From Buying Boxed Lunches to Losing My Way to Becoming the Richest Man

[A fresh take on the genre, with a lighthearted, everyday feel] Just fired, Wang Hao awakens the Wealth System: for every thousand yuan he earns, he gets one yuan back; for every yuan he loses, he gets a hundred yuan back. The System operates in month-long cycles. Wang Hao picks the most remote wasteland on the edge of town and sets up a stall to start his business. From the start, he sells boxed meals, hires people, and buys equipment, spending nearly all his money. On their first day of work, he pays everyone’s monthly wages. The restaurant opens quietly, without any fanfare. But the new little diner’s boxed meals and stir-fries become a huge hit. After a hectic lunchtime, Wang Hao realizes the place seems impossible to run at a loss. So he promptly hires more staff to drive up costs, then hands the little diner over to the new head chef. But after one betrayal after another, and all the wild assumptions people make, the little diner only gets more popular. Wang Hao tries all sorts of things to lose the money he’s earned, but the diner keeps booming, and every venture he starts in hopes of losing money turns into a cash cow. Eventually, Wang Hao starts taking on new challenges, moving from supermarkets to internet cafes. His businesses keep multiplying, and so does his fortune. Little by little, thanks to his determined efforts to sabotage himself, as well as his employees’ assumptions and help, he becomes the richest man on his street, in his district, in his city, in his province, and then in the country, before finally becoming the richest man in the world. Whenever reporters interview him, he looks like a man who regrets ever starting a business. For example: “I don’t like money, and I don’t even know what it looks like. The happiest I’ve ever been was when I lived in a twenty-square-meter rental, doing nothing but watching videos all day.” A reporter asks, “Then how did you make your first fortune?” “What do you mean, make money? I’m trying to lose it.”