After hearing the explanation from the thin man, Xia Yu’s expression became somewhat strange. What Xu Youxiang had told him was vastly different from what the thin man had said.
The thin man’s family owned a fabric factory and their own fabric brand. However, in today’s society, people tend to buy ready-made clothes directly, and few pay attention to fabrics. Therefore, the man’s company had struggled in recent years.
Seeking change, the man was persuaded by a friend to invest in an internet company. The friend had boasted greatly, and the man later invested a large sum of money. However, after a long time without seeing any profit, he started to feel anxious and wondered whether he had been scammed. He wanted to consult a professional to find out.
Unfortunately, he didn’t know any reliable people. The PowerPoint presentation his friend presented seemed decent enough, and an average person would simply be fooled by it. Since he only suspected he might have been scammed but wasn’t certain, he couldn’t openly investigate the matter.
At that time, he heard that Xu Youxiang worked for the Yu family’s company and hoped she could help him take a look.
Their previous awkward conversation was meant to make his request seem less abrupt. However, before he could even speak, he was rejected. Thinking that Xu Youxiang disliked people getting too close, he asked whether she and her boyfriend needed money, trying to see how much payment he could offer to entice her help.
Looking at the anxious thin man in front of him, Xia Yu coughed slightly and said, “Let me take a look at your materials.”
The thin man immediately went downstairs to fetch his laptop.
Xia Yu glanced through it. It turned out the other party was running a forum.
At that time, forums had not yet developed mature advertising businesses or membership services, so there was basically no way to generate profit, making it normal not to see any returns.
“He told me that as long as we had users, we could eventually make money. But he’s tried various offline activities for a long time and hasn’t seen any success,” the thin man added.
Xia Yu nodded. The other party was continuously exploring ways to profit, but before membership systems and advertising services emerged, how could they easily make money?
Moreover, online membership and advertising services relied on online payment and e-commerce.
Unless they were like Tencent, selling Q-coin cards offline for top-ups, it was obvious that these forums didn’t have the channels to distribute physical cards across the entire region.
Looking through the various expenses and doing a simple calculation, Xia Yu said to the thin man, “He hasn’t scammed your money, or at least not much. Currently, there is no mature profit model for this type of project across the entire internet, so it’s normal that you haven’t seen any returns. However, people in the industry still somewhat believe in the potential of such projects.”
Seeing that Xia Yu truly understood, the thin man wanted to ask more questions, but Xia Yu had already left him and returned to Xu Youxiang.
He had only helped the man out of kindness. If he continued talking, it would involve knowledge beyond this era, and he certainly wasn’t someone who would casually give away secrets.
“Did you solve it?” Xu Youxiang asked.
“I guess so,” Xia Yu didn’t know how to explain. He decided to wait until they got home to talk about it.
Xu Youxiang had the same idea, so the two of them walked around a bit. Xu Youxiang obtained the manufacturers of some new fabrics from two boastful women and declined the second phase of the gathering.
The second phase of the gathering was to go to a rented villa, where they would showcase their clothes and discuss topics like makeup, beauty, and fitness.
Neither Xu Youxiang nor Xia Yu wanted to attend, so they returned home together.
After closing the door, Xu Youxiang eagerly asked, “What did you tell him?”
“I told him that you were still a man a year ago,” Xia Yu replied.
“???”
Xu Youxiang was stunned for a moment, then she tightly grabbed Xia Yu’s waist.
“Ow, ow, ow, I’m just kidding,” Xia Yu struggled free and began to explain seriously.
He recounted everything that had just happened in perfect order.
Looking at Xu Youxiang, whose eyes had become somewhat dazed, Xia Yu added, “You thought he liked you, didn’t you?”
“Don’t say that!” Xu Youxiang, embarrassed and angry, shouted, “You pervert!”
She threw the small bag in her hand at Xia Yu.
Catching the bag, Xia Yu felt delighted for successfully teasing Xu Youxiang.
Placing the small bag back in Xu Youxiang’s hand, Xia Yu prepared to push her toward the bedroom.
“Don’t come near me!” Xu Youxiang acted coy.
Ignoring her, Xia Yu moved even closer and picked her up directly.
After he closed the bedroom door, the housemaid walked out from the kitchen and properly positioned the wheelchair.
Xia Yu and Xu Youxiang, still playing around, were lying on the bed, each holding a game controller, playing a game.
It was a very old game called “Squirrel Wars,” where players controlled two squirrels and attacked opponents by lifting boxes and throwing them. Since teammates could also be thrown like boxes, the game was especially fun to play with two people.
Wanting revenge, Xu Youxiang constantly tried to sabotage Xia Yu, but due to Xia Yu’s excellent skills, she failed to achieve her goal.
After realizing that skill alone wouldn’t work, Xu Youxiang gave up trying hard in the game. She leaned closer to Xia Yu, attempting to distract him and affect his performance.
However, Xia Yu’s hands remained steady, seemingly completely unaffected.
This time, Xu Youxiang was not only frustrated by her failed plan but also began to question her own charm.
In reality, Xia Yu was simply at a much higher skill level than Xu Youxiang. Even if he was somewhat affected, he was still superior to her.
Unwilling to give up, Xu Youxiang thought for a moment. Then she reached down, took off her sock, and said to Xia Yu, “Look at my feet.”
Frowning slightly, Xia Yu realized that to look at Xu Youxiang’s feet, he would have to turn his head, causing the screen to disappear from his view. Even with his exceptional skills, he wouldn’t be able to play just by sound alone.
Sitting up, he slowly moved backward until he was behind Xu Youxiang, allowing him to see both the screen and her feet.
He felt puzzled, unsure why Xu Youxiang wanted him to look at her feet.
Paying some attention to Xu Youxiang’s feet, Xia Yu looked at the small, delicate sole and the pale toes.
Too bad the foot couldn’t move or feel anything. Otherwise, watching the toes wiggle and tickling them to hear Xu Youxiang giggle would have been quite amusing.
Just as he was thinking this, he noticed that the toes on that foot, except for the big toe, moved slightly.
Blinking his eyes, Xia Yu saw the toes move again.
He was momentarily stunned, and his fingers stopped pressing the controller buttons.
Xu Youxiang seized the opportunity, lifting the squirrel controlled by Xia Yu and throwing it at the boss. Xia Yu’s character successfully died, and she was very happy.
However, she didn’t receive the reaction she expected.
The greatest joy in tricking someone was seeing their reaction. Without it, half of Xu Youxiang’s happiness immediately disappeared.
She turned her head to look at Xia Yu, angry that he wasn’t reacting, only to find Xia Yu staring intently at her feet.
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