Chapter 1: Back to the Past

  "Get lost, you stinker! Scram!"

  "Give me back my money, please! This is Xiao Hao's tuition for this year! Please!"

  A loud quarrel outside suddenly woke up Zhou Hao, who was still dazed. The first thing he saw was a somewhat damp and moldy ceiling, which looked surprisingly familiar.

  Zhou Hao suddenly sat up in bed, deeply furrowing his brow - wasn't he supposed to be dead?

  Huang Wankuo's ferocious face and Zeng Ying's ruthless eyes are still vivid in my mind, and a deep-seated hatred and resentment immediately arose in my heart.

  Zhou Haoran looked around and found himself in a small room of less than ten square meters. On one side of the room were some miscellaneous items, on the other side was a simple wooden bed, and an old desk with a row of textbooks and reference books neatly arranged on it.

  "Isn't this my room?" Looking around at the familiar yet strange scenery, Zhou Hao felt dizzy.

  At this time, the calendar on the wall caught Zhou Hao's eye.

  "October 9th, 1996!?" The date on the calendar made Zhou Hao jump up, "How is this possible, did I really reincarnate?" He pinched his face hard and only confirmed he wasn't dreaming after feeling a sharp pain.

  After calming down, Zhou Hao became more and more excited. Because he majored in Economics and Management at university, he had analyzed the financial markets of China and the world, and his graduation thesis was "The Trend and Causes of China's and World Financial Stock Markets over the Past Fifteen Years". Therefore, Zhou Hao was very familiar with the development of China's and global stock markets over the past fifteen years.

  Zhou Hao often thought to himself while doing his graduation project and in-depth research on those stocks with large fluctuations, "If I could go back to the past and invest in these stocks, it would be extremely easy to become a billionaire." However, he never expected that this would actually come true! Moreover, 1996 was a year of great significance in China's emerging securities market, which had only been developing for six years. That year, inflation disappeared, bank interest rates decreased, and from March onwards, the stock market began a large upward trend, with the whole year basically showing a unilateral upward trend, until the crazy surge at the end of the year. The management's "Twelve Golden Rules" were unable to hold back this raging bull market, until an article by a special commentator in the People's Daily appeared, which finally held back the raging bull, and the market saw two consecutive limit-down days, with investors regaining their rationality.

  As long as he has capital, Zhou Hao will have absolute confidence in accumulating his first pot of gold within this year.

  "Huang Wankuo, Zeng Ying, you two wait for me, I'll go find you!" Just thinking of Huang Wankuo and Zeng Ying, this pair of shameless people, Zhou Hao's face twisted into a scowl.

  Zhou Hao knew that the "Huangshi Group" was already a fairly large real estate company in 1996, and he had to accumulate enough strength to deal with Huang Wankou. At this time, he should still be in his second year of junior high school. Thinking of this, Zhou Hao got out of bed and came to the desk, where he saw a first semester language textbook for the second year of junior high school on the desk, which confirmed his thoughts.

  At this time, a sound of breaking glass came from outside, accompanied by a mournful cry, "Don't go, don't take this money away! Please, this is Xiao Hao's tuition!"

  Then came a rough man's voice, "Stinky cunt, don't get in the way of my making money! When I win back my money, this tuition is nothing!"

  Upon hearing these two voices, Zhou Hao's whole body trembled, because the voices were too familiar yet too strange to him - they were his own parents!

  Mother Yan Tong is a miserable woman, who was deceived by her father Zhou Li Ren when she was young and got pregnant. She had no choice but to marry him. However, Father Zhou is a gambler, initially doing some small business to barely make ends meet, later losing all the family's money and constantly asking Mother for more, beating her if she refused. As for Zhou Hao, he didn't fulfill his responsibilities as a father either, ignoring his life and studies. Poor Mother works as a sanitation worker during the day and washes dishes at a restaurant at night, barely maintaining the family's livelihood, already having gray hair before turning 40.

  It can be said that Zhou Hao's growth into a capable adult was all thanks to his mother, Yan Tong. Therefore, Zhou Hao had always been diligent in his studies, vowing to make a name for himself and take good care of his mother in the future. However, during his sophomore year in college, his mother passed away due to liver cancer caused by overwork.

  When children want to support their parents but are unable to do so, there is no greater sorrow in life than this.

  As soon as Zhou Hao thought of his mother's kind and hardworking face, he felt a pang in his heart. He hastily opened the door and rushed into the hall, only to see that it was filled with shattered teacups and teapots. His mother was kneeling on the floor beside the dinner table, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed, but his father Zhou Liren was nowhere to be seen.

  When he saw his mother's long-lost face, Zhou Hao finally confirmed that he had indeed been reborn. The scalding tears also burst forth with this deep and emotional cry of "Mom".

  When she saw Zhou Hao appear beside her, Yan Tong hurriedly wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes and forced a smile: "Xiao Hao, how did you come out? Your cold has just gotten better, you need to rest more."

  "Mom!" Zhou Hao could no longer hold back, tightly embracing Yan Tong in his arms. At this time, the fourteen-year-old was already over 1.6 meters tall, a bit taller than Yan Tong. However, to Zhou Hao, it had been far too long since he had felt the warmth of his mother's embrace.

  Yan Tong looked at her tear-stained son, thinking that she couldn't give him a good life and that her husband was also not doing well. For a moment, her heart was filled with sorrow. However, in front of her son, she still appeared strong, gently stroking his back and softly saying: "It's okay, Xiao Hao won't cry anymore. Was someone bullying you? Tell Mom."

  "Mom, did he hit you again?"

  "No, it was Mom who accidentally bumped into him." Yan Tong still wanted to maintain Zhou Liren's father image in front of his son.

  But then Zhou Hao gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with hatred. "Mom, that man is not worthy of being your husband or my father. Mom, why don't you just divorce him? That way he won't keep asking you for money and hitting you."

  "How can you say that about him? He's your dad after all." Yan Tong gave Zhou Hao a reproachful look.

  Zhou Hao sighed in his heart, although his father was not a good man, but his mother was a very traditional woman, who had always adhered to the way of women and maintained her identity as Mrs. Zhou until she passed away due to illness. Zhou Hao also knew that he couldn't persuade his mother for the time being, so he could only temporarily give up. Thinking that he had been reborn and had a second chance at life, Zhou Hao firmly said to Yan Tong: "Mom, don't worry, I won't let you suffer again, I will make sure you live a good life!"

  Yan Tong didn't know the reason and thought Zhou Hao was just comforting himself, but he was also very moved in his heart.

  Then the mother and son cleaned up the mess in the living room together. At this time, Yan Tong said again: "However, Xiaohao's tuition was taken away by him, and there is no extra money at home, what should we do?"

  Zhou Hao also felt very worried when he heard this, and it was indeed a problem. Although he was clear about the future stock market trend, he still needed capital to invest. However, his family's current situation was such that they could barely make ends meet for this month.

  "If all else fails, let's go borrow from Uncle's house first." Zhou Hao said in a low voice.

  After hearing Zhou Hao's words, Yan Tong showed a difficult expression. Zhou Hao also knew what his mother was having trouble with. His uncle was in the hardware building materials business and had already made hundreds of millions of dollars, making him one of the richest families in Zhou Hao's village. However, his uncle's family was very snobbish and had always looked down on Zhou Hao's family, so after Zhou Hao graduated and became independent, he never went to visit them again.

  "And besides, we haven't even paid back what we borrowed before." Yan Tong sighed.

  "Mom, this time I'm going with you, and this is our last time borrowing money from them."

  Looking at Zhou Hao's resolute expression, Yan Tong couldn't help but sigh inwardly. She didn't mind being looked down upon herself, but she didn't want her son to be looked down upon by others.

  Suddenly, Yan Tong noticed that Zhou Hao was a bit different from usual. "Little Hao, Mom feels like you've changed?"

  Zhou Hao was shocked by the words, "Changed? What changed?"

  "It's gotten mature." Yan Tong smiled slightly, and the deep wrinkles squeezed out by the heavy life also relaxed.

  "How can I be smaller than Mom's son?" Zhou Hao smiled and said.

  Then, Yan Tong went to prepare dinner, while Zhou Hao came to the balcony and looked at the bustling streets below.

  This is a city called Xiangcheng in Guangdong, adjacent to the provincial capital Guangzhou, but not as prosperous as Guangzhou. Zhou Hao also went to Shanghai when he was in college and worked there, where he ended his young life.

  Zhou Hai's family originally lived in Zhoujia Village, but Yan Tong moved to the city for Zhou Hai to study in a better school, and after much effort, they finally moved into this small unit of just over 30 square meters.

  Looking down at the bustling streets, Zhou Hao was immersed in his own memories. He knew that Xiangcheng would develop rapidly in the next few years, and he had a clear understanding of its development trend.

  Maybe I can take advantage of this spring breeze and accumulate capital properly.

  Just as Zhou Hao was still immersed in his own development plans, the door next to him suddenly rang. Zhou Hao was slightly startled and then opened the door, thinking "Who could it be at this time?"

  Then, Zhou Hao saw a girl with a clear and beautiful appearance standing at the door. She had short hair and was wearing a white T-shirt and yellow shorts. The girl seemed to be around 14 or 15 years old, just like Zhou Hao, and looked very lovely. Her big eyes sparkled like jewels, but her eyebrows and eyes still looked quite immature.

  He stared at the girl, Zhou Hao was stunned, and he couldn't say a word.

  "Zhou Hao, what's wrong with you? You're acting strange." The girl's voice was pleasant to listen to, clear and crisp like jade beads falling onto a plate.

  Zhou Hao is not unfamiliar with this girl, on the contrary, she holds a very important position in Zhou Hao's heart.

  Her name is Wang Xijun, she lives with her mother and younger brother opposite to Zhou Hao, growing up together with Zhou Hao, can be considered as childhood sweethearts. At this time, she has not yet shown her edge, but Zhou Hao knows that when she grows up, she will become stunningly beautiful, even Yan Ying cannot compare to her.

  However, she got married in Hong Kong at the age of 19.

  The night before she left, she came to find Zhou Hao, and with a sorrowful expression, she revealed that she had actually liked Zhou Hao all along. However, Zhou Hao was under heavy pressure from life and also had to take care of his studies, so he never expressed anything to her either. It wasn't until she poured out her heart that Zhou Hao was enveloped in immense sadness, but by then everything was too late.

  Years later, Zhou Hao still regretted and resented himself for not paying more attention to Wang Xijun at the time, perhaps the outcome would have been different.

  Now seeing Wang Xijun's still tender face, Zhou Hao was extremely excited in his heart, and he barely suppressed it from showing on his face, instead smiling and asking: "How did you come here?"

  "No, I just heard it was very noisy at your house." Wang Xijun said: "Are you okay?"

  Zhou Hao shook his head and felt Wang Xijun's concern for him. He couldn't help but reach out and touch her round face, "Thank you."

  Zhou Hao's sudden action left Wang Xijun at a loss, her face also flushed red, stuttering: "No, no need." After speaking, she turned around and ran back to her own home in a panic.

  Looking deeply at Wang Xijun's back, Zhou Hao said in his heart: "This time, I won't let you go again."