Chapter 43: You Have to Give to Get, and Fame Soars!

Inside the general manager's office at the Prosperity and Wealth Grand Hotel.

Chang Fuyou looked quite surprised that Huo Qitai would seek him out at a moment like this to discuss such a matter.

Narrowing his eyes, he looked at Huo Qitai with immense admiration and deliberately asked, "You want to hand over thirty percent of the ticket revenue to the local kingpins in those counties and cities? I hardly think that's necessary! That is by no means a small sum. If we match the configuration we used in Jian'an City, across three sessions, the ticket revenue will approach one and a half million. You'll be giving away four to five hundred thousand!"

As if afraid that Huo Qitai did not realize just how much money was at stake, Chang Fuyou pointed it out explicitly.

"You have to give something to gain something! What I'm giving away is four or five hundred thousand, but each county and city can bring in nearly a million in revenue."

Huo Qitai knew this was Uncle Chang testing him, as he had experienced these tests more than once in his past life.

"Well said—you have to give to gain. Little Tai, it seems I can no longer treat you like a child. It is truly rare that, having suddenly received your Peking University admission today alongside such massive wealth, you can still maintain such calm and rational thinking. You haven't let it go to your head, unlike some people who make a few tens of thousands and think they're so extraordinary that their tails stick straight up into the sky."

Nodding slightly, Chang Fuyou did not offer too much explanation, but simply agreed: "I'll handle the local kingpins in the other counties and cities for you. Still, offering them thirty percent is giving those punks far too much credit; ten to fifteen percent of the ticket revenue per county is the absolute maximum. If you're certain about this, once those news reports hit print and broadcast tomorrow, I'll go and negotiate it myself."

"That's wonderful. I leave all of this in Uncle Chang's capable hands."

After chatting for a few more moments, Huo Qitai left the Prosperity and Wealth Grand Hotel, hailed a taxi, and headed back to his family home in the village. After all, his parents had just made urgent phone calls directly to Chang Fuyou's general manager's office.

Seeing this, Xue Xiaoshan shamelessly followed him into the cab to return with him. Come to think of it, ever since the start of their senior year in high school, they hadn't been back to their hometown in the town for nearly half a year.

Along the way, Huo Qitai recounted to Xue Xiaoshan the matters he had just entrusted to Chang Fuyou.

"What? You're still going to split the money with those punks? Why on earth should you? Brother Tai, to say nothing else, just with your status as a Peking University student and all those news reports, those thugs wouldn't dare come and cause trouble."

Hearing that hard-earned cash was going to be distributed to outsiders, Xue Xiaoshan instantly grew upset. He understood the logic, of course—when making money on someone else's turf, harmony was paramount, and everyone should make money together. However, Xue Xiaoshan believed that with Huo Qitai carrying such immense prestige and a glowing aura, students and parents in the surrounding counties and cities would probably be begging him to hold lectures, making any cooperation with local thugs entirely unnecessary.

"Xiaoshan, we are still too young, and our foundation is too shallow. What we've earned right now is merely a bit of fame and a tiny bit of startup capital. Remember, whatever can be solved with money does not require invoking personal favors, and we certainly must not invite unnecessary trouble over a sum like this. The money in this world can never be earned by just one person alone. When you are making money with explosive, exhilarating speed, there will inevitably be countless people around you whose eyes turn green with envy. These people might not be able to accomplish anything great, but they are certainly more than capable of ruining our endeavors..."

In truth, these principles were hard-earned lessons written in blood and tears that Huo Qitai had summarized step-by-step after experiencing several business failures in his past life.

Listening to this, Xue Xiaoshan fell into deep thought. But after all, these were merely dry principles, and lacking firsthand experience of failure, his comprehension was still not profound enough.

Still, there was one thing that particularly puzzled Xue Xiaoshan, and he pressed Huo Qitai: "Brother Tai! You just talked about giving to gain. But why are you willing to give a thirty percent cut to the punks in other counties and cities, yet you're so stingy when it comes to Uncle Chang? You only paid for the rental of the hotel venue! If you ask me, Uncle Chang has been so good to us that giving him half of the profits wouldn't be excessive at all. Don't forget, out of fear that your lecture might get disrupted by troublemakers, he went through the immense trouble of tracking down Top Scholar Zhang overnight just to lend weight to the event!"

From this perspective, Xue Xiaoshan felt that Huo Qitai's approach was somewhat "unfilial and ungrateful"—being so generous to complete strangers while failing to even mention Chang Fuyou.

"Xiaoshan, do you think Uncle Chang cares about a few hundred thousand?" Huo Qitai didn't answer directly, instead posing a question.

"Of course he doesn't! People outside say Uncle Chang is the richest man in our city. While that might be a slight exaggeration, he must have at least a few hundred million in assets!" Xue Xiaoshan said as a matter of course. "Whatever we've made these past few days is just a drop in the bucket to someone like him. Didn't you see the bag Chang's eldest daughter's stepmother was carrying? They say each of those costs over a hundred thousand, and the most expensive one is worth a million."

"Well, there you have it. First, Uncle Chang simply doesn't care for the petty cash we'd offer as tribute. Second, if I actually stood before him and proposed giving him a cut of the profits, how do you think he would react?"

"I figure Uncle Chang would definitely refuse, and then... how on earth should I know what he'd think?" Xue Xiaoshan lapsed into contemplation.

Huo Qitai delivered the answer directly: "Uncle Chang would think, *Oh, this kid Huo Qitai has finally made something of himself and is now in a position to pay me a salary!* He would think, *Has this kid struck it rich and now wants to use a few hundred thousand to draw a clear line between us, buying out all the affection and goodwill accumulated over the years?* That would be the true severing of kindness and loyalty."

"Ah! When you were talking just now, I vaguely felt that way. You're right. Remember Wang Laowu from the village next to us? He used to be a punk in the village who couldn't even afford a meal, and it was thanks to his uncles and cousins chipping in to support him that he didn't starve to death. Later, didn't he go to Shenzhen to become a construction contractor and make a fortune? When he came back, he was driving a BMW and had a pretty female secretary with him. In the end, in all these dozen years, he only came back twice, handed each family five thousand yuan, and completely cut off all contact with those relatives."

Prompted by Huo Qitai's hint, Xue Xiaoshan was profoundly convinced. Suddenly, his understanding of "human relations and favors" deepened considerably.

"As for what Wang Laowu did, it's hard for me to judge. Human nature is quite complex, and there is no single approach that is absolutely correct. For people of different character, you even have to adopt completely different measures."

At this, Huo Qitai recalled how, a dozen years later, when the post-2000s generation grew into adults and entered the workplace, their utter aversion to and crackdown on various "unspoken rules" and "interpersonal favors" had reshaped society. In truth, that was also a reform and subversion of China's entire favors-based society following the elevation of material and cultural living standards.

While he was lost in thought, the taxi drove all the way through Guizong Town and finally entered Changding Village, the hometown of Huo Qitai and Xue Xiaoshan.

Yet just as they reached the entrance of the village, firecrackers began to crackle and pop deafeningly, and several celebratory red banners had been strung up.

The entire village instantly became bustling and extraordinarily lively, and many faces once familiar to Huo Qitai surged toward the entrance of his home.

Before even stepping out of the car, he could already hear various sounds of congratulations and flattery.

"The literary star of old Huo's family has come back!"

"Hey! Step aside, I want to be the first to touch the returning literary star."

"That's Peking University! How many people does the entire province recruit in a whole year? Old Huo's family must have smoke billowing from their ancestral graves!"

"Make way! Make way! The car can't even get through. Little Tai is someone I watched grow up. He was sharp since he was a kid, I knew long ago he'd amount to something..."

Well then!

As this news spread back, the standing of Huo Qitai's family in the village rose even higher.