A perfect life begins with changing the timeline.

Chapter 123 Frowning Guy

"We met through an interview with the Southern Metropolis Daily, and gradually became acquainted. Eventually, she came to Guangzhou to film a movie. I'm quite talented at cooking, and she loves to eat there, often coming over for meals."

Li Muxin said, "This doesn't make sense."

"Then—one time, she came to my house for dinner, drank too much, and didn't go back to the hotel. When I carried her back to the room, she—kissed me forcefully. That was my first kiss."

For some reason, when talking about this, the frowning guy's brows relaxed, as if he was lost in a sweet memory.

According to Brother Frowning, Fan Bingbing did indeed drink too much that night, or "this night" for Li Mu.

From the beer in the afternoon to the red wine in the evening, along with the indescribable fatigue during filming and her trust in Li Mu, she was able to let down her guard and drink until she passed out without any restraint.

Then, after Fan Bingbing forcibly kissed him, the frowning guy spent an entire night tossing and turning, almost suffering from insomnia.

Then, the next morning, when the two met again, Fan Bing greeted him and asked him how he fell asleep the night before. She couldn't remember at all.

How could Frowning Guy possibly agree to that? After all, you stole my first kiss.

So he just said it directly: "You drank too much last night—and forcibly kissed me."

Li Muxin said you're quite straightforward.

Then, according to Frowning Guy, that morning was actually quite awkward.

But the incident had already happened, and the two got together not long after.

"So, your first love was Fan Yongbing?"

When Li Mu asked in surprise upon hearing this, the frowning man nodded and said, "Yeah."

Yes, that's right. Frowning Brother's first love was Fan Taobing, an actress who was loved by many movie fans at the time.

After they got together, the two actually had a very sweet period of time.

During filming, they would spend almost every night together. They would play chess together, and the guy with the furrowed brows would cook lots and lots of delicious food for his girlfriend. They would curl up on the sofa together, watch movies and drink, and hold hands to eat at a late-night food stall, etc.

Putting everything else aside, at least when Frowning Guy talked about his experiences during this period, he seemed quite radiant.

Until—the filming of "Give Me a Mom" ​​was completed.

She rushed to Hengdian to film the movie "The Lion Roars" that the frowning guy mentioned.

"I couldn't live without her, you know? We had only been dating for less than two months back then, and I felt terrible if I didn't see her every day. Plus, it happened to be around the time of the Ninth National Games, and I was extremely busy—we could only talk on the phone for three or four hours a day. Then I would rush to see her during my rest time. Haha, let's just say it was the honeymoon phase, you get it? I wanted to be together 24 hours a day."

Li Mu understands?

He doesn't know anything.

But all he could do was nod, pretending to understand, and say, "Mhm, and then?"

And then? Then Fan Bingbing filmed The Lion Roars until February 2002, which coincided with the Chinese New Year. She had to go back to her hometown, and Brother Frowning also had to go home for the New Year. The two of them didn't see each other for almost a month and could only express their feelings to each other by phone every day.

He missed Fan Taobing, and Fan Taobing missed him too.

I want to be with him every day and have him by my side.

Then—in a moment of impulsiveness, Frowning Guy resigned from the newspaper.

"You resigned?"

Seeing Li Mu's surprise, the frowning guy nodded: "Yeah, I resigned. Mainly because I was young back then—I didn't realize how many people envied the resources I had in my hands. Oh right, there was this other thing during that time. Before we started dating, I went to a private equity meeting for NetEase with an older guy. At that time, NetEase was looking for someone to buy some of their Nasdaq stocks."

Li Mu's mind raced, and he immediately asked, "You bought it?"

"We bought some, not just me, but both of us. Then—NetEase stock suddenly started to skyrocket in 2002. I invested a total of $300,000, and by 2003 it had increased more than twentyfold. I sold it and made a lot of money. Of course, that's a story for later, but the confidence to resign actually stemmed from—I felt that my investment acumen wasn't bad. After all, she didn't want me to buy it at the time, thinking it was unreliable, but I insisted on buying it with her. When we sold it, she actually regretted not buying more."

At this point, the man with the furrowed brows sighed, "Actually, although it's a bit of hindsight, looking at it now, we should have waited; we would have earned more. But anyway—"

"When?"

Li Mu subconsciously interrupted him.

The man with the furrowed brow was taken aback: "What?"

"As for NetEase stock, given your current perspective, when should you wait?"

The man with furrowed brows frowned slightly.

But it wasn't anger, it was reflection.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Putting everything else aside, if we wait until 2007 and catch the bull market, we'll make even more money. Besides, NetEase split its stock in 2006, turning one share into four. You can do the math. If I can wait until 2007 to sell, my $300,000 investment will have increased nearly 200 times."

Li Mu subconsciously began to do mental arithmetic.

Three hundred thousand times 00 is —————— sixty thousand US dollars!?

He quickly jotted down the news: "That's a real shame—what happened next?"

"Later? Later I realized I was suited for investing, and even if I quit my job, I could be an independent investor. Besides, we could be together every day—"

The frowning guy's brows relaxed again.

He did indeed resign and start investing independently, and as it turns out, he was quite talented in investing. Some of the projects he invested in in 02 brought him substantial returns over the years.

However, this kind of investment is not without its drawbacks.

Investing is about making friends with time.

He can treat money like seeds, planting them in the soil and waiting for the harvest, but he can't offer much help to his girlfriend's career.

The reason is quite simple —

"I overestimated my friendships with those around me."

The man with the furrowed brow gave a bitter laugh: "It turns out that when I was at the newspaper, I was Bie Yan's apprentice, and wherever I went, people treated me with respect because of him. Moreover, because I was a reporter for the *Southern Metropolis Daily*, I had influence in various news interviews and even with some government officials. But after leaving the company—these connections vanished like sand blown away by the wind. For example, Chen Lixin, who gave Fan Bingbing the script, and Zhou Jian, who later became the deputy director of the station. People only contacted me because I followed Bie Yan, not because of me as a person."

Li Mu's eyes flickered—

"Then you and Brother Bie—"

Frowning Guy didn't seem to notice Li Mu's way of addressing Bie Yan, and continued, "At first, I would often contact him when I needed something, but later I owed him so many favors—and I didn't know how to repay them. Plus, our relationship gradually cooled down, so we stopped contacting each other much. After all, he was very opposed to my resignation and talked to me many times, saying that my future was bright. At the time, I didn't understand the weight of those words at all—sigh."

Frowning Guy sighed.

He sighed at his past youthful arrogance.

Then—in short, without the identity of a "journalist," and after resigning, he could no longer use many of Bie Yan's connections. According to him, Fan Bingbing was looking for breakthroughs in film resources during those years.

Li Mu was aware of this matter, since Fan Bingbing had discussed it with him before.

Throughout 03, she was almost always seeking resources in Hong Kong. Because she frequently appeared at various events with big names in the Hong Kong film industry, such as Sammo Hung, Eric Tsang, and several other directors, her scandals flooded the market like snowflakes.

"This was one of the foreshadowings of our breakup."

As he thought this, Frowning Guy shook his head slightly.

"Actually, I was the one who found Sammo Hung's connections for her. I asked Zhang Yujing for help."

Who is Zhang Yujing?

"It was Sister Zhang, who was introduced by Bie Yan and often goes to Macau. Her real name is Zhang Yujing. To be honest, I still don't know what her family does. I just saw that Fan Bing's resources were failing, and since Bie Yan had mentioned that she had a lot of influence in Hong Kong, I asked her for help. And it turned out to be effective. She said a few words, and Sammo Hung immediately started introducing Fan Bing to all sorts of resources—he even gave her an apartment to curry favor with her."

But they weren't targeting her; they were targeting Sister Zhang—in this industry, money alone isn't enough.

Li Muxin said that the information contained in Brother Frowning's words was enormous.

But—he noticed that when Frowning Guy was saying these things, he was actually shaking his head the whole time, as if he felt that what he was doing was stupid.

In short, Fan Taobing's film and television resources in Hong Kong were quite extensive, and she took on one big production after another in those years. She became increasingly busy, and the investments that Brother Frowning made in those years also began to pay off one after another.

During the three to four years they dated, both of their careers experienced significant growth.

But—their relationship began to encounter setbacks.

"I had social engagements, you understand? Because in those two years I also started trying to invest in movies and TV series—not to mention anything else, just investing in 'Soldiers Sortie' directly proves how insightful I am. I'm not some nobody, you know? This industry is so chaotic, all sorts of directors and actors—all want to get investment from me, and I've kept myself as clean as possible—and it's not that I didn't care about her feelings, I knew she was afraid we'd break up, so I proposed to her, you know? I thought to myself, once we're married and have our marriage certificate, you can finally rest easy, right?"

"----Then what?"

'

"Then?"

The man with the furrowed brow chuckled. "She refused. Her career is going well, and she doesn't want to give it up just for marriage."

'

Li Mu remained silent.

He frowned as well and asked, "And then—"

"Later? Later—I had a rumored relationship with Liu Yifei, and someone took pictures of us. We had a big fight, and she broke up with me."

"Well----"

Li Mu's first reaction upon hearing this was: Who is Liu Yifei?