Chapter 0396: New Ideas

"What's with that look of disgust?" Zhao Fusheng asked after walking for a while, glancing at Tan Kaixuan beside him, who seemed utterly reluctant.

"No kidding!" Tan Kaixuan said irritably. "I'm a grown man, and here I am strolling with you when spring is in full bloom. How could I possibly be happy?"

Zhao Fusheng looked at him with disdain. "Look at you, always thinking about women."

Tan Kaixuan chuckled, giving Zhao Fusheng a knowing look, then strode ahead.

The two walked along the school path, with people passing by from time to time. Of course, unlike in novels or movies, not everyone was in pairs.

College life could be quite dull sometimes: classes, after-school, dorms, the library, and the cafeteria. That was probably the daily routine for most students.

The lamplight at midnight and the distance, the wind at dawn and the approach, the intersection of time and space—whether long or short, it was all the same.

"Old Tan, what do you think these people will be like ten years from now?"

Zhao Fusheng and Tan Kaixuan sat on the steps, looking at the students on the field below, when Zhao suddenly spoke.

Tan Kaixuan was taken aback, then laughed. "Who knows? Some might become officials, some might be destitute, and some might not even exist anymore."

He meant it. Fate was always capricious.

"Yeah, fate..."

Zhao Fusheng sighed, muttered a few words, but said no more.

"By the way, I discussed it with Aunt Li. We'll start a trial run on May 1st and officially open on June 1st. What do you think?" Tan Kaixuan said.

Zhao Fusheng frowned. "That urgent?"

Tan Kaixuan smiled bitterly. "Brother, have you forgotten? We signed an agreement with them. If we can't recoup the cost by the end of the year, we won't get the provincial agency."

Looking at him with some surprise, Zhao Fusheng honestly hadn't expected Tan Kaixuan to care so much about this, or rather, this guy really intended to go into industry.

"What, surprised?" Tan Kaixuan naturally saw Zhao Fusheng's expression and asked with a smile.

Zhao Fusheng nodded. "I thought you still preferred that stock business."

"Yeah, so thrilling." Tan Kaixuan laughed, looking smug. "Think about it: a hundred thousand turns into over two hundred thousand in ten days. What does that mean? If I had ten million or even a hundred million, I could make even more..."

"And then?"

Seeing him stop, Zhao Fusheng asked.

"And then, who knows?" Tan Kaixuan wiped the smile off his face and looked at Zhao Fusheng. "Seriously, Wang Zhen's incident really shook me."

"Sometimes, you really can't overthink things in life."

"In this life, we meet many people and have to get used to saying goodbye."

"Money—there are many ways to earn it, and many ways to spend it."

"I don't want to be a slave to money, nor do I want to lose friends or loved ones because of making money..."

Watching Tan Kaixuan muttering to himself, Zhao Fusheng felt as if it were a lifetime ago.

In his previous life, Tan Kaixuan hadn't understood these truths until ten years later, but by then he was already trapped with no way out.

"So, I think it's better for me to stay grounded for now." Tan Kaixuan sighed, then looked up at Zhao Fusheng. "You, man, I don't know what you're scheming all day, but I feel like you're different from the rest of us."

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, then smiled and nodded. "Yeah, sometimes I don't even know what I really want."

He wasn't lying. Sometimes wanting too much makes you forget what you truly desire.

"It's okay. Whatever you want, I'll stick with you. Let's go all out!" Tan Kaixuan stood up and said seriously, just as he had in his previous life when he spoke to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng said nothing, only patted Tan Kaixuan on the shoulder.

Some words need not be spoken, just as some people need not be deliberately cultivated.

...

...

Wandering around the school, seemingly aimless, Zhao Fusheng was actually pondering what suitable thing he could do.

At this time, opening an internet café was obviously not realistic. There were already seven or eight internet cafés near the university, and the prices were low. Even if he opened a net café of the kind that would appear later, it would be useless, because students had little money in their pockets back then. With their monthly living expenses, they would rather spend ten yuan for an all-nighter than three or four yuan an hour to go online.

"The internet cafés near our school are popping up really fast."

Tan Kaixuan said to Zhao Fusheng as they walked.

Zhao Fusheng nodded. "Yeah, everyone's jumping on the bandwagon."

There were still plenty of smart people in those days. Seeing that young people loved playing on computers, opening internet cafés naturally became a trend.

But the safety measures in these internet cafés were not good. When the state came to rectify things, some people were bound to get into trouble.

But that was no longer something Zhao Fusheng needed to worry about.

"By the way, I'm planning to change my phone number." Tan Kaixuan suddenly said to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng was startled. "Why change your number?"

"Switch to a China Mobile number." Tan Kaixuan explained. "China Mobile is..."

Hearing this, Zhao Fusheng remembered that this year, the legendary China Mobile seemed to have officially been established. The story of mobile phones and mobile calls probably started around this time.

"Okay, I'll change mine too then." Zhao Fusheng said with a smile.

China Mobile's signal was still a bit better than China Unicom's.

"Hey, Lao Zhao, want to go play some games?" Tan Kaixuan suddenly said to Zhao Fusheng.

"Play games?"

Zhao Fusheng looked at Tan Kaixuan in surprise, then laughed. He had almost forgotten that this guy was a gaming enthusiast. Even after becoming rich later, he had hoarded a bunch of arcade games at home.

Speaking of which, Zhao Fusheng's eyes suddenly lit up. It seemed he had thought of what he wanted to do.

Rubbing his chin, Zhao Fusheng said to Tan Kaixuan, "Can you find all the game arcades near the school?"

Tan Kaixuan nodded. "There are only three. But the one in District Four is more fun. The other two have too few machines and not many good games."

As he spoke, he winked. "Want to play mahjong? The really interesting kind..."

When he said this, he grinned lecherously, his face full of the smile that all men understand.

Zhao Fusheng looked speechless. "Isn't it just Dream Mahjong? What's so exciting about it..."