Chapter 134: Do I Owe You a Sum of Money?

You all?

Oh, probably referring to Song Jiaru having so many fans.

Xu Yunzhou's scalp tingled a bit. He laughed it off, trying to muddle through:

"Our family's Xiao Nuo isn't bad either!"

He hurriedly changed the subject, his tone carrying praise:

"Look at you, you've grown so much taller this year, and your temperament is getting better and better!"

This statement wasn't false.

Over this past year, under almost self-masochistic self-discipline and the optimization plan provided by a top-tier nutritional team that Xu Yunzhou "borrowed" from Lin Ruoxuan, Xu Nuo's changes were astonishing.

Her height grew from the initial 158cm to 165cm, and her body broke away from the previous thinness and frailty, becoming well-proportioned and straight, her whole presence emitting a vigorous vitality.

Xu Nuo's reaction to this comment was very unexpected. She didn't explode, nor did she speak sour words.

Instead, she smiled, and in that smile there was something complex and unspeakable.

"Teacher, speaking of which, it's very coincidental this year,"

She suddenly said, her tone carrying a deliberate casualness:

"My birthday... is on the same day as Valentine's Day."

Her lunar birthday this year happened to collide with the Gregorian Valentine's Day.

Xu Yunzhou frowned.

Such a coincidental day... I can't do nothing.

Moreover, last Valentine's Day Xu Nuo gave him the first Valentine's Day gift of his life, so he naturally had to return the gift.

But what could he do?

Give a gift? How to give it? Through the game? But this broken game doesn't have this function...

Say some sweet words? Seems too empty...

He thought hard.

Wait... how could I forget them!

A thought flashed through his mind like lightning.

He immediately and decisively paused the game, withdrawing his consciousness from Xu Nuo's apartment in 2017, and returned to the hotel room by the West Lake where he was in 2025, the morning light just breaking.

Picking up the phone placed by his hand, his fingertips swiped rapidly across the screen, scanning the contacts...

Mhm, it's not appropriate to find Lin Ruoxuan or Song Jiaru for this matter... Let alone Shen Mingyue, how old was she in 2017...

Got it!

His gaze froze on the contact just added yesterday, with the alias "Hong Kong Morgan - Xu Xinyi."

Old Madam Wu Xiuyun's great-granddaughter.

Calculating by bloodline and family seniority, she is considered his... distant cousin... right?

The atmosphere when they met yesterday was considered harmonious, and the other party's attitude was respectful and proper.

He clicked open her profile picture, weighed his wording, and sent a message over:

"Um, Miss Xu, or should I call you cousin? Are you awake yet?"

The time now was 9:00 AM.

Soon, the other party replied, her tone carrying respect:

"Mhm, Mister. Do you have any instructions?"

Xu Yunzhou thought for a moment and decided to get straight to the point:

"Recall carefully, do I owe you a sum of money?"

This headless and tailless sentence clearly baffled Xu Xinyi on the other end of the screen:

"???"

"No, Mister. Didn't we just officially meet for the first time yesterday? Where does owing money come from?"

Xu Yunzhou smiled like a flower, his fingers typing rapidly:

"Think again."

"On New Year's Eve in 2017, did someone entrust you to arrange a matter?"

"A person claiming to be a friend of your great-grandmother asked you to help prepare a birthday and Valentine's Day gift?"

After the message was sent, the other side fell silent for a full minute.

The message bombardment began!

"!!!"

"So that person was actually you! Mister!"

"I was wondering at the time! Suddenly receiving a mysterious text message, the sender was a completely unfamiliar number, and the content was even written in French! Just saying he had a deep origin with our Xu family, claiming to be Mister himself!

Saying he wanted to celebrate the birthday and Valentine's Day of a little girl in Nihon, asking me to help plan and arrange a special gift, and even specifically said he would return the money to me with interest in the future."

"I was completely baffled after receiving the text message, but also felt the other party knew the origin between Great-grandmother and Mister, so it didn't seem like a pure prank."

"I went to ask Great-grandmother for instructions. After she heard it, she fell silent for a long time, then smiled, said it was somewhat interesting, and told me to do as the other party said."

"Then I really went to plan it, advanced the money, got the matter settled, and sent the information about the gift and arrangement back to that number. And the result... later on, I could never contact that person again! That number was also canceled!"

"As time went by, when other people in the family knew about this matter, they all said I definitely encountered telecommunications fraud! After all, although not many people know about the matter of the Xu family enshrining Mister in the old mansion, it's not top secret either. Who's to say the information wasn't utilized by someone with ulterior motives~"

"I myself also felt it looked like it the more I thought about it, thinking in my heart that I, Xu Xinyi, am smart and clever in this life, yet actually fell for this kind of transnational fraud routine... truly lost face to the extreme! I was depressed about this for quite a while!"

"I didn't expect... it turns out it was actually true! That mysterious person who sent the text message was really you, Mister? So I wasn't scammed?"

Through the screen, Xu Yunzhou could clearly feel her excitement between the lines.

Holding back a smile, he continued to play the role of "filling in historical blanks" and replied:

"Mhm, that's right, that person back then was me. The situation was special at the time, it was inconvenient to show my face directly, so I used some unconventional methods to contact you, making you confused, sorry."

"So, to handle this matter back then, how much money did you advance in total? Send me the account number, I'll transfer it to you with interest right now. Since I said I would return it, I must return it."

Xu Xinyi seemed to still not have recovered from the shock:

"Probably... sixty or seventy thousand?"

But she quickly added, her tone carrying a bit of the casualness of family members and a trace of resentment:

"But forget it! At the time, when Great-grandmother heard there might be news of Mister, she was very happy and directly reimbursed me!

Later, after hearing there was no follow-up and you couldn't be contacted, Great-grandmother just chuckled a few times, saying Mister was just elusive like that, and to get used to it.

So... actually I didn't lose anything, just carried the blame of 'suspected of being scammed' for a few years!"

Xu Yunzhou thought for a moment, but still insisted:

"'Even biological brothers keep clear accounts,' moreover, as this older brother, how could I let my younger sister advance money and not get it back. Send the account number."

Soon, Xu Xinyi sent over a Hong Kong bank account information.

Operating his phone, Xu Yunzhou cleanly and neatly transferred one hundred thousand over, considered as compensation and interest.

"Right,"

After finishing the serious business, Xu Yunzhou remembered a crucial link,

"What was the phone number you received the text message on back then?"

Mhm, later when he "mounts" Xu Nuo's body, he will send a text message to this number to complete this causal closed loop spanning eight years.

Xu Xinyi recited a string of domestic mobile phone numbers and explained:

"This number. I hadn't gone abroad to study yet at the time, just like you Mister, I was attending college domestically, so I used a domestic phone number. By the way, why are you asking this?"

"Nothing, just reminiscing."

Xu Yunzhou laughed "haha," preparing to enter the game to send a message to the Xu Xinyi of that time.

But the message Xu Xinyi sent immediately after made Xu Yunzhou's newly relaxed brows raise slightly again.

"Right Mister, actually... I am not your cousin."

Xu Yunzhou's heart skipped a beat.

Hmm? Could it be I really have to fulfill Elder Wu's outrageous "marriage contract"?

Before he had time to reply, Xu Xinyi's next message popped out:

"Yesterday with your parents, we carefully checked the genealogy seniority. It turns out I should call them older cousin and sister-in-law..."

She paused, seeming to carry a bit of inability to hold back laughter:

"Um... so, according to seniority, I should be your... Aunt."

Xu Yunzhou:

"..."

Facing the phone screen, he was speechless and choked with tears for a moment, his expression a bit brilliant.

Holy shit?

Aunt?!

Fucking Aunt!

This seniority... is simply amazing!

Yesterday I was still politely calling her "Miss Xu," thinking she was a distant female cousin, and turning around she becomes "Aunt"?

Forget it... Aunt it is then.

On second thought, Xu Yunzhou inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.

It's much better than a "fiancée" suddenly dropping from the sky!

The emotional lines currently around him are already complex enough and headache-inducing enough!

But... wait, something seems wrong?

In a certain well-known wuxia story, didn't that great hero also call his later wife "Aunt" at the beginning?

(TL: Referencing Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü from "Return of the Condor Heroes," where Yang Guo calls her "Gugu" / Aunt.)

This association made the corners of Xu Yunzhou's mouth twitch. He hummed a few times, deciding not to think deeply about this somewhat dangerous analogy.

He closed the chat window with Xu Xinyi, then opened the translation software, and translated the message he wanted to send to the 2017 Xu Xinyi into French.

This was naturally so Xu Nuo couldn't understand it, otherwise there would be no surprise to speak of.

He stretched his fingers and clicked [Continue Game].

Next, is the moment to witness a miracle.