After Becoming Financially Free, They Offered Their Loyalty - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: I Treat You Like a Brother, What’s with That Look?

TL: YYang

The father and son stood on the balcony, puffing away. Old Shen watched the traffic on the road below, slowly blowing out a smoke ring. “It’s been tough on you all recently. If it weren’t for the business failing, we wouldn’t have had to move here.”

“Recently, I took on a foreign trade order with a friend. It’s a batch of water cups for a Japanese factory. The manufacturer can deliver next week. The profit is decent. After deducting costs, I should be able to make 300,000.”

Shen Heping continued as he smoked, “When the payment comes in, we’ll move to a bigger three-bedroom apartment, so you’ll have a room when you come back.”

Ever since experiencing the failure of his travel agency, Old Shen’s hair had turned much whiter, and his spirit had waned. The vigor he once had was gone.

But he still hadn’t given up on his career, continuing to work hard for his children.

Shen Yuan felt a pang of heartache. Growing up, Old Shen rarely talked about work with his family. For him to bring it up today showed how much pressure he was under.

Shen Yuan knew a bit about the family’s situation. They were currently over a million in debt. Even if they earned 300,000, they would have to use it to fill the hole first.

Moreover, since this order was from a manufacturer, they definitely had to pay for the goods first, so Old Shen had likely taken out another loan.

Thinking that Old Shen was nearly fifty and still carrying such a heavy burden, and still had to work hard, Shen Yuan felt a sense of responsibility on his own shoulders.

“From now on, the responsibility of supporting the family will be on me.”

Shen Yuan patted Old Shen’s shoulder, his tone sincere. Now that he had the almighty system, he had to speed up his money-making pace to share Old Shen’s burden! “You should focus on your studies for now. Supporting the family and earning money is not something you should be considering yet. Besides, you can’t earn money right now,” Old Shen shook his head.

“Old Shen, you’re looking down on contemporary college students,” Shen Yuan said, a little dissatisfied.

Old Shen was silent for a moment, then said, “Actually, I’m not looking down on college students.”

“Then you’re…”

“Come in and eat!”

Li Hongjuan’s call from inside interrupted Shen Yuan’s words. Old Shen stubbed out his cigarette and turned to go inside. “Let’s eat first.”

Shen Yuan stood there stunned for a long while before he finally reacted. So Old Shen was looking down on me!

“You old rascal, is that any way to treat your son!”

After dinner, Shen Yuan took a ten-minute bus ride back to school.

There was no place for him at home, so he could only stay at the school dorm.

It was quite pathetic, living only a ten-minute drive from home but having to stay in a dorm.

On the way, Shen Yuan kept thinking about the spending task given by the system.

It was definitely not appropriate to repeatedly spend on Counselor Li Xiao. On one hand, they only had a teacher-student relationship. On the other hand, she wasn’t a money-grubbing girl like Zhou Wanting.

If they could develop their relationship from teacher-student to… But for now, it was obviously a bit difficult, not to mention Li Xiao had a vigilant sister.

Shen Yuan felt that he needed to develop a few more female contacts, preferably the kind of girls who were vain and materialistic, so that he would have a continuous source of spending.

As Shen Yuan was thinking about where to find female NPCs, his phone suddenly buzzed with a WeChat message from “Old Huang.”

“Brother Yuan, when are you coming back?”

This message was from his roommate, Huang Haibao. Shen Yuan had originally given him the nickname ‘Ah Huang,’ but he disliked it, saying it sounded like a dog’s name, so he asked everyone to call him Old Huang instead.

Shen Yuan thought Old Huang and Ah Huang were pretty much the same, but since the person in question had no objection, he didn’t say anything.

“Spit it out.”

Shen Yuan replied bluntly.

Usually, this bastard called him Old Third. Since he was calling him Brother Yuan this time, he must be asking for a favor.

The nickname Old Third had also been changed once. Originally, his other two roommates called him Old Shen. Shen Yuan didn’t like it because that’s what he called his dad. So, because he was the youngest, it was changed to Old Third.

“Bring me two portions of fried rice. One with two extra eggs and extra ham, the other with no ham and no green onions.”

“No.”

Shen Yuan replied decisively, adding, “Unless you call me daddy.”

Old Huang was incredibly lazy. The cafeteria was right downstairs, just a few minutes’ walk from the fifth floor, but he was just unwilling to go down.

“Old Third, spare me. Today has been tough enough.”

“How has it been tough? Tell me so I can have a laugh,” Shen Yuan replied.

“Fuck! Old Third, you’re really not a good person! It’s a long story. I’ll tell you in detail when you get back.”

“Fine.” The alley next to the Foreign Economics College gate had many food stalls at night. There were several stalls selling fried noodles and fried rice, as well as jianbing guozi, grilled cold noodles, fried skewers… Shen Yuan went to a fried rice stall that the three of them frequented, ordered two portions of fried rice, and carried them back to the dorm.

As soon as Shen Yuan pushed open the door to dorm 503, Cao Shunjin was the first to pounce on him. It seemed he was really hungry.

Cao Shunjin was from Liaobei, tall and sturdy, with an honest look. He usually ate a lot.

“What’s the rush? No one’s going to fight you for it,” Shen Yuan said irritably.

Huang Haibao was from eastern Guangdong, thin and frail, wearing glasses and sitting on a chair. At this moment, he looked like a wilted eggplant, with no energy.

“Old Cao, what did you do to Old Huang?”

Old Huang’s expression was like he had just been sodomized. Shen Yuan thought it didn’t make sense; Cao Shunjin was a straight guy.

Huang Haibao looked up at Shen Yuan, then at the ravenous Cao Shunjin, with a look of someone who wanted to speak but couldn’t.

“I’m going to take a shower first.”

Shen Yuan figured he still needed some time to work up to it and wouldn’t be able to speak for a while. The weather was hot today, and he felt sticky and uncomfortable.

Ten minutes later, Shen Yuan finished his shower and came out wearing only a pair of shorts. “Can you talk now?”

Cao Shunjin had almost finished eating and had even polished off Huang Haibao’s portion. He said with a silly grin, “Old Huang, are you going to tell him, or should I?”

“You son of a bitch, Cao Shunjin, you’re still laughing!”

Huang Haibao glared at him resentfully. “Actually, there’s nothing much to say. It’s just a breakup.”

Shen Yuan was a bit confused. He had been roommates with Huang Haibao for so long, and this bastard had never even been in a relationship. What breakup was he talking about? “Be more specific.” Shen Yuan wanted to hear the rest.

“My goddess, Fang Minhui, went to see a movie with that bastard Li Zhanpeng today!” Old Huang said through gritted teeth.

“That’s it?”

Shen Yuan suddenly felt like laughing. He knew that Old Huang had a crush on their classmate, Fang Minhui.

But Fang Minhui wasn’t interested in Old Huang and had never had anything to do with him. They had barely even chatted on WeChat.

And now, Fang Minhui had just gone to see a movie with someone else; they weren’t even together. What was Old Huang going on about?

Fang Minhui was the class beauty of their Class of ’20, International Trade, Section 2.

To be the class beauty in a school like Foreign Economics, which was full of beautiful women, especially in their class known for its high-quality girls, she definitely had something special.

Shen Yuan vaguely remembered that during the military training three years ago, the drill instructor, in a good mood, had suggested that people with talents in the company come out and perform.

At first, everyone was shy. After all, they didn’t know each other well, and it was in front of so many people.

The drill instructor called out a few times before a boy came out to sing. That show-off Li Zhanpeng even ran back to the dorm to get a guitar to play and sing.

But singing didn’t really liven up the atmosphere. Shen Yuan found it boring.

Until Fang Minhui took the stage.

She took off her military training jacket, threw it in the air, and it happened to land on Huang Haibao’s head. It probably dazed him at that moment.

It was probably also then that Old Huang’s heart was stirred.

Underneath Fang Minhui’s military training uniform was a low-cut white tank top, revealing a large area of fair skin on her chest and back. The eyes of the boys in the company were glued to her.

As the explosive dance music played, Fang Minhui moved to the beat, her soft waist and impressive bust constantly stimulating the boys’ senses.

But before the boys in the company could get their fill, the dance was forced to stop.

There was no choice. The boys in the next company had stopped standing at attention and insisted on turning their heads to watch Fang Minhui dance. Even the drill instructor kicking their butts didn’t work.

The drill instructor of Shen Yuan’s company could only end the dance early.

Fang Minhui had killed it that night, stealing the show completely.

At that time, not just Huang Haibao, but all the male freshmen of the class of ’20 remembered that extremely seductive body.

Speaking of which, Shen Yuan also felt it was a bit of a pity. Fang Minhui had been single for three years, and now she was getting involved with Li Zhanpeng.

“Old Third, I treat you like a brother. What’s with that look?”