Chapter 13

Before we know it, 2007 had passed. In the past two months, Li Shenglin's life hadn't changed much. Xiao Shuijing would occasionally come over for a free meal, and Xiao Zhiyan would often call. His relationship with both of them had grown closer.

However, the smile on his own waitress, Han Shengyan, had become less frequent, affecting her work performance. So, Li Shenglin had a good talk with her.

It turned out that his little waitress had more depth than he thought; she was already a debut artist, but her career wasn't going well. One of the members had the idea of quitting and had already discussed it with the company, but hadn't told the other members. She had overheard it and was very upset.

After a few months of working together, Han Shengyan trusted her boss a lot and considered him a close friend. After all, she had seen enough of the coldness of the world and could tell who was good to her. If she had worked elsewhere, she would have been fired long ago.

President Oppa not only provided her with extra meals but also increased her salary. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to continue.

Li Shenglin didn't know how to comfort her. After all, her mother had abandoned her child for her dreams. He could only encourage Han Shengyan to keep observing and see if there would be a replacement after the member quit. If the group really disbanded, he would hire her as a full-time store manager!

But then again, it seemed that all the young girls he knew were somehow related to the entertainment industry. It seemed that in Korea, all the pretty girls became trainees or actors. If he wanted to find a suitable stepmother for Xiao Huhu, would he have to go to the entertainment industry?

The last words his friend Liu Shitou said to him in his previous life were still fresh in his mind: "Not from the same world... It really is hard to be together..."

...

On New Year's Day 2008, a new year began. The one who changed the most was naturally Xiao Huhu. The little guy was growing fast, full of energy, and very curious. He started crawling everywhere, and watching him had really exhausted Li Shenglin.

"Hey, Brother Shenglin!"

Damn, it was Hong Chanmin, whom he hadn't seen for a long time due to his busy business.

"What? Now that it's the New Year, are you going to give me some money?" Li Shenglin teased.

"Hehe, money is not urgent. Aren't you going to Sungkyunkwan University? And it's the New Year, so Zhi Zhong and I have prepared a gift for you!"

"Don't talk nonsense, there's still a retest next month!" Li Shenglin said, acting proud.

On the other end of the phone, Hong Chanmin said, "Brother, stop being silly. With your grades and your father's connections, getting into Sungkyunkwan is a sure thing. But why did you choose the Chinese language program in the Foreign Languages Department?"

Reason? Li Shenglin wouldn't tell anyone...

"Let's not talk about that. You said you have a gift for me, where is it?"

"Take a taxi to XX Dock YY Warehouse now, we'll be waiting for you!"

Damn, how mysterious...

When he arrived, Cui Zhi Zhong and Hong Chanmin were already there. "Brother, why did you take so long? We're freezing!"

"I couldn't help it. My parents are abroad, and I had to send Xiao Huhu to my uncle's place. Otherwise, I wouldn't have felt safe leaving him."

Brother has changed, he's a good father! The two friends were deeply moved...

The three of them went to a warehouse. As the roller door opened with a "swoosh," Li Shenglin felt his 24K golden eyes were almost blinded.

Caressing the three treasures in front of him, Li Shenglin felt his mouth almost watering. "These... are all gifts for me?"

Holy crap, a new Ferrari 450, a Porsche 997, and an Audi R8—what amazing cars!

Li Shenglin, who had come from another world, had no hobbies. Besides playing games and browsing sports news online, he loved looking at pictures of luxury cars.

These three cars would cost nearly 10 million RMB in China... What a generous gift from these two guys...

"Um, Brother, three cars, one for each of us. The Ferrari is yours..."

Even one car is great, worth over 4 million RMB...

Hmm? How did they get so rich? Thinking back to Chanmin's boast about making a profit in a year and his hesitation about sharing the money, Li Shenglin had a bad feeling...

"Didn't it cost a lot?" Li Shenglin asked, pretending not to care.

"Not much. The three cars were from Zhi Zhong's uncle's company. Including the registration fees, it was less than 500 million won!"

About 3 million RMB, not much at all...

"Who paid for it?"

"Hehe, Brother, since we're all in the same company, the company paid for it..."

Damn, using my money to buy me a car, you're really something... But these two guys are still decent. I get the best car, and theirs are a bit less...

"Alright, let's leave it at that. I really like the gifts!"

After all, this amount of money is just a fraction of the profit from the past half year. One year, 500 million won becomes 1 billion, two years, 1 billion becomes 2 billion, three years...

Li Shenglin fell into endless fantasies...

...

In a bar in Gangnam, Seoul, the three friends had a long-awaited gathering and chat.

"By the way, Brother, I have an uncle who used to be the president of JYP. He's planning to start his own company. Should we invest in it?"

"Isn't usury better? It doubles every year!" Li Shenglin was still lost in his fantasies.

Hong Chanmin and Cui Zhi Zhong were speechless. This brother was clearly smart, but how could he be so naive? They explained to him that the usury market was limited. Making 100 billion won a year was already good, otherwise, the richest person in Korea wouldn't be Samsung's Lee Kun-hee...

This woke Li Shenglin up. "Hehe, I was just joking. What does JYP do? Is it profitable?"

The two friends were speechless again. "Brother, you were a trainee at YG! Don't you know the three major entertainment companies in Korea: S.M, JYP, and YG?"

Seeing his friends' disapproving looks, Li Shenglin felt a bit embarrassed. "I only became a trainee to skip classes... I didn't care about anything else..."

Knowing when to stop, they explained, "Of course, it's profitable. Do you know TVXQ? Anyway, if a singer makes 1 billion won, the company takes at least 800 million. Last year, S.M. had a turnover of several hundred billion won!"

Damn, I remember celebrities in China make a lot of money. "That's too much. How do the artists agree to it?"

"Simple, if you don't sign, there are plenty of others who will. The company can do without you, but you can't do without the company!"

Li Shenglin fell into fantasies again. A turnover of several hundred billion won a year, the profit must be substantial, right? He completely forgot that this was the turnover of the top company, not Chanmin's uncle's new company...

The Ferrari was from Zhi Zhong's family connections, and the entertainment company was from Chanmin's family connections. Each of them gave him a gift. What good brothers they are!

---

(What? You say the financial statements of those companies show a turnover of several hundred billion won, but only a few million in profit? Do you believe it? I don't. If S.M. makes only a few million RMB in profit with such exploitation and money-making speed, how do other companies survive?)