Chapter 36

Weng Shao merely smiled faintly at that.

The sales office manager pressed on, still not satisfied. "What are your plans from here on out? While you're in school, will you transfer to a property development in Jinghai City and continue working as a real estate consultant?"

The manager had his own little calculations. Over the past two months working with Weng Shao, he had truly tasted the benefits. If Weng Shao really planned to keep working part-time as a real estate consultant during college, he would find a way to get himself transferred to Jinghai City and try to join the same development as Weng Shao.

Weng Shao shook his head. "I haven't decided yet, but I probably won't do the same thing twice."

There were plenty of ways to make money. One reason Weng Shao had chosen to work as a real estate consultant at Lakeside Garden after the National College Entrance Examination was to help Teacher Chen avoid the unfinished housing project from his previous life. Another was to borrow Pei Real Estate's momentum to strike at the Weng Group's foundations. After all, Weng Yingjie's roots lay in property development.

Now, Pei Real Estate's developments were thriving, while the Weng Group's properties had suffered a nationwide collapse in sales due to the Weng family scandal. With capital flowing back more slowly than expected, Weng Yingjie's upcoming business plans were bound to be affected. At the very least, the plots the Weng Group had successfully bid for in his previous life might not end up in their hands this time, with him interfering from the shadows. Without those crucial parcels of land, the Weng Group would inevitably miss out on the explosive rebound in housing prices over the next two years.

Perhaps Weng Yingjie would be ruthless enough to mortgage the Weng Group's quality assets to the banks in exchange for massive funds to bid on land. Weng Shao believed Weng Yingjie had that kind of nerve.

But if he did, the Weng Group's cash flow would inevitably become strained. When the global economic crisis swept across the world a few years later, the Weng Group might not be fortunate enough to escape it as safely as it had in his previous life.

After all, in his previous life, Weng Yingjie, who had started from nothing as a construction foreman, had no idea what subprime finance even was. Weng Zhen was conservative and set in his ways, capable only of enjoying what others had built. As for Weng Sui, an art student studying abroad, he could not even understand a company's financial reports. It was Weng Shao, then a finance major, who had stumbled upon the Subprime Mortgage Crisis brewing across the ocean while studying global financial markets. Enduring his entire family's ridicule, mockery, and contempt, he painstakingly gathered information and evidence, repeatedly persuading Weng Yingjie and the other Weng Group shareholders. At last, before the crisis erupted, he gradually moved the Weng Group's overseas investments back into the country.

In this life, Weng Shao naturally would not kindly warn Weng Yingjie. Not only would he refuse to warn him, he would even make good use of this crisis to dig a few traps for Weng Yingjie. He had slaved away for the Weng Group for so many years, and later acquired it with Pei Xingze's help. More than anyone else, he knew exactly where this giant's weaknesses lay.

He had plenty of ways to deal with the Weng family.

As for making a second fortune while selling homes, and taking the opportunity to get closer to Pei Xingze and deepen the connection between them... that was merely a convenient gain along the way as his plan unfolded.

Thinking of Pei Xingze, Weng Shao's gaze gradually went blank, and the expression on his face slowly turned numb and hollow. Like a sweet, delicious cream cake left too long in an exquisite glass display case, it had already dried out and gone cold and hard.

Tiny holes had appeared across the delicate, velvety layer of cream, perhaps along with hidden cracks crisscrossing the fragile surface of the cake. A mournful, numb wind howled from those holes and hairline fractures.

In a daze, Weng Shao returned to the night before. Pei Xingze had knelt on one knee before him, pinched his cheek, and sighed helplessly. "Do you know you're only eighteen?"

His eyes burned as he stared at Weng Shao, his thumb lightly rubbing the back of Weng Shao's hand. Bold yet restrained, he said, "I know you're smart, and perceptive. Maybe from the first time we met—no, perhaps from before we had ever met—you already knew I was destined to be drawn to you."

"I like you, but I'm not that much of an animal." As he said this, he gently pressed a kiss to Weng Shao's forehead.

Weng Shao closed his eyes. Amid that featherlight touch, he heard Pei Xingze say softly, "...I have patience. I'll wait for you to grow up."

His thick lashes trembled uneasily like butterfly wings. The sting of tears kept gathering behind his tightly shut eyes, silently spilling from their corners, only for someone to tilt up his chin and gently kiss them away. He curled helplessly in Pei Xingze's arms, feeling the beat within his chest.

On that quiet, tender night, no one knew of Weng Shao's sorrow.

He had come from hell, like the evil ghost in Painted Skin from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, wearing a young man's skin as he carefully plotted his appearance before his beloved.

He had thought everything could finally return to the right track, but Pei Xingze said he would wait for him to grow up. What Pei Xingze did not know was that he could not wait for Weng Shao to grow up. He was already old.

Inside his young body was imprisoned an aged soul.

Chapter 36

By August, Weng Shao had become noticeably busier.

The Property Black-and-Red List he had personally planned and regularly updated on social media, the Teacher Appreciation Campaign, and the new sales model of Online Property Tours had all sparked enormous public response. In early August, Pei Real Estate released its monthly sales report as usual. Its property projects had generated nearly 800 million yuan in sales, more than the combined sales of the second- and third-ranked real estate companies.

The property projects of the Qingyuan City branch alone had exceeded 400 million yuan in sales, accounting for nearly half of Pei Real Estate's nationwide total. Of that amount, Lakeside Garden by itself accounted for three quarters of the Qingyuan City branch's sales.

In other words, Weng Shao had almost single-handedly supported Pei Real Estate's sales figures for June and July. Over those two months, Pei Real Estate had swept through the national housing market like a devouring whale, directly sending Pei Group's Hong Kong-listed shares soaring continuously after the monthly report was released, while its Growth Enterprise Market shares hit the daily limit up for several consecutive days.

The news immediately sparked widespread discussion across all sectors of society.

People in the real estate industry began exploring internet marketing and the wider applicability of the Online Property Tour model. Many economists and scholars studied the innovations and changes that the emerging phenomenon of the internet could bring to traditional industries. Experts and professors in education tirelessly debated whether Weng Shao's learning ability and practical skills should be credited to exam-oriented education or quality-oriented education...

To capitalize on the massive wave of attention, major media outlets launched one report after another—

<National College Entrance Examination Top Scorer Sells Homes Part-Time, Brings in 800 Million in Two Months and Opens a New Sales Model>

<The Debate Between Quality-Oriented and Exam-Oriented Education: A Brief Discussion of a Provincial Top Scorer's Innovative Ability and Practical Spirit>

<Earning Money and Writing Books After the National College Entrance Examination: The Rise of a Genius Teenager>

<Two Homes in Two Months, Top Scorer Earns Tens of Millions>

As soon as these reports came out, they immediately ignited passionate discussion among people across the country.

In recent years, amid the debate between quality-oriented and exam-oriented education, major media outlets and related institutions had been eager to manufacture prodigies. But the geniuses they had previously promoted were generally exceptional talents in academics or literature. Someone like Weng Shao, who became a provincial top scorer through the National College Entrance Examination, then earned tens of millions and two homes through his own abilities in just two months afterward, and even directly influenced the transformation of an entire industry and the share price of a multinational group—there had truly been no second person like him in all these years.

—It would not be an exaggeration to say he had appeared out of nowhere.

Combined with the accumulated attention from the two popular interview programs, Dialogue of Life and Online Mediation, Weng Shao himself was abruptly thrust into the center of the storm, bringing both the Weng Group and Pei Group into the public eye as well.

But while Pei Group's share price skyrocketed, the Weng Group, which had already become Weng Shao's adversary in reality, was dragged down by its chairman's family scandal. Not only had its property project sales ranked at the bottom nationwide in June and July, but its stock price had even fallen to the brink of suspension. Its losses were devastating.

At that very moment, Pei Group's legal team held a press conference and announced to the attending reporters that judgments had begun to be issued in the cases they had previously handled for Weng Shao against news outlets and online marketing accounts that had spread false claims. The sued media outlets and marketing accounts had all lost in the first trial, and every one of them had chosen not to appeal.

That meant that over the next six months, the disreputable media outlets and marketing accounts that had once spread rumors about Weng Shao would publicly apologize to him in newspapers, magazines, and online, while also paying compensation. The total amount of compensation came to 95,270 yuan.

After consulting with Weng Shao himself, Pei Group's legal team decided to donate the entire sum to Pei Group's charitable foundation, specifically to support internet users who had been innocently subjected to online abuse. They hoped that everyone who had been falsely accused would take up legal weapons to protect their lawful rights and interests.

It was worth mentioning that while handling the related cases, Pei Group's legal team had unexpectedly discovered that Weng Sui, the youngest son of Weng Group chairman Weng Yingjie, had paid online marketing accounts to spread rumors about Weng Shao. This constituted defamation and had caused Weng Shao enormous psychological harm. After careful consideration, Pei Group's legal team decided to sue Weng Sui.

As soon as the news was reported, public opinion across the country exploded.

For a time, the scandal involving Weng Yingjie and Weng Shao, father and son, was once again dragged out for everyone to examine.

Media reporters from all over the country swarmed toward the Lakeside Garden Sales Office in Qingyuan City like sharks smelling blood, hoping to interview Weng Shao and, ideally, produce a special report. Others took a different route and went directly to the Weng Group. Clearly, they wanted to interview Weng Yingjie and Weng Sui and ask what they thought of Pei Group's legal counsel representing Weng Shao in suing Weng Sui.

What else could the Weng family think? Before Pei Group's press conference had even ended, Weng Yingjie and his family had smashed the television in rage.

Even so, the phone and mobile on Weng Yingjie's desk kept ringing nonstop.

The people calling at a time like this were naturally all Weng Group shareholders and business partners. "What the hell is going on with your family? There's no overnight grudge between a biological father and son. Can't you just placate him and make him stop causing trouble for us?"