110: Chapter 110 I'm making up a story, but you really have one!

Smack!

Chen Sheng slapped the two hundred in cash he had prepared into the delivery man's hand.

"You..."

"Brother, it's like this." Chen Sheng forced out his best acting, his miserable expression instantly switching to a hesitant, tearless, cowardly look. "Brother, my girlfriend hasn't picked up my calls for days. I want to borrow your vest to sneak in and take a look."

"Don't worry, just one look. I definitely won't delay your business. I'll even help you deliver this order."

The delivery man was silent for a moment before reaching out and patting Chen Sheng hard on the shoulder. "Brother! Take things in stride. Eat and drink as usual; the sun will still rise tomorrow."

Chen Sheng: "..."

Brother, I'm just making up a story, but you actually have a story!

Chen Sheng stared blankly at the delivery man, momentarily at a loss for words.

However, in the delivery man's eyes, this look made him feel that his heartfelt words had touched the other man's heart, giving him an instant burst of accomplishment.

"I..."

Chen Sheng felt the need to explain, but as soon as he spoke, he was interrupted by the delivery man's hand slapping his shoulder. "Brother, you don't need to say anything. I'm definitely helping you today. I'll contact the others right now and have them take over the orders I have."

"But let's get this straight, I can help you, but you can't do anything reckless."

Chen Sheng grabbed the man's hand in return and nodded vigorously, saying excitedly, "Brother! I promise I'll leave after one look. I definitely won't cause any trouble for you."

"Fine! I believe you." The delivery man stuffed the delivery into Chen Sheng's hands, pocketed the money, and took off his vest and hat to give to Chen Sheng.

While Chen Sheng was changing gear, the delivery man noted down Chen Sheng's number. "Brother, I'll give you a quick ring. Once you deliver the food, call me. I'll notify the customer to pick it up, and then you can do what you need to do. I'll wait for you here."

"Alright." Chen Sheng put on the gear, took a photo of the order information with his phone, and headed straight for the security post.

As expected, he was stopped by the security guard in charge as soon as he reached the post. "What are you doing?"

Chen Sheng spread his arms, looked at the gear clearly bearing the delivery logo, and said speechlessly, "Delivering food."

"Register here." The guard pulled out a thick registration form and asked, "Surname? Which building?"

"Surname Zhang, delivering to Building 3, Unit 1, 1502, phone number XXXXXX..." He basically got everything wrong except the delivery location.

After registering the information, the guard swiped the access card to let Chen Sheng in. Chen Sheng quickly jogged into the neighborhood. As a man of his word, he first delivered the food to the customer. Then, on his way out, he conveniently picked up a fresh bouquet of flowers from the trash can under Unit 2.

Tsk, tsk...

The bouquet was wrapped so well that he had to tear it all apart to get the red banknotes out from inside.

"Unless someone's a bit sick in the head, they really wouldn't understand this kind of surprise." Having obtained the cash, Chen Sheng disgustedly stuffed the scattered bouquet back into the trash can.

With the money tucked safely in his pocket, Chen Sheng jogged all the way out of the neighborhood.

It wasn't to save time, but because he needed that out-of-breath feeling.

Sure enough, when he arrived panting before the delivery man, returned the gear, and said a solemn "thank you" with a hesitant look, the delivery man's colorful facial expressions said more than a thousand words.

The delivery man took the gear, pulled a cigarette pack from his pocket, and handed one to Chen Sheng. "Brother, here, have a smoke. Take things easy; there's no hurdle you can't get over. Look at me..."

Chen Sheng took the cigarette and first lit it for the delivery man—no, the man who should now be called "Big Brother"—and then for himself. Taking a deep drag, Chen Sheng patted the reminiscing man. "Don't worry! I'm not at the point of life and death over a woman, but thanks anyway, Big Brother."

Thanks to him, he had heard a "heart-wrenching" story... no, a case study.

"It's nothing! As long as you've made peace with it, brother. Like I said, there's no hurdle you can't overcome. We not only have to live well, but we have to live with dignity. Let those who looked down on you see clearly what it means when the tables turn after thirty years!"

Chen Sheng: "I'm feeling strangely fired up."

"Yeah!" Chen Sheng nodded vigorously. "Big Brother, I won't take up any more of your time. Good luck!"

"Good luck!" The man made a cheering gesture at Chen Sheng, then straddled his electric scooter. After a slightly flashy turn, the cigarette-puffing man waved at Chen Sheng. He truly waved his sleeve without taking away a single cloud—extremely cool.

Chen Sheng was willing to call him "Brother Cool."

After bidding farewell to Brother Cool, Chen Sheng also quickly got in his car and left the scene.

Despite all his trickery for the intelligence system, back home, he was the absolute king. For instance, when he casually told An Xiaonuan that he had won a 9,999-yuan LCD color TV in a supermarket lucky draw, her admiring little gaze was incredibly stylish.

When he casually mentioned hitting a machine bug at the arcade and making over ten thousand in one go, An Xiaonuan looked at Chen Sheng like an ephemera looking at the vast sky.

"We burned incense together on New Year's Day last year. Why is all the luck falling on you alone?" An Xiaonuan expressed her dissatisfaction, then muttered to herself, "Could it really be the luck brought by the baby?"

Thinking that it might really be the baby's luck, An Xiaonuan's pout was deep enough to hang a soy sauce bottle.

"It's over, it's definitely a girl."

Because a boy couldn't possibly not side with his mother. Only a girl would not only be jealous from a young age but also make her mother's heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys ache with anger.

Don't ask her why she knew this.

If you must ask, go ask her mother.

At this thought, An Xiaonuan slapped her forehead, feeling a strange sense that her future life would be bleak.

In her daze, An Xiaonuan didn't notice that while she was distracted, Chen Sheng quietly stuffed a stack of bills into the sofa crevice.

This was one of his hiding spots.

As for the others?

Those were secrets.

You'll have to pay more to find out.

That evening, after An Xiaonuan fell asleep, Chen Sheng went to the study, opened his computer, and logged into the International Financial Trading Platform. He transferred the twenty thousand he had accumulated over the past few days into the platform and used it all to buy Gold Futures.

The auction platform had verbally promised that the funds would be transferred to the designated account within three working days. However, the gold market price changed daily. If the platform delayed until the third day, he would earn two days less.

He first used his current cash to buy Gold Futures. Although it wasn't much, as the saying goes, even a fly's leg is meat.

But...

"Sigh... if only I could use leverage."

Thinking that even a minimum of two times leverage could double his profits, Chen Sheng opened his browser and quickly typed a line into the search interface: "How to obtain leverage."

Key point: Obtain, not apply.

Applying required strict risk capital, with leverage ratios approved based on that capital. Obtaining, however, had many ways. The simplest was to find a third-party company for allocation or a guarantee, commonly known as a financial brokerage.

Brokerages themselves had leverage permissions. They would temporarily lend these permissions to individuals, charging high trading commissions and service fees.

How high? Over 10% was standard practice, perfectly demonstrating what an "intermediary" was.

At the same time, they held the right to monitor trading accounts. When an account hit a risk red line, they had the right to perform operations such as forced liquidation.

Seeing this, Chen Sheng somewhat listlessly abandoned the idea of finding a brokerage. Instead of looking for a blood-sucking intermediary, it was better to honestly accumulate initial capital and then apply for personal leverage through formal channels.

Life is only a few decades long; why be in such a hurry?

Anyway, with the system in hand, he could unceremoniously say, "Whether I strike it rich early or late, I'm bound to strike it rich sooner or later."

The next day arrived.

Whether it was the persistent heat, her pregnancy, or perhaps Chen Sheng's recent stellar performance easing the urgency hidden in her heart, An Xiaonuan actually slept in today.

Company policy required clocking in before 8:30 AM. Even though Chen Sheng rushed today, it was nearly 9:00 AM by the time the car reached the company building. To this, Chen Sheng quickly cleared himself of any blame, saying, "I called you several times this morning. You can't blame me at all for the company docking your attendance bonus."

"I didn't say I blamed you." An Xiaonuan shot Chen Sheng a disdainful look. "Is this dog of a man getting cocky, or does he think I can't swing a blade anymore?"

Seeing An Xiaonuan being so reasonable, Chen Sheng quickly added, "And if the Old Witch gives you trouble, you can't blame that on me either."

...