Nearby, Wang Qiang skillfully brought over a few stools. Before An Chutang could figure out a way to get Li Yan to sit next to him, the other party smoothly took the seat right across from him.
Really, how was this supposed to make him make a move!
An Chutang felt a bit frustrated.
Although this life-saving target Li Yan was quite pleasing to his eyes, time was urgent, and the guy seemed pretty straight. He couldn’t afford to be too reserved.
The initial surprise of rebirth was slowly fading, and this feeling of having his life manipulated by someone else began to make him a bit irritable. He was never one to be constrained like this.
Li Guangtao eagerly grabbed a cup, poured wine, and tore open a bag of peanuts.
“It’s too late today, the restaurants are all closed. Let’s make do for now, and tomorrow I’ll take you out for a good meal. I still have three meat ration tickets here!”
As he spoke, he handed the glass of wine to An Chutang.
An Chutang was stunned. Only then did he remember hearing his grandfather say that nowadays, having money alone wasn’t enough to buy things; you also needed various kinds of ration tickets!
He took the wine and asked hesitatingly, “Do you have to use tickets to buy things now? What do I need to do to get tickets?”
“Huh?” Li Guangtao tossed a peanut into his mouth and muttered vaguely, “Looks like you really are an overseas Chinese. Tickets don’t have a dedicated place where you can just buy them, though you can exchange them privately. But don’t worry.”
He smiled mysteriously and continued, “Ever since the policies started loosening up, nowadays lots of people are reselling things over at West Alley. Wanting to buy whatever you need isn’t that hard.
Besides, for an overseas Chinese like you, aren’t there foreign-exchange hotels and stores and stuff? It won’t affect your travel. Oh, right, where are you staying right now?”
An Chutang breathed a sigh of relief and casually said, “Just arrived today, haven’t found a place to live yet.”
“Huh?” Li Guangtao looked at him suspiciously.
“What’s wrong?” Did he say something wrong? While thinking, he unconsciously picked up the cup in front of him and gulped down a large mouthful without realizing it.
“Cough, cough, cough.” An Chutang put down the cup, coughing so hard tears were about to well up.
Although he occasionally went to sit at bars, he rarely touched alcohol, and his grandfather kept a very tight leash on him.
Just now he had zoned out and chugged a huge mouthful all at once, and now he felt like his entire body was burning up.
A dark blue handkerchief was handed over in front of him.
An Chutang didn’t check who gave it. Coughing, he lowered his head and took it. With an unsteady hand, he directly pinched the other party’s fingertips.
Right after, the system’s familiar voice echoed in his mind, [Ding! Congratulations to the host, skin-to-skin contact increased life value by thirty minutes.]
An Chutang froze, choking back even his cough. There was such a great perk? It seemed the current situation wasn’t all that bad.
Li Yan quickly pulled his hand back and rested it on his thigh, his fingertips rubbing back and forth.
He hadn’t felt wrong. Just now, after touching his fingertips, this kid had actually used some force to pinch them?
He raised his eyes to look at the person across from him. Because of the choking cough, An Chutang’s fair cheeks were slightly flushed, his peach blossom eyes were moistened with tears, and his full, round lips gleamed softly from being stained with wine drops.
His gaze uncontrollably drifted downward.
Li Yan’s heart skipped a beat, then he lowered his eyelids and cursed inwardly, Damn it! Why was he feeling his heart itch over a man?!
Only then did Li Guangtao feel something was a bit off. “You just arrived? Then where’s your luggage?”
Thinking of the packed luggage sitting in his living room back home, An Chutang had a flash of inspiration. “My luggage got lost. Luckily my money and documents are still fine.”
He glanced sideways at the person opposite him, trying his best to look vulnerable. “I came back to the country alone, don’t know a single soul. After losing my luggage, I feel even more insecure.
Today I’m fortunate to have met you guys, and this place looks pretty nice. I was wondering…”
He met Li Yan’s gaze and said sincerely, “Can I rent a room to stay here at your place?”
After finishing, he quickly brought his hands together in a pleading gesture. “It doesn’t matter how much the rent is, I’ll move out as soon as I find a suitable place.”
Li Guangtao didn’t think there was much issue with it, except that his Brother Yan probably wouldn’t agree.
After all, no matter how late they hung out here on ordinary days, everyone still went back to their own homes. No one had ever stayed overnight here before.
Li Yan crossed both arms over his chest, leaning his body casually against the back of the chair. “Aren’t there foreign-exchange hotels? The environment there is alright.”
Knowing it wouldn’t be that easy, An Chutang pressed his lips together and muttered, “I don’t like staying in hotels. What if I get targeted by bad guys again?”
Seeing his pitiful expression, Li Yan felt a slight stir in his heart. “We’ll talk about it later.”
Sensing a chance, An Chutang instantly perked up. Smiling brightly, he took the initiative to chat with Li Guangtao. “What kind of business did you say you do? If it’s suitable, count me in, I’ll invest.”
Treating him as a young master from a genuinely wealthy family, Li Guangtao enthusiastically said, “My stuff is the real deal.”
He poured another cup of wine for An Chutang, lowered his voice, and continued mysteriously, “I have connections and can bring in cassette tapes from Hong Kong. They’re in such short supply, it’s a hundredfold profit.”
An Chutang’s mouth twitched. Pulling off such a big battle array today, he had thought it was some massive business.
The other party spoke with indignation, “This time I managed to get over five hundred yuan worth of goods in one go! That was the entire life savings of us brothers!
It all got ruined by that jerk Fan Jianguo. No way, the more I think about it, the angrier I get. I can’t let this grudge go unavenged, I have to go look for him tomorrow!”
Li Yan’s expression remained rather bland. He simply picked up his wine glass, brought it to his lips, and slowly took a sip. That chiseled Adam’s apple bobbed along with the swallow, making An Chutang feel somewhat parched.
He hurriedly pulled back his gaze and distractedly asked Li Guangtao, “How much can cassette tapes sell for? Why don’t you guys deal in household appliances?
From what I understand, appliances are the hot sellers right now, aren’t they? Things like tape recorders, televisions, refrigerators, aren’t those much more popular?”
Li Yan lifted his eyelids to give him a side-glance, while Li Guangtao and the few others simultaneously drew in sharp breaths.
“Hiss, your idea is pretty similar to Brother Yan’s. But appliances require more than just connections. The investment is no small amount. What? You can invest in that too?”
As Li Guangtao spoke, he rubbed his hands together. Because his Brother Yan wanted to resign and plunge into the business world, he had already fallen out with the old man.
Without the old man’s support and relying solely on his Brother Yan’s capital, they truly couldn’t afford to jump into something that big all at once.
An Chutang had a rough idea of the prices at this time, though specifics were still unclear. “Investing is definitely doable. I’m looking to do something anyway, though appliances aren’t actually what interest me the most.”
“Not appliances? Then what is? Is there something even more popular than appliances?”
“I don’t know, so I was thinking of walking around and looking around during the day tomorrow.”
His family started out in real estate and later branched into the entertainment industry and AI technology. If he really wanted to make a name for himself here, he preferred his old line of work.
As he spoke, An Chutang began feeling a bit dizzy in his head. It seemed the alcohol strength of that glass of wine just now was quite potent.
“That’s no problem. The few of us will accompany you tomorrow to look around, absolute safety guaranteed.”
Knowing there was hope, Li Guangtao couldn’t help asking one more question, “As for appliances… are you still joining in? Don’t worry, my Brother Yan has connections. I guarantee it’s all profit, no loss.”
Li Yan knitted his brows slightly. “Taozi.”
Li Guangtao immediately clamped his mouth shut. He knew they had just met, and talking like this made it sound like he was trying to take advantage of An Chutang, but he weren’t wrong either—at worst, they could just give him a larger share of the profits later.
Hearing Li Yan’s voice, An Chutang looked toward him again with slightly hazy eyes.
Then he chuckled foolishly. “I’ll invest. I’m so glad I met you guys today, let’s fly together!”
Li Yan quietly watched him. Just one glass of wine, and he was already drunk?
This expression of his actually made him look even more obedient.
Li Guangtao, Wang Qiang, Zhang Baoguo, and Li Jianshe exchanged glances before cautiously asking An Chutang, “Xiaotang, so… how much can you invest?”
An Chutang blinked. “Hmm.”
He directly stretched out a palm, all five fingers fully open.
Light flashed in Li Guangtao’s eyes. Fifty thousand?!
This was a huge sum! Although the price of appliances wasn’t cheap, the profits were high!
With this fifty thousand, if they brought back a batch of tape recorders and a few televisions, the profits could at least double, and then they could import even more.
Before he could finish his excitement, An Chutang slow-pacedly spoke up, “Let’s start with five million. If things go smoothly, we’ll expand later.”
“Hiss.”
“Hiss.”
“Hiss.”
(Life Countdown: 2 hours 20 minutes)