Restart life

Chapter 604 [Extra] I Can't Be the Male Lead in the Underworld!
My cousin's restaurant has changed its address.

The move is partly due to increasing traffic congestion, and partly due to a shift in the mindset of the wealthy. They used to think the original location was upscale, but now they value a more low-key and comfortable lifestyle, so they've moved their restaurant to the suburbs.

The new address is quite close to Chen Guiliang's large villa, less than 5 kilometers away as the crow flies. It is sandwiched between an equestrian club and a golf course, and there are some upscale residential areas scattered around.

"Brother," Chen Guirong ran into the private room, grinning, and asked, "What do you want to eat tonight?"

Chen Guiliang said, "It's enough for two people, just make something simple."

Chen Guirong asked, "Would you like some innovative dishes? We just developed some."

"No," Chen Guiliang said.

"Give it a try, it's a combination of Chinese and Western medicine," Chen Guirong strongly recommended.

Chen Guiliang said irritably, "Get lost, I'm not going to be your guinea pig."

Chen Guirong said, "Many customers have tried it and said it's good."

Chen Guiliang was too lazy to pay him any more attention.

Over the past ten years, my cousin's cooking skills haven't improved much; he's focused mainly on running the restaurant. He's hired several fellow apprentices to cook, and those apprentices, in turn, train new people.

The senior apprentice who was his first partner, although he owned a small share of the restaurant, sold it off a few years ago and went on to start his own business. The senior apprentice chose a location in the western suburbs, far from Chen Guirong's restaurant.

My cousin had several girlfriends, all of whom were artistic beauties who performed in restaurants, but all of these relationships ended in breakups.

Finally, he felt that dating was meaningless, so he married a female doctor through an introduction. The couple were usually busy with their own lives, and his cousin brought his parents to Beijing, leaving the children with them.

His wife often complains about how his parents-in-law have ruined the children's education, and is considering quitting her job to become a full-time housewife.

"Hey honey, I'm at the restaurant..."

My cousin answered a phone call and walked out, his voice growing increasingly impatient: "The teacher messaged you again? What's all this fuss about at kindergarten? I know, I know... He was being naughty in class this afternoon, disturbing the other kids' learning. A good scolding will do... If my mom's protecting him, don't hit him at home... Fine, fine, I'll discipline him myself when I get home..."

Chen Guiliang sat inside and listened with great interest.

My cousin's son is quite like Chen Guiliang when he was young; at only five years old, he caused chaos in the kindergarten.

……

Yang Mi has been to this restaurant several times, all for dinners hosted by the investors.

Nobody dares to cause trouble here.

She heard that a wealthy man, drunk, harassed the restaurant's female butler (a waitress in the private rooms), insisting that she sit down and drink with him. The butler refused to no avail and was forced to sit down and drink a glass. The wealthy man then tried to hug and kiss her, and after they drank together, he even tried to grope her, prompting a group of drunkards to cheer him on.

The waiter who served the food noticed something was wrong, and the restaurant manager quickly came to handle the situation personally.

The manager, with a forced smile, asked the housekeeper to leave first, while he stayed behind to drink with the group of wealthy men. The manager even punished himself by drinking three cups, saying that the meal was on the house and that he would give each person two bottles of Moutai, apologizing for any shortcomings in service.

But when the housekeeper left, the wealthy man seemed to lose face. Ignoring the advice of the other diners at the banquet, he slapped the manager across the face on the spot.

The manager called the police immediately and refused to accept mediation, resulting in the wealthy man being detained for a full 48 hours.

Although the incident wasn't reported in the media, it circulated widely in Beijing. The detained tycoon, worth billions, not only dared not retaliate after sobering up, but also personally apologized to the manager!

Of course, the story of an apology is just that—a legend. No one has ever actually witnessed one.

This incident didn't affect the restaurant's business; on the contrary, it boosted its reputation and started to spread beyond its original circle.

Some well-off online celebrities have flocked here to spend money. Even though they are only allowed to film in the private rooms and not in other areas of the restaurant, the videos still get an astonishing amount of views.

Following closely behind, so-called "socialites" also flocked to the restaurant. They first took photos of the area outside the restaurant, then went into the private rooms and took a bunch of selfies, before posting them on their social media to show off.

In order to afford a meal here, these "socialites" grit their teeth and take out loans to become members. Then, using their memberships, they bring other "socialites" to take photos, taking the opportunity to collect money and recoup some of their losses.

Just one month later, the restaurant announced that it would raise the membership threshold, refunding the balance and canceling the membership for those who were unwilling to pay more membership fees.

Finally it stopped.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Please come in."

The housekeeper led Yang Mi in, then very sensibly withdrew and stood quietly outside the private room, waiting for orders.

Yang Mi took off her coat, hung it up, picked up her bag, and greeted him with a smile: "Hello, Mr. Chen."

"Have a seat," Chen Guiliang said.

Yang Mi sat next to Chen Guiliang, neither too far nor too close.

After exchanging a few words, Chen Guiliang chuckled and said, "Why are you so reserved? I'm not going to eat you. A girl from Beijing should be more carefree. I know you're quite the talker; you can even keep up with Guo Degang's banter."

Yang Mi relaxed a little: "Didn't we meet a big shot? Guo Degang and I are acquaintances, so of course I can keep up with the conversation when we're just chatting with old friends."

Chen Guiliang remarked with emotion, "It's been seven or eight years since I've heard Guo Degang perform a crosstalk live."

"Pretty much," Yang Mi said. "Although I'm just an actress, it's not convenient for me to travel around after I become famous. You're the world's richest man, and you're the center of attention wherever you go. Going to listen to Guo Degang's live performance would definitely make it to the trending topics."

Chen Guiliang said, "I really miss the days when we could just eat at roadside stalls. I remember even after ByteDance went public in the US, I would often take my executives to eat skewers on the street. We would bring our families or girlfriends, wear slippers and vests, sit on plastic stools, and drink beer freely."

Chen Guiliang was speaking from the heart; he was genuinely quite moved.

He rarely even sees Xie Yang now, as Xie Yang is stationed at the regional headquarters in Shanghai most of the year.

"Life is always like this: things we used to dream of are now within our reach. Things we used to take for granted are now priceless," Yang Mi said, raising her glass. "This toast is to our lost youth!"

"Haha." Chen Guiliang laughed as he drank it.

Yang Mi said, "When I was in college, all the girls in my dorm really admired President Chen."

Chen Guiliang asked, "What grade are you in?"

"Level 05."

"I was in the class of 04, only one year ahead of you. Back then, I had just started my own business. What did you admire about me?"

"You're handsome and talented. When we were sophomores, CEO Chen had already secured Series B funding and his net worth of hundreds of millions caused a sensation among universities in Beijing. Yuan San San drooled over your photos and said she wanted to find a chance to win you over."

Where is Zhang Xiaofei?

"You like Zhang Xiaofei's type? She was the first person in our dorm to use the school's intranet."

"..."

Several tens of minutes later, Yang Mi's face was flushed from drinking, and she was so drunk that she could barely stand when she left the restaurant and had to be supported by Chen Guiliang.

No one said much, and they tacitly headed to a nearby high-end club. Besides various entertainment options, it also had rooms exclusively for VIP members. Moreover, it offered exceptional privacy; once the car entered, there was no fear of paparazzi taking pictures.

"Congratulations on completing the mission [Childhood Fantasy]. The goddess of Hong Kong films in the golden age, the dream girl of countless boys. This mission is rated SS... Reward: 80 points, Charm +1, one lucky roulette draw (guaranteed D-level prize)."

lottery!

Congratulations on achieving Level 8 in Russian language proficiency.

Chen Guiliang was speechless when he saw the prize drawn from the lucky roulette wheel.

Why the hell do I need a Russian proficiency test score of 8?
Oh well, maybe next time Emperor Putin visits China, we can communicate in Russian face to face.

Yang Mi lay there, watching Chen Guiliang get dressed: "Are you leaving now?"

"Yes, let's go home." Chen Guiliang's heart was as hard as iron.

Yang Mi felt a pang of sadness and asked again, "Can we add each other on WeChat?"

Chen Guiliang thought for a moment, then pulled out a QR code and said, "Scan it."

Yang Mi quickly scanned the QR code to add Chen Guiliang as a friend, and after he accepted, she said, "Let's keep in touch."

"Okay, you should rest first." Chen Guiliang put his phone in his pocket and left.

Yang Mi sat there, feeling lost and dejected, just like a young girl heartbroken after a breakup.

She didn't know why she was like this.

They were like they were bewitched.

Yang Mi sent a goodnight emoji on WeChat, and then held her phone, waiting for a reply.

After waiting for several minutes, guessing that Chen Guiliang had already gotten on the bus, she replied with a smiley face emoji.

"also!"

Yang Mi was so excited that she rolled around hugging her pillow.

Chen Guiliang, however, sat in the car, staring at the mission rating of SS.

If he had just bound the [Lover] bond, he probably would have been rated SSS. But he deliberately didn't bind it, wanting to test how the system would rate him, and as he expected, he was one S short.

"Hong Kong films have long since declined, and Hong Kong film goddesses only represent the past. This triggers the follow-up quest 'The Wolf of the Entertainment Industry.' Quest description: You need to keep up with the times and have in-depth conversations with actresses who became famous after 2000..."

Chen Guiliang clicked "Submit Task Now".

Then he discovered he could keep submitting. It seemed he could submit as many times as he had intimate conversations with female celebrities.

Chen Guiliang submitted ten times in one go, including submissions featuring Japanese and Korean actresses...

I received a whole bunch of random rewards.

Moreover, the fact that he only submitted ten times was not because Chen Guiliang had too few social interactions, but because he had reached the task submission limit.

"You're a true master of time management, and you also have an international perspective, triggering the follow-up mission [International Friend]..."

This ridiculous mission allowed Chen Guiliang to have in-depth exchanges with actresses from at least ten countries.

Chen Guiliang didn't want to accept the task as soon as he saw the description.

Too much trouble!

He slowly tallied up his rewards: a certain number of points, the title "Time Management Master"... Unfortunately, he could only wear one title at a time and could not combine it with "Who in the world does not know you?"

There is also an exclusive reward for submitting the "Wolf of the Entertainment Industry" ten times: the active skill "Unyielding Heroism" (which requires points to use).

Isn't this art style a bit off-track?
If this continues, I'll become the male protagonist of an adult anime.

Damn it, I'd better go and complete the main storyline quests.

"As an author, you have already published a physical novel, 'Those Things About the Ming Dynasty,' and a serialized philosophical work online, 'Nihilism.' Now you can choose to publish your third book, or you can explore fields such as film, music, and games..."

Chen Guiliang directly selected the game and submitted "Three Kingdoms Kill".

Then I selected music and submitted "The Wind Rises".

He chose another movie because he was credited as the screenwriter for "Summer of Little Monsters".

It was like playing a single-player game with a cheat engine; he frantically submitted all sorts of follow-up tasks, and the rewards were bizarre and varied, besides points and attribute points. He even used the lucky roulette wheel and won [Boxing Techniques - Advanced].

This system is like a game, and Chen Guiliang is like someone using a cheat code. It's so boring to play!

Only after completing all the tasks he could submit immediately did Chen Guiliang finally feel a sense of anticipation.

Chen Guiliang accepts a side quest in the main storyline: [Top Screenwriter].

What kind of script should I write?

Of course, it's the utterly awful show "The Squid Game".

Chen Guiliang's investment company owns 10.8% of Netflix's shares, making him Netflix's largest shareholder. The second largest shareholder is Vanguard, which holds 8.43% of the shares.

Netflix has a very dispersed shareholding structure. Although the founding team has a certain say, key decisions still have to balance the opinions of multiple parties.

Many Netflix executives and key staff members are now in a different time and space.

After all these changes, Hwang Dong-hyuk still hasn't filmed "Squid Game"!

Chen Guiliang spent his points to buy the script for the first season of "The Squid Game" and then began to think about how to revise it.

It's impossible to set the story in China, but he also doesn't want to set it in any specific country.

Let's just create a fictional world, and add white and black characters, and film it in a small Southeast Asian country to avoid people thinking the story is set in China.

Those simplistic plot points don't need major changes, especially not overly complex ones, otherwise Western audiences raised on a relaxed, easy-going education won't understand them. In fact, it might hinder their dissemination!
They'll have ByteDance produce the film, but it definitely won't be broadcast in China; it'll be streamed directly on Netflix and they'll get a share of the revenue.

Why did Chen Guiliang choose this drama?

It's purely because it's going to be popular.

Forget about cultural export; "Squid Game" has absolutely no cultural value whatsoever.

After numerous experiments and analyses, Chen Guiliang has figured out some things: the better the task is completed in this broken system, the richer the final reward will be.

"Squid Game" can bring Chen Guiliang super generous mission rewards!
(End of this chapter)