Chapter 11: Reborn—Still Working?

Wang Chuan waited a moment; the door opened, and Xiao Yuchu held in her hand the Chinese history book Records of the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, wearing Wang Chuan's white shirt, looking petite.

Xiao Yuchu said, "Big Brother Wang, you look for it yourself."

Wang Chuan quickly found The First Intimate Contact on the bookshelf; the love letter was still there, and he exhaled in relief.

As he stepped out, he casually said, "I didn't expect you're interested in the Northern and Southern Dynasties?"

Creak—the door shut.

'Real girls don't read history books!' Xiao Yuchu put down the Northern and Southern Dynasties book, lay back on the bed, and exhaled softly too; sneaking a peek at someone else's love letter was immoral, but luckily she hadn't been caught.

In the next room, Li Wei saw Wang Chuan enter, holding a book. "Chuanzi, what's going on? Is this novel really that good? Let me see."

"Hey..."

Li Wei snatched it quickly. "What's this pile of paper?"

"Give it back."

After Wang Chuan snatched it back, he noticed a damp thumbprint in the center of the first sheet: 'The bathroom hairdryer's broken—Xiao Yuchu with wet hair.'

'She read it...'

Whatever. Let her read it.

Wang Chuan locked the love letters in the drawer. "In high school, these were my personal love letters."

He stepped out, knocked on the door, and said, "Yu Yue, the second drawer of the desk has a good hairdryer—dry your hair. Also, don't touch things with damp fingers; you might get electrocuted."

Xiao Yuchu hadn't finished hearing him when she looked down at her ten damp fingers and realized her secret had been discovered; a pang of guilt and embarrassment surged inside her.

"Got it."

At the door, he added, "Pure accident—I saw it by mistake. I won't tell anyone."

Outside, two sharp coughs echoed.

Then came the sound of the door closing.

Xiao Yuchu thought: "The coughing probably means Big Brother Wang forgave me."

Wang Chuan, lying on his bed, heard Li Wei snoring; he glanced at his mobile phone: May 27, 2004, 1:00 a. m.

His heart tightened—only twenty-one hours had passed since his rebirth.

So much had already happened.

So many places: Internet Cafe, Dormitory, back gate of the School, Service Center, Bus Station, Long-Distance Bus, Iron Dragon Restaurant, Bamboo Path, Xinzhou People's Hospital...

In his past life, whenever he faced trouble, he solved it; if he couldn't, he found another path forward.

Now that he's starting over, things shouldn't be too hard.

After rebirth, how to get his first capital? He definitely wouldn't start a real business—it was too exhausting.

In his past life, Wang Chuan had met many bosses of Listed Companies; entrepreneurship was grueling, far more than what you could summarize from a Securities Times article saying "Company X founded in 200*, successfully listed in 202*."

With foreknowledge, you know the future hot industries, but jumping in yourself doesn't guarantee success. Wang Chuan believed that besides personal qualities, luck and fate were crucial for major success.

You go in, but you may not have the luck—you don't have the destiny.

Whatever. I've been reborn—why bother with a business?

Don't do big business, but small business is fine.

In his past life, his first small fortune came from Wang Chuan entering the market in 2008.

He used money earned from the Hospital and Law Firm, set aside part of it, and bought only high-dividend stocks.

Wang Chuan considered himself an ordinary person, a complete outsider to capital, risk-averse—he chose high-dividend stocks, held them long-term, never traded back and forth to feed the brokerage commissions.

Ordinary people with gambling mindsets, chasing get-rich-quick dreams based on hearsay insider tips, inevitably fall into the trap: stop trading once they recover their principal, then lose more and more.

Wang Chuan's past-life thought was: I'm ordinary—why would a falling pie land on me?

He also believed that through his future career, he could become wealthy; investing was merely supplementary.

After rebirth, he must accumulate more capital by 2004, then buy quality stocks when the Shanghai Index was undervalued in 2005, and hold them long-term.

After thinking it through, Wang Chuan confirmed: no big business, only small business. This was his thought tonight; whether he'd adapt in the future was uncertain.

He noticed it was already 1:30 a. m.; he quickly closed his eyes to sleep.

Bang-bang—a rapid knocking at the door.

Wang Chuan glanced outside; it was pitch black—day hadn't broken.

Only 3:30 a. m.

He got up, walked through the Living Room, peered through the peephole—and froze, instantly wide awake: two Police Officers outside.

"Who is it?"

"Police! Open the door!"

"You say you're police, so you are?!"

Wang Chuan stayed cautious, returned to his room, and woke Li Wei.

"Open up—I'll show you my credentials," the officer outside shouted.

Wang Chuan figured that with Li Wei beside him, he had nothing to fear from fake officers; he slowly opened the door, carefully inspected the credentials: one officer surnamed Li, the other surnamed Lu.

Inside the Living Room, the older Officer Li asked sternly, "Just the two of you?"

Wang Chuan replied, "There's one more friend."

"Bring her out."

At that moment, Xiao Yuchu stepped from her room, saw the Police Officers, and immediately thought Wang Chuan had reported her; she glared angrily at Wang Chuan. "You big liar!"

Wang Chuan waved his hand, signaling he had no idea what was going on.

Officer Li asked Xiao Yuchu, "Do you know them?"

"I don't know these two frauds."

Li Wei was furious: "Yu Yue, who are you calling? In front of the Police Officers, you're slandering us!"

"Yu Yue?!" The young Officer Lu heard this and whispered to Officer Li.

Whoosh—Wang Chuan didn't react in time; a pair of shiny handcuffs snapped onto his wrist. "Officer, what's this about? What law did we break?"

Officer Li pushed Wang Chuan toward the door, signaling Xiao Yuchu to follow.

"Still playing dumb? Bold enough, acting all innocent!" Officer Lu sneered.

After shoving Wang Chuan and Li Wei into the backseat of the police car, Officer Li said: "What law? Someone called 110 saying two young men kidnapped an underage girl!"

Xiao Yuchu, sitting in the front passenger seat, froze. This had nothing to do with her trying to rescue her brother; she hurriedly said: "Uncle Police, they didn't kidnap me—I had nowhere to stay tonight, so I stayed at their place."

"Girl, don't be afraid of them—Uncle Police is here. Didn't you just say they were con artists?"

Said Officer Lu, who was driving up front.

Wang Chuan calmed himself and spoke slowly: "Uncle Police, we really know each other—we're friends. There's no kidnapping."

"Both of us are students at Jiangcheng University School of Medicine. Jiangcheng is my hometown—I brought my classmate back to visit. This girl met us on the bus this afternoon."

Officer Li checked the student ID. "Really students from the Medical School? Could these be fake IDs?"

Prejudice is a great mountain; the uncle police's prejudice is a pair of silver handcuffs.

Wang Chuan said: "Officer, I have my Identity Card in my pant pocket—don't tell me that's fake too?"

Officer Lu didn't turn around, stepping on the gas: "Of course it's fake! Anyone bold enough to kidnap would forge documents—it's normal!"

"Officer, really, they didn't kidnap me."

Li Wei protested: "Who the hell reported us? Fucking bastards."

"Kid, watch your foul mouth! I'm sure we got the right ones—you reek of smoke, nowhere like a student."

Officer Lu immediately retorted.

Soon the police car stopped. Wang Chuan looked out and saw the sign: Sanjialing Police Station.

"Fuck, my first day of Rebirth and I'm in a Police Station—I'm fucking done!"

Wang Chuan still tried to explain: "Uncle Police, the little girl said they didn't kidnap her—why won't you listen?"

Officer Li gripped Wang Chuan: "You can't trust what a minor says!"

"Exactly—the girl was scared by you."

Li Wei, now furious, veins bulging on his forehead: "She says you're con artists, you believe her. She says you didn't kidnap her, you don't believe her."

"Double standard!"

Officer Lu grabbed Li Wei and sneered: "Kid, this girl's real name isn't Yu Yue. If you didn't kidnap her, why would she give you a fake name?"

Li Wei stared blankly: "What? You're not Yu Yue?!"

Wang Chuan and Li Wei were separately led into different rooms for questioning.