After The Vicious Cannon Fodder Was Reborn

Tao Mu recalled that at this point in his last life, he just returned to the Shen family, and because of the huge gap in expectations, he had a strong hostility towards Shen Yu. However, everyone in the Shen family chose to not use their brains when dealing with matters related with Shen Yu, choosing Shen Yu’s side no matter how ridiculous, which greatly affected Tao Mu. Regardless of the opposition of the Shen family, he insisted on driving Shen Yu out of the Shen family——his attitude was quite fierce and his methods were quite clumsy.

For example, he transferred to the college where Shen Yu studied at, and applied for the finance major to prove that he was better than Shen Yu who majored in literature; forcibly squeezed into Shen Yu’s circle of friends, inciting Shen Yu’s friends to target Shen Yu; deliberately suppressing Shen Yu during filming. He even went to the shop where Shen Yu worked part-time and acted as a villain…..Now that he thought back about it, Tao Mu himself felt ridiculously retarded.

That was to say, everything that he did to make trouble for Shen Yu were basically things that could only happen in such immature “abusing the heart” silly white sweet plot stories. In the normal world, it was likely that only mentally retarded people would do these kind of idiotic things.

But at that time, it was precisely because of Tao Mu’s brainless actions that those who originally didn’t like Shen Yu or had no feelings in regards to Shen Yu gradually became attracted by Shen Yu. They felt that this young man was pure and removed from this earthly world, completely different from the many cheap sluts in the entertainment industry. He had a crystal heart, untainted by the world, a little angel who had a slender and gentle appearance but tough and kind-hearted soul.

As a result, these admirers began to act as Shen Yu’s protectors. Not doing anything every day, except for saving Shen Yu from any minor difficulty, all they did was to make trouble for him. Although they didn’t like each other, in the end, in the process of constantly face-slapping him, they forged a strange friendship of comrades-in-arms. Finally, under Shen Yu’s influence, they all put down their grudges and lived harmoniously. They even joined hands to form a business alliance with the Shen family at the core.

After being reborn, out of the influence of IQ-lowering buff, Tao Mu jumped out of the plot logic and reviewed the past again, and found that many plot points were actually worth pondering. Such as——

“Xiao Mu? Xiao Mu?”

After being patted on the shoulder a few times, Tao Mu came back to himself: “Huh?”

“What are you thinking, so immersed in your thoughts?” Meng Qi chuckled softly, “What do you think of your brother Yao’s proposal?”

“What?” Tao Mu looked at Liu Yao blankly.

Liu Yao gave his cub an annoyed look. One shouldn’t be distracted when talking about business!

“What I and your brother Xiao Qi mean is that the waters in Shanghai are too deep and the situation is too complicated, so you little children should not get involved.” It was too easy to accidentally smash the pot! (TN: expression for messing things up, getting in trouble)

“Leave it to us.” Liu Yao said: “I will have Da Hui make a trip——”

“It’s best not to have brother Da Hui go.” Tao Mu said out of caution, “Brother Da Hui had been tailing Luo Yang. If he appears in Shanghai at this juncture, it may attract the attention of interested people. “

After being reborn, Tao Mu would never underestimate the luck of Shen Yu and his group of admirers. So he would be more careful when doing anything——and even still, there was no guarantee. But so long as he could delay for a while while he completed his early stage accumulation to the point he had the ability to stand up against the storm, it wouldn’t matter how he exposed himself then.

In Tao Mu’s original plan, he prepared to act on his knowledge of future decisive opportunities. With Tao Mu’s understanding of Yao Wenxiao, so long as Yao Wenxiao saw Luo Yang shamelessly sticking around Shen Yu, he would definitely not be able to bear it. At that time, if Yao Wenxiao acted the same as in the previous life and decided to one sidedly make enemies with Luo Yang, then he would not do anything. Tao Mu would just choose the right opportunity to hand over the photos Feng Yuan took. If Yao Wenxiao unexpectedly decided to endure it, then he would find a way to add more fire.

As for the way of delivering the photos, this was also something that required particular attention. Tao Mu hadn’t figured out yet, whether posing as paparazzi and post some photos in some gossip tabloids to attract Yao Wenxiao’s attention, or just send the photos to Yao Wenxiao directly.

But he didn’t need to worry too much about such trivial matters. Tao Mu’s real killer move would be in the business circle, instigating the two families and their businesses to fight each other——

Although Sheng’an Group made a fortune from restaurants and catering, it had been operating well over these years and possessed sufficient funds, even beginning to expand to other industries. And in China, if one had capital and connections, the best business to do was real estate.

So long as the Sheng’an Group was not stupid, it would naturally focus on this slab of fat meat.

Tao Mu recalled that at this point in his previous life, Sheng’an Group was planning to buy a plot of land and officially enter the real estate industry in Shanghai. It happened that both the Shen family and the Luo family took a fancy to this plot of land. The three major groups would participate in the bidding held by the Shanghai Municipal Government in October. The person representing the Shen Group was Shen Chen, the person representing the Sheng’an Group was Yao Wenxiao’s second uncle, and the person representing the Luo Group was Luo Yang.

Although Tao Mu didn’t know what father Luo was thinking, actually going to the extent of rejecting the opinions of the board and sending such a useless guy to preside over such an important project related to the future development of the group. But all in all, according to the plot development in the previous life, Luo Yang would definitely unwittingly reveal the base price of the Luo Group while getting in a jealous spat with Yao Wenxiao. However, Yao Wenxiao did not tell the Sheng’an Group after learning this information, but revealed the Luo Group’s base price to Shen Chen. In the end, the Shen family defeated the Luo Group by a mere one million to obtain the land.

After getting the land, the Shen family did not choose to eat the meat alone in order to appease the Sheng’an Group and the Luo Group. Instead, they agreed to join forces to develop this land. This was also the first time Shen Yu’s admirers and the Shen family joined forces in the business circle.

At that time, Tao Mu had just returned to the Shen family’s house, and as an 18-year-old boy who had just come from the bottom of society and had no sense of business, he was completely unaware of the inner workings of such things. But after being reborn, Tao Mu could see a lot of things from Shen Chen’s move.

What was more interesting was that Tao Mu also knew the base prices of all bidding companies.

Then there were many tricks he could play on this matter.

In the next week, the development of FlyNews, as Tao Mu expected, quickly expanded to Yan Film and other universities in Beijing. Even the drama academy in Shanghai had been affected by the school beauty and hunk competition, and students started to register FlyNews accounts one after another.

In addition, Tao Mu once advertised on Weibo, so even some social netizens also joined in the fun and registered a FlyNews account. However, after Tao Mu perfected the programming code, these idle members of society could no longer participate in the selection of school beauty and hunk, which was dominated by universities and colleges. They could only vote.

On the other side, under Long Tianao’s active supervision, Summer Star Entertainment’s artists had also begun to move into FlyNews. The entry of these stars also brought along a group of fans. The input of these fans allowed Tao Mu to launch voting activities outside of the school beauty and hunk competition to Most Beautiful lists.

In addition to the independent selection of school beauty and hunk, this ranking was aimed at people in society who had never studied at university or had already graduated. Taking into account the status quo of a large number of stars automatically bringing along fans, this ranking could basically be regarded as the most beautiful in the entertainment industry.

This headline, which looked very attention grabbing at first glance, immediately aroused the excitement of all fans. Fans who had other idols couldn’t tolerate Summer Star Entertainment idols acting like the “Monkey King”, and began to upload photos of their idols to FlyNews to participate in the competition. Under such operation, the number of website visits soared.

Long Tianao reported to Tao Mu the number of celebrities who had joined FlyNews every night. Inspired by those excited netizens, Long Tianao was not satisfied after all the artists of Summer Star Entertainment registered on FlyNews. He even used his uncle’s influence to privately contact the agents of those artists who were uploaded by their fans and passively participated in the ranking of “Most Beautiful”. And then politely invited these people to register for a FlyNews account. This level of effort was simply comparable to that of the as yet to be employed advertising department and outreach department managers of FlyNews.

Long Tianao’s uncle was the largest shareholder of Summer Star Entertainment, and Long Tianao was the most favored young master of the Long family. Although these agents were puzzled when they received the call from Long Tianao, they did not want to throw a wet blanket on Long Tianao’s interest because of such a trivial matter. So they also registered without giving it much care. At the beginning they truly didn’t care all too much, but soon, this group of people felt the benefits of Internet celebrities and Internet traffic.

But these were all in the afterword.

On Friday night, Tao Mu treated Long Tianao to dinner to express thanks for Long Tianao’s hard work——he had to admit that this kid really helped a lot. Tao Mu was really surprised by the capability of this rich second generation.

“How about it, I’m amazing!” In the elegantly decorated private room, Long Tianao crossed his arms over his chest and proudly asked for credit: “Now you know that having a friend like me is especially useful at critical times, right!”

Tao Mu smiled lightly, and answered “Yes” decisively, taking the initiative to pour Long Tianao a glass of beer.

Long Tianao also felt a little flattered. Omg, so many days of hard work was really not in vain, you finally showed a good face towards this brother.

“In fact, in addition to the celebrity artists, I also asked my friends to register at FlyNews. They are all crazy for it now, saying things like ‘don’t know who is so talented, actually inventing such an awesome website’. This was simply a beauty ranking plus magical dating device. And they all agree that the person who can invent this kind of website must be the same people. They even rushed me to invite you over to play together so that they can know you.”

As Long Tianao spoke, he paid attention to Tao Mu’s expression: “But I know you are very busy lately and don’t have time to deal with them so I didn’t agree. But I have to say, my friends are from very influential backgrounds. If you need it, you can get to know each other. Everyone is about the same age and can play together.”

There was a pause. Long Tianao seemed to still be pissed, and muttered: “Don’t worry, my friends are very different from people like Luo Yang.”

Tao Mu chuckled lightly. He knew what Long Tianao meant. He wanted to say that he would not bully people like Luo Yang. But who knew how much truth was in it. After all, Long Tianao also knew Shen Yu, and the relationship between the two seemed to be pretty good.

After being reborn, Tao Mu dared not underestimate Shen Yu’s protagonist halo. If he didn’t take precautions carefully, maybe one day, this kid Long Tianao would successfully stab him in the back. He couldn’t afford such a thing.

However, Tao Mu would not show the slightest hint of his true thoughts on the surface. He picked up the wine glass and knocked it against Long Tianao’s, warmly coaxing: “Young master Long is a loyal and reasonable person, you are definitely different from surname Luo.”

Long Tianao liked to see Tao Mu smiling gently at him, even his bones felt lighter by two pounds, and his big tail couldn’t help but wag wildly behind him. He lifted his chin proudly: “Of course. I’m definitely not going to bully you. We are good friends. If you don’t believe me, go outside and find out, I am known to treat my friends well.”

Tao Mu had met many people in his two lifetimes, but this was the first time he had seen someone who shamelessly praised himself like Long Tianao.

Long Tianao looked at Tao Mu who suddenly laughed, and chuckled along stupidly: “Right. You believe it too?”

“I believe it.”

If Tao Mu was willing, he could lower his posture to please anyone. Even Cheng Baodong’s constant stubbornness was not a problem. What’s more, Long Tianao was much simpler and easier to get along with.

Therefore, Long Tianao ate very happily during this meal. He felt that he and Tao Mu could finally put aside the grudges of the past and happily make friends. He even offered to introduce Tao Mu to a possible girlfriend——

“My sister, blood related, let me tell you she is very cute. When you see her you will definitely like her. I think that with you being so handsome and so talented my sister will also like you. How about on another day you let me introduce the two of you? Let me tell you, my dad and my mom really cherishes her. If you really marry my sister, you will be able to struggle arduously in your career at least 20 years less.” Long Tianao was a little bit drunk, showing two fingers with a serious face to Tao Mu, insisting on Tao Mu becoming his brother-in-law.

Tao Mu didn’t expect that he only gave Long Tianao a few smiles, and yet coaxed Long Tianao into actually willing to go to this extent. Maybe he went a little overboard.

“No, no, there’s no need. I’m still young and don’t want to have a girlfriend.”

“Don’t mind! You are so handsome, it would be wasteful not to have a girlfriend. I tell you, my sister is really cute. She has a very good personality, much better than mine. And she likes handsome guys the most. If she sees you she will definitely fall in love at first sight and insist on marrying you and no one else!”

If that was the case then they definitely should not meet.

“I am an actor. I cannot have a girlfriend so early. It will affect future development in the entertainment circle.”

“Nothing to it! I tell you, my uncle likes my sister a lot too. If you are with my sister, my uncle will definitely support you. As long as Summer Star Entertainment has the resources, you can have your pick. I will also have my uncle find his old classmates for resources that we don’t have. Let me tell you, do you know who my uncle’s old classmates are? What director of this TV station, the director of that department, the award winning directors, the producers, etc. My dad knows everyone. Just say what you want to act.”

“I don’t want to act in anything. Just don’t introduce your sister to me and I will thank you.”

Tao Mu looked at Long Tianao, who was obviously drunk, with black lines on his face. He could feel a splitting headache. Finally, he managed to send this drunk away. The next day, he still had to go to Li Xiaoheng’s welcoming dinner.

In fact, Tao Mu didn’t understand why Li Xiaoheng returned to Beijing at this juncture. This was the point when the international oil futures market was most turbulent. The market shakes were particularly severe. Anyone who was not careful might risk a forced margin call. Tao Mu didn’t even dare to sleep at night, staring at the market like a hunting eagle. He was almost at the point of drinking some stimulants to stimulate the brain.

And Li Xiaoheng unexpectedly ran back at this time!

Oi, could you have some damn awareness of doing business? (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

But after the meeting, Tao Mu realized that Li Xiaoheng actually had serious things and must come back——the most important life event of all serious things!

“What. Auntie actually pretended to be sick to deceive you to return to China for a blind date?” Luo Yang couldn’t help but laughed in the luxuriously decorated private room, “I say, auntie is too talented.”

“I didn’t expect my mother would actually do such a thing.” Li Xiaoheng sighed particularly helplessly. He was really busy in M country. More than one billion dollars sounded like a lot, but the current international crude oil market had accumulated a huge pool of at least hundreds of billions of dollars under the impetus of those international capitalists. Under the agitation of those international investors, private investors like him were nothing at all.

It was like being in a fishing boat struggling constantly in a turbulent tsunami. If one was careless, one could either be crushed by the frantic and turbulent market or torn apart by the aftermath of the continuous collision of many sides. The pressure was so high that he couldn’t even sleep every day, practically having developed neurasthenia. And yet his family was making trouble for him.

Li Xiaoheng felt a headache and pressed his temples. He then looked at Tao Mu with emotion: “I heard Luo Yang say that you created a very interesting website. I tried it myself last night and also thought it was really good. Whenever you need financing, you can come to me.”

Tao Mu smiled warmly: “Thank you, brother Li.”

He looked at Li Xiaoheng subtly. The other was still in a classic three-piece suit, black hair all combed back, revealing a smooth forehead. His eyes were deep, the bridge of his nose was tall, his appearance handsome, and demeanor elegant. His whole person looked like a typical Wall Street person——his whole body exuding the powerful aura necessary for the financial elite. As if he was ready for a high-intensity business negotiation to come at any time. However, the bloodshot eyes and constant movements of massaging his temples all revealed his fatigue.

Tao Mu’s eyes flickered slightly, and he said very considerately: “I think you look tired and you should take a good rest. Don’t drink Pu’er tea, you can change to a pot of valerian root tea. After eating this meal, go back and get a good night’s sleep.”

The hand Li Xiaoheng stretched towards the teacup paused for a moment, and then retracted without a trace. In truth, he didn’t want to participate in any welcoming dinner today. He had always hated noisy venues and urgently needed sleep. But Luo Yang told him that today’s welcoming dinner only consisted of them and Tao Mu.

Li Xiaoheng didn’t know what he was thinking, he just heard Tao Mu’s name, and when he had come back to his senses he had already agreed to Luo Yang’s invite.

“Alright.” Li Xiaoheng obediently replaced the Pu’er with valerian root on Tao Mu’s suggestion.

Luo Yang watched his childhood friend, who had always been stubborn, actually abandoning his beloved Pu’er under Tao Mu’s persuasion, and suddenly he seemed to have seen a ghost: “You would listen to him?”

Li Xiaoheng smiled when he heard the words, and looked at Tao Mu with an affectionate expression: “In our business, we must listen to what investment consultants say.”

Luo Yang was stunned when he saw this, but before he had time to ask when Li Xiaoheng had become so familiar with Tao Mu, Li Xiaoheng had already got close to Tao Mu and began to talk to Tao Mu about his experience in shorting international crude oil in M country during this period of time.

Tao Mu did not mention to Li Xiaoheng that he was also shorting international crude oil. But he did have a lot of his own thoughts after personally trying his hand for a few months. Usually he had no one to discuss and could only think about it by himself. But at this moment, from his discussion with Li Xiaoheng he benefited a lot.

Luo Yang didn’t understand any of this and was of course not interested in the exchanges of financial terms between the two. It was just that  watching these two people so engrossed in talking, he suddenly had the illusion that he was an electric light bulb. (TN: electric light bulb is same as third wheel)

Luo Yang shook his head a little amused, and forcefully interrupted: “I say you two, don’t discuss such boring topics when you come out to eat. The food will be indigestible discussing such things.”

Li Xiaoheng laughed involunatrily and looked at Tao Mu apologetically and said, “Sorry, my occupational disease. I really shouldn’t talk about these things when I come out to dinner. How about you invite me to watch a movie another day?”

Tao Mu was about to speak when he suddenly reacted and realized that Li Xiaoheng said “you invite me to watch a movie”.

Luo Yang was also puzzled: “What the hell is asking people to treat you to a movie? Shouldn’t the normal way of speaking be you asking him to watch a movie?”

After a pause, Luo Yang still felt that something was wrong. Two grown men, why ask each other to watch a movie?

Li Xiaoheng continued to smile warmly, and patiently explained: “Because I am not proficient in this area. Xiao Mu is a professional. Of course he knows which movies are good and which are not good. He chooses what he is interested in, and I appreciate a high standard film. Isn’t this the best of both worlds?”

Could this be understood in such a way? Luo Yang looked dazedly at his childhood friend, feeling that something was wrong here.

Tao Mu also felt that this way of thinking was a bit different from ordinary people. However, those who have worked on Wall Street for many years were not the same as normal people. So Tao Mu didn’t feel conflicted too much, in any case, he also wanted to make good friends with Li Xiaoheng. There was nothing wrong with spending more time with each other. Thinking about this, Tao Mu patiently asked, “How long can you stay in China?”

Li Xiaoheng couldn’t get angry with his own mother, so he casually taught an aunt, who instigated his mother to pretend to be sick, a lesson. After that, Luo Yang called him out for this welcoming dinner. Now when seeing Tao Mu, he suddenly felt that his decision not to go back immediately was correct.

“I can stay here for two more days. I will return to M country in two days.” Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu with warm eyes, waiting patiently for Tao Mu’s reply.

Tao Mu: “…..”

Tao Mu: “I’ll go back and check if there are any good movies recently. I’ll call you later.”

“Great.” Li Xiaoheng still had a warm smile on his face. Agreeing very happily.

Luo Yang looked at Tao Mu and then at Li Xiaoheng, and couldn’t help but ask: “Then uh, what’s the fun of two grown men watching movies, why don’t you take me together——”

“We two grown men can watch the movie and meanwhile also discuss finance and economics.” Li Xiaoheng looked serious and said, “Don’t you dislike these topics? Besides, you will represent the Luo Group to Shanghai in two days at the land bidding. Don’t you need to prepare for such a big project?”

Tao Mu’s ear twitched, and he immediately looked at Luo Yang: “Are you going to Shanghai?”

Tao Mu’s attitude towards Luo Yang had always been very cold. Suddenly speaking to him at this moment, Luo Yang was a little flattered and nodded again and again: “Ang~ Our Luo Group wants to develop a piece of land in Shanghai. My dad asked me to bid for it.”

Tao Mu hooked up a corner of his mouth and looked at Luo Yang with a half-smile: You actually know competitive bidding?”

“I don’t know.” Luo Yang’s face blushed: “But I don’t need to know. The people under have already prepared, and they know everything that must be done. My role is to just be a human bidding machine. Just submit the bidding proposal at the bidding meeting.”

After speaking, Luo Yang moved closer with a smile: “Why, are you also interested in real estate?”

Tao Mu shook his head and spoke very straightforwardly: “I just heard that Miss Luo takes care of most of the affairs of the Luo Group. I thought Miss Luo would be responsible for such an important project as the group bidding.”

Luo Yang sneered: “Of course she wants to be responsible. It’s a pity that my dad wouldn’t let her. I don’t know what my dad is thinking. You say, my sister is doing a good job so why force me to do it. Now every day she looks at me like I’m her enemy.”

Tao Mu said thoughtfully: “I heard that Miss Luo is also responsible for the management of Longteng Entertainment?”

Luo Yang squinted his eyes as he looked at Tao Mu: “Why are you always asking about my sister? She is ten years older than you!”

Tao Mu gave Luo Yang an annoyed look: “My FlyNews needs influential stars to register and promote it. I hope to talk to Miss Luo and see if she can get Longteng Entertainment’s artists to enter FlyNews. “

Luo Yang suddenly realized: “I heard that the artists of Summer Star Entertainment have also joined FlyNews. That kid, Long Tianao is quite sincere.”

As he spoke, Luo Yang’s tone became more and more sour: “In fact, you can ask me for help on this matter.”

Tao Mu looked at Luo Yang and responded unceremoniously: “Do your words count at Longteng Entertainment?”

Luo Yang: “…..”

Luo Yang looked at Tao Mu with an aggrieved look: “I will tell my sister about this tomorrow. But let me give you a heads-up first. My relationship with my sister is not very good. Don’t think she will directly help you because of me.”

Tao Mu smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I know. You only need to introduce your sister to me.”

“So confident?” Luo Yang squinted his eyes as he looked at Tao Mu: “Are you planning to use the honeytrap scheme?”

Tao Mu was too lazy to bother responding to Luo Yang. But Li Xiaoheng, after hearing this, looked at Tao Mu thoughtfully.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

The dinner lasted more than two hours. After dinner, Li Xiaoheng sent Tao Mu back to school. Before getting out of the car, Li Xiaoheng suddenly stopped Tao Mu——

“Huh?” Tao Mu looked back.

Li Xiaoheng hesitated for a while, and said with a smile: “Good night. Rest early.”

Tao Mu smiled: “You too.”

Tao Mu recalled that at this point in his last life, he just returned to the Shen family, and because of the huge gap in expectations, he had a strong hostility towards Shen Yu. However, everyone in the Shen family chose to not use their brains when dealing with matters related with Shen Yu, choosing Shen Yu’s side no matter how ridiculous, which greatly affected Tao Mu. Regardless of the opposition of the Shen family, he insisted on driving Shen Yu out of the Shen family——his attitude was quite fierce and his methods were quite clumsy.

For example, he transferred to the college where Shen Yu studied at, and applied for the finance major to prove that he was better than Shen Yu who majored in literature; forcibly squeezed into Shen Yu’s circle of friends, inciting Shen Yu’s friends to target Shen Yu; deliberately suppressing Shen Yu during filming. He even went to the shop where Shen Yu worked part-time and acted as a villain…..Now that he thought back about it, Tao Mu himself felt ridiculously retarded.

That was to say, everything that he did to make trouble for Shen Yu were basically things that could only happen in such immature “abusing the heart” silly white sweet plot stories. In the normal world, it was likely that only mentally retarded people would do these kind of idiotic things.

But at that time, it was precisely because of Tao Mu’s brainless actions that those who originally didn’t like Shen Yu or had no feelings in regards to Shen Yu gradually became attracted by Shen Yu. They felt that this young man was pure and removed from this earthly world, completely different from the many cheap sluts in the entertainment industry. He had a crystal heart, untainted by the world, a little angel who had a slender and gentle appearance but tough and kind-hearted soul.

As a result, these admirers began to act as Shen Yu’s protectors. Not doing anything every day, except for saving Shen Yu from any minor difficulty, all they did was to make trouble for him. Although they didn’t like each other, in the end, in the process of constantly face-slapping him, they forged a strange friendship of comrades-in-arms. Finally, under Shen Yu’s influence, they all put down their grudges and lived harmoniously. They even joined hands to form a business alliance with the Shen family at the core.

After being reborn, out of the influence of IQ-lowering buff, Tao Mu jumped out of the plot logic and reviewed the past again, and found that many plot points were actually worth pondering. Such as——

“Xiao Mu? Xiao Mu?”

After being patted on the shoulder a few times, Tao Mu came back to himself: “Huh?”

“What are you thinking, so immersed in your thoughts?” Meng Qi chuckled softly, “What do you think of your brother Yao’s proposal?”

“What?” Tao Mu looked at Liu Yao blankly.

Liu Yao gave his cub an annoyed look. One shouldn’t be distracted when talking about business!

“What I and your brother Xiao Qi mean is that the waters in Shanghai are too deep and the situation is too complicated, so you little children should not get involved.” It was too easy to accidentally smash the pot! (TN: expression for messing things up, getting in trouble)

“Leave it to us.” Liu Yao said: “I will have Da Hui make a trip——”

“It’s best not to have brother Da Hui go.” Tao Mu said out of caution, “Brother Da Hui had been tailing Luo Yang. If he appears in Shanghai at this juncture, it may attract the attention of interested people. “

After being reborn, Tao Mu would never underestimate the luck of Shen Yu and his group of admirers. So he would be more careful when doing anything——and even still, there was no guarantee. But so long as he could delay for a while while he completed his early stage accumulation to the point he had the ability to stand up against the storm, it wouldn’t matter how he exposed himself then.

In Tao Mu’s original plan, he prepared to act on his knowledge of future decisive opportunities. With Tao Mu’s understanding of Yao Wenxiao, so long as Yao Wenxiao saw Luo Yang shamelessly sticking around Shen Yu, he would definitely not be able to bear it. At that time, if Yao Wenxiao acted the same as in the previous life and decided to one sidedly make enemies with Luo Yang, then he would not do anything. Tao Mu would just choose the right opportunity to hand over the photos Feng Yuan took. If Yao Wenxiao unexpectedly decided to endure it, then he would find a way to add more fire.

As for the way of delivering the photos, this was also something that required particular attention. Tao Mu hadn’t figured out yet, whether posing as paparazzi and post some photos in some gossip tabloids to attract Yao Wenxiao’s attention, or just send the photos to Yao Wenxiao directly.

But he didn’t need to worry too much about such trivial matters. Tao Mu’s real killer move would be in the business circle, instigating the two families and their businesses to fight each other——

Although Sheng’an Group made a fortune from restaurants and catering, it had been operating well over these years and possessed sufficient funds, even beginning to expand to other industries. And in China, if one had capital and connections, the best business to do was real estate.

So long as the Sheng’an Group was not stupid, it would naturally focus on this slab of fat meat.

Tao Mu recalled that at this point in his previous life, Sheng’an Group was planning to buy a plot of land and officially enter the real estate industry in Shanghai. It happened that both the Shen family and the Luo family took a fancy to this plot of land. The three major groups would participate in the bidding held by the Shanghai Municipal Government in October. The person representing the Shen Group was Shen Chen, the person representing the Sheng’an Group was Yao Wenxiao’s second uncle, and the person representing the Luo Group was Luo Yang.

Although Tao Mu didn’t know what father Luo was thinking, actually going to the extent of rejecting the opinions of the board and sending such a useless guy to preside over such an important project related to the future development of the group. But all in all, according to the plot development in the previous life, Luo Yang would definitely unwittingly reveal the base price of the Luo Group while getting in a jealous spat with Yao Wenxiao. However, Yao Wenxiao did not tell the Sheng’an Group after learning this information, but revealed the Luo Group’s base price to Shen Chen. In the end, the Shen family defeated the Luo Group by a mere one million to obtain the land.

After getting the land, the Shen family did not choose to eat the meat alone in order to appease the Sheng’an Group and the Luo Group. Instead, they agreed to join forces to develop this land. This was also the first time Shen Yu’s admirers and the Shen family joined forces in the business circle.

At that time, Tao Mu had just returned to the Shen family’s house, and as an 18-year-old boy who had just come from the bottom of society and had no sense of business, he was completely unaware of the inner workings of such things. But after being reborn, Tao Mu could see a lot of things from Shen Chen’s move.

What was more interesting was that Tao Mu also knew the base prices of all bidding companies.

Then there were many tricks he could play on this matter.

In the next week, the development of FlyNews, as Tao Mu expected, quickly expanded to Yan Film and other universities in Beijing. Even the drama academy in Shanghai had been affected by the school beauty and hunk competition, and students started to register FlyNews accounts one after another.

In addition, Tao Mu once advertised on Weibo, so even some social netizens also joined in the fun and registered a FlyNews account. However, after Tao Mu perfected the programming code, these idle members of society could no longer participate in the selection of school beauty and hunk, which was dominated by universities and colleges. They could only vote.

On the other side, under Long Tianao’s active supervision, Summer Star Entertainment’s artists had also begun to move into FlyNews. The entry of these stars also brought along a group of fans. The input of these fans allowed Tao Mu to launch voting activities outside of the school beauty and hunk competition to Most Beautiful lists.

In addition to the independent selection of school beauty and hunk, this ranking was aimed at people in society who had never studied at university or had already graduated. Taking into account the status quo of a large number of stars automatically bringing along fans, this ranking could basically be regarded as the most beautiful in the entertainment industry.

This headline, which looked very attention grabbing at first glance, immediately aroused the excitement of all fans. Fans who had other idols couldn’t tolerate Summer Star Entertainment idols acting like the “Monkey King”, and began to upload photos of their idols to FlyNews to participate in the competition. Under such operation, the number of website visits soared.

Long Tianao reported to Tao Mu the number of celebrities who had joined FlyNews every night. Inspired by those excited netizens, Long Tianao was not satisfied after all the artists of Summer Star Entertainment registered on FlyNews. He even used his uncle’s influence to privately contact the agents of those artists who were uploaded by their fans and passively participated in the ranking of “Most Beautiful”. And then politely invited these people to register for a FlyNews account. This level of effort was simply comparable to that of the as yet to be employed advertising department and outreach department managers of FlyNews.

Long Tianao’s uncle was the largest shareholder of Summer Star Entertainment, and Long Tianao was the most favored young master of the Long family. Although these agents were puzzled when they received the call from Long Tianao, they did not want to throw a wet blanket on Long Tianao’s interest because of such a trivial matter. So they also registered without giving it much care. At the beginning they truly didn’t care all too much, but soon, this group of people felt the benefits of Internet celebrities and Internet traffic.

But these were all in the afterword.

On Friday night, Tao Mu treated Long Tianao to dinner to express thanks for Long Tianao’s hard work——he had to admit that this kid really helped a lot. Tao Mu was really surprised by the capability of this rich second generation.

“How about it, I’m amazing!” In the elegantly decorated private room, Long Tianao crossed his arms over his chest and proudly asked for credit: “Now you know that having a friend like me is especially useful at critical times, right!”

Tao Mu smiled lightly, and answered “Yes” decisively, taking the initiative to pour Long Tianao a glass of beer.

Long Tianao also felt a little flattered. Omg, so many days of hard work was really not in vain, you finally showed a good face towards this brother.

“In fact, in addition to the celebrity artists, I also asked my friends to register at FlyNews. They are all crazy for it now, saying things like ‘don’t know who is so talented, actually inventing such an awesome website’. This was simply a beauty ranking plus magical dating device. And they all agree that the person who can invent this kind of website must be the same people. They even rushed me to invite you over to play together so that they can know you.”

As Long Tianao spoke, he paid attention to Tao Mu’s expression: “But I know you are very busy lately and don’t have time to deal with them so I didn’t agree. But I have to say, my friends are from very influential backgrounds. If you need it, you can get to know each other. Everyone is about the same age and can play together.”

There was a pause. Long Tianao seemed to still be pissed, and muttered: “Don’t worry, my friends are very different from people like Luo Yang.”

Tao Mu chuckled lightly. He knew what Long Tianao meant. He wanted to say that he would not bully people like Luo Yang. But who knew how much truth was in it. After all, Long Tianao also knew Shen Yu, and the relationship between the two seemed to be pretty good.

After being reborn, Tao Mu dared not underestimate Shen Yu’s protagonist halo. If he didn’t take precautions carefully, maybe one day, this kid Long Tianao would successfully stab him in the back. He couldn’t afford such a thing.

However, Tao Mu would not show the slightest hint of his true thoughts on the surface. He picked up the wine glass and knocked it against Long Tianao’s, warmly coaxing: “Young master Long is a loyal and reasonable person, you are definitely different from surname Luo.”

Long Tianao liked to see Tao Mu smiling gently at him, even his bones felt lighter by two pounds, and his big tail couldn’t help but wag wildly behind him. He lifted his chin proudly: “Of course. I’m definitely not going to bully you. We are good friends. If you don’t believe me, go outside and find out, I am known to treat my friends well.”

Tao Mu had met many people in his two lifetimes, but this was the first time he had seen someone who shamelessly praised himself like Long Tianao.

Long Tianao looked at Tao Mu who suddenly laughed, and chuckled along stupidly: “Right. You believe it too?”

“I believe it.”

If Tao Mu was willing, he could lower his posture to please anyone. Even Cheng Baodong’s constant stubbornness was not a problem. What’s more, Long Tianao was much simpler and easier to get along with.

Therefore, Long Tianao ate very happily during this meal. He felt that he and Tao Mu could finally put aside the grudges of the past and happily make friends. He even offered to introduce Tao Mu to a possible girlfriend——

“My sister, blood related, let me tell you she is very cute. When you see her you will definitely like her. I think that with you being so handsome and so talented my sister will also like you. How about on another day you let me introduce the two of you? Let me tell you, my dad and my mom really cherishes her. If you really marry my sister, you will be able to struggle arduously in your career at least 20 years less.” Long Tianao was a little bit drunk, showing two fingers with a serious face to Tao Mu, insisting on Tao Mu becoming his brother-in-law.

Tao Mu didn’t expect that he only gave Long Tianao a few smiles, and yet coaxed Long Tianao into actually willing to go to this extent. Maybe he went a little overboard.

“No, no, there’s no need. I’m still young and don’t want to have a girlfriend.”

“Don’t mind! You are so handsome, it would be wasteful not to have a girlfriend. I tell you, my sister is really cute. She has a very good personality, much better than mine. And she likes handsome guys the most. If she sees you she will definitely fall in love at first sight and insist on marrying you and no one else!”

If that was the case then they definitely should not meet.

“I am an actor. I cannot have a girlfriend so early. It will affect future development in the entertainment circle.”

“Nothing to it! I tell you, my uncle likes my sister a lot too. If you are with my sister, my uncle will definitely support you. As long as Summer Star Entertainment has the resources, you can have your pick. I will also have my uncle find his old classmates for resources that we don’t have. Let me tell you, do you know who my uncle’s old classmates are? What director of this TV station, the director of that department, the award winning directors, the producers, etc. My dad knows everyone. Just say what you want to act.”

“I don’t want to act in anything. Just don’t introduce your sister to me and I will thank you.”

Tao Mu looked at Long Tianao, who was obviously drunk, with black lines on his face. He could feel a splitting headache. Finally, he managed to send this drunk away. The next day, he still had to go to Li Xiaoheng’s welcoming dinner.

In fact, Tao Mu didn’t understand why Li Xiaoheng returned to Beijing at this juncture. This was the point when the international oil futures market was most turbulent. The market shakes were particularly severe. Anyone who was not careful might risk a forced margin call. Tao Mu didn’t even dare to sleep at night, staring at the market like a hunting eagle. He was almost at the point of drinking some stimulants to stimulate the brain.

And Li Xiaoheng unexpectedly ran back at this time!

Oi, could you have some damn awareness of doing business? (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

But after the meeting, Tao Mu realized that Li Xiaoheng actually had serious things and must come back——the most important life event of all serious things!

“What. Auntie actually pretended to be sick to deceive you to return to China for a blind date?” Luo Yang couldn’t help but laughed in the luxuriously decorated private room, “I say, auntie is too talented.”

“I didn’t expect my mother would actually do such a thing.” Li Xiaoheng sighed particularly helplessly. He was really busy in M country. More than one billion dollars sounded like a lot, but the current international crude oil market had accumulated a huge pool of at least hundreds of billions of dollars under the impetus of those international capitalists. Under the agitation of those international investors, private investors like him were nothing at all.

It was like being in a fishing boat struggling constantly in a turbulent tsunami. If one was careless, one could either be crushed by the frantic and turbulent market or torn apart by the aftermath of the continuous collision of many sides. The pressure was so high that he couldn’t even sleep every day, practically having developed neurasthenia. And yet his family was making trouble for him.

Li Xiaoheng felt a headache and pressed his temples. He then looked at Tao Mu with emotion: “I heard Luo Yang say that you created a very interesting website. I tried it myself last night and also thought it was really good. Whenever you need financing, you can come to me.”

Tao Mu smiled warmly: “Thank you, brother Li.”

He looked at Li Xiaoheng subtly. The other was still in a classic three-piece suit, black hair all combed back, revealing a smooth forehead. His eyes were deep, the bridge of his nose was tall, his appearance handsome, and demeanor elegant. His whole person looked like a typical Wall Street person——his whole body exuding the powerful aura necessary for the financial elite. As if he was ready for a high-intensity business negotiation to come at any time. However, the bloodshot eyes and constant movements of massaging his temples all revealed his fatigue.

Tao Mu’s eyes flickered slightly, and he said very considerately: “I think you look tired and you should take a good rest. Don’t drink Pu’er tea, you can change to a pot of valerian root tea. After eating this meal, go back and get a good night’s sleep.”

The hand Li Xiaoheng stretched towards the teacup paused for a moment, and then retracted without a trace. In truth, he didn’t want to participate in any welcoming dinner today. He had always hated noisy venues and urgently needed sleep. But Luo Yang told him that today’s welcoming dinner only consisted of them and Tao Mu.

Li Xiaoheng didn’t know what he was thinking, he just heard Tao Mu’s name, and when he had come back to his senses he had already agreed to Luo Yang’s invite.

“Alright.” Li Xiaoheng obediently replaced the Pu’er with valerian root on Tao Mu’s suggestion.

Luo Yang watched his childhood friend, who had always been stubborn, actually abandoning his beloved Pu’er under Tao Mu’s persuasion, and suddenly he seemed to have seen a ghost: “You would listen to him?”

Li Xiaoheng smiled when he heard the words, and looked at Tao Mu with an affectionate expression: “In our business, we must listen to what investment consultants say.”

Luo Yang was stunned when he saw this, but before he had time to ask when Li Xiaoheng had become so familiar with Tao Mu, Li Xiaoheng had already got close to Tao Mu and began to talk to Tao Mu about his experience in shorting international crude oil in M country during this period of time.

Tao Mu did not mention to Li Xiaoheng that he was also shorting international crude oil. But he did have a lot of his own thoughts after personally trying his hand for a few months. Usually he had no one to discuss and could only think about it by himself. But at this moment, from his discussion with Li Xiaoheng he benefited a lot.

Luo Yang didn’t understand any of this and was of course not interested in the exchanges of financial terms between the two. It was just that  watching these two people so engrossed in talking, he suddenly had the illusion that he was an electric light bulb. (TN: electric light bulb is same as third wheel)

Luo Yang shook his head a little amused, and forcefully interrupted: “I say you two, don’t discuss such boring topics when you come out to eat. The food will be indigestible discussing such things.”

Li Xiaoheng laughed involunatrily and looked at Tao Mu apologetically and said, “Sorry, my occupational disease. I really shouldn’t talk about these things when I come out to dinner. How about you invite me to watch a movie another day?”

Tao Mu was about to speak when he suddenly reacted and realized that Li Xiaoheng said “you invite me to watch a movie”.

Luo Yang was also puzzled: “What the hell is asking people to treat you to a movie? Shouldn’t the normal way of speaking be you asking him to watch a movie?”

After a pause, Luo Yang still felt that something was wrong. Two grown men, why ask each other to watch a movie?

Li Xiaoheng continued to smile warmly, and patiently explained: “Because I am not proficient in this area. Xiao Mu is a professional. Of course he knows which movies are good and which are not good. He chooses what he is interested in, and I appreciate a high standard film. Isn’t this the best of both worlds?”

Could this be understood in such a way? Luo Yang looked dazedly at his childhood friend, feeling that something was wrong here.

Tao Mu also felt that this way of thinking was a bit different from ordinary people. However, those who have worked on Wall Street for many years were not the same as normal people. So Tao Mu didn’t feel conflicted too much, in any case, he also wanted to make good friends with Li Xiaoheng. There was nothing wrong with spending more time with each other. Thinking about this, Tao Mu patiently asked, “How long can you stay in China?”

Li Xiaoheng couldn’t get angry with his own mother, so he casually taught an aunt, who instigated his mother to pretend to be sick, a lesson. After that, Luo Yang called him out for this welcoming dinner. Now when seeing Tao Mu, he suddenly felt that his decision not to go back immediately was correct.

“I can stay here for two more days. I will return to M country in two days.” Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu with warm eyes, waiting patiently for Tao Mu’s reply.

Tao Mu: “…..”

Tao Mu: “I’ll go back and check if there are any good movies recently. I’ll call you later.”

“Great.” Li Xiaoheng still had a warm smile on his face. Agreeing very happily.

Luo Yang looked at Tao Mu and then at Li Xiaoheng, and couldn’t help but ask: “Then uh, what’s the fun of two grown men watching movies, why don’t you take me together——”

“We two grown men can watch the movie and meanwhile also discuss finance and economics.” Li Xiaoheng looked serious and said, “Don’t you dislike these topics? Besides, you will represent the Luo Group to Shanghai in two days at the land bidding. Don’t you need to prepare for such a big project?”

Tao Mu’s ear twitched, and he immediately looked at Luo Yang: “Are you going to Shanghai?”

Tao Mu’s attitude towards Luo Yang had always been very cold. Suddenly speaking to him at this moment, Luo Yang was a little flattered and nodded again and again: “Ang~ Our Luo Group wants to develop a piece of land in Shanghai. My dad asked me to bid for it.”

Tao Mu hooked up a corner of his mouth and looked at Luo Yang with a half-smile: You actually know competitive bidding?”

“I don’t know.” Luo Yang’s face blushed: “But I don’t need to know. The people under have already prepared, and they know everything that must be done. My role is to just be a human bidding machine. Just submit the bidding proposal at the bidding meeting.”

After speaking, Luo Yang moved closer with a smile: “Why, are you also interested in real estate?”

Tao Mu shook his head and spoke very straightforwardly: “I just heard that Miss Luo takes care of most of the affairs of the Luo Group. I thought Miss Luo would be responsible for such an important project as the group bidding.”

Luo Yang sneered: “Of course she wants to be responsible. It’s a pity that my dad wouldn’t let her. I don’t know what my dad is thinking. You say, my sister is doing a good job so why force me to do it. Now every day she looks at me like I’m her enemy.”

Tao Mu said thoughtfully: “I heard that Miss Luo is also responsible for the management of Longteng Entertainment?”

Luo Yang squinted his eyes as he looked at Tao Mu: “Why are you always asking about my sister? She is ten years older than you!”

Tao Mu gave Luo Yang an annoyed look: “My FlyNews needs influential stars to register and promote it. I hope to talk to Miss Luo and see if she can get Longteng Entertainment’s artists to enter FlyNews. “

Luo Yang suddenly realized: “I heard that the artists of Summer Star Entertainment have also joined FlyNews. That kid, Long Tianao is quite sincere.”

As he spoke, Luo Yang’s tone became more and more sour: “In fact, you can ask me for help on this matter.”

Tao Mu looked at Luo Yang and responded unceremoniously: “Do your words count at Longteng Entertainment?”

Luo Yang: “…..”

Luo Yang looked at Tao Mu with an aggrieved look: “I will tell my sister about this tomorrow. But let me give you a heads-up first. My relationship with my sister is not very good. Don’t think she will directly help you because of me.”

Tao Mu smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I know. You only need to introduce your sister to me.”

“So confident?” Luo Yang squinted his eyes as he looked at Tao Mu: “Are you planning to use the honeytrap scheme?”

Tao Mu was too lazy to bother responding to Luo Yang. But Li Xiaoheng, after hearing this, looked at Tao Mu thoughtfully.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

The dinner lasted more than two hours. After dinner, Li Xiaoheng sent Tao Mu back to school. Before getting out of the car, Li Xiaoheng suddenly stopped Tao Mu——

“Huh?” Tao Mu looked back.

Li Xiaoheng hesitated for a while, and said with a smile: “Good night. Rest early.”

Tao Mu smiled: “You too.”