Forced Me to Regress, Huh?

About two minutes later, Cheng Zhu’s grandmother emerged from the kitchen with a plate of freshly cut oranges.

Xu Yun looked at her parents and told them she had something to discuss. The three of them entered a room, leaving Cheng Zhu and Little Youzi in the living room watching TV.

This made Cheng Zhu even more certain that his mother was here to borrow money.

At this moment, the TV was playing Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.

Cheng Zhu accompanied Little Youzi, watching for ten minutes.

Just then, the door of the room opened. He looked back and noticed his mother’s eyes were a little red, and Grandpa Xu Chenglin was gently patting her shoulder.

Cheng Zhu knew that his mother had always been quick to tear up and cried easily.

It was likely his grandparents had said something heartfelt that moved her to tears.

Come to think of it, Mom still receives red packets every New Year. Grandpa and Grandma always prepare one for her, Cheng Zhu thought.

Every time she refuses, Grandpa glares at her and says, ‘Who says that a married daughter can’t be given money by her father?’

The family stayed at his grandparents’ house for another half-hour before leaving.

During this time, everyone kept Little Youzi company watching cartoons.

Once they got into the car, Xu Yun said to Cheng Zhu, “Didn’t you mention a small supermarket was up for transfer? Your dad and I went to check it out and are thinking about turning it into a fresh food store.”

“Huh? Really?” Cheng Zhu’s face immediately showed surprise, a look he felt could belong in a Beijing Film Academy acting textbook.

Xu Yun didn’t notice anything usual and nodded. “Your dad and I figured that while we still can, we should do more. Once we’re older, even if we want to, we won’t have the energy.”

Cheng Zhu resumed his usual playful grin and said, “Don’t push yourselves too hard. Your son is bound to achieve great things in the future.”

“Yeah, right!” Xu Yun smiled and said nothing more on the topic, only adding, “I’ll look forward to it, just a little.”

Cheng Zhu’s parents weren’t the type who believed in tough-love education.

They never undermined their children’s confidence.

In Old Cheng’s view, a man without any ambition couldn’t accomplish great things.

He wasn’t able to make big money or be the source of his son’s confidence. But at the very least, he never constantly denied his children and bred insecurity in them.

After the car arrived home, Xu Yun asked Cheng Zhu to take Little Youzi upstairs to wash up, as she still had to go to a restaurant to discuss something with Old Cheng.

Cheng Zhu nodded and held Little Youzi’s hand as they went upstairs.

While Little Youzi was brushing her teeth and taking a shower, Cheng Zhu turned on his computer to check his store’s backend.

The reason he had been increasingly busy lately was that he was trying to launch a hit product for his store, Keep Coming.

This was a fairly common operational strategy.

And the product Cheng Zhu was currently promoting was the stepmother dress.

From the front, the dress looked normal. The focus, however, was on the back and the side slits.

The reason for choosing this product was very simple. The name stepmother dress had become popular later, born out of silly netizens inventing random names with their quirky creativity.

With just these two words, the name exuded a sense of taboo.

So, in 2014, this name was quite novel and eye-catching. It might even spark a trend.

Additionally, this type of charming and elegant style stood out from the current mainstream sexy lingerie, taking a different path altogether.

Currently, many products took the most straightforward route—bold and daring.

What they wanted was the most immediate visual impact.

In contrast, products with subtle, hidden details like this were relatively uncommon on the market.

Cheng Zhu remembered a certain gray backless sweater dress (virgin killer sweater) that went viral on the internet for a while.

He planned to have the factory produce that design as well when the time came.

Of course. Relying solely on innovation won’t work in the domestic market. Soon, a wave of imitators will come to snatch your cake, Cheng Zhu thought, fully aware of this.

The sales of the stepmother dress he was selling were growing by the day.

It wouldn’t be long before many stores released similar designs, even using the same name.

But it didn’t bother him. He still had a few cards up his sleeve.

He still had many backup plans!

There’s no hurry. Let’s eat the cake at hand first, Cheng Zhu thought.

* * *

After telling Princess Little Youzi a bedtime story and coaxing her to sleep, Cheng Zhu returned to his room.

He turned off the silent mode on his phone and saw a few WeChat messages waiting for him.

To his surprise, they were from Shen Minglang.

Most of his interactions with this newfound cousin were in the group chat. Private conversations between them were rare.

Shen Minglang had asked, “What’s the name of your e-commerce store?”

Recently, things had been going well between him and Sun Yue, the influencer at his birthday party. The two of them were practically inseparable, living the so-called daily couple life.

This influencer had the charm of being a good female rider who delivered to his door. Her waist and hips were exceptional.

This trait made Boss Shen more than willing to spend money on her.

So today, he took her out shopping.

While shopping, he suddenly remembered. Oh, right! Doesn’t my cousin Cheng Zhu sell women’s clothing?

What style did he say it was last time? Ah, yes! Sports style for women!

Shen Minglang thought he should support his cousin’s business, and Sun Yue could wear the sports style clothing while working out.

Looking at the messages, Cheng Zhu felt amused.

He had always thought that people like Shen Minglang were definitely part of the high-spending customer demographic.

After thinking for a moment, he replied, “Cousin, I’ll tell you the name of my store, but you have to promise me to keep it a secret.”

“Why?” Shen Minglang asked, puzzled.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Cheng Zhu replied cryptically.

Although cryptic people could be annoying, they certainly knew how to arouse people’s curiosity.

“Okay, I won’t tell anyone the store’s name. You’re not selling anything shady, are you? Hahaha!” Shen Minglang joked.

Cheng Zhu knew that although Shen Minglang was frivolous, he still took his promises seriously. So he sent the store link right away.

In the end, Shen Minglang didn’t reply for a full fifteen minutes.

Is there really that much to see? Cheng Zhu wondered.

Then he checked the store’s backend and saw that Shen Minglang was placing orders like crazy.

He’s buying everything? Cheng Zhu blinked in surprise. So lavish!

Looks like the influencer is going to be busy and might be in for a tough time.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a villa in Hangzhou, Shen Minglang was really willing to open his wallet.

After entering the store, he was dumbfounded.

Damn, so this is the kind of amazing store he’s running!

Good one, Cheng Zhu. So it’s this kind of sports clothing, huh? Shen Minglang was shocked.

Moreover, due to Cheng Zhu’s advanced photo editing skills and the way product photos of lingerie models were often altered to make real people look almost like virtual characters—half real, half fake—Shen Minglang didn’t even recognize that the model was Yezi.

He first checked out the store’s best-selling product.

Not bad. This one’s only been on sale for a short time, and it’s already sold over a thousand this month.

Tsk, tsk, this design is great. It has such a seductive vibe… fuck! The back is full of tricks. It has so much potential for fun! Shen Minglang was undoubtedly an expert.

When he saw the name of this design, he was drinking water and nearly spat it out.

Stepmother dress?! Brilliant! This is fucking genius.

Where did this naming genius come from? How did he even come up with this? Shen Minglang was stunned.

Although he was frivolous, he had still been influenced by his family’s upbringing.

Shen Minglang knew well that a good product name was crucial for future promotion and marketing.

Before, he had always seen Cheng Zhu as a decent ‘fun friend’—someone with a lot of minor skills, interesting to talk to, and easygoing enough to enjoy hanging out with.

But now, he realized his cousin seemed to be something else entirely. How can an eighteen-year-old high school graduate be like this?

He clearly remembered what he was like when he graduated from high school and the kind of people his classmates were.

Back then, he had used the graduation red packet money from his family to top up over 100,000 yuan on Fantasy Westward Journey. When he quit playing, he even ended up making some money. He had thought he was absolutely awesome!

But comparing himself back then to Cheng Zhu, everything seemed laughable. Indeed, comparisons were odious.

He had dared to bet on a 0-0 scoreline in the World Cup finals. Now, he had set up an e-commerce company selling such products and even came up with so many tricks and ideas…

This cousin of mine… actually seems a bit wild! Shen Minglang’s eyes widened.

After the shock, a thought popped into his mind, one that seemed a bit ridiculous but somehow didn’t feel that way.

Could he actually be a business prodigy?

He had heard his father mention such people before—young folks who had a natural knack for things, whose futures were limitless.

“If you encounter a potential dragon like this, you, my foolish boy, should get into their good graces.” These were his father’s exact words.