Chapter 44: Securing the First Pot of Gold, Making Tens of Millions in Pure Profit!

People are always inclined to fawn over the rich and powerful while looking down on the humble.
Before Huo Qitai even stepped out of the vehicle, he was already being praised to the high heavens.
The villagers did not possess much formal education; many of them did not even understand the rules regarding college entrance examination scores and application procedures.
Through fragmented rumors passed through countless mouths, they had managed to grasp two facts: Huo Qitai had been admitted to Peking University, and he had even made a fortune by hosting lecture seminars.
That was more than enough!
Huo Qitai had flown up the branches to transform into a phoenix!
In the eyes of the entire Huo family, they were truly about to rise to prosperity!
Because as dusk fell, they had seen municipal and township leaders leading groups of people into the village to set things up.
Hearing that both the city and the township had allocated bonus funds to reward Huo Qitai for getting into Peking University, the village committee immediately followed suit by specially allocating a five-thousand-yuan bonus from its own coffers.

Stepping out of the car, Huo Qitai did not find the scene before him particularly exaggerated.
After all, the university he had been accepted into was Peking University. In some wealthy coastal clans within the province, if a clansman were admitted to Peking University or Tsinghua University, the publicity and flattery would be even more absurd.
In fact, some of those clans had scholarships established by virtuous and successful predecessors, and rewards of over one hundred thousand yuan for being admitted to prestigious universities like Tsinghua or Peking University were commonplace.

"Xiaotai, you're finally back. Mayor Tong and Director Zhang from the municipal education bureau have been waiting for quite a while, and they've brought bonuses specifically to hand to you in person!"
His father, Huo Changsheng, looked somewhat apprehensive and awestruck. As an honest and simple farmer, he had never witnessed such a grand spectacle in his entire life.
After the college entrance examination, he had indeed been very happy, knowing that his son had performed beyond expectations and scored remarkably well.
Yet, he could never have imagined that his son would actually be admitted to Peking University.
Good heavens!
Huo Changsheng felt that even if he were to drop dead right now, upon descending to the netherworld, all his ancestors would line up to welcome him and praise him for bringing honor to the ancestors and raising such a capable son.

On the other hand, Huo's mother, Zhang Aiji, chimed in with a trace of heartache and reproach, "Are you out of your mind with money to burn? Taking a taxi all the way back from the city must have cost a good several dozen yuan!"
"Aunt Zhang, you hit the nail on the head. Brother Tai really does have money to burn now!
I'll keep you in suspense for a moment—once you find out how much money Brother Tai actually made, you won't feel bad about this taxi fare at all."
Xue Xiaoshan hopped down from the car playfully, speaking with a sense of reflected glory.

"Dad, Mom, isn't this a bit too grand? Why does it look like the whole village ran over just to watch the excitement?"
Enjoying a brief surge of vanity, Huo Qitai quickly returned to his normal mindset and walked toward home alongside his parents.
The villagers who had gathered to watch the spectacle were reluctant to disperse, following closely behind until they completely surrounded the Huo family's small courtyard.
At that moment, the village chief, the township mayor, and Director Zhang hurriedly stood up from the chairs where they had been drinking tea.
Beaming with bright smiles, they all hurried forward to greet him, their mouths overflowing with elaborate and ornate words of praise.

***

The village chief presented a bonus of five thousand yuan on behalf of the village.
The township mayor proved to be the most generous, producing ten thousand yuan from the township's reward fund, along with an additional twenty thousand yuan donated by local entrepreneurs.
Although Director Zhang was attending on behalf of the education bureau to offer congratulations, the bonus he brought was relatively modest, amounting to only eight thousand yuan.

"Good grief! Just by taking a college exam, he gets nearly fifty thousand yuan in bonuses. I can't even make that much money in two years of hard work."
"Studying really is the way to make a fortune! Who said studying is useless? I'm going to urge my girl to study hard the moment I get back so she can get into a good university."
"No wonder the old saying goes that there are houses of gold hidden within books. Studying can genuinely yield wealth."
……
Having witnessed the hard cash of the bonuses, the villagers gradually dispersed amidst waves of shock. One could easily imagine that the children in the village were in for a severe and earnest lecture from their parents today.

After exchanging perfunctory pleasantries with the officials, Huo Qitai entered the house with Xue Xiaoshan, ready to enjoy the lavish feast meticulously prepared by his parents.
"Quick! Now that there's nobody else around, Xiaotai, tell Mom: this study seminar you hosted—just how much money did you actually make?"
Huo's mother asked curiously as she placed food into Huo Qitai's bowl.
Throughout that afternoon, her phone had been ringing almost nonstop.
All the acquaintances she knew in the township who held official teaching positions had beaten around the bush, asking if she could spare a few tickets for her son's lectures scheduled for tomorrow and the day after.
When Huo's mother inquired and learned that the tickets cost 999 yuan each, she had been thoroughly startled.
Her entire month's salary wasn't even enough to buy two tickets. Since when did listening to her son speak require paying such a staggering sum?

Even more exaggerated was the call she received at dusk from Vice Principal Fu of the township elementary school, who informed her that her application for a formal teaching position as a substitute teacher had finally been approved, making her a fully certified staff member starting then.
Huo's mother wasn't foolish. Having applied for so many years and remaining merely a "substitute" private-sector teacher whose salary and benefits were far inferior to those of formal staff,
she knew that the sudden approval was undoubtedly tied to her son's admission to Peking University.
She had never dreamed that one day she would get to experience the feeling of "gaining status through one's son."

"Giving a few speeches on stage just to talk about how to study—how much money could that possibly make?"
Huo's father, however, had not taken the matter seriously at all. He was extremely happy today; his son had brought glory to the ancestors, and surely he deserved a lion's share of the credit?
As for the business of making money, that was still something best left to himself as the head of the household. What could a mere kid possibly make, no matter how hard he worked himself to the bone?

True to his father's prediction, Huo Qitai casually took a bite of his hometown's specialty snacks, "chicken velvet" and "navel cake," before replying with feigned modesty:
"Today was just the conclusion of the first seminar, so I didn't make all that much."
Huo's father scoffed: "See? What did I tell you? Giving a few speeches—what kind of money can that bring in? Even the mayor and the party secretary frequently hold meetings and give lectures, and those are always free..."
Yet Huo Qitai continued smoothly: "I'm holding a total of three seminars here in Jian'an City. Tomorrow and the day after, I still have to head into the city.
All the tickets are completely sold out, grossing around 1.5 million yuan in total.

After deducting the venue rental fees, the cost of printing materials, and some necessary marketing expenses, I cleared roughly 1.3 million yuan!"
At this point, Xue Xiaoshan added a footnote from the side: "Brother Tai, you haven't factored in my salary and Lulu's yet! You said yourself, ten thousand yuan each for the two of us to help you out for half a month."

Silence...
Utter astonishment!
Huo's father, who had just moments ago worn the expression of the patriarchal head of the household who believed money-making was his exclusive domain, froze completely with a mouthful of rice.
Huo's mother fared no better. Although she had mentally prepared herself, the utmost she had imagined was that her son might bring in tens of thousands of yuan for a single day's work.
Who could have anticipated that this sum of 1.3 million yuan would be casually dismissed by her son as "not making all that much"?

Huo's mother couldn't help but do the math in her head: her own monthly take-home pay was 1,800 yuan, meaning 1.3 million yuan equated to a full sixty years of her salary.
Her son had hosted three seminars over three days and earned her entire lifetime's wages?
Such an impact upon Huo's father and mother was monumental to say the least.

Yet at that very moment, Huo Qitai's phone, which was plugged in nearby to charge, rang once again.
Because his hands were greasy, he simply tapped the screen to turn on the speakerphone. The call was from Chang Lulu's father, Chang Fuyou.
"Hello! Xiaotai, have you reached home yet?"
"I'm home! Um... Uncle Chang, I'm eating with my mom and dad right now. The chicken velvet my mom made tastes even better than what you serve at your hotel; you should let my mom teach your head chef another day," Huo Qitai said with a smile between bites.

Chang Fuyou chuckled and replied, "That's a given—it comes with a mother's love bonus! Anyway, the reason I'm calling is to give you an update.
I've already negotiated terms with the other nine counties and cities regarding the lecture seminars.
I managed to lock it down so you receive 8% of the ticket revenue, but they do have one condition.
They've bought out all the tickets completely and already wired the full amount over.
After tax deductions, you'll net right around 10.08 million yuan. Just text me your bank account number later, and I'll have accounting transfer it over to you..."

This phone call left Huo's father and mother once again utterly speechless and paralyzed.
The shockwaves from the previous 1.3 million yuan had not even been fully digested, and now came an amount in the tens of millions?

Meanwhile, Huo Qitai was somewhat surprised by Chang Fuyou's exceptional efficiency. In a mere two or three hours, all nine counties and cities had been settled?
His first real pot of gold in the truest sense had arrived thus effortlessly. All the energy and effort expended beforehand had not been in vain—he had struck it rich with a single stroke, pulling in tens of millions in profit!