[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981":3,"chapter-that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-873":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","That Year, the Flowers Bloomed in 1981",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2295291,4489,"Chapter 873","that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-873",873,"\u003Cp>Li Ye’s lunch was lively, with several tables of men and women laughing and playing for a long time, and when it was time to leave, no one wanted to go.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wenhui sighed wistfully to Wen Leyu: “Sister-in-law, even though we’re still in the same city, it’s getting harder and harder to meet.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Leyu sighed and said: “You’ll grow up someday! When you have a child like me, it’ll be even harder—do you still want to be like you were back in Zaojunmiao?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course I do.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wenhui pouted, turned and glared at Li Dayong, then complained pitifully: “It’s all your fault!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Dayong could only laugh helplessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What could he say? It was Pei Wenhui who was eager to have a child—should the farmer be blamed for working too hard when the crops grew well?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s just how life is.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When we were in school, we hung out every day with our best friends, drinking, boasting, and wandering internet cafes, sometimes even growing tired of each other from being together too much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But once we graduated, even if we stayed in the same city, meeting a few times a year was already a lot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once you have children, become a wife and mother, you simply won’t have much free time anymore!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye also had little free time—he first saw off Jin Peng, Hao Jian, and Wang Qiang, who were half-drunk, then joined Pei Wencong, Luo Runbo, and his mother Fu Guiru.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Topics like mobile phones, clothing, or machinery meant almost nothing to Pei Wencong and Fu Guiru; whenever they came to Jingcheng, they had to consult Li Ye on financial market decisions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong said: “Mr. Li, since the October crash, both the Lighthouse and Japan’s financial markets seem to have resumed their upward trend—should we gradually increase investment, or control risk and slowly exit for profit?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye fell silent for a moment, as if carefully calculating, then said: “I believe both the Lighthouse and Japan’s financial markets will rise over the next two years, especially Japan—finance and real estate will surge dramatically.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong immediately relaxed and said: “Yes, our analysis team also believes we should heavily invest in Japan—their economic growth is too fast.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No matter how fast, it has to end—do you really think the Japanese can buy up the Lighthouse?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye sneered, then declared firmly: “The Lighthouse won’t allow Japan’s economy to keep growing at this pace. At this rate, Japan will taste the bitter fruit of its own making in no more than two or three years.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Two or three years?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether Pei Wencong, Fu Guiru, or Luo Runbo, all immediately noted down this timeframe—because Li Ye’s past predictions had always been astonishingly precise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Runbo, responsible for financial calculations, asked seriously: “Mr. Li, how much damage will Japan suffer in two or three years?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye replied coldly: “That depends on how much conscience the Lighthouse’s financial vultures have—maybe they’ll leave Japan a breath of air. After all, Japan still has some use.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hss~”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Runbo sucked in a breath, eyes wide with shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew exactly what those Lighthouse financial vultures were like—his team had been dealing with them for years, and they’d clashed more than once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Expecting them to have conscience?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Better not even dream of it—they’d chew and swallow every last bone fragment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What? Don’t believe me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye smiled faintly: “You’re not naive—you know how few sovereign nations truly exist in this world. Japan is meat on the chopping block; how many cuts it takes depends entirely on the butcher’s mood.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong, Fu Guiru, and Luo Runbo fell into deep thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though today’s media and internet were scarce, limiting their access to international information, all three traveled the world constantly—they saw and understood far more than ordinary people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So while Li Ye’s words sounded shocking, after careful consideration, they realized they were increasingly correct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Japan was a defeated nation, occupied by Lighthouse troops, bound by the Potsdam Declaration—no need to elaborate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The other Little Dragons and Little Tigers were all like that—when someone else sneezed, they caught a cold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And those European aristocrats—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Forget it. There are over a hundred Lighthouse military bases there; whether they have sovereignty or not is debatable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Counting them up, only Mapleland, Kangarooland, and Britain still had some dignity left in the Western camp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if Li Ye told them that decades later, a certain Mr. Chuan openly claimed Mapleland could become a state of the Lighthouse, how would they react?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And what about Zhonghua?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong and Luo Runbo racked their brains, finally confirming that Zhonghua was a fully sovereign nation—“in charge of its own fate, if you disagree, let’s fight.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong suddenly asked: “Mr. Li, have your manufacturing investments and technology transfer plans on the mainland been fully finalized?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye sighed lightly: “How could they be fully finalized? I want to become fat in one day—so whenever an opportunity arises, I might invest and build immediately.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong immediately said: “Mr. Li, I’m also willing to contribute more to the mainland’s development.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye looked at Pei Wencong in surprise: “More?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong already had investments on the mainland, and quite a few—but over the past two years, he’d tasted the sweet rewards of overseas financial hunting, and his mainland investments had become almost child’s play.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong nodded: “Yes, more. Can you give me some guidance, Mr. Li?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye paused for a few seconds, then said: “I don’t have specific guidance yet, but the mainland has enormous capacity—any world-class technology project has room to grow here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Got it. I’ll remember.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong made his decision: he would follow Li Ye’s lead and invest at least half of his profits from overseas financial markets into the mainland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Someone who casually lets a drop fall from his fingers and gives me forty years of fortune—how could he possibly be wrong?】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why did Li Ye earn money overseas but spend it on the mainland? Why did he marry Wen Leyu? Wasn’t that obvious enough?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong was very happy today because Li Ye had pointed him toward a new direction, so he decided to celebrate properly tonight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after Li Ye left, Fu Guiru called him back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Guiru asked coldly: “Mr. Pei, is the Miss Zhou Huimin you brought today your official girlfriend?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Official girlfriend? Heh...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong smiled vaguely: “Madam Fu, the model for Fenghua Clothing’s advertisement had an issue, so I brought her to seek Mr. Li’s opinion.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Guiru said: “So you don’t plan to marry her? When I met your mother last time, she said you had signs of being anti-marriage?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong, sensing her tone was off, could only awkwardly say: “This kind of thing can’t be rushed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Men who aren’t extremely wealthy are always in a hurry to marry, fearing they’ll struggle to find a wife if they get too old.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if you’ve got money, then at forty, a man is like a blooming flower—no rush at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s why Fu Guiru could ask him this—if anyone else had, Pei Wencong would’ve spat back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Who are you to care?】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Fu Guiru said coldly: “Mr. Pei, I don’t care about Hong Kong’s customs—but from now on, be careful about your reputation. Don’t set a bad example for the children.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Set a bad example for the children? Which children?】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pei Wencong grinned, utterly embarrassed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had he corrupted Li Ye? Was that even possible?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But remembering Fu Guiru had lived in Malaysia for years, Pei Wencong finally understood—she’d misunderstood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This mother assumed Pei Wencong had brought Zhou Huimin to show Li Ye something... like certain people in Hong Kong did, in some sordid way.\u003C\u002Fp>",1287,"2026-06-20T05:05:02.628Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","5b91731ddee239d17b98b17da1d6650145449c55dd319a73f006320ce6b72be1","that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-874","that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-872",884,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthat-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-cover.jpg"]