Gangster heir? Please call me a legitimate entrepreneur.

Shen Qinghan held the kraft paper envelope containing the 50,000 yuan prize money.

The edge of the envelope pressed against the knuckle of her index finger, turning it white.

She stared at Su Ye's departing figure.

The back of that finely crafted black suit was completely wrinkle-free.

Going to the capital?

Why didn't they even bring Lei Hu's personal bodyguard?

This is clearly a trip to meet the real boss behind the scenes!

Shen Qinghan took a deep breath of the air, which was filled with the pungent smell of perfume and the sweat of the reporters.

My heart was pounding in my ribs.

She pulled her baseball cap low and quickly slipped into the stairwell at the corner of the building.

He frantically pulled out his encrypted phone.

"Beep...beep..."

Two sounds.

"Director!" she whispered, her voice brimming with barely suppressed excitement, "The big fish has taken the bait! Su Ye asked me to book tickets to Beijing tonight, just the two of us!"

"What? He went to the capital? He left Lei Hu behind?"

"Good lad, his true colors are finally showing! He's going to meet with his protectors in the capital!"

"Qinghan, stay calm. Bring your eavesdropping equipment and record the whole thing."

"The municipal bureau will contact our comrades in Beijing to cooperate secretly. If he dares to make a deal, we'll kill him and the stolen goods together!"

"clear."

Shen Qinghan hung up the phone.

He rubbed his burning cheeks vigorously in the stairwell and straightened his hat brim.

The frustration of the past six months is finally coming to an end.

Once she got her hands on the black ledger, the first thing she did was to smash the "Economic Law" book in that pervert's face.

……

8:30 p.m.

Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport.

The arrival gate was crowded with people, and the heating was on full blast, making everyone drowsy.

Su Ye was wearing a dark gray overcoat and gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose.

In his hand, he still carried that same unchanging silver thermos.

He stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass window at the exit, watching the heavy snow falling outside.

I would occasionally unscrew the lid and slurp up a mouthful of piping hot goji berry water.

Shen Qinghan followed behind, dragging a small silver suitcase.

She changed into an inconspicuous black down jacket and put an invisible miniature earphone in her ear.

"The target has landed and is waiting for the contact person at Exit 3."

She moved her lips slightly and reported in a low voice into the microphone on her collar.

Ten minutes have passed.

Twenty minutes have passed.

The flow of people waiting to pick up passengers changed wave after wave.

Su Ye had drunk half of the water in his cup, but he still hadn't seen any important figures appear.

There wasn't even a decent luxury car to pick them up from the airport.

"Mr. Su, Mr. Su."

Shen Qinghan's legs were aching from standing, and she couldn't hold back any longer, so she leaned over and asked in a low voice.

"Who are we... waiting for? Should I go call a car first?"

Su Ye didn't turn around.

He stared at the row of taxis parked haphazardly outside the window, his brow furrowing slightly.

"No need. That kid should be here soon."

He adjusted his glasses.

"He knows this place well; we'll probably get ripped off if we take a taxi."

The voice just fell.

A Hyundai Elantra taxi with peeling paint, like a broken donkey with asthma, plunged headlong into the arrival lane.

The brake pads screeched, and the car screeched to a halt in front of the two of them.

A large cloud of black smoke billowed from the exhaust pipe.

The car door opened.

A young man with messy hair and a wrinkled plaid shirt came down.

This person was as thin as a bamboo pole, with dark circles under his eyes even more severe than Chen Suan's, and he was holding a half-eaten jianbing guozi in his hand.

A cold wind blew, and he shivered from the cold.

"Hey! Brother Su! Over here! Over here!"

The young man waved the jianbing guozi in his hand and shouted at Su Ye in a hoarse voice.

Scallion pieces and crispy crumbs were scattered all over the floor.

Shen Qinghan was stunned.

She subconsciously touched the listening device under her collar.

This...this is the powerful backer in the capital?

This guy looks like a net cafe manager who hasn't showered in three days!

Su Ye, carrying a thermos, strode across the puddles of snow on the ground.

He looked at the young man's messy hair and frowned even more deeply.

"Zhang Ming, do you look like you just came back from begging under a bridge?"

The young man named Zhang Ming chuckled dryly twice.

He stuffed the rest of the pancake into his mouth in a few bites, choking so hard his eyes rolled back.

"Ahem... Brother Su, please don't make fun of me."

He patted his chest hard to catch his breath.

"I just don't have the money to manage it. Those venture capitalists kicked me out as soon as they heard I was doing some kind of algorithm recommendation. They said I was a fraudster running a pyramid scheme."

He opened the trunk of the Elantra and helped Shen Qinghan put her luggage inside.

"Brother Su, you flew all the way from Longhai, are you really going to invest in my lousy project?"

Zhang Ming closed the trunk and stared longingly at Su Ye.

His eyes looked like those of a stray dog ​​that hadn't eaten for half a month and had just seen a meat bun.

Su Ye opened the car door and climbed into the back seat.

He unscrewed the thermos and blew on the steam.

"Stop talking nonsense. Go to your crappy studio and let's talk this over."

Hyundai Elantra made its way through the snowy capital city, turning left and right.

They ventured into a dilapidated alley where several streetlights were broken.

The car was parked in front of a dilapidated office building.

Shen Qinghan followed behind, climbing up the muddy stairs.

The hallway was plastered with little "GG" signs for document processing and drain cleaning.

A musty, pungent smell of urine hit my nostrils.

"Chief, the target has made contact."

She lowered her voice and reported into the microphone, her voice filled with a strong sense of doubt.

"But the contact person... looks like a penniless guy involved in telecom fraud."

"The location is in an abandoned office building, which doesn't look like a money laundering den at all."

Li Jianguo's furious roar came through the earphones.

"Poor my foot! That's called disguise! The more inconspicuous the place, the deeper the secret!"

"This is called 'the truly wise hide in plain sight'! Su Ye is hiring technicians to help him launder money on the dark web! Keep a close eye on him!"

Climb to the fifth floor.

Zhang Ming took out a bunch of keys and fiddled with them for a long time before finally managing to open the rusty security door.

"Squeak—"

The lights were off inside, and there were instant noodle boxes and empty Red Bull cans scattered all over the floor.

The screens of the three computers, with their cases uncovered, were flashing blue light.

The keyboard was covered in cigarette ash.

"Sit anywhere, please. It's a bit messy, Su-ge."

Zhang Ming scratched his messy hair sheepishly and kicked the two instant noodle boxes into the corner with his foot.

I pulled over two old, wheeled office chairs.

He plopped down, and the chair creaked loudly.

Su Ye did not sit down.

He stood in the middle of the room, glancing disdainfully at the trash scattered on the floor.

"Zhang Ming, make this quick."

He pulled a document from the inside pocket of his coat and threw it directly onto the dusty computer desk.

"I've looked at your 'content recommendation algorithm model based on user behavior analysis'."

Zhang Ming's eyes lit up, and he jumped up.

He rubbed his hands together, so excited he was stammering.

"Su, Su-ge! You really understood it? That thing can accurately push content that users like to watch! It has huge potential!"

He became more and more excited as he spoke, gesturing wildly.

"Once you have initial capital, you can rent servers, buy bandwidth..."

"stop."

Su Ye raised her hand, interrupting him.

He picked up his thermos and slowly took a sip of water.

"I'll invest a billion in you."

"Clatter."

Zhang Ming dislocated his jaw.

He stared blankly at Su Ye, his mouth half-open, drool almost spilling out.

The room was deathly silent.

Shen Qinghan stood by the door, her hands gripping the handle of her suitcase so tightly that it was wet.

One billion?!

A poor, mediocre programmer from this run-down alley?

Is this really a money laundering channel on the dark web?

Did Director Li guess correctly?

"Ten billion?!"

Zhang Ming finally regained his voice, though his throat was cracked, sounding like a rooster whose neck had been stepped on.

His legs went weak and he almost knelt on the ground.

"Brother Su... please don't tease me. My lousy project, the investors won't even give me 100,000 yuan..."

"I'm not joking."

Su Ye pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, revealing an undeniable domineering presence behind the lenses.

"I'll provide the capital, you provide the technology. I'll hold 51% of the shares, and you'll hold 49%."

He pointed to the document on the table.

"Once this transfer agreement is signed, the 1 billion will be in your company's account first thing tomorrow morning."

Zhang Ming picked up the document with trembling hands.

My hands trembled like a leaf, and the paper rustled loudly.

He glanced at the document, then at Su Ye.

"Brother Su..."

Zhang Ming swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat.

He suddenly took two steps back, his eyes filled with terror.

"What...what exactly do you do?"

He stammered.

"My algorithm is amazing, but it's not worth a billion! You didn't steal this money, did you? I don't do anything illegal!"

Su Ye was so angry he laughed.

He placed the thermos heavily on the computer desk, shaking up a small layer of dust.

"Stolen? I just paid 50 million in taxes to the country, and I'm one of the province's top ten outstanding youths!"

He pointed at Zhang Ming's nose, expressing his disappointment and frustration.

"Let me tell you, Zhang Ming, you think this billion is a lot now. But if your lousy company is valued at less than a hundred billion in three years, I'll shave your messy hair and make you clean toilets!"

Shen Qinghan rolled her eyes as she listened from the side.

That's an outrageous boast.

A hundred billion? Just because of these few broken computers and a broken algorithm?

This is absolutely a front for money laundering!

"But...but..." Zhang Ming still didn't dare to sign, gripping the pen tightly, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

Su Ye lost his patience.

He suddenly turned his head and looked at Shen Qinghan by the door.

"Secretary Shen."

"Huh? Yes, yes." Shen Qinghan was startled and quickly straightened her back.

"Give him a lesson in the law."

Su Ye pointed at Zhang Ming, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"Tell him which of our company's trade secrets he has violated if he rejects my investment now."

Shen Qinghan was stunned.

What trade secrets? That's still far from being confirmed!

But seeing Su Ye's ambiguous smile, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and start reciting the legal provisions that Lin Dai had explained at the company.

"According to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law..."

She read it haltingly.

"During his interactions with our company, Mr. Zhang became aware of our investment intentions and business plans. If he now refuses to cooperate and discloses this information to a third party, he will face... substantial claims."

She became increasingly uneasy as she fabricated the story, and a fine layer of sweat appeared on her forehead.

Zhang Ming's face turned green when he heard the words "high compensation claim".

He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and quickly signed his name on the document.

It's like signing a contract to sell oneself into servitude.

"Brother Su, I've signed it! Please don't sue me!"

With a sob in his voice, Zhang Ming handed the document to Su Ye.

"I'll pack my things now, let's go to Longhai City to rent a server."

Su Ye took the document with satisfaction and flicked the paper.

"No need to rent in Longhai."

He picked up his thermos and turned to walk out.

"Come with me to Zhongguancun tomorrow, let's do something big. The era of short videos is coming."

Shen Qinghan followed behind, dragging her suitcase.

My mind is a complete mess.

One billion. Short videos?

This gangster boss, instead of killing people or smuggling drugs, came to Beijing to forcibly buy and sell the code of a poor programmer.

What's wrong with this world?!

Li Jianguo's roar exploded again in the earphones.

"Shen Qinghan! Did you hear me?! One billion! He's using the internet to create a new kind of money laundering network! Keep a close eye on that Zhang Ming! Find out everything about him!"