Chapter 1: Do You Yearn for Wealth?
Seventeen minutes of clandestine indulgence in a car, eleven consecutive passionate kisses!
Chen Hao’an, chairman of Kehai Group, the rising star among Port City’s entrepreneur-listed companies, was caught cheating with a beauty queen before his wedding. The identity of his mysterious fiancée remains unknown...
The paparazzi’s covert photograph was a bit blurry, with Chen Hao’an’s face partially obscured by the beauty inside the car.
Those reporters sure moved fast! Barely two hours after the tip-off, the news was trending across major media platforms. Excellent, truly excellent! Just a casual test with a random girl and Chen Hao’an’s true colors were revealed.
A cheating cat may be forgiven, but a cheating man has no way out!
“Hello, Secretary Ye? Immediately arrange funds to short Kehai Group and cancel my wedding. Whether the venue has been set up or not, tear it all down. Today I’ll play the philanthropist—donate the entire budget. I don’t even want to touch that money; it’s filthy.
Also, send out the article I had you retract: ‘Inheriting a Hundred Billion Family Fortune, Becoming Port City’s Youngest Female Tycoon in History.’ Release it to the media.”
Li Tian’er set down her phone, lifted a crystal wine glass, and stared at the rich liquid within, imagining Chen Hao’an tomorrow, groveling at her feet and begging for mercy like a dog. She smiled, lips curved.
What of malice? Who cares if she’s disliked? Her ambitions reach the heavens, and her fate is thicker than paper—thicker even than gold.
“Do you desire wealth?”
Suddenly, a deep male voice echoed in her mind.
Ah, so this private vintage from a century-old winery also induces auditory hallucinations!
Li Tian’er put the glass down.
“Do you desire wealth?” The magnetic voice repeated.
“No, I am wealth itself,” she replied, her eyes growing distant. Wealth was nothing but a number to her; she’d been surrounded by it since childhood, yet isolated from the world. She’d finally managed to go abroad alone, hoping to experience love as an ordinary girl, only for it to end like this!
Is there true love in this world? Men always turn rotten once they have money!
“Do you desire wealth?”
“Are your eyes bad? Do I look like someone in need of money?”
“…Do you desire wealth—and men?”
“Go away! What men could I possibly lack?” she scoffed.
Li Tian’er’s gaze dimmed, as if recalling something.
“…Perhaps a loyal puppy, the gentle kind…”
Before she could finish her thought, a sharp pain stabbed her chest, her limbs trembling uncontrollably.
The sound of the wine glass shattering, her phone ringing, everything before her faded into mist. When the last glimmer of light vanished, the world seemed to freeze.
––––––––––––––––––––
March 1990. At the entrance of Xingqiu Town, along National Road 229 in the north, ice and snow lingered, and the spring chill was biting.
On the eaves of a low, squat house hung a faded bluish-white wooden sign. Under the incandescent light, the bold black characters reading “Xingqiu Sundry Shop” were still quite striking.
As dusk deepened, vehicles along the highway became scarce. Granny Li tidied up, closed the wooden door, switched off the light, and called her granddaughter to bed from behind the door.
Li Tian’er sat at her desk, lost in thought. Her workbook lay empty, untouched.
After being struck on the head with chalk by her bewildered teacher today, she slowly came to terms with the reality: she had transmigrated and become Li Jixiang.
Li Jixiang, thirteen, a student in Class Four, Grade Six at Xingqiu Town Primary School. Thirteen years ago, on a starless night, she was left at Granny Li’s doorstep at the town entrance. Granny Li adopted her and named her Jixiang.
Granny Li’s only mute son became Li Jixiang’s father. The town, sympathetic to their poverty, granted them a license for the sundry shop to make a living. Her mute father passed away three years ago.
On the wall hung her father’s black-and-white photograph. Li Jixiang gazed up at the man—his features blurred, but his youthful handsomeness faintly discernible.
“Jixiang, hurry and finish your homework, lights will go out soon.”
“Huh? Oh…”
Not knowing what homework the teacher assigned, unable to explain tomorrow at school… All thanks to that damned system. Now she was just a school kid forced to do homework.
Li Jixiang rested her head on the desk and sighed… So this is the so-called wealth system? From elite student to lonely child in a small rural town—how was she supposed to get rich?
Could there be any more miserable tasks? Just as resentment flared, darkness engulfed her—power outage!
In the pitch black, a holographic image appeared: a brown square spinning before her eyes. On its left, “Wealth Base Level” was displayed; on its right, “Popularity Value” and a string of pink digits—00000000.
She counted the zeroes—eight digits. Ten million!
“What on earth is this?”
“Wealth system. Popularity unlocks the wealth base. The wealth base creates wealth.”
The familiar deep male voice echoed in her mind once more.
“What do you mean? Explain more clearly, please.”
“…”
She held her breath, waiting for an explanation, but only the spring wind rattled the window frame.
“What nonsense!”
Li Jixiang pouted in frustration, but there was nothing she could do about the entity lurking in her mind. Clearly, this would require her own ingenuity.
The next morning, carrying two roasted sweet potatoes and a boiled egg granny gave her, she entered the classroom where several students already sat in small clusters. At the window in the last row, a pale, skinny girl waved at her.
Li Jixiang vaguely recalled her as her deskmate, Ma Hongmei, who’d been absent yesterday due to illness.
“Why didn’t you come to my house after school yesterday to tell me the homework?” Ma Hongmei grabbed her arm before she even sat down. Seeing Ma Hongmei’s pout, Li Jixiang felt an urge to twist her neck. She herself didn’t know the homework and would surely be scolded by the teacher.
Li Jixiang underestimated how harsh their homeroom teacher, Zhang Chunfen, could be when punishing students for not doing their assignments—after a hand smacking, she had to stand by the wall for the entire class. After forty-five minutes, her legs were numb and motionless.
She cursed this menopausal hag! No, she was just a wretched skeleton, lacking even a trace of beauty.
Supported back to her seat by Ma Hongmei, Li Jixiang felt utterly aggrieved. It was only unfinished homework—why such severity? The red welts on her palm throbbed painfully; she had never been beaten in her life.
“You’ve been punished before—why so delicate today? Here, let me roll an egg white over your hand, it’ll ease the pain.”
For Ma Hongmei, punishment was routine. She grabbed the boiled egg warmed by Li Jixiang’s body heat, but Li Jixiang snatched it back.
“Nice try! You just want my egg, don’t you?”
Caught out, Ma Hongmei scratched her messy hair and laughed sheepishly. Her stomach rumbled, eyes fixed on Li Jixiang peeling the roasted sweet potato. She couldn’t help but swallow.
“Go ahead, eat.” Li Jixiang placed the other sweet potato before Ma Hongmei, who quickly broke it open and began munching.
“My mother had another fit yesterday, so I stayed home with her,” Ma Hongmei said, blowing on her food like recounting someone else’s story.
“What about your dad?” Li Jixiang asked.
“My dad’s a convict, you know that already. No point talking about him. I barely ever saw him. My mom’s illness is from all the stress he caused—gambling, wasting money, nearly lost both of us. I wish he’d never be released…”
Ma Hongmei was used to having nothing. If she could live hand-to-mouth with her mother making paper boxes, she was content.
Compared to Ma Hongmei, Li Jixiang didn’t feel so pitiable. At least she had granny and a sundry shop, and a boiled egg to eat each day.
Li Jixiang drifted through her classes, making sure not to forget the homework assignments at the end of the day. Carrying her blue floral schoolbag home, her cloth shoes pinched more with every step; her toes felt tortured, and each stride hurt.
“Damn system, come out! I truly desire wealth now…”