Chapter 267: Childlike Nature

Words : 1791 Updated : Sep 29th, 2025

After ending the conversation with Shen Peng and others, Lu Liang found Little Ma alone in the corner of the banquet. Perhaps due to his technical background, his nature was relatively introverted, or perhaps it was because the status gap was too vast, which deterred people from approaching him for a chat. Lu Liang got straight to the point and stated his intention; he hoped that his future Public Fund would interface with WeChat's Tenpay. Little Ma pondered briefly before agreeing readily; compared to Alipay, their Tenpay had always been lukewarm. Mainly because users treated WeChat as a chat app and Alipay as a finance app. Alipay's success as a finance app stemmed from platforms like Taobao Tmall and 1688. Tencent had realized the importance of payments early on and had also dabbled in e-commerce with platforms like QQ Online Shopping and Paipai.com. However, despite not having shut down, they had basically flat-lined to date. Hence, they now supported Pinduoduo without reserve. Lu Liang's Public Fund needed a traffic interface, and Tenpay also needed to draw in more savings users. Even if they were just acting as a transfer agent, there was a very high chance of retaining some portion of users' savings. For instance, when making a withdrawal, besides transferring to a bank card, a new option to withdraw to a WeChat balance could be added. Even if only one in a hundred did this, it would still be a considerable sum. Because Lu Liang was organizing a Public Fund, the assets under management would definitely not be less than 50 billion US Dollars; otherwise, it would be better to just continue with private equity. Although this was a win-win deal, Little Ma wanted to win even more; for example, by discussing with Lu Liang to make their WeChat the exclusive subscription channel. As for terms, anything was negotiable; if the Public Fund needed money, they could help subscribe for a hundred or eighty billion. Since last year's launch of the game "King of Glory," the total revenue of the past year had reached a whopping 9.8 billion US Dollars. Making the already wealthy Tencent even richer. Looking across the country, Little Ma could confidently say that there probably wasn't any private enterprise wealthier than them. Every day, upon opening his eyes, he was thinking about how to spend money. A hundred or eighty billion was merely a drop in the bucket. Lu Liang apologized with a full face of regret, "Sorry, Mr. Ma, we've already been in touch with ICBC and Ali." Little Ma's wish was pretty, but even if he gave up WeChat's traffic, he absolutely would not let WeChat become the sole channel. Once agreed, even though it was free now, they would probably start charging a toll in the future. Little Ma gave a sheepish smile and did not say more. Lu Liang approaching them was harmless to WeChat; compared to that, WeChat could not provide any other help but traffic. After making small talk with Little Ma, as it neared nine o'clock, the guests gradually left, and Lu Liang also returned to his room upstairs. Wang Chuting was busy today, needing to live-edit news related to the conference; thus, Lu Liang could only stay alone in his room, conserving his energy. The second day of the conference was the highlight, with 8 non-stop forums and 20 related topics. Lu Liang attended one public forum and three private forums. These were not much related to him; he was mainly there as an observer, watching the big wigs spar verbally on stage, openly mocking and subtly deriding each other. At the public forums, with journalists and media present, everyone spoke politely and refrained from exposing each other's flaws. But at the private meetings, cursing and swearing, even spitting while debating heatedly, were common occurrences. Lu Liang found it thrilling and so he participated in three sessions in a row. On the third day, the conference conducted a phased summary, during which stage was mostly for the leaders to give speeches. Lu Liang merely went through the motions symbolically and left the ancient town to return to Modu overnight. Passing the She Mountain rest area, he decided on a whim to exit the highway and head to the villa area of She Mountain. "Contact the investors of the second and third phases tomorrow; notify them to come over for a meeting on the 1st." Before getting out of the car, Lu Liang instructed Wen Chao to inform about the settlement of the second phase and the dividends of the third phase the next day. Starting from December, it was bound to get busy, so taking advantage of these few days of rest, he wanted to spend more time with Li Manli. During his illness, Li Manli had been constantly by his side, trying every day to cheer him up and cooking him various meals. Before that, between Su Wanyu and Li Manli, Lu Liang would lean towards the former; after all, she came from a good background, had a pleasant personality, high education, and she was his first—men often have a complex about virgins. By contrast, the process of getting to know Li Manli wasn't as idyllic; she was a proud and capricious fairy, both vain and materialistic according to the popular online lingo. But as time went on, the true nature of people became apparent. Lu Liang gradually stopped thinking about how they met and got together initially. Now, his heart leaned a bit more towards Li Manli, while for Su Wanyu, it was just liking and wanting to possess. "Mr. Lu, Shiyu and I will take off now." Wen Chao nodded, and he and Fang Shiyu drove away. But just before leaving, Wen Chao glanced at the rearview mirror, and a curious expression emerged on his face. Boss Lu didn't take the conventional path, he strode over the fence into the courtyard like a thief. With a smile playing on his lips, Lu Liang looked up to the second floor, seemingly at the location of the bathroom, where white steam billowed from the window. The house, bought by him, he knew the front door would make a crisp mechanical noise upon opening, piercing in the deep quiet of the night. The surprise had to be carried through to the end. As soon as he entered, the whole house was heated. Just by stepping past a door, it was like going from winter to summer. Li Manli had told him, as this was their home, she didn't vacate the studio. S~eaʀᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. It was usually just her living here. Lu Liang took off his jacket and sneaked up to the second floor, testing to find that the bathroom door wasn't locked. He pushed the door ajar and quickly slipped in, into the fog-filled bathroom with soothing music playing, punctuated by sounds of splashing water. Li Manli, with a face mask on and eyes closed, lay back in the tub, her slender legs moving erratically up and down. Her nails, dyed a pale pink at some unknown point, glistened under the light's glow. Smiling, Lu Liang approached the tub, curious when she would notice him. Yet a girl's sixth sense is extraordinarily keen; no sooner had he sat down beside her, Li Manli suddenly opened her eyes. She let out an unconscious scream but quickly recognized Lu Liang, a hint of surprise and slyness in her eyes. Li Manli hugged her chest, swiftly moving to the other side with a look of terror, "Who are you? What do you want?" Lu Liang, taken aback, caught on that this was part of Director Li's script, shrugging off his clothes with a villain's sneer, "What do you think?" Li Manli struggled and cried, continually splashing water, "Please don't come any closer, I'll give you any amount of money, I won't call the police." "I sleep with you, the money is mine anyway, right?" "I'm going to shout." "Even shouting until your throat breaks will be useless." Li Manli got into the role, her eyes reddening, tears of humiliation beginning to flow. For a moment, the tranquil surface of the water became like a sudden storm, splashing wildly, waves surging. Li Manli tried repeatedly to climb out of the tub, only to be pulled back in by Lu Liang each time. After a while, Lu Liang, tired of playing, lay in the tub soaking, chuckling, "Okay, stop playing." "Alright," Li Manli's expression transformed, she draped herself over Lu Liang's neck with a beam, half of her body floating on the surface. Curiously she asked, "I saw you on the news this afternoon, how did you come back so soon?" "It was nothing much, so I came back." The biggest takeaway from this Internet conference for Lu Liang was meeting the top-ranking brother and securing an upcoming collaboration. With his support, the next steps would undoubtedly be easier, but the public fund side might be a bit trickier. Even though Tesla's stock price had risen to 612 US dollars, with another potential increase of 100 dollars, it didn't make much of a difference. Their shareholding, plus a lock-up period of over four months, were decisions made by Lu Liang himself. To convince them that Lu Liang could leave the private equity and still earn exceptionally high profits, another market rally would be required to prove it. "Feeling comfortable?" Li Manli asked, giggling mischievously. She drained nine-tenths of the water in the tub, covered herself in shower gel, sliding over Lu Liang like a mermaid. The soft touch of her feet always managed to brush against that spot, annoying Lu Liang. A couple of crisp slaps, red finger marks appeared on the plump August moon. "Stop it, I'm thinking," Lu Liang glared at her, standing up to shower. He then heard a message from the future. "Alright~" Li Manli feigned the look of a grievously wronged little wife, rejected by Lu Liang, which hurt even more than a spank on the butt. Lu Liang chuckled, walked over to her, and patted her head, "I'm hungry, what can we eat at home?" "I bought a lot of stuff at the supermarket this afternoon." Li Manli's mood instantly brightened as if the clouds had parted, her smile unfurled across her face. She quickly rinsed off and dashed out in her bathrobe. Lu Liang couldn't help but chuckle, "Still such a child at heart."

Chapter 267: Childlike Nature

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