Tycoon: From Rags to Riches

Chapter 63: Chapter 63: A Surge in Foundation

Late at night, the clouds parted and the rain ceased.

After leaving Celestial Bath Spring, Gu Heng sat alone in his car, listening to music.

The air after the rain carried the sweet, earthy scent of evaporating moisture, mingled with the crisp fragrance of crushed grass—fresh, pleasant, and invigorating.

Along the roadside, the streetlights still cast a dim, yellow glow, their light shattering into shimmering gold foil on the puddle-mirrors below, which in turn reflected the bright, full moon.

"It seems..."

"I really was overcomplicating things."

As a song ended, Gu Heng let out a soft sigh.

Wang Baoshan’s words tonight had given Gu Heng a great deal of insight, but in his view, the core message could be summed up in four words: play to your strengths.

He was clearly an economy-class player, yet he insisted on trying to play like a technical-class one.

Wasn’t that just asking for trouble?

Conquer their heart and body—who said the heart had to come before the body?

Just as Wang Baoshan said, it could perfectly well be the body first, and the heart later.

As long as he could keep Jiang Ruan by his side, Gu Heng refused to believe that someone with his resources couldn’t eventually warm her heart.

If half a year wasn’t enough, then he’d take a year.

If a year wasn’t enough, then he’d take two.

Given enough time, even a stone could be warmed, couldn’t it?

After this conversation, the faint outline of a plan had already begun to form in Gu Heng’s mind.

Now, all he needed was the right opportunity.

Having sorted things out in his head, Gu Heng felt much more at ease.

He reached for his phone, which had been charging on the wireless pad, and opened WhatsApp for a look. He saw that just five minutes ago, Liu Nanyi had sent him a message.

He opened it to find just a kaomoji: "┭┮﹏┭┮"

Seeing this, Gu Heng raised an eyebrow and replied: "?"

Almost the instant Gu Heng sent his reply, the words "typing..." appeared in the chat box.

"Ever since the semester started, I’ve gone to every single class on time."

"But I overslept after lunch today, missed my afternoon class, and of course the professor decided to take attendance."

"My luck is so bad!"

"Why do they even take attendance?"

"What happened to the trust between people?"

"Forcing students to stay with attendance is no different from forcing a man to stay with a pregnancy!"

Liu Nanyi’s messages came one after another, with almost no pause.

Her fingers were flying.

Reading Liu Nanyi’s messages, especially the last one, Gu Heng, who had just taken a sip of water, nearly sprayed it all out.

What a divine connection!

"So..."

"You’re staying up in the middle of the night just to complain to me about this?"

Gu Heng typed back.

"Because the more I think about it, the angrier I get, and the angrier I get, the less I can sleep!"

Liu Nanyi’s reply was, once again, instantaneous.

"So what do you want to do about it?"

After Gu Heng sent this message, Liu Nanyi went silent for about ten seconds, then replied: "I bought a new pair of black lace stockings yesterday..."

The moment Gu Heng saw Liu Nanyi’s reply, he instantly understood what she meant.

Can’t sleep in the middle of the night.

How ridiculous!

Was he, Gu Heng, such a casual person?

Gu Heng sneered inwardly, but his fingers seemed to have a mind of their own as he typed back: "Let’s see the goods first."

"You got it!"

Liu Nanyi agreed readily. A moment later, a dozen or so high-definition, professionally edited photos flooded his screen.

Today’s black lace stockings were in a Japanese Mary Jane style. The ultrathin mesh enveloped Liu Nanyi’s smooth, rounded, and crystal-clear fair feet, along with the slender calves that accompanied them in the shot.

As Gu Heng stared, he couldn’t help but take a soft, deep breath.

"Damn it!"

Gu Heng then opened his phone’s camera, snapped two pictures of his own neck—one from the front and one from the side—and sent them to Liu Nanyi.

"Thank you so very much!"

Liu Nanyi replied instantly, following up with two bowing-in-thanks sticker packs.

And then, silence.

Gu Heng stared at his chat with Liu Nanyi, finding it inexplicably amusing.

He wasn’t sure when it started, but his conversations with Liu Nanyi had gradually become this abstract.

’If they ever met offline one day...’

The corners of Gu Heng’s lips curled up slightly, a flicker of anticipation suddenly igniting in his heart.

...

For the next few days, Gu Heng didn’t contact Jiang Ruan.

Following the requirements of the challenge mission, [Tempering the Heart], Gu Heng began his in-depth research at the six major brands under the Zhen Cui Group. His first stop was Banquet Fusion.

From front-of-house reception to kitchen quality control, from financial accounting to supply procurement, from market planning to member management, from food storage to fire safety...

Gu Heng experienced every single post personally.

As executive assistant, Fan Hong naturally accompanied Gu Heng the entire time, ready to provide the most detailed explanations for anything Gu Heng didn’t understand or was unfamiliar with.

In the process, Gu Heng began to understand why Brother Tongzi had issued him such a challenge mission.

Sometimes, when you look down from the top, your vision is truly obscured by floating clouds.

Only by planting your feet firmly on the ground can you see things more clearly.

Practice was indeed the best teacher.

It’s better to do something once than to hear about it a hundred times.

Meanwhile, while Gu Heng was deeply immersed in his research at Banquet Fusion, he used the spare time on two separate nights to use the Cigar Tasting Card and the Fine Wine Tasting Card.

The effect was identical to the Tea Tasting Card.

In the virtual reality of the Cigar Tasting Card, Gu Heng felt like a chimney, constantly test-smoking all kinds of cigars from beginning to end.

Habanos, Montecristo, Partagás, Upmann...

All sorts of brands, all sorts of sizes.

The Fine Wine Tasting Card was much the same; he drank his way through a vast array of liquors, including baijiu, Western spirits, red wine, sake, and yellow wine.

Every time he got dizzy from drinking, his body would be reset to a state of sobriety.

After this repeated hundreds of times, although Gu Heng hadn’t tried it in the real world yet, he had a hunch that his alcohol tolerance had increased significantly. By exactly how much, he wasn’t yet sure.

The three Appreciation Cards had massively boosted Gu Heng’s underlying knowledge.

At the same time, this wealth of experience and broadened perspective also made Gu Heng more confident.

Now, Gu Heng was confident he would no longer show any timidity in most social situations.

During this time, although Gu Heng and Luo Xiwen hadn’t met again, they were in constant contact every day.

The new landscaper Gu Heng had chosen was currently redesigning the courtyard of his villa in Yu Cui Garden, and a proposal was expected in about ten business days.

Meanwhile, Luo Xiwen had spent the last few days hiring a professional cleaning company to deep-clean Gu Heng’s Yu Cui Garden villa and purchasing many daily necessities.

Amid this busy and fulfilling life, time flew by, and soon it was mid-September...

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