Chapter 385 - 295: Deceiving Since a Young Age? (Part 2)

Recently, a campus app was also getting ready to launch...

His entrepreneurial approach was to pursue multiple paths at once. After all, even if he knew parts of the future, it didn’t guarantee success.

In reality, he and the young gal had replicated quite a few hit software titles and mini-games. But after all this time, the only one with significant results was Happy Elimination; the rest had all but vanished without a trace.

He could now understand why those older bosses loved to pray to every deity they could find. Sometimes, an ethereal thing like luck was just too important.

They hadn’t succeeded, but others had taken the open-source projects the young gal uploaded and made a good chunk of money.

Luck was a fickle thing; no one could ever be sure about it.

Take the influencer track, for example. The famous "gourmand" Lao Ba—he definitely wasn’t the first person to dine in a toilet, nor was he the last, but he was the only one who ate his way to fame.

As for the rest... you could say they ate for nothing.

’Hmm, it’s not always entirely about luck, either.’ He knew some brands would spend a fortune soliciting advertising slogans from the public, ultimately choosing some "inspired" answer in a supposed win-win for the company and the contributor.

But in reality, the slogan had already been decided internally.

Spending a fortune on submissions?

’It’s all just for show, a ploy to farm free publicity.’

Setting aside the element of luck, Xue Rui wondered if maybe his resources were insufficient, which was why he couldn’t get his projects off the ground.

In any case, as Xue Rui saw it, the world was a field of radishes with holes already dug. Some holes belonged to whoever got there first.

As for the others... those were beyond his reach.

This was also why he favored brick-and-mortar industries. As long as a product’s core strength was sufficient, it was easier to snatch someone else’s spot.

’For now, I’ll test the waters by starting with these low-cost projects. If they fail, I’ll just invest in the radishes that are poised for future growth. That’s the only foolproof option.’

As his thoughts drifted, the bus slowly pulled to a stop beside the hospital.

It wasn’t until most of the students had gotten off that Xue Rui was pulled to his feet by the young gal tugging on his arm.

"Rui, we’re here. Time to get off."

"Sigh, starting a business is so hard," Xue Rui lamented, leaning on Lin Ruoxi’s shoulder.

Lin Ruoxi heard Xue Rui’s complaint clearly. ’But we have a lot of money now,’ she thought. Still, she wanted to give Xue Rui the absolute best of everything. Money was subject to inflation, and she didn’t know if what they had now would be enough for him.

She looked at Xue Rui with determination in her eyes and said, "I’ll work hard to earn money and support you."

She wanted to give Xue Rui a stable future.

Xue Rui found her endearingly clueless yet earnest expression absolutely adorable. The contrast with the cold, aloof makeup she was wearing at that moment made him unable to hold back a laugh.

"Alright, alright. Then may I ask, President Lin, if you were to start a business, what would you want to do?" Xue Rui asked with a smile.

Lin Ruoxi was very serious when it came to work. She had a good sense of the big picture when managing projects and had even shown some leadership qualities in the electronics factory’s R&D department. He wanted to hear what was cooking in that little head of hers.

After all, the young gal’s answers always exceeded his expectations. She’d even managed to create an advanced product like a customized keyboard for Xue Yao without any guidance from him.

Lin Ruoxi said weakly, "Se-semiconductors... Chips are very profitable."

Xue Rui stumbled as he got off the bus, nearly falling. Did Lin Ruoxi even know what she was talking about?

He was currently using information asymmetry to occupy others’ spots in advance. Was Lin Ruoxi trying to just dig a brand-new hole in the ground out of sheer force?

Lin Ruoxi wasn’t wrong. Chips were profitable. As long as you could make a legitimate product, its economic and strategic value would be immense.

The problem was, it burned through cash like crazy and devoured human resources. It wasn’t something they could even consider at their current stage...

"Do whatever you like. As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters," Xue Rui said, pinching the young gal’s cheek.

Lin Ruoxi had talent; he never doubted that. Just last night, Secretary Li had even approached him to ask if Lin Ruoxi had any intention of switching her major, muttering something about wasting a prodigious talent.

Xue Rui thought Secretary Li was an old fox. They had only met once, yet he knew the decision was in his hands.

Of course, Xue Rui politely refused Secretary Li, saying only that everything depended on Lin Ruoxi’s own preferences.

The young gal had suffered so much before; now she deserved to enjoy her youth in the sun.

He would never bow to public opinion and restrict or guide Lin Ruoxi’s interests, whether it was her teaching herself to code, soldering her own circuit boards, or tinkering with all sorts of hardware...

Those were all the young gal’s hobbies. He was just developing some products that aligned with Lin Ruoxi’s interests.

Perhaps in the eyes of these teachers and elders, Lin Ruoxi’s talents had a greater purpose, but he didn’t see it that way.

Although Lin Ruoxi was an adult on the surface, and her appearance was much more mature than that of a typical college student, on the inside, she was still a soft, fragile child.

In his view, the young gal’s health and happiness came first.

As for wasting her talent... he couldn’t care less.

’A kid’s job is to eat, drink, and be merry. Changing the world is for adults.’

’The young gal is quite happy now—going to school with me, bickering with idiot college students for fun. She’s so much more lively than before. What’s the point of her being cooped up in a lifeless lab?’

Xue Rui stealthily tickled the young gal’s side. "We have our physical check-up today. Let’s see how much you weigh now."

"Ooh, I should be a few pounds lighter since I didn’t eat breakfast," Lin Ruoxi said, a wide smile spreading across her face from the tickling. She loved playing like this with Xue Rui.

「Inside the hospital.」

The students were lining up in an orderly fashion, waiting for their numbers to be called.

When the female students were getting their weight measured, some of the more restless boys would curiously sneak a peek. After all, their whole lives, physical exams were the only time they could ever glimpse a girl’s real weight.