Chapter 625 - 286: My Cat (2)

The boss definitely won’t agree to let drivers waste gas money on air conditioning, so these small tea stalls under the shade of trees emerged.

They don’t just sell tea but also fried noodles, Myanmar spicy salad, and similar items.

There are even fashion magazines featuring scantily clad women to provide some diversion. The subtle difference between "fashion" and "erotica" is practically negligible in the minds of the drivers in Yangon.

As long as you’re not bothered by the questionable sanitation conditions there, 1,000 Myanmar Kyat can help you while away a whole day, which is less than 50 US cents.

In the past, when Mona and Gu Weijing would go out, the servant from their gold store from Mumbai frequently stayed in places like these.

Miss Sande Nu refers to it as - "The Starbucks of the Third World."

Gu Weijing once tried to persuade Uncle Ah Lai that there was no need to wait there. It’s now no problem for him to reimburse his assistant-slash-driver for a cup of coffee.

However, distanced from the grudges of the past, the guardians of tumultuous political struggles have somewhat transcended the mundane with an aura of ascension.

He remains completely indifferent to the outside world.

Compared to small middle-class coffee shops, he quite enjoys experiencing this kind of city life.

Uncle Ah Lai is always noticeable in such places.

Apart from his exceptionally tall figure and the scars on his face that make him look like a tiger among a group of cats.

The book in his hand, Joan Didion’s heavy and melancholic "The Year of Magical Thinking," also stands out among the covers of magazines filled with voluptuous women.

Perhaps because he’s reading such an odd book, there’s even a large gap of empty seats around him at the tea stall.

Other customers at the tea stalls look at him as if they’re observing some strange beast from a zoo.

"Let’s go to the orphanage."

Gu Weijing beckoned to Uncle Ah Lai as he held Ah Wang.

The guardian stood up, opened the car’s rear door for him, and then took the driver’s seat to start the car.

Gu Weijing set the cat beside him on the seat.

Lately, he has been taking Ah Wang to the Good Fortune Orphanage more frequently.

No need for him to instruct, the guardian thoughtfully placed a fabric mat in the back seat to prevent any fallen cat hair.

"By the way, Uncle Ah Lai, I can give you a raise now, one thousand dollars per month."

Gu Weijing fastened his seatbelt.

He previously agreed to give Uncle Ah Lai a "stingy" salary of five hundred dollars.

That’s because the system experience points exchange panel is a bottomless gold-devourer, every dollar spent is carefully divided.

Now with "The Little Prince" selling well, Uncle Ah Lai has been doing such a great job that he deserves a raise.

At least now he doesn’t need to worry about those five hundred dollars as much.

"Understood."

The middle-aged man driving did not refuse; his tone didn’t sound particularly delighted either.

He simply responded calmly with his deep voice.

"There’s one more thing, I promised earlier to donate ten thousand dollars per month to the ’Jasmine’ Foundation. This month, an amount should be coming in, probably more than expected..."

Gu Weijing said that he had the Meiquan Palace Office help register a foundation.

In practice,

Whether it’s renovating the orphanage or sending Uncle Ah Lai to exchange the signing fee given by Ma Shi Gallery for the welfare home’s urgently needed supplies, all were conveniently done in his personal name.

But for donations in the tens of thousands of dollars, it should be done more formally.

Needless to say,

actually finding a reliable, efficient way to responsibly spend tens of thousands of dollars on charity is not as easy as ordinary people might think.

For smaller amounts, you could buy clothes or good food.

Tens of thousands of dollars can’t just buy one million loaves of bread to give to the orphanage, right?

There’s a chance the eaten amount won’t even be more than what’s wasted.

This sum is a bit too large for the capacity of the Good Fortune Orphanage.

Previously, Gu Weijing planned to find several reliable charity organizations online to donate one hundred dollars to each.

Whichever foundation had a higher conversion rate, he would donate all the money to them.

Now that he has established his own foundation, he must personally oversee many things.

Brother Dyson over at Meiquan Palace suggested a grand plan involving contacting community hospitals to provide free consultations to over fifteen local orphanages.

But he needs a competent person for financial oversight and on-site inspections.

An assistant capable of understanding complex novels is not only useful for driving an Elantra for him.

"...there are quite a few matters there. I hope the donations can be put into action quickly, so I might need you to follow up on some things. I’ll give you a contact number shortly."

"I’m not professionally trained in finance."

Uncle Ah Lai never agrees to tasks beyond his capabilities.

"The matters aren’t complicated; just require some running around. There’s a dedicated accounting team to audit. Frankly speaking, you don’t need to understand the money, just the people." Gu Weijing explained.

"Alright."

Ah Lai remained silent, calmly signaling to merge onto the city highway.

A few seconds passed.

He suddenly asked, "Mr. Gu, could you tell me how much more than expected is it?"

"It should be no less than twenty thousand dollars. There will be more money coming in later, and by the end of this year, it should be around fifty thousand dollars... optimistically, maybe even one million dollars."

Gu Weijing estimated a number that was surprisingly shocking even to himself.

He subconsciously knew "The Little Prince" would bring in a lot of money, but actually speaking the number aloud made him truly feel the impact of this wealth.

Even Uncle Ah Lai, who usually seemed like a cold, hard giant sculpted from obsidian, involuntarily trembled slightly as he gripped the steering wheel.

He knew his young employer was not ordinary.

However...

This was a bit too extraordinary.

A young person who can donate ten thousand dollars a month is entirely different from one who can make an annual donation of one million dollars.

Ah Lai, having seen big sums and grand scenes before, was able to maintain basic composure,

but his heart still thumped wildly a few times.

He couldn’t resist using a probing gaze in the rearview mirror to look at the boy in the back seat playing with the cat.

Few people are beyond Uncle Ah Lai’s understanding, and this gentleman is one of them.

A man who once worked as a leader’s bodyguard should not hold inappropriate curiosity.

Yet such a peculiar thing had been very rare in his career.

"Are you curious?"

Gu Weijing noticed Uncle Ah Lai’s odd expression and found it funny.

He originally thought only girls like Koukou in their teenage years get inquisitive.

But it turns out mature and strong men like Ah Lai also occasionally want to gossip.

"Yes, Mr. Gu. Curiosity is a basic human desire, it can’t be changed, but I’ve had professional training to control myself. But since your expression seems willing to bring up this topic... I’d like to know, is it Miss Sakai’s money?"

Uncle Ah Lai’s tone was very complex.

He was very proficient at reading people.

He once speculated that Gu Weijing was likely from a low-key lineage of significant industrialists.

Yangon is half heaven, half hell.

Though Myanmar is terribly poor, this city has billionaires like Brother Hao or collector Boss Chen, amounting to net worth in the billions or ten billion USD, with at least twenty such individuals.

During Uncle Ah Lai’s most prosperous days, he had mingled among truly significant individuals at banquets.

Initially, he missed the mark by assuming Gu Weijing possessed the endowed grace of someone born with a silver spoon, lacking such a sense.

However, he had an artist-like calm and poise.

So Uncle Ah Lai initially mistook him for a low-profile top-tier heir.

He later realized the guy was truthful, his family merely owned a small gallery. He even observed Gu Weijing’s family from afar; they were just ordinary people.

Reluctantly, Uncle Ah Lai shifted his assumptions to the girl at the Good Fortune Orphanage who painted alongside Gu Weijing.

With his discerning eye, from the moment they met, Uncle Ah Lai knew only truly wealthy families could nurture such a young lady brimming with elegant grace.

He genuinely believed Miss Sakai could produce one million dollars.

"I mean nothing else by it; it’s truly remarkable, really... incredible, by any measure."

The middle-aged man quickly supplemented to prevent his tone from sounding like sarcasm towards his young boss for relying on Miss Sakai.

It’s a joke.

Whether Gu Weijing could genuinely live off one million dollars or channel these funds into charitable ventures,

on close consideration, is an earth-shattering feat.