Restart life

Chapter 233 0230 [On the Set of Crazy Stone]

In 2006, the mountain city was already beginning to take shape as a 3D magical city.

Chen Guiliang and Bian Guanyue arrived in the afternoon and arranged to meet Guan Zhiqiang, Li Yulin, and Wang Yu near the station.

"Hoo ho ho ho..."

Before the real person even appeared, the familiar, mesmerizing laughter could already be heard.

Guan Zhiqiang still looked foolish, but unlike before, he wasn't always looking down at his novels. He walked over, fanning himself wildly with a folding fan in his hand, his face covered in sweat and his T-shirt mostly soaked through.

Seeing how he was about to suffer from heatstroke, Chen Guiliang felt a surge of heat inexplicably.

"Master Chen, it's been a long time!"

Guan Zhiqiang opened his arms, seemingly wanting to give Chen Guiliang a bear hug.

Chen Guiliang quickly pushed him away: "Get away from me, don't touch me!"

"Hohohohohoho..."

Guan Zhiqiang laughed and reached out to wipe the sweat from his face, then shook it off with his hands and used his clothes to dry his wet palms.

Li Yulin and Wang Yu stood to the side.

Chen Guiliang asked, "You've been waiting in this heat?"

Li Yulin said, "I just ate a bowl of liangxia (cold shrimp) and a bowl of liangfen (cold mung bean jelly). If you hadn't come soon, I would have died of heat."

Bian Guanyue greeted Guan Zhiqiang and Li Yulin, then walked and chatted with Wang Yu.

Guan Zhiqiang asked, "Where are we going to have fun?"

"The area around Jiefangbei and Chaotianmen," Chen Guiliang said.

Li Yulin said, "I take the light rail. Many buses don't have air conditioning, and the plastic seats are so hot you could fry an egg on them."

Both Sichuan and Chongqing are experiencing severe drought this year, and the early summer season is already unbearably hot.

In some cities and counties, the drought lasted from March until the college application season. The rolling hills turned from green to yellow. Not only wild grass, but even the trees withered and died!

As Chen Guiliang left the long-distance bus station, he was surprised to see that all the internet cafes near the station had "Zhengtu" posters prominently displayed.

The same is true in Chengdu; wherever there's an internet cafe, there are promotional posters for "Zhengtu".

Shih Yu-chu is spending money like crazy!

The light rail brings instant coolness.

They went straight from the bus station to Chaotianmen, perfectly avoiding Line 2 of the light rail which passes through the building.

Yang Shuo had never been to Chongqing before, and it was his first time riding the light rail. He looked out the window and found everything fascinating.

“Master Chen,” Guan Zhiqiang said mysteriously, “Li Jun is also playing ‘The Emperor’s Reign’. It seems he’s already spent over 10,000 yuan, throwing all his New Year’s money into it. He even asked me for money a while ago, and I had to be the one to lend it to him. That idiot never pays back what he borrows.”

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "I'll have to talk to him another day and tell him not to get too obsessed with playing games."

"Hehehe." Guan Zhiqiang just laughed.

Chen Guiliang asked Li Yulin, "How have you been lately?"

“Same as always,” Li Yulin said. “Wang Yu and I both went to second-tier universities. The schools aren’t very strict, and the courses aren’t very demanding. Damn it, our school is even copying the Super Girl talent show, saying that the top ten from our school can advance to the Yuzhong District competition.”

"And then?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Li Yulin said, "I paid 60 yuan for the registration fee, sang one song during the audition, and that was it. When I went to ask what happened, they told me I didn't pass the audition... Damn! It's just a scam!"

Instead of comforting him, Chen Guiliang laughed gleefully.

This year, many universities across China are holding talent shows, even Tsinghua and Peking University are doing so. It's all influenced by last year's Super Girl competition.

Among them are some school clubs that use campus singing competitions to scam registration fees.

Li Yulin had an artistic flair even in high school, always keeping a guitar by his bedside. He dreamed of becoming a star, so being scammed out of a few dozen yuan was perfectly normal for him.

“I told him it was a lie, but he didn’t believe me,” Wang Yu couldn’t help but complain.

Li Yulin couldn't refute it, and could only say, "What upsets me isn't being cheated out of money; a few dozen yuan is nothing. I'm just annoyed at being treated like a fool!"

Bian Guanyue said, "It's okay, I think you sing very well. I still remember the New Year's Eve party in our senior year of high school, when you sang 'You'll Be With Me All My Life'."

"I used to sing pretty well, but I didn't practice much when I was in college."

Li Yulin was quite proud when he recalled the past.

He won Wang Yu's heart by singing, and although they occasionally quarrel, their relationship remains very good.

Last Chinese New Year, they even met each other's parents.

They agreed to get married after graduation and stay in the mountain city to work hard together. Both families can contribute tens of thousands of yuan, and they will need to earn the rest of the money for the house themselves.

Li Yulin sighed, "High school was so much better. I'm feeling a bit tired now. I tutor people on weekends and do part-time jobs at school during the week. Maybe it will be easier to find a proper job after graduation."

Wang Yu looked at her boyfriend with some heartache; in fact, she also worked part-time.

This young couple has already entered "work hard" mode.

In comparison, Guan Zhiqiang is the most carefree, as his life path has already been planned out for him by his elders.

The group chatted about fun things from their high school days, and Li Yulin would occasionally point outside and introduce the landmarks they passed along the way to Chen Guiliang.

“This is Qixinggang, which I’ve heard is haunted,” Li Yulin said.

Guan Zhiqiang asked in surprise, "Your school knows that Qixinggang is haunted?"

Li Yulin said, "Who doesn't know? This is where Zhang Xianzhong killed people. During the Republic of China era, when the city was expanded, hundreds of thousands of graves were moved from Qixinggang."

Guan Zhiqiang said, "I have a classmate who came to Qixinggang for a walk at night and heard ghostly wailing sounds in the middle of the night. It was so scary!"

"Hahaha!"

Chen Guiliang was amused.

They arrived at Jiefangbei in no time, and everyone got off the bus nearby.

Because it was so hot, I went straight into an internet cafe to enjoy the air conditioning.

"Let's play Audition Online together!" Guan Zhiqiang strongly suggested. Chen Guiliang readily agreed and registered an account with Bian Guanyue.

Guan Zhiqiang, this fat and stupid guy, is actually a master of "Audition Online" and has even recharged his account to buy a beautiful outfit.

"Clap clap clap..."

Guan Zhiqiang frantically typed on the keyboard, his fingers seemingly appearing as phantoms, and occasionally he would stand up and dance along with the game character.

They not only danced, but also sang along.

When I encounter a Korean song that I don't know how to sing, I just hum along to the tune.

The scene was too beautiful for Chen Guiliang to bear.

Bian Guanyue and Wang Yu covered their mouths and chuckled, both amused by Guan Zhiqiang.

Li Yulin couldn't help but complain: "Guan Zhiqiang, you should go participate in a talent show. When you sing and dance, if any judge doesn't let you pass, just keep singing and dancing until the judges laugh to death."

"Hoo ho ho ho..."

Guan Zhiqiang seemed oblivious to the sarcasm, taking it as a compliment, and even jumped up and down even more enthusiastically.

I stayed at the internet cafe until evening, when the temperature dropped slightly.

Guan Zhiqiang was very familiar with this area, so he took them to eat hot pot nearby.

Upon arriving at the hot pot restaurant, Chen Guiliang made a phone call.

Just as everyone was enjoying their hot pot, a middle-aged, overweight man ran over, holding his phone to his ear and looking around everywhere.

"here!"

Chen Guiliang stood up and waved.

The fat man asked in confusion, "The little boy under the streetlight?"

Chen Guiliang shook hands with him, handed him his business card, and said, "My name is Chen Guiliang."

The fat man didn't even need to look at the business card again; he already remembered who Chen Guiliang was. He quickly held out his own business card with both hands and said, "My name is Zhu Mingyao, a reporter from the Shancheng Evening News."

Zhu Mingyao established connections with Beijing media through an article titled "Why should impoverished students only be able to read black-and-white versions of their free textbooks?"

However, the government provides free textbooks to students in impoverished areas of western China.

When the textbooks were handed out, they were all black and white, covering several western provinces and municipalities.

Zhu Mingyao wrote an article reporting on this matter, which sparked heated discussions across the country.

“These are my friends,” Chen Guiliang introduced Li Yulin and the others.

Li Yulin and Wang Yu attended a second-tier university and didn't have many connections in Chongqing. Introducing them to Zhu Mingyao would greatly increase their chances of finding good jobs in the future.

Zhu Mingyao shook hands with the others, then went to get some hot pot ingredients. While cooking duck intestines, he said, "My Zhubajie.com was founded at the end of last year. To be honest, it's doing so-so right now, barely breaking even. But if I can get investment and officially start commercial operations, I can guarantee that I'll get orders from big companies."

"And then?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Zhu Mingyao said, "Then we mobilized the media to report on our successful commercialization of the crowdsourcing model. The media in Chongqing were able to promote me. I'll try again and see if I can get the central media to promote it as well."

This guy has a clear development strategy.

He later leveraged his connections to secure a 30 yuan order from an education group. He then heavily promoted this order, even appearing on CCTV's evening news program, causing a sensation in the ZBJ.com industry.

This website was valued at tens of billions nine years later.

But Chen Guiliang wasn't thinking about long-term investment.

After making his angel investment, he will try his best to connect ZBJ.com with venture capital firms, aiming to gradually exit starting from the Series B funding round. Therefore, he can ask for more shares in the angel and Series A rounds, and then transfer some to new investors during the Series B funding round.

Once Series C or Series D funding is secured, a complete exit can be achieved.

Profits can be measured in hundreds of millions of yuan!

Moreover, there's no need to worry about arousing concerns from subsequent investors, because ZBJ.com has consistently maintained profitability, which is fundamentally different from other internet companies that burn through cash.

Chen Guiliang only asked Zhu Mingyao about his development strategy and then stopped talking about the website: "Let's drink and eat meat today. As for the investment, I'll send someone over another day to discuss it in detail. Brother Zhu will talk to them then."

"Alright, I'll toast President Chen!" Zhu Mingyao said with a smile.

Zhu Mingyao was very excited at this moment, but he didn't show it.

How much can a newspaper reporter earn?

He had wanted to quit his job and start his own business for a long time, but he lacked start-up capital and was worried about failing.

The investment from internet upstarts has given Zhu Mingyao tremendous confidence.

Halfway through their hot pot meal, Li Yulin went to the restroom, and Chen Guiliang followed him.

"Go ask that reporter Zhu for his business card, and it would be best if you could exchange phone numbers with him," Chen Guiliang instructed. "He has a lot of connections in Chongqing and knows many big bosses. If you and Wang Yu want to develop your careers in Chongqing after graduation, you can find a good job through him. He can even help you with the civil service exam. Of course, you're welcome to come to Beijing if you want."

Li Yulin nodded and said, "Understood."

After returning from the restroom, Li Yulin began toasting Zhu Mingyao.

Out of respect for Chen Guiliang, Zhu Mingyao kept Li Yulin's phone number.

After a satisfying meal, Zhu Mingyao insisted on paying the bill, which Chen Guiliang accepted with a smile.

Hearing that Chen Guiliang and others wanted to enjoy the night view of the mountain city, Zhu Mingyao volunteered to be their tour guide.

After strolling along the street for two or three hundred meters, a temple suddenly appeared ahead, with fire trucks blaring their sirens.

"Is there a fire ahead?"

Zhu Mingyao's journalistic instincts kicked in, and he rushed over to check on the situation.

Chen Guiliang and the others followed.

But they were filming a movie.

In the movie "Crazy Stone," there's a scene where the bumbling trio of thieves falsely report a fire...

(End of this chapter)