Chapter 48: Self-Drive Travel Plan
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
A group of people spent a week in Macau. During this time, Qin Fen and his friends also experienced the joy of gambling, but this time it wasn’t as extravagant as last time. They each lost less than a million. Over the past few days, they visited many places and tried various unique Macau snacks. They had a great time.
“Tomorrow is the National Day holiday. Do you have any plans? Are you going back to rest for a while?” Qin Fen asked Zhou Chao, who was seated next to him. At this moment, they were already on the flight from Macau to Modu City. “Let’s rest for a few days first. After the National Day holiday, I might take Lin Wu on a self-drive trip. If you’re not interested, you don’t have to join.”
“A self-drive trip? Where are you planning to go?”
“I’m thinking about Route 318 for now. It’s not confirmed yet. I might spend some time in Shu Du during the trip.”
“Let’s talk about it then. I can’t confirm right now,” Qin Fen said helplessly. After all, he wasn’t as free as Zhou Chao. He had an investment company and a gaming team to manage.
Recently, they had been playing vigorously, feeling exhausted. After chatting for a while, both of them fell asleep.
The plane landed at Hongqiao Airport. Zhou Chao, Qin Fen, and the others woke up from their nap. After leaving the airport, Zhou Chao shared his self-drive travel idea with Qin Lang and the others. They were all interested, but they couldn’t guarantee their availability, so they decided to contact each other later.
As everyone dispersed, Lin Wu drove, and Zhou Chao sat in the passenger seat, observing the congested traffic outside. He turned to Lin Wu and said, “You should go back and spend some time with your parents first. This time, we might be outside for a while before coming back.”
Lin Wu nodded silently at Zhou Chao’s suggestion. They soon arrived at The Palms Residence. As they entered, Zhou Chao noticed the Maserati key in the key basket. He took it out and handed it to Lin Wu. “You can keep driving this car. You don’t need to leave the key with me. You can take your parents out for a drive recently and relax.”
Lin Wu accepted the key and looked at Zhou Chao, who had already turned and was heading upstairs. Lin Wu bowed deeply as a gesture of gratitude. With the key in hand, he walked away. Watching Lin Wu leave, Zhou Chao couldn’t help but smile.
On the first day of the National Day holiday, Zhou Chao was awakened by a phone call. It was after 9 in the morning, and someone was calling to discuss recent work updates. Reluctantly, Zhou Chao got up early, had a simple breakfast, and just as he finished eating, he heard a knock on the door.
Zhou Chao got up and opened the door. He saw Ling Chen holding a large folder, looking at him with a slightly annoyed expression. Ling Chen’s gaze made Zhou Chao feel uneasy for a moment. “Come in, why are you standing outside?”
“Boss, did you forget that you have your own company?” Ling Chen complained in a half-teasing, half-annoyed tone.
“I trust your abilities,” Zhou Chao replied with a chuckle.
“I think I’ve fallen into your trap,” Ling Chen retorted.
Zhou Chao chuckled in response, “Since you’ve already fallen in, there’s no escaping.”
“Boss, I’m here today mainly to report recent work updates and some related financial matters.”
Zhou Chao understood that if he ignored Ling Chen, Ling Chen might actually quit. So, he patiently listened to Ling Chen’s report, “Firstly, the office rent is 100,000 per month, and we signed a two-year contract, costing 2.4 million in total. The renovation cost 4.8 million, and office supplies, computers, etc., amounted to 880,000. In total, we’ve spent 8.08 million.
These were the initial expenses of the company. Then, there are the work-related matters. Currently, I’ve relied on Director Yang’s headhunting company to establish the HR and finance departments. The business department has also started operating. Our first investment is in a gaming company in Modu City, founded by four recent college graduates. After discussing their game with them, I found it quite innovative. So, I invested 5 million and acquired an 80% stake in their game company. Currently, there’s still over 200 million in the accounts.”
Zhou Chao understood that the company was in its early stages and had just started, so he didn’t have many demands. He was indeed interested in the game Ling Chen had mentioned earlier. The fact that Ling Chen invested 5 million indicated that he had high hopes for the project.
“Could you give me a brief introduction to the game?”
“Sure.” Ling Chen took a document out of a folder and handed it to Zhou Chao. Zhou Chao opened the document, and Ling Chen began explaining.
“This game is based on the concept of ‘Werewolf’, incorporating various operations and construction of good roles, constant destruction by the villains, and random distribution of resources. There are a total of 10 roles, each of which can be upgraded. Your experience points increase based on your performance. It starts at level 25 and can be advanced to a higher level after reaching the maximum level…”
As Ling Chen explained, Zhou Chao listened attentively. The more he heard, the more intrigued he became. Nowadays, more and more people were becoming addicted to this type of game, so it wasn’t surprising that Ling Chen had invested 5 million. After Ling Chen finished his report, Zhou Chao felt very satisfied. It seemed his eye for investments was indeed accurate.
They further discussed the company’s future development and established their general goals for the future. Investment would remain a primary focus, supplemented by financial operations, and of course, essential philanthropic efforts directly coordinated with local governments, bypassing other organizations. They set the development goals roughly and agreed that if they had good projects or ideas in the future, they would discuss them further. As Ling Chen had finished sharing his insights, he got up and left. After all, he also needed to spend time with his child during the National Day holiday.
Watching Ling Chen leave in a relaxed manner, Zhou Chao also got up and headed to the kitchen. It was already past 12 o’clock, and he had to prepare something to eat for himself.
In the blink of an eye, the National Day holiday passed. Lin Wu also returned, saying he had taken his parents to visit West Lake in Hangzhou. However, it was too crowded, so they returned to Shanghai after only a few days and spent time with his parents at home.
Seeing that the National Day holiday had passed, Zhou Chao also put his self-drive travel plan on the agenda. The next day, he took Lin Wu to an outdoor equipment store and bought various supplies for outdoor activities, such as tents, medications, tools, and more. He purchased everything they needed and then bought a lot of snacks and water. They bought a large quantity of pre-cooked food and water, as Zhou Chao was worried they might not find enough to eat in the wilderness.
Various chicken wings, drumsticks, pig’s trotters, chicken feet, and the like, each kind was bought in boxes of two. Zhou Chao and Lin Wu spent a day buying a lot of items and brought them back home. Then, they began organizing the essentials. After all, they would be driving and space would be limited. However, Zhou Chao wasn’t concerned at all after checking the spacious rear compartment of his Karlmann King.
After spending more than half an hour, they finally managed to load all the purchased items into the car, neatly categorized to make finding things easier. Seeing that the preparations were mostly done, Zhou Chao began planning his self-drive route for this time.
He had already planned to go to Route 318. By then, he could also visit Fourth Brother Xiao Feng and see his sister’s family back in Fog City. After checking the distance from Modu City to Shu Du, Zhou Chao decided to drive directly there. With the itinerary settled, he began contacting Qin Fen and the others to see if they were interested in joining the trip..