Tycoon: From Rags to Riches

Summer sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, spilling over Jiang Ruan and dyeing her thick, soft hair a golden-yellow.

Her gaze was focused, her body leaning slightly forward.

From Gu Heng’s angle, he could see her delicate collarbones, just barely visible.

Gu Heng watched Jiang Ruan quietly, a flicker of complexity in his eyes.

’To be honest, if this challenge mission hadn’t suddenly appeared, he probably wouldn’t have made a move, even though Jiang Ruan was exactly his type.’

Three years of hardship in the real world had turned that once sunny and confident young man cowardly, insecure, and silent.

Without tasting poverty, it’s hard to be a person; without suffering setbacks, you’ll remain forever naive.

What they call maturity is just getting good at hiding.

What they call being weathered by life is simply having scars but no more tears to shed.

Now, although Gu Heng had achieved a magnificent reversal of fortune in his life, his mentality hadn’t managed to catch up.

When facing a girl he liked, even with his current net worth—enough to be worthy of them eight hundred times over and then some—he still felt an unconscious sense of unworthiness, leading him to subconsciously choose passivity.

Women, for the most part, are attracted to strength.

Perhaps this was a trait rooted in their genes, a product of the law of natural selection since time immemorial.

Under these circumstances, a cowardly and insecure man couldn’t even dream of conquering the body and soul of a top-tier beauty like Jiang Ruan; even an average-looking woman wouldn’t fall for such a man.

So what if he was rich?

Weren’t there plenty of rich men who ended up as simps, backup options, or walking ATMs?

So... mindset is crucial!

As these thoughts flashed through Gu Heng’s mind, neither Jiang Ruan nor Luo Xiwen, sitting in front of him, noticed the subtle change in his aura.

At the same time, the way he looked at Jiang Ruan also began to change slightly.

Jiang Ruan, who was busy filling out the paperwork, suddenly seemed to sense something. She subconsciously looked up at Gu Heng.

A few minutes ago, faced with a glance from a beauty of Jiang Ruan’s caliber, he would have instinctively averted his gaze or pretended to casually look elsewhere.

But now, Gu Heng met Jiang Ruan’s gaze head-on, his eyes not flinching in the slightest.

As their gazes locked, it was Jiang Ruan who couldn’t take it first, her face flushing slightly as she lowered her head again.

This outcome was like sweet rain on parched earth for Gu Heng’s heart, causing his mindset to transform at an even faster rate.

’This challenge mission... really came at the perfect time.’

Gu Heng let out a soft breath, feeling a little fortunate.

If he had continued with his old mentality, sooner or later he would have taken a huge fall because of a woman.

Any high-level "green tea" or gold digger could have come along and played him like a fool.

’Conquer her body and soul...’

’The body is easy to get, but the heart is hard to read.’

’No wonder the reward is so generous. This challenge mission is genuinely difficult.’

Gu Heng sighed inwardly.

But as difficult as this challenge mission was, he had to complete it no matter what, because the final reward involved a new function for Brother Tongzi.

While Gu Heng was mulling over the sudden challenge mission in his mind, time flew by in the real world.

About half an hour later, all of Gu Heng’s car purchasing procedures were completed. Even the registration and license plating had been taken care of for him by a dedicated specialist.

"President Gu, here are your documents and the purchase paperwork."

Jiang Ruan handed Gu Heng’s ID and bank card back to him separately, then passed him a manila envelope containing the purchase documents.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Gu Heng gave a slight nod, then took out his phone and raised an eyebrow at Jiang Ruan. "Let’s add each other on WhatsApp? If I have any questions about the car later, it’s okay to contact you, right?"

"Of course."

"I’ll scan your QR code."

Joy appeared on Jiang Ruan’s face; Gu Heng’s suggestion was exactly what she had been hoping for.

"Okay."

Gu Heng opened his WhatsApp QR code for Jiang Ruan to scan.

Nearby, Luo Xiwen watched them add each other on WhatsApp, her gaze lingering on Jiang Ruan’s exquisitely beautiful and cool face for a long time.

At the same time, the image of the young nurse she had seen when she went to pick up Gu Heng in front of Jilin University Ninth Hospital this afternoon surfaced in her mind.

Without a doubt, both of these girls were younger than her.

Especially the young nurse, whose face was so tender you could practically squeeze water from it, with some downy fuzz of youth still on her cheeks.

’As expected...’

’In the world of these top-tier tycoons, beautiful women really are everywhere.’

’But I’m not necessarily any worse than them.’

At this thought, something else must have crossed Luo Xiwen’s mind, as a faint blush quietly appeared on her fair, oval face.

After adding Jiang Ruan on WhatsApp, Gu Heng didn’t say much else and led Luo Xiwen out of the dealership.

Right at the main entrance, his Maybach GLS 600 was prepped and ready, the two blue license plates already installed.

"Manager Luo, do you have time in a bit?"

Gu Heng asked Luo Xiwen as he walked toward his beloved new car.

"I do."

Luo Xiwen quickly refocused her attention. "Mr. Gu, please feel free to ask me for anything you need."

"I have a dinner meeting tonight, and I plan to buy a couple of outfits at Zhuo Zhan."

Standing in front of the car, Gu Heng said to Luo Xiwen, "I can see you have great taste in clothes. If you’re free in a little while, how about you come shopping with me? You could give me some advice."

Jun Cheng Law Firm was, after all, one of the top law firms in the country, and Xia Zhenzhong was its director.

Even though in their relationship, he was the client and they were the service provider, it would be a bit too disrespectful to show up to their formal dinner invitation for their first meeting in shorts and a t-shirt.

Gu Heng didn’t know anything about business attire, but he knew Luo Xiwen certainly did. Before formally entering private banking, she must have undergone relevant training.

Having a semi-professional by his side was better than just wandering around cluelessly on his own.

"No problem."

Luo Xiwen agreed without a moment’s hesitation.

"Then get in the car."

With that, Gu Heng pulled open the driver’s door and got in first. Luo Xiwen hurried over and sat in the passenger seat.

Finally, under the watchful eyes of Guo Ziming and the others, the Maybach GLS 600 quickly merged into the flow of traffic and disappeared from their sight.

After seeing the distinguished guest off, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and turned to go back inside the dealership.

Jiang Ruan glanced at Guo Ziming, who was animatedly reporting the situation to their boss, and turned to walk toward the restroom.

At the same time, she took out her phone, looked at the newly added contact for Gu Heng, and her slender, pale fingers immediately tapped open his WhatsApp Moments.

Gu Heng had his Moments set to be visible for the last half-month, and in that time, he had only posted one thing.

The post was from ten days ago. The content was a photo of Gu Heng’s sweaty arm making a "V" for victory sign, with a four-word caption: The dawn is coming!

Suddenly, Jiang Ruan stopped in her tracks.

As she stared at the figure in the photo, the sense of familiarity with Gu Heng that had been nagging at her finally clicked into place.

’So it’s him...’