After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future

"I'm flattered."

Wang Chuting flashed a sweet smile and playfully winked.

There is an old saying, "When one's learning is complete, one's talents can serve the emperor's home." Perhaps today it can be modified to "When one's learning in song and dance is complete, one's talents can belong to the homes of the powerful."

She started working at Forbes magazine right after university graduation, and for the past five years, she turned down many suitors, choosing to remain alone while waiting for an opportunity to climb the social ladder.

The celebrities and politicians she interviewed before were either too old or too unattractive, but now, she felt the time had come.

"Meet me at the restaurant on the 91st floor at 7 PM," Lu Liang said with a smile, watching as the interview crew left.

He was about to head back to his office when he suddenly felt a resentful gaze behind him.

Turning around, Lu Liang saw Chen Jinchun hastily tidying up her desk. He approached her and inquired, "Is something the matter?"

Chen Jinchun appeared sheepish and stammered, "Mr. Lu, our team has hit a creative bottleneck recently."

The company's Douyin account had reached five million followers but struggled to grow further, and the viewership had severely declined in the past few days.

In other words, there was no buzz.

"So, what then?"

"Mr. Lu, why don't we do an exclusive interview with you?"

Chen Jinchun grew more enthusiastic as she spoke. If Forbes could do it, so could they, and they'd make sure Lu Liang looked exceptionally charming.

Lu Liang hesitated, sighed, and answered, "If there's no buzz, hire a few more planners. If all else fails, bite on a lighter."

Their company didn't sell any products. Being featured in magazine interviews was one thing, but shooting videos daily was another matter.

Perhaps when the new product launches and sales flop, that will be the time for him to show his face and attract traffic.

Chen Jinchun frowned deeply, thoughtfully tapping her teeth with her fingernail, "A lighter shouldn't be chewable, right?"

Lu Liang felt a rush of frustration welling up in his chest, unable to help but ask,"How did you even get in here?"

Chen Jinchun replied confusedly, "Mr. Lu, you were the one who hired me, don't you remember?"

"Go to Director Liu in HR and ask her to recruit a few more planners for brainstorming."

Suddenly, Lu Liang smiled, his irritation dispelled. Having such a naive and sweet mascot in the company wasn't too bad after all.

"Alright then," Chen Jinchun said with a look of regret.

Lu Liang chuckled, waved for Wen Chao, and instructed him to reserve the neighboring restaurant and book a room in the hotel upstairs.

Back in his office, he reviewed the documents on his desk, tracking the development journey of Miha You and Little Red Potato.

Cai Haoyu, a postgraduate from Shanghai Jiaotong University, received a startup fund of 100,000 US Dollars from the local government's 'Chuying Plan' in 2011.

That same year, he co-founded Miha You with two classmates. Over the past five years, they had only secured one million in funding.

With just that million, Miha You endured hardships until the creation of "Benghuai 1" and "Benghuai 2."

"Benghuai 1" generated two million in revenue its first year, marking their first profit, but life remained challenging.

However, the release of "Benghuai 2" coincided with the growth of mobile internet, and last year they saw a revenue of 154 million, entering a harvest period.

In the gaming industry, once you make a name, money usually follows, and Miha You was no exception, though they had other plans.

Cai Haoyu sought out Lu Liang with an idea similar to Zhang Chen's from Mahua: they wanted to go public but were rejected by the Securities and Futures Commission.

Mahua faced instability in revenue, while Miha You suffered from a lack of income diversity, with 90% of profits coming from a single product.

They resolved to evolve beyond the Benghuai series, but currently, they faced a funding shortfall of 70 million.

"190 million US Dollar valuation."

Lu Liang realized that Miha You sought him out not just for funding but also to share the risks.

"In the second half of the year, 'Benghuai 3' was set to launch. Uncertain about its profitability, they planned to seek additional investors before the product's launch to share the risks.

If 'Benghuai 3' failed to generate revenue and their market value plummeted, they would have enough capital to develop new projects, aiming for approval from the Securities and Futures Commission in the next year or the year after.

Lu Liang put down the Miha You documents and picked up the Little Red Potato file. Compared to Miha You, fundraising for Little Red Potato had gone much more smoothly.

It raised 3 million US dollars in an angel round from Zhenge Fund, and tens of millions of US dollars from Golden Sand River in Series A and B rounds.

Valued at 380 million US dollars, in this Series C round they planned to release 20% of their equity for fundraising of 76 million US dollars.

After some thought, Liang decided to invest in both companies; he had met Mao Wenchao and Cai Haoyu and had a few conversations with them.

Both companies were mature, one targeting women's wallets, the other men's.

There seemed to be promising prospects. Moreover, Liang trusted Zhu Hu's judgment—since there was money to spare, why not follow along and give it a try?

After finishing his work, Liang picked up his phone and saw a WeChat message from Wang Chuting, checking the transcription of his interview from the afternoon.

Forbes worried he might be misinterpreted, so they sent him the final version to see if he wanted any changes.

"Yes, just like that."

Liang opened Wang Chuting's social media profile and saw her three main hobbies beyond work: yoga, traveling, and photography.

Legs that went on for miles, peachy round buttocks, tight yoga pants—each photo exuded a woman's allure.

Scrolling further back, Liang learned from her posts around the Spring Festival that her family hailed from a certain place in Yuzhang; although she had Western ancestry, the family photos showed purely native Chinese, missing a middle-aged male figure.

Liang had Wen Chao contact the chief editor of Forbes on some pretext to obtain more detailed personal information about Wang Chuting.

Born in 1990, her father's name was not known; she had her mother's surname and grew up in a single-parent family, excelling in academics from a young age, graduated from the Journalism department at Zhejiang University, and had multiple top-three-campus rankings in her major. During her university years, she had applied for a financial aid scholarship for impoverished students, and after graduation, she joined Forbes right after topping the written examination and had been working there since.

A very hard-working and ambitious girl.

Liang concluded that, while he had some free time, he should head next door to the International Financial Center mall and bought an expensive necklace.

Although Li Manli was materialistic and not very intelligent, Wang Chuting was different, consistently a high achiever, and a top one at that.

If the Forbes information was accurate, and she had been without a boyfriend during her university years and the five years since graduation, her intelligence was frightfully high.

A man's first time isn't worth much, but a woman's first time is very valuable—if she chooses the right person at the right time, it could secure a life of comfort for the rest of her life.

Like Su Wanyu, although Liang had recently always used work as an excuse not to see her, he still held a place for her in his heart, and if she graduated, he was willing to pave the way for her.

At 6:30 in the evening, on the 91st floor of the International Financial Center,

Wang Chuting arrived, clad in a light gauze white dress that revealed the beguiling collarbones and a subtle portion of her beautiful back.

The dress had a long train, yet her stature was taller, a pair of Valentino pointy shoes peeking out from under the dress intermittently.

Occasionally, with a larger movement, her pale ankles were exposed, prompting Liang to think of Li Manli's interpretation of Japanese yukatas.

The reason yukatas were designed that way, according to centuries-old Japanese belief, is that a woman's mature allure was best represented by her fair neck and ankles.

The thick and modest yukata, with a slightly larger movement from the wearer, would reveal these aspects, massively amplifying the visual impact.

Although he wasn't sure if it was just a bizarre superstition, now it seemed that the subtly exposed ankles indeed had a striking impact.

"Miss Wang, you look truly beautiful this evening," Liang smiled as he approached the entrance, lending a hand to prevent her from falling.

"Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Lu," Wang Chuting smiled broadly and bowed slightly, glancing at the empty hall, her curiosity piqued.

"Is it empty today?" she asked curiously, and Liang led her to a table by the window. "Perhaps business isn't good tonight."

Wang Chuting covered her mouth as she chuckled seductively and rolled her eyes playfully, "I heard that it's difficult to get a place here. It must mean there's an even more esteemed guest tonight."

"Miss Wang, you really are conceited," Liang joked as he pulled out a chair for her to sit.

It seemed only natural to then produce a transparently gleaming necklace: "It's strange, really. I saw it just now in the mall downstairs, and from afar, it seemed as if it could speak, asking me to find its owner."