Chapter 7: A Heroic Act
With nothing to do, Chen Su opened his phone and started scrolling through short videos.
Hmm, not bad, the girls in the videos were actually quite pretty.
He wasn't like Ah Ming and his father; they were both big spenders.
He, on the other hand, was a free-loader.
If he could get it for free, he definitely wouldn't spend a dime.
Mainly because he used to be "truly poor," with hardly any pocket money to his name.
How could he afford to send gifts? If he did, he'd have to live on thin air.
As long as he didn't spend money, he'd never lose out.
Chen Su was scrolling happily.
Suddenly, the fishing rod beside him jerked violently.
"Strange, I didn't even put on any bait. How could some stupid fish bite the hook?"
He gave it a hard tug, and a carp weighing about a pound leaped straight out of the water.
"It really is a case of 'the fish that is willing takes the bait.'"
It seemed fishing wasn't as hard as people on the internet made it out to be.
All that talk about "going home empty-handed" was probably an exaggeration.
Putting the carp into the bucket beside him, Chen Su cast his hook back into the water.
He picked up his phone and continued scrolling through short videos.
Time drifted by until it was four-thirty.
"It's on! It's on! It must be a big one!"
About fifty meters to Chen Su's left, an old man shouted excitedly.
It seemed this was Old Man Wang, who was about to be dragged into the water by a fish.
A middle-aged man to Old Man Wang's left saw the commotion and hurried over to watch.
"Hey, this fish has some real kick! It's got plenty of strength; it's at least twenty pounds."
Old Man Wang's fishing rod was being pulled left and right by the fish.
Just as he was about to exert force to reel it in, his foot suddenly slipped.
With a splash, he fell into the water.
The big fish in the water, no longer restrained, surged toward the center of the lake.
"Help! Help!"
Old Man Wang panicked. Although he was a decent swimmer, he was currently gripping the fishing rod tightly and being dragged along by the big fish.
He choked on several mouthfuls of water, and his vision grew hazy.
The middle-aged bystander was also panicking, hesitating whether or not to jump in and save him.
"Hurry up and let go of the rod!" Chen Su shouted at Old Man Wang, who had already been dragged over a dozen meters.
Old Man Wang was clearly unwilling to let go, and it wasn't until he had been dragged another thirty meters that he finally released his grip.
By now, he was exhausted and disoriented; there was no way he could swim back.
His cries for help grew increasingly faint.
Seeing this, Chen Su quickly stripped off his shirt and jumped directly into the lake.
After swimming for a while, he finally reached Old Man Wang's side.
Panic-stricken, Old Man Wang felt someone grab him.
He clung desperately to Chen Su's arm, and even wrapped his legs tightly around Chen Su's waist.
"Holy crap, old man, don't make things difficult! If you do this, how am I supposed to swim back?"
Chen Su shouted.
At this moment, Old Man Wang was like a drowning man clutching at a straw; he couldn't take in a word Chen Su said.
Seeing the situation, Chen Su raised his other hand and delivered several heavy slaps to Old Man Wang.
"If you don't want to die, let go of me!"
The sudden slaps snapped Old Man Wang back to his senses, and he obediently released his legs from around Chen Su's waist.
Chen Su turned around, grabbing Old Man Wang by the collar with one hand while swimming toward the shore.
Upon reaching the shore, Chen Su lay on the ground exhausted, gasping for air.
Old Man Wang had completely passed out from choking on the water.
The middle-aged man nearby quickly began performing CPR on Old Man Wang.
"Damn, that really was a bit dangerous. I almost kicked the bucket here."
Chen Su felt a lingering fear.
After the middle-aged man pressed for a while, Old Man Wang finally retched and spat out a mouthful of water... A short while later, the ambulance arrived.
Chen Su had dialed 120 before jumping into the water.
After the paramedics loaded Old Man Wang onto the ambulance, they asked Chen Su if he needed to go to the hospital for a check-up.
Chen Su shook his head and refused.
He picked up his fish bucket, packed up his rod, and turned to leave.
After returning home, Chen Su took a shower, feeling more and more lingering fear the more he thought about it.
It seemed he would have to be more cautious in the future when the system provided information about danger.
Fortunately, he had saved Old Man Wang's life.
He briefly prepared the fish he had "caught" that afternoon.
Chen Su made a pot of fish soup, and dinner was settled just like that.
He tapped on his phone.
A notification from Maple City Headlines popped up.
[Breaking News!! Tiansheng Group's General Manager Suspected of Being Caught Cheating.]
Below it were several pixelated images.
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Chen Su opened them and saw that these were the very photos he had sent to Zhang Lili.
It seemed the two of them had failed to reach an agreement.
At this moment, the comment section was exploding.
Comments 999+
[Tiansheng Little Fangirl: Impossible! Our General Manager is so gentle and refined; there's no way he would do something like this.]
[Gongsun Changan: Gentle and refined? More like a beast in human clothing, ptooey~]
...[Sad Briefs: Men go bad when they have money, and women get money when they go bad...]
[Shangguan Xiao'er: Any brothers in the group who fix computers? A word in private, please.]
Just then, Ye Sheng's call came through.
"Suer, did you see the headlines? I had a dozen of my guys create twenty accounts each to spam the comments. We're definitely going to curse Liu Tianchuan into the ground today."
Chen Su found it a bit amusing.
"Sheng Zi, just focus on making money. Liu Tianchuan's wife is even more eager than us to see his reputation ruined."
..."By the way, that money you paid me back—did you really earn it from Liu Tianchuan's wife?"
"Really, why would I lie to you?"
"I knew while I was at the company that Liu Tianchuan and Su Wen were having an affair."
Chen Su naturally couldn't reveal the secret of his system.
"You're really something! Back in the dorm, you were always the one with the most tricks up your sleeve. Liu Tianchuan firing you was like him cutting his own jugular."
"I'll say it again: if you really can't find a job lately, just come to my place. The Vice President position is always reserved for you."
Tiansheng Group was a leading enterprise in the industry, and the blacklist order they issued against Chen Su in the company's name...
...was still very formidable within the scope of Maple City.
Most companies had more or less some business dealings with Tiansheng Group.
Naturally, they wouldn't offend Tiansheng Group for the sake of one Chen Su.
"Alright, if I can't make it, I'll come and rely on you."
"Once you're here, we brothers will work together with one heart—our combined strength can cut through gold! We'll grow big and strong, and in the future, we'll trample Prosperous Heaven, Prosperous Earth, all of them under our feet."
This phone call lasted for two hours.
Chen Su naturally couldn't go to work at Ye Sheng's place right now.
Ye Sheng's company was still small, and some of its business dealings still relied on larger corporations.
If Chen Su went there, it would definitely impact the company's development.
But Ye Sheng's unreserved support...
...still deeply moved Chen Su.
Having lived to twenty-seven, he hadn't gained much, but he had gathered this group of brothers... The post about Liu Tianchuan's cheating scandal was taken down and suppressed in less than half a day.
This was well within Chen Su's expectations.
Having worked at Tiansheng Group for many years, he knew how much power Prosperous Heaven possessed.
He checked the time; it was nearing midnight.
Chen Su sat on the sofa, and with a thought, he watched the system's refresh countdown.
00:00:59
...00:00:35
...00:00:28
...00:00:01