Chapter 4: 003 First Loss, Then Loss

Yu Xing watched his younger brother’s desolate expression, fearing he might actually harm himself; he poured a glass of water first, then said, “Zhong Zhiling, right now we’re facing a big problem—money is a man’s courage, and without money, we’ve lost our guts. We need to find a way to fix this.”

He paused, then added, “But before we solve this big problem, let’s deal with your small one first.”

Zhong Zhiling looked up, bewildered. “Small problem? What small problem?”

“Come on, go find your girlfriend. I’ll talk to her for you,” Yu Xing said seriously.

Zhong Zhiling spoke bleakly. “What’s the point of talking? It’s over. Everything’s gone.”

Yu Xing first comforted this client: “Zhong Zhiling, I’ll ask you one thing—if you two really break up, do you think her next boyfriend will love her as sincerely as you do? Will he treat her better than you have?”

He laid out his reasoning: “Look at you—you’ve got 430,000. I’ve got five million. Think about your brother!”

The number jolted Zhong Zhiling back to reality—his senior’s five million was indeed far worse off…

Yu Xing grabbed his brother’s arm and dragged him out of the lab, heading straight for the female dormitory.

Nan Medical University didn’t start summer break until July, so the dorm building was still full of people.

Yu Xing had Zhong Zhiling call his girlfriend, Lu Haiying; when she came down, he introduced himself, then pointed at his brother’s face and said, “Sister-in-law, look at Zhong Zhiling—look at how utterly heartbroken he is since you mentioned breaking up!”

“Sister-in-law, I’ve never seen a man cry like this over a breakup—he doesn’t even want to live!”

“Look at how swollen his eyes are!”

Facing his girlfriend, Lu Haiying, Zhong Zhiling suddenly had no tears—but when he heard his senior’s next words, he couldn’t help but burst into tears.

“To be honest, Zhong Zhiling’s family isn’t wealthy, but his parents, thinking of your future household, have already saved up 430,000!”

“Whether the money’s enough isn’t the point—this heartfelt effort? They’ve truly given everything they could!”

Seeing his brother stop crying, Yu Xing had to reveal another reason to plunge him into utter despair.

Zhong Zhiling wept silently, tears streaming uncontrollably.

Lu Haiying had argued with her boyfriend twice today and had even proposed breaking up tonight—but she, too, was experiencing her first love; seeing Zhong Zhiling cry like this, a sight she’d never witnessed, she couldn’t help but feel pity and stepped forward to embrace the man who wept for her.

Then she, too, began to cry.

Seeing his girlfriend cry, Zhong Zhiling broke down completely, sobbing loudly.

One wailed “Aaaah! Aaaah! Aaaah!”; the other wept “Ying! Ying! Ying!”

Under the dormitory in June, crying couples were common—but none wept like Zhong Zhiling and Lu Haiying, and even passersby couldn’t help but feel sorrowful.

Seeing a crowd beginning to gather, Yu Xing quickly grabbed his unfortunate brother’s arm and told his girlfriend, “Talk again tomorrow night—work it out properly.”

But Lu Haiying also held tightly onto her boyfriend’s arm, refusing to let go.

Zhong Zhiling, face streaked with tears, looked from his senior to his girlfriend, then finally patted her hand and told her to let go first; reluctantly, he followed his senior away.

“Haiying, Haiying, it’s not that I don’t want to pour out my heart to you—it’s just… I need to see how to handle the problem right in front of me first…”

Yu Xing pulled his brother back, then turned to see Lu Haiying still standing there, staring blankly; he reconsidered, worried the ill-fated couple might do something drastic, so he let go of his brother’s arm, ran over to speak with her briefly, then returned.

Only after they’d walked far away did Zhong Zhiling, eyes blurred with tears, ask, “Senior, aren’t we going back to the lab?”

“Too late. Let’s sit by the lake and feed the mosquitoes,” Yu Xing said, finding a lamppost by the school’s artificial lake and sitting down on the ground.

Zhong Zhiling plopped down heavily, stared blankly at the lake for a while, and finally suppressed the urge to jump in—his senior had sunk so much money into this mess; he was far calmer than he was…

“Xingge, what are you thinking about?” he asked, noticing his senior hadn’t spoken.

“I’m thinking about jumping in,” Yu Xing said, staring at the lake.

“Xingge…” Zhong Zhiling’s emotions were unstable; now he felt the urge stirring again.

Yu Xing snapped back: “Oh, I meant jumping in for a cold shower—it’s too hot. Isn’t this year unusually hot? A nice, refreshing cold shower, and tomorrow you wake up as a new person.”

Zhong Zhiling couldn’t be so calm; after a few seconds of thought, he suggested, “Let’s call the police!”

“Hmm, he’s in the U.S.—his family probably is too,” Yu Xing shook his head slightly. “Besides, I suspect the GK Fund documents he showed us are forged. Reporting this probably won’t help much; recovering the money afterward will be nearly impossible.”

Zhong Zhiling stood up again, agitated, but didn’t know what to say; after sitting back down, he said weakly, “Xingge, you’d have been better off not telling me—I could’ve stayed happy a little longer…”

He suddenly remembered the bet from earlier and sighed, “Xingge, you knew all that money was gone—how could you still have the heart to trick me out of more?”

Zhong Zhiling pulled two folded contracts from his pocket and threw them onto the grass, complaining, “If it weren’t for these, I wouldn’t have argued with Haiying and broken up.”

Yu Xing pointed out: “Didn’t we just solve the breakup problem? You two were hugging just now. I already helped you with your small problem, didn’t I?”

“But what about the money?” Zhong Zhiling turned his head. “What about the big problem? Now there’s a big problem!”

Yu Xing spoke sternly: “Just tell me—was the small problem solved or not?”

Zhong Zhiling: “...”

Yu Xing countered: “Was the big problem my fault? Did you give me your money?”

Zhong Zhiling: “Huh? Uh? This...”

Originally, it was just a finger ache—then came a knife straight to the chest. The finger didn’t hurt anymore, but now blood was spurting from his chest...

Sitting by the lake now, he recalled everything that had happened in less than half a day: the bet contract had intensified his romantic small problem; revealing the financial disaster had masked the small problem with a big one; just now, he’d used his despair over the big problem to temporarily resolve the small one...

Manipulation...

Playing with him!

Zhong Zhiling quickly sorted through what had happened, then thought of his senior far away in the U.S., and asked listlessly, “Xingge, what are you planning? Did you really lose money too?”

He felt his senior was far too calm; look at himself—he’d cried his eyes out over losing 430,000.

“Didn’t you hear the recording?” Yu Xing realized recordings solved so many problems—he didn’t need to explain further. “I’ve been thinking and thinking—no matter how desperate or anxious we get, it won’t help.”

Zhong Zhiling smiled bitterly. “I don’t want to be desperate or anxious—but can I control it?”

“Try to control it. Even if we cry ourselves to death, will Yu Xuhui return our money?” Yu Xing’s question already held the answer.

Zhong Zhiling stared at his senior. “Then what do we do? His phone is off, reporting it won’t help—what now?”

Yu Xing didn’t answer immediately. After staring at the lake under the night sky for a long while, he finally said, “We’ll probably have to do it ourselves.”

Zhong Zhiling: “?”

“I’ve thought about it a long time,” Yu Xing frowned. “Zhong Zhiling, that money isn’t mine—it’s my entire family’s, my whole household’s. We don’t know when this will explode, but if we keep going like this, it’ll take forever to make up the loss. So we must change! We have no choice!”

Zhong Zhiling murmured, “Change?”

“Yes!” Yu Xing nodded. “When poor, change. When you change, you find a way. When you find a way, you endure.”

“Will changing really help?” Zhong Zhiling asked nervously.

“Change first, then see,” Yu Xing turned to his unfortunate brother. “Are you poor?”

Zhong Zhiling had no answer—he was poor before, and now he was in debt!

After a moment, he asked this unusually calm senior: “Xingge, do you have a plan?”

“Let’s think together,” Yu Xing didn’t immediately reveal his idea to the client.

Zhong Zhiling thought left and right, up and down, combining his professional knowledge, and finally came up with a quick way to make money; he whispered, “Xingge, what if we make liquor? Low cost—we add some blue pills inside, claim it has health benefits, and use our professor’s name!”

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow: “Hmm, that sounds pretty illegal.”

Encouraged by the approval, Zhong Zhiling grew more excited and rushed on: “Xingge, low cost, fast results, repeat customers—it’s doable!”

Yu Xing paused, then warned: “It might cause adverse reactions—it irritates the digestive tract. Some users get nauseous, others mild headaches or dizziness, and a small chance of palpitations. If side effects appear, people will blame the liquor—who takes responsibility?”

Both were medical students—they were naturally sensitive to such issues.

Zhong Zhiling’s expression twisted in conflict; after a moment, he slumped helplessly beside the lake. Maybe dosage control would work—but how could they test it? They had no lab conditions now.

Long after, a cool breeze from the lake swept away the summer heat, and the broken moonlight on the water rippled gently.

“Zhong Zhiling, I have an immature idea—help me think it through,” Yu Xing broke the gloomy silence slowly. “What if we apply the same bet I made with you to more couples?”

Zhong Zhiling stared at his senior, confused.

“Like you just said—low cost. We collect money now, and only pay for the roses when they marry,” Yu Xing stared at the lake, weighing his words. “There’s a market—couples always do things with symbolic or commemorative meaning.”

He continued: “The investment and return are attractive enough. For customers, a relatively low investment of 500 yuan can yield a future gift rich in emotional meaning.”

Zhong Zhiling sat stunned—he hadn’t realized his own bet could be extended like this.

After a moment, he added another layer to his senior’s manipulation and asked, “Will others be as stupid as me?”

Yu Xing countered: “Are there any smart people in love?”

Zhong Zhiling felt he’d been insulted.

He lowered his head, pondering his senior’s idea—it sounded exactly like collecting money upfront with no intention of fulfilling the later promise.

After a moment, Zhong Zhiling murmured, “Xingge, this project seems to test one’s character.”

Yu Xing nodded. “Hmm. What’s your character like?”

Zhong Zhiling was confident: “I have excellent character.”

He instinctively asked back: “What about you?”

Yu Xing answered honestly: “I’m average.”

Zhong Zhiling: “...”

He asked helplessly, “Xingge, this project is meant to make a quick profit and vanish, right?”

“No,” Yu Xing answered unexpectedly. “No matter how many customers, we’ll always fulfill our promise. I just need money now.”

“You won’t be short of money later?” Zhong Zhiling asked. “Where will the money for future redemptions come from?”

“I’m confident in many things—stocks, real estate,” Yu Xing said seriously. “I can make money trading crypto too.”

Zhong Zhiling stared at his senior in shock—trade what? Was he that determined? Even sell his body to repay?

He pressed further: “But how do we make people believe us? Anything I can think of, others can too—what if the company vanishes in three years?”

“That’s a major issue—we need endorsement,” Yu Xing mused. “So if we leverage our student status and start within the student population, customer acquisition becomes naturally easier. And I thought—if we want easy propagation, when Customer 1 brings Customer 2, we give Customer 1 a cut; if Customer 2 brings Customer 3, we give cuts to both 1 and 2.”

“But to avoid risk and reduce costs, we can turn these cuts into a points system—points can be redeemed for gifts, or for more roses at the wedding. Originally 999 roses, now we can increase to 2,000, 3,000...”

Zhong Zhiling stared, dumbfounded: “Xingge, this... this... isn’t this pyramid selling?”

“No, no, no—we have an actual product,” Yu Xing shook his head. “If you must label it, we’re using a direct sales model—we’re selling a product, not recruiting heads.”

Zhong Zhiling pointed out what he’d just heard: “Increasing the number of roses is just making the original pie bigger, isn’t it?”

The original 999 roses were already a pie in the sky; redeeming points for more roses was just switching from a medium pie to a large one—still using future, unrealized events as bait.

“Yes, but I’m determined to see the final payoff through.” Yu Xing said solemnly, “But both the client and we must wait, must be patient—in a way, this is our joint growth.”

Zhong Zhiling stared at his solemn senior brother, unsure for a moment whether he was joking or not.

He thought again and again, hesitantly speaking: “Will this even work?”

“Fine, Zhong Zhiling, here’s the plan.” Yu Xing decisively arranged, “We split up: you handle the blue pills, I handle the love contracts. From now on, we watch each other’s backs.”

Zhong Zhiling thought of the side effects, of his senior brother’s design, of his calmness—and ultimately decided the risk of going in was lower. He pleaded: “Xing Ge, let me join you!”

“Great! I’ll call Lu Haiying right away and ask if she has any dorm mates or close friends who might be potential clients.” Yu Xing moved swiftly, unwilling to waste a single moment.

As Zhong Zhiling nodded, he suddenly felt something was off and asked: “Xing Ge, how do you have my girlfriend’s number?”

“Just asked for it a moment ago.” Yu Xing replied casually. “When developing clients, start with those around you.”

Zhong Zhiling opened his mouth, the feeling of being manipulated deepening.

But what could he do about the current situation?

He listened to his senior brother’s concise call, pondering left and right—there seemed to be no other viable direction.

After hanging up, Yu Xing put down his phone and promised: “Younger brother, I found out about the debt earlier than you. Now I’m taking the lead on debt so you can follow—we’ll watch each other’s backs and face the challenges together!”

He extended his right hand.

Zhong Zhiling reached out hesitantly, originally planning to just go along with it—you’re saying this now…

Seeing his junior brother distracted, Yu Xing seized his hand firmly and shook it vigorously up and down. When cornered, one must change—and he had swiftly gained his first ally.