Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

Inside the Luk family manor atop Victoria Peak, the study was serene.

Lu Chen was working at a large mahogany desk, the dark green glass lamp on the desk casting a soft glow that focused on the stack of documents on the table that had not yet been reviewed.

Outside the window, the deep night sky above Victoria Peak stretched out from the foot of the mountain to the shimmering water, its lights twinkling in the cool December night breeze.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. The sound was very soft, with a hint of hesitation in the rhythm.

"Please come in."

As soon as she finished speaking, the door was gently pushed open, and He Min stood quietly in the doorway. She was wearing a beige chunky knit sweater, her jet-black hair was loosely draped over her shoulders, and she held a cup of tea in her hand.

"Still not asleep?" Lu Chen asked.

"Hmm." He Min placed the tea on the corner of the desk, but instead of turning around and leaving as usual, she stood there, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her clothes, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

Lu Chen looked up at her and asked gently, "What's wrong?"

"Honey," He Min finally spoke, her voice lower than usual, "my brother... got into some trouble."

"Your brother?"

"My cousin, from my uncle's family," He Min paused, "he called me this afternoon and said he was being bullied, and I'd like to ask you to help him."

Lu Chen put the pen back in the pen holder, pulled He Min's slightly cool hand into his palm, and said, "No problem, tell me what it is."

He Min nodded gratefully and took a deep breath: "It's like this, he graduated from university last year and started a company with someone, doing internet business... Now he has lost his shares and the company is gone. Today, when he came to ask for an explanation, he was thrown out of the house by the security guards."

At this point, He Min pursed her lips: "Honey, my cousin has always been honest and reliable since he was a child. I believe that he would never ask me for help unless he was truly driven to the brink."

"I understand, don't worry, I'll ask for you." Lu Chen patted He Min's hand, then picked up the landline phone on his desk and dialed the winery's number.

"BOSS." The call was answered quickly.

"Fourth Brother," Lu Chen's eyes turned slightly cold as he cut to the chase, "Investigate two people for me. One is He Wen, a computer science graduate from the University of Hong Kong last year who runs a website called Hong Kong Island Online. The other is Li Jiameng, whose family is in the building materials business and owns a software company in Wan Chai. I need every detail about them from birth to the present, as detailed as possible."

"Understood, give me an hour."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work."

Lu Chen hung up the phone, then got up and pulled He Min to sit down on the sofa in the study.

"Please have a seat. I've already arranged for my men to investigate. Tell me about your cousin; I haven't heard you mention him much before."

He Min lowered her eyes, her fingers slowly twisting on her knees.

"He Wen is my uncle's child, two years younger than me. My uncle runs a small hardware store in Kwun Tong. When I was little, my dad was busy, so he often sent me to my uncle's house during holidays. We even spent holidays together. My uncle's family treated me very well, even better than they treated A-Wen."

As she spoke, the tense lines at the corners of He Min's eyes gradually softened, as if she had been touched by a warm fragment from the depths of her memory.

"And Ah-Wen and I were very close. He always had excellent grades from childhood to adulthood, ranking first in his entire secondary school entrance exam, and consistently among the top students in his department after entering Hong Kong Island University. Later, before graduating from university, he started his own business, and then..."

She looked up at Lu Chen: "Honey, I know you business people are used to these kinds of things. But that child is someone I've watched grow up. He's never cheated anyone or taken advantage of anyone in his life. I can't just watch him be bullied like this and be completely helpless."

Do your aunt and uncle know?

"I don't know," He Min shook her head. "Awen didn't dare to say. Auntie's health isn't good, and he was afraid it would upset her."

"I understand," Lu Chen nodded, putting his arm around He Min's shoulder. "I'll handle this. You go to work or sleep as usual, and don't worry about anything else."

Hearing Lu Chen agree so readily, He Min said somewhat shyly, "Won't this be too much trouble for you?"

"We're family," Lu Chen gently stroked He Min's face, "It's no trouble at all."

All told, He Min has been in the Lu family for almost two years. She doesn't vie for favor, doesn't show her face, and doesn't compete with anyone. In fact, after being married into the Lu family for so long, almost no outsiders in Hong Kong know that Ms. He, the English teacher at Edinburgh Secondary School, is the tenth wife of the Lu family manor.

So Lu Chen knew that she must really want to help her cousin, which is why she took the initiative to speak up.

Feeling the warmth of Lu Chen's palm, He Min's cheeks flushed slightly.

She knew this wasn't just polite talk, because the man's eyes were full of doting affection for her.

"Honey... thank you."

"Thank you again," Lu Chen said, pinching her cheek with a hint of helpless amusement. "You're my wife, why are you being so distant?"

He Min didn't respond, but just looked at him with starlight in her eyes.

The study quieted down, and the lights of Victoria Harbour outside the window flickered in the night wind. Occasionally, the whistle of a cargo ship could be heard in the distance, drawn out and then broken up by the sea breeze.

He Min originally wanted to linger a little longer—to lean on him and talk. In the years since she married into the Lu family, he had been as busy as a spinning top, traveling to New York, Tokyo, and Rome, and was away from home for more than half the year.

It's already a rare treat for her to be able to sit quietly for a while on an evening like this.

But when she glanced at the stack of unfinished documents on her desk, she still stood up understandingly: "Honey, you go ahead with your work, I'll go out now. The tea's getting cold, I'll get you a new cup later."

"No need," Lu Chen walked back behind his desk. "This cup is just right. You should go and get some rest."

He Min walked to the door, then turned back: "Honey...it's so good to have you here."

"Okay, go to sleep now."

He Min lowered her head, pursed her lips, smiled gently, and closed the door quietly.

The footsteps faded into the distance along the corridor, eventually disappearing under the carpet.

Lu Chen sat back down at his desk and continued reviewing the stack of documents. A cargo ship outside the window sounded its horn, the sound lingering and broken up by the sea breeze before finally landing on the windowsill.

About half an hour later, the phone rang again.

Lu Chen answered the call.

"Boss, we've found it," Fourth Brother's signature deep voice came from the other end of the line. "He Wen graduated from the Computer Science Department of the University of Hong Kong in 1986 and received the Principal's Scholarship twice. Before graduation, he wrote a website called 'Hong Kong Island Online,' which seemed to be quite popular. It basically categorized all the popular websites on Dragonnet and created a portal. Later, he used this achievement to seek investment everywhere, eventually finding someone named Li Jiameng. The two of them started a company together, with He Wen contributing his technology and Li Jiameng investing one million Hong Kong dollars. However, in the second half of this year, Li Jiameng hired a corporate spy to set up a capital increase agreement, diluting He Wen's shares to five percent, and then kicked him out of the company on the grounds of 'leaking technical secrets.'"

There was a pause on the other end of the phone, followed by the sound of papers being turned over.

"Li Jiameng, 28 years old, graduated with a degree in finance. His family is in the building materials business. His father's name is Li Tiangui, and his company is called Fugui Building Materials, which mainly deals in sand and gravel. It is a fairly large company, and it is involved in one-fifth of the housing supply on Hong Kong Island. Li Jiameng's own software company is called Mengtai Technology, with a registered capital of five million. Its actual business is very ordinary, and it basically makes a living by customizing systems for small companies."

Lu Chen held the microphone in one hand, his deep gaze fixed on the night sea outside the window.

"What about that portal website? Is Hong Kong Island Online now entirely in Li Jiameng's hands?"

"Yes, it's currently under Montai Technology. After Li Jiameng got the core code, he plans to release the official version next spring," Fourth Brother paused, "In addition, I found out that Li Jiameng has been contacting major banks for the past two weeks, trying to use Hong Kong Island Online to negotiate financing, with a valuation of twelve million. I have already faxed over the detailed information."

"it is good."

During the conversation, the fax machine in the corner of the desk hummed, and sheets of paper were slowly ejected from the machine.

After hanging up the phone, Lu Chen stood up and began to look through the faxed documents.

The first page contains He Wen's resume. He is from the Department of Computer Science at Hong Kong Island University. Attached is a one-inch black and white photo of him. The young man wears glasses, has clean features, and his lips are tightly pursed, revealing a hint of naivety and restraint.

The next two pages contain an architectural analysis of the "Hong Kong Island Online" project.

Lu Chen looked very carefully, and the more he looked, the more intense the gleam in his eyes became.

Lu Chen had considered creating a portal website, but in the past two years, Longteng.com was still in its development stage, and there were only so many excellent websites online, so there was no fertile ground for it. Therefore, he temporarily shelved the idea.

This year, Longteng.com finally experienced explosive growth, but he was busy with the Wall Street financial war, the Soviet Union, and the demolition of Kowloon Walled City all year, and simply couldn't spare the time to manage this business.

Unexpectedly, He Wen filled this hole.

Keep in mind that this was only 1987. A man named Jerry Yang hadn't even entered university yet, and the first famous navigation website in history, "Yahoo!", didn't even exist.

It's unbelievable that a 22-year-old computer science graduate actually managed to create it.

However, upon further reflection, it makes perfect sense. After all, in this life, Lu Chen is the creator of the Internet, and Hong Kong Island, as the headquarters of Longteng Technology, naturally stands at the forefront of the global Internet wave.

In such a fertile technological environment, the emergence of the portal website concept was simply a historical inevitability.

"Interesting." Lu Chen chuckled and turned to the third page.

The third page includes a printed sketch of the Longteng Forum—He Wen's first version of the portal website's functional description.

The sketch was messy, with crooked lines, but the logic was clear—the top left corner was the category bar, with sports, finance, novels, and forums arranged neatly in each cell, and the middle was the recommended section.

Lu Chen put down his pen, leaned back in his chair, and looked at the black and white photo on the fax paper.

"This He Wen... is truly a rare talent."

Originally, I just wanted to stand up for He Min. But now, this matter carries a different weight.

He folded the fax paper, put it in the drawer, then picked up the phone and dialed Cheng Yiyan's number.

"Boss."

"Have you ever heard of Fugui Building Materials?"

"Um...it seems to be a company that specializes in sand and gravel?" Cheng Yiyan thought for a moment and said, "Lin Jiande reported to me before, but we ultimately chose to cooperate with another company, but I remember this person."

"Okay," Lu Chen said, "Go and check Fugui Building Materials' loan structure, personnel composition, and supply contracts. Check as much detail as you can. I need a complete report tomorrow."

Cheng Yiyan was silent for a moment on the other end of the phone. Having been the general manager of Jiahe for so many years, he knew his boss's rules all too well—Lu Chen would never make this call for a trivial matter.

"Boss, is there anything I can do for you?"

Lu Chen picked up the pen on the table and slowly twirled it between his fingers. Outside the window, the lights on both sides of Victoria Harbour lit up one after another, as if someone had lit them one by one along the coastline.

"It's getting cold," he said, "so let Fugui Building Materials go bankrupt."