Chapter 100: Future Bigshot

In her previous life, Jiang Liyun never had the opportunity to go to school, and her educational background was poor. She always admired talented individuals.

She started her online store early, and when the website planned to establish an online mall, they invited some high-revenue merchants to attend a meeting, and she was one of the invited merchants.

At that time, she had already earned a lot from her online store, so she closed her breakfast shop. Having free time not spent in the shop, she joined Feng Yi in attending the meeting.

It was her first time travelling far from home, and everything she saw left a deep impression on her during the several days of the meeting. She made friends and learned a lot from her friends about the dynamics within the large internet company, including who had good relationships and who were archenemies. She even got some gossip about a self-taught tech expert named Shao Feng.

It was said that he had a bad temper, often arguing with the CEO, but his technical skills were exceptional. He resolved several attacks on the website by rival forces.

Back then, Jiang Liyun had seen him once. However, her memory of him wasn’t particularly deep until she learned about his sudden death in a friend’s social media post.

Shao Feng, who hadn’t gone to college after graduating from high school, surpassed many college students, becoming a top talent in computer technology in China. His life story was considered inspirational.

Unfortunately, he passed away at a young age.

When she saw someone several years younger than herself pass away suddenly, Jiang Liyun was filled with sorrow. She even took Feng Yi for a check-up, only to discover that Feng Yi’s cancer was already in the mid- to late stages.

Who could have thought that someone who seemed healthy would actually be suffering from cancer?

Jiang Liyun looked at Shao Chengdong with mixed emotions.

Feng Yi, who knew Jiang Liyun the best, immediately sensed that her mood was off.

He frowned and glanced at Shao Chengdong. The previous Shao Chengdong had always hovered around Jiang Liyun, but she never paid much attention to him. Why did this new Shao Chengdong get so much attention?

He looked so ordinary!

Jiang Liyun chatted with Shao Chengdong, learned about his family situation, and knew that he gave the compensation money to his father to build a house. At this time, many rural families had poor living conditions, and improving housing was often the first thing people did after gaining some financial stability.

Jiang Liyun had similar thoughts. Currently, she can’t help but look at houses in Shanghai and contemplate buying one. However, knowing that this was a critical period for business development, she restrained herself.

Shao Chengdong, studying at H University, received a monthly allowance of around twenty yuan. If he saved some, it should be enough, but he gave the money to his family, so he might face some financial difficulties in daily life.

In front of Shao Chengdong, Jiang Liyun didn’t say much, but later that evening, she said to Feng Yi, “Feng Yi, it seems that the new Shao Chengdong’s family situation is not very good. If he wants to take on a part-time job, he can work at the hamburger shop. I plan to open a branch, and we’re short of staff.”

“Sister Liyun, why do you care so much about him? I’m getting jealous.” Feng Yi hugged Jiang Liyun and kissed her.

He used to have a sense of insecurity, always worried that one day Jiang Liyun would suddenly stop liking him. It was this feeling of insecurity that made him always go along with Jiang Liyun and not dare to take the initiative to kiss her.

But now he was full of security and understood the benefits of being proactive. He liked to kiss and hug Jiang Liyun whenever he could.

Jiang Liyun enjoyed Feng Yi’s kisses and didn’t mind being kissed by him. “Are you the reincarnation of jealousy? Why are you getting jealous over this?”

Feng Yi openly admitted, “Sister Li Yun, how did you know I am the reincarnation of vinegar spirit?”

Jiang Liyun didn’t expect Feng Yi to readily accept this title and couldn’t help but laugh.

After some playful banter, Jiang Liyun said, “Feng Yi, this Shao Chengdong seems capable. You should get along well with him.”

Feng Yi responded, “Li Yun, I have my own abilities too.”

Jiang Liyun laughed again, appreciating Feng Yi’s demeanour.

In their past lives, they were busy making a living, rarely experiencing such carefree moments. Now, with money and a good life, they cherish every moment.

“Feng Yi, the new store will open next month. After that, I won’t open another store for a while. I want to earn some money first. Once I have enough, I plan to make investments and buy some houses in Shanghai.” Jiang Liyun shared her plans with Feng Yi.

Feng Yi held her, feeling warm inside. Though not talkative, he opened up to Jiang Liyun.

“Li Yun, recently I’ve been working with a teacher on researching input methods. In the future, I want to explore other things.” Feng Yi slowly shared his school activities.

Jiang Liyun listened attentively, despite being somewhat technologically inexperienced. She shared her experience with various input methods over the years.

As they discussed computer technology, Jiang Liyun suggested ideas like creating a portal website and forums. Despite being early for such concepts, she aimed to make money before internet entrepreneurs emerged.

The two chatted happily, ending with some playful antics.

On Monday morning, Feng Yi, up at 5 a.m., cycled to school swiftly. After arriving early, he went to the dorm, dropped off his things, and joined Lu Haijun and Shao Chengdong for breakfast.

Feng Yi had meat buns and soy milk, while the other two opted for affordable egg-fried rice. Feng Yi suggested to Shao Chengdong, “The Chelsea Hamburger shop is opening a branch. They need extra hands. Would you like to take a part-time job there? If so, I’ll let Li Yun know.”

Shao Chengdong hesitated. “I’ve fallen behind on a lot of coursework; I’m worried I won’t manage the workload.”

“Focus on your studies for now. But if you’re not going home during winter break, you can work part-time there to earn some extra money,” Feng Yi suggested.

Shao Chengdong’s eyes lit up. “I won’t go home for winter break.”

His home was far away, and going home for the break would be too troublesome and expensive.

Knowing that Lu Haijun would stay in Shanghai, he decided to stay as well. By then, he should have caught up with the semester’s progress and could comfortably take on a part-time job, easing financial concerns for the next semester.

“If you come during the winter break, there will be double overtime pay around the Chinese New Year,” Feng Yi added with a smile.

Shao Chengdong was very grateful.

Feng Yi then talked to them about future plans, saying, “After graduating from college, I want to start a business. If you’re willing, you can join me.”

Lu Haijun was surprised. “You want to start a business? When we graduate from college, we have stable job prospects. Isn’t starting a business risky?”

Lu Haijun had no big ambitions, planning to enter a government agency after graduation for a stable career.

“I want to create something useful,” Feng Yi explained. “We don’t necessarily have to wait until graduation to start a business. While in college, we can try creating computer programmes for sale and accumulate the initial funds for our venture.”

“I’m in!” Shao Chengdong said. Who wouldn’t want to start a business while still in school?

Lu Haijun also agreed, “Count me in!”

The three set a plan, full of anticipation for the future.

So, while helping the professor with the input method, Feng Yi began contemplating his entrepreneurial direction. However, before he could figure it out, someone else developed an excellent Chinese input method called “Intelligent ABC,” surpassing what his professor intended to create.

Feng Yi’s professor felt disappointed, and the project was put on hold.

Feng Yi shared this with Jiang Liyun, who also felt helpless. It wasn’t the ideal time for internet entrepreneurship; the country was yet to officially embrace the internet.

Encouraging Feng Yi, Jiang Liyun suggested he connect with students from universities with earlier-established computer science programmes, especially seniors, to learn more.

“Li Yun, I’ll do my best!” Feng Yi declared.

Jiang Liyun smiled and said, “I believe in you.”

Fueled with determination, Feng Yi encouraged his professor after returning to school, expressing his views on the future. The professor, inspired, proposed another project, and Feng Yi recommended Lu Haijun and Shao Chengdong.

Typically, freshmen don’t get opportunities to work with professors, but with H University having just established the computer science department, there were no seniors. This turned out to be an advantage for Feng Yi and his fellow freshmen.

While Feng Yi and Lu Haijun had solid knowledge, the most surprising was Shao Chengdong. Despite falling behind in some areas, once exposed to electronic computers, he effortlessly grasped certain concepts. He had a natural talent for this.

The professor, witnessing this, exclaimed, “Feng Yi, luckily, you noticed something off about Shao Chengdong before; otherwise, he might have been overlooked!”

Shao Chengdong’s proficiency in computer-related knowledge hinted at a promising future after graduation.

Realising his own talents, Shao Chengdong looked at Feng Yi with gratitude.

Feng Yi, reflecting on his initial jealousy towards Shao Chengdong, saw a change in his mindset.

On December 27, 1990, Jiang Liyun opened the second Chelsea Hamburger shop in Shanghai.

With the experience of opening the first store, Jiang Liyun was not at all frantic. She systematically opened the store.

On the opening day, both Chelsea Hamburger stores celebrated together, issuing many coupons, resulting in both stores being packed with customers.

These two stores consumed a lot of chicken breast, chicken legs, and chicken wings. While Jiang Liyun earned a lot of money from these two stores, her poultry farm and food factory also made profits.

Sun Jinshan called her, expressing his desire to expand the scale of the poultry farm.

Jiang Liyun readily agreed, also reminding Sun Jinshan to pay attention to farming standards.

In recent years, as people became more affluent, they were willing to spend money on meat. Consequently, there were more and more people engaged in farming. Some began feeding drugs to chickens, ducks, and pigs to make them grow faster and avoid diseases.

In agriculture, many people also excessively use pesticides.

Jiang Liyun understood that chaos was inevitable in the early stages of development. However, she hoped her farm could operate cleanly to ensure long-term success.

Good raw materials would also give her restaurant a good reputation.

“You can rest assured, I’m not the kind of unscrupulous person,” Sun Jinshan assured her. “I’m doing this to accumulate blessings for my daughter.”

He had also considered using medication to keep the chickens healthy. However, when he saw the group of schoolchildren buying fried chicken at Liyun’s Dumpling Shop, he realised that his daughter would probably buy fried chicken in the future too. He couldn’t let his daughter eat something problematic!

Moreover, the farm was located in his hometown, and some chickens were sold to the locals. The workers at the farm were also locals. If he caused trouble and people found out, no one in Ji Qu town would buy chickens from him anymore, and he would be cursed!

Sun Jinshan, who had a wide circle of friends and liked to brag everywhere, couldn’t stand that!

He’d rather earn less money but maintain his reputation.

Even with his long-awaited car, he didn’t know when he’d have enough money to buy it.

With these thoughts, Sun Jinshan found Jiang Liping and talked about how good life would be with a car.

Once they had a car, they wouldn’t have to endure the wind and sun when going out, and everyone in town would envy them.

Jiang Liping was tempted and wanted to buy a car too.

But they didn’t have the money for a car now; they had to wait a bit longer.

A few days after the new store opened, New Year’s Day arrived.

In the countryside, nobody knew what Christmas was yet, but in Shanghai, some people were already celebrating Christmas, let alone New Year’s Day.

On New Year’s Day, H University held a New Year’s Eve party.

The school had students prepare performances in advance to be performed on stage that night.

Feng Yi had never participated in such activities before and was quite curious. However, he decided against performing on stage; he had no talent.

But while he lacked talent, others had it, like Qiao Mingze, who could play the erhu.

In fact, talent could reflect a student’s family background. Students like Feng Yi, Lu Haijun, and Shao Chengdong, who came from rural backgrounds with parents who were ordinary farmers, basically had no talents.

But those born in cities or with educated parents often had talents for playing musical instruments, painting, or calligraphy.

Because New Year’s Day wasn’t a holiday, Feng Yi stayed at school and attended the New Year’s Eve party with his classmates.

After Shao Chengdong left, Feng Yi’s reputation among his classmates improved.

He had excellent grades, was well-liked by professors, was handsome, and came from a wealthy family… There was no reason for his classmates not to like him.

As time passed, Feng Yi became the most popular guy in their class and even in their department. Numerous girls admired him.

H.H. University had more female students than male students, a common occurrence in universities during this time. Girls born in cities or with good family conditions were relatively better off; if they performed well academically, they could usually continue their studies.

However, it was different for girls born in rural areas. The older generation held traditional views, believing that daughters were meant to be married into other families, and many were unwilling to support their daughters’ education.

In this era, there were still many boys from rural areas who had the opportunity to go to college, but very few girls.

With the already limited number of female students in college, many of them had a crush on Feng Yi. It’s hard to imagine how much envy the male students in the school felt towards him!

However, Feng Yi was a unique person. He focused on his studies and ignored the overt or covert advances from many female students. At least, the four female students in their class had already given up on him.

The New Year’s Eve party was held on the playground. Students who wanted to watch had to bring their own chairs.

Feng Yi and his friends helped the professor, so when they arrived at the playground, it was a bit late. Fortunately, their classmates had saved seats for them with a good view.

After sitting down, people approached them to chat. Feng Yi smiled and engaged in conversation with them.

While he wasn’t particularly fond of chatting, if he was willing, he could make the person he was talking to feel at ease. He was skilled at observing people, and he could easily discern their thoughts and moods.

His classmates liked him more and more. “Feng Yi, you’re a really nice person, not arrogant at all!”

“Yeah! You’re different from what we thought.”

“We were misled by Qiao Mingze before.”

One performance followed another, with many being group singing acts.

Classmates who understood music were commenting on the performances, saying which ones were good and which ones weren’t. However, Feng Yi couldn’t discern much because he didn’t understand music.

He wasn’t into music.

If you asked about his preferences, he liked those majestic songs. Such songs could easily elevate his emotions and make him want to sing along.

Their class’s performance was playing the erhu.

It happened that, besides Qiao Mingze, there was another guy in their class who could play the erhu. The two of them performed together on stage.

The sound of the erhu was distant and pure. Feng Yi had heard them rehearse privately before and found it quite pleasant. However, when they played on stage, the noise from the audience below was too loud!

Even with amplification equipment, Feng Yi couldn’t hear clearly. Since he couldn’t hear, he stopped listening and started chatting with Lu Haijun and Shao Chengdong about the recent project they were working on with the professor.

As they were talking, a beautifully dressed girl with makeup, wearing a white dress, approached Feng Yi and said, “Feng Yi, can you come out for a moment? I have something to tell you.”

Feng Yi glanced at her and recognised her as the girl who had played the piano on stage earlier. Like the situation with Qiao Mingze and others playing the erhu, Feng Yi hadn’t paid much attention to her performance at that time.

However, her performance was different from that of Qiao Mingze and others. While they performed, most of the audience below didn’t pay much attention, but when this girl played the piano, even the guys who were far away and couldn’t see the stage clearly stretched their necks to watch.

Undoubtedly, this girl was very popular in school.

Feng Yi noticed the admiration in her eyes when she looked at him and guessed her intentions.

He was quite popular in school, and out of the four girls in their class, two had given him some hints. However, most girls were shy and had thin skin, so they dared only to drop hints. After he ignored those hints, they usually stopped pursuing him.

This girl had quite the courage to openly approach him.

“Sorry, I have something to attend to right now and don’t want to go out,” Feng Yi declined.

He knew very well that if he got involved with any woman other than Jiang Liyun, Jiang Liyun would definitely leave him.

Jiang Liyun wasn’t a strict person; she could tolerate some minor flaws in the people around her. Still, if someone crossed her bottom line, she would cut ties completely.

Jiang Liyun was his home.

No matter what, he wouldn’t touch Jiang Liyun’s bottom line.

When Feng Yi said this, not only did the girl freeze, but even the classmates around Feng Yi were also stunned.

This girl was very famous at H University and was the dream girl for many guys. Seeing her come to find Feng Yi, especially wanting to talk to him privately, they were all jealous.

This girl wasn’t even from their class or department. What could she have to say to Feng Yi? The high probability was that she liked Feng Yi and wanted to confess.

Feng Yi was truly fortunate!

However, everyone was admiring Feng Yi, and he unexpectedly turned down the girl.

Such a thing was not something most people could do!

The girl in the white dress instinctively asked, “Are you really not coming out?”

Feng Yi replied, “Yes.”

The girl in the white dress turned and left. After she left, the surrounding classmates began to ask, “Feng Yi, why didn’t you go out?”

“What are you thinking, Feng Yi?”

“Feng Yi, she’s the most beautiful girl in our school!”

“She can even play the piano!”

…

Feng Yi explained, “I already have someone.”

Feng Yi didn’t hide the fact that he had someone special. According to Qiao Mingze, Feng Yi’s significant other was his childhood friend, a waitress at the hamburger shop.

Being a waitress at a hamburger shop might be a decent job for ordinary people, but for these university students, it seemed a bit inferior. Moreover, the girl in the white dress came from a well-connected family, and being with her would undoubtedly bring great prospects for Feng Yi.

He actually gave up such a good opportunity, and many people couldn’t understand.

Feng Yi didn’t care about what others thought. He was busy thinking about what delicious food he could make for Jiang Liyun over the weekend.

These days, Jiang Liyun was very busy with the new shop opening, so Feng Yi wanted to make something delicious to replenish her energy!