June 27th, Monday.

Handong University, Counselor Zhang Wei’s office.

“Donate again? And add another five million?” Zhang Wei’s mouth hung slightly open, unable to close for a long time.

This morning, Pei Qian had come to his office again, expressing his intention to renew all the previous subsidies for impoverished students and additionally donate another five million.

The previous five million covered 2,000 students, providing a monthly subsidy of 500 yuan for five months, directly deposited to their campus cards for basic living expenses.

From December until now, the time had just elapsed, and another five million was already being added.

Besides this, Pei Qian wanted to add five million more to be distributed as scholarships.

Still based on the current list of impoverished students, 500 academically outstanding students would be selected, each receiving a 10,000 yuan scholarship.

Pei Qian’s goal remained consistent: precisely targeted poverty alleviation, with no waste.

There are many poor people in this world. Although making charitable donations serves the same purpose, giving money to different people produces completely different effects.

Some people lack awareness, and simply giving them money cannot change their impoverished fate.

But for impoverished students, especially those with excellent grades, such money could change their lives and allow them to make outstanding contributions to society.

Pei Qian now had a charity quota of ten million. It seemed like a lot, but compared to the number of poor people in the world who needed relief, it was still a drop in the ocean.

His primary goal was to ensure this money reached the hands of those who needed it most.

“Alright, Teacher Zhang, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be going now.”

Pei Qian had come mainly to resolve this charitable donation, and now that it was settled, he needed to return to worrying about how to lose money.

Zhang Wang and He Desheng’s move of using both the Shared Phone Booths and Study Master Come Quick to promote the Thriller Lodge had caught Pei Qian completely off guard.

“Ah, wait, wait, wait.”

Zhang Wei quickly stopped Pei Qian: “Wait a moment, there’s something else.”

Pei Qian: “Hmm?”

Zhang Wei smiled: “I fully support donating money to improve the lives of impoverished students, but… what about the lecture we agreed on earlier? Did you forget due to your busy schedule?”

Pei Qian: “…”

He had indeed forgotten.

When he first donated, Zhang Wei had mentioned hoping to arrange a lecture for Pei Qian to share employment or entrepreneurship experiences with the senior students.

After all, from Zhang Wei’s perspective, Pei Qian was undoubtedly a business genius. To say he had no experience to share would be unbelievable.

But Pei Qian was also at a loss—he had no experience to share!

Moreover, Pei Qian didn’t want to be in the spotlight in front of these senior students or become a celebrity at the school, with students approaching him for jobs wherever he went.

But since Zhang Wei had mentioned it twice, and he had already declined once, refusing again seemed inappropriate.

Pei Qian thought for a moment: “Well… how about this?”

“I’ll find someone to speak in my place, and I’ll provide the speech. That’s roughly equivalent to me giving the lecture, right?”

“As for the content of the lecture…”

“There’s not much to say about employment and entrepreneurship experiences. As you know, Teacher Zhang, entrepreneurship involves a lot of chance. My experience is not replicable and might even be misleading.”

“As for employment… Tenda now uses standardized exams. Practicing more questions is better than anything else.”

“How about giving a lecture to these impoverished students instead? The theme could be about how they should make good use of this money.”

Zhang Wei thought about it and realized this made sense.

Entrepreneurial experience isn’t replicable, and talking too much about it might indeed be misleading. As for employment experience, that was handled by the Human Resources Department, which Pei Qian wouldn’t interfere with.

He had already donated fifteen million to impoverished students. Though it wasn’t much when divided among individuals, it was still a significant sum.

Giving them a lecture to help them better utilize this money was reasonable and more appropriate than discussing entrepreneurial experiences.

Zhang Wei nodded: “Alright, I’ll make the arrangements and send the time and location to your phone.”

…

After leaving Zhang Wei’s office, Pei Qian first called Tang Yishu.

“Xiao Tang, help me give a lecture to all the impoverished students that Tenda has sponsored.”

“What? Shy? No, this is an assignment, you must go.”

“The script? Oh, don’t worry, it will be sent to you before the speech.”

“Good, then it’s settled.”

After hanging up, Pei Qian called Assistant Xin.

“Help me write a speech for impoverished students.”

“No specific requirements for the content, just write something about using this wealth wisely, that’s fine.”

“When can it be completed?”

“Tomorrow morning? Good, once it’s done, send it directly to Xiao Tang.”

After hanging up, Pei Qian felt completely relieved.

Done, easily handled!

Pei Qian hadn’t thought too much about it. After all, his charitable donations weren’t for show or fame; they were purely to provide help to impoverished students while also spending the system’s charity quota.

His only concern was that some impoverished students might spend the money incorrectly.

So, arranging a speech would hopefully provide some positive guidance to these students.

Of course, the actual effect would depend on how well Assistant Xin’s script was written.

…

…

The next afternoon.

Handong University Science Hall.

This was the largest hall at Handong University, capable of accommodating over two thousand people. It was primarily used for large lectures, welcoming performances for new students, stage plays, and so on.

Now, all the impoverished students had arrived, filling almost every seat in the hall except for a few at the very back.

Logically, there should have been a banner above the stage at least indicating the theme of the lecture.

But Pei Qian’s script had not yet arrived, so they didn’t know what banner would be appropriate.

However, this wasn’t the focus—everyone knew why they were there.

Before the lecture began, the impoverished students below the stage were discussing among themselves.

“Today’s lecture is supposed to be about wealth perspective?”

“Is there something wrong with our wealth perspective?”

“Hard to say. I’ve seen impoverished students eating steamed buns every day but buying Pineapple phones.”

“True, it should be discussed properly. If someone uses this money to buy shoes, bags, or phones, are they even human?”

Zhang Wei was also sitting below the stage, thinking that this setup was too simplistic.

He had originally wanted to add more elements to the event. After all, a donation of ten million yuan warranted at least a donation ceremony.

But Pei Qian had firmly refused, repeatedly emphasizing that he only wanted a simple speech, with no additional procedures, or else even the speech would be canceled.

Zhang Wei had no choice but to let things proceed naturally.

“I wonder who Pei Qian will send to speak.”

“A company vice president? At least a Human Resources Department director, right?”

“Hmm, strange, where’s Xiao Tang?”

Zhang Wei remembered that Tang Yishu should also be an impoverished student, but he hadn’t seen her.

However, while he was wondering, he saw Tang Yishu appear from backstage with a speech in hand, walking to the podium at the center of the stage.

Zhang Wei: “…”

…

Tang Yishu stood in the center of the stage, looking at the sea of people below, feeling even more nervous.

During her rehearsal this morning, two microphones had mysteriously malfunctioned. The staff had just been about to send them for repair when they mysteriously started working again, leaving everyone perplexed.

Now, Tang Yishu had no other requests except hoping the microphone wouldn’t malfunction again.

“Fe-fellow students…”

“Good afternoon, everyone.”

Tang Yishu carefully delivered her opening remarks. Fortunately, the microphone worked normally.

It seemed that the morning’s incidents had used up all the bad luck.

“Today, Mr. Pei, who donated the living subsidies and scholarships, could not attend due to his busy work schedule. Therefore, I will read this letter to all students on his behalf, hoping it will provide some inspiration.”

Tang Yishu paused slightly and began to recite the speech in her hand.

“Dear juniors, hello everyone. I apologize that I cannot be present due to work reasons and can only convey my vision and expectations to you through this letter, sharing some life experiences.

“Perhaps many of you think I’m going to talk about how to use the money in your hands.

“Perhaps some students worry that some who receive scholarships will spend the money on things with no practical significance, only to boost their vanity.

“But everyone understands such principles, and I don’t want to repeat these common topics.

“I want to take a different angle to discuss the perspective on wealth.

“That is, what is the true wealth that we possess and should cherish?

“Most students here probably don’t believe they once had or currently have abundant wealth.

“I believe everyone has had this confusion: How should I acquire wealth?

“Some people spend most of their energy on part-time jobs to acquire wealth, affecting their studies;

“Some people, due to poverty, are reluctant to eat properly or buy necessary study materials, hoarding all their money like misers, as if spending money would make them lose their sense of security.

“I want to tell everyone that these are incorrect wealth perspectives—wasting your true wealth for a small amount of money.

“Please consider a question: What are you willing to exchange to possess wealth?

“Suppose you are a blacksmith in ancient times, and one day, you have no food. To obtain grain, you have three paths:

“Grow it yourself.

“Steal or rob.

Forge a farming tool and exchange it with farmers.

“Most people would choose the third path, and you’ll find that by continuously producing iron tools for exchange, you’ll become increasingly wealthy. So, the foundation of acquiring wealth is ‘exchange.’

“Then, if you choose to grow it yourself, or to steal or rob, does that mean there’s no exchange?

“No.

“The first option involves exchanging your time, labor, and farming experience; the second option involves exchanging your force, risk, weapons carried, and preparation for the crime.

“So, regardless of which choice, fundamentally, they all involve exchange, and the cost is not lower than forging a farming tool.

“Every choice you make to acquire wealth is essentially an exchange.

“So, apart from those predetermined parts at birth that you cannot control, what is the true wealth we possess that can be used for exchange?

“Is it money? No, it doesn’t truly belong to us; it’s just the numerical existence of the portion of wealth you’ve already exchanged.

“Is it time? No, the passage of time is not swayed by human will.

“Is it the body? This is indeed wealth you possess, but if you use it to exchange for wealth, you will certainly fall into regret.

“Everyone’s greatest wealth is actually ‘attention,’ or ‘energy.’

“If you want to earn money through work, just sitting in the office is useless; you need to focus your attention on work and then use your knowledge to solve problems.

“And knowledge is gained by focusing attention in class and at work.

“Apart from the portions we cannot control, the only wealth we possess is attention.

“The wealth perspective I want to share with everyone today is: how should we utilize our attention?

“Perhaps many will waste it;

“Perhaps many will have it harvested by some businesses with ulterior motives;

“Perhaps it will be exploited in the form of big data analysis.

“Many students complain about why they were born poor, why they were born unequal. This complaining mentality will destroy you, making you waste your attention, causing your life to continue failing.

“If we want to change our fate, we must project our attention onto ourselves.

“Reading a book for an hour every day, accumulating over time, will yield unimaginable improvements.

“So, I hope that students who receive this money don’t hoard it all, reluctant to spend; nor buy meaningless things that only satisfy vanity; and don’t spend it on entertainment activities that disperse attention and make people indulge.

“Spend this money where it’s truly needed: improving yourself.

“Always remember, attention is the most precious wealth for all of us. I hope everyone can make good use of it and treat it well.

“This is the little, shallow knowledge about wealth that I wanted to share with everyone.”