Chapter 40: Becoming a Multimillionaire in Seconds

Han Fei's soul of gossip instantly burned. She immediately leaned forward, her eyes glowing:

"What surprise? Tell me quickly!"

Liu Jian kept his mouth tightly shut, waving his hands with an exaggerated tone:

"This... heavenly secrets must not be revealed! It's better to leave it to him to announce personally. In short, congratulations in advance, Sister-in-law, keeping the clouds away to see the moonlight! From now on, whatever Hermes limited edition you want to buy, you won't even need to blink!"

(TL: "Keeping the clouds away to see the moonlight" is an idiom for enduring hardships until seeing success.)

The envy and heartfelt joy for a friend in his tone didn't seem faked.

At this time, Xu Yunzhou over there saw Liu Jian, and also caught a glimpse of Su Qianran's side-profile. His brows furrowed imperceptibly, seeming to feel that this coincidence was somewhat in the way.

He sent Liu Jian a message.

After looking at his phone, Liu Jian laughed and said to Su Qianran:

"Yunzhou is calling me over, this is a secret between us men. Sister-in-law, you guys sit first, we'll chat later! Wait to receive your big gift!"

After saying that, he walked quickly toward Xu Yunzhou's booth. The two high-fived familiarly and began conversing in low voices.

After Liu Jian left, Han Fei couldn't suppress her burning curiosity:

"What exactly is the surprise Liu Jian mentioned? It sounds like a grand gesture that could make the news!"

Su Qianran shook her head. Her heart also felt like it was being scratched by a hundred cat claws simultaneously, itching unbearably.

She pricked up her ears wanting to hear the conversation in the distance clearly, but unfortunately, the bar's just-right music and distance made her unable to capture any key information.

Just as she was itching unbearably, guessing whether it was a pigeon-egg diamond ring or a real estate certificate—

The phone gripped in her hand suddenly vibrated continuously. The screen was instantly lit up, and several push notifications from the banking app popped up one after another like heavy bombs!

It was three transfers!

The first two were five million, and the third was over three million.

Su Qianran blanked for several seconds before her brain finished processing this series of zeros. Flustered and with trembling fingertips, she clicked open Xu Yunzhou's banking app to check the balance:

Over thirteen million five hundred and eighty thousand!

The transferring party was impressively that trading company under Liu Jian!

At this moment, all the clues—Zhao Lili's terrified loss of composure when fired, the company's instantaneous collapse and liquidation, the identity of Chairman Song's "honored guest," Xu Yunzhou's reborn temperament and image, Liu Jian's deeply secretive "surprise," and this real, tangible eight-figure massive sum before her eyes...

She understood!

No wonder he was so decisive about selling the marital home!

With these over thirteen million, it was enough to buy a luxury large flat in Binzhou's most top-tier river-view real estate, or a single-family villa slightly further away! Who would still fancy that small three-bedroom apartment carrying a heavy mortgage?

"So... this is the surprise Liu Jian mentioned he was going to give me..."

Su Qianran muttered to herself, her face flushing with excitement and ecstasy.

She immediately straightened her waist and back, adjusted her hair and dress, put on her most beautiful posture, and waited with an accelerating heartbeat.

Waiting for Xu Yunzhou to finish handling matters with Liu Jian, and then walk up to her holding the keys to a new house, staging a drama of the prodigal son returning, the bossy CEO holding massive wealth begging for reconciliation.

However, time passed minute by minute, second by second.

She saw Xu Yunzhou and Liu Jian chatting happily, occasionally clinking glasses.

Then... they actually stood up together, seemingly preparing to leave?

Without even casting another glance her way, Xu Yunzhou walked straight out of the bar's main door talking and laughing with Liu Jian, disappearing into the night.

The expectation and flush on Su Qianran's face instantly froze, subsequently turning into astonishment and disbelief.

Hmph! Men!

She screamed exasperatedly in her heart,

Really good at pretending! Let's see how long you can pretend! Tomorrow! At the latest tomorrow, you will definitely bring the keys and gifts to beg me!

Outside the bar, by the Binjiang Bridge.

Liu Jian leaned against the cold railing and lit a cigarette, the scarlet point of fire flickering in the night.

Xu Yunzhou gazed into the distance at that familiar cluster of buildings on the other side of the river—that was their former alma mater, Binzhou Institute of Technology.

It was also his youth.

Liu Jian blew out a smoke ring. Looking at Xu Yunzhou beside him, whose temperament was vastly different, he sighed with heartfelt emotion, half-joking and half-serious:

"Tsk, as expected, wealth is a man's best medical aesthetics and confidence. Brother, this temperament of yours is like being reborn, suddenly completely different. It feels... like you've even grown a bit taller? More upright."

Xu Yunzhou knew this was the reason for taking top-tier body shaping classes together with Song Jiaru, imperceptibly improving his posture, but he only smiled and didn't explain.

He changed the subject, his tone calm:

"Right, I haven't officially told you yet, Su Qianran and I broke up."

Liu Jian nodded, not surprised. Just now in the bar, he had keenly perceived that subtle and stiff atmosphere.

In his circle of Jiangnan rich second-generations, changing girlfriends was about as common as buying new clothes for the changing seasons. He just patted Xu Yunzhou's shoulder, didn't ask more, and didn't console him either.

Xu Yunzhou didn't need consolation either. He quietly gazed at his distant alma mater, his eyes complex.

On the bridge, a female singer holding a guitar was live streaming, singing an old song with a familiar melody—

"Walking with me on the streets of Chengzhou, oh... "

It was exactly that song "Chengzhou."

Hearing it and being moved by the scene, Xu Yunzhou walked over without a second word, took out his phone, scanned the QR code next to the singer, and under Liu Jian's surprised gaze, directly entered an amount and scanned a thousand yuan over.

The tipping notification sound was exceptionally crisp.

Liu Jian smiled. Looking at that flattered female singer who thanked him repeatedly, he said to Xu Yunzhou:

"This song by Song Jiaru, after so many years have passed, every time I hear it, I still feel it sounds good, having an indescribable flavor."

Looking at the river water flowing under the bridge, Xu Yunzhou fell silent.

His brows furrowed slightly, always feeling that something wasn't right in some places, like an erroneous link had mixed into the logical chain.

Because in the "Goddess Nurturing" game, he personally taught Song Jiaru to sing this song, word by word, correcting her pronunciation and emotion.

Then where did he learn it himself?

Did he learn it by listening to the "future" Queen of Pop Song Jiaru's song? And then go teach it to her himself? Isn't this ridiculous...

And who exactly is the author of this song?

Is it him, Xu Yunzhou, or Song Jiaru?

Or... a dislocation of some parallel spacetime?

Could it be... he isn't changing history at all, but is merely a bystander watching historical surveillance video?

All the interventions were already part of the established facts long ago?

But... how to explain the one thousand Bitcoins in Lin Ruoxuan's USB drive? Pure coincidence?

Headache.

Xu Yunzhou rubbed his temples, feeling like he had fallen into the vortex of a time paradox.

Now, the core of all the questions was still that old question—he needed to confirm whether he truly "existed" in some dimension within the worlds of Lin Ruoxuan and Song Jiaru.

Everything would become clear at Song Jiaru's concert on Saturday.

He had to go personally verify whether that Queen of Pop shining radiantly on the stage... still remembered a "Big Brother" from an "alternate dimension."