How A Ride-Hailing Driver Comes To Dominate The World? [EN]: Chapter 174

Ju Yiyi approached Yang Chen and whispered, “Handsome, what a coincidence!”

Because she was bundled up so tightly, Yang Chen didn’t recognize her.

“You are…?” Yang Chen asked.

Ju Yiyi pulled down her scarf, revealing her face.

“It’s you. What a coincidence. Out scouting for investors again?” Yang Chen asked.

Ju Yiyi shook her head, a helpless expression on her face. “Kang Sheng Investment pulled out, so the project’s been shelved. I’m just trying to drown my sorrows in food.”

“That’s a pity. Can’t your project find other investors? Does it have to be Kang Sheng Investment?” Yang Chen inquired.

Ju Yiyi shook her head. “It’s not that, it’s just that Kang Sheng Investment was the only one willing to invest *for the time being*. If we can find other investments, we’ll definitely keep going.”

Yang Chen smiled and nodded. “Okay. Well, enjoy your meal. Head home early, wouldn’t want the paparazzi to snap any photos.”

Ju Yiyi giggled. “Hee hee… Nah, you bankrupted the paparazzi with your lawsuit. You enjoy your meal too, bye bye!”

Ju Yiyi and her agent hurried to a private room upstairs for their “big meal.”

Lin Yiren asked with a smile, “How do you know her? She’s a celebrity.”

Lin Yiren had been in the US a few days prior, and with all major online platforms blocking and removing Yang Chen’s news, it was understandable she was out of the loop.

Yang Chen recounted the events of the past few days.

Lin Yiren giggled. “Hee hee… Actually, they should interview *me*. I’m the real expert on how long you can ‘last’. Hee hee…”

Yang Chen was speechless.

She had a point.

After dinner, with the hour growing late, Yang Chen drove Lin Yiren home.

Just as they were drifting off to sleep, Chen Yanni called Yang Chen.

Yang Chen answered, “Hello, Yanni, what’s wrong? Is something wrong with Teacher Chen?”

Chen Yanni replied, “No, Brother Chen, I feel so dizzy. Please come to Candy [a nightclub] and pick me up. I’m in the third toilet stall on the left side of the third-floor women’s restroom.”

Yang Chen instructed, “Lock the stall. Don’t open it for anyone, no matter who it is. I’ll be there right away.”

Hanging up, Yang Chen quickly threw on his clothes.

Lin Yiren asked sleepily, “What’s wrong?”

“My teacher’s daughter is in trouble at Candy. I have to pick her up. You go back to sleep,” Yang Chen replied.

Lin Yiren nodded. “Then be careful and don’t drive too fast.”

Yang Chen nodded, leaned down to kiss Lin Yiren, and hurried off to Candy.

Yang Chen went straight to the women’s restroom on the left side of the third floor. Several women were already calling Yanni’s name.

Yang Chen rushed inside.

“Hey, this is the women’s restroom! What are you doing here?”

“He’s a pervert!”

“Help! There’s a pervert!”

Ignoring the other women, Yang Chen went to the third stall, knocked, and said, “Yanni, it’s Brother Chen. Open the door, let’s go home.”

Hearing Yang Chen’s voice, Chen Yanni quickly opened the door, staggered out, and fell into Yang Chen’s arms.

“Brother Chen, I’m so dizzy, please take me home,” Chen Yanni pleaded.

Yang Chen turned to the other women. “What’s your relationship with Yanni?”

“We’re her classmates, friends. We work part-time as extras.”

“Yeah! Who are you? What’s your relationship with Yanni?”

“Let her go and hand her over to us.”

Yang Chen retorted, “I’m her brother. I’m warning you, don’t bring her to places like this again, and don’t let her drink. If there’s a next time, you’ll regret it! Remember my words, you won’t get a second chance!”

With that, Yang Chen carried Chen Yanni away.

The women whispered amongst themselves.

“What do we do? Young Master Wu specifically asked for Yanni, and she was just taken away like that. How are we supposed to explain this to him?”

“Ugh… This is so annoying. Why did a brother suddenly appear?”

“Let’s just tell Young Master Wu the truth and blame it on Chen Yanni and her brother. We tried our best, it’s not our fault.”

The others nodded and hurried back to the private room.

“Young Master Wu, we have a problem. Yanni was taken away by her brother.”

“She kept hiding in the bathroom, waiting for her brother to pick her up.”

“Yanni is so clueless. She accepted Young Master Wu’s gift, but she still pulls this stunt. She doesn’t play by the rules.”

“That’s right, she’s too clueless.”

This Young Master Wu was named Wu Yuan, and his family ran a cultural company specializing in film and television drama investment and production.

Compared to the well-known entertainment companies in China, it was a bit inferior, but considered good among unlisted private entertainment companies.

His father was Wu Kaijun, a well-known producer and agent in the industry.

For over a decade, Wu Kaijun had made celebrities like Hu Di, Chen Shi, Zhang Mi, and Song Yan popular with a series of *xianxia* [fantasy] and fantasy dramas.

Thanks to his influential father, Wu Yuan often preyed on college students from film academies or young women dreaming of stardom.

However, some people in this world refuse to compromise for money. If the target was unwilling, he’d try to bribe those around her, whether by plying her with alcohol or drugging her, anything to get his way.

Even if something happened, it was the fault of whoever poured the wine or slipped the drug, and had “little” to do with him. A little money could smooth things over.

This time, Wu Yuan had taken a liking to Chen Yanni, who was pure and had baby fat.

However, Yang Chen had warned Chen Yanni not to be threatened or lured by others, and that he would promote her when he opened his company.

Therefore, Chen Yanni’s attitude was firm, and she repeatedly rejected Wu Yuan’s invitations and advances.

Coincidentally, Wu’s Film and Television had recently invested in a new drama, starring their own Hu Di and others. Some supporting roles with decent screen time were yet to be cast.

Chen Yanni’s teacher, Chen Bingyuan, was also Hu Di’s teacher. Because of this connection, Chen Bingyuan recommended Chen Yanni and others to audition.

The audition went smoothly, and the director had decided they would play the roles.

Then Wu Yuan arrived and saw the group of college students. He was instantly smitten, especially with Chen Yanni’s baby fat, which made his heart race.

Wu Yuan repeatedly invited and hinted at Chen Yanni, but was rejected.

So he bribed Chen Yanni’s classmates, using the excuse of discussing the role to get her drunk, and then send her to Wu Yuan’s business car, who was also “drunk.”

It’s a normal “phenomenon” for two people to “hook up” because they’re drunk.

But now Yang Chen had taken the drunk Chen Yanni away, infuriating Wu Yuan, who had already taken an aphrodisiac and was ready to go.

“Damn it, you can’t even do something this simple! I’m furious! What do you think we should do?” Wu Yuan roared.

Wu Yuan’s friends exchanged knowing, lewd smiles, then got up and left, leaving Wu Yuan with those who had sacrificed their friend for a role.

“Young Master Wu is going to physically relieve his anger again!”

“Haha… Young Master Wu just took the medicine, they’re going to be busy.”

“Haha…”

Yang Chen took Chen Yanni back home and asked Yu Shishi to take care of her, help her shower and change her clothes.

After showering, Chen Yanni was much more sober.

As soon as she came out, she hugged Yang Chen and cried.

Yang Chen gently patted her back and comforted her. “It’s okay, don’t cry. Didn’t I tell you not to deal with them? Why did you go?”

Chen Yanni told Yang Chen everything.

“So, your classmate tricked you over and deliberately got you drunk,” Yang Chen summarized.

Chen Yanni nodded. “I didn’t expect them to treat me like this. It hurts so much.”

There’s a saying that “brothers take you out to find women, and *guimi* [girlfriends] take you out to be found by men,” which is very true and a summary of many people’s experiences.

It seems the entertainment industry is particularly dirty and chaotic. You can’t stay clean even if you want to.

Yang Chen said to Yu Shishi, “Shishi, register an entertainment company tomorrow, mainly for artist management, film and television investment, etc. Once it’s registered, sign Yanni first. When I have time, I’ll talk to Ju Yiyi about a collaboration. No one’s investing in her online drama, so I’ll invest the money, she’ll be the female lead, and Yanni will be the female second. I’ll use her fame to promote Yanni.”

Yu Shishi nodded. “Okay, I’ll register it tomorrow.”

Chen Yanni was surprised. “Brother Chen, did you say Ju Yiyi? That female star Ju Yiyi?”

Yang Chen nodded. “Yes! Their company has a project that’s been shelved for lack of investment. I’ll talk to her later. If we can come to an agreement, I’ll invest, she’ll be the female lead, and you’ll be the female second. I’ll use her fame to promote you. It’s called… what was it called? Oh, right, ‘诛仙阵’ [Zhu Xian Formation], probably a *xianxia* [fantasy] drama. You can start learning about that genre. If I can work things out with them, I’ll have her give you the script to read, and then you can prepare. You have to seize this opportunity. Understand?”

Chen Yanni nodded happily. “Thank you, Brother Chen, you’re so good to me.”

“You’re my sister, why are you thanking me? Shishi, clean up a room for Yanni. She’ll stay here tonight. I’m a little sleepy, I’m going back to my room to sleep. Good night,” Yang Chen said with a smile.

Yu Shishi took Chen Yanni to choose a guest room. She could have whichever room she wanted.

Early the next morning, Yang Chen drove Chen Yanni back to school.

On the way, Yang Chen kept telling her not to deal with anyone for work opportunities in the future. Once his company was up and running, she’d have plenty of opportunities.

The most, most, most important thing was not to treat classmates and colleagues as friends. Real friends can’t have conflicting interests.

Human nature can’t withstand temptation. Anyone with a vested interest in her could betray her.

This wasn’t alarmist, but Yang Chen’s honest feelings.

No matter how good the relationship, there can’t be conflicting interests, or there will be problems one day.

These past few days, school celebrations and meetings had taken up a lot of Yang Chen’s time. He hadn’t had a good day of driving and picking up passengers in a while.

Today, Yang Chen decided to work a full day to spice up his plain life.

The platform system pushed several orders to Yang Chen, and he saw an order to go to Haishang Financial Building.

It had been a few days since he’d been to the building. It had also been a while since he’d checked on the advertising company. He might as well take this order and take a look.

Yang Chen accepted the order and drove two kilometers to pick up a male and a female passenger.

The man looked about forty years old and seemed quite mature.

The woman was very young, probably a student fresh out of school.

Yang Chen confirmed the number, reminded the passengers to buckle up, and immediately set off for Haishang Financial Building.

Girl: “President Liu, are we really going to rent an entire floor this time for our new company’s office?”

Man: “Of course. Let’s rent an entire floor for a trial run. As long as we do well, we’ll rent the entire building later. We have plenty of money now. The key is to see how the profits are. As long as the profits are good, we’ll invest as much as possible.”

Girl: “The rent there must be very expensive.”

Man: “It’s okay, 20 yuan per square meter per day [approximately $2.75 USD per 10 square feet per day]. The main thing is their boss, oh, that is, my buddy Yang Chen, is unwilling to sell. If he was willing to sell, it’d be more appropriate for me to buy a floor directly. Yang Chen and I are brothers, and he’d definitely give me a cheap price.”

The girl looked at the man with admiration. “President Liu, you’re so amazing. You’re actually brothers with the boss of Haishang Financial Building.”

Man: “It’s nothing. Before Yang Chen got rich, we were iron buddies in the same dorm. I was the one who suggested he buy this building. At the time, housing prices were still very low, and they started to skyrocket the month after he bought it.”

*Damn it*, Yang Chen thought, *I can’t listen to this anymore.*

*Big brother, if you’re going to brag, just brag, don’t talk nonsense.*

The girl said with admiration again: “President Liu is so amazing, you have such good foresight. If I had that kind of foresight back then and persuaded my parents to buy a house, I’d have doubled my money by now.”

Yang Chen was speechless. It didn’t matter if this *diaomao* [loser] bragged, but he couldn’t use him as bragging material.

Yang Chen: “Boss, do you really know the boss of Haishang Financial Building?”

Man: “Of course. The owner of Haishang Financial Building is called Yang Chen, and he’s my iron buddy. Why do you ask?”

Yang Chen: “It’s nothing, I’m just curious how you know each other.”

Man: “We were college roommates, iron buddies. Back then, he was very poor at school. I often helped him out, and I taught him how to invest, so he is where he is today. I called him before I came, but he couldn’t come back because he was negotiating business abroad, so he asked the building management office to take care of me.”

Yang Chen smiled and nodded, but didn’t expose him immediately.

He was a grown man, he shouldn’t be talking nonsense just to *zhuangbi* [show off] in front of a young girl. Yang Chen was curious how he’d keep it up, so he’d let him brag for now.

Soon, they arrived at Haishang Financial Building.

President Liu said: “Xiao Wu, you and the driver wait here for a bit, I’ll be right back. We’ll still need the car later, so we won’t change it.”

The girl nodded.

After President Liu left, Yang Chen handed the girl a bottle of water. “Free of charge.”

The girl took the water. “Thank you.”

Yang Chen: “What does your company do?”

Girl: “We’re a startup company and want to create a chain of drinking water platforms nationwide. According to President Liu, office buildings across the country will soon have our drinking water equipment. Even if each machine only earns 1 yuan a day, the total amount across the country can earn at least 10 million a day. I think earning 1 yuan a day is too simple, this project will definitely succeed. So I invested all 100,000 yuan that my boyfriend and I saved to buy a house.”

Yang Chen: “Really? You trust President Liu a lot.”

Girl: “Yes, I think he’s a very honest person. And I exchanged 100,000 yuan for 10% of the original shares, which is a great deal.”

Yang Chen: “Meeting is fate! Come on, I’ll take you up to see what kind of liar your President Liu is!”

With that, Yang Chen drove the car in.

The guards saw it was Yang Chen’s car and quickly came over to greet him.

Yang Chen nodded and beckoned the girl to get out of the car.

Girl: “They call you President Yang?”

Yang Chen: “Yes! Let’s go, let’s go to the management office to take a look.”

The girl quickly ran to catch up with Yang Chen and went to the management office together.

Since Chen Zhichao had been fired, the position of manager of the Haishang Financial Building Management Office had been handed over to Tang Hao, a professional manager hired by Yu Shishi.

Tang Hao saw Yang Chen coming and quickly stepped forward to greet him.

“President Yang, you’re here. Please, have a seat,” Tang Hao greeted.

Yang Chen: “Yes. How’s your negotiation with President Liu going?”

Tang Hao: “President Liu said he wanted to rent a 1 square meter space in our toilet and asked us to issue a certificate that he rented an entire floor. Of course I can’t do that, that’s a scam.”

Yang Chen smiled and said to President Liu: “President Liu, what kind of project are you doing? You actually want to rent a 1 square meter space in the toilet. Why do you want us to issue a certificate that you rented an entire floor? What are you trying to pull?”

President Liu asked cautiously, “Which President Yang are you?”

Yang Chen: “Oh, didn’t you say that you were my college roommate, taught me how to invest, and asked me to buy this building? How come you don’t even recognize me?”

President Liu was shocked and stammered, “You… you’re Yang Chen? The owner of this building?”

Yang Chen: “Yes! You see, you’re my college roommate, how come you don’t even recognize me?”

Tang Hao quickly asked, “President Yang, do you know President Liu?”

Yang Chen: “He said he was my college roommate, but I’m not even 25 years old, and he must be 40. I don’t know how we were college roommates. President Liu, can you tell me?”

President Liu was extremely embarrassed and asked, “You… you have such a big building, why are you still driving a *wangyueche* [ride-hailing car]? Is it fun to pretend to be poor?”

Yang Chen: “It’s not fun to pretend to be poor, but it’s fun to pass the time.”

The girl saw she’d been deceived and quickly stepped forward to question: “President Liu, you don’t know the owner of this building, why did you lie to me that you did? Is the project you mentioned also a lie? Return my 100,000 yuan, I don’t want to invest.”

President Liu quickly pushed the girl away and ran.

Yang Chen waved his hand, and Tang Hao quickly took people to chase him.

The girl was anxious, this was the money she and her boyfriend had saved to buy a house.

If she couldn’t get the money back, she didn’t know how to face her boyfriend.

Soon, President Liu was caught by Tang Hao.

President Liu: “What are you doing? Why are you arresting me?”

Yang Chen: “Manager Tang, call the police.”

Tang Hao nodded and immediately called the police.

“You used the excuse of knowing me to swindle money, so I have the right to arrest you and hand you over to the police. You cheated the little girl out of the money she and her boyfriend saved to buy a house. Have you thought about the consequences for them?” Yang Chen asked.

President Liu: “What scam? She’s investing resources in our company. I have a registered business license and products, so why is it a scam?”

Yang Chen: “What’s your product?”

President Liu: “Water dispenser!”

Yang Chen: “Is this also a startup project? Beauty, do you know his product?”

Girl: “I know, he… he did say it was a water dispenser. But he said he’d put water dispensers in office buildings across the country, and each water dispenser only needs to earn 1 yuan a day, and the total amount across the country can earn at least 10 million.”

*Ugh…*

*Don’t manage money with that IQ, or it’ll affect your relationship with your boyfriend.*

Soon, the police arrived.

President Liu was well-prepared and took out the company’s license from his briefcase.

“See? My procedures are complete, and I really want to do a water dispenser project. Whether it succeeds or not, I didn’t lie to anyone,” President Liu said confidently.

With complete legal procedures, the police couldn’t do much.

“Girl, did you voluntarily invest?” the police officer asked.

The girl nodded. “Yes! I voluntarily invested, but he described to me that I could earn 10 million a day, so I invested. But now he’s even falsifying the office rent, I feel like he’s cheating me, I don’t want to invest.”

President Liu immediately said: “It doesn’t matter, if you don’t want to invest, you can handle it according to Article 12 of our cooperation agreement. The principal you invested won’t be recovered and can only be returned in 5 years after the company makes a profit. As for what you said about earning 10 million a day, that’s the prospect I estimated for you. If we can put water dispensers in office buildings across the country and earn at least 1 yuan a day, then our income across the country will be at least 10 million a day. We wrote it very clearly in the agreement, I admit that.”

President Liu took out the cooperation agreement signed by both parties and pointed out the corresponding content for everyone to see.

He really hadn’t lied, it was all written out.

But!

The words “if” and “and” he used were traps. He gave an example to illustrate that *if* this was the case, they could earn 10 million a day, and the girl mistakenly believed that this would definitely become a reality.

Then this girl was screwed, she couldn’t get back the 100,000 yuan she invested.

She realized she’d been cheated, legally cheated, and couldn’t get it back.

The police officers had no choice but to take the two back for mediation.

Tang Hao shook his head helplessly. “No wonder the propaganda slogans in the community say that women are the ones who get cheated. They think they can manage money and make money. It seems Uncle Police isn’t deceiving me. She can believe such an obvious scam.”

Yang Chen smiled speechlessly. “She’s still young, it’s good to be cheated early, she’ll be more careful in the future. Now it’s only 100,000, and in the future she and her boyfriend will save 1 million, or even more, and if she’s cheated out of it then, she might not be able to handle it.”

Since he was there, Yang Chen went upstairs to check on the advertising company.

After he finished and went downstairs, the *bibi* [beep beep, referring to the ride-hailing app] platform reminded him he’d received a bad review.

“Garbage driver, meddling in other people’s business, slandering me for cheating! I have legal procedures and legal products, so why is it cheating? The police arrested me and didn’t do anything to me? Didn’t they release me? Garbage driver, I wish you die soon!**”

Although the *bibi* platform blocked the last two words, Yang Chen could guess what they were.

“Huh…” Yang Chen exhaled angrily.

Originally, Yang Chen didn’t want to argue with President Liu, it had nothing to do with him.

But President Liu’s bad review directly cursed the most painful part of Yang Chen’s heart, and Yang Chen couldn’t let him get away with it!

At that moment, the system issued a reminder.

“Congratulations to the host for receiving a bad review. The system rewards the host with the [Painting Master] skill, which takes effect immediately.”

Instantly, Yang Chen’s head was in a mess, and he felt like there were many characters and scenes, almost everything in the world appeared.

After a few seconds, everything returned to normal.

“So, I can paint now? Well, I’m in a bad mood, I’ll paint a picture to purify my mind,” Yang Chen muttered.

Yang Chen called Qiu Yuhong.

Qiu Yuhong: “Mr. Yang, what are your orders?”

Yang Chen: “Help me find someone. I only know his surname is Liu, and I don’t know anything else. I’ll send you his photo, and you find me evidence of his fraud, the sooner the better!”

Qiu Yuhong: “No problem! Mr. Yang, send me his photo and I’ll have someone investigate immediately.”

As one of the leading security companies in China, it was simple to investigate a person’s background.

Not just people in the Dragon Kingdom, even foreigners, Aegis Security Group could use foreign mercenary branches to investigate the target clearly.

Yang Chen retrieved the video, took a screenshot of President Liu’s appearance, and sent it to Qiu Yuhong.

Then he drove to buy painting tools and went home to paint.

Painting required peace of mind, and it could calm people down.

Yang Chen spent an hour painting a “Lonely Fisherman on a Snowy River.”

Then, he pressed his personal seal on the painting.

He’d just made the seal at a stationery store, and given himself an artistic name called “Mr. Jinghu,” which was more *bige* [high class].

Although it was his first time painting, because he had the [Painting Master] skill, the painting was perfect.

At that moment, Xue Yinong and Li Lanxin came to visit with gifts.

Yang Chen had rejected Xue Jun’s participation in the Donghang private placement at the Donghang shareholders meeting, and Xue Wanhong had instructed his daughter Xue Yinong to visit Yang Chen.

On one hand, to apologize and ask him not to blame Xue Jun because of Chen Kang, and cause misunderstandings with the Xue family.

On the other hand, to see if he could persuade him to agree to Minghuang Investment, managed by Xue Yinong, to participate in Donghang’s private placement instead of Kang Sheng Investment.

After all, it was an investment in Donghang, and such an opportunity might never come again.

Xue Wanhong also wanted to expand the Xue family’s industry and extend it to the airline field.

It was always right to try, whether it worked or not was another matter.

“Is Mr. Yang at home? My young lady made some snacks and wants to share them with Mr. Yang and Ms. Yu,” Li Lanxin called out.