Chapter 26: Wanting Money Is a Good Thing

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Lu Yao’s tongue was venomous.

His words were soft and gentle, yet cold and vicious as a knife, slicing straight through Fan Shushu’s defenses.

To Fan Shushu, those words struck with extraordinary force.

Sincerity was useless.

Sincerity that came too late was worth less than grass.

Just as, back then, Lu Yao had once had eyes and a heart only for her...

At this moment, she seemed to overlap with the Lu Yao of that distant time.

Under those words, Fan Shushu suddenly found it difficult even to breathe. Guilt and regret crashed through her heart like a tsunami.

Was this how Lu Yao had felt when she ignored him back then?

I really am the worst!

Fan Shushu felt dizzy and light-headed. She could barely make out Lu Yao’s retreating figure as he walked out of the corridor.

Before long, Lu Yao returned to Sister Wang’s table.

Sister Wang looked at Lu Yao, who had taken so long to come back, and a teasing smile appeared on her dignified, radiant face.

“Finished talking?”

Xu Ziqiao also leaned over with a lecherous grin. “Brother Lu, what were you two talking about?”

Lu Yao waved him off impatiently. “Don’t ask about grown-up matters.”

Jian Xiaojie bumped into him with her shoulder. “I want to hear too! I want to hear! Little Brother Ziqiao said he ran into your classmate outside, and apparently there’s a story~”

What a blabbermouth!

Lu Yao glared at Xu Ziqiao, then lifted his glass and changed the subject. “Let’s not talk about anything depressing. Come on, drink!”

How could Jian Xiaojie possibly withstand Lu Yao actively urging her to drink?

By the time they had gone through several rounds, Jian Xiaojie kept trying to burrow into Lu Yao’s arms.

If Sister Wang had not stopped her, the restroom at NFA would have become a battlefield.

Lu Yao suddenly understood why the restroom at NFA had been decorated with such extravagant grandeur.

Sure enough, the owner had thought things through.

They truly deserved every penny they made.

Their table continued drinking and fooling around until half past one in the morning, when they finally called it a night.

By then, Jian Xiaojie’s eyes were glazed with drunkenness, and she could barely walk straight.

But Sister Wang kept supporting her, giving her no chance to torment Lu Yao. Even when they called a car, Sister Wang insisted on accompanying her home.

This left Zhao Rongrong and Xu Ziqiao sighing with admiration—

They really did have a wonderful relationship.

Yet not long after Sister Wang and Jian Xiaojie got into the car and drove away, Jian Xiaojie, who had seemed utterly drunk moments earlier, suddenly opened her eyes. She pounced on Sister Wang and gnashed her teeth.

“You’re so stingy!”

“You guarded me all night long!”

“What are you, a goalkeeper?”

Like someone restraining a furious kitten, Sister Wang pinned Jian Xiaojie down and snorted. “Do you think I don’t know you? You couldn’t possibly get that drunk from so little alcohol!”

“You really are the type who can’t resist a handsome younger man—one drink and you’re down!”

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Jian Xiaojie clung to Sister Wang and refused to let up.

“Good sister~ Just let me have him once~”

...

After seeing Sister Wang and Jian Xiaojie off, Lu Yao continued on to see Zhao Rongrong off as well.

Before getting into the car, Zhao Rongrong cast him a coquettish glance.

“If you ever need my help with anything, just say the word~ I definitely won’t refuse~”

The message could hardly have been clearer.

Although her looks, figure, and wealth were all inferior to those of the two rich women that evening, she was obedient.

What if one day Lu Yao grew tired of delicacies and wanted to try something simpler?

She understood men quite well.

Lu Yao smiled. “As a matter of fact, there is something.”

Zhao Rongrong perked up. “Oh? What is it?”

Lu Yao smiled. “You’ll know when the time comes.”

With that, he gave her a mysterious little smile, shut the car door, and told the driver to leave.

After Zhao Rongrong was gone, Lu Yao looked at Xu Ziqiao.

“You still haven’t found a job, have you?”

Xu Ziqiao really had drunk quite a bit.

He could hardly be blamed. With three beautiful women at the table, the drinks went down far too easily.

He had originally planned to drink Zhao Rongrong under the table, but whether it was number guessing or dice, he had discovered that he was no match for her.

Now, when Lu Yao asked him the question, Xu Ziqiao replied drowsily, “No. Jobs aren’t that easy to find these days.”

In truth, the employment climate in 2013 was still fairly decent. Jobs paying five thousand a month were everywhere, provided one put in a little effort.

There were even plenty of positions with higher salaries and better prospects.

Yet most fresh graduates felt that the job market was already harsh and believed that the future would only become brighter.

Who could have imagined that ten years later, even finding a job offering weekends off, insurance, and a monthly salary of five thousand would be difficult?

When Xu Ziqiao said jobs were hard to find, it was simply because he looked down on the low-paying ones.

And he was incapable of handling the high-paying ones.

After all, during his four years at university, he had spent all his time pursuing the magnificent goal of sleeping with a hundred women.

Otherwise, he could only go home and inherit the family business.

Xu Ziqiao pulled out a cigarette and squatted by the curb.

“To be honest, Brother Lu, if you hadn’t suddenly said you were going to make a fortune with me, I’d probably be out having fun overseas right now.”

His goal of sleeping with a hundred women would probably have been easier to achieve abroad.

Lu Yao laughed. “To hell with going overseas. In a few days, come with me on a trip. I’ll take you into business!”

“Huh?”

Xu Ziqiao, drunk and bewildered, stared at him. “Why are we starting a business now?”

Lu Yao had been busy with rich women, stock trading, and the nightlife scene. Now he was suddenly planning to start a business too?

Lu Yao smiled. “Just wait to get rich.”

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Xu Ziqiao: “...”

Over the following week, the shares of Fenda Technology that Lu Yao had bought did indeed begin climbing steadily.

But after June 6, the stock continued falling for an entire week, driving Xu Ziqiao into a panic. He hopped around like a monkey, unable to sit still.

Sister Wang, by contrast, remained remarkably composed.

Although she knew nothing about stocks, she trusted Lu Yao.

This was merely a technical correction—a struggle between investment institutions and the company behind the stock, using a sell-off to drive down the price and buy in cheaply.

After the turbulence, uncertain investors would be shaken out.

Investment institutions could then scoop up shares at a lower price.

In the end, all sides would reach an unspoken understanding and begin pushing the price higher together, luring small investors into the market.

As one of the three hottest speculative stocks of 2013, Fenda Technology had released wearable devices amid the technological wave sparked by Apple’s smartphones. Its prospects were viewed favorably by many people, especially the rising internet elite within China.

Lu Yao therefore had no concerns whatsoever that the company lacked room for growth.

He remained as steady as a fisherman waiting patiently for his catch.

While keeping an eye on the stock market, he also began using his connections with Zuo Zuo and Zhou Beila to infiltrate NFA’s circle of female employees.

After a week of contact, Lu Yao had finally found his breakthrough among the many women.

Her stage name was Nono.

At that point in 2013, the internet had not yet developed at breakneck speed.

Although there were already a few live-streaming platforms, only a small number of men and women made a living from them offline.

As a result, the women working in offline nightclubs were generally of fairly high quality.

Especially at a high-end venue like NFA.

Its recruitment and selection standards were extremely strict.

Every woman working at NFA, taken individually, was more impressive than many of the later borderline influencers on TikTok.

Among the women at NFA, Nono was the sort with natural leadership qualities. Many of the others were close to her and were quite willing to listen to her.

She had something of a female leader’s presence.

So every night when Lu Yao went to work, he would rely on the conversational techniques he had learned before his rebirth to chat idly with Nono. More often than not, after only a few exchanges, he could have her smiling brightly, even laughing until she trembled.

Lu Yao had an ulterior motive.

And Nono...

was no innocent either.

Lu Yao was now NFA’s star attraction, earning far more each night than the hostesses and promotional girls around her.

And he was so handsome.

So whenever they chatted, their topics grew increasingly suggestive, while she would also probe him about money from time to time.

That was a good thing.

She wanted money, which meant he could put her to work for him.