Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Tianjing City, villa by Hong Lake in the southwest, villa no. 16.
“Anbao, ah, you did well yesterday. We were still worried about liquid funds here. To think you managed to get such funds from that prodigal Dali.” In the living room of the villa, a middle-aged man was drinking tea and smiling as he spoke to Hong Anbao. “With this money, we can invest in the car-parts factory that is under your name. We can expand the production line and increase profits by at least 20%. That’s equivalent to a few million.”
The man was wearing a silver-gray suit. He had no tie, and the first two buttons on his shirt were off, looking rather at ease. He had a head full of black hair, all combed back. He had inherited his good looks from the Hong family, with the exception of his cold eyes, which caused him to lose some qualities.
This middle-aged man was Hong Anbao’s father and also Hong Weiguo’s elder brother, Hong Jianye.
Hong Anbao sat on the sofa all prim, smiling. “Father, there are two months until our family meeting. With this money, we will be able to get more capital funds.”
“Um, indeed.” Hong Jianye solemnly said. “At the family meeting every year, capital funds are given out. Those who are doing well will get more capital funds than the rest. I’ve always been one of those getting fewer funds, and it isn’t possible to excel in such a short period of time, but you are different. Your assets are on a smaller scale, and there’s a bigger potential to grow them. With these funds, as long as you manage it well and increase your profits by 30%, you’ll be able to get 50 million worth of capital funds from those old fogies to grow your business. You have to grasp this chance. Whether you make it or not will depend on this meeting.”
As long as one was born to the Hong Family, no one would treat this family meeting lightly. What was this family meeting? It was the core of the Hong Family Enterprise, headed by the oldest in the family every generation, respected by everyone. At the moment, the three people heading the family meeting were Hong Tu—Hong Weiguo and his brothers’ father—Hong Wei, who was of the same generation as Hong Tu, and the only daughter, Hong Ying.
These three people held 60% of the family’s properties, mostly fixed assets. That wasn’t to say that those assets belonged to them personally. They were in charge of managing those assets and distributing them according to each family members’ ability during every year’s family meeting. As the saying goes, you get what you work for.
If one could prove himself worthy, they could soar to the sky with a few billion in capital funds. In addition to gaining the respect of his siblings, when they set up their own family in the future, many resources would be given. But if one was not good at earning money, they would get nothing at family meetings and would be looked down on by their siblings, and it would be difficult for them to uphold their image.
Of course, Hong Dali held a special existence. He was Hong Weiguo’s precious only son, born weak and sickly. Hong Weiguo had never scolded or hit him. Although the relatives of the same generation looked down on him, they never let it show. They would still greet him as Brother Dali when they met. No one could tell what they thought on the inside.
Hearing his father’s words, Hong Anbao’s expression turned solemn. He had one wild ambition and was resolute. Like in this case, where he had sold the properties and land. If it had been anyone else, they would definitely have pondered and tried to earn as much profit as possible, but Hong Anbao had been able to sell it so easily.
He understood that time waited for no one. If anyone had the time to get involved in a tug of war, that time could be better spent investing and earning more money.
That was why he had sold it at cost.
“Father, don’t worry. I will make you proud at this family meeting. Hong Anjin from uncle’s house has always been above us. I will turn the situation around!” Hong Anbao said assertively, clenching his fists.
“Um, do your best. If you need anything, let me know.” Hong Jianye sipped his tea and said warmly. “Okay, go on and do what you need to do. I need to take a nap. My age is catching up to me; I can’t survive an afternoon without a nap.”
…
Hong Dali naturally did not know that Hong Anbao and Hong Jianye were discussing how to earn more money.
At this moment, Hong Dali was enjoying his peaceful sleep on his classroom desk. As a superprodigal, it was only right to sleep and not listen during class.
Hong Dali was Hong Dali, after all. All things aside, after sleeping for two lessons and thus feeling all refreshed, he pulled out the great prodigal system to take a look. Soon after, he frowned.
“This great prodigal system, it is indeed as I thought. I have to squander my own money in order to add to the total squandered amount.” He was right. After squandering for the whole day, 30.3 million yuan worth of property, the free fun at Ye Lai Xiang, the tipping, giving away money, and all the dishes… It was such a huge amount, but the great prodigal system had only recorded a little more than 150,000 yuan.
“Let me see…” Hong Dali raised his head, still groggy. He took out his super extravagant mobile phone and started calculating. “30.3 million yuan in property, a night of fun, giving away money, and wrecking a car make 1.5 million yuan. Including the lunch, that’s a total of 35 million. But only the 8 million from the installments and 200,000 from the spending at the nightclub were counted toward the system. The rest didn’t count at all. I’ll just add the 150,000 to my health stat first.”
Hong Dali’s health stat increased to 46 points.
“Seems like I have to do more than squander. I have to think of a way to earn some pocket money.” Hong Dali was stressed. “Just from the money that I’m getting from my parents, it will be tough to regain my vitality!”
He was right. In the great prodigal system, the squandered amount had to be squandered using his own money.
Otherwise, from the way he had squandered tens of millions in that manner, it would be impossible to change 100,000 to one attribute point—he would have filled up his stats in just minutes.
Judging from how great the system was, even being able to give out tasks, Hong Dali was certain that he was going in the right direction.
Hong Dali’s real capital probably only came from Ye Lai Xiang. Maybe if the 25 million worth of property had been transferred to his name from the family’s name and had been sold for money before squandering them away, it might have counted, but it was meaningless to squander in this manner. Hong Dali previously only wanted to quickly increase his health stat, which was why he had rushed things. Now that his health was at 46 points, he was healthier and felt like he wouldn’t die at any minute, so he could take his time and think about what to do. Squandering was a must, but he had to use another method. Maybe he would start with Ye Lai Xiang, to take it slow and steady before deciding what to do next.
