Chapter 7

In the days that followed, my parents were busy dealing with the Young family's interference in their business.

My sister was busy visiting Zack in the hospital to show her devotion.

I was busy studying and making money.

Everyone had a bright future ahead.

When Yvonne came home to make soup for Zack, she caught me diligently doing practice problems.

"Study all you want," she sneered. "Even if you get into a top university, you'll just end up with a dead-end salary job."

I ignored her and focused on my work.

In my past life, I was forced to marry Zack and lost my chance to go to university. Later I got a degree through adult education, but it left me with too many regrets.

Yvonne didn't understand that not all actions are motivated by money. Money is a tool for happiness, not happiness itself.

For example, I wanted to experience four years of campus life, have an innocent college romance untainted by society,, gossip about the future with my roommates, organize events with club friends and go for late night snacks afterwards.

These were all joys I never got to experience in my past life.

After Yvonne left, I met up with Wendy.

She had a scarf covering half her face, while I had pulled my baseball cap low. We both looked like we were up to no good.

"I bought and sold exactly as you instructed," Wendy said. "Here's your money."

She handed me a bank book.

I was surprised to find that besides the original 2,000 yuan capital, Wendy had given me all the profits.

"What are you doing?" I said. "These profits came from your capital. It's your money. I should just take a commission."

Wendy waved her hand: "I didn't do anything. Why should I take the money? You just borrowed my 2,000 yuan, and now you've paid it back. I can't take your earnings - I'd be struck by lightning!"

I sighed and argued with Wendy many times, but she refused to budge.

"How about this, Wendy," I said. "I'll hire you."

Wendy blinked: "Hire me for what?"

"I still need to prepare for exams, so I need you to help me with a lot of things. Plus, I can't open my own account until I'm 18, so I still need to use your account to operate," I explained. "You should charge me a commission for all of this."

Wendy waved her hand again: "We're family..."

I grabbed her hand: "And you know, after I graduate, I'll have my own business. I hope you'll come work for me as my BD then."

Wendy's eyes widened: "What's BD?"

I said: "Business Development. You're outgoing, good with words, likeable, skilled at building relationships. I think this job would suit you well."

Before Wendy could respond, there was a commotion at my front door.

Yvonne and Zack had returned.

Wendy and I immediately exchanged a look and silently dispersed, each heading home.

This was something we had agreed on beforehand - we now had a huge sum of money in our hands, like children carrying gold through a busy market. It was extremely unsafe. So before I became powerful enough, I absolutely couldn't let anyone find out we had made money.

I returned home alone and heard Yvonne and Zack happily chatting in the bedroom.

Zack's voice was filled with excitement, as if he was about to reach the pinnacle of life: "Mr. Li said that while everyone else was mediocre, he could tell at a glance that I was extraordinary. So he decided to teach me everything he knows about investing."

Yvonne was thrilled: "Zack, I knew this day would come!"

I peeled an apple in the kitchen, eating it nonchalantly.

Ah, Mr. Li.

I knew what was going on.

In her past life, Yvonne had been sent by our parents to a private prep school in Beijing, so she never met Mr. Li.

But I had encountered him.

This Mr. Li always dressed impeccably in a three-piece suit, spoke fluent English, and claimed to have returned from Wall Street.

He had incredible charisma and was skilled at giving captivating speeches. In his talks, Mr. Li said he had already achieved complete financial freedom, and his current life goal was to help his fellow countrymen get rich together.

Mr. Li's appearance perfectly fit Yvonne's expectations.

After all, Zack had started as an ignorant delinquent, yet became the billionaire Wolf of Wall Street in the future.

This kind of transformation was like a talentless youth suddenly becoming a great martial arts master. Surely there must have been some catalyst like finding a secret manual or meeting a wise mentor.

Now, after waiting and waiting, Yvonne thought she had finally found this catalyst.

"Tomorrow we'll go see Mr. Li again. Zack, you focus on learning from him. Don't worry about anything else," Yvonne said.

Zack looked troubled: "But Mr. Li mentioned a 60,000 yuan tuition fee..."

Yvonne gritted her teeth: "I'll get it for you!"

The apple in my mouth nearly chipped my tooth.

I knew Yvonne wasn't very smart.

But I didn't realize her brain was this smooth.

Then again, someone who blamed all her past life's failures on not choosing the right man would naturally believe that all opportunities for redemption lay with a "Wall Street expert" Mr. Li who charged 60,000 yuan in tuition.

In my past life, I had also encountered this Mr. Li. At the time, Zack was also incredibly excited, desperate to study under Mr. Li to get rich.

I had stopped him.

Back then, I was also just a young girl without much social experience. But I could still tell something was off about Mr. Li.

People who can really make big money value their time immensely. Why would they come teach us how to get rich? And if he was already so wealthy, why did he need to charge us 60,000 yuan in tuition?

At the time, Zack cursed me for being small-minded.

"Don't use your petty mindset to judge Mr. Li's realm. He doesn't care about making money anymore - he just wants to help us get rich. This is him accumulating good karma for his next life."

"Then why is he still charging 60,000 yuan tuition?" I had asked.

"That's just a screening process. Mr. Li wants to see our sincerity."

In the end, since I adamantly refused, Zack went to find Mr. Li on his own.

He didn't have money for the tuition, but Mr. Li didn't insist on it. He even said he was willing to take Zack as a disciple. This made Zack feel Mr. Li was even more magnanimous. He wanted to repay Mr. Li's kindness for life.

Later Zack followed Mr. Li down south. I lost contact with him for over a year.

When I saw him again, he had escaped from a pyramid scheme den and called me in tears: "Olivia, save me."