Chapter 207 - 165: Lin Xia, You’re a Natural-Born People’s Entrepreneur

Half past ten.

After Chu Bamboo walked out of the police station, he could still feel Lu Keke’s eyes on him from time to time, even with his back turned. In fact, thanks to his sixth sense, he could vaguely perceive her emotional fluctuations, and even her thoughts.

Without hesitation, Chu Bamboo turned right around and extended an offer to Lu Keke, who was a mess of confused thoughts after being rescued—and was even starting to develop a little crush.

"Kid, you’re still young! At your age, you shouldn’t be thinking about that sort of stuff!" Chu Bamboo patted her on the shoulder, his voice full of heartfelt gravity. "I just want to be your boss. In the future, you’ll work like a dog for me... I mean, you’ll contribute diligently to our common dream. That would be the best way to thank me for saving you today!"

Chu Bamboo emphasized, "And don’t you dare repay my kindness with resentment. By the way, when can you start? I already have your office ready!"

Lu Keke: "...?"

’Is this supposed to be the domineering CEO trope?’ Lu Keke’s expression stiffened for a moment. ’But how come this feels completely different from the romantic atmosphere I imagined?’

’And... and what does he mean, repaying kindness with resentment?! He’s gone too far!!’

Lu Keke felt her fluttering heart freeze solid.

...

「Noon.」

Chu Bamboo returned to campus and decided to treat Lin Xia to lunch.

"This is not easy," Lin Xia lamented between mouthfuls. "I’ve gone through myself, my parents, every relative I could find... Basically, I’ve used all their phone numbers to register for sock puppet accounts on all the major platforms!"

"I just don’t get it. How do those water armies have so many accounts? Why is it so damn hard for me to scrape them together...?"

Chu Bamboo: "..."

’Seriously, dude? This is your grand plan for building a water army?!’

Chu Bamboo wore the classic expression of a grandpa on the subway squinting at a smartphone. There were so many things to ridicule in what Lin Xia had said that the words got stuck in his throat.

Meanwhile, Lin Xia was still rambling on, confidently laying out his grand future plans.

"I’m thinking I could use some money to buy accounts from our classmates. Or maybe I should go for the freshmen... I could pass it off as giving them some spending money! But maybe that’s not a great look. Or, what if I start a student club, hand out snacks and perks every day, and then get them to help me..."

"I think you’d be better off just buying them directly from the platforms!" Chu Bamboo said, his expression stiff. ’Why do I get the feeling he’s tap-dancing on the line of illegality right now?!’

"...You can buy those?" Lin Xia asked cautiously, his voice laced with uncertainty. "I figure that’s what the water army kingpins must do... If you’re going to buy them, you’d probably have to buy a massive quantity, right? You’d probably need inside connections at those big companies too, wouldn’t you?"

Chu Bamboo and Lin Xia looked at each other, and both fell silent.

"Z, tell me, how can I get a large number of water army accounts in the shortest amount of time!" Chu Bamboo asked directly.

"Father, you shouldn’t need to worry about this, should you?" Z’s voice was tinged with genuine confusion. "Yesterday, Mother already acquired several thousand accounts from the major platforms. The price for bulk-purchasing blank accounts is likely much cheaper than you imagine. The expensive ones are accounts that already have a follower base."

"It’s even formed a whole gray-market industry..."

"If all goes well, the number of accounts we purchase today will be even higher!"

"If you require them, I can submit a request to Mother to use these accounts... I don’t think Mother would turn you down. Even if you want your friend to use them for you."

Lin Xia: "..."

Chu Bamboo: "..."

Crap. A complete dimensionality-reduction strike.

"...Of course," Lin Xia deflated, viciously stabbing at the braised pork in his bowl with his chopsticks. He sighed. "I feel like one of those early-game characters, just there to help with the tutorial... I’m so useless. You level up a tiny bit, and suddenly I can’t even help with something as simple as getting some accounts..."

"No, no, no. Your potential is beyond anything you can imagine." Chu Bamboo cut off Lin Xia’s self-pity without hesitation. He stared at Lin Xia, his expression grave. "The truth is, the gap in talent between people isn’t as vast as you think. The reason so many people become experts is because they go through so much!"

"It’s like when Han Gaozu rose to power. His tiny home county of Peixian produced a host of kings and generals. The same was true for the Ming Grand Ancestor!"

Chu Bamboo spoke from the heart, "Honestly, you’ve helped me with a ton of things. Stocks, music, and now these accounts... You don’t really know anything about this stuff! But you’ve managed to get the hang of it in just a few days."

"Yeah, it’s not like you’ve made some massive breakthrough after diving into these things... but the key is, you haven’t messed them up, either! Don’t look at me like that, I’m really not making fun of you... Not messing something up on your very first try is an incredible talent in itself!!"

Chu Bamboo wasn’t just trying to comfort him; he genuinely had high hopes for Lin Xia.

’In the future, he had actually seen plenty of records of Lin Xia’s life. Lin Xia was the type of person who wasn’t the absolute best at any one thing, but he could hold his own in just about everything.’

’He might not be able to create new miracles, but he could almost always stabilize a situation.’

’That ability was actually terrifyingly powerful. Take stock trading, for instance. Even if a normal person had a complete guide to the market, they wouldn’t necessarily make money! A lot of people love to act on a whim. Even with a guide in hand, they’ll get some wild idea and try to ’micromanage’ things a little themselves.’

’People that ridiculous really do exist in this world. In the Real World, Chu Bamboo hadn’t met anyone like that, since he was still just a college student. But in the Dream World, he had met far, far too many.’

’Compared to them, Lin Xia was basically a universal jack!’

’Lin Xia felt that the gap between him and Zhao Shao was immeasurable. He wasn’t necessarily wrong... but he wasn’t considering who Zhao Shao was.’

’That was the Father of AI in the East, one of the top geniuses of his generation!’

’Chu Bamboo was practically using cheat codes, constantly pulling cutting-edge patents and technologies from the future. And even then, based on future evaluations of Zhao Shao, Chu Bamboo couldn’t completely overshadow him. And you’re comparing yourself to a monster like that?’

’Besides, Zhao Shao started his company early and had been in the professional world for a long time, so he was much more familiar with this stuff than Lin Xia.’

Lin Xia was silent for a long time, then smiled. "I know you’re just trying to comfort me, but... I really do feel a lot better now."

"Forget about all this." Chu Bamboo thought for a moment, then said, "This afternoon, come with me to officially sign the factory purchase agreement with Miss Hu. Also..."

"What is it?" Lin Xia keenly sensed Chu Bamboo’s mood.

"Even though I’ve already dealt with the immediate problem, for certain reasons... she was originally supposed to get into trouble the day after tomorrow. It could have even dragged us down with her..." Chu Bamboo chose his words carefully, deliberately lowering his voice—they were in a public place, after all.

And Lin Xia, having grown up with Chu Bamboo and sharing a deep, unspoken understanding with him, instantly caught his hidden meaning.

"I understand! I’ll handle this." Lin Xia’s expression turned serious.

"? You’re going to handle it? How?" Chu Bamboo was momentarily baffled. He’d been racking his brain over how to help Miss Hu...

’The main issue was, he didn’t even know Hu Ruochu! Was he supposed to just repeat what he did before and ask the police to keep an eye on things? No, that wouldn’t work... He had an excuse last time, but what could he possibly use as an excuse this time?’

’Besides, Chu Bamboo didn’t think Xing Long could actually stop Howard if he decided to make a move on Hu Ruochu. And if he couldn’t, it would be completely screwing Xing Long over.’

"That’s simple." Lin Xia was suddenly in his element, his voice filled with confidence.

"It’s the perfect time. We’ll give her an offer, recruit her as the interim director of Human Resources! Then we’ll send her out to recruit people. Aside from a few old-timers, everyone at that failing factory of hers who was on leave has already bailed. A lot of the project experts jumped ship a long time ago when they saw it was sinking..."

"The woman is ridiculous! Her management skills are a joke, she just has a good dad..." Lin Xia said dismissively, then added, "But, she really does know a lot of people!"

Lin Xia speculated, "It’s probably because she’s pretty. She was a mechanical engineering major! In that field... let’s just say that after four years, the standards get so low that any girl seems like a goddess. Not to mention, she really is good-looking..."

Pausing for a moment, Lin Xia continued, "I saw her calling her old classmates earlier... Man, she had them all on the hook! She’s a Fudan grad... I think she’s actually talented in her own way, it’s just that factory manager was definitely the wrong job for her."

After a moment of silence, Chu Bamboo asked, "But how is any of this related to my question?"

’He was asking how to guarantee her safety, not whether she was a socialite!’

"Oh, I got sidetracked!" Lin Xia slapped his forehead, an embarrassed smile on his face. After collecting his thoughts, he said, "What I mean is, we send her out of Jinling to recruit people in other places."

"You were saying she was supposed to get into trouble here, right? Well, if we send her away, she should be able to dodge that bullet!"

"Of course, if something really does happen... she’ll be far away, so it probably won’t affect us... Oh, right! Speaking of which," Lin Xia had a flash of inspiration, "before she leaves, we should also get her an insurance policy. How much should we insure her for... How about we make the company the beneficiary? But would that be, you know, a little illegal...?"

Listening to Lin Xia’s words, which were so calm they could almost be called cold-blooded, Chu Bamboo could only say, "..."

’He wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light, but for a second, he could have sworn he saw Lin Xia put on a monocle and a tiny top hat, about to ask, "You there? Let’s check your surplus value!"’

"W-What is it?" Noticing Chu Bamboo’s odd stare, Lin Xia flinched, and his whole demeanor instantly returned to normal.

"Nothing!" After a long silence, Chu Bamboo looked back at the rice in his bowl. He opened his mouth, but in the end just lowered his head, quickly shoveled in two mouthfuls, and let out a sigh. "I suddenly understand. Compared to Zhao Shao... you actually have an advantage in a certain area that far exceeds his."

"Really? Tell me!" Lin Xia’s eyes lit up instantly, urging him on, unable to contain his excitement.

"You... you’re a natural-born bastard... no, I mean, businessman... um, or maybe I should say, a ’People’s Entrepreneur’!!"

"?" After a long silence, the corner of Lin Xia’s eye twitched violently. "Ah Zhu... I think I’d rather you just called me a bastard..."

’A "People’s Entrepreneur"... Now that’s just a dirty way to insult someone!’