My capital is quite large.

Chapter 257 Rules

Outside the window, the autumn wind in Nanjing gradually carried a biting chill, and the plane tree leaves all over the street swirled and fell in the wind, covering the ancient city with a slightly desolate golden hue.

Sitting in the spacious and quiet office on the top floor, Li Feng leaned back in the rosewood boss's chair, holding a cup of slightly cooled Pu'er tea, staring blankly at the somewhat gloomy sky outside the window.

In the past few days, he has inevitably fallen into a somewhat pretentious kind of trouble.

If this kind of worry were seen by ordinary people who are busy making a living every day and working overtime in their cubicles, it would definitely be regarded as whining without reason.

But only when he actually sat in that position did Li Feng truly understand what it meant to be lonely at the top.

His current status is too special, and his size is too large.

As the head of Huaxin Technology, a company that carries the lifeline of the national semiconductor strategy, he enjoys unparalleled privileges and the protection of the local government, but his freedom is also being invisibly taken away.

"With this crown of a trillion-dollar empire on your head, freedom becomes a luxury."

Li Feng sighed, picked up his teacup and took a sip, only to find his throat feeling dry.

He muttered to himself with a touch of self-deprecation, suddenly remembering an interview with Jack Ma that he had seen online a while ago.

In the video, Jack Ma, who was riding high and fiercely competing with Tencent in the mobile payment arena, faced the camera and sincerely uttered his famous quote:

"The biggest mistake I ever made in my life was founding Alibaba. I just wanted to do a small business, but it grew so big that I lost my own life..."

When Li Feng saw the video online, he and his executives laughed it off, thinking that Jack Ma had made a big show of himself in front of all the stock market investors online.

But now, I sit alone in this office.

Li Feng found himself resonating with Jack Ma's words, feeling a deep sense of empathy.

"Perhaps the happiest time of my life was when my salary had just increased from three thousand to five thousand."

Li Feng leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and let the memories of his past life, sealed away for so long, slowly rewind in his mind like a black and white movie.

That was in my previous life, when I was working at my second small internet company. The company raised my monthly salary from three thousand to five thousand RMB!

Those were the six months in his thirty-nine years of life in his previous life that he had experienced the most relaxed and hopeful.

In his first month after receiving his 5,000 yuan salary, he splurged on a fancy meal at a roadside restaurant that he wouldn't normally afford, bought himself a new outfit that looked quite smart at the mall, and even gritted his teeth to buy the latest game console.

At that time, although he had nothing, he looked at the game console in his hand on the street under the setting sun and felt that life was full of sunshine. He felt that as long as he worked hard, he would eventually be able to afford a two-bedroom apartment in this big city, marry an ordinary and gentle wife, and live a peaceful life.

That's real "hope".

Unfortunately, this cheap happiness lasted only six months before being ruthlessly crushed by the wheels of time.

Housing prices began to skyrocket at an illogical rate, while his salary, three years later, remained stuck at the 5,000 yuan mark, not even enough to buy a square meter of toilet space.

Ultimately, in despair and resentment, he resigned to start his own business, beginning a tragic fate of repeated defeats.

"I'm still the same me."

Li Feng rubbed his temples and opened his eyes to look at the luxurious office.

"My IQ hasn't increased, and my personality is even more obsessive and vengeful than in my previous life."

"But why is it that in my past life, despite giving it my all, I ended up with a tragic end, dying alone on the street without a wife or children? And in this life, I can casually place a few coins and command respect in the business world, becoming a tycoon revered by all?"

"Knock knock".

Two very measured knocks rang out in the quiet office.

The large red wooden door was gently pushed open a crack, and Zhang Yuxi walked in.

Li Feng's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

Although the voice was very soft, the interruption of his thoughts still made him somewhat displeased.

"What is it?"

Feeling the chilling aura emanating from Li Feng, Zhang Yuxi's heart trembled, and her expression became even more respectful.

"Mr. Li, I'm sorry to disturb your rest."

"We received an urgent telegram from Hong Kong; Sister Zhang has just given birth naturally."

"Did she give birth?"

Li Feng paused for a moment, and the teacup lid made a crisp clinking sound as it hit the rim of the cup.

"It's a boy, weighing seven pounds and six ounces. The doctor said both mother and child are safe," Zhang Yuxi replied softly.

She gave birth to a son.

Hearing this news was a shock to Li Feng, who already had his eldest son.

Having another son is certainly a joyous occasion for carrying on the family line, but it shouldn't cause him to lose his composure.

"Book the next available flight to Hong Kong."

……

One day later, at the Mid-Levels in Hong Kong, at the Grand Hyatt Building.

In the large, single-level bedroom on the tenth floor, the floor-to-ceiling windows offer a somewhat gloomy winter view of Victoria Harbour, while the underfloor heating is turned up high within the layers of curtains, making it as warm as springtime.

Liu Shishi was already eight months pregnant. Due to her eight months of pregnancy, she appeared quite cumbersome, but her fair cheeks were flushed with a rosy glow, and she looked very healthy.

She was usually too tired to move around much, while Tang Yan, who lived on the ninth floor, was more than four months pregnant but still quite agile. She liked to go up to the tenth floor and keep Liu Shishi company.

The two were leaning back on the sofa, drinking the bird's nest soup that the nanny had just stewed, while watching "Ming Dynasty 1566" on the huge LCD TV.

The TV show was showing the Jiajing Emperor and Yan Song exchanging barbs about state affairs and the national treasury, but these two actresses, both worth millions, were clearly not paying attention to the plot.

"Hey, Shishi, Zhang gave birth yesterday, did you hear about it?"

Tang Yan popped a plump imported cherry into her mouth, her beautiful almond-shaped eyes slanted as she smiled at Liu Shishi beside her.

Liu Shishi sighed softly, stroking her slightly protruding belly with a resigned air, and smiled helplessly:

"How could I not know? It's practically the whole of Aoxuan already. I heard he flew all the way from Jinling yesterday afternoon with no obstacles in sight. Secretary Zhang even came to give me a message this morning, explaining all the follow-up matters."

"Oh? What did Xiao Zhang say?" Tang Yan suddenly became interested, even forgetting to chew her cherries. "I heard that Da Zhang named his son Li Maosong. What about these two in our bellies? Did he leave any names for them?"

The children in their wombs were both conceived through technological intervention, so naturally they were both sons.

"Xiao Zhang let it slip, saying that he also wrote down both of our names."

Liu Shishi frowned slightly, a hint of confusion in her voice, "You said my name is Li Maobai, and yours is Li Maochang. Tangtang, don't you think these two names sound a bit odd? Put together with Da Zhang's name, it sounds like the names of medicinal herbs in a pharmacy?"

"Their sons were named Maobo and Maochang, respectively?"

Upon hearing these two names, Tang Yan, who had recently become avid reader of Ming Dynasty history, was first taken aback, then seemed to suddenly realize something funny and couldn't help but giggle.

"Oh dear! Shishi, you wouldn't understand the intricacies of this!"

"If you've read the History of Ming, you'll know that the eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, didn't have any particular rules in his name. He was simply called Biao. At that time, although Zhu Yuanzhang's family business was already quite large, he hadn't had time to carefully consider the rules and clan system."

"However, by the time of his second son, Prince Qin Zhu Shuang, his third son, Prince Jin Zhu Gang, and all the way to his fourth son, Prince Yan Zhu Di, Zhu Yuanzhang's empire was secure, and his family fortune had grown to the point where it couldn't afford to fall. He then began to devise rules for the names of all his sons, and even those of his descendants for more than a dozen generations! The five elements must be mutually generating: wood generates fire, fire generates earth, and not a single character with a wrong radical or component can be allowed!"

"Isn't our leader now following the same path as Zhu Yuanzhang?"

"The eldest son, the one Liu Yifei had on the twelfth floor, was named Li Maozhen. Maybe it was just a whim he came up with that name. Back then, the boss's business wasn't as big as it is now."

"But now that Da Zhang has had his second child, and we have our third and fourth, Hao Feng's family business has grown to the point where it can't afford to fail. Naturally, we need to start paying attention to clan traditions and inheritance!"

"That guy, Da Zhang, is called Li Maosong."

"Pine, cypress, evergreen... isn't this exactly 'evergreen pine and cypress'?"

Tang Yan laughed so hard her body trembled, her beautiful eyes filled with a clear understanding of the ways of the world:

"Zhang's name is Maosong, yours is Maobai, and mine is Maochang. If nothing unexpected happens, if any of us have a fifth child, the name will definitely be 'Li Maoqing'!"

"Evergreen pines and cypresses...that sounds familiar, it must be from some poem or idiom, right?"

After listening to Tang Yan's analysis, which was full of allusions, Liu Shishi suddenly realized what was going on, but she couldn't help but look amused and absurd on her fair face.

"Of course it sounds familiar!"

Tang Yan raised an eyebrow, leaned closer, and smiled mysteriously, "When I was reading about modern history, I heard that the fourth generation of that principal's family also followed this rule!"