Chapter 319: Old Friends Reunite

Words : 2117 Updated : Oct 5th, 2025

This is the best punishment for impulsiveness~ Ah~ In the KTV room, Zhu Hu belted out a couple of songs, embraced girls on both sides, and was getting ready to head to the hotel upstairs for some business. But before he left, he suddenly pushed a girl into Lu Liang’s arms with a mischievous grin, issuing a group battle invitation. "Just have fun, I have things to do later," said Lu Liang, caught between laughter and tears, as he handed the girl back to Zhu Hu. "Life is short, you have to enjoy it when you can, don’t always think about work." Zhu Hu shook his head, not insisting anymore. Struggling to contain his amusement, Lu Liang watched him leave, then asked the room hostess to turn on the lights, and had all the drink-serving hostesses cleared out. Eating watermelon, he returned Little Wang’s video call—his phone had been vibrating non-stop, but he hadn’t noticed because it was on silent. A few seconds later, the call connected, and Little Wang’s face filled the screen: "Hello, hello, hello, can you hear me?" "What’s up? The review didn’t go smoothly?" Lu Liang asked with a smile. It was noon in New York, the sun was shining brightly, but Little Wang had a scowl on his face, looking like he was bearing the world’s greatest grievance. "Damn it, not just unsmooth, it’s extraordinarily unsmooth." Little Wang was full of grievances. The exchange bastards actually said their live commerce didn’t count as normal revenue. They accused them of scamming consumers, saying it was easy to be shut down, and so couldn’t be classified as a company’s normal revenue. They could say they were scammers and that was one thing, after all, the United States has always looked at East Country enterprises through colored glasses. But if the revenue from live commerce can’t be categorized as normal corporate income, they can’t meet the Nasdaq’s listing standards for net profit and net assets. "These people are simply sick. The loan sharks can go public, so why can’t live commerce?" Little Wang said, visibly upset. "Loan sharking is the most traditional form of finance, why shouldn’t it go public?" Lu Liang, barely holding back laughter, knew Little Wang was talking about recent P2P lending platforms like Pinduoduo, Yiren Loan, and Xin and Fu, which had almost all gone public in the United States over the past few years. After listening to Little Wang’s rant, he asked, "What did Cruick say? A direct rejection, or a revision and re-evaluation?" "Revision and then re-evaluation. Cruick wants us to find a way to prove that live commerce is a normal business revenue stream." "Then come back. It’s pointless to stay there any longer; next month, I’ll go with you." Getting listed on Nasdaq is much simpler than on A-shares. A-shares have a three-year review period, but Nasdaq only requires three months. As long as it’s not a direct rejection, there’s always a chance. Three months, three reviews, pass just once and you can queue up for listing. In the best-case scenario, you could go public in six months. Little Wang was stunned, skeptical, "When did you become so easy to talk to?" He had known Lu Liang for two years, and Lu Liang was always clear about keeping business and personal relationships separate. During Panda’s toughest times in the initial net-cleansing campaign, Lu Liang was even willing to lend money, but not to invest. Only later, when Panda advanced their live commerce business and ran it successfully, did Lu Liang take an interest again. With a smile, Lu Liang hummed a tune: "You have a good daddy, a good daddy~" S~eaʀᴄh the NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "What did he do?" Little Wang furrowed his brows. "He helped me out." After a long silence, Little Wang sighed, resigned, "I’ll come back the day after tomorrow." A few years ago, he definitely would have disagreed, but now he was more realistic and knew he should utilize his connections. If his dad wasn’t Old Wang of Wanda, Qihu and Golden Sand River wouldn’t have invested in Panda, and even Lu Liang wouldn’t have taken the initiative to forge a relationship with him. The idea that a rich second generation could make their way without relying on family connections was utterly impossible and utterly foolish. "Got it," said Lu Liang. He patted his little belly, feeling a bit hungry, but he had neglected fitness lately and the once-gone belly was threatening to reappear. "I won’t eat, better to go back to sleep." Zhang Tian’ai had gone to Blue Platform to record a variety show and wasn’t in Beijing. During the day, Lu Liang had even stumbled upon her news on Douyin. Her role in a phenomenal big female lead web series and as the lead of a 2.75 billion box office movie had firmly cemented her place in the entertainment industry. And with the backing of the new dark horse production company Mahua, she had been gaining fame in the entertainment circle and seemed to be aiming to join Li Qin, Guan Xiaotong, and Zheng Shuang as the new Four Little Flower Dandies. "It seems like older actresses have more flavor." Before sleeping, Lu Liang browsed Douyin again; the big data knew he loved watching these things, so it kept recommending them. From the millennium Four Dan Double Ice to Four Dan Double Ying, and now to Four Dan Double Li, he noticed that older actresses seemed to have more flavor. He couldn’t help recalling that Liu Mingxuan once said, after finding out that Ai Bao had been defiled by him, his biggest wish in life was to spend a night with International Fan, but now as a husband and father, it probably won’t happen in this lifetime. If Lu Liang had the opportunity to experience it, he should remember to share the experience afterward, giving him a sense of participation. "This guy, wonder how he’s been doing lately?" The very next morning, Lu Liang left Beijing. The R&D of smart driving was facing a bottleneck, and whether they could work with DiDi was still uncertain; he couldn’t place all his hopes on them. Zhang Yiming was right, in the Beijing Circle, Liang’s reputation was slightly tainted, but it might improve if he went to the south. The headhunting company he had commissioned seemed to have poached a mainstay DJ, but that person wanted to meet with Lu Liang and have a chat. So Lu Liang first came to Xiangshan because he thought of Liu Mingxuan last night and made a detour to see how his business was doing. Afterward, crossing the Humen Bridge to Shenzhen would take less than two hours. "I didn’t expect you’d actually find time to visit me." Liu Mingxuan grinned broadly, his smile radiant just like it was in their sophomore year, meeting again after the summer vacation. "I came over to take care of some business and stopped by to see if you’re still alive," Lu Liang said with a smile, patting his shoulder. Initially, Lu Liang felt that stopping by impulsively to see Liu Mingxuan might be too much of a delay, but as soon as he saw him, all his concerns vanished. Life shouldn’t just be about doing business. Having money but no time, missing out on family and friends, that’s also very sad. Liu Mingxuan laughed, his thumb and forefinger forming a circle as he propped his chin on the tiger’s mouth, "Don’t I look like I’m living the good life?" His father-in-law was a respected villager and owned a factory with dozens of employees, making a decent sum of money, and he himself also had several million in startup capital. With Lu Liang guiding him in e-commerce, like Pinduoduo, and helping him connect with the industrial and commercial administration of Modu to become a small home appliance supplier. After more than a year of development, his e-commerce warehouse now spans over 8,000 square meters, with a steady shipment of about 7,000 items a day, earning a dollar per item, making $7,000 daily. Moreover, 10% of the supply to banks could earn about $15 per item, making the monthly income effortlessly over $30,000. He even bought two cars, a Cayenne for himself and a BMW series 3 for his wife. "All round and smooth," Lu Liang teased. Having not seen him for over a year, Liu Mingxuan had grown a circle all over, his belly looking like he was five months pregnant. "This is what you call happiness weight." Liu Mingxuan took Lu Liang to the most characteristic local restaurant, grinning, "I’ll let you try something you’ve never had before." Pigeon and bamboo rats are common, but there’s also the Shenwan rice worms that look like maggots and dragonflies that resemble cockroaches, paired with two bowls of bull’s penis soup per person, and finally, a pot of braised crocodile tail. Lu Liang couldn’t help but laugh, "Eating so nourishing in the middle of the day, won’t that cause too much internal heat?" "No worries, we’ll drink some herbal tea later to cool down," Liu Mingxuan replied with a beaming smile, sincerely happy. It had been a long time since they last met, and he was eager to share the best he had with Lu Liang, just like they used to share their adventures back in the day. He paused, then asked, "How about we drink a bit? The deer blood wine here is pretty strong too." Lu Liang chuckled, "Pack it up for later, I have some things to attend to this afternoon, need to head to Shenzhen." "Okay, I think you haven’t met Youyou yet; I’ll have Lixiu bring him over." Liu Mingxuan hesitated; it had been a long time since he felt the joy of being single, and he actually didn’t want to bring his family along. But as Lu Liang was leaving in the afternoon, he should let his wife bring the child over for a visit. In the midst of their meal, a blue BMW stopped at the door, and a young mother came over carrying a child. She greeted with a smile, "Liang, long time no see." "How old now?" Lu Liang played with the child, teasing his chubby cheeks. "He was born on the same day as you, guess how old he is now," Liu Mingxuan teased. "Youyou’s almost a year old," Li Lixiu glared at him fiercely. "Why glare at me? Even if you didn’t tell him, he’d still know." "You guys continue eating; there’s some trouble at the warehouse, so I’ll head off first." Li Lixiu knew that old friends reuniting must have a lot to talk about, so she didn’t want to be a third wheel. She left the child and a pack of diapers behind and departed. Liu Mingxuan held his child, a proud look on his face, "How about that? Jealous?" When choosing a wife, one should seek a wise one, as a virtuous wife blesses three generations. He had a discerning eye for people, the same in choosing friends as in choosing a spouse. "There’s nothing to be envious of." Lu Liang laughed wryly, and Liu Mingxuan, hesitantly beating around the bush, asked, "Speaking of which, haven’t you scored in the past few years?" Logically, Lu Liang should have had his share of women, but why hasn’t there been news of offspring until now? "Let’s not talk about the pot that doesn’t boil," Lu Liang replied, annoyed. Liu Mingxuan raised an eyebrow, suddenly exclaiming, "Shit, seems like there’s a situation." "It’s good that I was worried about your health, specially brought you some nourishing food, spill it, who is it?" "Could it be Ai Bao? But I just saw her on a variety show the day before yesterday, she didn’t seem pregnant?" "Is it that little internet celebrity?" "Or another affair with some girl in secret?" "Consider it heard and forgotten, I won’t breathe a word." Lu Liang glared at him, letting out a sigh, "You don’t know her, she’s not in China, there’s been an issue…" He briefly outlined the situation, and Liu Mingxuan proved to be a good confidant. "Damn, Liang, you’re really living it up." Liu Mingxuan was astonished and then listened as Lu Liang said he had someone obtain Su Wanyu’s pregnancy test report, and it’s a baby girl. He decisively held his baby to his chest with a mischievous grin, "Son, quickly call him ’father-in-law’, a genuine opportunity for a princess that could save thirty years of struggle is right in front of you."

Chapter 319: Old Friends Reunite

Comments (0)