Rebirth Must Be Happy

Chapter 486 [476] Chest Higher Than Head
"Of course I do."

Xu Jinhuan noticed Yu Peishan and the others' gazes, and could only try his best to appear as if the two siblings had a good relationship. He answered naturally and then asked, "Why are you in such a good mood today? Don't you have any homework?"

"I've finished writing."

Song Zhiyu gave a soft hum, "Now we can have some fun. Where are you?"

"Just got off work, I'm at your Xingzhu sister's place."

Xu Jinhuan adjusted the camera to capture Chen Xingzhu and the others in the shot, saying, "I was just about to mooch a meal, but I haven't had a chance yet."

"I also want to freeload a meal."

Song Zhiyu immediately let out an "ah" that trailed off like a spoiled kitten, "Sister Xingzhu, when I come, will you treat me to a meal?"

Chen Xingzhu turned around and smiled, "Okay, come now, and I'll treat you to a meal right now."

"Not sincere."

Song Zhiyu snorted in dissatisfaction, "You only said that on purpose because you know I can't go now... Sister Wanqing, then you can treat me to a meal later."

Xie Wanqing smiled and said, "Okay, when you come, we'll each treat you to a meal."

"Sister Shan, you're here too?"

Song Zhiyu had met Yu Peishan before when Chen Xingruo participated in the final of The Voice of China, and greeted her and Chen Xingyu via video, even including "Panda". Unfortunately, Panda was not familiar with her and didn't pay much attention to her.

"Alright, you guys go ahead and wander around. I've also made plans to have dinner with my classmates."

Seeing that Xu Jinhuan had other people with him, Song Zhiyu ended the conversation after a few words, saying, "I'll be going in a few days, then we can hang out together."

"Bye-Bye."

Xu Jinhuan hung up the phone, and Yu Peishan glanced at him and smiled, "I felt last time that you two siblings had a good relationship. I heard from Xingzhu that she's your cousin?"

"Yes, my uncle's daughter."

Xu Jinhuan explained frankly, "My uncle and aunt are divorced and live overseas. She lives alone in China and stays at my house. She basically treats my house as her own home."

He deliberately blurred the timeline, making it sound as if Song Zhiyu had grown up in his home since childhood, which made the close relationship between the siblings seem very natural.

However, if we state the facts and say that she only came to our home when she was about to start high school, it doesn't seem so natural.

"pretty good."

Yu Peishan smiled and didn't ask any further questions.

The group strolled around the neighborhood for a bit, and before they even went home, Yu Peishan's phone rang. She picked up her phone to reply to the message, and then said to Chen Xingzhu, "It's rare to see your dad come home so early today."

Chen Xingzhu laughed and said, "I guess he knows he hasn't had dinner at home for several days, and he's afraid you'll scold him."

Xie Wanqing was not very familiar with Chen Guiliang, and having heard Chen Xingzhu mention some of the rich man's deeds, she naturally harbored some wariness and suspicion.

After all, she knew very well how attractive her figure was to men, and as for age and fertility, they were never a barrier in the eyes of certain groups.

After all, Yu Peishan wasn't much older than her, and she had called Yu Peishan "Auntie" from the beginning, which meant she had similar thoughts.

Hearing that Chen Guiliang had returned, Xie Wanqing felt a little uneasy, but looking at Xu Jinhuan beside her, she felt a little relieved and stopped thinking about it.

In fact, this was just overthinking. For Chen Guiliang, most women are a kind of resource. Since that's the case, if he wanted to, he would naturally be surrounded by all kinds of high-quality resources and wouldn't do the kind of stupid thing that Xie Wanqing was worried about.

When the group returned home, they didn't see Chen Guiliang. Yu Peishan smiled and said, "He's probably upstairs having tea again. You guys go over there."

Xie Wanqing followed Chen Xingzhu and Xu Jinhuan to the rooftop terrace, where she saw Chen Guiliang sitting on a recliner with a teapot and teacups beside him, leisurely enjoying tea with his eyes closed.

"Hey!"

Chen Xingyu ran over, probably making a sound to scare his father, "Dad, you've gotten tea in your eyes!"

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

Chen Guiliang scoffed at his son, then, seeing his daughter and Xu Jinhuan approach, he sat up, raised his hand, and said with a smile, "Try this year's pre-Qingming Longjing tea."

"Thank you uncle."

Xu Jinhuan had known him for quite some time, so she didn't stand on ceremony and went over to sit down.

Chen Xingzhu, arm in arm with Xie Wanqing, walked over as well. Xie Wanqing greeted them, "Hello, Uncle."

"Hello, please sit down."

Chen Guiliang greeted him with a smile and sat up to pour him tea.

Xu Jinhuan clasped his hands in thanks, took a sip of tea, and asked, "Have people started drinking pre-Qingming Longjing tea yet? What's the price now?"

"It's almost May, we've already started drinking it."

Chen Guiliang looked a little tired, but his expression was relaxed. He smiled and said, "The first batch is expensive and hard to buy. It's much cheaper now. You can buy it for a few thousand yuan. If you like to drink it, someone just gave me a few kilograms. You can take it with you later."

"Okay, thank you, Uncle."

Xu Jinhuan remained unceremonious, saying, "I don't drink much myself, but I'll send some to my grandfather later. He likes it and has never had such expensive tea before."

Xie Wanqing turned to look at Chen Xingzhu, seemingly wanting to say something, but remained silent.

Chen Xingzhu noticed and immediately understood, smiling as she said, "My dad has hidden away the good tea; he doesn't need it."

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "Don't make me sound like I'm stingy. Tell me what kind of tea you'd like to drink later."

"Okay, I definitely won't be polite."

Xu Jinhuan drank two more cups of tea and asked, "When does Uncle plan to sell those large commodities he has?"

After being reborn, aside from some information that interested him in his previous life, Xu Jinhuan mainly remembered major events.

These events are of little significance to ordinary people and are difficult to utilize, but for others, any piece of information is invaluable.

Chen Guiliang belongs to the latter category.

2014 was a turbulent year, and it can be said that many major global upheavals that would occur more than a decade later were foreshadowed in this year. Xu Jinhuan then consciously revealed some of his judgments during a casual conversation with Chen Guiliang.

Chen Guiliang was initially hesitant to believe it, but after many major events unfolded in accordance with Xu Jinhuan's predictions, he became less stubborn and began making some preparations at the beginning of the year based on Xu Jinhuan's assessment.

Whenever there is political turmoil, commodity prices inevitably rise. Chen Guiliang therefore stockpiled some in advance, including futures. In the past two months—especially in March when Da Mao and Er Mao had a "minor dispute," international commodity prices rose rapidly. Chen Guiliang earned more than two villas of this size overnight.

As he grew increasingly amazed by his future son-in-law, he also felt a deep admiration that he would never dare to express, which led to the gradually harmonious and relaxed way they got along. "We've already done some, let's take it slow."

Chen Guiliang smiled and nodded, "This incident has affected more than just these things. Even if it's really as you say, it shouldn't fall so quickly."

"Let's hurry up. We don't know much about these things. Let's quit while we're ahead."

Xu Jinhuan vaguely remembered that commodity prices began to plummet in the second half of the year. He heard this while chatting with someone over drinks after another crisis was triggered in 2022. Although the other person was not a professional and was just bragging at the dinner table, such past events were probably still credible.

"Row."

Chen Guiliang thought for a moment and nodded. With his current wealth, he was starting to make more conservative decisions. Just as Xu Jinhuan said, he should know when to stop.

He had witnessed the consequences of greed more than once.

"He's doing business with your dad?"

Xie Wanqing listened to their conversation from the side and vaguely understood some of it. Curious, she asked Chen Xingzhu.

"It's not a collaboration."

Chen Xingzhu shook her head. "My dad heard there was money to be made, so he started speculating."

"We've been reforming and opening up for so many years, what are you talking about here?"

Chen Guiliang was immediately displeased when his daughter complained about him like that. "Besides, it's not like I didn't invite him to join. Jin Huan only invested less money, so you can't blame me, right?"

"I hadn't planned this before, and I hadn't saved much money."

Xu Jinhuan said with a smile that he had talked to Chen Guiliang about this before. He estimated that his investment was only about 1% of Chen Guiliang's, so he didn't make much money. "I've put all my money into stocks, real estate and companies. I can invest more next time."

“The two companies you mentioned last time are indeed quite good, and I’m planning to invest more money in them.”

Upon hearing Xu Jinhuan's words, Chen Guiliang remembered something else and said to Xu Jinhuan, "Regarding ByteDance and miHoYo, invest more in ByteDance. I don't know much about games, so I'll invest less. It would be better to invest more in your company."

“My direction is a bit different from miHoYo’s, and Honor of Kings will still be operated by Tencent in the future, so there is no conflict.”

Chen Xingzhu and Xie Wanqing weren't very interested in these business matters. After listening for a few minutes, they took out their phones to take pictures of the sunset, then compared them, and started discussing online comments about Samsung and Nokia taking better photos. Soon, their conversation veered off-topic.

After chatting for a while, Yu Peishan came upstairs to call for dinner. The group went downstairs and helped the aunt take out the bowls and chopsticks. Soon they sat down around the table.

Because of Chen Xingzhu's unusual behavior when she got off the bus, Xu Jinhuan was still a little cautious, even though she didn't see any similar signals afterward. However, after the meal, she hardly felt anything was wrong.

Chen Guiliang, of course, only talked about business matters, and Yu Peishan only chatted about trivial things. She didn't probe or ask Xie Wanqing too much, let alone about her relationship with Xu Jinhuan. She acted very normally.

But this, combined with Chen Xingzhu's previous unusual behavior, is clearly abnormal.

Xu Jinhuan suspected that Chen Xingzhu's two sentences had also alerted Yu Peishan. If so, then Chen, this stepmother, would be quite difficult to deal with.

He could quickly sense Chen Xingzhu's unusual behavior. It was the bond and familiarity of their two lifetimes of love, while Chen Xingzhu and Yu Peishan had only known each other for less than a year, and their relationship was that of stepmother and stepdaughter.

If Yu Peishan can become this familiar with Chen Xingzhu in such a short time, then we need to re-evaluate this stepmother's abilities.

If we think about it even more deeply, if Yu Peishan has such cunning and ability, then is her current harmonious relationship with the Chen Xingzhu and Chen Xingruo sisters also just a facade?
After all, Chen Xingyu is still young now, what will he be like when he gets older?

Will there be any conflict of interest?
His mind was racing, but he didn't show it on his face. After finishing his meal and chatting with Xie Wanqing, he was about to say goodbye when Chen Xingzhu said first, "It's already eight o'clock. You should go back now. You still need to take Sister Wanqing to school."

This was the first time she had brought it up, and Xie Wanqing couldn't help but glance at Chen Xingzhu without saying a word.

Xu Jinhuan said, "Okay, then Uncle and Aunt, we'll be going now. We'll come again next time."

"Okay, slow down on the road."

Chen Guiliang and Yu Peishan saw the two off. Xie Wanqing said goodbye several times, waved to Chen Xingyu, and then got into her car and left.

"Let's go back to your school first."

After Xu Jinhuan and the others left the villa, he said to Xie Wanqing, "Sister, don't overthink it. This is just in case. I'm afraid someone might be following us."

"You mean Xingzhu's dad has suspicions?"

He had already made himself so clear, and Xie Wanqing finally understood, "Then there's no need to follow us, right?"

"Just in case, it's not easy to handle if it's exposed too early."

Xu Jinhuan felt a little embarrassed and guilty. "They will definitely tell your parents then... let's delay for another two years."

"I'm not blaming you. It was going to drag on for a few more years anyway."

Xie Wanqing glanced at him sideways and said, "How about I stay at school tonight?"

"No need, as long as the car comes to your school once."

Just as Xie Wanqing was about to speak, her phone rang. She picked it up and saw that it was a message from Chen Xingzhu. She paused for a moment, then said to Xu Jinhuan, "Xingzhu said we should go to my school first, just in case."

Her expression was a little strange, as if she was somewhat dissatisfied, and she muttered under her breath, "How come you two think the same thing, while I didn't notice anything at all..."

Xu Jinhuan laughed and said, "You've put all your talent into your chest, haven't you?"

"go away!"

Xie Wanqing replied to the message, and then couldn't help but look at the cars behind her through the rearview mirror, but she didn't see anything.

Xu Jinhuan had actually observed this before, but since he wasn't a professional, he couldn't tell the difference. To be on the safe side, he drove to Xie Wanqing's school first, but didn't let her get out of the car before turning back.

Even if they were indeed being followed, seeing the vehicle enter Xie Wanqing's school would be enough to cover their tracks.

We're all just working for a living; who isn't just trying to earn a wage?

"Could there be anyone else?"

Xie Wanqing was still a little uneasy, peeking out furtively, but afraid of being seen, she shrank back, thinking, "What if someone sees me still in the car?"

"It's meant to be a precaution; coming to school might mean constantly battling against thin air,"

Xu Jinhuan found her appearance both funny and adorable, and suppressed a laugh as she advised, "Don't overthink it. He can't possibly wait at the school gate forever... Go home and sleep!"

"What if?"

Xie Wanqing was still worried, so she adjusted the seat back as far as possible to make sure that she couldn't be seen from the outside. However, she didn't notice at all that when she lay down, her chest was higher than her head.

(End of this chapter)