Chapter 314 - 178: Tonight’s Grilled Kidneys Are Certainly Good

Chapter 314: Chapter 178: Tonight’s Grilled Kidneys Are Certainly Good

The back gate of Keda.

The early summer evening breeze had shed its last trace of chill. Now, it carried a touch of warmth, mingling with the strong smell of cumin and the smoky char of charcoal from the roadside stalls as it drifted freely down the entire street.

In front of Old Li’s Barbecue Stand, four yellowed plastic chairs surrounded a square table with a chipped corner.

The tabletop, coated in a layer of grease that hadn’t been properly wiped clean in who knows how long, shimmered faintly under the low-wattage bulb overhead.

Chu Ge sat sprawled in the seat by the aisle, turning his head to shout at the owner, who was busy flipping skewers over a charcoal grill.

"Boss, start us off with ten kidney skewers! Fifty lamb! Thirty pork belly, and make ’em extra crispy!"

The cattail fan in the owner’s hand paused. He glanced back at the table of four young men, who all looked like students, and offered a well-intentioned reminder.

"Fellas, are you sure you can finish all that? Ten kidney skewers aren’t cheap, you know."

"If we can’t finish it, we’ll get it to-go and feed the strays."

Chu Ge waved a hand dismissively.

"And bring over two cases of cold drinks. The absolute coldest you’ve got—the kind with frost on the bottles."

Wang Dayong, sitting across from Chu Ge, sucked in a sharp breath as he listened to the massive order. He kicked Chu Ge under the table.

"Chu Ge, have you lost your mind? It’s not a holiday or anything. What’s gotten into you?"

Wang Dayong lowered his voice.

"This meal is going to cost over a hundred, maybe close to two hundred! Are you trying to go broke? All I’ve got on me is a ten and a few coins."

Hearing this, Lu Jia, who was sitting nearby, looked up. He pushed his black-framed glasses up the bridge of his nose and chimed in with a meticulous tone.

"Based on our average Engel’s coefficient for the past three months, this meal clearly exceeds the combined budgetary limits of our two dorms."

Chen Zhuo sat in the innermost seat, his back to the wall.

He didn’t join Wang Dayong and Lu Jia in questioning Chu Ge. Instead, he calmly pulled four pairs of disposable chopsticks from the plastic holder on the table. He rubbed them together to smooth away any splinters before handing them out to the other three.

Only after doing all this did Chen Zhuo raise his eyes to look at Chu Ge, whose face was brimming with irrepressible excitement. The corners of Chen Zhuo’s mouth curved up slightly.

"Let him order."

Chen Zhuo’s voice was gentle, yet carried a matter-of-fact certainty.

"Looks like Boss Chu finally cashed in big time. He’s been itching to treat us to this meal for a while now. If we don’t let him, he’ll be too wound up to sleep tonight."

Chu Ge slapped his thigh, pointed at Chen Zhuo, and grinned from ear to ear.

"Brother Zhuo gets me!"

Instead of explaining, Chu Ge mysteriously reached into his jeans pocket. He fumbled around for a moment before pulling out a crumpled ATM receipt.

He flattened the receipt on the greasy tabletop, holding it by the edges with two fingers, and slowly pushed it to the center of the table.

"Take a look."

Chu Ge jutted out his chin and said, feigning composure as he fought the urge to throw back his head and roar in triumph.

"Just printed it out at the bank by the south gate."

Wang Dayong leaned in, suspicious.

The light from the streetlamp and the food stall mingled on the receipt, and the ink on it was somewhat faded.

Wang Dayong squinted, his finger tapping the column of numbers on the receipt.

"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands... a hundred thousand?"

Wang Dayong’s voice cracked.

He snapped his head up, his eyes wide as saucers. He stared intently at Chu Ge, holding his breath for a couple of seconds.

Lu Jia moved much faster than Wang Dayong.

He snatched the receipt, pushed up his glasses, and his eyes quickly scanned the account number, date, and balance.

After confirming everything was correct, he looked up, his expression for the first time filled with a bewilderment that no mathematical formula could explain.

"Did you... rob a bank?"

Lu Jia asked in all seriousness.

"Rob a bank, my ass."

Chu Ge snatched the receipt back, folded it carefully, and stuffed it back into his pocket, even patting it twice for good measure.

Just then, the owner walked over carrying a case of frosty cold drinks and casually set a bottle opener on the table.

Chu Ge didn’t use the opener.

He grabbed a bottle, hooked the cap on the edge of the table, and slammed his palm down on it.

With a soft POP, the cap flew off, and white foam fizzed from the bottle’s mouth.

He opened two more bottles in the same way, pushing one to Wang Dayong and another to Lu Jia while keeping one for himself. Then, he turned his head and shouted to the owner.

"Boss, another can of Jianlibao! A cold one!"

A moment later, a pop-top can beaded with condensation was placed in front of Chen Zhuo.

"The preliminary tests in the Capital City are finished."

Chu Ge raised his bottle, his eyes shining with a rare light—the pride of someone who had made a real impact on the world with his own two hands.

"Wang Xing’s team... Last night, they integrated the underlying architecture I rewrote."

At this, Chu Ge turned to look at Chen Zhuo.

"Brother Zhuo, that idea you gave me for the sparse matrix and vector multiplication was an absolute godsend. Last night, the team in the Capital City simulated ten times the peak concurrent traffic, and the server ran smoother than the hot water in our dorm."

Wang Dayong listened, completely bewildered.

"So, the hundred thousand is..."

"The final payment, plus a bonus, plus a buyout."

Chu Ge took a huge gulp. The cold liquid rushed down his throat, and the chill made him shudder.

"They got anxious, worried I’d sell the architecture to someone else, so they wired the full amount this afternoon—principal and interest, all of it."

The table fell silent for a few seconds.

In an era where a student’s average monthly living expenses were just a few hundred, one hundred thousand was a fortune to a student who hadn’t even graduated yet—an amount that could change a great many things.

Wang Dayong swallowed hard and reached for the bottle in front of him.