Chapter 2: First Pot Of Gold?
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A few days later.
After a period of exploration, Lin Xiuyuan finally confirmed a shocking fact: the new world he was in was indeed a parallel dimension, a parallel world from the future.
The time-space that originally belonged to him was 2013, while this time-space was 2025.
A span of twelve years, neither too much nor too little, just right for experiencing a complete cycle of the zodiac.
What shocked him even more was that the “other self” who had once died had an ID card, fingerprint, and pupils that were exactly the same as his.
It was precisely through the scan of the fingerprint and pupils that he was able to open the safe belonging to that “other self.”
But when he saw the completely empty safe, he nearly spat blood from anger.
“What the fck, you kid live so luxuriously, but there’s not a single cent in the safe, huh.”
Lin Xiuyuan patted the safe door, cursed a few times, then bent down to pick up the cash laid at the bottom, thinking to himself that it was all his anyway, so why not take it.
After exploring the entire house, Lin Xiuyuan returned to the sofa on the first floor, gazing with a somewhat confused expression at the courtyard outside the window and the flowing water, pondering his next steps.
He knew that generally speaking, being able to travel between the future and the past should mean a carefree life.
However, all of this felt somewhat off when applied to him.
Because if it weren’t for the fact that the precious metals in the two time-spaces were completely identical, allowing him to exchange some money using the price difference between the past and the future, and if he hadn’t cleared the debt on this house a few days ago, he probably wouldn’t even be able to use the water, electricity, and gas in this self-built mansion right now.
Once the small building had internet and electricity, Lin Xiuyuan immediately used the computer to look up the 2013 lottery numbers, then ran back to 2013 to place bets, hoping to get rich overnight.
The result was all for nothing.
The outcome of the numbers not matching left Lin Xiuyuan stunned for a long time.
Then he tried twice more out of unwillingness, but the result was the same.
Finally realizing something was wrong, he hurriedly opened the stock market and carefully compared the trajectories of the two time-spaces, only to be completely dumbfounded.
The data was completely different; the two time-spaces were truly parallel dimensions.
But aside from all these things, everything else was exactly the same: the country, entertainment, internet, real industry, and so on.
This discovery really made it hard for Lin Xiuyuan to accept; it had brutally cut off more than half of his foresight advantage, and at the very least, making money would require some thought.
Especially the first pot of gold.
But for everyone, accumulating the first pot of gold at the start is the hardest.
You have to know that in terms of deposit amounts, going from 1 to 1000 is simple, 1000 to 10000 isn’t hard, but 10,000 to 100,000 is enough to stop most families in the world, let alone after 100,000.
And after these two days of surfing the internet, Lin Xiuyuan discovered that if he wanted to make money, it would definitely be easier in 2013 than in 2025.
However, all of this presupposed having seed capital.
And at this moment, sitting on the sofa, he racked his brains but couldn’t come up with any feasible method. He even helplessly thought about whether to dismantle some of the soft furnishings in the house and sell them back in 2013.
With no other options, he had no choice but to return to the old timeline（2013） that side to prepare for work first.
Having taken a week off, if he didn’t go back to work and make money soon, he’d really have to dismantle things to sell.
Still that old brass door handle, still that door.
Back in 2013, Lin Xiuyuan received a phone call; it was his Apple 4S left on this side that rang.
While thinking about the colorful array of electronic products in the new timeline（2025）, he walked over to answer the phone, “Hello, Xiao Jie, what’s up.”
“What’s the deal with you, suddenly taking a week off and leaving me to work myself to death alone in the photo studio.”
The person on the other end of the phone was a student working part-time to earn tuition, named Xiao Jie, also a Chinese person.
Xiao Jie’s shout made Lin Xiuyuan smile, “Moving house, taking the chance to organize and rest a bit. But why are you calling me today? Not busy?”
Recently very sensitive to time, he knew clearly that it was the weekend right now, so the studio must be very busy.
Facing Lin Xiuyuan’s question, Xiao Jie didn’t beat around the bush and said directly, “Old Jin Head asked me to call you, to ask if you’re done with your stuff. We’re really short on manpower this afternoon; we need you to come in early to help out.”
Lin Xiuyuan glanced at the empty apartment and agreed, “Sure, I’ll be there soon.”
He didn’t have many virtues, but his execution was super strong.
The type who says he’ll do it and does it, thinks about doing it and does it, even if wrong, he’ll do it first and talk later.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have impulsively gone abroad to work, scraping by in a youth hostel for a full year.
After hanging up, he quickly packed his things, grabbed his wallet and ID card, left the apartment, and headed to the studio.
More than ten minutes later, Lin Xiuyuan walked out of the subway station and saw the familiar photography studio.
As soon as he entered, Manager Jin from the studio came up to greet him, “You’re finally here, Xiuyuan.”
“Mm.” Lin Xiuyuan nodded.
“This time you need to go to Studio 2 to help out. The client coming in a bit is quite important, so keep an eye on things. Also, they want a gray background, no problem, right?”
“No problem.”
While answering, Lin Xiuyuan followed Manager Jin toward Studio 2, and along the way took over a new assistant intern.
The manager gave a few more simple instructions and then turned to leave.
Lin Xiuyuan was already accustomed to this work model, skillfully directing the intern to move equipment, adjust lighting, and prepare everything in less than half an hour.
The originally messy Studio 2 was now neatly organized. The gray background was set up, camera parameters adjusted, everything ready, just waiting for the photographer to come for filming.
After getting everything ready, Lin Xiuyuan found a corner to rest, took out his mobile phone to browse news, thinking about whether, when he returned to 2025 later, he could find a breakthrough for making money from it.
However, just as he was immersed in his thoughts, a burst of commotion suddenly came from the entrance of Studio 2.
Lin Xiuyuan curiously looked that way and happened to see the group of people walking in from outside.
Among them, the glamorous figure surrounded in the middle stunned him; it was none other than the female lead from the news he had seen at the internet cafe a couple of days ago.
While Lin Xiuyuan was spacing out, the intern next to him had already jumped up excitedly, “Jessica? Oh man, are we shooting Girls’ Generation this time? Oh man, oh man, I’m so lucky!”
At the same time, the ‘first pot of gold’ that had troubled Lin Xiuyuan for days also surfaced.
At that moment, looking at Jessica over there being pampered like a star, a crazy idea popped into Lin Xiuyuan’s mind, instantly igniting the ambition in his brain; perhaps this was his fastest opportunity to achieve financial freedom.
It was just a bit crazy.
But amid the craziness, it seemed to hide countless benefits.
Money was just one aspect, with beauty closely following.
Thinking of this, Lin Xiuyuan’s gaze gradually sharpened, like a hungry wolf staring at its prey, fixed tightly on Jessica at the entrance.
