At ten, my mind would be flooded with all sorts of chaotic thoughts.

There were six girls in the room, three of whom looked like students—two of them were the music academy girls from yesterday. The other three were also familiar faces, each having had a more-than-friendly relationship with Flowerboy.

Zhang Pa asked Flowerboy, “Is this your harem?”

Flowerboy snapped, “Can you speak like a normal person?”

“My only redeeming quality is that I’m straightforward, and I like to call people out to their faces,” Zhang Pa replied, feigning humility.

“Maybe I should just get rid of you,” Flowerboy retorted. “Here’s the situation: as for cameras, Tiger has one.”

Zhang Pa nodded. “The one you guys stole last time?”

“Damn it, when have I ever stolen anything?” Flowerboy shouted.

“Calm down, calm down, just tell me slowly.” Zhang Pa waved at Tiger. “Haven’t seen you around lately—what have you been up to?”

Fatty chimed in, “He’s moving up in the world, working with Guo Gang now.”

“Bodyguard? Muscle? Driver?” Zhang Pa said. “Big guys always have the advantage.”

Flowerboy cut him off, “Enough with the nonsense. You’re in charge of the computer stuff.”

Zhang Pa replied, “Come on, are you serious? With my little laptop?”

“Fatty has several computers. Take your pick—consider it a gift,” Flowerboy said.

Zhang Pa turned to Fatty. “How much stuff did you guys actually steal?”

“Come on, man, those are just leftovers from when I used to run an internet café!” Fatty shouted back.

“Fine, leftovers from your café. But for video editing, you need professional processors—one computer won’t cut it. At least two. And my place isn’t big enough to fit them,” Zhang Pa said.

“That’s not urgent. We called you here to discuss shares.”

“Shares?” Zhang Pa asked. “You mean I have to put in money?”

“This is called investment,” Flowerboy said. “I’ll put in twenty thousand, Fatty puts in twenty, Turtle puts in ten, Tiger puts in ten, you put in ten? Then we get the others to chip in thirty thousand, and our company is set.”

Zhang Pa was surprised. “You have twenty thousand?”

Flowerboy was irritated. “Are you here to mess things up?”

Fatty stepped in, “Honestly, my mom wants me to do something proper, and I think this is a good idea; Flowerboy’s family is pressuring him too; Turtle doesn’t care—he’s got a mahjong parlor…”

Turtle protested, “What do you mean I don’t care? My mom wants me to get a job and find a girlfriend. It’s killing me.”

Zhang Pa said, “Serves you right! You’re all nearly thirty, no job, no girlfriend, still living with your parents, and you have the nerve to complain?”

“Hey, you’re not any better,” Fatty shot back. “I seriously doubt you even have ten thousand in your bank account.”

Zhang Pa opened his mouth, then muttered, “I did have it.”

“Yeah, and you spent it to print your book,” Fatty said. “Enough with the nonsense. Right now, we’re nine guys and six girls. First order of business: let’s hear everyone’s opinion. We’re forming a company to produce an online series—who wants in, raise your hand.”

Zhang Pa stopped him, “Hold on a second.”

“What now?”

Zhang Pa said, “Let me ask you—never mind how we’ll make money, or whether we take salaries, or even if we all put in money. But can you guarantee everyone’s willing to do that?”

This clearly showed he wasn’t optimistic about the project.

Fatty hesitated. “Isn’t that what we’re discussing now?”

Zhang Pa said, “Once again, I see how unreliable you guys are. Ever heard the saying ‘plan before you act’?”

“We’re action-takers,” Flowerboy insisted.

“Shut up,” Zhang Pa replied. “First, we need to confirm who the investors are. Second, will these six beautiful girls perform? If they do, they’ll need to be paid—how much, and who decides? Third, who’s directing? None of us knows a thing—who’s running this? And finally, once the company is set up, who’s in charge?”

Flowerboy pondered, then asked, “You want to be director? Be the boss? Be the scriptwriter? How about it?”

Zhang Pa was exasperated. “And I still have to invest? And not get paid, is that it?”

“Pretty much,” Fatty replied.

“This is what you call ‘something proper’?” Zhang Pa was at a loss for words. After a pause, he continued, “I could stop selling books, but I have to keep writing—that takes a lot of time. How could I possibly handle all this?”

“Draw lots. Write each task on a slip of paper—whoever draws it, does it,” Turtle offered sensibly.

Zhang Pa sighed and went over to the music girls. “Have you two been bewitched? One word from him and you come running?”

Ponytail laughed. “This time, we talked him into it.”

“What do you mean?” Zhang Pa asked.

Ponytail explained briefly. Here’s what happened: yesterday afternoon, Flowerboy and the two girls went to study vocals. After an hour, the girls realized that at their current level, they’d need at least two years of dedicated study to learn how to sing and qualify for auditions.

Flowerboy lost all motivation.

Ponytail casually suggested, “You’re so funny when you talk—you could record videos and upload them. If the views are high, you could earn ad money.”

That got Flowerboy thinking—why not? He discussed making videos with the girls, got more excited as they talked, and thus today’s business meeting came about.

Zhang Pa was helpless. “Don’t you have classes?”

The girls said, “If you never skip class, isn’t that a life wasted?”

Zhang Pa nodded—seems I’ve met all the lunatics in this city.

Meanwhile, Fatty and Flowerboy were still talking about company details. Zhang Pa stood up and loudly interrupted, “Quiet, please.”

Once the room settled down, Zhang Pa began recounting history: “Let’s not talk about the old days, just the past two years. The year before last, Fatty said HN bananas weren’t selling, but he had a connection to get a railcar or two—so everyone chipped in to buy bananas. And the result? We never saw any railcars, just a big truck, and the highway fines alone cost us thousands. How much did you all lose?”

“That was just bad luck,” Fatty muttered.

“Last year, Turtle said government officials allowed fireworks for New Year’s—the source was a ‘big shot’ at the street office downstairs, swearing up and down while playing mahjong that the city government had approved it. Turtle got everyone to invest. And the result? That pile of stuff is still sitting in Tiger’s basement.

“Also last year, Sandeko wanted to start a company and dragged us to join. Old Meng, don’t laugh—it was you. You roped everyone in, saying we’d get shares without putting in money. Turned out to be debt collection for a loan shark. We made nothing, and Fatty and Sixie spent over a month locked up.

“Then this year, just two months ago, Flowerboy led the charge—said there was an investment company with ten percent returns, talked everyone into it, said your aunt and your second aunt had already invested, your whole family put in three or four hundred thousand, and the profits would show up by the end of the month. Everyone jumped in. And the result? The company went bankrupt, became a major city fraud case, and it’s still not solved. Old ladies are blocking the city hall doors every day.”

After all this, Zhang Pa shook his head. “Can’t we just live peacefully? Think before you act. Consider every possible outcome before you jump in.”

Having heard these tales of past glory, the men wore glum expressions, while the women looked around wide-eyed, fascinated.

Flowerboy, unwilling to back down, stood up and loudly retorted, “What you said did happen, we have to admit, but! You can’t say those things were all nonsense. The truth is, we just had bad luck. Take the banana thing—everything was lined up, money paid, but who could’ve known that the guy would drop dead drunk right after we bought the bananas? Who could have predicted that? That was just bad luck! As for the fireworks, we weren’t the only ones who lost money—lots of city officials did, too. The city allowed it, the province was fine, then suddenly smog became a global issue, and the government ordered a crackdown on air pollution. What can small folks like us do?

“As for the loan shark thing, first off, it was a legitimate financial company, legal and aboveboard. We were just working there—how could we have known the debtor would jump off a building?

“The investment company thing, I’ll admit, that one’s on me. But my relatives all made money—someone in their building invested a million and made a fortune. Even my own family made two months’ profit before I told you guys. Besides, there was insurance backing, the city government was promoting it. How can you blame small-timers like us for following the government? Who knew they were scammers? They fooled city leaders, too.”

Flowerboy continued, “Looking at the results, yeah, we did some stupid things. But haven’t you done stupid things too? You make a thousand a month, living off perfect attendance, saved for years just to self-publish a book, and it’s only the first volume. You think that’s meaningful? You think that was the right thing to do? And you could’ve written a few thousand more words, doubled your bonus, but you refused, riding your bike around town to sell books. How many did you sell? Wasting all that time—do you think that makes sense? Isn’t that foolish?”

Zhang Pa was stumped. He quietly replied, “It’s my passion.”

Flowerboy declared, “Well, making a web series and starting a company—that’s our passion.”

Turtle let out a howl and started clapping.

Zhang Pa quietly muttered, “Your passions change all the time.”

“So what if they do? At least we act on them. As long as we’re doing something, as long as it’s proper work…” Flowerboy coughed as he said the last part. “Why do I feel a little guilty saying that?”

“Because you never do proper work,” Fatty laughed.

“Screw you, you’re the one who never does anything proper,” Flowerboy shot back.

“Don’t forget how you turned my internet café into a pick-up joint and drove away all my customers,” Fatty revealed, grinning.

Flowerboy got flustered, “Can you ever stay on topic? When did I pick up girls?”

Fatty sighed, “People just can’t face their own flaws.”

“I’ll show you a flaw, you blockhead.” Flowerboy turned back to the matter at hand. “So, the idea’s out there. Anyone have thoughts? Especially the beautiful ladies—who’s willing to support our little dream?”

The two music girls said, “If we get to play the leads, we’ll join. We won’t take any salary until you make money—but you have to provide meals.”

“Deal,” Flowerboy replied, then turned to the others.

And so, with nothing in hand and nothing really clear, they were about to start a company.