Living in a county town, starting as a stock market maker...

engagement?

I was absolutely stunned.

Do these people who play the capitalist game think differently from normal people? If you're going to talk business, just talk business, why include a marriage package? Is this some kind of script from the last century?

Gu Ming showed no outward reaction, maintaining his smile, but his mind was racing.

How do I answer this question?

Accept? Impossible. He couldn't hand himself over to the Shen family and become a tool controlled by Shen Guodong. Then why was he reborn? To become a live-in son-in-law?

Reject? How to reject? Directly say it's inappropriate? That's not just a rejection, it's a declaration of war. The newly established cooperative relationship will immediately break down.

Gu Ming reminisced about the days when he and Wang Tianqi outwitted and outmaneuvered each other.

At least, that reckless man's thinking was still within the realm of comprehension.

The current situation is too difficult to handle.

He looked at the face in front of him, flushed with alcohol and anticipation, and quickly made a decision.

拖。

Strategic delay.

His smile softened, tinged with a hint of helplessness and seriousness as he said, "Lian, this is a huge matter. It can't be explained in just a few words."

"And... I need to go home first."

"Go home?" Shen Lian was taken aback.

"Yes," Gu Ming nodded, his tone sincere. "My dad sent me a text message a few days ago, just four words: 'Come home for dinner.'"

"I haven't spent enough time with him since he started his business. I guess he's been feeling uneasy. For something this important, I should... let him know first, so he can feel at ease, right?"

This argument works very well.

This demonstrated both the importance he placed on the engagement and the compelling reasons he gave for filial piety, leaving Shen Lianan with no room for rebuttal.

Sure enough, an expression of understanding appeared in Shen Lian'an's somewhat dazed eyes.

In her view, this meant that Gu Ming was seriously considering the matter.

"Okay, then...come back soon." Her voice softened.

Gu Ming breathed a sigh of relief.

Get it done.

Let's get out of this mess first.

He politely declined Shen Lian'an's offer to send him in a private plane without alerting anyone in the company. The next morning, he boarded a slow train from the provincial capital to Hegang.

"Clang... Clang..."

The smell of instant noodles and cigarettes in the carriage brought him back to reality from that world full of calculations.

In this environment, he felt that he was truly living, no longer just a symbol called "President Gu".

A few hours later, the train arrived at the station.

Gu Ming, carrying a backpack, walked through the familiar streets.

The air smelled of coal dust. The streets were lined with weathered red brick buildings and tightly closed roller shutters. The city was exactly the same as when he left, unchanged.

He returned to the family compound and climbed the six-story building where he had lived for more than twenty years.

He took out his keys and opened the door.

In the living room, the father, Gu Yuanshan, was wearing reading glasses, hunched over, sitting on a small stool, looking at an old smartphone with a yellowed screen, his brow furrowed in worry.

Gu Ming walked closer and stopped in his tracks.

The phone screen displayed negative news from several months ago about his kidnapping and shady contracts. The headlines and comments were jarring.

The media hailed him as a business tycoon, and the world cheered for the rise of Star Holdings.

Only his father remained caught up in the previous media storm, worrying about him.

Gu Ming watched his father's retreating figure, his throat tightening.

He realized that his success might just be incomprehensible numbers in the news to his father. And the dangers and slander were the worries that kept him up at night.

"Dad, I'm back," Gu Ming said softly.

Gu Yuanshan was startled and abruptly looked up. Seeing it was his son, he frantically tried to hide his phone, his worried expression still lingering, forcing out a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"You're...you're back? Have you eaten? I'll make you a bowl of noodles."

A typical Chinese father. All his worries and longings ultimately boil down to just one question: "Have you eaten?"

"Dad, don't bother." Gu Ming put down his backpack and pulled his father to sit down on the sofa. "I'll take you to see something."

Half an hour later.

Gu Yuanshan stood in a space he had never imagined, completely dumbfounded.

The office was spacious. Outside the huge glass walls was a view of Hegang city. Inside, hundreds of young people were typing on keyboards at their workstations, and the air was filled with the hum of server rooms.

"Where...where is this?" Gu Yuanshan asked in a low voice, afraid of disturbing others.

"Star Media, Hegang Technology Center," Gu Ming replied.

He led his father to a huge electronic screen. Data streams were scrolling across the screen in real time.

Gu Ming pointed to one of the curves: "Dad, look at this. These are blueberries produced locally in Hegang. Through our platform and algorithm, just now, 500 boxes were sent to supermarkets in Shanghai, 300 boxes were sent to Beijing, and another 1,000 boxes were pre-ordered by a food company in Guangzhou to make jam."

"In the past, no matter how good the quality of our blueberries was, we could only sell them in the city, and they barely made a dollar a pound. Now, through us, they can sell for thirty dollars a pound, and the supply still can't meet the demand."

Gu Yuanshan stared blankly at the charts and numbers on the screen that he couldn't understand, his mouth slightly agape.

Gu Ming then led him slowly through the office area.

"Dad, look at that person," he pointed to a young man wearing glasses who was intently staring at the screen, "That's Uncle Wang's second son from the east end. He used to work as an internet cafe manager, earning 1,500 a month. Now he does data annotation here, earning 8,000 a month, plus social insurance and housing fund."

"And that girl, she's Aunt Li's daughter. She graduated from university but couldn't find a job and has been staying at home for almost a year. Now she's our back-end operations assistant, and last month she got five thousand in bonuses alone."

"Uncle Zhao, Aunt Sun, that good-for-nothing son of Old Liu's..."

Every time Gu Ming pointed out a person, the muscles on Gu Yuanshan's face would twitch.

Those were his familiar neighbors, the children of his old brothers who had been laid off and were now living on odd jobs and welfare.

Now, they all wear respectable clothes, sit in such bright and spacious offices, and earn high salaries that he could never have imagined.

Is all of this because of my son, who is a bad influence and has gone astray?

Gu Yuanshan walked to the window, looking at the busy young people downstairs and at the familiar, hazy sky in the distance.

His eyes, which had rarely shed tears, suddenly reddened.

A tear slid down his wrinkled eye.

Those tears contained pride, relief, but even more so, peace of mind.

In the evening, at the dinner table at home.

Relatives, who somehow got the news, crammed the small house full.

After a few rounds of drinks, they started talking non-stop.

"Xiao Ming, you've really made something of yourself. You're a big boss now, I heard you've made hundreds of millions?"

"Oh dear, my son is such a disappointment. He graduated from university and is currently unemployed. Do you think you could help him find a job? It doesn't have to be great, just ten or twenty thousand a month would be fine."

"Gu Ming, Third Uncle, I've lost some money in the stock market recently. You know a lot about stocks, right? Can you recommend a stock that's guaranteed to make you break even?"

Familiar faces appeared warm and welcoming under the lights.

Those who once said he was not doing his proper job now praise him for his young talent.

Those who used to avoid his family are now becoming increasingly adept at claiming kinship with him.

This is human nature.

Gu Ming listened quietly, smiled, nodded, and toasted each of the elders one by one.

He neither granted nor refused those requests.

"Second Uncle, the company has a hiring process. You can have your brother send his resume to the official email address. I can guarantee that HR will see it, but whether he gets the job depends on his own abilities."

"Third Uncle, the stock market is risky, and I dare not make any recommendations. However, my company does have a stable investment channel with an annualized return of 8%, which is better than depositing money in the bank. If you trust it, I will have my assistant help you with it."

His words were very thoughtful.

It saved face while maintaining propriety.

The relatives gradually realized that Gu Ming was no longer the junior they could judge at will.

He has a certain distance about him that makes people hesitant to approach him casually.

After the meal, everyone was completely at his beck and call, and in the end, all that remained was praise and awe.

Late at night, all the relatives had left.

The father and son sat on the sofa, falling into an unusual silence.

Finally, Gu Yuanshan broke the silence. He took a bunch of polished brass keys from the bedroom and placed them in front of Gu Ming.

"This is the key to the old house."

"You've grown up and have your own ideas now. Dad... is getting old and can't understand your things anymore."

"I'm leaving the family in your care from now on."

He looked up at his son, his eyes filled with solemnity and trust.

"Go ahead and do what you want to do. Even if the sky falls, Dad will hold it up. Home will always be your backup plan."

Gu Ming stared at the bunch of keys, speechless for a moment.

He knew that what his father gave him was a man's recognition and entrustment to another man.

He knew all too well that Hegang was more than just a fallback option for him.

Beneath the technology center lies his private computing center, which he painstakingly built. That's his true trump card.

……

The next day, when we left Hegang.

A black Mercedes-Benz S-Class was already waiting outside the station.

Chen Mo opened the car door, still expressionless.

Gu Ming got into the car, closed the door, and shut out the outside air.

He turned back into President Gu.

"Is everything taken care of?" he asked casually, his eyes closed.

"Yes, boss."

Chen Mo's voice came from the front row, crisp and clear.

"There's been some movement from Shen Guodong's side."

"He contacted several emerging teams in the short video field."