Chapter Thirty-two: Taking Stock of the Harvest

  Staring at the diamond hair clip in her hand, dozens of small diamonds were embedded into the shape of Hello Kitty. Seeing the Tiffany logo on the packaging box, it was clear that this wasn't an ordinary crystal accessory. Looking inside the bag, there were six or seven other pieces of jewelry with the same brand.

  "Uncle, are these all for me?" Xing Ye asked disbelievingly, these few pieces of jewelry might be worth several years' salary.

  Yu Rongguang was somewhat embarrassed, "It was my assistant who reminded me that when we first meet, I should give you a gift. I was in a hurry to catch the plane, so I hastily found a jewelry store and randomly bought a few things, but I don't know if you like them."

  Is there a woman who doesn't like jewelry? Although these ornaments are in a girly style and the gems aren't very big, they win out with their novel design and fine craftsmanship. Just the brand alone is enough to make a bunch of women drool. Xing Ye looked at them and couldn't help but feel fond of them in her heart. But thinking about their value, she said "Little brother, I really can't have these."

  "You don't like them? I said to get the diamond ones, but that manager insisted these are more suitable for a girl of your age. Fine, we won't have these, tomorrow I'll buy you some bigger stones."

  "No, no, it's not that I'm being picky, but these are too valuable, I couldn't possibly accept them." Xing Ye hastily explained.

  Yu Rongguang smiled as he looked at Xing Ye, and Xing Ye immediately understood that Xiao Shu had just been teasing him. How could he not know how to choose accessories?

  "Little uncle... grandma, look at little uncle..." Xīng Yè pouts with her grandma.

  The little girl's coquettishness made everyone laugh, and her grandmother patted her hand and said: "Take it, your uncle is now worth a lot of money, buying this little thing is nothing." She glanced at her son and said: "Don't buy it for you, he doesn't even know to buy it for that girlfriend of his!"

  Yu Rongguang coughed twice. Every time his mother would seize every opportunity to persuade him to get married, a topic that was better not mentioned in front of Xing Ye.

  "What's with the coughing? Don't want to listen?" The old lady glared at her son.

  "No, no, I'm tired. The plane and car rides, the time difference hasn't caught up with me yet. No way, I need to go sleep first." Yu Rongguang slipped back into his own room amidst the stifled laughter of the others at night.

  After being in contact for a few days, Xing Ye discovered that her clever brother-in-law would show his childish side in front of his family members, and unlike his older brother, he had a stronger desire to protect his family and was more direct in his approach.

  Jia Kai found himself a tutor, who was actually his classmate, a boy wearing glasses. Xiaoshu said that the boy had ulterior motives and would often sneak glances at her when talking to her. In reality, it was just a young boy looking at the pure and innocent girl he was supposed to be tutoring, which wasn't as serious as Xiaoshu made it out to be. As a result, Xiaoshu scolded Jia Kai when he came back on the weekend, saying that he had eyes but no insight, and had entrusted the wrong person, causing Jia Kai to constantly complain to himself, not only getting scolded by Xiaoshu but also offending his classmate.

  The American company called him on the third day to urge him to return, but he ignored them and eventually stopped answering his phone. It wasn't until his assistant flew in from America that he was forced onto a plane. In private, he complained to his uncle that he was just a child used to pay off debts, working tirelessly for his aunt without a moment's rest. As for his assistant, he was actually a supervisor sent by his aunt, reporting everything back to her, making his life a tragic comedy.

  Nobody would naturally sympathize with his complaints, and he didn't think about the opportunity to work hard like an ox, who knows how many people dream of it. Everyone was enthusiastic about his female assistant Catherine instead. Catherine is a thirty-year-old mixed-race beauty, speaking and doing things in a generous and elegant manner, polite to people without making them feel distant. Xing Ye had been admiring such women since ancient times, capable, working well, not particularly beautiful but having unique charm, especially being very independent and not relying on men for a living.

  After all, Xīn Yè's psychological age is also over 30 years old, and he has a good impression of Catherine, so the two get along well. Moreover, Xīn Yè feels that his grandmother looks at Catherine with a gaze similar to looking at her future daughter-in-law, which makes him like her even more. On the other hand, between Xiao Shu and Catherine, there is not a hint of ambiguity, they are all businesslike, and sometimes there is even a whiff of gunpowder smell.

  When the two were about to return to the United States, Grandma held Catherine's hand and repeatedly reminded her that she was welcome to come over and play anytime. The little brother-in-law was puzzled and muttered, "Mom, whose home is this? I am your son."

  As he walked out of the bank, Xing Ye's hands were clenched tightly around two bank cards in his pocket.

  One card was given by her younger uncle, saying it was for her pocket money. Another card was brought to her by Catherine from her aunt in the United States. At first, Xīn Yè didn't know the specific amount on the cards. Today, when she went to the bank to check, she was shocked. The so-called "pocket money" from her younger uncle was a whole $10,000 US dollars. Her aunt's was even more astonishing, with $30,000 US dollars. Adding them together is $40,000 US dollars, which is equivalent to several hundred thousand RMB. For Xīn Yè, who was still worrying about paying off debts two months ago, this is undoubtedly a huge sum of money that suddenly fell from the sky. How could she not be shocked?

  Xing Ye's first reaction was to tell her grandmother, but her grandmother didn't seem as surprised as Xing Ye did. Instead, she looked like she had known all along. "Take it if you want it, and manage your own pocket money."

  More than 300,000 yuan in pocket money, isn't that too much? Apparently this was just Xing Ye's idea, but when others heard it, they didn't show any surprise on their faces, with an expression of "it's only natural", making Xing Ye feel like he was the one who was ignorant and overreacting.

  Sitting on the bed at night, the gifts received over the past half month were placed on the bed. The 5,000 yuan given by Aunt was equivalent to her stepfather's income for five months, but now it seemed insignificant. The jade bangle from Grandma was priceless, conservatively estimated to be worth tens of millions. The Qingtian stone seal from Grandpa was also invaluable. There were seven Tiffany accessories: necklaces, bracelets, hairpins, and earrings. Two bank cards that didn't seem impressive at first glance actually contained 40,000 US dollars. Now, could it be said that I too had a small fortune? At least for the next few years, I wouldn't have to worry about living expenses.

  At night, she put the things into a jewelry box, her hand touching the box, and her heart felt a pang of sadness. If she had even one of these things a few years ago, her mother's illness wouldn't have been delayed, and perhaps the tragedy between her brother and stepfather wouldn't have happened either.

  Sat for half a day, and then gathered back the scattered thoughts. What to do with this money? Leaving it as pocket money is obviously not a good idea. After all, I am also reborn, my vision is more than ten years ahead of others, so I should use it to make the money grow again.

  Thinking carefully, it seems that this is still very difficult. In my past life, I wasn't interested in economics, politics, or practical things, and I didn't have any technical expertise. It seems like I also don't know how to do business. After thinking about it all night, it seems like the things I was good at in my past life weren't very good things, such as going shopping, drinking, playing cards, singing, dancing, and pleasing men. These things seem useless now. Moreover, there are some things that I would rather die than do again, such as seducing and pleasing men.

  Then just save it for now and talk about it when there's a chance, thinking of you on this starry night.

  Life has returned to calmness, the days are still like before, getting up early for exercise, reviewing lessons in the morning, practicing vocalization, learning cooking from Aunt Mei at noon, practicing calligraphy for an hour in the afternoon, or playing a game of chess with Grandpa or watching TV dramas with Grandma, after dinner it's still reading and writing, life is passing leisurely.

  Even on a starry night, there were worries. For example, the letter she was going to write to her brother Hui Ye had not been written well, and several times she picked up her pen and wrote half of it before tearing it up again.

  How to tell Hyoja that I've found my maternal grandparents' family? If he knows that I'm being taken care of by them now, will he think that I'm greedy for their wealth? Having just experienced the pain of losing his father, will he think that I've abandoned him too? How can I explain it to him?

  After repeated deliberation, he decided to go to Kaguya first and reassure her that everything was all right, so as not to worry her. He didn't mention his father's family in the letter; he would tell her about it when he went to see her after a few days.

  On his way to mail a letter on a starry night, he passed by the stock exchange hall and was suddenly reminded of a memory by the loud crowd of people speculating in stocks.

  I remember when I was still working as a hostess in the nightclub, there was a regular customer who would often come to see me. Everyone called him Liu Pangzi, and he was a typical nouveau riche. Every time he had a few drinks, he would tell people about his rags-to-riches story.

  "I don't know how it happened, but I just listened to someone's advice and invested in stocks. This world is crazy - the brave get rich, while the timid starve. So I took all my business money and put it into stocks. My partner was always at my doorstep asking for his share, but I got angry and ran off to Guangzhou for half a year. When I came back, you won't believe what happened? My partner saw me and started bowing and scraping like a grandson. It turned out that all the stocks I bought had skyrocketed! You can't even guess how much they rose - I'll tell you, it was ten times, haha, more than ten times! I made a fortune overnight, just like picking up gold bars from heaven.

  Luckily, old Liu here is uneducated and not greedy. I sold all my stocks immediately, unlike some people who held on too tightly and ended up losing everything. There were even a few who jumped off buildings. What's the point of being rich? It's just a small dish, while those big companies are playing a high-stakes game, making two or three times more than me."

  That's why Liu Pangzi often had this phrase on the tip of his tongue, so Xing Ye remembered it very clearly. Later, he also heard that many people made money in the stock market in '96, was this not an opportunity?!

  Xīn yè bù yóu zì zhǔ de zǒu jìn lei zhèng kuài dà tīng, zán wú dǒng, xiān liǎo jiě zài shuō.

  English Translation:

  At night, he involuntarily walked into the securities hall, I don't understand, let's get to know it first and then talk about it.