Chapter 0273: The Richest Man Chen

Life is generally like this: we may not have had time to enjoy it before we find ourselves forced to face its burdens and pressures.

Of course, for Zhao Fusheng, who had barged into a strange new world with a cheat code, life sometimes felt like a joke the heavens were playing on him.

"Are you Chen Tianqiao?" Zhao Fusheng blinked, looking at the man before him who was about to turn thirty.

"Yes, you know me?"

The other party was quite surprised, seemingly not expecting Zhao Fusheng to know who he was.

Zhao Fusheng certainly knew this man—the legendary game *Legend* had once screwed over a lot of people. Back then, everyone spent their days in internet cafes, frantically clicking at computers, hoping to get a Dragon Slayer sword to drop.

Most importantly, Zhao Fusheng remembered clearly that thanks to *Legend*, this Mr. Chen Tianqiao had apparently become China's richest man.

"No, no, I just saw your name on some forum online; I don't remember the details." Zhao Fusheng blinked and said with a straight face.

Chen Tianqiao didn't think much of it. At this time, he wasn't yet the tycoon who, after becoming the richest man, was obsessed with investing. A man with a few hundred thousand yuan in his pocket, eager to start a business, didn't have that many tricks up his sleeve.

"Then let's talk about the website." Chen Tianqiao didn't beat around the bush and looked at Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and nodded: "Alright, please have a seat."

Regarding the richest man Chen, Zhao Fusheng had read a report about him, not very detailed. It only said he graduated from university a year early, joined the president's office of the Lujiazui Group, and then went to a securities firm. It should be this year that he just started his business with his newlywed wife.

But Zhao Fusheng didn't know exactly what the richest man Chen had done during this period; he only remembered that he acquired the domestic agency rights for *Legend* for $300,000, then embarked on a life that seemed almost like a cheat code, becoming the richest man at thirty-one.

Thinking of this, Zhao Fusheng smiled and looked at Chen Tianqiao: "Mr. Chen, may I ask how much actual liquid capital you have at your disposal?"

They had already discussed this over the phone, so Chen Tianqiao didn't intend to hide anything. He smiled and said, "A bit over three hundred thousand."

Zhao Fusheng had just picked up his teacup to drink when he froze, looked up at Chen Tianqiao: "Then how dare you quote me five hundred thousand? Aren't you afraid I might agree?"

Chen Tianqiao shrugged: "Either I mortgage the house, or I owe it first and pay in installments."

With a snort, Wang Zhen, who was beside them, couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand, telling the guy to get lost.

"You've seen the server and the backend data. I think there's no need to beat around the bush on the price, Mr. Chen?" Zhao Fusheng said to Chen Tianqiao with a smile.

Both were under thirty and both were entrepreneurs. In Zhao Fusheng's view, there was no need to keep circling around certain matters.

Chen Tianqiao hadn't expected Zhao Fusheng to negotiate like this, not giving people a chance to ease into things, but instead almost going all-in, putting all his chips on the table. This was somewhat surprising, but he rather admired Zhao Fusheng's approach.

"I didn't expect you to be such a straightforward person," Chen Tianqiao said to Zhao Fusheng with a smile.

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand: "I don't like beating around the bush. Mr. Chen and I are both young; let's be frank. I think this website has value, so I want to sell it at a good price. You think this website has potential, and you also want to buy it at a good price, don't you?"

Chen Tianqiao was taken aback, then shook his head: "I'm not what you think. In my view, China's internet industry has great potential."

Zhao Fusheng smiled. He knew that at this time, Chen Tianqiao was full of ambition. With his experience at the securities firm, he had made his first five hundred thousand yuan during the 519 rally, which led him to believe that tech stocks and internet stocks had a bright future.

And he was indeed capable. His younger brother Chen Danian handled R&D while he managed operations. In the year 2000, when computer memory still relied on floppy disks, he dared to propose building China's internet Disney, establishing the largest online animation community, and he even managed to recruit a few people.

And now, it seemed Boss Chen regarded Zhao Fusheng as an impressionable young man he could win over.

Seeing that Chen Tianqiao was about to continue expounding on his internet Disney dream, Zhao Fusheng curled his lips. He had no doubt about the man's ability to make money, but he had little respect for his character.

After all, this was the same man who, upon finding his company's development not going smoothly, decisively sold off all his physical assets and switched to investing—a ruthless move.

Dreams?

Ha, dreams are just a stepping stone for capitalists. Once they get rich, dreams ultimately can't withstand the temptation of profit.

So, Zhao Fusheng glanced at Chen Tianqiao calmly and said flatly: "Mr. Chen, I'm not really fond of virtual ventures."

Holy shit!

Chen Tianqiao almost blurted out a curse. This guy had built the largest virtual community in the country and then claimed he didn't like virtual ventures.

It was like a billionaire standing there and saying, 'Actually, I don't really like making money.'

That was the successful man's way of showing off!

The logic was simple: when successful people show off, it's called sharing success stories; when failures do it, it's called bullshitting.

Since ancient times, the victor is king and the loser is a bandit. So even though Chen Tianqiao was inwardly disgusted, he still had to force a smile in front of Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng could naturally guess what Chen Tianqiao was thinking, but he couldn't tell him that he had run out of money and the website could only last a little over ten days before it couldn't be maintained.

So Zhao Fusheng had to grit his teeth and keep up the act.

"Brother Zhao, if I may ask, what do you think the user ceiling for MyHome is?" Chen Tianqiao suddenly said to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng tilted his head and thought: "Seven or eight hundred thousand?"

To be honest, he was already overestimating. In his mind, even with wo123's aggressive promotion and word-of-mouth from users, the maximum would be around five to six hundred thousand users. After all, the number of domestic internet users was limited at the time, and there were many similar websites. Zhao Fusheng wasn't that confident.

Of course, he couldn't show that in front of Chen Tianqiao. In negotiations, whoever shows weakness first has already lost a step.

"Too low," Chen Tianqiao suddenly said to Zhao Fusheng. These two words surprised Zhao Fusheng.

He never expected that the future richest man Chen would have such high expectations for MyHome.

After all, at this time, Chen Tianqiao was not the later man who made one misstep after another. His early life was like a cheat code, the perfect template of 'someone else's child.'

Good grades, high IQ, prestigious university, decent job, married a beautiful wife after starting his business, became the richest man in a few years—he was the epitome of a winner in life.

And most frighteningly, when Chen Tianqiao started his business, everything went smoothly. He could casually buy a game and earn hundreds of millions a year. In the internet era, he was seen by many as a classic example of starting from scratch.

And now, this man actually believed that the website in Zhao Fusheng's hands had great potential!

For a moment, Zhao Fusheng felt immensely proud. He even had the thought that maybe, as Wang Zhen said, he should try to raise funds and continue running the website.

But then, he dismissed the idea.

Because he knew very well that the internet bubble was about to burst. If that happened, the difficulties he would face would be far from trivial.

Zhao Fusheng didn't think he had the ability to steer the website through that winter.

So, thinking this, he smiled at Chen Tianqiao: "Mr. Chen, by that logic, do you think the fifty thousand is appropriate?"

Chen Tianqiao gave a wry smile. He knew it—this guy was waiting for him here.

But fortunately, before coming to Ninghai, he had already considered how to win Zhao Fusheng over.

Blinking, Chen Tianqiao wiped the smile off his face and asked Zhao Fusheng seriously: "Have you ever considered accepting venture capital?"

Hmm?

Zhao Fusheng raised an eyebrow, feeling that this matter was getting more and more interesting.