Volume One, Chapter 10: A Visionary Business Insight?

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Unexpectedly running into these two here, Li Yan frowned slightly, feeling a bit unlucky. He had never had a good impression of Fu Hantao and Qin Ligang. These two, relying on some spare money from their families, always picked on classmates from ordinary backgrounds in class and were notorious troublemakers.

Luo Jiashuang’s originally bright and lovely face suddenly grew cold. She turned her head away, treating the two as if they were invisible.

Seeing this, Fu Hantao’s anger flared instantly. He slammed the table, stood up abruptly, and pointed at Li Yan’s nose, scolding, “Li Yan, who do you think you are? How dare you walk hand in hand with Jiashuang? You’re nothing but a poor loser!”

Had this been the younger Li Yan, such words might have hit a sore spot, but now he only saw Fu Hantao as a petulant child, not worth even an extra glance. Ignoring Fu Hantao’s shouts, he took Luo Jiashuang’s hand and said, “Crazy people, don’t mind him. Let’s find another place.”

Jiashuang, already full of resentment from this baseless provocation, felt her good mood for their first date after her rebirth early in the morning completely spoiled. She immediately nodded, “Okay, let’s go.” Obediently, she let Li Yan lead her away, not sparing Fu Hantao a single look.

Seeing the girl he fancied being led away by someone else was like a public slap to Fu Hantao’s face. Furious and humiliated, he kicked the table over with a “bang” and clenched his fists, charging toward Li Yan’s back. In his eyes, Li Yan was just a country bumpkin; beating him up was no big deal. But daring to snatch his girl meant he had to show him some blood today.

Qin Ligang, instead of stopping him, picked up a plastic stool nearby and howled as he followed. When youthful anger ignites, consequences are the last thing on their minds.

Li Yan frowned slightly.

The Code of the Order of Guardians stated that assaulting ordinary people was prohibited unless necessary, but self-defense against attacks was justified.

“Li Yan, watch out!” Luo Jiashuang’s lovely face turned pale, instinctively stepping in front of him.

“I don’t need your protection,” Li Yan said, pulling her behind him.

Just as Fu Hantao’s fist was about to strike Li Yan’s back, Li Yan reversed his hand, gripping his wrist precisely and pulling forward with force. Fu Hantao felt a tremendous power surge, his body flailing uncontrollably like a kite with a broken string. With a thud, he crashed into a pile of clutter in the corner, accompanied by a clattering noise, looking utterly disheveled.

Meanwhile, Qin Ligang swung the stool down toward Li Yan’s head without mercy—if it connected, it would surely cause a bleeding head wound.

Li Yan’s eyes darkened slightly. Without dodging, he met the incoming stool with a punch.

With a crisp “crack,” the plastic stool shattered as his fist pierced through it, fragments scattering. Then, Li Yan transformed his punch into an open palm that struck Qin Ligang’s face like lightning.

“Smack!” The sharp slap echoed through the breakfast shop.

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Qin Ligang staggered back, stars flashing before his eyes, and fell headfirst into the clutter pile, tumbling with Fu Hantao.

In just a couple of moves, the two were utterly defeated.

Li Yan took fifty yuan from his pocket and placed it on the folding table by the door calmly. “Boss, this is for the stool.”

With that, he pulled Luo Jiashuang along and left without looking back.

Fu Hantao and Qin Ligang emerged from the clutter, looking battered and dirty. Watching the two walk away, Fu Hantao felt a deep sense of defeat—he had practiced taekwondo for years, yet hadn’t even seen Li Yan’s moves clearly before being easily knocked down.

“Hantao, this isn’t over!” Qin Ligang’s right cheek bore a clear slap mark, burning with pain. “Let’s find some people to take care of that Li Yan! Damn it, I’ve never been humiliated like this before!”

Their early morning good mood shattered, the atmosphere between Li Yan and Luo Jiashuang also grew a bit subdued.

“Li Yan, where do you plan to go next?” Luo Jiashuang glanced at him secretly, full of doubt. In high school, Li Yan was reserved and always thought about enduring troubles, yet just now he fought decisively like a hidden master. Could he really be one? For a moment, she felt that even after rebirth, she still couldn’t fully understand Li Yan.

Li Yan pondered briefly. “Let’s go check out the area near Lin City No. 1 High School.”

He remembered clearly that soon after the college entrance exams, there would be large-scale development around the school.

Near Lin City No. 1 High School were still vast farmlands and fish ponds. Back then, the largest local real estate company, Liqiang Group, used a ruse, claiming to develop “specialty crops,” and bought all the surrounding land at a low price of twenty thousand yuan per mu within less than a month.

At that time, the Lin City government publicly announced plans to expand the city northward, making the southern area near the high school seemingly worthless. Villagers thought farming barely earned anything annually; many young people had left to work elsewhere. It seemed better to sell the land for cash to start businesses or build new houses, so they all eagerly signed.

Later, they learned Liqiang Group had bought the land to develop housing. Land in the north zone had already been speculated up to nearly a hundred thousand yuan per mu—more than four times their price. The villagers were furious and protested for a while but were eventually suppressed somehow.

Now, Li Yan intended to snatch a piece of that pie from Liqiang Group.

Why not take advantage of the capitalist’s gains if you can? He planned to use the fifty thousand yuan bounty soon to buy a few plots and build houses as quickly as possible. That way, the money would multiply several times over.

As for Liqiang Group? He wasn’t too worried. After all, he was now a “hero who captured the number one wanted criminal,” carrying that halo. If they wanted to mess with him, they’d have to consider the attitude of Uncle Mao. At worst, he’d just earn a bit less and call it quits.

The two found a small food stall for a casual breakfast, then leisurely walked toward the village near Lin City No. 1 High School.

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Li Yan recalled that before development, every year from May to July, large flocks of egrets flew here. At that moment, as they approached the fish ponds, the egrets startled and took flight from the reed beds, their snowy white wings sweeping over the bluish-gray ridges, forming a beautiful scene.

Sadly, they would never see this again.

Li Yan surveyed his surroundings: two fish ponds nestled among the ridges, not far from the road, a very good location.

If Liqiang Group was to develop, they couldn’t ignore this spot.

He planned to buy this land under the guise of starting a farm. Once the bounty arrived, he would immediately begin building several houses. This way, when Liqiang Group made a move, he would have a legitimate reason and wouldn’t seem too obvious.

Luo Jiashuang followed behind him, watching his serious inspection of the terrain, her heart beginning to suspect something.

She of course knew the area would eventually be developed by Liqiang Group, but how did Li Yan know? Was he naturally gifted with such advanced business insight?

No wonder he had managed to build such a big business in his previous life—his sharpness showed even back then. Luo Jiashuang looked at his profile, her eyes shimmering like starlight, secretly grateful that this time around, she absolutely could not lose him again.

“Li Yan, what are we doing here?” she cautiously asked, wanting to hear his plan.

From her perspective, the most straightforward move was to buy land and hold it until prices rose. But Liqiang Group was no ordinary player, and without backing, they wouldn’t stand a chance, especially since they had little capital now.

She knew Li Yan only had a bit over fifty thousand yuan, which was just a drop in the bucket compared to real estate development. She wondered what he would do, curious for the moment.

Li Yan withdrew his gaze casually. “I think something big will happen here in the future; in a few years, it might change drastically. For now, maybe we can do something.”

Luo Jiashuang nodded, thinking: indeed, Li Yan already had a unique and forward-looking vision. If not for his poor family background limiting him, the Li Yan of the past life might have reached even greater heights.

For a moment, Luo Jiashuang felt the Li Yan of the past and this young Li Yan overlapped—they were still the same man she loved deeply.