Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 107 Let's All Not Die

"It's you?"

The man in front of him looked him up and down and said.

Chen Xuebing nodded, but his gaze passed over the man who had accompanied him to the police station to pick up Huo Xiaowen before the New Year, and looked at Xin Mengzhen on the sofa in the back hall, and a few young people chatting and laughing.

Today, Xin Mengzhen wore a simple yellow top and black bottom skirt, her hair lazily draped over her shoulders, and her jade-like calves were something Chen Xuebing had never seen before. She was so eye-catching that she could hold anyone's attention even from dozens of meters away.

She chatted and laughed with several well-dressed men and women, radiating a radiant glow as if she were the center of attention.

Chen Xuebing felt a little confused. Xin Mengzhen hadn't dated him, but she was still blossoming just like in his previous life.

However, he was only sad for two seconds. The world keeps turning no matter who is gone. Now that Xin Mengzhen said she would wait for him, the initiative was in his hands. Why should he be sad?

Right now, he should be considering whether to say hello or turn around and go back to the elevator to go upstairs.

If it were up to him, he would go back upstairs and wait until he figured out how to send Xin Mengzhen a text message to let her know that he had arrived in Guangzhou, and then see her attitude before deciding whether to meet or not.

But the man in front of him had already seen him. If Xin Mengzhen knew that he had seen her and turned away, he might misunderstand and think that he didn't want to see her.
For no apparent reason, he suddenly remembered a Steam game called "Oh no, I'm surrounded by beautiful women".

A. Go and say hello (the situation is uncertain).

B. Return to the eighth floor (there is a chance that the favorability value will be greatly reduced).
Chen Xuebing hesitated for another second, thinking to himself that he wasn't really playing a game, so he could only choose these two answers.

So he smiled politely at the man in front of him, picked up his phone, and dialed Xin Mengzhen's number.

Seeing that he had no intention of communicating with him, the man nodded and turned to leave.

As the dial tone sounded, he looked at Xin Mengzhen, who was looking down and taking her phone out of her bag, and began to prepare his speech.

At first, he felt the time was a bit rushed, but later he felt it was a bit long.

Xin Mengzhen looked down at her phone, motionless.

The phone kept ringing, but she didn't answer.

Lin Huixiang, who was sitting next to her, also saw the phone and kept talking to her, but she didn't answer.

Chen Xuebing watched quietly for a while, and when the voice on the phone changed to a woman's, a self-deprecating smile gradually appeared on his lips, and he turned around and went back.

A 40-year-old's skin is thicker than a 20-year-old's, but their heart is more sensitive.

……

Sunset.

In the conference room on the first floor of the Dongfang Hotel, two slender figures, with overwhelming strength, lifted a huge wooden box and slowly turned it upside down onto a claw machine.

"Huff, huff..." Lin Huixiang panted and patted her coat lightly: "I'm really fed up with you! Donna Caranye! You make me do all this hard work with you! Your company has so many people, why do you have to come here to clean up this stuff and suffer like this!"

Xin Mengzhen's long, black hair was simply tied back. She raised her hand to brush away the loose strands from her forehead and wiped away the fine beads of sweat. Her quick movements were completely different from her gentle demeanor in the hall just now.

"This is the first time my grandfather has assigned me a task. I'm not done until the samples are returned to the factory. How dare you say that? If you hadn't sent those people to waste my time, I would have made so many more sales. I spent half the day chatting with them, but they didn't buy anything. They're so unreliable. Alright, alright, stop wasting my time and go back now."

Lin Huixiang rolled her eyes, her tone disdainful:
"Give me a break! You think you can do anything? All you do is invite some people to buy these defaulted and returned goods! What's the difference between this and selling junk? Do you think you're at the Canton Fair? For something this simple, your uncle is still keeping watch upstairs!"

Do you really think your grandfather can completely trust you?
"I only sent people to support you since it's your first time doing business! They're all quite capable; they just don't know where to put all this stuff. Otherwise, they would have bought it all for you already! Especially Lü Han, how many years has he liked you? If you were willing to talk to him a little more, he'd definitely hire a truck to haul all this junk away and fill up his shops with it."

Xin Mengzhen rubbed her head and chuckled:

"Stop bragging. That brat Lü Han is just a braggart. Two million for goods? Where would he get that much money? If he dares to buy it, his family will beat him senseless."

Lin Huixiang snorted: "Yes, yes, he's incompetent. Your factory owner, Mr. Chen, is capable, but after half a year, he still hasn't opened the factory, has he? Mengzhen, he has no money and doesn't care about you. He promised you a Valentine's Day gift, and he said such nice things, but what happened? He didn't give you anything, did he? He didn't even ask you about your birthday. What do you want from him? You should have let me answer that call earlier. I would have cursed him to death! You want to send me away now so you can call him back? I'm not leaving. Let's see how you call him."

Xin Mengzhen glanced at her bag subconsciously, then frowned and said, "I didn't tell him what he wanted for Valentine's Day, nor for my birthday, so of course he doesn't know. Sister Huixiang, I'm only telling you these things because I consider you my best friend. Are you trying to expose my shortcomings?"

Lin Huixiang sighed, then walked to Xin Mengzhen's side, took her hand and said, "Do I really need to tell you these things? Doesn't he know to ask himself? Mengzhen, this is truly the most irrational thing you've ever done. You've always beaten up boys since you were little, and you looked down on them all. How come you've taken a liking to such a weak guy now? I invited Lü Han here today because I thought Lü Han was a hundred times better than him, but I was wrong. Lü Han, this kind of brat who can only rely on his family, is definitely not the kind of person you like. So when you come to Shanghai, I'll introduce you to a promising young man, how about that?"

Xin Mengzhen really wanted to say something in defense of Chen Xuebing, but she knew that what she considered a genius was worthless in Lin Huixiang's eyes, who would only ridicule her for being stupid.

So she launched the first attack:
"Why are you acting like a matchmaker! None of my family members are as..."

Said Cao Cao, Cao Cao.

A middle-aged man in a blue suit and brown tortoiseshell glasses appeared at the entrance of the hall and waved to Xin Mengzhen with a smile.

"Mengzhen, come here."

"Oh." Xin Mengzhen straightened her dress and followed them out.

In the corridor, the middle-aged man spoke with a somewhat earnest tone.

"Why are you still seeing that guy from Chongqing?"

Xin Mengzhen looked puzzled: "Hmm?"

“Mengmeng, we made an agreement about what happened during the New Year. You shouldn’t associate with those kinds of people anymore, or I’ll have to tell your parents. Debt collectors are all sorts of scoundrels. Helping others collect debts makes you a professional thug. You’ve always been sensible, how come you can’t understand this?”

Upon hearing this, Xin Mengzhen turned to look at the conference room, her brows furrowing slightly.

"Uncle, who told you that?"

The man's gaze, hidden behind his glasses, lingered on Xin Mengzhen for a moment.

"He's already come all the way to the Dongfang Hotel, do we need anyone else to tell him?"

Xin Mengzhen's heart skipped a beat, and she suddenly realized something, her emotions churning within her.

But she forced a calm expression and changed the subject, saying, "Uncle, sales weren't very good today. I see there's still a lot of MP3 players and electronic dictionaries left on the sales list. I wanted to discuss with you whether we could sell them in my own way. I have a store online, and we can sell them slowly. We should be able to sell them all."

"Online?" The man chuckled. "Wishful thinking! I know you young people think we're all old and don't understand progress. Computers? I bought one when you were still wearing pigtails. I was a first-generation internet user. I was already using Amazon in the US when it was still selling books. Online shopping in the US is possible because of America's huge credit card system and their two or three decades of TV shopping habits, which have cultivated many remote consumers. It's not that simple to make these things work in China."

His confident speech suggested that he had completely outmaneuvered Xin Meng.

Xin Mengzhen looked at him strangely: "Uncle, how long has it been since you went online?"

The man paused for a moment.

I'm so busy every day, how can I find time to surf the internet?
Xin Mengzhen recalled the figure who had talked with her about the past and future of the internet, which had deeply moved her. She felt that her uncle, who had received an elite education, was far less insightful than him.

"Go online, you have to keep going. The development of the internet has exceeded your imagination. Only by keeping up with the times can you avoid falling behind and being attacked."

After saying this leisurely, Xin Mengzhen put her hands behind her back, turned around, and left.

After taking a couple of steps, her back suddenly seemed to leap with joy.

……

On the fifth floor of the hotel, in a 67-square-meter luxury suite, Chen Xuebing greeted a scholar-looking man with a smile and handed him an envelope before opening the door.

"Teacher Wu, I'm leaving this to you."

"Mr. Chen, you really are..." The man placed his hand on the envelope, touching the thick envelope which was at least five thousand fen thick. His face showed a hint of reluctance, but in reality, he was very fond of it, yet also somewhat wary.

"Mr. Chen, are you sure you only want to see this competition data yourself? What if it gets leaked out..."

"Don't worry, Mr. Wu, I just want to find a short-term trading expert. I'm not interested in your competition. I'm just participating for fun."

"Hmm..." The man nodded slowly, then tentatively added, "You know, there are a lot of organizations watching these kinds of competitions. There are a lot of people following Toastmasters, and I can't pay too much attention to their numbers. How about I keep an eye out for a few top players that I know?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Xuebing smiled.

He contacted Mr. Wu from the New Express newspaper, intending to obtain the competition materials and operation records to study them slowly. Now that Mr. Wu didn't want to give him too much information and was willing to introduce it to him, that was even better.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Teacher Wu. It must be an expert, otherwise I'll have made this trip for nothing."

Chen Xuebing looked at the envelope in his hand, then at the huge room.

Teacher Wu immediately lowered his guard and laughed: "No problem! Actually, I already have a few candidates in mind! I'll observe whether their recent performance has declined before recommending them to you! Oh, and I'll also keep a copy of their trading records for you!"

"Thank you then."

Chen Xuebing opened the door and saw Teacher Wu off, the smile on his face gradually fading.

I walked up to a solid wood table, shook the mouse, and my new Dell Inspiron 9200 computer, which I had bought that afternoon, lit up. I then dialed the network cable provided by the hotel and opened Great Wisdom stock trading software.

Conditions are really good now.

A 17-inch high-spec computer costs 18,000 yuan, I bought it without hesitation; a hotel with a wired network port costs 1,200 yuan, I checked in without hesitation.

Chen Xuebing's spending on computers and hotels was somewhat like revenge spending, but after spending 20,000 yuan, he didn't feel any joy at all.

"Tsk."

He slammed the mouse, shook his head to shake off the image in his mind, and started selecting his own stocks.

With just 20,000 yuan in real funds, I'll buy some small-cap restructuring stocks with volatile price movements, just for fun.

After much deliberation, I discovered another company, "ST Jizhi," which was suspended from trading.

Isn't this just a shell company for Suning's IPO?
Suning! You can tell how profitable the leading companies in the home appliance market are these days just from the first day they arrived in Huaqiangbei.

Only 1.00 yuan?
Chen Xuebing immediately added it to his watchlist.

You really need to explore more; there's money everywhere! If you don't see it, you won't even remember it!
I checked, and Jilin Paper Industry suspended trading in April. Before the suspension, it had suffered losses for three years and had filed for bankruptcy. Now, mainstream forums like Minfa and Hexun are predicting its delisting. There's also a clever post saying that such a shell company must be cheap and might attract a golden opportunity.

The post is quite popular.

Beichen Industrial, Rizhao Port, Jiangsu Hongbao... there are all sorts of guesses.

Chen Xuebing had a sudden idea and registered an ID called "handdrawingcake" and left a message below.

"No need to guess, Suning."

This news isn't valuable. The stock is currently suspended from trading. It's something Suning had to announce before resuming trading after its successful backdoor listing. How many people buy after trading resumes depends on how optimistic the market is about Suning.

As for why he posted it, he just suddenly felt that having an ID that was "always on target" might not be a bad thing.

The phone on the table suddenly rang.

Chen Xuebing saw the incoming call and then glanced at the time on his computer desktop.

7:12 PM.

His gaze darkened, he lit a cigarette but didn't take it.

He called Xin Mengzhen around 3 PM, then went out through the hotel's back door, browsed a computer store, had a meal, and returned to find Mr. Wu, a professional instructor for the competition, in the conference hall on the eighth floor. They went into each other's rooms, had a cup of tea, settled things, and then spent a while browsing stocks...

The call was finally returned.

Normally, even if the call came back the next day, he wouldn't care; he would just assume that Xin Mengzhen was busy with something.

But today he knew that Xin Mengzhen wasn't busy, but was intentionally not answering the call. So while waiting for her to call back, every single thing he did was so memorable, and it kept aggravating his negative emotions.

The phone kept ringing, one call after another, which gradually pulled him back to his senses.

Chen Xuebing finally answered the call on the fourth call.

"Hello." Xin Mengzhen's voice was anxious, as if she were running: "Where are you? Are you still at the Oriental Hotel?"

Chen Xuebing sneered, "So you only came back because you knew I was at the hotel."

After saying those kinds of things, and then wearing bright red and green clothes, chatting and laughing with other men, are you feeling guilty?

For the first time since his rebirth, he was aroused by this kind of jealousy, and in his mind, he transformed Xin Mengzhen's angelic image into a villain, hanging her up and beating her more than three hundred times.

"No, I've gone back to Shenzhen."

Chen Xuebing said coldly.

Are you in Shenzhen?

She had just asked a question when the sensor on a car downstairs went off. The fifth floor isn't very high, and the alarm sounded simultaneously on both ends of the phone.

The voice on the other end of the line and the voice on the phone next to his ear resonated together. Chen Xuebing realized what was happening and quickly covered the microphone.

There was a silence on the other end for several seconds.

Even if Xin Mengzhen was slow to realize, she knew Chen Xuebing was upstairs. Her voice softened and she smiled.
"Angry?"

Chen Xuebing didn't speak, but turned on the speakerphone and placed it on the table.

"I was busy just now; my grandfather gave me some things to do."

Hearing the half-baked explanation from the other end, Chen Xuebing shook his head and remained silent.

To his surprise, the person opposite him, upon hearing his silence, actually used a strategy of advancing as a form of retreat.

"It's getting late... My uncle is also at the hotel. Why don't you rest first, and come out tomorrow? I'll treat you to dim sum."

Chen Xuebing's mouth was crooked.

"I have something to do tomorrow." His voice suppressed his anger.

Tomorrow? You can treat me to dragon meat tomorrow and I still won't eat it!
Xin Mengzhen, who was on the other end of the line, felt even happier when she heard the sourness in Chen Xuebing's words, and her voice even began to have a slightly provocative tone.

"When are you free... around 11:45 AM?"

Chen Xuebing felt a surge of anger rising from his lower abdomen.

"502!"

……

When Xin Mengzhen appeared at the door of Chen Xuebing's room with a smile on her face, the door was open.

Chen Xuebing's gaze remained fixed on the computer screen, as if he hadn't seen anything.

In fact, when she keeps a straight face and glances at her out of the corner of her eye, every move she makes is suggestive.

For example, closing the door.

Realizing that Xin Mengzhen trusted him and had closed the door to his room, he regained his composure, suppressed his anger, and resumed his aloof demeanor.

"Hey." A faint fragrance approached.

Chen Xuebing raised his eyebrows, his eyes fixed on the screen, as if the stock market, which had been closed for four hours, still held some kind of immense wealth.

"You look beautiful today, and you're even wearing perfume."

Xin Mengzhen was unusually all smiles, and her lively fox-like eyes, with their outer corners slightly upturned, were fixed on the strange sight of Chen Xuebing's jealousy.

Sometimes, the decision of who takes the next step forward or back in a relationship depends on who finds the other more adorable.

Xin Mengzhen found Chen Xuebing's stern face to be very cute.

"You bought a computer? What are you looking at?" Xin Mengzhen walked behind his computer desk.

The computer in front of Chen Xuebing had been sitting still for a long time when suddenly it went into screensaver mode.

He awkwardly moved the mouse, then quickly switched to the earnings page to show he was busy with something important.

"Didn't I tell you? I'm trading stocks."

After a long silence, Chen Xuebing turned his head and saw Xin Mengzhen staring blankly at the 730 million yuan in the account and the positive return of 21.18%, and the corners of his mouth slightly turned up.

"Where...where did you get so much money?" Xin Mengzhen's tone at this moment was not one of surprise, but rather one of disappointment.

To describe it specifically, the tone drops and weakens at the end, with a long, drawn-out final note.

Chen Xuebing noticed her tone, thought for a moment, and then spoke in a normal tone: "I was planning to tell you today that I've made a lot of money recently, but my money is still in my bank account and hasn't come in yet. This money belongs to one of my uncles. The market is doing well, and I helped him make a little money. I'll split it in half."

"When did you start cooking?" Xin Mengzhen's expression turned serious.

"We entered the city in early June."

Upon receiving the answer, Xin Mengzhen's heart pounded.

This is hardly a small profit.

After arriving in Shanghai, she planned to work for a private equity firm. She had consulted beforehand and knew that the stock market had been fluctuating recently, and some professional funds were observing and hesitant to take action.

Those funds have mostly had negative returns this year.

He earned 21% so quickly, and the amount of money he had was not small.

Chen Xuebing defeated many people with his first move, and she felt like she was in a dream when she saw such a powerful person.

"How come you're so good at everything!"

Xin Mengzhen was a little anxious, feeling that she didn't actually have much of an advantage among her peers.

Chen Xuebing is far superior to her; there must be many others in the gap between them.

Chen Xuebing regretted it a little when he heard this. Damn it, how could he have lost control and started showing off again without realizing it?

It ruined the originally beautiful atmosphere!
He immediately opened fire with heavy artillery in an attempt to revive the atmosphere.

"I have many other amazing skills too, would you like to know them?"

His words were flippant.

Xin Mengzhen was a little confused.

"what?"

Chen Xuebing looked straight at her, his eyes filled with encouragement.

You don't understand?
You're 18, you should understand by now, right?

Quick, get shy.

"... "

"Hey…"

Chen Xuebing sighed: "Are you here to look at the stocks or to look at me?"

Xin Mengzhen then regained her composure and met Chen Xuebing's gaze.

"look at you."

After she finished speaking, her cheeks began to flush slightly.

From Chen Xuebing's perspective, looking up from below, you can see that the sides of her neck are red.

It was so quiet that you could hear the other person breathing. I looked at the black skirt in front of me and the graceful figure a little higher up.

The fabric of the yellow short-sleeved shirt over the corrected area was delicate, making him eager to explore its texture.

"Goo."

Chen Xuebing swallowed hard, completely lacking any backbone.

He suddenly felt that not taking any action at this moment would be worse than being an animal.

With a bang, Chen Xuebing stood up, knocking the chair to the ground, grabbed Xin Mengzhen's slender waist, and kissed her before he could even feel her.

"Ok??"

Xin Mengzhen panicked and raised three slender fingers to block Chen Xuebing's mouth, preventing him from groping her, but she was caught off guard by his tightly groping hands.

"Uh-huh!"

When Chen Xuebing's verbal attacks failed, he bent down and grabbed her skirt with his other hand, lifting her up.

Faced with the struggle, as he walked towards the edge of the bed, he realized that the only person he had ever secretly loved in both his lives was right in his arms, and he couldn't help but utter a powerful pledge:
"Today it's either you or me who dies!"

The heat melted Xin Mengzhen.

As she fell onto the mattress, the white sheets billowed out.

Her head was spinning, and she didn't have time to think. She felt that the problem must have been that she had covered his mouth earlier, otherwise everything wouldn't have happened so quickly.

"You...you mustn't, I'll let you kiss me!"

The words "surrender" stunned Chen Xuebing for less than a second.

"Okay."

Chen Xuebing grinned mischievously as he moved closer to her face, his hands roaming freely.

His warm breath sprayed onto Xin Mengzhen's face, and her bright eyes, which were slightly wide open, were half astonished and half filled with tears.

Chen Xuebing slowly pressed his lips against the alluring pink color.

A kiss feels like being on a cloud.

Xin Mengzhen closed her eyes slightly.

Chen Xuebing took the opportunity to reach under her clothes and touch her lower abdomen.

Amazing abs.

Xin Mengzhen struggled to arch her body and lean back.

"Don't."

Her eyes were filled with fear, and her tone became pleading.

"You, you mustn't die, and I don't want to die either, okay?"

(End of this chapter)