This time, he succeeded. He was sent by the time machine to a parallel world in 1992, becoming a fresh graduate of Renmin University.

By the way, this graduate’s luck was no different from that of Franklin Turner in his previous life. The planned economics department he studied in disappeared with the advent of the market economy in the second year after his graduation, adding a bold stroke to his record of catching the last train.

When Franklin Turner crossed over, his predecessor had already received the assignment certificate from the Ministry of Machinery and was assigned to work in the Electromechanical Division of the Second Bureau of the Ministry.

For students of their year, being able to stay in Beijing and work in a ministry was a very good choice. Back then, college graduates hadn’t depreciated like they would in later years. A bona fide university graduate assigned to a ministry, working diligently for a few years, achieving a bit of success, getting promoted to deputy section chief before 30, and to deputy bureau chief before 40—that was enough to bring honor to the family.

But as a transmigrator, Franklin Turner didn’t have much expectation for such a position or such a future. As he told the junior students he had talked into coming, the early 1990s was the era when China fully entered the market economy. All barriers that restricted innovation and entrepreneurship were broken, while the legal norms to regulate market behavior had yet to be established.

This was an era where you could do as you pleased, an era where, as long as you dared to think and act, you could get rich overnight.

For example, pyramid schemes, which would later be as reviled as rats crossing the street, were still a positive term in this era, representing an advanced marketing model, praised by countless marketing professors in universities. When Franklin Turner saw one academic article after another introducing and extolling the pyramid scheme model in academic journals, he truly felt like crying but had no tears. In his previous life, why was his fate so bitter!

But, thank heaven, thank black technology, thank CCTV, I, Franklin Turner, am finally about to see the end of my hardships, finally about to have my time to shine!

This was the heartfelt cry from the depths of Franklin Turner’s soul after overcoming his initial discomfort upon crossing over.

Although he knew the history of the coming decades, Franklin Turner wasn’t planning to quit his job and go into business just yet. Ministry offices were a place where you were guaranteed a stable income no matter what, you could get a housing allocation, get promoted, and meet people from all walks of life, which would help expand his network.

In his previous life, after screwing up a project, he had to survive on instant noodles for months, unable to afford authentic Fuling pickled mustard, only able to buy Peiling’s. No one knew better than him the necessity of having an iron rice bowl. At least, until he achieved complete financial freedom, he wouldn’t consider quitting.

Alright, actually, there was another, even more important reason he didn’t dare to quit: in this life, his biological father had once earnestly warned him that if Franklin Turner dared to quit his job and go into business, he would personally break all his legs.

His father, William Turner, was a somewhat educated rural farmer, physically strong but simple-minded. In the memories Franklin Turner inherited from his predecessor, William Turner always believed in “spare the rod, spoil the child.” The number of times Franklin Turner was beaten growing up was more than the number of fools scammed by P2P websites in later years... Ugh, another sad memory.

Franklin Turner had also seriously considered whether, as a transmigrator, he should accept his predecessor’s biological father, mother, younger sister, and a vast sea of aunts. Later, he found the answer in biology: no matter who his soul was now, at least the genes in his body were inherited from his parents in this life. Being filial to his parents was respecting his genes, and respecting his genes was respecting science.

Besides, when he went home to visit, the love from his parents was completely genuine, and the affection from his sister was even more impossible to part with. As for the aunts, well, he’d sort that out slowly in the future.

Although he didn’t plan to resign from his public post for now, Franklin Turner couldn’t wait even a moment and immediately launched his money-making plan. He pulled in his best friend from university, Jack Warren, as a partner, and made his first pot of gold by “compiling books.” The idea of compiling books wasn’t invented by Franklin Turner; he had stolen it from a successful person he’d heard about in his previous life.

He had it all planned out: in this life, he would first make quick money by compiling books, then move into several hot industries. With his initial capital, he would buy “Facebook,” hire Zuckerberg as his lackey, buy shares in Apple and block Steve Jobs’ path, and become sworn brothers with Larry Page to start a website called “Google”... In short, whatever made money in the future, he’d get in on it first. In his previous life, he always missed out on the hottest opportunities; in this life, he was going to be the man at the top of the food chain!

“Old Eight, what are you laughing at?”

Jack Warren looked at Franklin Turner, who was standing on the podium grinning like a simple-minded child, and asked irritably. The students who had just been “trained” (brainwashed) had already left, but for some reason, Franklin Turner was still standing there, lost in thought.

“Hm?”