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In short, the core concept of Li Rongxiu's project was to become "an entrepreneur behind entrepreneurs." The reason Li Rongxiu chose financial investment as a long-term project to retain after the film turned a profit was simple—it stemmed from the extra dozen-odd years of memories that had appeared in his mind out of nowhere.

As a wastrel who had spent his days doing nothing, Li Rongxiu seemed to have had no achievements worth mentioning in nearly thirty years of his previous life. But that did not mean his horizons or knowledge were limited.

In fact, as a direct descendant of Wancheng's richest family, a family that even influenced the Empire's economic lifeblood, even if Li Rongxiu had not been interested in business management before his rebirth, he had still absorbed countless classic business cases—whether breathtaking or filled with deceit—through constant exposure. He knew the economic trends Wancheng, the Empire, and even the entire world would follow over the next dozen years. He knew what policies and regulations the Empire and other nations would introduce for the market economy during that time. More than that, he knew how many figures who would lead their era would emerge in the coming decade, and how many entrepreneurs renowned in later generations were still penniless now, even lying awake and losing their appetite over a few million or tens of millions in startup capital...

Li Rongxiu had always believed that there was no difference between himself before and after his rebirth. He had never realized just how precious those dozen-plus years of memories were. At the end of the day, his mindset was still confined to that of an idle young wastrel. It was not until Li Jiuying reminded him to properly wrap up his competition project in order to improve its competitiveness that he stumbled his way into producing this proposal. And his goal had only been the title of "Top Student."

Even Li Rongxiu himself had not realized how "powerful" he was, so naturally his wastrel companions, who knew his "true nature," had noticed even less. The group sat in a circle, looking troubledly at the dozens of proposals before them and quietly fretting over their own "lack of creativity."

Rosen, who had just returned from Y Country, impatiently scratched his head. His formerly smooth hair immediately puffed up, vividly displaying its owner's irritation and frustration. He simply leaned crookedly against the wall, stretched out his right foot, and kicked one of the proposals in front of him. "Come on, we're the Super Wastrel Alliance, not the Super Idea Alliance. Where are we supposed to get so much innovative thinking? Besides, the businesses our families run aren't emerging industries either. A proposal doesn't have to be new—as long as it works, isn't that enough? Those so-called elites' proposals aren't anything special in the end either."

Rosen's words snapped everyone out of their contemplation. Li Rongxiu tugged irritably at his tie and waved a hand. "Forget it. Financial venture capital is fine too. At least we're all familiar with it. Next, we'll combine the ideas from these proposals and refine them... Oh, right. We should give this fund a name first, shouldn't we?"

Before he had even finished speaking, the group immediately erupted into noise, chattering over one another as they contributed their already meager "naming talents."

After rejecting a series of ridiculous names such as "Beautiful Boys Fund," "Beautiful Girls Fund," "Fancy Boys and Girls Fund," "Diwan Poverty Relief Fund," and "Someday We'll Succeed Fund," Rosen, whose head still felt like it was splitting from drinking too hard the night before last, could no longer stand their arguing. He spoke up again. "...How about Super Wastrel Alliance Fund? We've always used that name. Everyone in Diwan knows the 'Spendthrift Alliance' belongs to us. It's fresh and easy to remember!"

Hey, what the hell was fresh about such a lousy name?

Before the companions, once again infuriated by Rosen's irresponsibility, could flip the table, Li Rongxiu, sitting cross-legged on the bed, shouted his approval. He even clapped exaggeratedly and said with complete agreement, "Let's call it that. At the very least, it represents so many years of our friendship and experiences. I think it has quite a bit of commemorative value."

Could he say that he never wanted to hear another word related to "fancy," "beautiful boys," or "beautiful girls" ever again? (:3)∠)

Seeing Li Rongxiu agree so emphatically, and unable to think of a better name themselves, the wastrels fell silent for a moment before unanimously casting votes in favor. The name of the financial venture capital fund was thus decided simply and happily. Next came the procedures for establishing the foundation. Li Rongxiu took out a black notebook and wrote down the reminder, then instructed Zhao Qijun, "I'll leave the paperwork to you. Just get it all done before the film is released. There's no rush."

Zhao Qijun looked at Li Rongxiu helplessly. "But, Young Master Xiu, you asked me to follow the production crew and handle filming, coordinate the cooperation between the crew and the school clubs, and keep an eye on Chi Junhao and the other competitors' project progress... I basically don't have time to handle anything else now."

Li Rongxiu was left speechless. In both his past and present lives, he had grown accustomed to assigning Zhao Qijun tasks, so he had forgotten that Zhao Qijun was not yet the all-purpose attendant of later years, capable of effortlessly fulfilling every request he made. At this point, Zhao Qijun was still young enough to feel overwhelmed and unable to spare attention for anything else.

Li Rongxiu could only turn expectant eyes toward the others. Alan and the rest evasively avoided his gaze, shrugged helplessly, and said, "...Sorry, but there's really nothing we can do. Under normal circumstances, we could ask company employees to run around for us, but this concerns the Top Student competition. We wouldn't dare bring in outside help and break school rules... Why not look around the school? There must be students familiar with these procedures, right?"

But students familiar with these matters had probably already been recruited by the other competing teams, hadn't they? Even if any slipped through the cracks, could their character and professional competence really be trusted...

Li Rongxiu shook his head somewhat wistfully. If there was truly no other way, he could only recruit from among the students. Zhao Qijun saw this and mistakenly thought Li Rongxiu was disappointed in him. He gritted his teeth and was just about to force himself to take it on when Rosen spoke from the side. "Oh, right. When I came back from Y Country, I met someone on the plane. He's the child of Y Country's newly appointed ambassador to the Empire, and I heard he'll be transferring to Diwan in the next few days. I talked with him on the plane. He planned a similar project back in Y Country and personally handled all the procedures. Even if Wancheng's fund registration process differs from Y Country's, it can't be too different, right? Why don't we give him a try?"

The wastrels' eyes immediately lit up at this, and they hurried Rosen to call his "new friend" and confirm it. Only Li Rongxiu frowned with some concern and asked, "Since he's from Y Country, can he speak Imperial Chinese? We won't be unable to get anything done because of communication problems, will we?"

Rosen waved a hand and said with certainty, "No problem. We spoke Imperial Chinese when we chatted too. That kid speaks it very well. I think basic listening, speaking, reading, and writing won't be an issue. Besides, we only need him to run through the procedures, not take an Imperial Chinese Level Four exam. It's not that difficult. And as an international student at Diwan who has just arrived in the Empire but wants to start a business, he can ask the embassy to issue a letter of introduction. With that, William will have an easier time handling the procedures than ordinary students."

Although Diwan High School's rules strictly prohibited seeking outside help to cheat during the competition, they would not deprive students of their basic rights. The battle for Top Student was fiercely contested every year, but compared to domestic students who were "deep-rooted and well-connected," foreign exchange students often encountered all kinds of setbacks because they were unfamiliar with the place. Therefore, in order to ensure "relative fairness"—though most importantly, to protect the weak—Diwan High School had issued a new rule more than a decade ago: exchange students who had transferred into Diwan High School less than one semester earlier could apply to their own embassy for limited assistance if they wished to join the Top Student competition.

That was why Rosen recommended William Wood.

Seeing this, Li Rongxiu could only trust Rosen's words.

Elsewhere, Rosen's new friend, William Wood, was extremely excited when he received Rosen's greeting call. He had just completed his enrollment records at Diwan High School with his father and officially become a Diwan student. William, who loved socializing by nature, was more than willing to integrate with his new classmates as quickly as possible after enrolling. Thus, upon hearing Rosen's request for help, William thumped his chest and agreed. After hanging up, he even eagerly headed straight to Li Rongxiu's dorm room in the A District dormitory building, where he met the Super Wastrel Alliance members for the first time.

After speaking face-to-face, the wastrels heard William's Mandarin. Though it still carried a foreign accent, it was extraordinarily fluent, and they all finally relaxed. When William explained in equally fluent Mandarin the process of establishing a financial venture capital company and foundation, as well as the basic documents required, even Li Rongxiu no longer had the slightest concern.

Since they had resolved even the most troublesome part of establishing a venture capital company and foundation, Li Rongxiu only needed to submit an application to the school to establish an educational fund. For Diwan, which had always encouraged students to develop comprehensively during their time at school, such an application was merely a formality.

Things had gone so smoothly that the Spendthrift Alliance members, whether consciously or not, all overlooked one issue—being able to listen, speak, and read was entirely different from being able to write fluently and accurately.

So, one week later, when William Wood walked into the relevant Imperial government office with thoroughly prepared application materials, and when the staff asked him to fill out the various forms, William could not determine the proper usage of certain Imperial characters. Being conscientious and responsible, William Wood called Rosen and humbly asked, "Hey, Rosen, do you know how to write the meng in Alliance?"

Rosen, who was chatting with a female classmate in the school cafeteria, impatiently scratched his chin with one finger and said, "Oh, the meng in Alliance? It's easy to write. Ming on top, min underneath."

"What did you say?" Though William Wood spoke Mandarin very fluently, he still did not understand certain uncommon terms. He frowned in confusion and asked again.

"On top, it's the ming from sun and moon. Underneath, it's the min from vessel." Rosen repeated it rapidly. The female classmate beside him smiled and fed him a chopstickful of celery. Rosen opened his mouth to accept the food while talking on the phone, and did not forget to reach out and stroke the girl's neck to show affection.

Tickled by Rosen's gesture, the girl laughed and slapped his hand away with a sharp smack. On the other end of the phone, William Wood listened painfully to Rosen's words while scratching at the paper with his fountain pen, trying to write them down. But he helplessly discovered that he could not manage it and could only ask once more, "Speak more slowly. I don't really understand. How exactly do you write that meng character?"

"Oh, it's just the meng with sun-and-moon ming in it. Tell the clerk and they'll understand." Rosen sounded impatient as he hung up.

William Wood looked pitifully at the phone, which was already emitting a busy tone, sighed deeply, and ended the call. Then he took the stack of documents to the clerk at the main hall counter and said, "Excuse me, could you help me write the two characters for Alliance? Thank you."

On his first day at work, the novice clerk—a man who looked Imperial on the outside but was a banana on the inside, and who refused to show weakness before a foreigner who was not proficient in Imperial script yet spoke Imperial Chinese even more fluently than he did—smilingly accepted William Wood's documents. To demonstrate his mastery of Imperial script, William thoughtfully added, "It's the meng character with sun-and-moon ming in it."