Reborn as a high school freshman with an awakened system, a fat boy transforms into a male god.

The math class had just ended, and Mr. Gu had just stepped out of the classroom when Lin Bei's phone vibrated. It was a message from his father.

"Your Uncle Chen said that a house in Liudi Lane has been sold. It's by the river, over 110 square meters, and the asking price is 480,000 yuan."

Lin Bei quickly went through the calculations in his mind: two apartments on Ganghe Street and Tongbai Lane for 930,000 yuan each, and two apartments on Zhifang Lane for 780,000 yuan each, totaling 171 million yuan. He still had 129 million yuan left in his account. It was more than enough to buy this apartment, but he would only have about 800,000 yuan left in his account.

Five properties already. And if they buy any more, it'll be too conspicuous for one family to own so many properties in the old city. Mom doesn't own a single one yet. Putting this one in her name both disperses the assets and prevents anyone from owning more than three properties.

He replied, "Let's go take a look first."

At noon, he went to the scene in his father's car.

Liudi Lane is further in than Zhifang Lane. The lane is so narrow that a van can't fit, so the three of us had to walk. The road surface is made of old, uneven bluestone slabs, with moss growing in the cracks. The ivy on both sides of the courtyard walls is dense and covers the entire wall in a dark green color. When the wind blows, the leaves rustle.

The house is at the very end of the alley.

Pushing open the door, you'll find a small courtyard. The ground is paved with red bricks, and a few wild grasses grow lush and green from the cracks between the bricks. Against the wall in the courtyard is an old well, its rim worn smooth by the blue bricks, covered with a thick layer of moss that feels damp to the touch.

Lin Bei walked around the yard.

He first glanced at the house's orientation; it faced south, upright and dignified. Then he walked to the well, squatted down, and looked at the well opening. The water was shallow; he could see his reflection. Finally, he stood up and looked up at the river in the distance.

This river was much narrower and shallower than the one facing the previous house, but it was much calmer. Lin Bei thought to himself: houses by the main river have a good view, but the risk during the flood season is also high; the first areas to be flooded during the rainy season are along the riverbank. This kind of small river is different; the water level is stable, and there is almost no flooding. This is a plus during the demolition assessment.

It faces south, is next to a river, and is not adjacent to a street.

He silently repeated these three keywords in his mind.

It wasn't something he understood on his own. It was something repeatedly mentioned in those "get rich quick from demolition" posts he'd seen in his previous life: "North-facing houses are a basic requirement," "Compensation for houses near the river isn't low," and "Clean plots not facing the street are demolished quickly." Back then, he was just a wage slave commuting on the subway, scrolling through his phone in his rented room, watching others become rich overnight, feeling envious, scrolling away after reading, and continuing to revise his plans.

Unexpectedly, in this second life, all this "useless information" has turned into real money.

Standing at the gate, Chen Guodong watched Lin Bei's series of actions—first checking the orientation, then the water source, and finally the view—and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. Having worked as a real estate agent for over a decade, he'd seen far too many young people focus on the interior design before looking at a property; Lin Bei's approach of prioritizing the overall environment was rare.

"This property is indeed quite good," Chen Guodong said as he walked in, following Lin Bei's gaze to the small river. "It faces south, is next to the river, and doesn't face the street. It meets all three conditions. I've handled this property twice before, and each time the owners were in a hurry to get money, so the price was lowered, but the value never changed."

Lin Bei nodded: "Uncle Chen, how much would this set cost approximately?"

Chen Guodong took out his phone and looked through the landlord's information: "The landlord is asking for 48, but I estimate we can negotiate it down to 45."

Lin Bei glanced at him: "Uncle Chen, try to negotiate down to 45, every little bit lower is fine. But this apartment is in a good location, let's just put it down to 45 and not have to haggle back and forth."

"Okay." Chen Guodong made a note in his phone's notes app, "I'll negotiate with him for 45, and lower it if I can."

He looked up at Lin Bei, a slight smile on his lips, "Little Lin, your taste is better than your father's."

Lin Jianhua stood beside the old well. Hearing this, he looked up, glanced at Chen Guodong, then at Lin Bei. His lips moved slightly, but he didn't speak. However, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

Lin Bei withdrew his gaze and patted the dust off his hands.

"I'll take this set. Write Mom's name on it."

His decisiveness stemmed from the simultaneous fulfillment of three conditions: a north-facing orientation is a valuable asset; not being adjacent to a street means the demolition area won't be reduced due to road boundaries; and while some may dislike riverside locations, the valuation only considers scarcity. With all three conditions met, even without demolition, resale wouldn't result in a loss.

Lin Bei stood in the middle of the courtyard and looked around again.

An old well, red brick floor, ivy climbing.

He stored all the details of the house in his memory palace, labeled "Willow Embankment Lane, Fifth House, Mother's Name".

He will never forget every crack in the bricks and every leaf here.

School in the afternoon.

When Lin Bei arrived at the building's entrance on his electric scooter, he didn't go straight upstairs. He parked the scooter at the entrance of the building and turned to look at Su Wantang.

"You go up first, I'll go buy something."

Su Wantang was taken aback for a moment: "Buy what?"

"Chess Record".

Su Wantang's eyebrows twitched slightly, and she pursed her lips.

"Shen Qingzhi's house?"

"Her grandfather," Lin Bei said, "I promised to play chess with him every Saturday and learn a few moves."

Su Wantang glanced at him and nodded slightly.

"Then go ahead," she said, turning and walking into the stairwell and upstairs.

Lin Bei rode his electric bike to the largest Xinhua Bookstore in Jiangcheng.

The bookstore is located in the city center, a three-story building with a beige exterior. Several young people were sitting on the steps at the entrance, reading, their backpacks at their feet; they were probably students from a nearby school.

Lin Bei went up to the second floor and walked to the sports bookshelf. The chess manuals were on the bottom shelf, covered with a thin layer of dust, and looked like no one had been looking at them.

He crouched down, reached out and wiped the cover of the top book, his fingertips covered in dust. How long has it been since anyone touched these books?

He picked out a few well-regarded books: "Plum Blossom Manual" and "Secret of the Orange" are two masterpieces of ancient chess manuals, "Suitable for Elegant Pursuits" specializes in checkmate techniques, and there is also "Basic Checkmate Techniques in Chess" to build a foundation. After thinking for a moment, he pulled out a book from the very back: "The Essence of Chess Endgames".

Five books should keep me occupied for a while.

When it was time to pay, the cashier was a woman in her forties. She glanced at the five chess manuals, then at Lin Bei, her gaze lingering on his face for a moment.

"Young man, you play chess?" There was a hint of surprise in her tone, probably because she thought that young people nowadays all play on their phones and play games, and nobody plays chess anymore.

"I bought it for my elderly family members," Lin Bei said.

"Oh, no wonder." The aunt nodded, put the book in a plastic bag, handed it to him, and quoted the price.

Lin Bei paid and walked out of the bookstore carrying the plastic bag.

A heavy plastic bag was hanging from the handlebars of the electric scooter, containing five chess manuals. Lin Bei glanced at it and turned the handlebars.

Lin Bei rode his electric bike home.

As he went upstairs, he paused at the door of apartment 502. Light shone through the crack in the door, and the faint sound of a television could be heard, as if some kind of variety show was playing, with bursts of laughter.

Lin Bei hesitated for a moment, then didn't knock. He turned around, opened the door to 501, changed his shoes, and went into the bedroom.

He placed the plastic bag on the desk, took out the five books, and lined them up in a row.

"Basic Chess Checkmate Techniques", "Plum Blossom Manual", "Secrets of the Orange", "Suitable for Elegant Pursuits", and "The Essence of Chess Endgames".

He opened "Suitable for Elegant Pursuits" and started reading from the first chapter.

The first game is called "Swallowing Guan You," a checkmate move in which the red side wins by moving first. There aren't many pieces on the board; the red side has one rook, one horse, and one cannon, while the black side has two advisors and one elephant.

Lin Bei stared at the chessboard for a few seconds, then closed his eyes.

The memory palace has begun to operate.

He not only "saw" the positions of the pieces in this game, but he also "saw" the explanatory text on the pages of the book, every line and every punctuation mark was clear.