Chapter 8: A Large Pile of Money Part II
“Wait a moment.” Xi Lua stopped the boy. He put his password into his desk drawer, pulled out a cheque, and wrote on it before handing it to Bai Zhe.
“This is…” The boy alternated looking at Xi Lua and the cheque in the old man’s hand. From the memories of the body’s owner, he realized that this thing could be exchanged for cash at a bank.
“I want to buy this painting,” said Xi Lua.
“But this amount is too much,” Bai Zhe said when he saw the seven-figure number on the cheque. He kept his considerate face, though inside, he was excited because of this big pile of money that had been dumped on him without warning.
When Xi Lua saw the boy refute this offer, he turned to look at Bai Zhe’s painting. He thought that it would be improper of him to keep it without giving something to this boy in return.
“I don’t feel good if I don’t give anything to you,” he said.
In the end, Xi Lua was able to convince the boy to accept his money. Even though Bai Zhe acted like he did not want it, inside, he was thrilled. At least with this money, he could help the parents of this body’s owner live more comfortably.
“Thank you so much, sir,” said Bai Zhe.
“Don’t thank me. This painting will definitely make you famous in the future. I will have the accounting department help you with the taxes. Can I have your address and contact number?”
“Yes, sir.” Bai Zhe placed his bag on the floor and ripped a small piece of paper from his notebook before writing his address and number and handing it over to Xi Lua.
“Hmmm. Can you tell me how you will use this money?” Xi Lua asked. He wanted to know if smart kids like Bai Zhe would want to spend the money on things he wanted like other teenagers did. If that was the case, he would not want to give such a large amount of money to the boy again.
“I will likely use it for my tuition fees and my household expenses, sir. These days, my parents and I take on odd jobs each day. We are living paycheck to paycheck and don’t have any savings. I think this amount of money is enough for me to graduate from university,” Bai Zhe answered.
“Good, good. Education is necessary,” nodded Xi Lua. But he thought that he would send someone to investigate later, so he would know for sure that Bai Zhe was not lying. If the boy did not know how to use money, it would lose its value immediately.
“Oh. And I think I will write a martial arts novel as well. I saw a lot of people who make money from writing online novels,” Bai Zhe said.
“Well, try writing it and give it to me to read. I love martial arts fiction, too. This is my contact information. If your novel is truly good, I will fully support you.” He then handed his business card to the boy; of course, it was his secretary’s number.
‘Seems like he doesn’t completely trust me.’ Bai Zhe looked into Xi Lua’s eyes. He could not see any trust in Xi Lua’s eyes and guessed that he would send someone to investigate how he used this money later.
“Thank you so much, sir. I will go now.” He took the card and left.
Xi Lua took his smartphone out and called someone to keep an eye on how Bai Zhe spent the money immediately after the boy left his office. He then called another number after he was done giving orders to his employee. It was the number of his best friend who was in the construction and interior design business.
“The reason why you are calling me is that you have a new painting, right?” the voice at the other end of the line teased.
“Aha, you are correct. I got 2 of them. One of them is very special. So, I want you to come here and design the interior of a room that suits it. I also want you to see it as well,” said Xi Lua.
“Sure. You wait there. I will go see you at your office,” the person at the other end of the line said and then hung up.
A shopping mall
Bai Zhe knew that someone had been following him since he had left the Xi Lua Real Estate Company, but he acted like he did not notice and went straight to the bank where the original owner of this body had an account.
He waited until his turn before going to the counter. He handed the cheque and his bankbook to the clerk. She paused when she saw the cheque, her eyes shifting from her computer monitor to Bai Zhe, then quickly shifting back to the monitor again.
She yearned to ask him how he had gotten the 1-million-yuan cheque from the country’s number one real estate company. But she should not ask that question, as that was her customer’s private business. The details on the cheque were all correct.
Bai Zhe withdrew an amount of money, part of which would be used for his rent and part of which would be his tuition fees for this semester because he had not paid them to the school yet. The last portion would be used for buying things like meat to nourish his parents and for some of his small personal expenses.
He went to the Nightfall Antique Shop to deliver the proof of delivery receipt to Mr. Fu after leaving the bank. Then, he headed to the market to buy some food to be used to cook meals.
‘I have been eating morning glory since I came to this world. I thought I would turn into a morning glory-eating turtle,’ he thought while walking back to his apartment with bags filled with meat and vegetables. Of course, Xi Lua’s spy was still following him.
The Bai family’s apartment
Bai Zhe unlocked the door and used his qi to push it open gently before entering the apartment. He started to organize the fresh ingredients he had bought. Part of it went into the refrigerator for his parents. The rest, he put on the kitchen counter to prepare something that he had eaten instead of food when he was in Da Xian.
“Let’s get started.” He used his qi to clean the pollution and dirt from some of the ingredients and pulled out a knife.
Swish! Whoosh! Slash!
With several movements of the knife, the ingredients were cut, chopped, and sliced. They were ready for what he had planned. Bai Zhe wiped the sweat from his forehead. Swordplay was still a great burden for his body at the moment.
He lit the gas stove and placed a frying pan on it. He turned off the gas stove immediately after the fire was lit, but it remained lit because he was using his qi as fuel instead of the gas. It was new knowledge that he had gotten from this world.
‘I could not use the qi elements because I haven’t reached the sky level of qi yet. The knowledge of this world has helped me quite well,’ he thought while making qi food.
Qi food was gathering normal ingredients that people ate and passing them through qi fire, the way medicine blended. It helped to distill the useful nutrients and qi from the food and compress them into a ball.
Good qi food was balls that were symmetrical, colourless, and odourless. It showed that there was nothing but qi power and nutrients.
Bai Zhe brought out a ceramic jar that he had bought from an herbalist’s shop to hold the qi food. There were 90 balls. It was enough for one month’s consumption.
After he cleaned the kitchen, Bai Zhe immediately threw one ball into his mouth. He sat down and started to meditate so he could absorb the qi power and the nutrients. Then, he continued practicing his qi.
One hour later, there was the sound of a key unlocking the door before it swung open. It was Bai Lian Hua who entered the apartment, followed by Bai Qing Yun.
“Hey, son. What’s gotten into you that you’re meditating?” Bai Qing Yun teased. Even though his voice sounded relaxed, his eyes showed a little bit of anxiety.
“Why are you disturbing him? He is probably meditating before studying. You go take a shower.” Bai Lian Hua lightly hit her husband’s arm.
“Yessss, dear.” He hugged his wife and kissed her cheek before taking a towel and shorts to the bathroom.
Bai Lian Hua went to the kitchen to prepare food. Bai Zhe stopped practicing his qi and followed her.
“Why are you in here, son? Go do your homework or review your lessons.” She patted his head, noticing that he had gotten quite a bit taller.
“Mum, go have a seat. I will cook. From now on, I will take care of breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” he said with his puppy dog eyes. He had used this trick when he was the same age as the original Bai Zhe. It had a 100% success rate.
“No. I don’t want you to be tired.” She pinched his cheek. Why did her son look as cute as when he was a baby?
“Don’t worry. Let me do something for you,” said Bai Zhe.
“Find us a daughter-in-law and make us a grandchild. That would be enough,” Bai Qing Yun, who had just finished showering, said. His torso was bare. He was wearing shorts and had the towel around his neck. Bai Lian Hua lowered her face. Her ears turned red, showing signs of shyness.
“All right. I will find you a nice daughter-in-law and make you a grandchild,” he replied to his dad after thinking things over for a moment.
“Good. I will wait. What are you making for dinner today, honey?” Bai Qing Yun peeked at the kitchen counter and directed a question at his wife.
“Chicken stir-fried in a sweet and sour sauce,” Bai Zhe answered instead of Bai Lian Hua.
“Chicken? I didn’t buy chicken,” she told her son because she had only bought morning glory to stir fry today.
“Here.” Bai Zhe walked over to open the refrigerator and pulled out chicken thighs.
“Oh my, why are there a lot of things in the refrigerator?” Bai Lian Hua was surprised when she saw that the refrigerator was packed with fresh ingredients.
“Boy, use your money more frugally.” Bai Qing Yun warned when he saw that his son had packed the refrigerator with fresh ingredients.
“I want you two to eat good food. Not some rock boiled with salt or just stir-fried vegetables. How can your bodies be strong eating just those things?” said Bai Zhe.
“But we don’t have enough money to….” Before Bai Lian Hua could finish her sentence, Bai Zhe showed her his updated bankbook which was open to the latest page.
“One…two…three…f…four…five…six...” She was both excited and panicked when she saw the multi-digit number in her son's bankbook. It was enough to make her dizzy to the point of fainting. Luckily, Bai Zhe Yun caught her in time.
Chapter 9: 'Tai Si Kong' the Calligraphy Painting of Tranquility Part I
Bai Zhe went over to check on Bai Lian Hua. He pressed his qi-filled fingers to several parts of the woman’s body, pretending to be massaging her. He expected her to recover in a short amount of time.
Bai Qing Yun had not asked about the origin of the large amount of money in the boy’s account yet. He decided to wait until his wife had regained consciousness so they could discuss it together.
Bai Lian Hua regained consciousness a short time later. Then, the interrogation regarding the money’s origin began. Bai Zhe told the truth: Uncle Fu’s client had bought his calligraphy painting.
“You should tell better lies. You did some illegal job, right?” Bai Qing Yun had a scary expression aimed at Bai Zhe. He did not believe that his son was good enough at calligraphy painting to make Uncle Fu’s client pay him this much money.
Bai Zhe did not say much. He took out a pen and wrote a character on a piece of paper, concealing his intention within it. Although it was written with a ballpoint pen, the parents could feel the rays of love from the character “love ” that their son had written. The warmth when they were close, the fire of desire when they slept skin to skin in bed—they had felt all these feelings before when they were newly married.
“Do you believe me now?” asked Bai Zhe.
“Well, if you are this good, why don’t you make money from it?” Bai Qing Yun asked.
“Come on, dad. Don’t be greedy. I don’t know much about this industry. It’s better not to risk it. Some old men are very stubborn and possessive of their positions,” answered Bai Zhe.
“He’s right. Like da… Ahem, just one is enough.” Bai Lian Hua fully supported her son, but it was like she had almost let something slip.
“Fine. But do not waste it, okay?” Bai Qing Yun insisted again firmly.
“Okay. And I withdrew some money for you to pay the rent.” He handed the money he had set aside for the rent to Bai Lian Hua, which made her pull him into a hug.
‘So, the warmth from parents is like this?’ the boy thought and hugged her back. He closed his eyes to absorb this feeling.
Then, he helped Bai Lian Hua make dinner. As for Bai Qing Yun, he was in charge of cooking rice. This was the first time in decades that the Bais’ stomachs were full.
Bai Zhe had already eaten qi food, but he still joined the dinner, so his parents would not get suspicious about his diet—even though he had to waste time cleaning up the contaminants from his body later.
Bai Zhe helped Bai Lian Hua wash the dishes after dinner, while Bai Qing Yun went to watch television in the bedroom. After all the chores had been done, Bai Zhe did his homework and studied as he was waiting for Bai Lian Hua to take a shower.
‘The homework is done. I should start writing the novel in an empty notebook.’ He took out an empty notebook, then used his pen to write down the story of his master who was the greatest swordsman of Da Xian.
Xi Lua Real Estate Company
Xi Lua was looking at Bai Zhe’s painting, his lips repeatedly reciting the poem. No other paintings had ever impressed him this much before.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Come in,” Xi Lua said, giving permission after hearing the knock.
An old man who was the same age as Xi Lua entered when the door opened. He was Xi Lua’s best friend, Meng Dong, and the chairman of Ji Xeng Construction Company.
“Friend, let me see which painting has made you call me to redecorate your collection room,” said Meng Dong.
Xi Lua beckoned with his hand, inviting his friend to look at the painting on his desk that he had just been admiring. Meng Dong’s reaction was exactly what he had imagined; the man was shaking with excitement.
“Which god has created this piece of art? Look at how new this paper is and this highly unique handwriting. At first, I thought it belonged to Master Lua, from whom you have requested paintings, but it is not. The characters’ purposes are so powerful. This is totally different.” Meng Dong did not know how to describe how excellent the poem was.
“Would you believe me if I tell you that the artist is just a fifteen-year-old boy?” said Xi Lua.
“R…really?” Meng Dong looked at Xi Lua; his face showed that he still could not believe what he heard.
“I’ve never lied to you,” Xi Lua assured him.
“Can you make an appointment with him? I want calligraphy paintings from him as well,” said Meng Dong.
“Of course. I will have my assistant contact him,” said Xi Lua. He called his assistant to make an appointment with Bai Zhe for tomorrow if the boy was available.
Meanwhile, Meng Dong was still looking at the painting. He murmured the poem again and again as his friend had done before. Xi Lua was the same. After a moment, his assistant got back to him with the news that Bai Zhe had confirmed their appointment.
“All done, my friend,” said Xi Lua with a smile when he hung up the phone with his assistant.
“Oh, that's brilliant.” Meng Dong was really happy. Xi Lua and he were in the calligraphy painting enthusiast club. They had a lot of friends in this club as well. The members had a measure of power and some connections, more or less, in their careers. Sometimes, they also exchanged business benefits.
“Well, how’s Xiao Qing? I heard that she is an intern at Mr. Tian Peng’s LSA (Legacy Star Agency) company,” said Xi Lua.
“Mm-hmm. She is training in every department, one at a time. After 3 months, the head of each department will decide which department she should be placed in. They pay more attention to the quality of actual work ability than a degree,” said Meng Dong, actually in agreement with the company on this.
“Mm, our grandkids don’t want to rely on our influence, do they? Rather, they are paving their own way. That’s great. So Xiao Qing wants to be a manager, then?” asked Xi Lua.
“Correct. But don’t know if that would be possible,” said Meng Dong.
“Being a celebrity manager, the more connections one has, the greater the chance for success. But Xiao Qing doesn’t want to use the connections that we have. Therefore, there is only one way, which is for her to find a diamond of the first water who is highly talented, which would be enough to make up somewhat for the lack of connections,” said Xi Lua.
“Xiao Mo’s work is going great, right? I heard that he was nominated for best male model this year. And 2 or 3 television series have contacted him. One of them is Chen Feng’s, I believe,” Meng Dong said.
“That’s why I barely get to see him.” Xi Lua suddenly seemed sad because recently, his grandson barely had time to meet him. He rarely even called him.
“Let’s talk about your redecorating this room, shall we?” Meng Dong changed the topic to lighten his friend's mood.
The two discussed what to change to make the painting stand out in the room, which instantly dispelled Xi Lua’s feelings of sadness.
LSA Legacy Star Agency Company, Management Department
“Xiao Qing, is everything ready in regards to the appointment for Ni Fong’s promoter contract signing that you were asked to handle?” a middle-aged female employee asked Qing Qing, who had been an intern at the company for over two months.
“Yes, everything is ready. This is the date, the time, and the place for the contract signing. Oh, I also checked Ni Fong’s schedule with his manager. The dates and time in the document are the days that he is available,” answered Qing Qing, handing the details of this contract to the woman.
That was right. This was Meng Dong’s granddaughter. She had shiny brown hair and peach-blossom eyes. Her lips were covered in nude lipstick, giving her lips a natural pink tinge. Her features, though not strikingly attractive, made her look cute and adorable.
“Mm, great. So, can you take the document to Qi Fong, Xi Mo’s manager? I think they are having a meeting with a television series director in meeting room one.” The middle-aged woman handed Qing Qing a brown envelope.
“Certainly.” She took the envelope, then walked out of the department to the meeting room.
In front of the Meeting Room One
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