Chapter 29: The Embarrassing Click
by xennovel“Anyway… I don’t recommend you click it,” Xu Chen warned.
Feng Qingqing snorted, “But I’m already an adult.”
Xu Chen was speechless. Seems this leader’s daughter was so sheltered by her parents she knew nothing.
Before he could say more, Feng Qingqing moved the mouse and—“click”—she opened the “Midnight Channel.”
Curiosity driving her, she clicked. Suddenly bizarre, risqué images slammed into her eyes, complete with shaky animation effects.
Her pristine girlish innocence was gone forever.
At eighteen, she suffered social death for the first time.
Of course, in 2006 nobody called it “social death” yet.
Feng Qingqing let out a scream, finally understanding what she’d seen.
The phrase “very yellow, very violent” would hit the internet a year later, but Qingqing felt that shock a full year early.
Panic had her grabbing the mouse, desperate to close the page.
In her frantic clicking she hit the wrong buttons, and multiple huge windows popped up.
Indecent, shameful content filled the entire screen, and her computer nearly froze.
Through her headset, odd sounds still faintly trickled in.
On the verge of tears, Qingqing threw the mouse aside and covered her eyes with both hands.
“Xu Chen… hurry! Hurry!
Please… get this filthy stuff away!”
Xu Chen, face darkening with embarrassment, leaned over and pressed Ctrl+Alt+Del to open Task Manager, cleaning up each wriggling window from the background.
“All clear. You can open your eyes now.”
Still shaken, Qingqing peeked through her fingers to confirm the screen was spotless before lowering her hands.
She frowned and said,
“You can’t tell anyone. Especially not my parents!”
Xu Chen smiled. “Don’t worry.”
Qingqing grabbed the mouse again but was too flustered to click anything.
Xu Chen glanced at her and said,
“Just play games or check QQ. Don’t click random links; you’ll be fine.”
“Okay, okay! I get it!”
Qingqing glanced at Xu Chen’s screen and saw he was logging into QQ. She said,
“Add me as a friend quickly.”
Xu Chen hesitated but still added Feng Qingqing as a friend.
Seeing her QQ name, “Bingling Qiangwei,” made him cringe for her.
His own name, “Nalan Qingchuan,” was just as cringe-worthy—he hadn’t had time to change it.
“Nalan Qingchuan? You like Nalan poetry too?” Qingqing asked.
Xu Chen awkwardly laughed.
She lowered her voice and added,
“I love Nalan’s poems, especially ‘If Life Were Only as It First Met.’”
Turning to Xu Chen, she pressed her lips together, as if she’d spent eighteen years searching for a soulmate.
Xu Chen scratched his head, utterly speechless.
He didn’t even know the Nalan poems and couldn’t remember why he chose such a dramatic username.
Qingqing continued, “I value an interesting soul over a pretty face.”
Xu Chen paused, feeling like he’d stumbled into a melodrama, then awkwardly replied,
“I like both a pretty face and an interesting soul.”
Qingqing nodded,
“That’s good… a guy with strong possessiveness is a good thing…”
She even flushed slightly as she said it.
Xu Chen looked completely innocent.
I just said that casually; I wasn’t even talking about you. Why are you so shy?!
…
…
Minutes later, Qingqing was lost in online surfing, unable to pull herself away.
Only then did Xu Chen open his QQ messages.
The avatar for “NetAffairsLikeSmoke” was blinking. Xu Chen smiled, “Just as I thought.”
[Nalan Qingchuan/Teacher Xu Chen, hello!
I’m the Tiancheng general distributor for HuiShuang Shenbao. We’ve received your ad submission and the chairman has personally evaluated it…
It’s been officially selected as the final ad concept!
On behalf of headquarters, I’d like to discuss the bonus and licensing details…
You’ll need to sign the official ad licensing agreement, and we’ll pay you a 150,000 yuan reward…
Based on your submitted info, please confirm an in-person signing and payment…]
Xu Chen scrolled through the message. He wasn’t surprised by the selection result.
After all, his ad proposal was basically the “standard answer.”
In his previous life, HuiShuang Shenbao’s company had picked the same concept and spent a fortune on a nationwide campaign.
Given a second chance, the boss and company would likely choose the same idea again.
The core request from NetAffairsLikeSmoke was a face-to-face meeting to sign the licensing agreement and pay the 150,000 yuan bonus.
NetAffairsLikeSmoke was offline now, so Xu Chen left a message.
In it, he shared his phone number again, noting he might miss calls during class and preferred texts.
He also gave the school’s address, saying they could meet at the school cafeteria on a weekday noon.
Just as he was about to close the chat window, NetAffairsLikeSmoke came online.
[Hello, Teacher Xu Chen! Message received. I’ll visit your school next Monday at noon!]
Xu Chen stared at the screen, wondering if they really thought he was a teacher.
He thought about his own Shenbao ad and felt a bit embarrassed.
As an eighteen-year-old high schooler writing that ad, it did seem unbelievable.
In the chat he replied:
[Monday at noon works. Send me a message when you arrive at the school!]
[Great! Thanks, Teacher Xu Chen. See you Monday!]
For a 2006 high school student, 150,000 yuan was a huge sum.
In a small county town like theirs, it could buy half a house.
But Xu Chen had no plans to invest in real estate or stocks.
He wasn’t a success in his previous life but had seen many industries rise and fall and watched plenty of tycoons fall overnight.
True tycoons build things with hard work; few get wealthy by flipping houses or stocks.
Besides, the unpredictability of the real estate and stock markets could ruin fake millionaires in a day.
Over the long run, those who invest capital and effort into a real business reap greater rewards.
And they aren’t shaken by short-term market swings.
To Xu Chen, the best investment was always in himself, his dad, and the family business.
Of course, in a second life, making money was still his dad’s job.
His only responsibility was to spend freely and enjoy life.
…
Xu Chen stared at his mouse, lost in thought.
Xie Bingran’s “Servitude Contract” needs to be settled today. I’ll get her to sign it tomorrow!”