Shen Xiaoqin stared blankly at Jiang Chen. She truly felt that her son had changed.
He had become unrecognizable to her.
Yet, this transformation gave her a sense of an unprecedented masculinity radiating from her son.
Like now, as her son supported her, she felt a deep sense of security from the bottom of her heart.
Stability!
What puzzled her even more was that her son suddenly possessed miraculous medical skills, possibly even surpassing those of big hospital doctors.
But Shen Xiaoqin didn't ask anything, because she knew how much Jiang Chen had suffered during the time she had been seriously ill—a suffering so intense that it was enough to change a person completely.
Jiang Chen also noticed the slight confusion in his mother's eyes, but he didn't explain.
Actually, even if he wanted to explain, he wouldn't know how. Could he say that he had been knocked unconscious and then had a dream, and upon awakening from that ten-year dream, he suddenly knew the future and had mastered skills from it?
Who would believe that!
So, Jiang Chen just kept silent and took his mother back to the rental apartment.
"Mom, please bear with it and stay here for a few days. I'll figure something out."
Jiang Chen helped his mother sit down on the bed. The two of them had been dependent on each other for years, and with his mother's frail health, they had sold their old house long ago. Recently, Jiang Chen had been so poor that they could only afford to live in this rundown rented room, which was in poor condition and definitely not suitable for his mother to recuperate.
But Jiang Chen believed that it wouldn't be long before he could give his mother the best life possible.
Everything that happened today had given him the utmost confidence.
"Silly child, Mom isn't suffering," Shen Xiaoqin said with tears in her eyes, touching her son's face, "You are the one who's truly suffering."
"Mom, I'm not suffering. Look, I'm fine..."
Jiang Chen jumped up, patted his body, and with the lightest of steps, reassured his mother, "Besides, our hard times are over. Things will only get better."
"Hehe."
Tears streaming down her face, his mother laughed.
The silent smiles of mother and son bloomed in the desolation of the rental room.
...
That night, after settling his mother, Jiang Chen lay exhausted on the sofa, his mind not at rest.
Although he had temporarily relieved his mother's illness with his medical skills, she still needed to convalesce and to buy nutritional supplements.
He also needed to move his mother out of this dilapidated house as soon as possible, to find a better place.
Moreover, he was in quite a bit of debt that needed to be paid off.
All of this required money.
But where could he get so much money in a short time?
Thinking over this, the memories from the future ten years flashed suddenly in his mind.
These memories were unfamiliar to Jiang Chen, yet they were exceptionally clear as if he had truly experienced them and remembered them well.
Suddenly, an idea jumped out from these memories, making Jiang Chen's eyes light up.
Hey, this is a great opportunity to make money. Let's do it!
With a plan in mind, Jiang Chen's thoughts began to race. As he pondered, exhausted from the day's events, he fell asleep without realizing it.
But not long after he fell asleep, a dream came again.
He had another dream about that nonexistent yet so real decade.
However, this time, he dreamed about the woman he had loved during that decade.
Ye Jingyi.
She, like Jiang Chen, had been a person of misfortune.
Once, she had been the epitome of beauty, wealth, and status, the general manager of the Ye family's Liying Cosmetics Company. But due to a calamity, she had married into a nightmare, lost her fortune, disfigured, and ended up out on the streets, eventually meeting Jiang Chen.
Two destitute souls, they had come to rely on each other, deeply in love.
The scenes of their suffering and joy, which moved Jiang Chen to tears, replayed continually in his dream.
Until, he dreamed again of the moment he fell from the cliff to the ground, a surge of intense yearning emotions, like a raging tide, flooded into his mind in an instant.
"No, I can't leave Jing Yi, no!"
"Save her..."
With a cry of alarm, Jiang Chen awoke from the dream, abruptly sitting up.
He held his head, panting heavily, his eyes widened in disbelief.
How could this be?
Why would he still have such emotions?
It was as if another person was living inside his mind.
"Xiao Chen, what's wrong?" Shen Xiaoqin, also awakened, asked in confusion.
"Oh, it's nothing, just had a nightmare. Mom, go back to sleep,"
Jiang Chen quickly reassured her, encouraging his mother to go back to sleep.
But when he lay down again, only two words echoed in his mind:
"Save her!"
...
While Jiang Chen was dreaming at home, in a private room of the Jinhai Cheetah Night Club, a fierce-looking buzz-cut man was cuddling two seductive women, and singing along with the large TV in the room, his voice screeching and out of tune.
Suddenly, someone opened the door to the room and walked in, "Fourth Brother."
The man called Fourth Brother, as if he didn't hear, continued singing loudly.
The person who entered raised their voice a notch and called out again, "Fourth Brother..."
"I'm calling your mother a fork!"
Fourth Brother suddenly cursed and backhandedly threw the microphone he was holding, which landed with a "thud" on the entrant's forehead. The man immediately screamed in pain, clutching his forehead as blood began to trickle down through his fingers.
"Are you new here or what? Don't you know, don't disturb me while I'm singing?"
Releasing the two women beside him, Fourth Brother walked up furiously to the man and slapped him across the face, sending him tumbling to the ground.
Despite that, the man didn't dare to complain, ignoring the pain in his head and face, he quickly scrambled to his knees, repeatedly kowtowing, "Sorry, Fourth Brother, I'm sorry, it's my fault."
"Dammit," Fourth Brother kicked him over with a foot, still fuming, cursing once more before asking, "Speak, what's the damn issue?"
"Yes, yes," the man scrambled up again, continuing to kneel fearfully, "Someone just paid us to collect a debt."
"Collect a debt? I'm not available," Fourth Brother disdainfully sneered, "I can't even collect my own debts."
The man raised his head, "But, Fourth Brother, the person is paying us to collect our own debt."
"What?"
Fourth Brother was taken aback, blinking, "Someone is paying money for us to collect our own debt? Is there such a good deal? Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
The man hastened to shake his head, "No, I checked, it really is our own debt."
Fourth Brother laughed, "Interesting. Tell me, what debt is this?"
The man said, "It's a guy named Jiang Chen, borrowed a hundred thousand from us two months ago, with a three-month term, and when it's due, he's supposed to pay back a hundred and eighty thousand with interest."
Fourth Brother's eyes rolled, "So, the term isn't even up yet, and someone wants us to collect the money?"
"Yes."
"How much is the other party offering?"
"One hundred and fifty thousand."
"Haha..."
Upon hearing this, Fourth Brother burst out laughing.
As he was kneeling on the ground, the underling tentatively asked after Fourth Brother's laughter began to subside, "Fourth Brother, do we take this job?"
"Take it, of course we take it. This is such a good opportunity, only a fool wouldn't take it. Hahaha."
Fourth Brother's triumphant laughter echoed once more in the room.