Zhang Xiaohua stood in front of the bathroom mirror, his eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed in confusion and agitation.
His heart was in complete disarray. Was this a dream ...?
He remembered getting struck by a car. So how was he still alive?
This was definitely not his body. How could he be so weak and frail? His previous handsome appearance had disappeared and all that remained was a plain looking pig face that stared right back at him in the mirror. The most critical hit of all was that, even though he was standing in the bathtub, he was still only around five foot four.
How was he meant to go out and meet people?
After pondering over the situation, Zhang Xiaohua came to a conclusion.
It seemed that he was reborn, and his soul had combined with this body after his death, allowing him to be reborn into this world. It was just like those online web novels, he was able to gain this body due to the death of the previous owner.
Zhang Xiaohua was absolutely over the moon and tried to recall his new body's memories.
According to the blurred memories in his mind, the unlucky guy he had just occupied was also called Zhang Xiaohua, and he was 22 years old.
But at the age of 22, he only had some high school qualifications to his name and could be considered a second-generation prodigal son whose only talent was spending extravagant amounts of money on drugs and parties. This guy was nothing but a downright idler before he died from an overdose after taking too many drugs.
His mother was just an ordinary housewife.
His father, on the other hand, was different. He had opened an entertainment company called "New Century Entertainment" when he was younger. The company had blown up since, and became one of the industries leaders.
However, this could all be considered a long gone past; since, his father had just passed away two months ago, which allowed his company to be swallowed up by the other shareholders...
Only the dregs and ashes were left, and the family's wealth had plummeted. They now only owned a handful of the assets. It was quite a tragic fall from grace!
Back in his bedroom, in order to adjust himself to his new home, Zhang Xiaohua jumped onto his computer and started to check out this world's history and recent news.
The content showed that this world was roughly the same as Earth, though there were some minor differences.
It seemed like a parallel world connected to Earth, and although the year was 2020, the technology was pretty much the same as Earth's, and even the brand names were the same.
However, the entertainment industry seemed extremely backward, especially in the country he currently resided in. The entertainment business was way below the previous Earth's standard.
The city he now lived in was called Tianjing City and had a population of over 20 million people. It was the capital of Huaxia and also a rapidly developing city.
After taking in this information, many thoughts floated around Zhang Xiaohua's head.
Since God had given him a second chance, then he would make sure to enjoy this new life to the fullest.
If the original owner of this body was a wastrel, he would turn him into a genius.
"Young Master Xiaohua, the Cao family have come to visit, and the lady of the house has called for you to come down immediately." A maid gently said from behind his door.
"Okay, I shall be down soon."
Zhang Xiaohua looked around his room and took in a deep breath before smiling. He was in love with this new life!
The room was very clean and bright, with white walls and a soft king-sized bed. There were all types of gadgets littered around the room, and a variety of flowers were placed on the balcony. A light breeze blew across the room, and its fragrance made people feel refreshed and comfortable. This room was more than a thousand times better than his previous dungeon of an apartment!
Zhang Xiaohua opened his smooth mahogany wardrobe and grabbed a pair of soft blue jeans, a simple black shirt, a blue cotton hoodie and a simple pair of black canvas shoes. When he finally finished deciding, he went into the en-suite bathroom, washed his face and tidied up his unkempt hair. He then walked out of his room after changing into his new clothes, he headed towards the staircase.
Following the stairs all the way down, Zhang Xiaohua looked carefully at his surroundings.
It wasn't difficult to tell that this was a three-story villa, it was decorated in a European style that was simple but elegant, and although it wasn't too luxurious, it definitely wasn't a place an average person could afford to live.
Zhang Xiaohua lived in the largest bedroom on the third floor while his mother lived on the second floor. Since his father's passing, his mother's bedroom had almost been converted into a Buddhist temple as she had begun to fast and recite Buddhist mantras.
Having reached the downstairs living room, Zhang Xiaohua looked around and saw a middle-aged woman who wore a black cheongsam, sitting on a sofa with a bunch of beads in her hand and a small chrysanthemum on her head. With a face full of kindness, she seemed dignified and generous. For Zhang Xiaohua, the middle-aged woman also exuded a very strong intimacy towards his soul.
"Mum!"
After looking at the middle-aged woman, Zhang Xiaohua couldn't help but silently call out. At the same time, he felt that his nose was sour, and his eyes became hot: he had almost started to cry.
In his previous life, Zhang Xiaohua didn't have any parents as he was an orphan who was all alone. Nobody would remember his death. One could say that the only thing worthwhile remembering in his previous life was the fact that he had sacrificed himself to save a child from getting hit by an oncoming car.
Past lives have past events and they aren't worth getting stuck upon, he thought as he tried to calm his emotions down.
Although he had lost his father, at least he still had his mother and for this reason, Zhang Xiaohua was already excited. He couldn't help but start regarding the middle-aged woman as his true mother.
After he wiped his moist eyes, Zhang Xiaohua blinked and looked around the rest of the room. On the opposite sofa to his mother, he saw a middle-aged man and two women.
The male was around 45 years old and wore a black suit, he was overweight, and he looked extremely ridiculous as he wore a bunch of gold chains around his neck, similar to those hoodlums who hung around dark alleys and street corners, terrorizing others.
On his left wrist was an eighteen carat, limited edition gold Rolex with diamonds encrusted along it. The man was certainly eye-catching and looked like a typical nouveau riche.
Beside the man, there were also two women, one was a similar age to the man and the other was quite young. The elder one was roughly 40 years old and still had her charm. She had a face full of makeup on, and she was dressed quite exquisitely; however, she had a look of arrogance plastered across her face as though she was higher than a mountain top.
When Zhang Xiaohua's eyes fell on the young girl's body, he couldn't help but notice her figure which caused him to blush. However, in the midst of his excitement, he noticed that the girl's eyes seemed to contain a look of anger and scorn towards him.
Zhang Xiaohua fixed his gaze and noticed that the girl wore a white skirt with a professional suit. She was about 20 years old, and her face was on the same level as her mother. Fortunately, it didn't have the same air of arrogance; instead, she looked nervous and shy. Her long slender white legs were exposed under the skirt. They were the type of legs that even women couldn't help convert, and the type that made men's imagination run wild. Even though she was currently sitting down, she couldn't hide her tall and perfect figure.
According to the old Zhang Xiaohua's memory, the man and two women were a family. The man's name was Cao Dequan, his wife's name was Cao Huahua and the daughter's name was Cao Feifei.
The Zhang family and the Cao family had always been in contact with each other, with Zhang Xiaohua's father and Cao Dequan having played together since they were small, it had been more than thirty years of friendship between the two families.
Zhang Xiaohua's father established New Century Entertainment Company in partnership with Cao Dequan. However, at that time, Zhang Xiaohua's father accounted for the majority of the company's share and owned 50 percent. As he invested the most money into the start-up of the company, he was also the legal owner and chairman. For this reason, almost everything was done by him and was in his name.
Cao Dequan's family was stumped at the time and had only taken up five percent of the shares in the business, as he couldn't gather enough cash to invest during the initial process. The other 45 percent of the shares were in the hands of investors, although he had provided the least investment and effort, he did not have any less dividends than Xiaohua's father. You could say that Zhang Xiaohua's father was extremely loyal and generous, especially to his friends...
It could even be said that the reason why Cao Dequan was able to wear gold, silver, and even support his family was all thanks to his father's effort.
However, since two years ago, the company's performance had been deteriorating, and in order to save the company, Zhang Xiaohua's father did not only work tirelessly but also borrowed money from everywhere he could. As a result, he not only owed a bunch of money but also suffered from a serious illness during that period. In the end, it was difficult to hold on and; therefore, he had directly transferred most of his shares to Cao Dequan before his death.
He gave Cao Dequan 43 percent of his shares, allowing him to gain control of 48 percent of the company, and as a way of thanking and reassuring the investors, he also gave them three percent of his remaining shares, allowing them to also have 48 percent of the company.
He gave the remaining shares, which was four percent to Zhang Xiaohua. His father then recommended Cao Dequan as the company's chairman. After all, the company was the lifelong effort of Zhang Xiaohua's father, and he did not want it to be destroyed in the hands of an outsider.
After Cao Dequan's financial backing and management, the company was back on track and at present date, the market price was at 50 billion yuan and owned many songs and stars, and was one of the top ten multi-functional entertainment companies in Huaxia.
It was a pity that two months ago, Zhang Xiaohua's father had died of illness and apart from the house, a truckload of debt, and four percent of company shares, he left almost nothing to his wife and child.
However, to Zhang Xiaohua's pleasure, it seemed that both families had already set up a marriage agreement as early as ten years ago between their children.
In other words, this beautiful girl was to be his future wife!
Remembering this, Zhang Xiaohua's excitement instantly picked up.
Imagining that, sooner or later, this Cao Feifei would meet him in the bridal chamber, Zhang Xiaohua was even more excited, so much that his blood boiled and flowed straight into his nose, almost spewing out from his nostrils.
His heart could not wait!
Check out my other book: King of Film:
Jiang Cheng a screenwriter is reincarnated to 2001, into the seventeen-year-old body of another Jiang Cheng. Clutching onto the dreams of his previous life he attempts to succeed where he previously failed. He starts from scratch, as a small-time screenwriter writing television shows and movie scripts.
Filled with dreams of becoming a generational entertainment legend and establishing an entertainment empire he takes the road to become the King of Film.
For the time being, Zhang Xiaohua cleared his head of those evil thoughts. He arranged his shirt collar, shrugged his nose, took a deep breath, and finally sat beside his mother.
Zhan Xiaohua wasn't able to notice before, but his mother's face looked dignified, although she was bitter and angry. Her face was flushed red from frustration.
Zhang Xiaohua couldn't help but turn and stare at the Cao family with indignation in his heart.
"How dare they bully my mother? Just look at those two, smiling like idiots!"
Zhang Xiaohua didn't dare to say that his life experience was rich, but he had encountered countless types of people in his previous life. This taught him how to read people's thoughts from their expressions and gestures, and also gave him the ability to distinguish between those with good intentions and those with evil intentions.
In the eyes of Zhang Xiaohua, the Cao couple were nothing but a pair of tigers, hiding their fangs with smiles.
Looking around, Zhang Xiaohua saw Cao Feifei again but found that her head had fallen deep into her chest and was about to be buried in that deep navel line. She seemed unwilling to make eye contact.
Judging from his memories, the original owner of this body should have had deep feelings for this Cao Feifei, with the two of them having been friends since childhood. There was even a marriage contract, so she shouldn't have been acting so shy.
In addition, Zhang Xiaohua couldn't understand why her face had shown a brief expression of anger and disgust when he entered the room.
Ugh! Oh well, he thought, he wasn't planning to get hung up over it.
After all, I am a new person and there are too many things I need to understand for myself. There's a lot of time to deal with such things later on, and I don't need to be in a hurry.
Before he went to his mother, Zhang Xiaohua politely asked, "Mum, were you looking for me?"
Zhang Shaofang, Zhang Xiaohua's mother, appeared to be of the same age as the Cao couple, around 40 years old.
She looked up at her son for a brief moment, before she lowered her head and gently sighed, showing her frustration.
As he saw his mother sigh and groan, Zhang Xiaohua faintly felt that things weren't going well. Sure enough, Cao Dequan said, "Xiao-Hua, today we have something to discuss with you. It could actually be said that Uncle Cao is sending you money."
"Are you sending me money?" Listening to him, Zhang Xiaohua was displeased. It seemed that his mother was being bullied by them before he had arrived, as such, he couldn't care less about etiquette. He sat down and asked, "So, what is this about money?"
"Oh, huh, huh, huh..." Cao Dequan smiled awkwardly, but his eyes didn't shy away from Zhang Xiaohua's look of disgust.
"Ah! Little Xiao, this year's profits weren't very good. However, there is a way for you to earn some more money. There will be millions to be earned, but that depends on whether you are willing."
"Could you get straight to the point please?" Zhang Xiaohua could not be bothered to hear him ramble on anymore and through Cao Dequan's sinister smile and embarrassed look filled with anger, Zhang Xiaohua had already made up his mind that this guy was evil.
"Okay!" Cao Dequan replied and no longer whirled around the topic. "I'd like you to transfer the 4% shares your father put under your name. According to the market price, the current total value of the company is 50 billion yuan, that is to say, 4% shares would be valued around 2 billion yuan. So, considering our relationship and giving face to your dad, Uncle Cao can give you 2.5 billion yuan. What do you say?"
Cao Dequan's revealed a smile and continued to add, "2.5 billion! Haha, think about all you could do with it, this is not a small number. Of course, Uncle Cao doesn't mind helping you and your mother out. After all, you also know that your father's death has left your family in a lot of debt. With this money, you and your mother can also reduce the burden on your lives, you agree with Uncle, right?"
Wow, what a son of a... thought Zhang Xiaohua, he couldn't help but smile. It turned out that this old fox wanted to completely swallow the company for himself but wasn't even willing to pay the price, he even tried to low ball him.
Hehe... You want to send me 2.5 billion, huh and does this guy think I am an idiot.
If he had said this to the former Xiao-Hua, it might have worked on that brain dead fool, but unfortunately, he was too little too late.
As for today's Zhang Xiaohua, he considered his words no different from farting noises.
Of course, in the eyes of Cao Dequan, Zhang Xiaohua had always been a waste whose only talent was living a life of debauchery and using the company dividends he had earned. Now that his father is dead, his squandering ways had to be reduced. He was offering him 2.5 billion to squander, he expected the little twerp to shed tears of joy. Was there even a reason to refuse?
Unexpectedly, when Cao Dequan was preparing himself to bring out the contract, he heard Zhang Xiaohua suddenly say: "Uncle Cao, I have a few issues that I don't understand. I wonder if I can ask you one or two questions today."
Zhang Xiaohua leaned forward and wrapped an arm over his mother's shoulder to comfort her. The other hand was holding his mother's cold hands to provide her with warmth.
Cao Dequan was shocked. In his mind, he had half-expected the boy to kiss his feet after becoming overcome with happiness.
He just offered to give him 2.5 billion yuan and this kid hadn't even smiled, instead, he was so calm, it was so strange. This was completely unlike the boy who was usually greedy for even the smallest bit of cash to squander!
However, as an elder, Cao Dequan couldn't reveal his frustration. Moreover, after all, the purpose of this visit was to get the shares from under this kid's name. Only in this way could he suppress the other shareholders in the company and then slowly take the company for himself.
He thought that he could temporarily give the boy something soft to chew on and as long as he got the shares, he didn't mind raising the price but he was not willing to go higher than 3.5 billion yuan. If that wasn't enough to satisfy the boy, then it would not be too late for him to give a harsh lesson to this widow and son.
At this thought, Cao Dequan grinned and he dressed up his face with a kind expression, "Your father and I were both old friends. Today, you called me an Uncle. So naturally, we are a family. Anything you don't understand, you can just ask and Uncle Cao will try to help."
Zhang Xiaohua snorted with a sly grin and mentally rolled his eyes with disdain. In a somewhat condescending tone, he asked, "Uncle Cao, I just want to know... When the company was in a crisis and my dad was running around outside to try and borrow money to save the company. Where were you and your 2.5 billion?"
When Cao Dequan heard that, a rush of blood flowed straight to his head and sweat immediately overflowed from his forehead. Slowly a bead of sweat slid down to the corner of his mouth, as rage also started to fill him. He actually felt that his heart became very flustered and he was actually caught off guard. He was speechless!
I haven't seen this child for a few days, so how could his personality change so much? thought Cao Dequan.
Seeing her husband's embarrassed look, the vulgar old flower beside him suddenly smirked and quickly helped Cao Dequan unravel the road, "Oh, Xiao-Hua, your father was sick at that time and didn't have time for Uncle Cao. We're not exaggerating here. If it wasn't for your Uncle Cao, then the company would have been closed a long time ago. It would never have reached the scale and achievements of today!"
Zhang Xiaohua also smiled. He was waiting for these words exactly. Then, he licked his lips and said: "As you said, I shouldn't abandon the existing shares, since the company is booming today. It shows that there is room for improvement, which means the value of my shares would increase. Even if it takes thirty or forty years to double in value, I'm willing to wait it out."
As soon as he said this he knew that the race was in full swing. Silently the old woman lowered her head, the witch no longer dared to intervene easily. At the same time, Cao Dequan took a look at her and she could not help but look away in shame, she knew she had been played.
Cao Dequan forced himself to calm down and soothe his fury, in order to achieve his goals, he was willing to let this go. He could have revenge for this later, so Cao Dequan put on a humoured face and broke into a fake laugh, "Xiao-Hua, hahaha. In fact, your aunt's meaning is this... You should think of the future, after all, when you marry Feifei, wouldn't you get all the shares back anyway? And even more? So, why not sell that 4% and gain even more later on?"
"After all, you are engaged to our daughter Feifei, so we'll be family sooner or later. Today you should transfer your shares to me first, and when I'm old, I will pass it onto you and Feifei, okay?"
"Think of it as your Uncle Cao's temporary protection, if you sell to me we will all be stronger together. It will allow us to own 51% of the company which will give us more power over those outsiders."
After he said this, Cao Dequan gently looked to Cao Feifei next to him and gently nudged her.
Cao Feifei reacted immediately and looked up at Zhang Xiaohua and gave him a forced smile. "Yeah, Xiao-Hua. No matter how much money my dad makes, it will be for us. Don't hesitate and just sell the shares to my dad as soon as possible."
Suddenly after hearing Cao Feifei's voice, Zhang Xiaohua felt his head was about to explode, frames of footage began to flash in his mind, followed by a few pieces of memory beginning to emerge.
Cao Feifei's voice was like a key, which suddenly opened up Zhang Xiaohua's memory.
After a short time, Zhang Xiaohua finally understood why the original owner of the body had committed suicide and why he felt inexplicable anger and sadness in his heart after he had absorbed the previous owner's soul. At this moment, he finally found the source. It was all because of this Cao Feifei!
Indeed, just yesterday afternoon, Cao Feifei took advantage of his mother being absent and had privately proposed to break up the engagement with Zhang Xiaohua. The reason she stated for the breakup was because of his family's situation. Cao Feifei had felt that he was no longer worthy of her and she had claimed that she liked someone else, so she-called for Zhang Xiaohua to give up on the engagement.
In order to retain the marriage contract, Zhang Xiaohua had even threatened Cao Feifei with his own death. However, Cao Feifei not only remained indifferent but also threatened to kill Zhang Xiaohua.
Therefore, Zhang Xiaohua had resolutely committed suicide which allowed his soul to take over.
Ten years of feelings were actually destroyed by greed.
The most annoying thing was that yesterday she had proposed that they should break up, but today she actually dared to come to see him. She was clearly shameless!
If he was replaced by the Zhang Xiaohua of old, in order to gain her back, maybe he would have listened to Cao Feifei and sell the shares to her father.
However, if Cao Feifei still held onto such a lucky idea now, she was just too naive.
At this point, Zhang Xiaohua could be sure that there wasn't one good seed in that family. Since that was the case, what was it in for him to be kind to them?
Zhang Xiaohua directly ignored the existence of Cao Feifei and stared at Cao Dequan with his eyes full of hatred, and sneered, "Wouldn't the first thing you do, after I transfer the shares to you, be to dissolve my marriage contract with your daughter?"
It was clear that Zhang Xiaohua's words had hit the nail on the head, he was planning to trick him into agreeing and then use this loophole out.
Cao Dequan was very surprised, he really couldn't understand how this kid suddenly became so far-sighted?
When his sentence was finished, Zhang Xiaohua was depressed. He remembered reading novels with similar situations before. He could not help but laugh at this type of story, back then and now finding this kind of thing suddenly fall upon his own lap, the taste of karma really does make people feel bad!
Since the truth had been revealed, Cao Dequan was also finally anxious and immediately tore off his false smile, with a look of contempt, he got up and pointed his fat stubby finger at Zhang Xiaohua before he sternly asked, "In a word, are you selling or not selling?"
"Not selling!" Zhang Xiaohua replied as he rejected the offer without even bothering to consider it.
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