Chapter 139: The Housewarming Banquet

Old Gou-dan leaned over to take a look, and what fell out was, surprisingly, a gold-colored card.

He scratched the back of his head, struggling to recall the details. "Oh, right, Ye Chen gave this to me that night. It seems to be the money he got from selling some rock."

At that time, he had been so worried about his daughter's disappearance that he had completely forgotten about the card. Was a stored-value card more important than his daughter? In the state of mind he was in then, if he could have secured his daughter's safety by squandering his entire family fortune, both he and his wife, Jingjing, would have raised both hands—and their feet—in agreement.

Suddenly, a numbing sensation like an electric current surged through Old Gou-dan’s body, making him tremble. He finally realized there was something wrong with the color of the card. A gold card? Gold? What kind of level was this? He had only ever seen red and blue ones; even his boss only owned a blue card. He had never had the opportunity to come into contact with anything higher.

"Perhaps it was my state of mind that night, or maybe the orange light in the room affected my judgment of the color..." he could only explain to himself.

Old Gou-dan’s rough fingers pinched the edge of the card, trembling as he gingerly inserted it into the card reader. The reading process took only a few seconds, but to him, it felt as long as several centuries. This was a classic case of "approach-avoidance conflict"—simply put, having obtained something, one fears the loss of it.

The next moment, the screen changed, and the balance appeared before his eyes.

"Eight... eight..." Because there were so many zeros, the uneducated, rugged man couldn't read the number. After finally counting the zeros, he cautiously asked the attendant at the counter, who blurted out, "Eight million."

Old Gou-dan was stunned, doubting he had heard correctly.

***

Old Gou-dan couldn't remember what he had eaten with his coworkers at lunch. He had simply asked for time off, wanting to go home and rest in the afternoon. His excuse was that he wasn't feeling well, and his coworkers, assuming his old arm injury was acting up on this cloudy day, readily agreed. Little did they know, his heart was beating too fast for him to handle; he just wanted some peace and quiet.

When he returned home and opened the door, little Dan-zai, wearing two pigtails, came running over and hugged his leg, chirping in her childish voice, "Daddy, Big Brother Ye Chen came by this morning. He said we should go to his house for dinner tonight. Can I go?"

Regaining his focus, Old Gou-dan looked at young Lu-dan. His mother had also gone out to work, so the two siblings were home alone. Ever since the incident where he lost his sister, young Lu-dan had been very well-behaved and didn't dare wander the streets.

Young Lu-dan added, "Oh, Brother Ye Chen said he moved into a new place and invited us to celebrate his housewarming. Here, the address is right here. Are we going?"

To his surprise, his father acted uncharacteristically, speaking with great speed: "Yes, we must go. Hmm, you two should tidy up as well. We’ll head to the market first to buy some things to bring over tonight. Also, on the way, tell me again about that 'rock' from the other day. Tell me very carefully."

***

For the past few days, Ye Shan-shan hadn't set up her stall, busy instead with settling into their new home, while Ye Chen contentedly played the role of the idle shopkeeper. Although life was comfortable, he felt that the young girl had been looking at him with hostility recently and was deliberately avoiding him. There was no need to guess; the "Back-Eye Wisdom" ability had clearly left her with some trauma.

The new home was now organized. The young girl hadn't thrown away a single usable item left by the previous landlord. Many items of sentimental value from their old house were moved over cart by cart, as if by a busy squirrel. As a result, the overall style of the house felt both unfamiliar and familiar to Ye Chen.

Today was the day they officially moved in. Sitting on the newly purchased sofa and watching Ye Shan-shan busy in the kitchen, Ye Chen sighed softly. "Is it really necessary to guard against me like a thief?!"

The premise for this comment was that his room was assigned to the first floor, while Ye Shan-shan had chosen the furthest bedroom on the second floor for herself to ensure the greatest possible distance between them.

Ye Chen shouted toward the kitchen, "Don't prepare too many dishes, don't want to waste them."

The little chef, busy preparing ingredients, replied indignantly, "Shut up, you stingy pervert."

Labeled with a new title, the man silently withdrew his gaze and muttered to himself, "Isn't this method of mine quite good? I’m even proud of my own behavior. Even if I have money, I can't spend it like this!"

The origin of this matter was that he had called all his good friends, not even sparing Miss Yuan-zi, who was far away in the inner city, but he hadn't forgotten to add one sentence: "Remember to bring a dish!"

He did a quick mental calculation—hehe, just enough to fill a table.

***

As evening approached, his friends arrived one after another. To his surprise, the first to arrive was young Lu-dan's family. Watching the family of four, everyone carrying a large bag—except for little Dan-zai—Ye Chen and Ye Shan-shan were dumbfounded.

...I remember telling you to bring a dish, not a whole banquet!

Old Gou-dan looked at Ye Chen, now fully recovered from his injuries, and couldn't help but want to kneel on the spot. It was a mix of gratitude for saving his daughter's life and thanks for the sudden material fortune that had descended upon them. It must have taken immense willpower to resist the temptation of such a huge sum of money—a fortune he and Lu-dan's mother could never earn in their entire lives.

On the way over, the couple had discussed this deeply. The conclusion was that Ye Chen was truly their family's benefactor. Hearing this, young Lu-dan held his shaved head high, feeling even more admiration.

Ye Shan-shan wanted to send back the ingredients and gifts, but Lu-dan's mother, Jingjing, wouldn't hear of it; she almost blurted out, "Our family has money."

Left with no choice, she could only glare at Ye Chen in frustration, her eyes seemingly saying, "Aren't you ashamed of yourself!"

The second to arrive was their neighbor, Meng She, with his wife Xiulan and their cute daughter, Niu-niu. Xiulan brought a pot of her own homemade stew, the aroma of which made Ye Chen swallow hard. Niu-niu was the only other child there, and she immediately found a playmate; the two girls made a cute pair, doubling the charm.

Watching the two little ones squatting by the empty, unplanted plot of land, playing with the soil using small branches, Ye Chen resisted the urge to reward them with his small shovel... he figured if he did, Shan-shan would beat him into a pulp.

Seeing that there were still so many ingredients left to process, Mrs. Meng She rolled up her sleeves and rushed into the kitchen battlefield. Ye Shan-shan blushed and didn't dare to explain that these were just the people who had come over for dinner.

Their neighbor, Meng She, worked at the Inner City Industrial Bureau. Although he wasn't a high-ranking official, being able to afford a house in the Tenth Residential District meant his income was decent.

...Hmm, he has some connections, a judgment Ye Chen had made early on.

Among all the factories under the jurisdiction of the Industrial Bureau, the most mysterious was the Core Energy Factory. Previously, when he wanted to chat about this with his neighbor, the other man had shaken his head and refused. He claimed he had signed a confidentiality agreement and that the one thing he absolutely could not talk about was the Core Energy Factory. Ye Chen had to let it go.

But it wasn't impossible to get information. Meng She had once asked him privately, "The way you tied that rope the other day was quite creative. Could you teach me?" As he asked, his eyes kept darting toward his wife, his expression full of lingering memories.

Ye Chen remained calm, but inside, he was ranting... Are you two addicted to this?!

So-called secrets were often worthless in the face of a scoundrel's personal problems. Old Gou-dan really wanted to find an opportunity to have a good chat with his benefactor, but he was unfortunately cornered by the naturally outgoing Meng She, as Ye Chen had gotten up to go to the courtyard to open the gate and welcome the third wave of guests.