A perfect life begins with changing the timeline.

Chapter 40 Chickens Fighting Each Other

After thinking for about half a minute, the phone suddenly rang.

Fan Bingbing glanced at her phone and then answered the call:

"Hey, Sister Hua, what's up?"

Li Mu didn't know what was being said on the other end, but he heard Fan Bingbing say:

"I'm talking to reporter Li right now, Sister Hua. I'll get back to you when I'm done."

Then, she hung up the phone.

He seemed to have thought of something, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Li Mu didn't take it seriously and continued:

"If the bid for the Olympics is successful, then the Asian Games Village, located between the North Third and Fourth Ring Roads, will become the gateway to the planned Olympic venues. The application for the Olympic venues was already finalized, and the two areas are adjacent. Once the bid is successful, a batch of national-level benefits will be directly parachuted into that area. I have a feeling that the place will instantly become a promised land for countless investors, and it will be imbued with the will of the state. I don't intend to miss out on this kind of benefit."

"But what if it doesn't work?"

Fan Bingbing hadn't paid much attention to the Olympic bid before, but now that Li Mu had brought the topic to her attention, her first thought upon hearing his words wasn't about the benefits of success, but rather what if they failed...

"This is what I wanted to tell you. Real estate is a sure-fire way to make money, don't you agree?"

"...Yes, its risk is minimal."

"Yes, if it weren't for that, you wouldn't have decided to invest in this area. As the gateway and direct service area of the Olympic Village, the Asian Games Village enjoys all the benefits of the Olympic Games, while its own commercial and business functions have been fully upgraded. It is a model of 'value reassessment.' And if it fails... Fan Ye, after ten years of development, the Asian Games Village is already a well-established community, isn't it?"

Li Mu smiled and shrugged:

"Even if the bid for the Olympics fails again, it simply means that the housing price growth cycle will follow the average, nothing more. This is the safety net for this investment. In other words, no matter what, as long as housing prices in Yanjing continue to rise every year, this investment will absolutely not lose money."

"But what if it doesn't grow as fast as Haidian..."

"Look, that's the main reason I told you about our Olympic bid process first. As I said, the Olympic bid department has been established since 91, and it's been a full ten years now. Even the annual planning for Beijing has never touched that plot of land in the north prepared for the Olympics, and that's the reason. If it doesn't work this year, then we'll bid for 12, 16, or even 20... No matter what, the country will not give up the idea of bidding for the Olympics. And if we succeed, then the area near the Asian Games Village will still be the gateway to the Olympics, and its value will still skyrocket... Fan Ye, there's a saying in the investment world."

Sitting in his chair, amidst the bubbling of the kettle, he looked at the big star leaning against the table and said calmly:

"Make friends with time."

"..."

"Is HD District's development potential great? Admittedly, it is. But it is, after all, some distance from the core area of Yanjing. But as I said, real estate has a safety net. On top of that safety net, are you willing to take some risks and choose a return with a one-to-ten chance, or are you pursuing a mediocre and stable investment, not looking for an upper limit, but just a stable lower limit?"

"..."

Fan Bingbing fell silent.

Silence, frown, contemplation.

Li Mu didn't urge him, after all, he had the wheelchair-bound guy, but the other guy didn't.

It is inevitable that we need to think about it.

So he picked up a black piece again and placed it on the edge of the board once more.

"clatter."

The chess pieces made a pleasant clinking sound against the wooden chessboard.

It attracted Fan Bingbing's attention.

However, her eyes were empty.

Li Mu said no more, and continued to play as a beginner, setting up the pieces with a sense of novelty and curiosity, experiencing the fun of this game that has been passed down for thousands of years.

until……

A cup of tea was placed in front of me.

Before he knew it, the vacant-eyed superstar had already brewed tea and sat down opposite him.

"I've always thought Go is quite difficult."

"It is difficult. But the rules are actually very simple. It's just about surrounding the opponent's pieces, cutting off their liberties, and capturing them."

"...Brother Li, is this a beginner?"

"Um."

"Why did you suddenly become interested in Go?"

"Because... a friend told me that this chessboard embodies all the principles of the world. Life and death, giving and receiving, right and wrong, truth and falsehood, reality and illusion... all reside within this small space. I may not be good at it, but using it to train my instinct to think three steps ahead will be of great help."

For some reason, Fan Bingbing felt that the mysterious aura surrounding the man opposite her suddenly turned into a storm.

But the chessboard layout in front of him... was still unfamiliar to her.

I can't understand it at all.

But people are always curious about the mysterious.

Just like how the man in front of her just now refused to invest in a seemingly safe plot of land with her, but instead opened a window for her.

The chessboard was unfamiliar, yet she suddenly felt a longing and interest in it.

"Brother Li, can you teach me?"

Tonight, there are too many things to process.

Go and think about it.

Tonight might even be a sleepless night.

But... for her, the things that urgently needed to be thought about were not as important as the game of chess in front of her.

Or rather... that lingering yearning and interest in the mysterious deep in one's heart.

She was somewhat interested in seeing...

Or rather, trying to take a look.

Take a look at the world through this man's eyes.

So, Li Mu nodded slightly:

"Okay. Let me explain the rules to you first..."

Night, in progress.

……

The rules of Go are actually very simple; it all boils down to the word "surround".

Surround the opponent's pieces and cut off their vital energy.

You win by surrounding and capturing the opponent's pieces.

For beginners, understanding this is enough.

The subsequent battles will all take place on this chessboard.

Newcomers are often single-minded. Take Fan Bingbing, for example; her style is very impulsive.

After understanding the rules, the first game showed a sharp edge, like "bringing the boat closer".

It relentlessly tore apart everything belonging to Li Mu.

Sometimes they even gain the upper hand.

The two sides started their struggle from a corner of the chessboard, with no regard for the overall strategy.

But gradually, Fan Bingbing put aside all thoughts about the problems in his heart and instead focused on thinking about the game of chess.

She was surprised to find that Go... was actually quite interesting.

Although it was just black and white pieces, she somehow felt a brutality akin to that of war.

I'm going to kill him, and he's going to kill me.

He ate one of my sons, I'll kill his whole family...

Well.

This game... is pretty addictive!

So, a cup of hot tea had somehow cooled down.

The number of chess pieces on the chessboard in front of the two of them also increased.

If judged by skill level, any professional player who can be ranked from amateur to professional would only need to take one look to know that... both sides missed countless brilliant moves that could have been fatal.

Or to put it more bluntly, it's like two noobs fighting each other until they don't even know how they won.

But ironically, the two terrible chess players were feeling quite pleased with themselves at that moment.

My mind was completely absorbed in it, and I couldn't pull myself away.

It's like getting a toy that's full of novelty.

Have fun.

until……

"Knock knock knock..."

"?"

A series of knocking sounds quickly brought Fan Bingbing back to her senses.

What was that sound?

She looked in the direction of the sound and found that it was coming from the other side of the wall.

Just as I was wondering what was going on, a woman's soft, plaintive moan reached my ears.