I'm really good at this.

Sure enough, the personalities of the people in this parallel world were no different from those in my previous life.

Zhang Hong rubbed his forehead and squatted down in front of her: "How did you die today?"

This girl's name is Lin Muqing. She is one year younger than Zhang Hong and is twenty-three years old this year, having graduated just a year ago.

The two families lived across from each other, and strictly speaking, they could be considered childhood sweethearts.

Zhang Hong's parents hadn't come home from get off work yet, so he opened the door, and Lin Muli naturally followed him in.

Zhang Hong turned around and glanced back.

The woman with long, straight black hair, almost at eye level with me, was wearing a light green vest, a knee-length pleated skirt, tights, and ankle boots.

However, she was now covered in dust from lying on the ground, as well as red paint used to fake her death.

Seeing Zhang Hong turn around, she tilted her head slightly, thought for a moment, and said in a naturally cold voice, "He's probably vomiting blood from poisoning."

As she spoke, she raised her arm and wiped the red paint off her face.

"How old are you? Still acting like a child." Zhang Hong ignored her and went back to his room to read the script.

To be honest, Zhang Hong felt a little inferior when facing her, without even realizing it himself.

Lin Muqing is a year younger than her. In her previous life, she had always been the top student in the city since she started school.

Moreover, she is beautiful and talented, with professional-level skills in Go, erhu, guzheng, and piano.

I just don't know why she didn't go to a 985 university when she took the college entrance exam, but instead came to my local non-985 university and became my junior.

So even though they had a good relationship, Zhang Hong had been avoiding her ever since high school.

But now it seems that even in this parallel world, she has no intention of letting herself go.

Do you really enjoy showing off your superiority?

Sure enough, Lin Muqing pushed open Zhang Hong's bedroom door as if she were in her own home, and then she casually sat on Zhang Hong's bed, looking at him sitting at the computer desk.

"Why are you back so early today?"

"Something went wrong on set. One of the assistant directors is hospitalized, and now I'm the only one holding the crew together." Zhang Hong casually flipped through the script he had brought back without turning his head. "I'm planning to revise the script."

He suddenly looked up: "By the way, you..."

He paused, then gave up: "Forget it, you studied finance, you wouldn't understand scripts anyway."

Lin Muqing bit her lower lip lightly, her slender fingers gripping the bed sheet tightly, her little leather boots tapping the ground repeatedly: "I know you're a great talent who graduated from Beijing Film Academy, I, a graduate of Peking University, can't compare to you, okay?"

Zhang Hong's fingers paused slightly.

Jingying? Beijing University?

Is this what makes parallel worlds different?

He didn't reply, but instead focused on reading the script.

This actually involves an element of escapism.

The gap was already huge, and now the other party has become a graduate of Peking University, while he claims to have graduated from Beijing Film Academy, but he has no memory of that part of the story after transmigrating.

To be honest, he's actually just an ordinary office worker who graduated from a non-985/211 university several years ago.

The woman with long, straight black hair sitting by the bed saw that he didn't react, pouted, and asked, "What happened to your film crew? You can at least tell me about that."

Zhang Hong rubbed his temples and said helplessly, "I've fallen out with the male lead. He has investors behind him, and now they're probably going to withdraw their investment."

"Withdraw your investment?" Lin Muqing's eyes lit up. "Then how about I invest in you?"

Zhang Hong glanced back at her, his gaze lingering for less than a second on her shapely legs encased in pantyhose beneath her skirt, before quickly looking away: "Your family is a working-class family, just like mine. You've only been out of school for a year, have you saved up 10,000 yuan yet? And you're going to invest in me..."

Before he could even speak, Lin Muqing pulled out her phone and pointed it at him: "Is that enough?"

Zhang Hong looked closely and found that the screen displayed mobile banking.

The current balance is... well, it starts with a three followed by a string of zeros.

"Three million, is that enough?" Lin Muqing's naturally cold voice carried a hint of happiness.

Zhang Hong was completely stunned; he had never seen so many zeros in his life.

"What exactly did you do?"

After asking Zhang Hong, his expression turned very serious: "We can't do anything illegal."

To be honest, for a pretty girl from an average family, unless she goes live streaming and scams a few rich guys who embezzle public funds, it's impossible to earn that much money in a year.

"This is all the New Year's money I've saved up since I was a child." Lin Muqing's face turned cold.

She snorted coldly: "I originally wanted to get along with you as an ordinary girl next door and childhood sweetheart, but it seems you can't accept that."

She shrugged and spread her hands in a gesture that, combined with her expressionless, delicate face, created a strangely endearing quality: "I'm coming clean, I'm not pretending anymore, I'm actually a rich kid."

"..." Zhang Hong said expressionlessly, "Then why do you live in the same neighborhood as me?"

Keep in mind that this is a 20-year-old residential area with only four buildings, each with seven units, and each unit has seven floors and fourteen households.

There isn't even an elevator.

If this girl is from a wealthy family, why does she live in the same neighborhood as me?

"Because it was only in the last twenty years that my dad's business was built up. This house was bought before he made his fortune. They were afraid that I would become a spoiled and useless second-generation rich kid, so they didn't let me know about this until I was sixteen."

The girl with long, straight black hair and tights waved her phone: "It was around that time that they gave me the New Year's money they had been keeping for me. I've saved it up until now, and that's how much I've accumulated."

That string of zeros on it is really glaring.

"So, if that's the case..." Zhang Hong rubbed his chin, "Could it be that I'm actually a rich kid too? And my parents just didn't tell me the truth because they were testing me?"

His family was not well-off when he was young; his parents were both over fifty and still working in other places.

Even after he started working, he tried to persuade them to come back and enjoy their retirement, but they refused, saying they wanted to earn more money for Zhang Hong to get married and buy a house.

Could it be that they were actually just hiding something from me?

Without hesitation, Zhang Hong took out his phone and dialed his father's number!

The call was answered very quickly.

"Hey! Dad!"

"What's wrong? You want to transfer money to me again? I told you you can save your own salary. We eat and live at the company, so we don't need much money."

My father's voice was steady but tinged with weariness.

Zhang Hong suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

I've been working for two years already, but my parents are still working outside...

He clenched his fists instinctively, but his voice remained calm: "Dad, if it doesn't work out, why don't you and Mom come back? We can always buy a house, and the old house isn't unlivable..."

"No need." Zhang Hong heard a smile on his father's face, and he could tell there was a hint of relief in his voice. "Just take care of yourself. If there's nothing else, I'll hang up."

After a few seconds of silence, Zhang Hong jokingly changed the subject: "By the way, Dad, I had a dream last night that I was a rich kid. Actually, you and Mom have been testing me all along. Our family is actually very wealthy."

Dad chuckled twice: "I said the same thing to your grandfather when I was young, and now I'm passing on his answer to me verbatim."

Zhang Hong: "Huh?"

Dad: "Remember to exercise more so you can sleep soundly through the night when you're tired, and you'll have fewer daydreams."

Zhang Hong: "..."

"Alright, I'll hang up now if there's nothing else."

"Um......"

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Hong sighed and said to Lin Muqing, "You should keep this money for yourself. I'm a little tired, and I have to go to the hospital to see Director Sun tomorrow. You should go back too."

As he spoke, he pushed Lin Muqing out of the house and then closed the security door.

Lin Muqing pouted and left with the words, "Anyway, consider it an investment in you. How about I come to your film crew and help you manage it? I graduated from the School of Business Administration at Peking University." Then Zhang Hong pushed her into her house.

Then Zhang Hong decisively turned around and closed his own security door, leaving only an iron door open for her.

"Tsk." Lin Muqing clicked her tongue, resumed her indifferent expression, and slammed the door shut.

Seeing her enter the house through the peephole, Zhang Hong slowly sat down with his back against the security door.

He took a cigarette out of his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag.

His face was hidden in the shadows amidst the swirling smoke, and he said nothing.

It's impossible to say that such a perfect and outstanding girl never had any thoughts about him.

But... the gap is too big.

It's best not to get involved in this again.

Anyway... it was destined to be a fruitless endeavor.

............

In a luxurious office of over 500 square meters, a handsome middle-aged man in a suit frowned as he hung up the phone.

He glanced at the documents his subordinates had just sent him on the computer and muttered to himself.

"This kid...could he have discovered something?"

After thinking it over, he dialed his wife's number.

"Hey? Honey? Our son just called me. He asked if our family is super rich. He's actually a rich kid. You didn't secretly tell him, did you?"

"Didn't you say that boys should be raised frugally, and that you were afraid he would pick up the bad habits of the rich and powerful? That's why you sent him out to work hard in society for a few years to learn how hard it is to earn money before he comes back to inherit the family fortune?"

"Not you? That's strange. What's our son been up to lately? Is his film crew going to fall through? I told you to just find a regular job, but you even gave in and agreed when he wanted to apply to film school! What if he actually becomes a big director? You know the atmosphere in the entertainment industry, what if our son goes astray?"

"Hmm? You've fallen out with the investors? I remember Jimei Culture, which invested in their production, is a subsidiary of your group, right? Then let's have a complete falling out and show them that they're not cut out for this!"

"Huh? You're saying his film crew sent materials to your entertainment company? Our son's gone astray? He's even learned to record videos and audios to threaten you?!"

"I've always said that businessmen should have a conscience. We were too fierce competitors in the business world in the past, and offended too many people. That's why we spun off the company and listed it on the stock exchange after Xiao Hong was born, hoping to keep a low profile! But how did this kid become so cunning? This little devil, so sly and wicked!"

"No! Honey! I'm really not blaming you! It's all my fault, all my fault!"

"Alright, alright! I'll think of something! I definitely won't let Xiao Hong's TV series become a hit!"

Don't worry!

After hanging up the phone, the handsome older man leaned back in his boss's chair, turned his head to look at the blood-red sunset outside the floor-to-ceiling window, and fell into memories.

Twenty-five years ago, Zhang Hong's grandfather said to him with great remorse:

"Son, I can't let you work in the fields anymore. Come back and inherit the family business."

He was stunned when he came back from planting rice seedlings in the field, his trousers still covered in mud.

From that day on, he was forced to abandon his youth, inherit the family fortune, give up his dreams, and get a car and a house.

He has never experienced the warmth and coldness of human relationships, the joys and sorrows of life.

He was in despair.

He felt his life was over.

A few years later, Zhang Hong was born.

From then on, he placed all his hopes on Zhang Hong.

He hoped that Zhang Hong would not lose hope in life like he had.

Gazing at the setting sun, he murmured to himself, "My son, all my dreams rest on you... The pain your parents went through, I must never let you experience it again!"

In order to realize the dreams of an ordinary office worker, to prevent his son from being led astray and becoming a useless second-generation rich kid, and to ensure that his son has a complete life, he must stop his son from developing in the dirty entertainment industry!

It now appears that the plan to "cram Zhang Hong's crew with trashy young idols and cause the show to flop in both ratings and critical reception" has failed.

But this is just the beginning!

The "Second Battle of Zhang Hong" officially began from this moment!

P.S.: This is my first time writing a book, please add it to your favorites and vote for it! o(╥﹏╥)o