17: Chapter 17 The Bet

Three hours later, Chen Xin had already appeared in Wang Shuo's hospital room.

Wang Shuo had just finished his lunch and was preparing to close his eyes and continue his advanced studies; he needed to seize every moment to come up with some technology that wasn't too difficult to understand.

He had just realized one thing: if he really came up with technology that was a thousand years ahead of current society, he would probably be mistaken for a lunatic and sent to a mental hospital!

After all, everyone knows that those who indulge in wild fantasies are either geniuses or madmen, and if one is too far ahead, then they are definitely a madman.

Chen Xin's arrival didn't surprise him much, but the problem was that Chen Xin hadn't come alone.

Trailing behind her were two underlings who clearly belonged to the white-collar class, following Chen Xin into the hospital room step for step.

"Let's begin."

Chen Xin gave the order, then sat on the sofa to the side, picked up her book, and began reading as if no one else was around, fully embodying the demeanor of a female bandit... or rather, a strong woman.

Wang Shuo watched and clicked his tongue in admiration; as expected of a wealthy heiress, this aura... this temperament... it made Wang Shuo instantly want to be kept, you know?

But what did she just say? Let's begin? Begin what?

Just as Wang Shuo was full of questions, he saw a white-collar worker in a black suit walk up to his bed and extend a hand toward him.

"Hello, Mr. Wang Shuo."

Wang Shuo wasn't sure what this meant, but he still extended his hand and gave a light shake.

"Hello."

"Let me introduce myself first. I am the full-time legal counsel for Zhongzhi Pengcheng Technology Co., Ltd. My surname is Liu, and my given name is Yan. You may call me Consultant Liu or Lawyer Liu."

The female white-collar worker revealed a serious smile.

Wang Shuo looked blankly at Chen Xin, who was intently reading, then at the smiling Consultant Liu in front of him, not understanding what kind of performance this was.

"I am here today commissioned by the company to specifically communicate with you regarding the cooperation matters between both parties." Liu Yan pulled a stack of documents from her briefcase and handed them to Wang Shuo: "This is your contract. Please read it carefully; if you have no other objections, you may sign it."

As she spoke, she handed Wang Shuo an exquisite ballpoint pen.

Wang Shuo blankly took the contract and the pen, opening it with a bewildered expression.

"What... the hell is this? Zhongzhi Pengcheng Technology Co., Ltd.? Frontier Technology Co., Ltd.? The legal representative is... me?"

Wang Shuo was instantly dumbfounded. When did he have a company? How did he not know? And when did he bring business to the company? How did he not know about that?

"Chen Xin, what is going on here?"

Wang Shuo even forgot the nickname he had given Miss Chen.

Chen Xin looked up, glanced at Wang Shuo, and said indifferently, "You told me yourself that you wanted to open a company."

Wang Shuo's eyes widened instantly, and he looked at Chen Xin in disbelief, "I said I wanted to open a company, so you went behind my back and opened one in my name?"

"Well... I can understand the company thing. Even though it was opened a bit early, it's fine to register it and leave it there... but this!" Wang Shuo pointed at the contract: "What about this contract?"

"It's nothing." Chen Xin said indifferently: "Our company happened to have a project, and since I saw that your expertise matched, I recommended you to the company. As for the contract... that was the company's own decision, and it has nothing to do with me."

It would be strange if it had nothing to do with you!

Wang Shuo rolled his eyes. A woman's mouth is a lying ghost, especially a beautiful woman's mouth. He forced himself to continue reading...

"Party A and Party B agree that Party B shall organize personnel to participate in the system architecture project organized and developed by Party A... If the development is successful, the remuneration shall be allocated according to the degree of contribution..."

"...But regardless of the outcome, Party A shall pay Party B 1,000,000 yuan in advance..." The zeros that followed made Wang Shuo a little dizzy, "...as initial startup capital. If the project fails, Party A shall not demand a refund from Party B on the grounds of project failure... Subsequent funds will be settled in installments according to the progress of the project..."

"This is..." Wang Shuo looked at the legal counsel in front of him in disbelief and couldn't help but ask: "Are you sure?"

"The contract was drafted and reviewed by the company, so of course there is no problem." Consultant Liu Yan replied with a smile: "Mr. Wang Shuo, if you have any other clauses, you can bring them up. We will consider them, and we can further negotiate any areas where both parties have differences."

Wang Shuo shook his head.

It wasn't that he had objections to the contract, but rather that this contract... was too favorable to him, to the point of sparing no cost. He even suspected whether he was the favored son of this company.

"If Mr. Wang Shuo has no changes to make, then please sign here... here... here... and here. Once you have finished signing, this contract will immediately be established and legally binding."

Wang Shuo still shook his head.

"Mr. Wang Shuo, do you have any other concerns?"

It must be said that Liu Yan was indeed very professional.

"I cannot sign this contract." Wang Shuo turned his head to look at Chen Xin, who was keeping her head down: "I don't know what all this is about, but I cannot sign this contract. I'm not stupid; I can tell whether a contract is good or bad. This contract is clearly just here to hand me money!"

Wang Shuo was a little angry.

"Miss Chen, are you pitying me? Are you looking down on me? Are you... afraid that I won't be able to pay back your 460,000?"

"I can tell you clearly, Miss Chen!"

"I..."

"I know." Chen Xin closed the book and looked at him indifferently.

Wang Shuo's words were stuck in his throat.

"Then don't sign it. Put the contract away."

Lawyer Liu Yan smiled slightly, took the contract from Wang Shuo's hand, and skillfully packed it away.

This... Wang Shuo was dumbfounded. How was this different from what he had imagined?

What happened to the script? What happened to being the favored son? What happened to it being a must-sign?

Why aren't you, Miss Chen, playing by the rules?

...

Wang Shuo ultimately chose to sign the contract.

It wasn't for anything else, but he was really short on money, and after reading the contract carefully... wasn't this just a job for a coder?

Look, you get money immediately for participating in a system architecture project organized by Party A. Wouldn't it be a sign of a brain problem not to sign this contract? Hmm... not being proactive about making money is a sign of a brain problem.

"Since the contract has been signed, I will not disturb you any further." Liu Yan smiled slightly, "Miss Chen, Mr. Wang Shuo, please chat. My assistant and I will head back to the company first."

As soon as Liu Yan and her assistant left, the room fell into a brief silence again.

"Miss Chen, may I ask if you have been provoked by something?" Wang Shuo was a bit confused. This contract looked completely unfavorable to Party A no matter how one looked at it. According to the contract's provisions, Party B, oh, which was Wang Shuo himself, could completely just participate without doing any work, and even if he couldn't produce anything, he would still get paid.

"Are you trying to attract my attention this way, make me interested in you, and then take me down?"

The more he thought about it, the more Wang Shuo felt he was right. Besides coveting his body, he couldn't think of any reason that would make Chen Xin go to such lengths?

Hero saving the beauty? Come on, this is reality. Do you think you're in a TV show, where one act of a hero saving a beauty can capture her heart? Are you kidding me?

Moreover, the most experienced hunters often appear in the guise of prey.

Wang Shuo looked at Chen Xin with some vigilance. If she really came on strong, should he submit or should he submit?

"Don't you think you have a few too many questions today?" Chen Xin focused on her book without looking up: "If you have time, go take a look at the materials I gave you."

Something is wrong, really wrong.

Wang Shuo stared intently at Chen Xin. The enhancement of his brain had made his senses much sharper. He noticed that although Chen Xin's eyes were fixed on the book, their focus was clearly scattered; her attention was obviously not on the book. Moreover, he seemed to see a flash of loneliness in those unfocused eyes.

This girl is in trouble?

Wang Shuo then looked at the materials placed to the side. Two large, thick document bags were carefully sealed, and the words "Do Not Distribute" were written on the outside. These were clearly very confidential materials, but Chen Xin had boldly and confidently left them here.

Thinking back and forth, Wang Shuo pieced together the events of the past few days in his mind. Ever since his brain was enhanced, he felt he had this ability to deduce; it was a very magical feeling, as if a layer of gauze had covered his view of the world before, but now it had suddenly become clear and bright.

Recalling things one by one, from his first meeting with Chen Xin, Chen Xin's appearance after he was hospitalized, Chen Xin's expression and attitude when she talked to him, to the appearance of the contract, the inexplicable contract clauses, and the heavy confidential materials—in all of this, the contract was fine, the clauses were fine, he was fine, there were no problems...

Then the one with the problem could only be Chen Xin.

It seemed this was a very troublesome matter. For something that even a young lady from a wealthy family found tricky, it was better for him to keep his eyes on his nose and his heart on his heart and not get involved.

But if he didn't ask, what about this one million? Wang Shuo was a bit conflicted.

If he gave it up, he couldn't bear to; if he took it, having done nothing, it seemed like his conscience would be uneasy.

He really wasn't cut out to be a bad guy.

Wang Shuo let out a breath.

"Miss Chen, tell me, what is something I can do?"

"What?"

Chen Xin looked up with a hint of confusion.

"You know." Wang Shuo spread his hands: "Say it, so I can take this money with peace of mind, otherwise I'm afraid it will burn my hands."

"You just need to fulfill the contract; you don't need to worry about other things."

Chen Xin said indifferently and lowered her head again, appearing as if she didn't intend to pay any more attention to Wang Shuo. Establishing the company for Wang Shuo and signing the contract with him were just her spur-of-the-moment means of resistance; this didn't mean she thought Wang Shuo was qualified to be involved in this matter.

In fact, if it weren't for Wang Shuo waking her up from being immersed in sorrow, and him also just happening to be a student at Huazhong University, she wouldn't even have signed this contract with him.

"That's not how you put it, Miss Chen." Wang Shuo pointed to the materials and the contract on the side and said: "We are partners now, and I have work to do. If I don't even understand the basic situation and background of the work, how can I carry it out?"

"Who needs you to carry out work?" Chen Xin frowned.

"The contract stipulates it."

Wang Shuo said it as a matter of course.

"The contract stipulates that you will get one million whether you do it or not."

"That is not my goal! I want to take a share!"

Wang Shuo said loftily.

"A share?" Chen Xin frowned slightly. If a share were that easy to get, would she need to be here signing a contract with a college student? Wouldn't it be better to just find a few people to get the thing done?

Wang Shuo struck while the iron was hot: "Not being proactive about making money is a sign of a brain problem. If I don't take advantage of having work to make more money, what will I do if my company goes bankrupt later? Miss Chen, if you don't believe I can get a share, let's make a bet. I bet I will definitely get a share."

Chen Xin seemed to be amused to the point of anger, but the education she had received for years did not allow her to get angry, so she just said indifferently: "You haven't even looked at the materials, on what basis do you think you will definitely be able to get a share?"

Wang Shuo pointed to his head, exceptionally confident.

Forget it, it's hard to save a damned ghost with kind words.

"Then let it be so." Chen Xin said indifferently: "This is what you requested yourself. If you can achieve some results in this project, you will be able to get a share."

Chen Xin paused for a moment.

"The premise is that the entire project is completed."

"If the project cannot be completed, then you lose. Not only will you not get a share, but you won't even get that one million."

"No problem." Wang Shuo nodded confidently. With his coding level, just messing around a bit to pass the time, wouldn't getting a share be easy?

"If I win, then what?"

Win? Chen Xin really couldn't understand where Wang Shuo's confidence came from, and said indifferently: "If you win, I will grant you one request."

"I will send the materials to your email later. You have fifteen days to complete this project." Chen Xin gave Wang Shuo a deep look; not wanting to get entangled with Wang Shuo any further, she said her last sentence: "I look forward to you getting that share."

Watching Chen Xin walk out of the hospital room door, Wang Shuo was feeling smug when he suddenly remembered something.

"Hey, you haven't told me the project team's phone number yet! How am I supposed to join the team!"