Many years ago, when Lin Chu was still in school, he had read a banned work of traditional literature, *Heaven is on the Left, Peng City is on the Right*. It depicted Peng City in the 90s and had established his fundamental impression of the city. Now, as he exerted himself, that book inexplicably came to mind.
He had lived in an urban village, had his fill of pig's trotter rice, conned clients, and been cheated by friends. He had been poor, and now he was rich. His ex-girlfriend had run off with someone else, and he himself had briefly had someone else's girlfriend.
And so, he suddenly felt a surge of excitement.
This continued until Zhang Peng's call came through again. Lin Chu answered, his breathing a little ragged. "Speak."
On the other end of the line, Zhang Peng paused for a second, then quickly regained his composure. "The owner agreed. He said this afternoon would be fine. He's a man in his fifties, seems pretty successful. His name is Li Zuoguo."
"Alright. Twelve-thirty at Ensue, then. I'll head back now."
Lin Chu hung up as soon as he finished speaking.
Then he resumed the unfinished battle.
...
"You have a lunch meeting?"
Tangtang's voice was languid and syrupy sweet.
"Mhm."
Lin Chu sat by the headboard, smoking. Amidst the curling smoke, he savored the pleasure of nicotine hitting his brain. A cigarette after a high-intensity workout was truly satisfying.
"Want to take me with you?"
She traced circles with her finger, asking softly.
"Up to you. If you're not afraid of running into someone you know."
Lin Chu said with a teasing smile.
Her eyes froze for a moment, and then she understood. She suddenly bit Lin Chu, leaving a row of faint impressions on his arm. "Then I'd better not. Another time?"
"A-okay. Ask and I shall... rise to the occasion."
She laughed and playfully punched him twice.
...
At 11:53, Lin Chu appeared alone at the entrance of Ensue. He had taken a taxi back. The other three—Liu Junfeng, Liao Zhibin, and Lu Ming—were still asleep when he left. He hadn't said goodbye in person, just sent a message on WeChat.
'I really need to buy a car.'
Zhang Peng was already waiting at the restaurant entrance. Seeing Lin Chu arrive, he smiled. "Just finished up?"
Lin Chu nodded with a smile.
Zhang Peng said, "You go on in. I'll wait out here. We're the client, after all. We have to look the part, no matter how big a shot he is."
"Alright, I'll go in and order first."
"What do you feel like eating?"
Zhang Peng looked at Lin Chu, speechless. "Anything's fine. Just don't order anything too expensive."
Patting his shoulder, Lin Chu didn't say much else and entered the private room with a smile.
The moment he appeared in the restaurant, the beautiful waitress who had served him twice before quickly walked over again.
"Mr. Lin, hello. Welcome back. How many in your party today?"
"Should be three, unless something comes up. Let's take the same private room as last time."
Lin Chu said casually.
"Of course. The wine you had yesterday is still being stored in our temperature-controlled cabinet. Would you like me to bring it out?"
Lin Chu glanced at her. "No need. I don't drink leftovers from the night before. We'll get a new bottle later."
The waitress was taken aback. "Uh..."
After a brief moment of stunned silence, she quickly put on a sweet smile and led the way with a light spring in her step.
'Once again, she marveled at how absurd the world of the rich was.'
'They really don't treat money like money.'
"Would you like to order now, or wait for your guests to arrive?"
"Let's wait. We'll order when my guests are here."
"Alright. Then I'll brew some tea for you first. We have Pu'er, black tea, oolong, Fenghuang Dancong, or rock tea?"
"Rock tea, please."
After brewing a pot of tea, she stood by with her hands clasped, waiting with a smile.
「A short while later.」
Zhang Peng walked into the private room with a middle-aged man who was on the leaner side. The man wore glasses and had a scholarly, refined air about him. Judging by his aura, he also gave off the feeling of being wealthy.
'But he's probably not *that* rich.'
'After all, a true tycoon wouldn't personally come to negotiate a deal worth less than a million.'
"President Li, hello. Please, have a seat."
Lin Chu stood up to welcome him, guiding him to the seat of honor while making cheerful small talk.
After a bit of chitchat, Lin Chu handed him the menu. "Let's order first. We can talk while we eat."
"As the guest, I'll follow your lead."
He declined with a smile.
In that case, Lin Chu didn't stand on ceremony. He said to the waitress, "Just bring us the same thing we had yesterday. The wine, too."
The waitress froze for a second, then quickly nodded.
This took Li Zuoguo by surprise. He glanced at Lin Chu nonchalantly and said with a smile, "Let's talk business first."
"This gym... I was actually using it for myself at first. I had the 'three highs'—high blood pressure, high cholesterol—so I bought this floor and had it custom-built. It's close to home. As for the members, most of them were friends who just tagged along. I brought the client list; it's all here."
"But I'm looking to retire now. In this market, it's hard to sell, so I figured I'd rent it out. The rent is nine hundred thousand a year. It was originally one-point-two million, but young Zhang here is a good negotiator, and I was in a hurry to get it off my hands, so I gave in."
"Of course, there is a condition... you have to serve the current members well. I can't have my old friends saying I just skipped town."
He looked at Lin Chu with a grin.
Lin Chu's sharp Adam's apple bobbed. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.
'Alright then.'
'I misjudged him earlier.'
'Buying a whole floor just to build a personal gym... What kind of high-level flex is that?'
'And in the city's central CBD, no less, where even commercial property costs over 200,000 per square meter.'
"That's not a problem. President Zhang mentioned it to me earlier. I'd like to know, about how many of these long-term members are there? And what are the terms of their memberships?"
Lin Chu asked pragmatically.
Li Zuoguo smiled. "Not many, only twelve in total. Their memberships are all for life. Five of them are definitely leaving with me, so they won't be coming anymore. That leaves seven. But, I reckon once I'm gone, they probably won't come much either. They were mostly just coming to see me, you know? We're buddies."
"Alright, that's no problem."
Lin Chu nodded readily. He instantly understood now. The reason Li Zuoguo had insisted on discussing this in person wasn't about the money; it was because he was afraid that after the handover, there might be misunderstandings with his old buddies.
Lin Chu greatly admired that way of handling things.
「Just then.」
A knock came at the door of the private room.
"Come in!"
The waitress entered with a sommelier, who was carefully cradling a 180,000-yuan bottle of Romanée-Conti.
Li Zuoguo was clearly a man of the world, but even he was stunned when he saw the wine.
'Just for a casual meal to talk about renting a place, was it really necessary to open a bottle of Conti?'
Lin Chu saw his expression but didn't explain, simply smiling. "So, when can we sign the contract? Since all the paperwork is in order on your end, I just need to register a new business license, right?"
Li Zuoguo snapped back to reality. "We can sign anytime. The procedures are simple; it'll only take two days to get it all done."
The red wine was opened.
Lin Chu clinked glasses with him.
The wine was fragrant and mellow. A hint of curiosity arose in Li Zuoguo's mind. "President Lin, what line of business are you in?"
...
...