Chapter 85: Would You Like to Invest?

According to Song Chao and the others, Wei Dongming had become increasingly brazen this semester in the dorm, his mouth growing ever more vulgar, picking fights with anyone he could, like Bao Budong from "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils," always contradicting whatever anyone said.

After hearing Song Chao and the others' explanation, Cao Sheng thought of two words: nitpicker.

The evolved nitpicker Wei Dongming naturally annoyed people; over the past few months, he'd had several conflicts with Song Chao and the others in the dorm.

So when Wei Dongming just now announced in the cafeteria that he'd found a girlfriend and was treating everyone to a meal, Song Chao and the others had no intention of giving him face.

These events never happened in the original timeline.

In the original timeline, Cao Sheng lived in the dorm throughout university.

He never saw Wei Dongming change like this.

Yet now it had become this way, leaving Cao Sheng puzzled: could my not living in the dorm cause such an effect?

Without me in the dorm, does a nitpicker just emerge?

Do I have some kind of sealing effect on nitpickers?

He couldn't figure out how this butterfly effect had arisen.

…

Unaware of it, another butterfly effect was unfolding.

That afternoon, Tan Lei finished two classes and was let out early.

She carried her books and notes, laughing and chatting with several roommates as they left the classroom, when suddenly they heard the class monitor calling out: "Tan Lei! Tan Lei, wait a moment!"

Tan Lei and her roommates stopped and turned around.

The tall class monitor, Meng Gengqing, strode over with a bright smile, nodded to Tan Lei's roommates, and said, "Ladies, go ahead—I need to speak with Tan Lei alone. Bye!"

Tan Lei's roommates exchanged a few jokes and left one by one.

Tan Lei frowned slightly. "Monitor, what's up?"

Meng Gengqing waved her over, signaling her to follow him.

Tan Lei, puzzled, followed Meng Gengqing to the end of the corridor, where she saw him open the door to an empty classroom and beckon her inside.

She wrinkled her brow, a flicker of caution rising in her mind; under Meng Gengqing's urging, she stepped only one pace into the room, ready to retreat at any moment.

"Monitor, what's this secret business of yours? Can you finally tell me?"

The handsome Meng Gengqing smiled, reached into his coat, pulled out an apple, and held it toward Tan Lei. His eyes met hers, soft and earnest, as he whispered, "Tan Lei! This apple is for you—I like you. Be my girlfriend?"

In that instant, Tan Lei felt a flicker of déjà vu—as if this scene had happened before.

She didn't know that—in the original timeline—she had accepted Meng Gengqing's pursuit during university.

After all, Meng Gengqing wasn't bad: tall, decent-looking, class monitor, while Cao Sheng, whom she liked, had never responded to her repeated hints.

In terms of education, both Meng Gengqing and she were undergraduates; Cao Sheng was only a junior college student.

So in the original timeline, she had accepted Meng Gengqing's pursuit.

But now, looking at the apple he offered, at his sincere yet nervous gaze, her mind flashed with Cao Sheng's figure, with newspaper reports about him, with his image on television…

Thinking of these, she acknowledged that Meng Gengqing, though outwardly impressive and one of the most outstanding boys in class,

still stirred no affection in her heart.

Her heart remained still as water.

She still liked Cao Sheng.

So she gave Meng Gengqing the friend card.

"Monitor, thank you for the apple—you're great, truly great—but we're not suited. You should give this apple to another girl. I've got things to do—I'll be going."

With that, she waved goodbye and turned away, without a single glance back.

Left alone, Meng Gengqing stood there, smiling bitterly.

…

Evening.

Huang Qingya arrived at Cao Sheng's place; he was preparing hot pot—they had previously agreed to spend Christmas Eve together.

Today he had pre-simmered a pot of duck soup and planned to use it as the broth base for a split-pot hot pot.

As Cao Sheng chopped vegetables in the kitchen, Huang Qingya stood beside him, biting into a red apple, chewing as she said, "Mmm, your apple's good! Really tasty—how much did you pay per jin?"

She'd seen eight or nine large, bright red apples on the coffee table in the living room, and they looked so tempting she'd washed one to eat.

With so many apples, she never suspected they might have been gifts from someone else.

Because this year, the trend was to give one apple to someone you liked.

Cao Sheng glanced at the apple in her hand and chuckled, "Didn't pay attention to the price when I bought it."

Huang Qingya looked at him with a smiling gaze. "Big author, you're so generous—you don't even check prices when you shop."

Cao Sheng smiled.

A moment later, the hot pot was set on the dining table.

Cao Sheng warmed a bottle of yellow wine with boiling water, and he and Huang Qingya began eating.

His cooking wasn't exceptional, but the duck-soup-based hot pot broth was impossible to make badly.

Huang Qingya was thoroughly satisfied.

Perhaps because she was so satisfied, her service afterward was especially attentive.

She completely dispelled the growing fire in Cao Sheng's body.

That night, she didn't leave—she stayed over at his place for the first time.

The next morning, after breakfast, she put on her coat, scarf, and gloves, and pushed her bicycle out the door—when Cao Sheng, seeing her off, suddenly had the thought of buying a car.

He thought: if I had a car, she wouldn't have to ride her bicycle through the cold wind when we go out together this winter.

Before his rebirth, he owned an SUV.

Ever since he had that car, fishing, traveling, and dating had all become much more convenient.

Before buying a car, dating his girlfriend was inconvenient; Xia Tian could only meet at night, battling mosquitoes, or in winter, only during the day, bundled up in thick clothes.

Because summer days were scorching hot and winter nights bitterly cold.

The amount in his bank account now was more than enough to buy a sedan.

Over the past two months, his royalty income had been substantial.

Every month, Huacheng Publishing sent him a share of royalties from "Living with an Air Stewardess."

For the past two months, 60,000 yuan had been deposited each month.

The royalty payments from Changjiang Literature had been even higher recently.

Because his contract with Changjiang Literature offered a higher royalty split, structured as a tiered system: the higher the sales of "I Wish to Become an Immortal," the higher his royalty percentage.

There was also the royalty payment from Xinchang Publishing each month.

For the past two months, he submitted three episodes per month to Xinchang Publishing, each worth 10,000 yuan; thus, Xinchang had paid him 60,000 yuan over those two months.

Most writers these days earned little money.

But as the hottest new writer across the Taiwan Strait, he was making plenty.

The number in his account had already reached hundreds of thousands.

He could afford a Mercedes, a BMW, or an Audi.

Yet reason reminded him: these funds should be invested, not spent on a car for comfort; Huang Qingya had ridden a bicycle for years and didn't mind riding another two; besides, braving cold winds in winter and sunlight in summer would make her stronger—good for her.

As he hesitated whether to buy a car, two days later, just after Christmas, someone from Rongshuxia arrived.

This time, the station chief Zhu Weilian came in person.

Upon meeting, as Zhu Weilian shook hands with Cao Sheng, he asked: "Mr. Cao, are you interested in investing in Rongshuxia?"