Chapter 254: Borrowing Money

Life after marriage was no different from before. If one had to say, it was that the place where Ruan Mei worked was closer, and the old lady was a bit lonely due to having fewer people of her own age to talk to.

However, the old lady not having anyone to chat with was only for this period. If nothing unexpected happened, they would still be living here for another year or two, or three. It wasn't as if there weren't other old men and women in the vicinity; after a long time, they would get to know each other.

Wang Yan himself remained as he was, but because he had moved out of the public housing and lived here in the Sha Tin Center, his clinic had correspondingly opened here as well. The place had been found long ago and was renovated together with the house.

Those who came to see him for medical treatment all knew about Wang Yan's marriage. Although it hadn't been in the newspapers, as a grand event that had gathered so many celebrities, the rumors had long since spread among the people. Not to mention that the staff at the hotel where it was held would boast to others when they had nothing to do, so they would know seven or eight out of ten; even if one tried to stop it, one couldn't. Therefore, on the first day Wang Yan sat for consultations after his marriage, the patients offered their most sincere blessings to the Hua Shen Yi Wang.

Whether these blessings were sincere or feigned, Wang Yan felt comfortable listening to them, so he had his subordinates purchase many gift boxes of pastries. Everyone queuing to see the doctor today got a share, which could be considered sharing in the joy. He sent them happily, and those who received them were also happy; after all, he was a top-tier tycoon in Hong Kong, so what he sent certainly wasn't inferior goods. Going back and bragging to others would also give them face.

As for Ruan Mei, half a month after the wedding, knowing that Ruan Mei wanted a child, Wang Yan activated his skill, a one-shot soul-entry...

After all, Ruan Mei hadn't gone through the various events with Fang Zhanbo from the original story, so she had no way to compare the life she was living now. But Wang Yan saw that Ruan Mei was quite happy, jumping and skipping every day. Because her illness was cured, Wang Yan would deliberately get up later in the morning to go out for a run and exercise with Ruan Mei. As the amount of exercise increased, Ruan Mei's face no longer had its former sickly look, replaced instead by a healthy rosy glow. Her work was stable, her man was wealthy, and the old lady, her only relative, was still healthy and could eat and drink.

Wang Yan privately thought that Ruan Mei was happy.

Although he himself was indeed not a good person, having others outside, making the marriage imperfect... but compared to the entanglement with Fang Zhanbo in the original story, finally dying of a heart attack in the prime of her youth, compared to the bright future she had now, it was truly a world of difference. Moreover, Ruan Mei didn't know he had others outside; although she occasionally had suspicions, it was ultimately harmless, which was quite good.

As for Long Jiwen, in the two months around Wang Yan and Ruan Mei's marriage, contact was indeed rare, one could even say there was no contact. However, after that, Long Jiwen called Wang Yan again, re-establishing contact, and it seemed they had even become a bit closer. Perhaps it was that damned charm of his, Wang Mou...

Time circled around to September. In the Central apartment, Fang Ting lay in Wang Yan's arms, feeling the numbness on her body, and couldn't help but lean in closer: "Brother Yan?"

"Hmm."

"I heard from Chen Taotao that Ding Xie and the others have established the Five Crabs Group and are currently seeking to go public..."

"There is such a matter. Why, does Chen Taotao want to snipe them?" Wang Yan said indifferently, unable to tell if he was happy or angry.

Fang Ting couldn't help but look up, then lay back on his chest: "Not really, he said he wanted to test the waters and see. If there's a chance to make money, then he'll make a move."

"I know what you mean. If you want to get involved, I can give you money to follow Chen Taotao and snipe Ding Xie." Wang Yan said: "Tingting, I told you before, I will deal with them by next year at the latest. Your sniping now won't hurt them; at most, it will just make them lose some money. The triad's gray industries and even black industries are their foundation."

"Moreover, the stock market is currently unstable. You've been learning with Chen Taotao for a year, so you should know how much the Hong Kong market is influenced by the United States. The US stock market has been somewhat abnormal these past two years, and many of the pushers behind the rise of the Hong Kong stock market are foreign capital, mostly from Europe, America, and Japan. I personally think the Hong Kong stock market is not very optimistic. It's currently like boiling oil on a fire; no one knows when it will explode. If you want to do it, be careful."

"Hmm, I know, Brother Yan. Don't worry." Fang Ting's focus was clearly not on Wang Yan's simple analysis and warning, but on the 'giving money' part: "I definitely won't lose money. How much... do you plan to put out, Brother Yan?"

It wasn't that she looked down on Wang Yan, it was just that Wang Yan hadn't revealed anything regarding finance. Although Long Teng's business involved finance and the performance was very good, one had to see who was doing the trading. Any random person pulled out from there would have a resume that would blow away most people in Hong Kong right now. With such subordinates, it would be strange to lose money. What did it have to do with Wang Yan?

Although Wang Yan was highly skilled in TCM and understood a lot, he ultimately didn't have any impressive achievements, and more of it was his foresight as a manager. As for the stock market, she hadn't seen him play it. Of course, Wang Yan had his current status, so Fang Ting certainly wouldn't treat his words as wind; after all, what attracted her to Wang Yan was that wise man's demeanor and spirit. However, compared to Wang Yan, she trusted Chen Taotao, the expert who dominated the stock market, more. She planned to convey Wang Yan's words when the time came to see how he judged it.

Wang Yan smiled: "How much do you want?"

Fang Ting certainly couldn't answer that, just burying her head in Wang Yan's arms and acting spoiled: "Brother Yan, how can I say that? Of course, whatever you give is what it is."

"I'll give you 15 million to play with. It doesn't matter if you make or lose money."

Wang Yan remembered that the Five Crabs Group's opening price was two dollars. This money was enough to buy over 7 million shares, enough to toss around for a while. Although he knew there was a high probability it would all be lost, it was only over 10 million. Being able to buy a woman's happiness and buy his own comfort, why not? As for why there was a high probability of losing it all, the main reason lay with Chen Taotao. Fang Ting would likely convey his words; if he believed them, then he wouldn't lose, and if he didn't, then it would be a case of losing everything and being in debt. Of course, whether Chen Taotao lived or died had nothing to do with him.

"Really?"

"When have I ever lied to you? It will arrive in the account tomorrow."

"Brother Yan..."

Looking at the charming face just inches away, Fang Ting was somewhat infatuated. In her joy, she couldn't help but lean forward to seek a kiss, leading to a scene full of spring, which was what Wang Yan called buying comfort. This wasn't even counting that when Fang Ting lost all the money, she would feel guilty, and he would be even more comfortable...

The 1987 Hong Kong stock market crash, the year Ding Xie's luck started, Wang Yan was naturally paying attention. He had checked a lot of relevant information before coming here. Although this was a film and television world and some details might be slightly different, the general trend could not be swayed by some small details; otherwise, he wouldn't have said those words to Fang Ting earlier.

Of course, Fang Zhanbo knew not to make this kind of money, and Wang Yan naturally wouldn't kick his compatriots when they were down, even though in his view, those people brought it upon themselves, and jumping off a building wasn't unjust. Mainly, if it were small change, he wouldn't mind eating a bit. But his scale was too large, and he didn't look down on small change. And once he participated, those who lost everything, had their families broken, and jumped off buildings to find death would be counted on his head.

However, he couldn't refuse this kind of money-sending matter. Just as he told Fang Ting, there had been some movements in the US stock market these past two years. He had been playing there for a long time, and up until now, he had made quite a lot, and it was in US dollars, which was much more promising than Hong Kong. Because of the game with Western capital, spending money was somewhat difficult, which once led Wang Yan to look at the money in his account during his leisure time and study ways to spend it—a happy trouble.

It was impossible for him to dump so much money into the big pit of real estate. A little was enough; it couldn't be Long Teng's main business.

In fact, even domestically, his "empty-handed white wolf" tactics weren't too excessive. It was more about circling land to build shopping malls and supporting facilities according to the local government's planning. Of course, since the supporting facilities were all built, there were certainly residential areas, but he hadn't developed them everywhere on a large scale. In Hong Kong, Wang Yan's established strategy was to operate in the Northern District and its surrounding areas, so he was buying land in the Northern District like crazy and engaging in large-scale demolition. But that was enough; he didn't plan to play with Wei Jiacheng and the others.

As for expanding existing businesses, that was naturally a matter of course. Money flowed more into manufacturing and R&D. One was constantly researching new products and improving production lines, and the other was constantly opening new projects. After all, he was doing ternary computing; not only now, but in the future, no one would play with him. A computer had so many parts, and it was all his own business. Only by constantly dumping money into it, regardless of whether there were results, could he first get the talent over to research and cultivate them. The new materials, which completely relied on fate and luck, naturally required continuous investment and could not be relaxed, constantly expanding and cultivating talent.

Currently, Long Teng's R&D personnel numbered a full 4,000, big and small. They were all treated like masters, well-fed and well-cared for, with the lowest salary starting at 8,000. Adding the 5,000+ elite subordinates of Long Teng Security, just paying the salaries for these two groups every month cost over 80 million. Adding other business employees, that was not even worth mentioning.

It was only because there was the Body-Strengthening Pill, which was a money-printing machine, that they could afford it; otherwise, with all those various accounts payable and prepaid accounts, Long Teng would have collapsed long ago, and he, Wang Mou, would have been chased to the ends of the earth. And what limited his development was mainly the production volume of the Body-Strengthening Pill.

As long as it was produced and put on the shelves, it would be gone; that was not an exaggeration at all. If there were no restrictions, and people scrambled for money regardless of their lives, because of one Body-Strengthening Pill, a third world war might not be impossible. After all, taking this thing for a long time improved the overall national physique and health, and with a better physique, life expectancy was correspondingly extended, which was closely related to the "longevity" and "life extension" that the wealthy sought. Not to mention, one could also scramble for money regardless of one's life—how good that was.

The problem of limited production volume was mainly due to the insufficient supply of raw materials, followed by the factory's production capacity. The factory's production capacity was easy to handle; in Pengcheng, factory buildings were already being expanded and production lines were being added. The raw material problem was the top priority.

Because medicinal herbs had a growth cycle, and if not raised well, production would decrease, and the efficacy wouldn't be enough. Moreover, although TCM wasn't prominent in this era, the uses of Chinese medicine weren't limited to TCM. It didn't just supply Long Teng; it also supplied other companies.

Then this led to the problem of TCM. It was correct that TCM wasn't prominent before. But now that Long Teng's Body-Strengthening Pill was out, everyone knew it was Chinese medicine. The raw materials for the medicine produced were all written on the record; even if one wanted to reverse-engineer it, one couldn't. So it greatly influenced those in the country who opposed TCM, because they truly had nothing to say. Since the Body-Strengthening Pill became a global bestseller, the voices of the Chinese-Western medicine debate in the country had quieted down a lot these past two years.

Then this problem further affected the supply of medicinal herbs, which in turn affected Long Teng's money printing. Also, although Long Teng's purchase price for medicinal herbs was very high, every place had its own planning, and the origin of medicinal herbs was also limited. There were only those few places; if the soil and climate were changed, it would be useless, and there was no way around it. Anyway, as long as the production of medicinal herbs couldn't go up, the limit was just like that.

So Long Teng also had people specifically researching how to improve the production of medicinal herbs, improve the efficacy of medicinal herbs, and research cultivation and planting in different places; these were all long-term projects.

However, even so, the Body-Strengthening Pill was a money-printing machine. There was no need to worry about production volume; anyway, it was gone as soon as it was produced. What was worth worrying about was Ruan Mei.

The next day, at the new home in Sha Tin Center, the three of them—Wang Yan, Ruan Mei, and the old lady—were eating lunch.

Suddenly, Ruan Mei, who was eating, put down her bowl and chopsticks, retched, then hurriedly ran to the bathroom. It was quite a while before she came back and sat down, patting her chest.

"I don't know what's wrong these two days, I feel dizzy and nauseous for no reason, and also, my period hasn't come for a long time. Hey, you're a divine physician, hurry and see if I've gotten sick again."

As she spoke, Ruan Mei consciously stretched out her hand and spread it on the dining table.

The old lady on the side heard Ruan Mei's words, and she gave a start, her hunched back straightening up quite a bit. She reached out and pushed her thick reading glasses, looking at Wang Yan, who was reaching out to take the pulse: "Ah Yan, do you think Ah Mei is pregnant?"

"Ah? Pregnant?" Ruan Mei was stunned for a moment, looking at Wang Yan, who was seriously taking the pulse: "Hey, is it true? You should say something."

"It's possible." After answering the old lady's words, Wang Yan backhanded a flick to Ruan Mei's forehead, his eyes glaring: "Don't move, I'm not an immortal, I have to feel it carefully."

Ruan Mei pouted, enduring her small anxiety and sullenly putting down the small fist she wanted to use for revenge, holding her breath and focusing, her big eyes staring at Wang Yan without blinking. The old lady was roughly the same, waiting for Wang Yan to speak.

Before long, Wang Yan put down her hand, shook his head, and sighed.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Ruan Mei was a little scared, her two hands tightly gripping Wang Yan's arm: "What exactly is wrong? Aiya, you speak, you're worrying me to death."

The old lady was also full of nervousness: "Yes, Ah Yan, what exactly is wrong?"

Wang Yan nodded with a chuckle: "She is indeed pregnant."

The old lady glared at Wang Yan, then happily ate her meal. Having lived with Wang Yan for so long, she naturally knew that this grandson-in-law didn't need her to explain anything, and all matters would certainly be fine. She, an old lady, shouldn't meddle blindly.

"I'm pregnant?" Ruan Mei stared with big eyes, digesting such a happy bolt from the blue. She was scared and nervous, and also giggling foolishly.

"Are you disconnected?" Wang Yan rubbed Ruan Mei's head: "Hey, come back to your senses."

The beautiful imagination was interrupted, and Ruan Mei remembered the flick to the forehead she had just received, as well as Wang Yan's long-windedness. She let out a loud cry and unleashed her signature "Divine Turtle Fist," attacking Wang Yan for dear life: "I'm already pregnant, and you're still bullying me. Beat you to death, beat you to death, let you bully me, let you bully me..."

Wang Yan naturally wouldn't resist, laughing and enduring Ruan Mei's set of fist techniques. It had to be said, now that Ruan Mei had been exercising for a period of time, her physique had improved, and her stamina and strength had correspondingly progressed; the output time was getting longer and longer, and her strength was getting greater.

Another long while passed, and Ruan Mei withdrew her stance, panting for breath. She couldn't get over Wang Yan's smiling, deadpan look, and finally delivered a ruthless one, angrily saying: "Hey, I'm already pregnant, why didn't you stop me after I beat you for so long? What if something bad happened? You're about to be a father, why don't you have any reaction at all?"

This was getting a bit intense. Of course, Wang Yan couldn't say that he had a bunch of children, let alone great-grandchildren, he even had great-great-grandchildren, so what was he excited about? Instead, he patiently soothed her: "How could I not be happy? It's just that you were too busy beating me to feel it. Also, I'm a divine physician, okay? If I can't even protect my own woman when she's pregnant, what face do I have to accept the banners people send me?"

"Your body is very good now. As long as it's not too strenuous exercise, there's no problem at all. The child you give birth to will definitely be healthy. So you don't have to worry, just do whatever you need to do. If you're really worried, I'll ask for leave for you tomorrow, and find a nanny to serve you, just stay at home and nurture the fetus, okay?"

"Really, I'm not that delicate." Ruan Mei gave Wang Yan a big eye-roll, worriedly saying: "Will my illness really not be hereditary?"

"Didn't I say it before? The probability of it being hereditary is very low. Even if it is, I, as a father, can cure it. Specifically, we'll have to wait until the child is born to know. Don't worry, there's no problem. In a while, we'll go to the hospital for a good check-up to see if there's any abnormality, okay?"

Seeing Ruan Mei nod, Wang Yan poured a glass of water and placed it in front of her: "Here, drink some water to relax, we'll go after eating."

"Alright..."

Thus, after lunch, Wang Yan took Ruan Mei to the hospital for a comprehensive check-up, which put her mind at ease. However, the only bad thing was that since knowing she was pregnant, she seemed to have a crutch and actually turned around to bully Wang Yan, as if she wanted to take revenge for the bullying she had suffered before. Now, the one cooking was Wang Yan; finding a nanny wouldn't work, she only ate the food Wang Yan cooked...

It wasn't that Ruan Mei was being difficult, it was just a small adjustment in life. Wang Yan was also happy to indulge her, laughing and arguing every day—it was a life with flavor...

Wang Yan's small life here was comfortable, but Ding Xie's process of planning the group's listing over there wasn't very smooth.

Because of the Zhongqing Society's black industry, plus Wang Yan playing tricks behind the scenes and pointing them out to a group of police, they were entangled very tightly. Plus, the times were different, and traditional triads were difficult to sustain and needed urgent transformation; this was the main reason Ding Xie turned to setting up a company to go public. Of course, it didn't exclude the intention of wanting to make money since the Hong Kong stock market had been looking good in recent years.

Of course, although the financial order and rules weren't as sound as they would be later, there was still a process for a company to go public. Ding Xie and the others weren't that awesome; they couldn't think of going public today and succeed tomorrow. This had been prepared for quite a long time, and they had reached the standard and were just planning it recently.

The reason it wasn't smooth was just like in the drama; someone wanted to take advantage and get benefits. But Ding Xie and the others felt the other party's appetite was too big and didn't want to take that much.

So, unsurprisingly, the segment at the racetrack from the drama occurred, which was the segment where Ding Xie's luck started. A round of blind buying, hitting every time, making over 20 million, and also winning a car in a bet.

Luck is a mysterious thing. Still the same sentence, even the system's living father favored this trash, so what else was there not to believe? Therefore, Wang Yan preferred to believe it existed rather than not. Otherwise, in a world that was real to him, how could that mental patient Ding Xie be so prosperous? It really didn't make sense.

Ding Xie's luck started, and he was invincible. Naturally, he solved the obstacles to the Five Crabs Group's listing, which was scheduled for October 16th.

And on October 10th, a Saturday, just as Wang Yan was about to close the door after seeing the last patient, Fang Zhanbo came over.

"A rare guest." Seeing Fang Zhanbo come in, Wang Yan smiled: "Isn't it that every time you see me, you wish you could hide three streets away? Why come to find me?"

Fang Zhanbo stood somewhat awkwardly in front of Wang Yan: "It's... it's been a long time since I've seen Brother Yan, um... happened to pass by today, knew Brother Yan's clinic had moved here, so I came to greet... greet you."

Although two years had passed, the majesty of Wang Yan firing five shots in a row was still fresh in his memory and hard to forget. Even now, occasionally having a nightmare, it was Wang Yan's smiling, punchable face. Not to mention that today, Wang Yan's status and position were so prominent, and he was just an ordinary person, so the pressure was too great.

"Your words don't match your heart." Wang Yan gave a smiling face and shook his head: "I won't eat you. Look at you shivering, what does that look like? Sit down and talk, I didn't tell you to stand in punishment."

"Ah, thank... thank you, Brother Yan." Responding, Fang Zhanbo sat obediently on the stool in front of Wang Yan where patients sat.

"Ruan Mei is pregnant, she's been very delicate lately, I even have to do the cooking." Picking up the thermos cup at hand and taking a sip of water, Wang Yan said indifferently: "I'll give you five minutes, speak if you have something to say, fart if you have something to release."

"Sister-in-law is pregnant? Really, look at me also..."

Looking at his clumsy fake affection, Wang Yan smiled: "Four more minutes."

"No, Brother Yan, I..."

"Three minutes."

Fang Zhanbo hurriedly shut his mouth; he didn't doubt at all that if he babbled two more sentences, he wouldn't be able to say a word. His heart hardened, death was death, and he gritted his teeth and said: "I want... want... want..."

He thought it out quite well, but when the words reached his lips, Fang Zhanbo found that facing Wang Yan's eyes that could see through people's hearts, he just couldn't say it.

"Two minutes." Wang Yan's impatient voice rang out indifferently.

"Uh... I want... want..."

"One minute." As the words fell, Wang Yan shook his head: "Forget it, you go back and think about it slowly."

A subordinate on the side sensibly stepped forward to frame Fang Zhanbo and was about to leave. At this moment, Fang Zhanbo shouted: "I want to borrow money."

"Borrow money?" Wang Yan even laughed. Who gave this Fang Zhanbo the guts to come find him to borrow money? He waved his hand, and the subordinate released the struggling Fang Zhanbo.

Wang Yan pointed to the stool, signaling him to sit down: "Give me a reason."

"There's no reason, you just have to lend me money!" Fang Zhanbo had let it all go; anyway, the words were already out, so he wasn't afraid of saying more.

"Say it again and let me hear." While speaking, Wang Yan pretended to reach under the table and took out a shiny, well-maintained pistol from his space, "click" cocked it, and slapped it on the table.

Fang Zhanbo's eyes jumped, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he shook like chaff. The familiar fear returned, and he couldn't help but clench his legs. Even so, he still stiffly stared into Wang Yan's calm eyes: "There... there is no... reason, you... you... just have to lend me money."

By the end, as if he had found confidence, he actually shouted it out loud.

"This is having a crutch." Wang Yan looked at Fang Zhanbo with interest: "Tell me about it."

Fang Zhanbo looked back at the subordinates on the left and right and didn't speak.

"Speak, they all know my business."

Fang Zhanbo asked: "Then I can speak?"

"My patience is limited."

"Good." Fang Zhanbo became more and more natural, saying: "I know about you and Sister Ling, and Tingting."

Wang Yan was too lazy to ask how he knew. After all, discovering some abnormalities, having strong curiosity, and paying a little attention and following them would reveal it. These two didn't have any anti-surveillance skills, so it was normal not to discover it. As for Fang Zhanbo's mental journey after knowing the truth, there was really nothing to say.

Scanning the subordinates behind him who were holding back laughter, scaring the latter few into standing straight and looking straight ahead, Wang Yan said: "Continue."

"Isn't this enough?" Fang Zhanbo said confidently: "If you really want to calculate it, Sister Ling has taken care of us siblings for so many years, I should call her mother. Calculating it this way, you are also my elder. Tingting, she is even more my own sister; speaking of which, I am still your brother-in-law... I won't borrow your money for nothing, I'll pay interest."

"Pulling connections, that counts as a reason." Wang Yan nodded: "Speak, how much to borrow."

No need to think to know Fang Zhanbo wanted to snipe the Five Crabs Group and came to him to beg for alms. Since connections were pulled, borrowing money didn't matter; anyway, to him, it was all small change.

"Three thousand... two thousand... uh, ten million." Looking at the expressionless Wang Yan, Fang Zhanbo changed his words firmly: "Just ten million, interest 10 points, one million, from the 16th to the 23rd, one week's time."

"Can."

Wang Yan nodded, put away the gun on the table, stood up, walked to the door, and gave a not-too-light, not-too-heavy kick to the subordinate he saw laughing the happiest, kicking that subordinate into a stagger. He scanned the other heartless subordinates who were trying to hold back their schadenfreude, and said to the kicked subordinate: "Just don't beat him to death. Afterward, you take him to get the money."

That subordinate grimaced in pain and responded with a grin: "Don't worry, Brother Yan, the brothers have a sense of proportion."

Fang Zhanbo, who understood what was going on behind him, hurriedly begged for mercy: "Brother Yan, Brother Yan, I was wrong, Brother Yan..."

Wang Yan didn't care about that, waved his hand, and walked out. The shop door behind him was pulled down with a "bang," followed by Fang Zhanbo's heart-wrenching cries of pain. That was only because Wang Yan had taken down Luo Huiling and Fang Ting; otherwise, so what if he was the protagonist? Beating him to death would be considered light. Of course, looking at it from both sides, if he hadn't taken down Luo Huiling and Fang Ting, Fang Zhanbo wouldn't have had the guts to come find death.

However, it had to be said that after working at the Chinese Association for two years, Fang Zhanbo had indeed improved and could be considered to have some style. In Ye Tian's words, he had truly found his own world. And in his own world, he had found that bit of confidence.

Compared to the original story, Fang Zhanbo's level now should be higher. After all, this thing depended on the environment. In the original story, Fang Zhanbo was a stray dog, playing with stocks while trying to make a living, far inferior to being immersed in the stock exchange every day like now. Plus, getting closer and closer to Chen Taotao, learning and practicing, it was only natural that his level was higher.

As for whether he could detect the stock market crash and retreat unscathed, Wang Yan thought Fang Zhanbo could. After all, he was against Ding Xie, and now that Ding Xie's luck had started, he shouldn't be bad either. ===== CHAPTER 255 =====