Rebirth of the Godly Prodigal

“Ah? We’re suffering a loss? I’m not very sensitive to figures. Oh right, how much money did my dad spend when he bought those lands?” Hong Dali looked at Ling Xiaoyi. “I’m really not very sure about this. He didn’t spend too much, right?”

“He didn’t spend much when buying it,” Ling Xiaoyi said in trepidation. “He spent almost 1.2 billion or so… But if these lands are properly developed, they would increase at least ten times more within a few years time, then it’d be around 12 billion or so. Now they being sold for only 7 billion… this…”

If Master got to know about this, I might as well drown myself in the river…

Tears rained down Ling Xiaoyi’s face.

“Oh, then, didn’t it increase 7 or 8 times now as well, it’s not a small amount.” Hong Dali grinned and nodded. “We must learn how to be content, heh heh. It’s not a big problem, not a big problem.”

“O… OK…” Ling Xiaoyi said in trepidation, “Young Master, why don’t you discuss it for a while with Master, or else I’ll… You know, if we just sell it like that without getting Master’s approval, it’d easily cause trouble…”

“Mm, that’s true.” Hong Dali thought for a while. “Then let’s contact him after we finish selling it later. There’s no rush.”

After it’s all sold, the deal would long be closed by then. What would be left to discuss then! Looks like Young Master is bent on squandering this time!

…

Outside.

Li Yuankai was so anxious that his hand which was holding onto the phone trembled. “Young Master, that prodigal Hong Dali said… he said…”

Ko Gohon asked in a deep voice, “What did he say? He’s not willing to sell the lands? If he’s not willing to, then increase the price. I’m still able to pay this small sum of money, feel free to negotiate on that.”

“N… No…” Li Yuankai felt that there was too much information to take in today. “That prodigal Hong Dali said that he can sell all the lands under his name at one go, but the price he’s asking for is quite high. 7 billion…”

“Is that so!” Ko Gohon excitedly exclaimed, “Buy them, buy them all! Once he sells all these lands, he’d be like a general without an army. What would he have to fight with me in the future? Hahaha, this prodigal, I suddenly feel that it’s quite beneath my status to fight with him!”

“Young Master, we’ll buy it even if it costs 7 billion?” Li Yuankai asked again. “If you’re really prepared to buy it, then I’ll go and tell him right away!”

“Buy it, we must buy it!” Ko Gohon firmly said, “West Fourth Loop, the project which the nation is going to develop on, it won’t be a loss no matter what! Buy, buy them all!”

“OK! Then I’ll do that right away!” Li Yuankai was instantly injected with confidence. “Young Master, wait for my good news!”

“OK! Quickly go!”

…

Li Yuankai returned to the small conference room. This time, with Ko Gohon backing him up, he was very confident. He held his head high and said, “Young Master, I’ve asked the finance department of my company and learned that I have sufficient funds for the transaction this time.” As he spoke, he took out a contract. Looks like he’d come prepared and deeply understood the importance of acting fast and that he had to get this thing done before Hong Dali’s father, Hong Weiguo, found out. Thus, he was already prepared for all possible scenarios.

Speaking of which, this fellow had just addressed Ko Gohon as Young Master, and now he’d addressed Hong Dali as Young Master as well, totally the typical example of serving two masters at once!

“Mm, not bad, quite efficient.” Afterward, what Hong Dali said instantly made Li Yuankai depressed. “The problem is that you’ve spent quite a long time on the call just now… 7.5 billion then…”

Damn you! One call is worth 500 million!

Li Yuankai’s hands instantly trembled. “Young Master, you can’t make such a joke. You can’t do this…”

“Oh, then I’m not selling it…” Hong Dali was rather troubled. “Speaking of which, the procedures are quite troublesome…”

“Don’t! Don’t!” Upon hearing Hong Dali’s words, Li Yuankai was instantly anxious. “Young Master, wait a moment, I’ll go and make another call!”

Li Yuankai sped out of the room and took out his phone, his voice trembling as he said, “Young Master, Hong Dali has increased the price of the land to 7.5 billion. if I don’t agree to it, he won’t sell it. What should I do?”

“Idiot!” Ko Gohon instantly scolded. “Trash, can you do your job well? Buy it! Buy it regardless of the price!”

Li Yuankai went back to the room. “Young Master, I’ll buy it at 7.5 billion!”

Alas, Hong Dali sniffled. “I hate people going out to make calls while discussing serious business the most. It’s 8 billion now…”

Fine, one call had thrown away 500 million again…

“I’ll buy it!” Li Yuankai gritted his teeth. “It’s this price then!” Anyway, Ko Gohon said to buy it regardless of the price!

“I like decisive people. Ah, oh right, I can’t give you that piece of land near Fengyuan Lake. How about this, as a generous person, you can buy all the rest,” As he spoke, Hong Dali wrote some numbers on the paper. “It’s a total of 788888888… Xiaoyi, help me calculate it and see whether this number is correct. Don’t miss out any digits.”

After Hong Dali finished writing, Ling Xiaoyi scanned through it for quite some time before she said with certainty, “Young Master, it lacks one more ‘8’.”

“Ah, I’ll take a look again, 12345678… It’s really short of one!” Hong Dali drew in a cold breath. “Plus the 7 in the front, this is only 788,888,888, it’s still short of one more digit!” As he spoke, he solemnly added one more ‘8’ at the back as Li Yuankai watched in trepidation—Is it really fine for this prodigal to do this? After he got home, would he be beaten to death by his dad?

Anyway, Li Yuankai didn’t know whether he would be beaten to death by Hong Weiguo. After Hong Dali solemnly stamped his personal seal onto the piece of paper. “Squandering for the sake of the rise of Heavenly State, Hong Dali Seal,” it was finally confirmed in black and white, and it wouldn’t be of any use even if he regretted later.

“Happy collaboration,” Li Yuankai speedily kept the contract and stamped his seal on, and without even daring to sit down again, he hurriedly stood up and said, “Then I’ll go back to prepare the funds. I won’t impose on you any further, Young Master.”

Oh yay! This prodigal has actually signed and stamped his seal! Hahaha! I succeeded in completing this deal! Aiyaya, they’ve all said that Hong Dali is a superprodigal, but I thought it was just a joke. Now that I look at it, he really lives up to his name!

Hahahaha!

And people said that he was lucky. So what if he was lucky? Everything was already in black and white with his seal on top, he couldn’t possibly deny it even if he was lucky, could he?!

After Li Yuankai had left, Ling Xiaoyi took in a deep breath. She really didn’t know how to face this matter, but now that he’d already signed and stamped on it, what more could she say? Luckily, they didn’t suffer any losses and had instead earned quite a lot from it. 6.5 billion had entered his account just within these few days, at least she shouldn’t be scolded too badly for this…

…

Tianjing City, Sangle Building.

“CEO Hong,” The secretary, Xiao Liu, stood in front of Hong Weiguo’s desk. He was currently reporting the latest progress of things to Hong Weiguo. “CEO Hong, recently, we’ve collated everything that Young Master Dali had started up. From the information in the file, everything seems good.”

“Mm, this little rascal is quite good at playing around.” Hong Weiguo relaxedly took out the jade tobacco pipe that Hong Dali had given him, lit it and started smoking. “Tell me about how are those things that he had started up going so far. Speaking of which, I’ve truly neglected them for some time.”

“OK.” Xiao Liu flipped through all the documents and reported them one by one. “Everything at Ye Lai Xiang is stable at the moment, and their daily sales are stably increasing. Though the amount in increase is not as much as the start, overall, it’s still rather delightful to hear about. Young Master Dali does have a keen eye by spotting this place.”

“Hehe, My Dali’s taste is inherited from me, haha, from me!” Hong Weiguo roared with laughter, but his face grew redder the more he laughed. Alas, he coughed a few times. “What about the others? Report about them too.”

“At the moment, he’d sold quite a number of the dogs he’s raised,” Xiao Liu looked at the statistics on the document and smiled. “CEO Hong, I find that Young Master Dali is really quite good at starting things up. Now, at West Fourth Loop, it’s a trend to raise dogs, and almost every household keeps dogs. Once they go on the streets, they’d even feel embarrassed to greet others if they don’t bring along one dog or two. Those stray cats and dogs have also been taken in by many animal loving people, and now the entire West Fourth Loop is filled with peace and harmony. Little children can often be seen leading their dogs along to walk around the streets, and those dogs are quite loving and protective towards the children as well.”

Speaking up to this point, Xiao Liu’s tone was extremely joyful. “CEO Hong, Young Master Dali’s care for these animals is not something ordinary people can do. Now, the atmosphere of the entire West Fourth Loop is very good, and many people can find a topic to talk with even if they don’t know each other. It can often be seen people start chatting about topics related to dogs once they see each other, regardless of whether they know each other.”

“Hehe, this little prodigal of mine is extremely kind.” Hong Weiguo grinned. “If this little rascal weren’t so kind, he’d probably not be so lucky as well, don’t you think so?”

“Yes, hehe.” Xiao Liu continued, “There was a news report a few days ago about an old man who had fainted on the streets. Back then, nobody was around, and eventually, he was discovered by two dogs who were wandering outside. They ran back and bit their masters’ pants and pulled them toward the old man for them to call for the ambulance, or else that old man would probably have suffered quite a bit.”

“Mm, such a thing should be encouraged.” Hong Weiguo nodded. “As I said, the things our little prodigal likes to do are all not simple, hehe. What about the others?”

“Things are going very well for the online novel website.” Xiao Liu looked at the figures on the document. “The daily IP site traffic is close to the 3-million benchmark—a few times or even tens of times higher than the other websites. This is really difficult for me to imagine, and it has actually only been a few months since Young Master Dali took over this website.”

“That’s true.” Hong Weiguo took in a deep puff of smoke and slowly said, “By then, when our smartphone reading app is released, our Sangle, the Liu Family’s Turkey Software, the Mu Family’s Jianbao Plaza, all three of our families will promote this software together. By then, the effect will probably be even better. Hehe, this little rascal, all of his ideas are worth quite a lot of money.”

“CEO Hong,” Xiao Liu’s expression was rather depressed. “After you said this, I feel that I’m much more predictable compared to Young Master Dali…”

“Haha, why are you thinking about this now?” Hong Weiguo roared with laughter. “Don’t think too much. Not to mention you, even me, Old Elder, and those sly old foxes Liu Yihui and Mu Tie can’t understand him. God knows when he’d come up with a good idea again. I didn’t think that this novel website would rise so quickly and that it had such a huge potential.”

“Yes, CEO Hong.” Upon hearing Hong Weiguo’s words, Xiao Liu finally felt a little better. “At the moment, already publishing companies, as well as people who do adaptations of comics and films, have contacted us. Very soon, most likely there will be various copyright earnings.”