Wu Yun suddenly remembered something. When he was first reborn, he’d thought about buying Bitcoin, holding it for a few years, then selling it to live out his days as a rich man. But he later realized he wasn’t content with a mundane life and gave up on that plan.

"What idea?" Wu Yun’s words caught Gao Qiang’s attention.

"Buy Bitcoin. Buy a lot of it. By the time you graduate and get married, you’ll be a billionaire." As a friend and a brother, Wu Yun hoped Gao Qiang would have a better life than in his previous one, where he didn’t even have a girlfriend at twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

In August 2014, the price of a single Bitcoin was around 500 US dollars. Its all-time high was on October 21, 2021, at $65,986 per coin—a nearly 132-fold return. If Gao Qiang invested just one hundred thousand yuan, he could become a multimillionaire by selling at its peak!

"Bitcoin? What’s that? Like currency speculation?" Gao Qiang was completely clueless. After all, he was just a recent high school graduate; even knowing about currency speculation was considered worldly.

"Well, it’s a kind of virtual currency. You can think of it as a type of stock, just one without a physical issuance." Wu Yun wasn’t sure how to explain it to Gao Qiang, so he came up with an analogy.

"Ah Yun, how do you know about this Bitcoin?" Gao Qiang was curious. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Wu Yun; he just wanted to understand things clearly.

After all, it wasn’t realistic to expect a high school graduate to suddenly make an investment of tens or even hundreds of thousands. Even for adults, unless their family was loaded, no one would treat that kind of money lightly.

"You know I have an internet company. We get a lot of this kind of inside information. I’ve bought Bitcoin myself—five million worth. Some of our company’s people have bought it too." Wu Yun spun a white lie to convince Gao Qiang.

After saying this, however, Wu Yun decided he would buy some Bitcoin himself. He’d treat it as a long-term investment and sell it at that 2021 peak. He’d have a huge influx of cash then, though he might not even need it by that point.

"So, where can I buy it? You know, I only have about fifty thousand yuan in lucky money, and my mom put it in a fixed-term deposit at the bank. It’s not going to be easy to convince them!" Gao Qiang scratched his head, trying to figure out how to get the money from his mom.

"There are dedicated Bitcoin trading platforms. If you want to buy, I’ll find a Bitcoin expert to walk you through it!" Wu Yun knew the System’s marketplace offered this as a one-time service. The entry-level option was only 1,000 yuan, which would be more than enough to teach Gao Qiang how to trade.

"Ah Yun, give me a hint. How much can this actually make? I need something to convince my mom and dad." Wu Yun had completely hooked him, and Gao Qiang decided to give it a shot when he got home.

"At least a fifty-fold return. The price has been trending down recently, but our long-term estimate is that it will peak in 2021. Selling then is a sure thing." Wu Yun grabbed a barbecue skewer, tore off a piece of beef with his teeth, and spoke with his mouth full.

"Alright! I’m in! My future of living it up is all on you now!" Gao Qiang picked up his Weiyi soy milk from the table and clinked glasses with Wu Yun.

They left the topic at that. Although Wu Yun and Gao Qiang were unusually close, Wu Yun couldn’t just give him money directly. That would be the stupidest thing to do. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Just then, Wu Yun’s phone chimed with a notification. He picked it up and saw a message from Qi Fei: "Xiaoyunzi, the cat’s out of the bag! My parents know everything! My dad is threatening to send people to come after you with a knife! He says you’ve ruined his precious daughter!"

Seeing the message, Wu Yun couldn’t help but crack a smile.

"Holy shit, what message are you reading? Why’s your smile so dirty! Is it from Bai Yue?" Gao Qiang said, looking up from the fried egg noodles in his stainless steel bowl.

Wu Yun ignored him for the moment and typed out a reply: "Yikes~ Your dad is that fierce? I’ll be too scared to visit your family in the future!"

"Pfft~ Who’s your father-in-law!"

.......

"Okay, I’m done joking. My parents want you to come to our place for New Year’s. I told them about your situation, and they’re not against it."

After finishing his chat with Qi Fei, Wu Yun finally grinned and said, "Of course I’m talking to my girlfriend!"

Wu Yun then pulled up a photo of Qi Fei and showed it to Gao Qiang.

"Holy shit, isn’t that the school beauty from the year above us? What’s-her-name, Qi Fei? Where’d you steal this picture from?" Gao Qiang said, his face a mask of disbelief.

"Bullshit! Do I need to steal pictures?" Wu Yun immediately pulled up a photo of himself with Qi Fei and showed it to Gao Qiang.

"Whoa... Fucking awesome! But what about you and Bai Yue?" Gao Qiang thought of Bai Yue again. ’It’s only been a little over a month,’ he thought, ’did they break up already?’

"What law says you can only have one girlfriend?" Wu Yun simply retorted.

Gao Qiang’s face turned beet red as he held his breath. He finally let it out, narrowly avoiding a spray of noodles out his nose.

After catching his breath, Gao Qiang finally said, "So you’re two-timing! What about those two women who... you know, made you a man?"

Wu Yun shook his head smugly. "They’re my friends, not my girlfriends! And two-timing? No! You’re wrong! It’s three-timing!"

Gao Qiang was going crazy with envy. "It’s true what they say, ’A man with money is a man gone bad.’ From now on, you’re my big bro! Teach me how to get rich! Who’s the other ’boat’?"

"An upperclassman from college. I met her when I bought my car. She’s a model for Lamborghini!" Wu Yun also showed a photo of Wen Meng to Gao Qiang. As the person Wu Yun trusted most in both his past life and this one, he knew Gao Qiang wouldn’t spread it around and would keep his secret.

Seeing Wu Yun’s three distinctive girlfriends, Gao Qiang knew Wu Yun was straying further and further down the path of a player. Still, he understood. If it were him, while he wouldn’t three-time, the speed at which he changed girlfriends would definitely be faster than Wu Yun’s.

"Ah Yun, my lifelong happiness is in your hands! You know that civil engineering is full of rough dudes. On a future construction site, I probably won’t even see a female of any species." Gao Qiang was a little despairing about his future life at university. The name Rongcheng Institute of Technology alone screamed ’sausage fest,’ let alone a major like civil engineering, which was basically men on top of more men.

In his past life, Wu Yun had introduced Gao Qiang to a few female classmates. He ended up dating two of them, but they eventually broke up with him due to the long distance.

The two of them talked as they ate, their conversation flowing from high school to college, and from college to the future.

On the way back to Rongcheng, Wu Yun received a voice message from Gao Qiang: "Ah Yun, I used your company as an example and convinced my mom and dad. They’re going to give me the 500,000 they were saving for my future house. I don’t have to use my lucky money."

"Ah Yun, you absolutely can’t let me lose this money. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to live at your place and leech off you for the rest of my life!" .....

Wu Yun smiled. He was deeply moved, feeling fortunate to have a friend who trusted him so completely.

In high spirits, Wu Yun picked up his phone and sent a voice message to the group chat with Wu Ying and Jiang Xinyi: "Sisters, get ready. You’re going to report your work to me tonight."

The Rongcheng night traffic had cleared up. Wu Yun pushed his driving skills to the limit and quickly arrived at his destination.

"Little brother, we missed you to death!"

Wu Yun opened the door to the apartment Wu Ying and Jiang Xinyi rented, finding them both fully dressed and waiting for him on the sofa.

The moment Wu Yun walked in, Jiang Xinyi jumped up, not even bothering with shoes, and threw herself at him, clinging to him like a koala.

Cupping Jiang Xinyi’s stocking-clad bottom with his hands, he carried her directly toward the bedroom. He glanced back over his shoulder and shouted to Wu Ying, "Sister Ying, hurry up and come report on your work with us."