Revenge, even delayed by a decade, is still revenge for a gentleman. Wang Zhuo was no gentleman, so he couldn't wait that long. Introverts take revenge at any time—too early or too late means nothing. But Wang Zhuo was even less of an introvert, so making him wait a day or two was still tolerable. Besides, he had the 'electronic eye photo' incident with Yn to deal with. Although he’d swaggered to Ruan Mingqing, saying, "Believe it or not," if he actually tried to deploy that defense, the women certainly wouldn't accept it! Thus, he embarked on the urgent and long-term mission of stamping out the fire in his own backyard—a task unlikely to be accomplished overnight.
Acting County Head Qian Qingfeng waited anxiously for three days, and then the summons finally arrived. And it was a brutal one: a stipulated time, a designated place, and a corruption charge. Qian Qingfeng immediately went pale; it was the most severe scenario among all his worst guesses! Just as he sat there, face like dead ash, being escorted out of Tianlu County by personnel from the Disciplinary Committee, line after line of police vehicles with license plates from other provinces, entire platoons of fully armed officers, had already locked down the small county town like an iron barrel! Qian Qingfeng's vision went black, and he lost consciousness. It seemed the lid on Tianlu County could no longer be kept shut. Forget him, a former deputy county head and current acting head; looking at the formation, even the city mayor and the Party Secretary above him might be implicated. The pyramid scheme economy that Tianlu County had painstakingly built for nearly ten years was finally, utterly doomed!
“Report from June 3rd: Since May 15th, a southern province has been continuously carrying out large-scale, comprehensive, carpet-style crackdowns on illegal pyramid schemes. According to incomplete statistics, as of now, local police have deployed over ten thousand person-times, dismantled thirty pyramid scheme dens, arrested over eight hundred suspects, and repatriated more than two thousand scheme participants.”
“Nearly ten thousand pyramid scheme members have successively withdrawn from the province under this heavy blow. Passenger volume on highways and railways during this period has increased abnormally, leading to a situation where tickets are hard to come by in many places.”
In the various news reports, the narrative was entirely one of praise and commendation. The meritorious leaders featured on screen beamed with pride, as if they had won a hard-fought, magnificent victory. Yet, none of the discordant notes—such as Qian Qingfeng and his ilk being placed under investigation, or scheme participants desperately attempting suicide or clashing with law enforcement during repatriation—were ever presented to the public.
“What the hell were they doing earlier?” Cheng Gang scoffed. “Cleaning out the granary for the year-end sweep, killing a ton of rats, and now they remember to hand out commendations? Who’s taking responsibility for raising the rats? Who mentions the losses and harm the rats caused?”
“Save it, you angry youth,” Fei Long said lazily from the side. “If it weren't for the secretary's ex-boyfriend getting entangled in a pyramid scheme, which led to the discovery of Wang Zhuo, that great man, the rats would still be feasting comfortably in the granary.”
Sun Donghao remained calm about it. “That’s just how society works. Whether you complain or not, it won’t change.”
Cheng Gang wanted to argue back, but he couldn't muster any concrete evidence to refute them, so he angrily turned away and fell silent.
“Where’s Wang Zhuo? Why isn't he here yet?” Sun Donghao checked his watch.
“He’s swamped recently,” Fei Long grinned maliciously. “It seems the Suzuki brother incident isn’t settled yet, and he’s been showering his women with attention every day.”
Just then, his phone rang—as if summoned—it was Wang Zhuo calling.
He answered with a cheerful greeting, “Stuck in traffic?”
“No traffic,” Wang Zhuo’s voice sounded a bit odd. “But something else came up. I’ll head over there first to handle it, and I’ll contact you all later.”
Fei Long quickly asked, “Should we wait here, or operate freely?”
“Do whatever you like. We’ll coordinate by phone.” Wang Zhuo ended the call succinctly.
Fei Long reluctantly put away his phone and shrugged at the other two. “We’ve been stood up.”
“Then let’s wait a bit longer,” Cheng Gang glanced at the afternoon sky outside the café. “It’s only noon. If he’s not delayed too long, I can still manage to order a car this afternoon.”
“Tch!” Fei Long wiped the slight sweat from his brow with a tissue, his chest quivering slightly. “You can go order a car anytime you want. Do you really think Instructor Wang would go back on his word over those few bottles of yours?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust him,” Cheng Gang explained crossly. “I wanted to get the items first before ordering the car. I couldn’t very well go order a car and leave Instructor Wang waiting here for me, could I?”
“That makes sense,” Fei Long nodded cheerfully. “How could you go wrong mixing with Instructor Wang? Look, I’m driving a BMW now!”
“Is a Brilliance BMW really a BMW?” Sun Donghao scoffed. He had always looked down on Fei Long’s car, thinking an off-road vehicle would be more imposing.
“Who cares if it’s Brilliance or... whatever—as long as the ‘Bayerische Motoren Werke’ logo is visible,” Fei Long hummed proudly. “I already pried off the Brilliance script. I’m not driving this car for anything else; it’s purely for pulling girls!”
...
Wang Zhuo drove to Siyuan’s university campus, his temper frayed.
Along the way, the several cases of Dynasty Limitless resting on his back seat occasionally made crisp clinking sounds as the car bumped along. Though there were only a few dozen bottles, they represented a massive sum if sold.
It had to be said that Fei Long and the other few guys had brains. Ever since Fei Long made 200,000 yuan reselling a whole case of Dynasty Limitless last time, they had discovered the business opportunity. They badgered Wang Zhuo to get more for them to sell. Before Li Guangyi could mass-produce and launch it publicly, this was a business where profit was easily multiplied a thousandfold!
Wang Zhuo thought it over and figured, why pass up free money? So he arranged for several people from his company to plan how to maximize profits, while simultaneously gifting three cases without labels to the trio.
What happened next was something Wang Zhuo found both absurd and hilarious. These three opportunists sold those cases of Dynasty Limitless through the most famous online shopping sites using auctions, group buys, and 'Buy It Now' formats. Especially the 'Buy It Now' sales, priced at 15,000 RMB per bottle, which sold out instantly every time they were listed; the group buys at 16,000 RMB also quickly reached full capacity. During an auction, one bottle even fetched the sky-high price of 21,800 RMB! Before Wang Zhuo’s company marketing plan was even finalized, these profit-driven guys had already made Dynasty Limitless go viral online again while pocketing the cash!
One could only imagine what kind of powerful figures ended up consuming these functional drinks, which sold for nearly 20,000 yuan a bottle. This also piqued massive curiosity among netizens: what magic did this functional beverage, soon to be available in supermarkets, possess that made some people willing to pay an extra ten thousand-plus yuan just to drink it a few days early?
Where there was doubt, there were also counter-claims. Cheng Gang offered his services pro bono, paying his contacts from the 5M gang to educate the public online about why Dynasty Limitless was worth ten or even twenty thousand yuan. This subtle yet pervasive method of promotion greatly built up public anticipation. Seeing how effectively they performed, Wang Zhuo continuously supplied them with trial samples of Dynasty Limitless. As for the money earned? He waved his hand grandly—you boys divide it amongst yourselves!
Near every university campus, there are casual establishments catering specifically to the student body. Wang Zhuo arrived at one such tea house. With a sweep of his X-ray vision, he located Siyuan in a corner, accompanied by two unwelcome guests, and strode over.
“Bring me a pot of Pu’er,” he casually instructed the approaching waiter, bypassed the screen around Siyuan’s table, and sat down next to her.
Seeing Wang Zhuo, the two unwelcome guests paused momentarily, then their eyes lit up. However, the Audi car key Wang Zhuo casually tossed onto the tea table, along with his unmistakable commanding presence, caused them both a slight degree of surprise.
“Brother, the people looking for you are these two,” Siyuan cleverly adjusted her address to Wang Zhuo, not even revealing his surname.
Ai—the girl’s emotional intelligence was truly improving. Wang Zhuo nodded at her with satisfaction, then reassessed the two across from him, speaking with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes: “Traffic police? Here to assess a violation?”
The two unwelcome guests were a slightly plump young man in his thirties wearing frameless glasses, and a fair-skinned, single-lidded young man, about twenty-four or five.
Both wore traffic police uniforms, their peaked caps set on the table. The single-lidded man sat with his legs crossed, hands clasped over his knees, adopting the posture of a superior.
It wasn't surprising he acted so arrogantly. Siyuan’s little car was just a cheap Suzuki Wagon R worth a few tens of thousands, and its license plate was so ordinary it would be lost in a pile of cars. She was just a regular university student, seemingly without powerful backing. Moreover, the subject in the electronic eye photo wasn't her—meaning the person driving was just borrowing the car. As an enforcement officer from the traffic management department, why would he care about someone who borrowed a car?
Although Wang Zhuo’s sudden appearance shattered his initial assumptions, the officer was still young, and he felt he had backup that wouldn't be easily intimidated, so his posture hadn’t quite adjusted yet!
“Hello.”
The slightly plump officer maintained an air of official business, greeting Wang Zhuo first, then taking an A4 printed sheet from his briefcase and pushing it toward him. “May I ask, are you the driver in this photograph?”
Wang Zhuo glanced over casually. It seemed they didn’t feel bad about wasting public funds. This photo was blown up to fill the entire A4 page. He figured the government procurement wouldn't buy generic ink, and printing just this one photo with original ink would cost at least ten RMB. These traffic cops were truly wasteful!
“It’s me,” he nodded slightly, waiting for the plump officer to continue.
“Good that you admit it,” the single-lidded man leaned in. “Show us your driver’s license.”
“What do you mean, ‘good that you admit it’? Which eye of yours saw that I intended to deny it?” Wang Zhuo was already highly displeased that this photo had circulated on the internet, but he’d been too busy fighting fires in his own backyard these past few days to pursue accountability. Hearing the single-lidded man speak in that tone, he instantly lost his patience.
“How dare you speak like that?!” The single-lidded man slammed the table and stood up. “Do you know what crime insulting a national law enforcement officer is?”
Too impatient, are we? A cold sneer curled the corner of Wang Zhuo’s mouth. “Law enforcement officer? Who’s to say you aren’t impersonating them? Where are your badges? Let me see them.”
Siyuan quickly raised her hand to hide her smile. She knew Wang Zhuo was needling them again. Instead of finding the person who leaked the photo to give Wang Zhuo an explanation, these traffic cops were acting high and mighty, demanding accountability from Instructor Wang with such an arrogant attitude. It would be strange if Wang Zhuo wasn't provoked!