Chapter 25

Pei Xingze cleared his throat and took Weng Shao's backpack from him. The instant their fingertips touched, there was a sharp snap—

Weng Shao's fingers curled from the numbness of the static shock. He apologized gently, "Sorry, my clothes have static."

"Is that so?" Pei Xingze chuckled and waved his hand in front of Weng Shao. "You scared me to death. I thought the two of us had sparks flying."

Pei Xingze had assumed Weng Shao would remain silent as before, but Weng Shao suddenly said, "Haven't we always had good chemistry?"

At that, Weng Shao paused. With smiling eyes, he slowly and carefully traced Pei Xingze's features inch by inch. Pei Xingze only felt the rather thick skin he had always been proud of suddenly turning numb and itchy, as though someone had lightly stroked it with their fingertips.

From his brows to his eyes, from his nose to his lips. It was a seemingly careless yet utterly assured kind of teasing.

Amid the surrounding clamor, the chaos of meetings and partings, Pei Xingze vaguely heard Weng Shao finish the rest of his sentence in that ever-calm voice, as if it were nothing: "...my instant old friend, boss."

Pei Xingze's Adam's apple bobbed traitorously. In that instant, he was certain his heart had skipped a beat.

The black Rolls-Royce Phantom sped down the highway.

After who knew how long with his mind blank, President Pei finally came to his senses. He dragged his wandering soul back from the heavens into his body and solemnly said, "My friends know you're coming to Jinghai. They want to treat you to dinner."

Weng Shao was using Pei Xingze's laptop to log into his blog and forums.

Right after the college entrance exams ended, Weng Shao used his spare time to sue every news outlet and online marketing account that had previously spread rumors and smeared him.

The internet was in an uproar at the time, so Weng Shao struck while the iron was hot and registered two accounts under his real name on all the major social platforms. One was a study account, meant for sharing study tips and preparing for the future publication and promotion of Top Scholar Notes; the other was a real estate analysis account—

Drawing on his experience from his previous life and the information he had collected in this one, Weng Shao meticulously compiled red and black lists for housing developments throughout the province. He analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of every development from all angles: developers, property management, appreciation potential, nearby amenities, public environment, and more.

He especially pointed out the trap of many developers illegally selling pre-construction properties for quick cash despite lacking all five required certificates or even having unstable cash flow. Naturally, this helped Teacher Chen avoid the unfinished building she had bought in his previous life.

When Weng Shao did these things, he had never expected the accounts he ran to go viral overnight in such a short time. He was simply used to the self-media era, where everyone tried to turn the content they produced into products—in other words, sell the same time investment multiple times.

When Weng Shao first created the accounts, he figured that since he had already done the work, it was better to post the organized materials online for the public's benefit than let them gather dust in a drawer. He could build up his reputation and traffic while laying the groundwork for the paid knowledge industry that would become commonplace in the future.

Though Weng Shao had no intention of becoming some opinion leader, if his voice could influence more people, he would have one more bargaining chip when the time came to scheme against Weng Group.

Thus, Weng Shao had originally intended to take things slow and steady, but he had still underestimated the crushing advantage that internet marketing methods from twenty years later would have over the internet environment of twenty years ago, which was still in its pioneering stage.

Weng Shao's popularity had been steadily rising ever since Weng Sui bribed marketing accounts to spread rumors online. After several rounds of back-and-forth and reversals from Weng Shao, that steadily rising traffic gained the lasting attention of gossip-hungry netizens across the internet. This long-term, habitual attention and discussion exploded the moment Weng Shao became the province's top scorer in the college entrance exams. It also allowed him to enjoy the benefits of monetizing traffic years ahead of schedule.

At present, he worked with several major brands by posting their promotions through his blog and forum IDs. Each promotional post cost anywhere from one hundred thousand to three hundred thousand yuan.

In truth, compared with this kind of promotion, many brands valued Weng Shao's image and potential more. What they wanted to sign with him was an endorsement contract. But Weng Shao clearly understood better than they did what it meant to wait for the best offer. He did not believe endorsement fees of merely several hundred thousand or a million yuan were worth selling his portrait rights for.

For a reborn man with grand ambitions, one who wanted to overthrow a listed corporation and even build his own business empire, nothing in this world was more valuable than himself.

Besides wanting to quickly accumulate his first pot of gold, Weng Shao also wanted to test his own capabilities through these brand partnerships.

The facts proved that Weng Shao had succeeded. He made more and more people who followed the internet realize there were new business opportunities to be found, and notice the formulas and methods that could make someone famous overnight.

Yet even so, many brands still did not believe Weng Shao's portrait rights could be worth more than one million yuan. In this era, even top domestic superstars earned only a few million yuan a year at most for endorsements. Weng Shao's high valuation of himself made many people feel he had no sincerity in negotiating.

Only one casual clothing brand was willing to keep talking with Weng Shao. They were even willing to offer him an endorsement fee of 1.5 million yuan, on the condition that he wear clothing provided by their brand while recording Jinghai Television Station's Dialogue of Life.

Weng Shao greatly appreciated the brand's discernment, but he still turned down the collaboration.

Recording Dialogue of Life was an important step in Weng Shao's plan to shape his public image and overturn Weng Group. He had no intention of ruining his original plan over a few insignificant details.

In the entertainment industry of the future, there was a professional term called building a persona. People with distinctive personas could easily gain attention and recognition from others.

The persona Weng Shao had created for himself was that of a gifted young man who had suffered oppression and bullying. So for this recording of Dialogue of Life, he was still wearing that faded City No. 1 High School uniform.

Of course, even a gifted youth who refused to be looked down upon would get hungry and tired after spending an entire morning on a plane. So the moment he heard Pei Xingze speak, Weng Shao calmly closed the laptop. "Where are we eating, and what are we having?"

An hour later, the black Rolls-Royce Phantom slowly pulled up in front of an antique-style building resembling a Jiangnan garden.

Pei Xingze led Weng Shao inside. Along the way were little bridges over flowing water, lush grasses, and antique corridors, pavilions, and terraces winding across the water. Lotus flowers grew in the pond, blooming luxuriantly in the height of summer. Beneath the emerald lotus leaves, plump koi occasionally swam past, darting to the surface to nibble at lotus petals.

Pei Xingze turned and asked with a smile, "Do you want to feed the fish?"

Weng Shao said, "I want to eat fish."

Pei Xingze smiled even more broadly. The two passed through a hollowed-out floral wall along the corridor and arrived at a private room shaded by bamboo.

Lu Qingyang and several other fair-weather friends had already arrived. More than a dozen people sat in the private room, chattering as they complained about this and that.

Pei Xingze had put this gathering together at the last minute after obtaining Weng Shao's agreement. Quite a few people had even canceled their original dates just to meet Weng Shao.

Previously, Pei Xingze had acted as though he had gone mad and mobilized his circle of fair-weather friends to purchase Top Scholar Notes in their companies' names. As a result, everyone in his social circle knew that such a person had appeared beside Young Master Pei.

Everyone was curious what kind of person could make Young Master Pei proactively approach him with such blazing enthusiasm, even swallow his pride and personally pave the way for him.

They had watched Weng Shao's interview videos online and generally had some impression of him. They knew he was a clever, eloquent young man with a quick mind and, naturally, a good-looking face.

But how could camera technology from twenty years ago possibly capture a person in full? Only when they saw Weng Shao in person did they truly feel the unusual aura around this young man—or rather, an aura utterly out of place in this era.

The previously noisy private room suddenly fell silent, everyone staring intently at Weng Shao.

At that moment, they understood why Pei Xingze had become so crazy.

Chapter 25

Very few people noticed what Weng Shao looked like when they saw him.

It was like a person walking alone in the wilderness who came face-to-face with a leopard casually taking a stroll. Their first thought would never be to admire its gorgeous fur and graceful bearing. They would only worry whether the leopard might suddenly pounce and devour them.

In many people's eyes, Weng Shao was even more terrifying than a hungry leopard.

Those who had suffered at his hands only felt that he was black-hearted, ruthless, and utterly detestable. Even those who had not suffered from him would instinctively tremble in fear upon seeing Weng Shao. Everyone feared him, afraid that this madman, smiling and chatting one second, would launch an attack without warning the next and tear the prey before him to pieces.

No one dared meet a predator's eyes. Only when they believed themselves to be in an absolutely safe environment would they have the mood to appreciate the predator's splendid appearance.

—That was how people at the bottom of the food chain evaluated the powerful and formidable Weng Shao twenty years later.

Turning back time twenty years, the soul of an apex predator awakened within an even younger and more striking body. One could imagine how shocking that head-on visual impact would be to anyone who saw Weng Shao in person.

For a moment, everyone was speechless, staring at Weng Shao without even blinking.

This silence lasted until Pei Xingze finished ordering and looked at them in surprise. "Why aren't any of you talking?"

The usually arrogant and overbearing rich second-generation heirs looked at one another. Finally, they fidgeted and stammered, "It's nothing. Aren't we waiting for you to introduce him to us?"

Pei Xingze understood perfectly, yet he still introduced them to Weng Shao one by one. "This is Lu Qingyang, my childhood friend. This is Weng Shao, my..."

Pei Xingze thought for a moment before saying slowly and carefully, "Friend." For some reason, the word "friend" carried an inexplicably tender intimacy when it came from his lips.