CHAPTER 20: CHAPTER 20 THE CLOWN TURNS OUT TO BE MYSELF?

"Ruan Bingran, who are you insulting with those veiled remarks?" Li Sili’s face puffed up with anger.

"Whoever is getting defensive, that’s who I’m talking about." Ruan Bingran impatiently pushed her aside. "Move, you’re blocking my way."

The push was forceful, causing Li Sili to stagger.

With quick reflexes, Sun Dasheng caught the young girl and stepped in front of her, blocking the others.

He shot them an unpleasant look. "Did your family build this road? What gives you the right to dictate where people stand?"

Ruan Bingran chuckled. "That’s hilarious. This is the entrance to a restaurant, and we are guests here to dine. You aren’t here to eat, so what are you doing just standing here? Putting on a monkey show?"

Sun Dasheng glanced at her. "Who says we’re not here to eat?"

Then he called over Si Han and Yu Qing, "Come on, let’s go inside."

Ruan Bingran started to say something else but was pulled back by Xu Yongsheng. "If he wants to play the clown, let’s give him the stage. We’ll see how he gets kicked out later."

He then explained, "You can’t cut the line here without a VIP card. The manager gave me this one as a personal favor; ordinary people can’t get them."

However, after waiting outside for a long time, they saw no sign of Sun Dasheng’s group being thrown out.

"What’s going on?"

Things weren’t going as he expected, so he decided to go inside and take a look. He entered and saw that the hall was full of people, but there was no sign of Sun Dasheng and his party. Just then, he spotted the lobby manager he had met earlier and walked over.

"Where are the people who just came in?" he asked.

The manager, likely overwhelmed by the number of guests, looked confused, not knowing who he was talking about.

Xu Yongsheng added, "A man in his thirties with three young girls."

Recognition dawned on the manager’s face, and his expression immediately turned respectful. "You must mean Mr. Sun, sir. Are you a friend of his, here to join him?"

"They are in the Supreme VIP Private Room on the second floor. Allow me to confirm your information, and then I can take you to them?"

"You’re saying they went to the Supreme VIP Private Room?" Xu Yongsheng couldn’t believe his ears.

At this, the lobby manager became uncertain about the relationship between the man before him and the esteemed Mr. Sun. His questions didn’t sound like those of a close friend. The warmth vanished from the manager’s face, replaced by a standard, professional smile. "Yes, sir."

Standing to the side, Ruan Bingran was completely lost. She pulled Xu Yongsheng aside and asked in a low voice, "What’s a Supreme VIP Private Room?"

Frustrated by the manager’s words, Xu Yongsheng answered with a hint of impatience, "It’s an upgrade to Supreme VIP status that you get for pre-depositing 500,000 in cash onto the restaurant’s VIP card."

"A single meal in the Supreme VIP Private Room has a minimum charge of tens of thousands."

Depositing five hundred thousand just to eat a meal? And spending tens of thousands on a single dinner?

Ruan Bingran was dumbfounded.

Poverty truly limited her imagination. In her eyes, Xu Yongsheng—with his watch worth over a hundred thousand, his Prada suit worth just as much, and his big Mercedes—was already at the pinnacle of society. It never occurred to her that her worldview was so narrow; everything Xu Yongsheng owned wasn’t even enough to cover a few of that man’s meals. With this realization, everything became clear. It wasn’t that her roommates were crazy, but that she herself had been blind. Was I the real clown all along?

Seeing the conflicted expressions flash across the girl’s face, Xu Yongsheng sensed trouble. The prize he’d nearly won was about to slip through his fingers.

His mind raced, and he let out a dry laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Ruan Bingran asked.

A scornful smile touched his lips. "I’m laughing at him for putting on a brave front when it’s killing him. I heard he just sold his house, and now he’s blowing the little money he got from it on this petty fit of jealousy."

"After spending his last penny here, he’ll probably end up on the streets. Hahaha... can you think of anything funnier?"

"Is that really true?" Ruan Bingran asked skeptically.

She wasn’t some naive, sheltered girl; she had a calculating side and didn’t fully believe his words.

"Of course. My former mentor’s wife—oh... I mean, Sun Dasheng’s ex-wife, told me."

As he spoke, he pulled out his phone to show her his chat messages. The conversation indeed contained words like "divorce" and "sell the house"; Ruan Bingran saw the keywords. But just as she tried to read the specific messages, Xu Yongsheng quickly snatched his phone back.

Naturally, she couldn’t ask for another look. He had, after all, shown her, and it was her own fault for not looking faster. Asking again would be tactless.

With his skilled maneuvering, the old fox successfully bamboozled the little fox.

"Tch!" Ruan Bingran’s lip curled with the imperious air of a Dragon King. "That poser, trying to look rich to save face. He almost had me fooled."

Then, with practiced ease, she wrapped her arm around his and cooed, "You’re amazing, Yongsheng. We young girls have none of your experience."

"In the future, if there’s anything I’m not sure about, I’ll have to rely on you to help me get a handle on things~~"

The phrase "get a handle on things" was delivered with an extra dose of sweetness. Xu Yongsheng’s gaze drifted to her ample assets, and he felt a sudden itch in his heart.

His throat felt a bit dry as he said, "Don’t worry, I’ll definitely help you ’handle’ things properly."

He secretly pitied his small hands. Would he even be able to handle them?

Arm in arm, the two found a table for dinner, putting their unpleasant encounter with Sun Dasheng’s group behind them.

***

This meal of rare and exotic delicacies was a huge eye-opener for the three girls. They were actually getting to eat top-tier cuisine they had only ever seen in over-the-top CEO dramas. Feeling like they were receiving the main-character treatment, they snapped photos to post on their social media and replied to a flood of messages.

So the meal stretched on, but Sun Dasheng was in no hurry.

He looked at the notifications that had just popped up on his system panel.

[You have been backstabbed by Xu Yongsheng. Spite Points +100]

[You have been mocked by Ruan Bingran. Spite Points +10]

The panel attributes changed to:

Name: Sun Dasheng

Level: 2 (100/1,000)

Spite Points: 420

Cash-out Value: 4,200,000

It seems that casual acquaintances provide very few points. Only people he knew well could generate large amounts of Spite Points. For the sake of gaining points, it looked like he’d have to keep dealing with those folks in the future.

He didn’t plan to cash out the points. He wanted to save them to level up and see if any new features would unlock at Level 3.

Looks like I’ll have to be more careful with the remaining five million in my account. I already impulsively spent five hundred thousand just to prove a point. He reflected quietly. The sudden wealth had indeed thrown his judgment off balance.

But as his eyes fell on the table of chattering, beautiful women, he mentally ripped up his self-critique. Reflect, my ass! Before he got the system, he was always reflecting on his actions. If he was still going to do that *with* the system, then what was the point of having it?

Seeing the girls still chatting and laughing, Sun Dasheng started playing on his phone.

His short-video feed was weird today. It was all financial and stock market gurus. Where did all the long-legged beauties go? Who took away my goddesses? Could it be that because of my recent large expenditures, my consumer data was leaked? Did the short-video algorithm identify me as a prime target, a high-quality leek ready to be harvested?

"Uncle, are you watching stock market news? Are you into stocks, too? Did you make all that money from the stock market?" Li Sili asked, having a sudden realization. No wonder Uncle has so much money even without a job. He must have earned it from stocks!

Sun Dasheng inwardly cried foul. Once upon a time, he had been a tiny leek in China’s stock market, but he’d quit cold turkey after getting a mortgage. Who knew a mortgage could have an upside?

Huh. Now that she mentioned it, the girl’s words gave him an idea. He had the perfect cover story for the source of his funds now, didn’t he? Of course, not from the Chinese market, but from the U.S. market. After all, his money did come from America.

"You’re a clever one, little girl," Sun Dasheng said, giving her a thumbs-up. "You’ve discovered the secret I’ve hidden for so long."