Chapter 50

Weng Zhen laughed in fury. "Looks like my brother was right. Your Lin family has become a dog raised by the Pei family. Pei Xingze hasn't even said a word, yet you mutt are already barking first."

Lin Xueting scoffed. "Your Weng family sees everyone as dogs. Is that because dogs look down on people?"

The moment he said that, the rich second-generation heirs who had just disembarked burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at? Let's see who dares to laugh—" Weng Sui stamped his feet in rage. "No laughing! Stop laughing!"

"Your Weng family is being too overbearing. You won't let us talk, and now you won't even let us laugh?"

The young, hot-blooded heirs refused to give way to one another. After only a few words, sparks were practically flying everywhere. Weng Zhen was so furious that he began making threats. "A bunch of ill-bred trash. Let's see how long you can keep acting so arrogant!"

Everyone was standing up for him, so naturally Weng Shao could not let Weng Zhen insult his friends. He immediately said, "Whether we're talking big or not, your Weng family will find out soon enough."

Weng Zhen's expression darkened even further. But he knew he was nowhere near as quick-witted as Weng Shao, so he did not continue the argument. "I came to take you home. Dad and Mom want to see you, so they specifically sent Weng Sui and me to pick you up at the pier. We've been waiting here for over an hour."

The implication was that they had shown plenty of sincerity. However, those words did not move Weng Shao in the slightest.

"But I don't want to see them right now," Weng Shao said with a smile.

Weng Sui had never been able to hold his temper. He immediately snapped, "Don't want to see them, or don't dare to see them?"

Weng Shao smiled. "Think whatever you want."

Weng Sui snorted coldly. "I think you don't dare see Dad and Mom. You don't dare because you have a guilty conscience. You actually betrayed your own family for an outsider. Not only are you an ungrateful traitor, you're disgusting beyond belief!"

"Your manners are pretty unbelievable too." Weng Shao did not get angry at all. He took Pei Xingze's hand and waved it in front of Weng Zhen and Weng Sui. "Also, I've already confessed to Pei Xingze. We're the real family now."

"You're ridiculous!" Weng Zhen could not help cursing. "You actually took the initiative to confess to a man? And a man from the Pei family?"

"Don't misunderstand. Weng Shao didn't confess to me." Pei Xingze spoke up to clarify. "I confessed to him, and he accepted my feelings."

As he spoke, Pei Xingze did not forget to show the Weng brothers the bouquet of checks he had received. "...This is the gift Weng Shao gave me. Isn't it beautiful? I'm going to treasure it for the rest of my life."

The Weng brothers nearly fainted from anger. "You actually used our Weng family's money to confess to an enemy? You ungrateful beast!"

Weng Shao said, "Who are you calling a beast?"

Weng Sui shrieked, "Obviously you."

Weng Shao smiled faintly. "Good. At least you know."

Weng Zhen and Weng Sui froze for a moment before realizing what he meant. They immediately flew into a rage. "You're the beast! You heartless, profit-crazed little bastard!"

"I heard neither of you did very well in school," Weng Shao said with a smile. "No wonder your vocabulary is so poor. You keep repeating the same few lines. You may not be tired of saying them, but I'm tired of hearing them."

Pei Xingze piled on. "It's not just their vocabulary that's lacking. Their brains don't work very well either. When did you ever use the Weng family's money?"

"You're right, I almost forgot." Weng Shao suddenly realized and immediately explained, "My money isn't the Weng family's money. I earned it myself in the stock market."

"What's the difference?" Weng Zhen blurted out. "Isn't it all the same?"

"How could it be the same?" Weng Shao replied with a smile. "The money I earned is mine. It wasn't handed out to me by you."

Weng Zhen took a deep breath and said irritably, "I'm not wasting words with you. I'll ask you one thing: are you coming home with me today or not?"

Weng Shao answered simply, "No."

"Fine!" Weng Zhen nodded at Weng Shao and threatened, "Just don't regret it."

With that, he dragged Weng Sui into the car in a fury.

Watching the black Bentley speed away, the young heirs exchanged looks. Lu Qingyang smiled and warned, "The Weng brothers look like they're about to go mad with anger. You'd better be careful."

As far as they knew, the Weng family's methods when they first rose to prominence had not exactly been clean. Weng Yingjie was known throughout their circle for being ruthless and merciless. Only in recent years, after accumulating enough wealth, had he begun doing charity work to whitewash his image.

Thinking of that, everyone became worried.

"Especially you, Weng Shao." Lin Xueting seemed to recall something and frowned. "You've made so much money. Don't let anyone set their sights on you. If necessary, hire a few bodyguards."

Before Weng Shao could speak, Pei Xingze said calmly, "Don't worry. You have me."

Pei Xingze was not someone to be taken lightly. As long as he was around, how could he let anyone hurt Weng Shao?

Chapter 50

When Weng Shao said on the yacht that he wanted to create a brand-new social networking website, he had not been speaking casually.

On the very night a forum administrator deleted his post without cause, Weng Shao made a recruitment post on Jinghai University's internal forum. Based on the industry salary standards for software developers at the time, he offered the generous monthly wage of four thousand yuan and recruited three third-year students from the Jinghai University Department of Computer Science.

He recruited third-year students because first- and second-year students generally lacked sufficient professional skills, while fourth-year students were facing the pressure of internships, employment, and writing graduation theses. Even if Weng Shao offered a high salary, they might not devote all their attention to developing the website. But third-year students were different.

First, after more than two years of study, most third-year students had thoroughly mastered the knowledge related to their field, enough to support them in independently creating an entirely new website. Second, the new semester had only just begun. Although third-year students also needed to look for internships, they were not in any great rush. In that era, a considerable number of students, as well as the university itself, preferred for students to begin internships in the second semester of their third year.

Under those circumstances, Weng Shao offered four thousand yuan a month to recruit three students to build a website. It gave them not only an opportunity to earn money, but also the chance to put their knowledge into practice. The impact was easy to imagine—the moment the post went up, the entire Jinghai University Department of Computer Science was thrown into an uproar.

Overnight, Weng Shao's personal inbox was flooded with emails from computer science students. Not only did third-year students who met the post's requirements send in resumes, but many fourth-year and second-year students did as well. While reviewing the resumes, Weng Shao even spotted several future internet industry giants who would become famous twenty years later.

Quite a few of them had interacted and collaborated with Weng Shao in all kinds of ways in his previous life. Some of their companies had even gone public with Weng Shao serving as their IPO underwriter.

Unfortunately, in his previous life, Weng Shao had been out of his mind. He had worked himself to the bone for so long, only to make a wedding dress for someone else. This life would be different. If he could scoop up all these young talents, who would dare say that he would not become the god of investment twenty years later?

Weng Shao laughed at his own sudden idea, but he also realized that this recruitment drive was an opportunity.

So starting the next day, Weng Shao used his spare time outside class to continually interview students from the computer science department. After one round of interviews, he directly increased the number of positions from three to five, including designers, programmers, and maintenance staff. He did not let the remaining talent slip away either, exchanging contact information with all of them and stating outright that once the website was established, it would need more maintenance personnel.

"I'm sure we'll all have opportunities to work together."

Looking at the five future giants who happily stayed behind, as well as the future elites who left in high spirits, Weng Shao truly could not stop himself from laughing.

For four thousand yuan a month, he had managed to establish connections with so many future industry giants and elites. Perhaps twenty years later, many of them would tell reporters during interviews that the first pot of gold they earned in life came from working for Weng Shao. And the first investment that helped build their business empires had also come from Weng Shao.

"What are you thinking about that has you smiling so happily?"

Weng Shao came back to himself and looked at Pei Xingze across the table.

Inside the rooftop garden restaurant of the Pei Grand Hotel, soothing piano music drifted through the fragrant air. Brilliant sunlight streamed down through the crystal-clear glass dome, making the food on the table and the handsome man seated across from him look even fresher and more appetizing.

"I was thinking about how I'm going to make a whole lot of money in the future." Weng Shao cut off a piece of steak and put it into his mouth, his eyes still brimming with a smile. He suddenly sighed, "Choosing finance really was the right choice."

Although Weng Shao had gone through many twists and turns and suffered greatly in his previous life, every path he had taken had ultimately borne fruit, even benefiting him in this life. He could not help but reflect that there truly was no such thing as a road walked in vain. The losses he had suffered, the traps he had fallen into, the materials he had memorized through sleepless nights, the deals he had forced himself to sign at drinking parties even when his stomach bled, the connections he had painstakingly cultivated... one day, they had all become armor to defend himself and bullets to destroy his enemies.

And the Weng family, who had deliberately made things difficult for him and suppressed him in his previous life, would eventually receive the retribution they deserved.

"Do you believe every cause has its effect?" Weng Shao was in especially high spirits, and even the end of his sentences rose brightly.

Seeing this, Pei Xingze played along with interest. "How so?"

"If the Weng family hadn't bribed the forum administrator to delete my post, I wouldn't have thought of starting from scratch and creating a new social networking website. If I hadn't had that idea, I wouldn't have met so many young talents from the computer science department..."

Pei Xingze nodded in deep agreement and continued playing along. "So?"

"So every cause has its effect. The Weng family's retribution is me." Weng Shao declared it with complete conviction.

Pei Xingze rarely saw such a playful side of Weng Shao, and he could not help laughing too. "That makes perfect sense."

Though it was a homophone, Weng Shao still caught a hint of teasing in Pei Xingze's expression. "What did you say?"