Chapter 268: Proud Little Sheldon: Chuck, I'll Give You a Chance—I'll Make You Rich!
Not long after, Chief Randy Disher personally arrived to arrest Max Henson, who could no longer laugh.
New York University
In the sorority house dormitory.
Many girls were listening to the entire program.
When Max Henson muted Chuck and resumed his usual sharp-tongued style, speaking with unrestrained swagger...
One of the alpha-type girls looked smugly at her sorority sisters, her eyes gleaming: "That's my dad!"
"Max is amazing!"
"So what! What he did was disgusting, and that's Detective Chuck! I prefer Detective Chuck!"
"What does Detective Chuck have to do with you? Max is Dee's father! We're all sisters here—you should know which side to be on!"
"Dee, can we invite your dad to our mixer tonight?"
"Of course!"
Dee Henson, the alpha girl, laughed. "And he won the case this time, so forget paying $5 million—we don't even need to pay $500,000. That's enough for us to party for four years straight!"
"Long live Dee!"
Hearing her hint that as long as they were in the sorority, she would cover all the party expenses, everyone except those who disliked Dee cheered enthusiastically.
Even though Dee Henson was just starting college and should have been the lowest pledge in the sorority, money talks!
With a celebrity father and cash paving the way, Dee—a freshman who'd already been accepted into the sorority—already had the potential to compete for sorority president.
Dee glanced coolly at the sorority members who disliked her, thinking smugly, "64%!"
64% support wasn't enough to guarantee her position. Once she reached over 80% support, she would officially launch her campaign for leadership.
Since childhood, she'd always used money to get what she wanted.
This time was no exception.
But then, the situation changed dramatically. Chuck's voice returned to the radio, accusing Max Henson of murdering his ex-girlfriend and providing evidence.
When Chuck repeatedly asked Max Henson why he wasn't laughing anymore and told him to keep laughing, those in the sorority who already disliked Dee immediately became sarcastic and mocking.
"Dee, what's wrong? Why so serious?"
"Remember to invite your dad to our mixer tonight. A little thing like prison shouldn't be a problem for you, right?"
"I knew he wasn't a good person! Someone who can so readily and viciously accuse a mother of murdering her daughter must have done it himself. How else would he make such a connection?"
"Detective Chuck is so hot! I wish he could come to our party!"
Faced with the sudden reversal, Dee was consumed with anxiety. She no longer cared about the mockery from her enemies or the distancing from her former allies. She rushed out of the sorority house to find her father.
Everything she had was built on her father's status, wealth, and influence. Without it, her entire life would collapse.
There was even a high probability of serious blowback!
Because as a VIP player with cheat codes, ordinary entertainment was no longer enough for her. School pranks like the classic "tie someone up and leave them in a cornfield all night" were just basic amateur stuff.
She had experienced far more extreme things.
Now, thinking back on it briefly, the possibility of role reversal—something she'd never considered before—flashed through her mind, sending chills down her spine. She didn't think she could handle being on the receiving end.
That's right!
She wasn't worried about what would happen to her father, Max Henson; what raced through her mind was how her life would be destroyed because of this.
"Damn Detective Chuck! That bitch Jeanette only lost her life, but I'm about to have my whole life ruined!"
But this wasn't some melodramatic TV show!
Reality didn't obey her will. When she arrived at the police station, she found her father behind bars, unable to even muster a comforting smile.
The humorous, wealthy father of the past had vanished completely.
And as time passed, events confirmed her initial ominous premonition.
The funny and entertaining moments of the past no longer brought her laughter; instead, they filled her with terror.
"Detective Chuck, I'll never let you get away with this!!!"
Dee Henson, consumed by the consequences of her past cruelty (which she was completely unaware of), screamed inwardly.
Princeton University
Physics Lab.
Professor Alicia Florrick was conducting an experiment while her two research assistants exchanged glances.
"So, what do you think?"
Young Sheldon looked up at Chuck.
"You're not white trash."
Chuck nodded.
"Of course not!"
Young Sheldon frowned. "Although Missy says we're basically white trash because of our recent financial troubles, that doesn't include me.
I'm never trash; I'm a top university student on a full ride scholarship.
And thanks to my brilliant mind, they'll soon be rid of the white trash label because of me. After all, even if it's just a label, I don't like being associated with trash."
"Sheldon, is your family having difficulties lately?"
Professor Alicia Florrick looked up from the lab bench, concerned.
"Yes,"
Sheldon replied matter-of-factly. "My dad's high school football team has been a complete disaster because he doesn't have a genius son like me helping him design plays using advanced mathematics. The booster club parents are questioning his competence, and now he's been fired and can only work part-time at a sporting goods store owned by one of my Meemaw's ex-boyfriends.
My mom is about to become a grandmother out of wedlock because of my brother Georgie, and since I can't call the woman by her name, I refer to her as the 'Birthing Vessel.'
Interestingly, it's a term I coined, and I think it'll definitely catch on in the future…"
"Sheldon, get to the point!"
Professor Alicia Florrick couldn't help but interrupt Sheldon as he rambled about the etymology and future popularity of his new term "Birthing Vessel."
"Okay, where was I? Oh."
Young Sheldon was slightly annoyed at being interrupted, but he continued: "The birthing vessel doesn't want to marry Georgie, and my mother was kicked out of her church because she's about to have an illegitimate grandchild.
My Meemaw and Georgie drove to Mexico to make money, smuggled 400 cartons of cigarettes back, got caught at the border, spent a night in county lockup, and had to pay a $2,500 fine to get released.
As the person responsible for managing the family's tax returns, I have to say, our family's finances will completely collapse before Christmas."
"I see. Do you need help?"
Professor Alicia Florrick glanced at Chuck. "I believe Chuck would be happy to help you."
"No, he won't!"
Young Sheldon looked incredulous.
Chuck remained expressionless and noncommittal.
"He will,"
Professor Alicia Florrick smiled. "Don't let his usual teasing fool you; I believe he'll help you when you really need it."
"That's not 'teasing'! That's pure evil…"
Young Sheldon immediately protested indignantly when Professor Alicia Florrick characterized Chuck's past treatment of him as mere teasing.
Then, noticing Chuck's expressionless stare, he swallowed his words, raised his chin proudly, and said,
"Although my family isn't well-off financially, as I said, they have me!
And with me, all adversity will vanish under the power of my intellect!"
"Then why did I hear you asking Chuck for something?"
Professor Alicia Florrick smiled knowingly. "Weren't you asking for his help?"
"Of course not!"
Young Sheldon declared, head held high. "I'm giving him an opportunity to become wealthy!"
"Oh?"
Professor Alicia Florrick looked at him with interest, waiting for his explanation.
"As I just said, my dad, my mom, my Meemaw, and Georgie are all in financial trouble and completely helpless,"
Sheldon explained. "Even Missy is thinking about how to make money to save the family, but obviously, she can't succeed on her own.
So it has to be me!
Like those superheroes, I'll step in and save the day!
I've devoted some of my considerable brainpower to solving this problem, and after minimal contemplation, I've already developed a solution.
And it's a way to escape poverty once and for all.
Although it's also related to that annoying Howard…"
"This involves little Howard?"
Professor Alicia Florrick's eyes lit up with amusement.
She naturally knew about little Howard, not only because he was one of Sheldon's current friends, but also because of the sensational robotic hand kidnapping incident at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.
As one of the two protagonists in that bizarre series of events, little Howard was definitely memorable and unforgettable.
"Actually, it has very little to do with him…"
Young Sheldon was visibly annoyed and didn't want to give Howard credit, but under Professor Alicia Florrick's expectant gaze—and especially under Chuck the Demon King's watchful eyes—he could only sullenly recount the whole story.
"My first idea was to write a script. First, I love Star Trek, and I'd be thrilled to see my story produced for television.
Second, the show is incredibly famous, and writing one episode would earn substantial money.
So I wrote one immediately.
Then I showed it to Howard and Leonard.
Yes.
Because I needed to verify that the average television viewer could understand it.
And in my social circle, besides my dad, my mom, Georgie, Missy, and other family members, Howard and Leonard best represent the demographic.
Howard was the perfect test subject!
And they happen to be Star Trek fans too.
So I read them the plot of my latest episode. The story begins near the star Betelgeuse…"
"Stop!"
Professor Alicia Florrick interrupted Young Sheldon again, who was about to recite his entire script, and said with a wry smile, "No need to tell me the plot—I'm sure it's very interesting. Just tell me what happened."
"Your loss."
Young Sheldon shrugged. "Anyway, after hearing my story, Howard raised an objection, questioning the logic of my narrative.
He said that since my character was infected with a deadly virus in space, why would he return to the Enterprise and endanger everyone?
Actually, this isn't a logical flaw at all; it's something I deliberately wrote based on standard Hollywood conventions. That's how it's always portrayed in movies and TV shows.
According to film critics, this reflects the complexity of human nature and is essential to driving the plot forward.
So, in order to sell my story, I had to dumb down my writing to match the intellectual frequency of the simple-minded masses.
But even someone as intellectually limited as Howard questioned this, so I knew this approach wouldn't work.
There's no way around it!
I'm too intelligent!
Even when I significantly lower my intellectual output, I'm still operating far beyond what simple-minded people like Howard can comprehend.
So I decided to abandon this 'foolish' method of making money and instead monetize my superior intellect directly.
Do you remember the quarter up my nose incident?
That annoying Howard loves magic tricks, and after learning about that incident, he especially enjoys performing the trick of pulling a quarter from my ear, finding it endlessly entertaining.
This time, after I abandoned the script-writing approach, that fool thought he had actually won something. He reached for my ear again and pulled out a quarter.
At that moment, my superior brain immediately conceived a brilliant idea."
Here, he proudly raised his chin, looking up at Professor Alicia Florrick: "Prepare yourself to hear my genius plan!"
Seeing Professor Alicia Florrick's appropriately cooperative and expectant expression, Sheldon glanced at Chuck, gave him an 'that's the correct response' look, and then explained enthusiastically.
"Why is a one-dollar coin worth one dollar? Because people collectively agree it has value!
I could easily create money myself!
But not by counterfeiting!
I could create a decentralized, open-source digital currency, valuable because of mathematical scarcity.
First, assign value to mathematically rare number sequences and store them in a secure computer database.
Then create algorithms to 'mine' these numbers, and incentivize people to adopt this currency.
And when everyone uses this currency, as the creators, we will become extraordinarily wealthy!
I mean extraordinarily wealthy!
Oh, boy!
I'm about to become Batman… no, Iron Man!"
Young Sheldon was about to say he would become Batman, then instinctively looked at Chuck, changed his mind, and pouted in dissatisfaction.
In his mind, Iron Man was just a second-rate copycat, incomparable to Batman.
But now, Batman had been forever tainted for him because of Chuck, so he had no choice but to settle for the inferior option.
"That's certainly a brilliant idea."
Professor Alicia Florrick thought for a moment, then nodded and smiled. "It seems you'll need Chuck's investment to purchase your mainframe computer."
"Yes."
Young Sheldon appreciated Professor Alicia Florrick's quick thinking in keeping up with his reasoning, his eyes shifting to Chuck.
"I've already calculated the budget; a brand new mainframe costs $500,000. I don't think a certain someone would lack such a trivial sum!"
He couldn't hold back any longer, looking directly at Chuck: "You have the capital, I have the genius-level idea; let's partner up, and we'll both profit!"
"Chuck?"
Professor Alicia Florrick looked over curiously.
"Good idea. It seems little Howard really did inspire some useful thinking."
Chuck nodded. "This kind of digital currency definitely has significant potential in the future."
"So you agree?"
Sheldon asked excitedly.
If he hadn't been forced to, he really wouldn't have wanted Chuck as an investor.
But unfortunately, there weren't many wealthy people in his social circle.
His close friend Dr. Beverly Hofstadter had the money, but she bluntly stated she wasn't optimistic about the concept.
So he had no choice but to approach Chuck.
"No!"
Chuck shook his head.
"...Why?"
Young Sheldon complained, "This is clearly an opportunity for you to become wealthy! I thought with your intelligence, you wouldn't refuse!"
"For this type of cryptocurrency to succeed, it requires years of patient development and market adoption. Your family's financial situation won't allow you to wait that long,"
Chuck stated bluntly. "Secondly, as always, your so-called genius idea isn't your original creation. Someone else conceived of it long ago and has already implemented it.
Finally, I never need anyone to help me get rich!
I'm already rich!
Even if this cryptocurrency succeeds, it's only marginally better than nothing; it won't transform anyone into Batman.
And you know—"
Young Sheldon involuntarily imagined Chuck whispering 'I am Batman' in his mind: "..."
(End of Chapter)
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