“Come back!”

Su Wei lifted her chin slightly and crossed her legs, looking utterly pleased with herself. “Tell me, what kind of app is that?”

“Sure.”

Su Xiu scooted back over to Su Wei. First, he respectfully filled her drink to the brim, then slowly began, “Life moves faster and faster now, and work keeps getting busier. In our downtime, there are always those little two- or three-minute gaps where people don’t know what to do. Scrolling Weibo gets old, since there are only so many fun things every day. Watching movies or reading novels takes too long. So I want to build a short-video app for people’s fragmented time, or more specifically, for young adults in their twenties and thirties.”

“A short-video app.” Su Wei’s eyes lit up. In her previous life, apps like Douyin and Kuaishou had been insanely popular. She hadn’t looked into them much, but from the sound of it, this kind of app hadn’t appeared in this life yet. It really did have huge potential.

“Exactly. Each video doesn’t need to be long, just two or three minutes—”

“Fifteen seconds.”

“Huh?”

Su Xiu froze for a moment. Su Wei picked up her cup and took a small sip. “Each video should be fifteen seconds.”

“Wouldn’t that be too short? The story would end before it even starts.”

“A story? It’s short video, and you still want to tell a story?”

Su Wei smiled and shook her head. “This kind of app definitely has huge potential. But the time limit has to be strict. It can’t be too long. Making the app itself is easy. Honestly, give me any computer and I could make it for you in a few days. The hard part is promotion. How are you going to make it blow up?”

“I do have some ideas. I’m planning to find a team and shoot some viral, phenomenon-level videos.”

“Phenomenon-level videos…”

Su Wei shook her head again and rejected Su Xiu’s plan. “I’m telling you, fifteen-second videos. Just find some good-looking guys and girls. They don’t need to be stunning, just internet-influencer level, the kind you can hire for 300 yuan a day. Sign proper contracts with them, then have them shoot short videos and post them on Weibo and Twitter. They don’t need any real content. Got it?”

“Will that even work…”

Su Xiu looked doubtful. “I might not be as good as you at making software, but business is my field!”

“Come on. How many big-shot bosses today actually majored in finance or management?”

Su Xiu went speechless. He could only force himself to say, “Anyway, I’m definitely going to be a big boss someday.”

“I’ll be straight with you. Do it my way, and I’ll invest. Otherwise, I’m out.”

“How much are you investing?”

“Five million to start.”

Su Wei didn’t beat around the bush. Su Xiu was her real brother, after all, so she spoke plainly. “I want seventy percent of the shares. How you manage it is your business. I won’t interfere with anything else, and I can’t manage that far anyway. So? Deal?”

“What do you mean by ‘to start’ with five million?”

“It means I’ll keep investing later on. Domestic matters are all yours. How you set up the company, where you put the office, whatever. Even the app itself, whether you want me to make it or have your classmates do it, I don’t care.”

Su Xiu fell silent for a moment before speaking slowly. “Forget it. I’ll bring my classmates in. We came up with this idea together. If I just went ahead and did it without them, that’d be pretty low.”

“Do whatever you want. You don’t need to report to me. Decide for yourself. Anyway, I’m putting in five million first for seventy percent. But Su Xiu, let me say the ugly truth upfront. If I throw in this five million and it doesn’t even make a splash, then if you want more investment later, it won’t be that simple.”

“I know. No problem.”

Su Xiu looked at Su Wei and nodded solemnly. Then he got up and went back to his room. Su Wei didn’t bother with him. She sat at the dining table, chatting with Grandpa while watching the Spring Festival Gala. Before long, Su Xiu came back out, carrying a stack of documents in his hand. Su Wei took them with a puzzled look, only to find they were a pile of agreements. The contents were exactly what she had just said. The only thing missing was any clause about Su Wei not interfering in company operations. Overall, judging from the contract alone, this company practically belonged to Su Wei alone.

Su Wei didn’t say much. Having a contract was always better. When friends or family do business together, the worst thing is muddling through without clear terms. If something really happens, you talk rules and they talk family ties. With a contract, everything becomes simple. Follow the contract, or see each other in court. It sounded a little cold, but more often than not, that was exactly what protected family relationships the best.

As soon as midnight passed, Su Wei’s phone started ringing nonstop. Either people were calling to send New Year greetings, or texting them. Su Wei found it annoying and simply turned the phone off and went to sleep. Tianhai in this life was the same as in the last one: firecrackers were still banned. Some people liked that, saying it was cleaner, safer, and more hygienic. But to Su Wei, the New Year already had barely any festive feeling left, and now it had none at all.

Meanwhile, Su Xiu got busy over the next few days. He ran around handling the business license and choosing a company location. Su Wei didn’t get involved in any of that. She just borrowed five million Huaxia yuan from Zhou Xi first, then transferred the whole amount to him. If it were anyone else, Su Wei might not have trusted him that much. But from Su Xiu, she could see his longing and passion for this app, for this career. So Su Wei was willing to trust him this once. Even if he lost it all, it didn’t matter. But if Su Xiu deceived her, then sorry—whatever happened to him after that, Su Wei wouldn’t lift a finger.

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, amid Wu Shanshan’s reluctant farewell, Su Wei boarded a plane and returned to Zhaoge. During that time, Wu Shanshan had come looking for her every day, and Su Wei had grown very fond of this Wu Sansan. The girl was genuinely good to her. She cared about her in every way. In Su Wei’s heart, she had already accepted her as a friend.

With her little bag slung over her shoulder, Su Wei had just stepped off the plane when she saw a bright, lovely girl waiting in the distance. The moment Zhou Xi spotted her, she rushed into Su Wei’s arms like the wind.

“Weiwei~ I missed you to death!”

“Not that much, right?”

Holding Zhou Xi, Su Wei suddenly blushed a little. Why did this scene feel so much like a couple reuniting?

“I really missed you~”

As she spoke, Zhou Xi kept squirming around in Su Wei’s arms. Helpless, Su Wei lowered her voice and said, “Can you behave? There are so many people watching nearby!”

“Hmph! What’s that supposed to mean? You didn’t miss me at all!”

Zhou Xi let go, puffing her cheeks out, looking thoroughly upset. Su Wei sighed and directly changed the subject. “So how’s the app doing?”

“Hmph.”

Zhou Xi completely ignored the question and turned her head to the side. Su Wei let out a deep sigh. “Fine. I missed you, okay? Missed you so much I was going crazy. Happy now?”

“No! That was way too perfunctory!” Zhou Xi still refused to let it go.

Su Wei rolled her eyes. “Act normal.”

“Oh.”

Zhou Xi instantly turned obedient.

“So how’s the app doing?”

“You’re finally asking. They gave me a report this morning. Our app has stirred up a huge storm in the industry.”

As she spoke, Zhou Xi opened the car door for Su Wei to get in, then hit the brake, started the engine, shifted gears, and pulled out.

“The whole industry is talking about our app right now.”

“So, how much money did we make?”

Zhou Xi glanced at Su Wei from the corner of her eye. Seeing the look of eager anticipation on her face, she immediately laughed. “Didn’t expect you to be such a little money grubber. I already had the accountant transfer your share to you. Why not just check it yourself?”