Back to 2008: I Helped My Dad Become the Richest Man

Chapter 62 Brother, you are truly a business genius!

Looking at the proposal her younger brother handed her, and his serious little face, Luo Xiyuan was momentarily speechless.

Happy Farm.

These four words were like a key, instantly unlocking the floodgates of her past life memories.

The "vegetable stealing" game, which swept across the country from 2009 to 2010 and made countless office workers set alarms in the middle of the night to harvest vegetables, is it not the game that started?

She remembers it clearly. At that time, she was still working outside. The girls in the dormitory talked about not clothes and cosmetics every day, but whose vegetables were cooked and whose dog had been let out to eat grass.

That was a phenomenal frenzy.

But she never imagined that this idea would come from the mind of her ten-year-old brother.

Moreover, he also prepared a seemingly professional business plan.

"Brother, you—" Luo Xiyuan flipped through the few pages of printed paper, on which, in childish handwriting, were written the core gameplay, social interactions, and even a simple profit model. "How—how did you come up with all of this?"

"I noticed it," Luo Wen said matter-of-factly. "I've noticed that my classmates, and my cousins, always like to use emojis when they chat online, and they also like to decorate their online spaces. I thought, if there were something that would give them their own home online," where they could farm, raise pets, and visit each other, they would definitely love it."

"And most importantly, we need to get them interacting." Luo Wen tapped his little finger on the proposal. "For example, you can help me water the vegetables I grow, or you can—secretly pick a couple. That way, everyone will have to log on often to harvest and steal vegetables, and won't our relationship get better and better?"

Luo Xiyuan felt a chill run down her spine upon hearing this.

This kid is simply a prodigy!

He's only ten years old! Yet he has already grasped the two most core elements of future internet products without any instruction: social interaction and user stickiness.

"Sis, what do you think of my idea?" Luo Wen looked at her expectantly.

"Excellent," Luo Xiyuan exclaimed sincerely. "No, it should be called a brilliant idea."

"Hehe." Luo Wen smiled a little shyly after receiving his sister's praise, but his expression quickly turned serious. "Sis, that's not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to say that I looked it up online, and now there's a small company called 'Five Minutes' that has made a similar game, also called 'Happy Farm.' Although theirs is still very simple, not fun, and has a lot of bugs, their direction is right."

He paused, looked at his sister, and uttered those earth-shattering words.

"Sis, let's buy this game company!"

Buy it?

Luo Xiyuan's heart skipped a beat.

Her previous life plan only included physical industries: pig farming, opening a butcher shop, building a food factory, and producing organic fertilizer—these were all tangible businesses.

She had considered investing in the internet, but that was a distant prospect. She always felt that those abstract codes and data were too far removed from her current life.

But now, her brother's words were like a bolt of lightning, shattering her preconceived notions.

Yes! Why not?

2009 was the eve of an explosive growth for the domestic internet industry, especially social games and e-commerce.

Now is the perfect time to enter the market!

Moreover, the "Happy Farm" project is practically a money-printing machine! Its initial investment is negligible compared to building a food factory. But its future profitability could be ten times, or even a hundred times, that of a food factory!

This is an opportunity you absolutely cannot miss!

"Little brother, you're my lucky star!" Luo Xiyuan excitedly rubbed her younger brother's head.

"So—Sis, you agree?" Luo Wen's eyes lit up.

"Agreed! Of course I agree!" Luo Xiyuan said decisively. "This matter must be done! And it must be done quickly!"

She knew that for projects in this booming market, time was of the essence. If she was even a step too late, someone else might snatch it away.

"However—" Luo Xiyuan calmed down, "This matter can't be accomplished by just the two of us agreeing. We need our parents' approval first."

""

The thought of explaining to her parents why she spent a large sum of money to buy a "game-playing" company gave Luo Xiyuan a huge headache.

This is much more difficult than persuading them to raise pigs in the first place.

That evening, another family meeting was held.

Luo Xinde and Li Minxia were both puzzled by the serious expressions on the two children's faces.

"Xiyuan, Awen, what big news is it this time?" Luo Xinde asked half-jokingly. He had developed a conditioned reflex to this family meeting. Every meeting meant that something big was about to happen in the family.

"Dad, Mom," Luo Xiyuan took a deep breath and tried to explain in a language they could understand, "It's like this. Our family has made some money recently. But the interest rate in the bank is too low. So, I was thinking of finding a new project to make the money work for us."

"Yes, that's the right idea." Luo Xinde nodded in agreement.

"Awen and I have recently found a promising new industry," Luo Xiyuan said after a long preamble, finally getting to the point. "This industry is called the 'Internet'."

"The Internet?" Luo Xinde and Li Minxia exchanged a glance, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes.

"Yes. It's about using the computer to access the internet." Luo Xiyuan pointed to the computer in the study. "These days, many people in the city like to chat and read news online. We were thinking, could we open an online store too?"

"Open an online store?" Li Minxia asked curiously. "What will you sell? Our sausages?"

"Mom, your idea is so forward-thinking!" Luo Xiyuan praised. "We can definitely sell sausages online in the future. But what we need to do now isn't to sell things. It's to provide a place to 'play'."

"Play?" Luo Xinde frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Dad, think about it. In our village, there used to be those card and chess rooms, right? After dinner, when people had nothing to do, they would go there to play cards, chess, and chat. The owners of the card and chess rooms made money by selling tea and melon seeds."

"yes."

"What we're going to do now is open an online game room like this." However, we won't offer card games or chess; instead, we'll offer a more fun game called "planting vegetables."

Luo Xiyuan explained Luo Wen's proposal to her parents in more accessible language.

"—Everyone can have their own plot of land online. They can plant whatever they want. When the vegetables are ripe, they can harvest them. They can also visit their friends' houses to see what they've planted, and while they're at it—steal a couple of their vegetables."

"Stealing vegetables?" Luo Xinde and Li Minxia were dumbfounded.

They felt as if they were listening to gibberish.

"What the hell is this?!" Luo Xinde finally couldn't hold back after holding it in for a long time. "Farming on a computer?"

Stealing? Isn't that teaching people to be bad? Who would play such a pointless game?

"Dad, don't think it's boring. People in the city are under a lot of pressure these days, so they like to do this to relieve stress."

"Relieve stress? I think it's just a waste of time and energy!" Luo Xinde slammed his hand on the table, his attitude resolute. "No way! I don't agree! Our family runs a legitimate business! Raising pigs, farming—those are real, honest businesses! How can we get involved in this kind of frivolous stuff? What's the difference between this and running a casino?"

"Dad, how can this be a casino? We don't gamble."

"So how do you make money? You can't just let people play for free, can you?"

"We can sell some supplies," Luo Wen interjected. "For example, if you want your vegetables to grow faster, you can buy our fertilizer. If you're worried about people stealing your vegetables, you can buy a dog to watch over them. These things aren't expensive, just a dollar or two."

"One or two yuan?" Li Minxia shook her head repeatedly upon hearing this. "Xiyuan, how many do we need to sell to break even?"

Building a factory these days costs hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Is your plan even feasible?

"Mom, don't underestimate this little bit of money. If a lot of people play, it adds up to an astronomical figure," Luo Xiyuan explained. "The key to this is the sheer number of people. One person might spend ten yuan a month. But if a hundred thousand people play, that's a million yuan a month!"

One million!

This number made Luo Xinde and Li Minxia gasp in shock.

But they still didn't believe it.

"One hundred thousand people? How is that possible?" Luo Xinde shook his head vigorously. "The entire county probably doesn't even have one hundred thousand people. Who would spend money on a stupid game? I certainly wouldn't."

"Dad, Mom, I know it's hard for you to understand what I'm saying right now." Seeing that a direct approach wouldn't work, Luo Xiyuan decided to try a different strategy. "How about this? We don't need to decide right now. There's a company in Shanghai that has already developed this game. Let's go to Shanghai as a family and check it out in person. We'll see for ourselves how they made it and whether anyone is actually playing it. After that, we'll decide whether or not to invest money. What do you think?"

A trip to Shanghai for an inspection?

This proposal piqued Luo Xinde's interest.

He has never been to Shanghai in his life.

"Go and take a look—that's a good idea." He hesitated for a moment.

"Then...it must cost a lot of money to go there, right?" Li Minxia was still worried about the cost.

"Mom, it won't cost much. Just think of it as a family trip," Luo Xiyuan said with a smile. "Dad has worked so hard for so long, it's time for him to see the world."

"Who says I'm unsophisticated?" Luo Xinde retorted defiantly.

"Alright, it's settled then!" Luo Xiyuan made the final decision.

She knew that only by bringing her father to Shanghai and letting him see firsthand that vibrant and opportunity-filled new world could his views be truly changed.

Looking at his daughter's unwavering gaze, Luo Xinde finally nodded, but still muttered something under his breath.

"Fine, I'll go to Shanghai with you! I want to see what kind of lousy game company can be worth more than our pigs!"