After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future

The next morning, Lu Liang had breakfast while browsing international news.

As the old saying goes, a tender hometown can be a hero's grave, and this upscale apartment in Tokyo was a perfect illustration.

The girlfriends Lu Liang had back in China, such as Su Wanyu, Wang Chuting, and Zhang Tian'ai, all had strong individual personalities.

Among them, Li Manli was the most dependent, but she was young and lacked systematic education.

Sometimes, her dependency on Lu Liang could only be expressed through lovemaking, hugging, cuddling, and cosplaying as characters to show her love.

But Sakurada Miyuki was different. She had a mother who had been a housewife for twenty years and knew very well how to make the male head of the household feel comfortable and authoritative.

She spoke softly and acted so cautiously that even drinking a cup of water or going to the restroom had to be reported to Lu Liang first.

Not only Miyuki behaved this way, but her mother did as well.

It gave Lu Liang a sense of control, as if he had a God's perspective over them.

Last night was the same. A little pat on the behind was a cue to change positions. When Lu Liang showed signs of being tired, Miyuki would suggest riding on top.

In short, it was very comfortable, satisfying him greatly both psychologically and physically.

"Enjoy your meal, I have to go now. I won't be back tonight as I have to make a trip to Europe."

Lu Liang picked up a towel from the table and wiped the corners of his mouth. Erii quickly stood up and went to fetch Lu Liang's suitcase.

"Sir, I've washed, dried, and ironed all your clothes."

She opened the 18-inch suitcase where three sets of clothes were neatly arranged and separated by garment bags.

Each bag was labeled with a tag, with the Chinese characters written as if painted on, such as 'black POLO shirt' and 'blue washed denim jeans.'

Meanwhile, Miyuki took an iced glass from the fridge and poured some lemon water that could cleanse the mouth and freshen the breath.

"Thank you."

Lu Liang grabbed his suitcase, and the mother and daughter stood at the door, watching him leave.

Not until Lu Liang's figure had disappeared did Erii turn to ask, "Meixue, did you eat?"

"I did." Miyuki blushed and nodded, while Erii frowned and asked, "Why?"

If their daughter could bear Lu Liang a child, it would become their foundation for a secure life.

She had whispered to Miyuki the night before that if it didn't work once, try twice or three times; sooner or later, it would succeed.

Miyuki fell silent for a long while, then suddenly said, "I haven't even finished my studies, I don't want to be a mother so soon."

She hooked her arm through her mother's, pretending to be cheerful: "Sir gave us two months' salary. As long as we can pay off our debts in three years, I would have graduated by then and could find a job. I will take care of you from that point."

"But…"

Erii hesitated, but seeing the stubbornness in her daughter's eyes, she sighed, her face showing tenderness, "Thank you, Meixue. Mom is looking forward to that day."

These words were probably only partially true.

Because Erii, too, had been young once and knew what it meant for a nineteen-year-old girl to meet someone like Lu Liang, who treated her so well amidst utter despair.

She transformed her dependence on her father to Lu Liang, and through physical intimacy, she gradually developed feelings for him.

Every eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl has naive and pure thoughts, dreaming of settling down in one city, growing old with one person.

On the other hand, Lu Liang arrived at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where Xingheng Investment Company was also located in the same building.

On working days, there was a surge of people in front of the exchange.

The Nikkei 225 index, equivalent to the domestic A-share market, had recently experienced a mini bull market. The index rose from 17,982 points, climbing 2,000 points in just a few days, breaking through the 20,000-point threshold.

Wen Chao smiled and said, "Mr. Lu, stock trading is rampant here in Japan and Korea, somewhat like Xiangjiang back home."

"Tokyo is still okay, but neighboring Han City is even more fantastical. I heard they've been trading something called Bitcoin recently."

"It's a new type of virtual currency supposedly available anywhere around the globe within five minutes as long as there's internet access."

"Its price rose from over eight hundred US dollars at the beginning of the year to more than two thousand last month, then suddenly plummeted by 45% overnight."

"It's now just over a thousand."

Wen Chao's eyes revealed a trace of scorn. Although Bitcoin claimed to have a fixed total supply and private transactions to eliminate the risk of inflation and tightening due to artificial money printing,

he viewed it as no different from private lotteries concocted for scams in South Asian countries; only wrapped in a more high-end package.

"A pile of shit can sell at the price of gold as long as it's well packaged, and become sought-after by everyone."

Lu Liang squinted his eyes, although it was sarcastic, there was no hint of disdain.

[December 17, 2017, Bitcoin closing price $20,852]

After the rate hike wave from the Federal Reserve at the end of the month, he planned to enter the market for some fun, the current price being $1,450 per coin, likely soaring to over twenty thousand by year-end to harvest a profit wave.

He was just not sure whether this market could withstand it, how much capital it could accommodate, or, whether it was just a few big players entertaining themselves.

Regardless, he would at most throw in one or two hundred million dollars, Liang would not use his own money, and planned to seek sponsorship from Mitsui Sumitomo.

If he ended up trapped and became a long-term shareholder, he did not care, as it was not his own money, not painful at all.

After more than a month, Xingheng Investment Company had seen over a dozen new faces.

Liang came to Wen Chao's office and suddenly saw a pink cartoon lunch box on the desk.

It didn't seem like something a man would use; he smiled and asked, "Did your girlfriend also come to Tokyo with you?"

Liang had heard from Chen Jinchun that Wen Chao seemed single but actually had a girlfriend, who had been with him since high school for nearly a decade.

Xiao Chen, this silly girl, known as the company's gossip queen, had been deceived by online dating with Fang Shiyu daily, and Liang knew about it through her.

003, without airs, everyday like a Husky, everyone was willing to chat with her more.

"She did come, she found an internship at a law firm over on Third Street."

Wen Chao smiled naively, showing a rare shyness, then hurriedly explained, "Her firm has no business dealings with our company."

He didn't want Liang to misconstrue that he was mixing personal gains with public duties; he was a master in economics from Fudan, and his girlfriend had a master's in law from Shanghai Jiaotong.

With slightly lowered standards, finding an intern position at a Tokyo law firm was relatively easy.

Actually, she didn't need to work as since being dispatched to Tokyo by Liang, his salary had directly jumped three levels.

With properties under Boss Lu's name, there was nothing to complain about the employee benefits, especially since he was an expatriate.

His annual salary had skyrocketed from four hundred thousand RMB to five hundred thousand US Dollars, with housing and a car provided by the company.

His girlfriend didn't need to work, but she couldn't just sit idle, specifically helping Chinese and Chinese-Americans with their legal cases.

Liang chuckled lightly, a look of appreciation on his face: "How many years have you been together, when do you plan to get married?"

He didn't care, but Wen Chao's candid attitude pleased him very much.

"Almost ten years now, haven't thought about getting married any time soon."

They had confirmed their relationship in their second year of high school, spent four years in university, two and a half years for their master's degrees, and had been working for nearly two years now.

Wen Chao was momentarily dazed; if Boss Lu hadn't asked, he might have not even felt it, ten years in the blink of an eye.

Liang reflected: "There aren't many decades in a lifetime, you've also been with her for so long, perhaps it's time to consider it."

A strange look flickered in Wen Chao's eyes; he had also been Liang's secretary for over a year and knew Boss Lu had a few too many romances.

"Cherish a good partner when you meet one, don't wait until you lose them to regret it desperately."

Liang just smiled, not explaining too much.

He hadn't met the right person at the right time, so he didn't believe in love, but he believed it existed.

Just like when Liu Mingxuan got married, Liang didn't believe he could be happy after marriage, but still wished him happiness.

Always hoping for wonderful things to happen, even knowing they might never come to him.

Wen Chao was silent for a long while, sincerely saying, "Thank you for the advice, Mr. Lu, I will consider it deeply."

Boss Lu truly was a man with many stories, this conversation also letting him know that people are complex, multifaceted beings, not just black and white.

"Just chatting, not a command, life's big decisions still rely on one's subjective judgment."

Liang said smilingly, "If in the end you end up like me, I'll just take you to New Field Exclave to unwind, and find you a favorite female teacher to soothe your wounded soul."

Wen Chao was speechless, but smiled: "Yamakasi Aika seems quite popular recently, known as the 'dark world's little overlord.'"

As a considerate subordinate, one might not approve of the boss's personal interests, but couldn't afford not to accommodate them.

Especially when the boss was joking, he couldn't just not play along.

"A newcomer? I haven't watched in a long time."

"Probably is."

While they were talking, the assistant knocked on the door,

informing them that Ota Ling had arrived and was waiting in the reception room.