scale, even if he qualified to participate in traditional industries, he would most likely just be making up the numbers and offering his head on a platter.

If he wanted to engage in venture capital, he still had to find new themes from the market; perhaps he could catch the next wave.

Lu Liang found four new concept themes: New Retail, New Finance, New Energy, and the Sharing Economy. New Retail represented online shopping, New Finance represented online peer-to-peer lending, while New Energy and the Sharing Economy were areas he didn't quite understand yet.

Just then, the restaurant owner brought over the dishes: "All the dishes are here. Would you like some complimentary daily soup?"

"Boss, just pack it to go instead." Lu Liang's mind was full of thoughts, and right now he just wanted to study properly.

Holding the bag of snacks and planning to head home, someone suddenly called out from behind him, "Lu Liang?"

"Lu Liang, it really is you." It was a woman with a smiling face, skin tanned and slightly yellowish, holding a child by the hand.

Lu Liang looked closely, finding her vaguely familiar, but he simply couldn't remember who she was.

The woman smiled and said, "It's me, Zheng Wanrong."

"Class monitor!"

Lu Liang was startled. It was hard to imagine that the woman in front of him was the fair-skinned, cheerful junior high school class monitor from back then. While it didn't count as a first love, when they were young, everyone had a slight crush on the pretty, high-achieving girls in class.

"Is this your kid? How old is he?" He looked at the tall boy standing beside the woman.

"His name is Ji Bojun, 10 years old this year."

The woman nudged the child: "Say hello to Uncle Lu."

The child looked like he had been dragged out by his mother to buy things and greeted him reluctantly: "Uncle Lu."

"So polite."

A flash of melancholy crossed the depths of Lu Liang's eyes. He suddenly remembered chatting with a friend a few years ago about junior high school days and mentioning this very woman; apparently, she had gotten married at nineteen.

Time flies; his former junior high school classmates now looked worn and weathered, and their children were already this big. In Shanghai, however, Lu Liang couldn't feel these changes at all. He suddenly felt that his hometown was not a place to stay for long. If he stayed any longer, his heart would grow old before his body did.

Lu Liang looked at the woman carrying numerous bags: "Where are you heading? Let me give you a ride."

"No need, I rode my motorcycle here." The woman pointed to the white Wuyang motorcycle parked by the roadside.

"Alright then, I have some things to do, so I'll be leaving first. Let's chat another time when you're free." After so many years, the two of them really had nothing left to talk about, so Lu Liang made an excuse and left.

"Bye-bye." The woman looked stunned as she watched Lu Liang get into the luxury car that had captured almost everyone's attention.

Lu Liang didn't go home because he didn't want to deal with unfamiliar relatives, so he went straight to his newly purchased apartment. As he ate the snacks that had a childhood appearance but had long lost their childhood taste, he received a phone call from Zhang Chen.

"Director Lu, *Goodbye Mr. Loser* is scheduled to start filming on Friday. Would you like to come and attend the launching ceremony?"

Upon learning it was in Dalian, Lu Liang instantly lost interest: "I've been quite busy lately. I'll have Director Tang go there instead."

After hastily finishing a few bites to wrap up lunch, Lu Liang set to work researching future investment directions.

Among the four emerging concepts, he first ruled out New Finance. Although it was currently the hottest concept in the market and several companies were preparing for US listings, Lu Liang was not optimistic about it. He had taken out online loans before and knew full well the hazards of such things. Moreover, it was like duckweed without roots; a single policy change could overturn the entire industry.

Therefore, he could only look for targets among the remaining three concepts: New Retail, New Energy, and the Sharing Economy.

Lu Liang thought of Meng Changkun; that was exactly what he was doing—constantly investing in new industries, and the two of them were business partners now.

"Brother Kun, are you busy?"

Lu Liang called him to ask if there were any salon gatherings in the venture capital circle recently and if there was a chance to bring him along to gain some exposure. Although he knew nothing about those industries, he had money and could invest first. If he liked the future prospects, he could either seize control through equity or start afresh.

The financial market was his ammunition depot, and he was confident that he could use a massive torrent of cash to sweep away all obstacles ahead.

Guessing what was on Lu Liang's mind, Meng Changkun smiled and said, "Don't forget what month it is. There are two sessions this weekend, though the quality probably won't be very high. If you're interested, I'll transfer my invitation to you."

"Alright then, thanks a lot."

June was graduation season. Influenced by the legendary stories of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, college student entrepreneurship seemed to have become very popular in recent years, which in turn had also driven the development of online lending.