"Don't worry, Mom won't be doing any more overtime. I'll spend more time with you."
As she stroked her son's head, Zhou Rongrong's heart was a jumble of emotions. Her child had really grown up.
It seemed that he might become someone she could rely on.
"Okay, Mom, pinky swear!"
Watching her son, who was becoming more and more childlike, Zhou Rongrong also made a pinky promise with Li Zhiyan.
…
That night, only after watching an episode of Love Apartment 1 did Li Zhiyan fall into a deep sleep.
Holding ten thousand yuan, he slept very soundly.
The whirring sound of the small fan in the rental room also added a sense of security for him.
The next day, the first thing Li Zhiyan thought of when he woke up was completing tasks and Gu Wanzhou's fair and beautiful legs.
Today, he was going to help Aunt Gu with a leg massage.
Spit, it was supposed to be a neck massage; what was he even thinking about?
However, he seemed to have dreamt about something like ponies and carts the night before.
When he opened the door, Li Zhiyan saw Wu Qingxian, who almost became his godmother, his mother's best friend.
"Good morning, Auntie Wu."
Wu Qingxian looked at Li Zhiyan with a gaze full of admiration, as she came to join Zhou Rongrong on their way to work.
She didn't expect to hear that Zhou Rongrong was planning to deposit forty thousand yuan, telling her that it was earned by her son through programming.
This instantly made Wu Qingxian think of her own son.
Why couldn't she have a son as outstanding as Li Zhiyan?
"Little mommy's boy, I really didn't notice that you had this skill."
Following that, Auntie Wu showered Li Zhiyan with a bunch of compliments.
Being able to earn forty thousand yuan at the age of 18 was indeed impressive.
After his mom and Wu Qingxian left, Li Zhiyan also finished breakfast, tidied up a bit, then went back to his room and took out two thousand from his ten thousand yuan.
The remaining eight thousand were stuffed into the very bottom of a cardboard box that was used for miscellaneous items.
Inside the box, there were many treasures hidden.
Including marbles, toy guns, slingshots, and the like from his childhood.
"Online banking is still not so convenient."
"Payment methods still mainly revolve around cash, two thousand yuan is enough for me to spend for quite a while."
With two thousand yuan in his pocket, Li Zhiyan left the house, planning to struggle towards his goal of becoming a millionaire.
…
When he arrived at the internet cafe, sure enough, there was Li Shiyu, that loser, playing CrossFire.
At that moment, he was engrossed in playing the game underground.
Soon enough, he was forced to quit the game.
"Damn!"
"Kicked out again!"
Li Zhiyan carelessly slapped a hundred-yuan bill in front of him.
"Go get yourself a membership, otherwise, if you keep exploiting bugs like this, you're gonna get kicked out every day."
Li Shiyu was clearly surprised.
"Li Zhiyan, did you really rob a bank or something? How did you get so rich? I really feel bad taking your money!"
Li Zhiyan flashed a stack of red bills from his pocket.
"Relax, I've made some money recently. I didn't steal or rob, just pay me back when you have the money."
Li Zhiyan didn't actually plan on having Bath Emperor pay him back.
What he really wanted was for Li Shiyu to feel at ease spending his money.
A buddy who would go hungry himself but still buy him a coke, and when penniless, would sell his car to lend him two hundred thousand.
In this life, he was certainly going to give him a hand.
"Alright then..."
In the end, Li Shiyu couldn't resist the temptation of a CF membership and went to the counter to charge 30 Q Coin.
Meanwhile, Li Zhiyan logged into his QQ on the side and sent a message to Gu Wanzhou.
"Aunt Gu, are you there?"
Gu Wanzhou: "Yeah, Xiao Yan, just come over at noon."
"Don't worry, Sisi has gone to Wang Xinyue's place."
Yu Sisi and Wang Xinyue got along very well, and they even applied to neighboring universities.
So, Yu Sisi often went to visit Wang Xinyue.
Gu Wanzhou knew that her daughter and Li Zhiyan were like water and fire now.
So this would also spare them some awkwardness.
"Okay, Aunt Gu, I'll be there at noon."
Talking about everyday matters, Li Zhiyan suddenly heard the System's voice.
"Massage skill learning complete."
With this skill now available, Li Zhiyan felt he really wouldn't be poor in the future, thinking that even if he specialized in giving massages to wealthy women, he could become rich.
Of course, it was still better to focus on the tasks from the Salted Fish System, because according to the system's hints, not completing tasks would lower the chances of refreshing new tasks later on.
While chatting, Li Shiyu also noticed the chat window that Li Zhiyan was using.
"Damn, you're really chatting with Yu Sisi's mom, and it's such a lively conversation. Don't tell me you've conquered her!"
"How does it feel with a mature woman? Is it different from a young girl?"
"Thinking about her being 23 years older than you, isn't it thrilling?"
"This is truly the best revenge on Yu Sisi!"
"You ignore me, so I'll conquer your mom!"
"Just imagine if Yu Sisi could hear this from next door, tsk tsk…"
Hearing Li Shiyu's endless chatter, Li Zhiyan felt somewhat helpless.
He was indeed the Bath Emperor; his imagination was truly rich.
"Alright, stop guessing. I have to go in a bit."
"Tonight, I'll take you to a bathhouse to relax properly,"
"and spend some money."
Li Zhiyan couldn't just stand by and watch as his brother once again got strung along by Wang Xinyue.
He had to awaken his Bath Emperor Martial Soul True Body ahead of time.
That way, he wouldn't end up being a lapdog again, even if you beat him to death.
Li Shiyu didn't take it seriously.
"It's just a bath. At most you add some milk, put some salt, and get a back massage. Boring."
Li Zhiyan: "Cut the crap and come grind with me in the dungeon for a bit."
"I want to level up an Asura."
Li Shiyu didn't waste words and logged in directly.
"Perfect, my alt wants to run a DNF icon. Let's team up."
...
At eleven-thirty, Li Zhiyan took a taxi to Yu Sisi's home.
The commercial housing that Yu Sisi's family had bought in recent years was 140 square meters.
In a place like Wancheng, this area was already considered a high-end district. In 10 years, those who could drive a Mercedes were genuinely wealthy people.
"Aunt Gu!"
After knocking on the door, Gu Wanzhou's pretty face quickly appeared in Li Zhiyan's line of sight.
Today she was wearing a black shirt paired with a black pleated skirt.
Beneath the short skirt, her bare, snow-white legs were particularly eye-catching.
Thinking about how he was going to help Aunt Gu massage her legs,
Li Zhiyan felt an unruly itch in his heart.
"Good boy, you're here."
"Sit down. Your auntie is cooking for you."
Gu Wanzhou decided to talk seriously with Li Zhiyan today about the Oedipus complex.
To tell him that it was impossible for them to be together.
However, if Li Zhiyan was willing to acknowledge her as an elder, she wouldn't mind being his godmother.
But she couldn't date him.
A youngster pulling a large cart was too absurd, too childish.
As long as there was a trace of sobriety in her heart, she wouldn't let Li Zhiyan pull her along.
"Aunt Gu, let me help you."
Li Zhiyan also followed her into the kitchen, which made Gu Wanzhou's heart ache a little—children from poor families had to take charge early in life.
Because of poverty, they had to understand everything. Like her own daughter, who at 18 years old, had never set foot in the kitchen.
"Li Zhiyan, would you like to be my god... "
Gu Wanzhou was about to ask Li Zhiyan if he would recognize her as his godmother when a phone call came in. She chatted for a few sentences after answering the call with some irritation before hanging up.
"What's wrong, Aunt Gu?"
Li Zhiyan asked with some confusion.
"It's nothing. It's just that your auntie has some extra cash. I looked around recently and thought about buying a house,"
"But after thinking about it, if I paid the down payment, I'd only have a few hundred thousand in cash left, so I put it on hold."
"Lately, real estate salespeople have been calling me often, and it's getting on my nerves."
Li Zhiyan thought for a while and advised, "Aunt Gu, actually, I think you should buy the house."
"Because it's a good opportunity to make money."
Gu Wanzhou was kind to him in his past and present life.
And he also wanted to take advantage of her.
Telling her this minor effort was no big deal.
"Why, sweetheart?"
"Because house prices will continue to surge. There might even be a small increase in the next few months,"
Li Zhiyan paused, then added, "I'm guessing."
Gu Wanzhou looked at Li Zhiyan somewhat surprised.
This kid, he knew about real estate?
"You're guessing?"
"Yes, since the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis in America swept across the globe,"
"the whole world has been forced to foot the bill for America. Even Lehman Brothers, one of America's five major investment banks with a history of 78 years, collapsed in this disaster."
"The country also increased a large amount of currency, and this money has flooded into the market,"
"leading to rapid inflation in real estate. However, I think that the rate of this inflation is far from over."
Li Zhiyan hadn't paid attention to these matters before, but after being reborn,
he caught up on a lot of knowledge. Leveraging his foresight into the future's general direction, he could infer many things.
Anyway, buying a house now would definitely be a windfall.
Gently setting down the bowl she was holding,
Gu Wanzhou looked at the boy beside her incredulously.
How did he know so much!
She had never even heard these terms before; a string of words left Gu Wanzhou somewhat bewildered.
"Sweetheart, what are 'the big five investment banks'?"
"And the subprime mortgage crisis, what does that mean?"
At that moment, Gu Wanzhou deeply felt her own ignorance.