Starting Check-in Reward: Tomson Riviera

Monday. The weather was overcast.

Ye Ling woke up early and, as usual, performed his daily system sign-in.

"DING! Congratulations, Host, on your successful sign-in. You have triggered Great Fortune and received 20% equity in Deheng Law Firm."

Hearing the system notification echo in his mind, Ye Ling couldn’t help but look excited.

’It’s here, it’s here!’

’It’s arrived, bearing Great Fortune!’

After nearly half a month, he was finally free from the tyranny of "Lesser Fortune."

Ye Ling could still vaguely recall the sting of water splashing his face from those ten coins yesterday... Right now, he felt like a peasant who’d been freed and could finally sing his heart out.

"Deheng Law Firm, huh?"

Ye Ling calmed down and narrowed his eyes slightly.

He had heard of this law firm. It was ranked among the top five in Xia Country, making it an absolutely top-tier firm. It was even quite famous internationally.

...

Meanwhile, at Deheng Law Firm.

"What? You’re saying twenty percent of the firm’s shares were bought by a single person?"

Zhang De, who had just arrived at work, was stunned by his assistant’s report. His voice was tinged with disbelief.

In its early days, Deheng Law Firm had been co-founded by him and another lawyer named Huang Heng. Back then, it was just a small practice.

But after years of growth, the Deheng Law Firm gradually became a leader in the industry and was successfully listed on the stock market. It could be called a model for the entire sector.

As the founding partners, he and Huang Heng each owned thirty percent of the firm’s shares and also served as its directors.

But today, someone had suddenly bought twenty percent of the equity, becoming the firm’s third-largest shareholder!

"Only forty percent of the firm’s shares are publicly traded, and most of those are held by small-time retail investors. How could one person suddenly buy them all up?"

Zhang De frowned. In his opinion, this was simply impossible.

"Director Zhang, it is indeed strange, but all the paperwork seems to be in order," his assistant said from the side.

Zhang De narrowed his eyes, then said, "Have Director Huang come to my office."

"No need to call him. I’m already here."

A man in a suit pushed the door open and walked in. It was Huang Heng.

"Huang, twenty percent of the firm’s shares were bought by someone who isn’t even a lawyer. This whole thing..."

Seeing Huang Heng, Zhang De was about to say more.

But Huang Heng waved his hand, cutting him off. "I heard about it as soon as I came in this morning. I even went to check the paperwork myself. It’s all legitimate. So, this person becoming our firm’s third-largest shareholder is a done deal." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Then what do you think we should do?"

Zhang De asked with a soft sigh.

In the past, only he and Huang Heng held a significant number of shares, so the two of them could make all the decisions.

But now there was a third shareholder. They would have to take Ye Ling into consideration. With twenty percent of the equity, he would have a certain amount of influence over the firm.

"Let’s find a chance to meet this Ye Ling first. Since he’s not a lawyer, he probably won’t want to get too involved in the firm’s affairs."

Huang Heng said bluntly.

"Good point."

Zhang De nodded. "Then I’ll contact this Ye Ling later and sound him out."

...

After preparing breakfast, Ye Ling headed to Modu University.

’I’m so jealous of that little girl. Students in the arts have it so easy, they barely have any classes.’

Ye Ling mused as the cold wind stung his face.

’That little rascal at home is probably still curled up in bed, sleeping in, huh?’

"Brother Ling, you finally decided to show up at school."

Seeing Ye Ling walk into the classroom, He Jian and the other two immediately surrounded him.

"What’s up? You guys wanna throw down?"

Looking at them, Ye Ling remembered what happened in the group chat the other day and said with a smirk.

"No, no, no! We’re good students, we don’t do that stuff. We just haven’t seen you in a long time and missed you."

He Jian and the others immediately waved their hands dismissively.

’Are you kidding? Fight Ye Ling?’

’Isn’t that just a death wish?’

They did, in fact, really want to beat Ye Ling up, but that was limited to their imaginations.

After all, Ye Ling had shown them what he was capable of back during military training.

"Is that so?"

Ye Ling gave them a deep look, a playful smile touching his lips.

’As if I don’t know these guys.’

’They don’t have a single "good student" bone in their bodies.’

Never mind Yang Yefeng—he was a pure, innocent flower in the beginning, but now he’s been more or less corrupted...

As for He Jian and Yang Yu, they were a pair of sly devils. Not only were they devious themselves, but they’d also led Yang Yefeng astray, which just went to show how devious they really were.

"Alright, if you have something to say, just say it. Don’t beat around the bush with me."

Ye Ling said, rolling his eyes at them.

"Hehe, Brother Ling, you know us best. But there is a small matter," He Jian said, rubbing his hands together with a sly grin.

"Spit it out. Don’t make this look like some kind of shady deal."

Ye Ling said irritably.

"Well, it really is just a small thing. Have you heard that our School of Information Science is having a mixer with the School of Arts next week?"

He Jian asked, blinking at Ye Ling.

"A mixer?"

Ye Ling raised an eyebrow at this.

Mixers like this were common at universities. The idea was usually to let students from different schools mingle, and for single men and women, it was a great opportunity to get to know each other and find a partner.

This was especially true for schools like the School of Arts and the School of Information Science, which had severely skewed gender ratios.

At Modu University, the student body of the School of Arts was eighty percent female, while the School of Information Science was seventy-five percent male... It was a classic case of feast or famine.

"How come I haven’t heard anything about it?"

Ye Ling asked after a moment of thought.

"Of course you haven’t been notified. It’s not set in stone yet. That’s actually the main reason we came to find you."

He Jian said, wiggling his eyebrows at Ye Ling suggestively.

"Find me? What good would I be?"

Ye Ling froze for a moment, even more confused. He looked at them suspiciously and said, "Don’t you guys know I have a girlfriend? A mixer like this is useless to me."

"It’s useless to you, but it’s useful to us brothers!"

He Jian immediately blurted out, his face a mask of grievance, "Brother Ling, you have no idea! This School of Information Science is no place for a man. Everywhere you look, it’s all guys! All guys! The few girls we do have are losing their hair just as fast as we are!"