Chapter 456 - 280: His Highness the Prince

Chapter 456: Chapter 280: His Highness the Prince

The kind of situation where a great favor breeds great resentment hadn’t happened yet, and Lin Chu didn’t really believe it would. It wasn’t that he was too optimistic about human nature; he was just very confident in himself.

’Who could possibly be more awesome than me?’

’Even if it did happen, it wouldn’t matter. I’d just chalk it up as another data point for observing the diversity of human nature.’

"Me? Alright, then lend me ten million. I’ll hand it over for you to manage, you can trade for me, and I’ll just take fifty percent of the profits. That’s enough."

Wang Zhefei, that little smartass, was the first to reply, proposing a brilliant plan. It was a textbook example of getting something for nothing. If a pie fell from the sky, he’d be too lazy to open his mouth to catch it; he’d need someone to chew it up and feed it to him.

Apparently feeling his request was a bit much, Wang Zhefei quickly sent another message: "Okay? Daddy, my dear daddy."

Lin Chu: ...

"Don’t call me Dad. I don’t have a rebellious son like you. Send me your account number! Trade it yourself!"

Lu Ming: "Hahahahaha, I’m already in the market. I even got a few million from my dad. But you can never have too much money, so thanks, Brother Chu. @Brother Fei, if you want someone to manage your funds, I can do it too. I’ll only take ten percent of the winnings. Don’t stop me, I’m on fire right now! [JPG]."

He sent a screenshot from his stock trading app.

It showed that in the past few trading days, his principal of over six million had already earned him a profit of over one and a half million. He’d definitely gotten his piece of the pie.

In a bull market like this, the ones not making money were in the minority.

With a strong enough tailwind, even a pig can fly.

Li Kai chimed in: "No wonder you’ve been so quiet these past two days. Turns out you were getting rich on the sly. You’re treating tonight. I want to drink Romanée-Conti, I’ve got a craving for it."

Lu Ming: "No way. Two hundred thousand is enough for me to buy a lot of Moutai stock. Who knows how much it’ll be worth in two months? Right now, I’ve only got a thousand yuan left in my WeChat wallet. I’m even eating all my meals at home!"

Hu Ping’an: "Brother Ming, you’re a beast! But Brother Chu, I don’t play the stock market. I’m all about real industry now—keeping my feet on the ground, rolling up my sleeves."

’Someone who’s died once is just different.’

’Steady.’

’So damn steady.’

Perhaps because of his age, Lu Ming had probably never suffered any real setbacks. Instead, he’d only tasted success first.

’But he was a rich second-generation kid, after all. They never suffer setbacks growing up.’

The group chat quickly lit up with all sorts of jokes, both proper and improper.

Lin Chu watched with a grin, a strange feeling welling up inside him. This, it seemed, was what a loving and caring family felt like.

"Hello..."

Suddenly, his view darkened as a tall, slender figure appeared before him, blocking the orange lamplight. A sweet female voice spoke.

Lin Chu looked up and saw what looked like an adult-sized "foreign doll"—an adult’s body with a doll’s face, blonde hair, and very fair skin. Her features had an elfin quality to them. Ethnically, she was clearly a Sister Mao, but she spoke Chinese, bundled up in a pure white down jacket.

She was holding a sketch. Tilting her head slightly, she smiled and handed it to Lin Chu.

"I just drew this of you. Do you like it?"

Lin Chu: Uh.

’Is she hitting on me?’

A faint smile appeared on his lips. This feeling wasn’t bad. His energy and spirit had been really good lately, and he’d been turning a lot of heads on the street.

If you compared a photo of him from six months ago to how he looked now, the difference was extremely obvious—night and day.

Six months ago, his skin was dull, his eyes lifeless, and his appearance unkempt. He was the very picture of a workhorse.

Now, he was so handsome and stylish he could walk right into a male escort club and start working. He wasn’t sure he could be the top star, but he definitely wouldn’t be lacking for clients.

"Thank you."

"It’s a very nice drawing."

Lin Chu glanced at it and smiled nonchalantly. He had no intention of inviting her to sit and chat, even coming across as a bit aloof and cool.

’Trying to pick me up?’

’Let’s see some passion from you, then.’

He’d already had a romantic encounter during his travels once before in Dali. It had been a wonderful experience at first, and he’d even gained something from it, but in the end, it had just made him raise his standards for women by another huge notch.

As for the mantra of "don’t initiate, don’t refuse, don’t take responsibility"—he was quite good at the "don’t refuse" and "don’t take responsibility" parts. He was only just starting to master the "don’t initiate" part.

It was a mental scar left over from his "scared of being poor" days, one he had to correct.

The cool and aloof "male god" type never goes out of style.

Dongnya looked at the cool, refined young man before her and sat down gracefully across from him. "I was watching you from over there. I think you’re so elegant, like a Prince."

"PFFT..."

"COUGH, COUGH..."

Lin Chu had just taken a sip of warm pear soup. Hearing her words, he immediately sprayed most of it out, soaking his book and choking on a few drops.

The "Prince" was in great discomfort, trying hard to cough the foreign substance out of his windpipe.

’What kind of Mary Sue line was that?’

Wiping his mouth, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Lin Chu was truly at a loss for words for a moment. Even the young couple at the next table, a man and a woman, were snickering.

Dongnya seemed to realize there was a problem with her choice of words. Blushing slightly, she apologized, "I’m sorry, my Chinese might not be very good."

"It’s already pretty good. Maybe just read fewer romance novels in the future."

Lin Chu teased with a smile. The context and descriptions in Chinese were truly vast and profound; that kind of linguistic intuition was really too difficult for non-native speakers.

"Oh, oh..."

"Can I get to know you? My name is Dongnya."

She shrugged and naturally extended her hand. Lin Chu glanced at her, deciding to humor her attempt to strike up a conversation. He reached out and shook her hand. "Lin Chu."

The notifications from the group chat were still chiming, DING DONG, DING DONG. After checking them, Lin Chu’s gaze returned to the girl sitting across from him. She had pulled her phone out of her bag, opened her WeChat QR code, and pushed the screen in front of him. She blinked, her lips pressed lightly together, looking somewhat nervous.

’To be fair, girls from the "Fighting Nation" really are direct.’

Lin Chu smiled and scanned it.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the man at the next table give him a thumbs-up—’Dude, you’re the man! A Sister Mao is actually hitting on you!’

’It’s no big deal.’

If he acted all flattered and overwhelmed that a Sister Mao was hitting on him, that would just reveal a deep-seated inferiority complex.

’I’m a freaking male god. Is it really so strange for someone to hit on me?’

As they sat there, making small talk, Lin Chu got a clear picture of who she was.

An art student from Moscow University, here at Changbai Mountain to sketch. A sophomore. Her grandfather was in the military, her grandmother was in the military, her father and mother were both in the military, her three older brothers were also in the military, and her one younger brother was about to join... a family as "Red" as they come. He hadn’t asked about any of this; she’d volunteered it all.

Perhaps because she’d been so well-protected by her family growing up, she had an air of simplicity and naivety about her. But her conversation also revealed a rather privileged family background.

She could be considered... a rich, beautiful girl from Moscow.

This girl had a baffling admiration for "traditional Chinese culture," but her understanding wasn’t very authentic. It was mixed with a lot of trendy vocabulary. She’d clearly read a lot of historical romance and Scar literature, and had probably watched a ton of Mary Sue dramas too. Her head was full of pink-colored shit.

"So you came here all by yourself?"

Lin Chu asked casually. The conversation was starting to warm up. She was pretty interesting, and besides, the snow outside was getting thicker. He might as well use it as a way to kill time.

"Mhm, I came from over by the Heihe River. I just like it better here, so I’ve been staying."

"Your family is okay with you being out here all by yourself?"

"Isn’t China the safest country in the world?"

She asked, batting her long eyelashes, her tone full of conviction, as if it were a matter of course. It left Lin Chu speechless and not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

’What the hell?’

’Convert’s zeal?’

Still, a sense of patriotic, "Red" pride naturally swelled in his heart.

"Besides, I have a black belt in Taekwondo! Don’t underestimate me, I’m really tough!"

She made a show of balling her long, fair hand into a fist.

Lin Chu: ...

’Tsk.’

’So adorably fierce.’

’But, little Sister Mao, the danger isn’t from physical threats. It’s from the sugar-coated bullets of scumbags. Believe it or not... I could sweet-talk you out of your panties?’

...

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