I am a Big Player
Chapter 121 - 120, Let’s Discuss If Something Comes Up (Third Update)_1

Chapter 121: 120, Let’s Discuss If Something Comes Up (Third Update)_1

Ren He was waiting anxiously; this wasn’t the first time he had negotiated terms with the Divine Punishment System. But how could anyone not feel tense when making demands on a force with the will of the heavens and the earth? To be honest, the two parties weren’t even on the same level of existence, so on what grounds could you negotiate?

However, since the other party wasn’t as incompassionate as he had imagined, Ren He naturally wanted to fight for his own terms. If he could sacrifice one work to undertake a public welfare task and also turn the punishment tasks for the other two works into a one-time ordeal, it would be a beneficial deal for him no matter what.

Consider the tasks he was now doing for the divine book; there were already five or six, and the Three Character Classic also had three or four, right? If it came down to only having to complete one task for each book, then he would be much freer. At that point, when to undertake a task would at least be within his control.

One should never underestimate the human passion for freedom. Ren He had a great need for freedom; if he were to relive his life again, and his life was still not within his control, it really would be quite tedious.

In his mind, Ren He continued, "Think about it. If you agree, I’ll definitely produce more works, right? And the money earned won’t all end up in my hands either; it will also help those who are truly in need. This is a profitable transaction for both of us."

His courage in dealing with the Divine Punishment System didn’t stem from having an ace up his sleeve, but from his belief that he was still of great value to it.

"Approved, the proceeds from one work can acquire the exemption rights for the follow-up punishment tasks of the other two works," the neutral voice of the Divine Punishment System said calmly.

Damn, it really agreed! Perfect!

Ren He immediately picked up the phone and called Zhou Wumeng, "Hey, Elder Zhou, I have a good matter I’d like to discuss with you!"

Zhou Wumeng asked curiously from the other end of the phone, "Is the sequel to the Classic of Mountains and Seas trilogy about to start?"

"Can you not fixate on that for now?" Ren He said with a mix of laughter and tears. "It’s like this. I want to use all the future royalties from the Three Character Classic to set up a charity fund. And in the future, the earnings from other works might be added to this fund too. The fund will be dedicated for the specific purpose of building Hope Primary Schools! I’ve done the math. The cost of building a primary school in a remote mountainous area is somewhere between 200,000 to 300,000 yuan. The royalties from a classic like the Three Character Classic won’t dry up; in a year, we could possibly build up to 15 high-quality Hope Primary Schools. What do you think?"

In his previous life, Ren He had great admiration for those wealthy enough to help build Hope Primary Schools for poverty-stricken areas. The world is unfair when it comes to knowledge; some children are simply deprived of fair opportunities for education. To be honest, it’s difficult to turn one’s life around without knowledge in this society.

But he had never acted on it, which was quite contradictory. Building a school is not a small expense, and without being exceptionally wealthy, few people are truly willing to do so. However, it is precisely because of human selfishness that those who are poor themselves and still willing to support others are all the more precious.

In this life, to take the royalties from a work to exempt himself from some tasks and still do some good deeds—why wouldn’t he?

After all, Ren He was also doing it for himself; there was no need for pretense. He was not that selfless a person.

We’re all ordinary people, and so is Ren He. Do good deeds within your capacity—no one should judge.

Elder Zhou took a deep breath on the other end of the phone and asked, "Are you serious?"

These days, there are people willing to do such great acts of charity, but they are just too few! The monthly royalties from the Three Character Classic now amount to over four hundred thousand, that’s over five million a year. What about in 10 years? Or 20 years? Or 30 years?

You must be aware that Ren He’s reasoning was instantly clear to me. A work like the Three Character Classic will never become outdated. Zhou Wumeng’s first reaction upon seeing the Three Character Classic was that it should rightfully have been unearthed from some great Chinese literary ancestor’s tomb, but, being a man disinclined to doubt, he accepted Ren He’s word that it was his creation. Moreover, the subsequent appearance of Kunlun further convinced Zhou Wumeng that Ren He was truly a young prodigy worthy of his reputation.

Of course, what Zhou Wumeng didn’t know was that none of this was Ren He’s doing; Ren He was just trying to make some money.

Zhou Wumeng only needed a moment’s thought to realize that if this foundation were really established, regardless of how many Hope Primary Schools it could build in a year, it would be an entity with the potential to be relatively everlasting, because the income from the Three Character Classic would never cease!

For someone like Zhou Wumeng, he was genuinely moved, as he had already sponsored dozens of university students... Who knows what he would think when he found out the truth...

"Serious, of course I’m serious. But as you know, I don’t have much time. Could I trouble you to help me with this? When the time comes, I’ll just sign the authorization documents. Let’s call it the Qinghe Fund. The ’Qing’ signifies assistance to those young children in remote mountain areas, and ’He’ not only stands for my name, Ren He, as I’d like to leave a mark, but it’s also a good metaphor for young wheat. What do you think?" Ren He’s idea was to establish the Qinghe Fund, own the fund himself, and have the copyright of the Three Character Classic transferred to the Qinghe Fund. In reality, he would retain ownership of the copyright.

Plus, Zhou Wumeng was the kind of person he trusted to manage the fund; he was sure that Zhou wouldn’t take shortcuts in building Hope Primary Schools, and with Zhou Wumeng’s stature as a literary master with students spread far and wide, he was sure to deal with government authorities on an equal footing.

Most importantly, he truly couldn’t afford to spend time on such matters, including the business of making games, which he only participated in during the initial phase, leaving everything to Little Fatty to manage thereafter. His time would ultimately be spent on extreme sports, his true pursuit. He had seen too many successful individuals whose lives were full of wealth but devoid of their own time. For Ren He, who had lived life again, money was secondary. Even if he were given ownership of the top-ranked business in the world that bound up his spare time for life, he likely wouldn’t want it.

This was a matter of personal choice, and Ren He had his own set convictions regarding it.

Zhou Wumeng said, "To tell you the truth, I find it hard to believe that you could do something like this..."

Ren He turned dark, feeling slighted by the comment, and began to bluster earnestly, "Isn’t this just a matter of increased ideological awareness? I’ve come to realize through learning that we absolutely cannot persist with a narrow-minded view of the family unit when building a socialist society, but must take into consideration the bigger picture. As the saying goes, with great ability comes great responsibility. Since I’ve made money, I should do something meaningful. You see, building Hope Primary Schools is definitely an act of profound significance. When the youth are wise, the country is wise; when the youth are strong, the country is strong; when the youth progress, the country progresses..."

Damn it, as he spoke, Ren He started sweating. He’d been too caught up in his ramblings and forgot that these were the words from Liang Qichao’s "Talk about Chinese Youth", which could trigger a punishment mission!

Ren He just froze there waiting to see if the Divine Punishment System would issue a punishment mission, but after quite a while, when nothing happened, he breathed a sigh of relief. It also reinforced his belief that the previous quotes from Chairman Mao had been the system messing with him on purpose.

Still, it’s better to be careful when speaking; once the words are out, it’s like handing over control to the Divine Punishment System, and whether they choose to punish you or not is entirely up to them...

...

An additional update for the Wind and Cloud Alliance Leader