「Early the next morning.」
Lin Chu woke up in the luxuriously soft bed, pushed aside the arm wrapped around him, and glanced at the woman still sleeping soundly. Seeing the mess strewn across the floor, he couldn't help but smile.
He fished his phone out from under the pillow and checked the time. It was already ten in the morning.
'Oh?'
'I'm going to be late for work.'
'Ah, screw it. I'm not going.'
He had a lot of unread messages on WeChat.
Liu Yang: "Bro, I clocked in for you. Get here as soon as you wake up."
'Er...'
The company wasn't that strict about clocking in. You could have someone else do it for you. After all, salespeople were often out of the office. As long as the boss didn't catch you, it was fine.
'Guess Liu Yang has a conscience after all.'
His boss, Xu Xiaolei: "How did it go with the client last night? I heard you spent a hundred thousand on dinner? Three hundred thousand at the bar? Keep it up, and make sure you land that big client."
'What a dumbass.'
Lin Chu just smiled. In the past, he would have definitely gotten chewed out for this.
'As expected, the world is a bitch who only shows her beautiful side to the rich.'
Even though he was still just an employee, now that he'd displayed his financial power, his boss had to treat him with a smile.
After pouring a glass of water, Lin Chu walked over to the massive floor-to-ceiling window of his hotel room. He gazed out at the blue sky, white clouds, and brilliant sunshine, then down at the bustling traffic below, which looked like a stream of ants.
At that moment, he noticed a lipstick print on the clean glass, several messy handprints, and the imprints of soft curves that had been pressed against the pane. The scenes from last night subconsciously flashed through his mind, and the corners of his mouth curled up once more.
'What a thoroughly satisfying battle that was.'
'He'd never felt anything like it, not even with his ex-girlfriend.'
'You never feel bad about driving a rental hard.'
Just then, on the bed, Bai Fangfei's phone suddenly started ringing.
Startled from her sleep, she answered the call. Her voice was a little hoarse as she said, "Hello? ...Yeah, I worked overtime last night. I'm still catching up on sleep, but I'll head to the office in a little while."
She hung up.
When she saw Lin Chu looking at her with a teasing, ambiguous smile, a flicker of panic flashed through her drowsy eyes. She quickly pulled the blanket up, burying her head underneath as if out of shyness.
"Who was that?"
Lin Chu asked deliberately.
"N-Nobody. Just someone from work."
She poked her head out and said in a muffled voice.
Lin Chu just shook his head and smiled, not bothering to press the issue. Whether it was her boyfriend or just a friend, it had nothing to do with him.
...
In the bathroom, Lin Chu sat on the toilet and continued to scroll through his WeChat messages.
Zhang Peng had created a group chat.
Group name: Brother Chu and His Friends
Zhang Peng himself, Lin Chu, and the five beautiful female colleagues from last night were all in the group.
He had also sent a private message: "Brother Chu, you up yet? I'm in the restaurant eating. Hit me up when you wake up."
A message from Wang Zhefei: "Off to work. Damn, you really go all out. Where'd you get so much money?"
Lin Chu thought for a moment but didn't reply.
'That... was a question he couldn't answer.'
Lu Ming had also sent a message: "Chu, we're heading out at two this afternoon. Why don't you ride with me? I'll save two spots for you. (Wicked grin)"
There was also a red notification dot from An Qingning: "Brother Chu, good morning. Do you have time to come see my company today? Or I can come find you?"
Beyond those, there were all sorts of other random messages.
Lin Chu scanned through them all, thought for a moment, and replied to Zhang Peng first: "Wait for me in the restaurant. I'm heading over now."
'His Affinity score with Zhang Peng was already over 90.'
'He had some resources, and he was flexible.'
'He was the perfect person to handle a big project.'
"Here. Waiting for you."
...
Lin Chu took a shower to get ready to go out.
While he was in the middle of his shower, the glass door was suddenly pushed open. Bai Fangfei, wrapped in a bath towel, stood outside. "Brother Chu, are you heading out?"
She hadn't forgotten about the yacht party today.
"Yep. Coming in to scrub my back?"
Lin Chu said with a grin.
She seemed a little shy, but walked in anyway.
...
After a refreshing and rather... *intimate* shower, Lin Chu got dressed and headed out the door.
Bai Fangfei was busy doing her makeup, so he left her to it.
Lin Chu found Zhang Peng in the restaurant, sitting by himself and drinking coffee.
When he saw Lin Chu approach, Zhang Peng glanced over, then stood up with a grin. "Whoa, man! You really partied hard. You've even got a hickey on your neck."
Lin Chu waved a dismissive hand.
"Never mind that... let's talk business. You interested?"
Huh?
At these words, Zhang Peng's interest was instantly piqued. He even sat up straighter.
"Of course I am... Bro, go ahead. I'm all ears."
'Brother Chu is about to take me to the top!'
"I need you to scout a location for me. I'm planning to open a gym. The best-case scenario would be a place that's already fully renovated but is failing and needs to be offloaded. We can just snap it up."
Lin Chu's reasoning was simple: 'The system gives me rebates for spending money on my bros. That means I need a lot more bros.'
'But making friends one by one? That would take forever.'
'So, the most efficient method is to open a company and hire employees.'
'Especially male employees.'
'With that in mind, the path forward became clear—a gym.'
'It had the lowest barrier to entry.'
'He could farm money by spending on the male employees, then hire some female trainers, and maybe even hit on a few of the female clients... Tsk... The thought of that scene was very tempting to Lin Chu.'
"A gym?"
Zhang Peng took a deep breath, slightly stunned. Why a gym, of all things?
'It was a legitimate business, sure, but it didn't seem all that profitable.'
'Was he planning to collect a bunch of membership fees and then just disappear?'
"Brother Chu, are gyms really a good business? I've seen a lot of them go under this year. The economy's not great, and not many people are signing up for memberships."
He offered his thoughts responsibly.
"You don't need to worry about that. 'Be greedy when others are fearful.' You just focus on finding a location; leave the rest to me,"
Lin Chu said with a smile.
"Okay, then... I'll start looking. What's the budget?"
"Just focus on the location for now. As long as it's in a high-end residential area or a premium commercial district, the rent is negotiable. No upper limit. Oh, and I don't want anything that requires a transfer fee."
Hearing this, Zhang Peng nodded again. "Alright, I'll start scouting."
After they finished talking business, it was almost eleven, so Lin Chu gave Lu Ming a call.
"What're we doing for lunch?"
"My treat, of course. Let's hit up Ensue."
Lu Ming laughed. "You're really something else. Sounds good. I'll be there around twelve. I'm going home to grab some good wine."
"Alright, see you at twelve."
Listening to Lin Chu's phone call, Zhang Peng took a sharp breath.
'Is he... really treating a two-star Michelin restaurant like it's the Shaxian Grand Hotel?'
'How much money does he have to burn through it like that?'
"I can't go. I have to head back to the office,"
Zhang Peng refused, feeling a little insecure. He couldn't afford a restaurant like that, and he felt embarrassed always letting Lin Chu treat him.
"Come on, join us."
"I really can't. I haven't been to the office all morning, and my boss just messaged me on WeChat. You guys go ahead. Um... about Feifei. Should I take her back, or... do you want her to hang around for a bit longer?"
Lin Chu thought for a moment. "Take her back. I have important things to do this afternoon."
"Got it."
"Then I'll take off. See you later. I'll message you once I find a potential location."
...
Lin Chu watched him leave, thought for a moment, then pulled out his phone and sent a message to An Qingning: "I'm going to a yacht party with some rich guys this afternoon. Want to come?"
'His ex-girlfriend's best friend really did tick certain boxes for him.'
...
...