On the first day after a System dropped into her lap and made her a tycoon, Song Ruyi bought a house, bought a car, chartered a yacht, and cleared out her shopping cart.
It felt great, so great she was practically throwing money around without a care.
But as she kept enjoying herself, she suddenly realized:
Money was unlimited, but happiness wasn't.
Once all her material desires had been fulfilled overnight, she had skipped straight past the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, "physiological and safety needs." What began surfacing instead was more complicated: loneliness, emptiness, and the unanswerable question, "What am I even doing with my life?"
Song Ruyi suddenly realized that, without meaning to, she had begun chasing the very top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs:
self-actualization.
From that day on, a new note quietly appeared beside her life's goals.
Every morning when she woke up, Song Ruyi asked herself: Now that I'm a tycoon, what do I want to do today?
Today, she wanted to hang out with her friends.
So she started helping friends who'd been crushed by reality fulfill, one by one, the dreams they had never dared to pursue.
Today, she saw a report about a disaster-stricken area.
So she joined the Blue Sky Rescue team, donated supplies, volunteered her time, and went to the scene herself, instead of merely sighing at the screen.
Today, she thought, How can this world not have a single truly good show?
So she jumped in as an investor, pouring in money to protect actors, save screenwriters, and back directors, investing in talented people who were being held down.
Other tycoons spent their money to enjoy themselves.
She became a tycoon to enjoy herself, too, but also to reshape the world, bit by bit, into what she wanted it to be.
Only later did Song Ruyi realize that when money stopped being something you merely possessed and became the power to choose...
That was when the real life of a tycoon had just begun.
Core Theme: True freedom means having the power to choose.
