A life of success begins with being a landlord.

I also hope that Zhang Bazi will walk the right path and become a normal person.

This guy is terrifying. He offered you money the day before yesterday, and you couldn't refuse it; tomorrow he might take your life and send people with shotguns to chase you down and beat you up!

If he follows the right path, he poses no threat to me.

But he wants territory, is that something I can decide?

Whether it's Dao Zixiong or Sang Kun, who would be willing to give him a piece of land?

"Brother Zu, I want a piece of land to start an entertainment business." Zhang Bazi smoked a cigarette, looking longingly. "I don't have any ambitions. I just want to lead a dozen or so fellow villagers and earn three to five million a year."

Earning three to five million a year, and you still say you have no ambition?

Li Jie and I, together with Ding Zhili, started a trading company. The total annual profit is estimated to be only two or three million!

Once they received their share, it was only a few hundred thousand in hard-earned money.

Not wanting to discourage Zhang Bazi, I pondered for a moment and said, "How about this, I'll find an opportunity to talk to Dao Zaixiong and ask him if he can meet with you. You should also listen to Dao Zaixiong's opinion."

Zhang Bazi nodded and smiled, "As long as Daozai Xiong is willing, we can cooperate. Or, we can cooperate with Sang Kun."

"Okay, I'll find a chance to ask. Wait for my news."

"Alright, I won't bother Brother Zu any longer." Zhang Bazi got out of the car.

I peeked in and said, "Next time, call ahead if you need anything. Don't just disappear like that, scaring people to death!"

In my opinion, Zhang Bazi is not a normal person.

What normal person would do something like this, waiting for me on the road in the middle of the night?

"Got it." Zhang the Scarface smiled and waved goodbye.

You're such a disgrace!

I cursed under my breath and drove back to Hongxing Village.

As soon as I entered the village, I saw Sister Li, Erxia, Bobo, Liu Haomei, and Aping having a late-night snack at a roadside food stall.

I pulled over, leaned out, and called out, "Hey, you guys went out for late-night snacks without inviting me? You ingrates, that's so inconsiderate!"

"Come quick, come quick!" Sister Li, Bobo, and the others waved to me, "We have good news!"

Good news for farts.

Bobo rolled her eyes: "Finding a husband is good news? I could find a hundred if I wanted to. And I'd guarantee I'd marry into a wealthy family and become a rich wife!"

Which wealthy family has such low standards that they would even consider you?

I smiled and sat down.

"Old Wang, look! Our GG is published!" Liu Haomei handed me a story magazine.

"Originally, we couldn't get a spot for this issue, but Professor Qian contacted the magazine and managed to squeeze us in. Plus, the price was half off. That's what you call having connections."

I took the magazine, flipped to the last page, and saw it was covered with tiny GGs.

Special rat poison, height-increasing insoles, electric mousetraps, stun guns for self-defense...

"Our GG is here."

Liu Haomei pointed out some books to me: "This one, 'Three Hundred Ancestral Remedies and Prescriptions, No Need to Ask for Help to See a Doctor'; and this one... 'Rural Prosperity: Secret Recipes for Fishing and Shrimp Catching, Earn 150 Yuan a Day'; and this one, 'Decoding Gambling, Strictly Prohibited'..."

I was stunned and gave him a thumbs up: "You guys are really willing to spend money, three guys, how much will that cost?"

"It's cheap, only a little over seven thousand yuan." Bobo raised his glass: "This is because of Liu Haomei's influence and Teacher Qian's help in bargaining. Otherwise, it would have cost fifteen thousand."

Liu Haomei laughed and said, "That's because of Lao Wang's influence. Without Lao Wang, I wouldn't have been able to get into Sihai Printing Factory."

I nodded and asked, "Have all your folk remedies and secret formulas been printed?"

"It's not too late to print it after we receive the remittance slip."

Bobo grinned mischievously: "I'm not afraid the customer will beat me up if I send it out a few days later."

Liu Haomei covered her mouth and laughed: "Our secret recipe only costs a dozen yuan. Even if we don't ship the goods, customers won't cause us any trouble over a dozen yuan."

I admire you greatly.

The swindler's intricate strategy has been thoroughly grasped by Liu Haomei and others.

Sister Li poured cold water on the idea: "Hey, don't get carried away. Making money is what really matters."

A master swindler has emerged out of nowhere!

Liu Haomei whispered, "Teacher Qian said that this book, 'Earn 150 a Day by Fishing and Shrimp Catching,' and 'The Mastermind Reveals the Strict Prohibition of Gambling,' will definitely make money. Because many rural people can't find a way to get rich, but they happen to have fish and shrimp resources; and there are also some gamblers who hope to get rich by gambling and are asking around for cheating techniques."

Teacher Qian said, "The desire to make money is a weakness of human nature. If we give them hope of making money, they'll willingly walk into our trap."

I shuddered.

Teacher Qian is indeed adept at understanding human nature and insightful about the world.

The same applies to the pyramid schemes run by Huang Aijun and others.

The people in the downline are all poor, all wanting to make money and become rich. As a result, they fall into the trap of pyramid schemes.

Bobo was full of confidence: "I've looked into it. This story magazine prints 800,000 copies per issue. Each issue is circulated to about 20 people. That means more than 10 million people may see our GG. Even if it's one in 10,000, more than 1,000 people will still come to buy our secret formula and techniques."

Ah Ping spoke her mind: "Teacher Qian said that once we each earn one or two hundred thousand yuan, we should quit this line of work, because it's not good to cheat people."

Erxia chuckled: "That's right, I'll leave this world, become a respectable woman, and marry an honest man."

Bobo rolled her eyes: "We've always been respectable women, okay?"

I raised my glass and downed a beer.

Going up a mountain is easy, but coming down is hard; going into the sea is easy, but getting ashore is hard.

It's hard for someone who's been a conman for a long time to change their ways and become a decent person.

Looking at the time, it was already three in the morning. I told Sister Li and Erxia to go back to sleep.

Liu Haomei has now moved to Hongxing Village, but she lives with A Ping in a shared house.

To get into a relationship, they need an address to receive remittances, so they have to rent a place.

At first, Bobo wanted to set the address for receiving remittances to our trading company, but Li Jie and I both disagreed.

What if something goes wrong and it affects our company?

Our Zhongyao Trading Company is a large, legitimate company!

Back in the company compound, Erxia went to the restroom.

Sister Li asked, "By the way, Yaozu, why haven't your girlfriend Chunyan and her family returned yet?"

"What's wrong, Sister Li? Are you missing Chunyan?"

"I'm not a man, why would I want to be with Chunyan?"

Sister Li rolled her eyes: "I was thinking, if we do recycling in the future, Chunyan's family can help out. Anyway, we'll have to pay people if we need to hire them."

I sighed. "It was about ten days ago when Sister Ling called me. I haven't heard from her since. I guess Chunyan's grandfather has died and they're holding a funeral."

Sister Li thought for a moment and asked, "I remember, they took your money, didn't they?"

"I took... just a little bit," I said with an awkward laugh.

"How much is 'a little bit'? Tens of thousands of yuan, I guess?" Sister Li pressed.

"It's only about 30,000 yuan." I nodded.

Actually, Chunyan and Sister Ling's family took about 40,000 to 50,000 yuan from me. I haven't calculated it, but this is an approximate amount.

"Thirty thousand yuan, plus a brand new phone, right?"

Sister Li frowned: "Yaozu, I have a bad feeling. Are the Xia family trying to renege on their debt and not come back?"