Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 612: Do Not Insult a Friend's Wife

After getting engaged to Jiang Xinyi, Zhou Yuwen gained the backing of the local Jinling Chamber of Commerce. In less than a month, he became the youngest Chairman in the chamber's history. To be completely honest, doing business in the country fundamentally relied on a society of human sentiment and connections. Even though Zhou Yuwen possessed immense wealth, he still desperately needed the support of local factions.Upon assuming the role of Chairman, Zhou Yuwen could not only mobilize local resources but also implicitly secured the backing of Jinling's official authorities. This made his business endeavors infinitely smoother. For instance, right after taking the position, he managed to acquire several mobile phone factories at a minimal cost, snapping up a few battery factories along the way.

He collaborated with several colleges at Jinling University to establish a laboratory primarily focused on researching applications for smartphones and new energy batteries. Zhou Yuwen invested heavily in the new energy battery sector, pouring nearly three billion into the initial phase alone.

When it came to scientific research, he was never stingy with his capital. However, once the technology hit a bottleneck, the person in charge of the project regretfully informed him that current domestic technology would struggle to break through. If Zhou Yuwen truly believed in the battery market, he would need to look overseas for the expertise of top-tier scientists.

In truth, ever since his engagement to Jiang Xinyi, Zhou Yuwen rarely stayed in the country. He had previously declared his intention to treat all of his women with an equal distribution of favor. Since he had already gotten engaged to Jiang Xinyi, there was no reason to leave the others out in the cold. Therefore, while abroad, Zhou Yuwen directly hosted a grand wedding ceremony. Su Qing, Zheng Yanyan, Lu Lin, Tao Tian, Qu Jing, Lu Wanting, Li Shiqi, and Shen Yu all donned uniquely designed white wedding dresses, celebrating a magnificent union within his sprawling ancient castle.

Frankly speaking, Zhou Yuwen's current assets were enough to last several lifetimes. His shadow could be found looming over the vast majority of domestic internet companies. Not only had the Douyin app he personally founded become the dominant short video platform, but his recent investment in Pinduoduo was also experiencing explosive growth.

He also held a stake in the leading enterprises across various other software categories, including the live-streaming industry and platforms like Bilibili, which had yet to fully take off.

Yet now, Zhou Yuwen had set his sights on a much higher pursuit: cutting-edge technology.

Both Zhou Yuwen and Su Qing originally hailed from the future. While they might not possess the intricate technical knowledge of future technologies, they were certainly well-versed in the broad concepts and trends.

For example, they knew the future was destined to be the era of smartphones. However, it was already a bit late to start laying out a master plan for the phones themselves. Thus, Zhou Yuwen decided to tackle the problem from a different angle, specifically focusing on new energy batteries.

During his time overseas, Zhou Yuwen attended a major business event where he crossed paths with Elon Musk.

While Elon Musk was not nearly as globally renowned as he would be in the future, he was already an influential figure in his own right.

Nevertheless, his penchant for making claims that sounded straight out of the Arabian Nights often drew roaring laughter from the public.

This particular business gathering was attended not only by Elon Musk but also by Ma from Hangzhou, who had been specially invited.

This was actually not the first time Zhou Yuwen had met Ma from Hangzhou. Spotting Zhou Yuwen from a distance, Boss Ma immediately quickened his pace, walking over to pat him amiably on the arm. "It has been a while, young man."

"Long time no see."

During their initial encounter, even though Zhou Yuwen was recognized as a business genius, he had been relatively insignificant compared to Boss Ma, who was a rapidly rising superstar in the corporate world. To some extent, Zhou Yuwen was still a smaller player compared to him today.

However, Zhou Yuwen now held multiple resources that the Alibaba Ecosystem desperately coveted, including his short video app, the shared bicycle project, and Baidu Waimai.

After a year of development, Baidu Waimai existed in name only.

Even though Baidu had strong ambitions to dominate the food delivery market, the aggressive expansions of Little Blue Man and Little Yellow Man were simply too insane. Unless Baidu poured absolutely all of its energy into food delivery, it stood no chance of defeating its blue and yellow rivals.

Left with no other choice, they had decided to withdraw from the battlefield.

And currently, Baidu Waimai was still in Zhou Yuwen's hands.

The brand itself might have stepped back, but its massive pool of resources remained intact.

Standing behind Little Blue Man and the little kangaroo were the Two Mas. The year 2016 marked the fiercest period of resource grabbing in the country, and naturally, Ma from Hangzhou wanted to pull Zhou Yuwen over to his side.

He chatted amiably with Zhou Yuwen, but out of everything in the young man's portfolio, Boss Ma was truly interested in only one thing.

That was the student mutual aid loan program Zhou Yuwen had created. Boss Ma felt that Zhou Yuwen was an absolute genius for coming up with a project that so beautifully benefited society. He eagerly wanted to collaborate with Zhou Yuwen to expand the mutual aid loan business.

Of course, his deepest preference was for Zhou Yuwen to sell the project to him outright. Boss Ma advised him earnestly, noting that doing business required proper strategic thinking. The potential for the mutual aid loan was far greater than Zhou Yuwen imagined. For example, it could be packaged into a financial product and sold on the open market. Since the loans accrued interest, they could guarantee both principal and returns, thereby attracting massive amounts of external capital.

"But right now, you are only targeting the university student market. The cake is just a bit too small. How about we work together to bake a much bigger one?"

Zhou Yuwen stated that he had no intention of doing so at the moment. He explained that the mutual aid loan was simply designed to help university students in need. If it were repackaged into a financial product, the resulting snowball effect might spiral entirely out of his control.

"If you cannot control it, you still have me, do you not?"

Boss Ma genuinely held Zhou Yuwen in high regard, but to his immense frustration, the young man was completely impervious to persuasion. How could such an outstanding young man be as stubborn as a bookworm? It left Boss Ma sighing in disappointment.

This business event mainly served as a networking hub for influential businessmen, which naturally led to a panel dialogue between Elon Musk and Boss Ma.

To be honest, they shared absolutely no common language. Elon Musk remained full of whimsical ideas, constantly talking about his dream of colonizing Mars, while Boss Ma bluntly stated that he had zero interest in the red planet.

Boss Ma even cracked a small joke, quipping that he had just returned from Mars.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk launched into a lengthy monologue defending his views, emphasizing the crucial need to make long-term plans for the future of humanity.

In short, the two of them were talking at cross-purposes. Throughout the entire event, very few attendees voiced any support for Elon Musk's arguments.

However, after listening intently to his vision, Zhou Yuwen approached him and expressed high hopes for his plans.

"Really?" Elon Musk asked, pleasantly surprised as he looked at the young man from the East standing before him.

Zhou Yuwen nodded. He pointed out that if they truly intended to migrate to Mars, the very first challenge they needed to consider was how to cultivate vegetables and grain on the Martian surface.

"Hey, I have already been planning for exactly that!" Elon Musk exclaimed, his interest instantly piqued as he began to chatter endlessly with Zhou Yuwen.

From that moment on, the two forged a profound friendship. When Zhou Yuwen opportunely shared his own perspectives on new energy batteries, their views aligned perfectly. Soon after, Zhou Yuwen and Elon Musk entered a joint venture, opening an overseas factory dedicated to the research of new energy batteries.

Truthfully, compared to the realm of new energy vehicles, Zhou Yuwen was far more focused on developing large-capacity batteries for smartphones.

He knew that the future belonged to smartphones, and the evolution of smartphones was inextricably linked to the need for high-capacity batteries.

Although neither Zhou Yuwen nor Su Qing had a background in advanced technology, their origins in the future granted them undeniable foresight. Acting on this, Zhou Yuwen recruited a top-tier team of scientific researchers and officially launched his smartphone battery project.

Within a year, Zhou Yuwen successfully established partnerships with all the major smartphone manufacturers to supply them with batteries. He managed to make a fortune, filling his coffers to the brim and landing himself on television broadcasts yet again.

Meanwhile, during his year living in Huadu, Chang Hao had actually fallen into quite a state of degeneracy.

Huadu was inherently a city that bred decadence. That particular night, Lu Hui had indeed chased after Chang Hao. She was twenty-seven years old this year. Stepping out into the cool night air wearing a short skirt that showed off her beautiful legs, paired with elegant high heels, she radiated a lingering, mature charm.

Unfortunately for her, Chang Hao turned her down. He was not Li Qiang, after all, and he had never suffered a shortage of women by his side. How could he possibly be interested in a girl like Lu Hui?

Over the following period, Chang Hao frequently spotted Lu Hui working in various entertainment venues. Sometimes, Chang Hao would even specifically request her to sit beside him. Whenever that happened, Lu Hui would consciously press herself against him, keeping her snow-white thighs flush against his side as a clear invitation for him to touch her.

Yet, Chang Hao maintained a remarkably proper demeanor.

He had caressed other women in those venues, but he had never laid a single finger on Lu Hui.

Lu Hui eventually asked Chang Hao why he kept calling for her company if he was only going to treat her with such polite distance.

Did he think she was too old?

Chang Hao merely replied in a calm tone, "You are Li Qiang's girlfriend."

"My relationship with him is not exactly great, but I still know the rule: do not insult a friend's wife."

Hearing this, Lu Hui could not help but let out a sharp scoff.

"I do not think that is it," she declared.

"I think you just have the desire but lack the courage." Saying so, Lu Hui expertly lit a cigarette.

"?" Chang Hao froze, taken aback.