CHAPTER 346: CHAPTER 345: SEPARATE CONVERSATIONS

Zhen Yu and Han Mingyue spent the entire morning whiling away the time in the library. By the time they hurried back home for a meal, it was already 1 PM.

Naturally, they couldn’t avoid a bit of nagging from Mrs. Zhen.

Fortunately, the excuse of borrowing books served as a cover and explanation, so Mrs. Zhen didn’t harbor too many suspicions about her relationship with him.

After having ’lunch’ and resting for about ten minutes, the Han Family Brothers planned to leave.

Winter days were short, and if they caught the next bus, they would only reach home after dark!

"I’ll see you off!" Zhen Yu didn’t insist on keeping them any longer and directly stood up to join them.

"You don’t need to go!" Zhen Yan quickly stopped her: "I’ll do it!"

Zhen Yu opened her mouth to argue, but Han Mingyue suddenly spoke up!

"Listen to your brother! Don’t go!"

"...wait a minute!" It was only then that Zhen Yu suddenly remembered the tape recording of the song she had made last night for Han Mingyue!

She hurriedly turned around and ran upstairs to get it!

Zhen Yan looked at Han Mingyue, who just shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he was also unaware of what Zhen Yu was up to.

Fortunately, they only waited a short while before Zhen Yu came running back downstairs.

"Here!"

Zhen Yan glanced at it, saw that it was a cassette tape, and didn’t make a sound.

Han Mingyue smiled, took it, and carefully tucked it into the inner pocket of his down jacket’s left chest.

"I’m leaving." These words were directed firmly at Zhen Yu by Han Mingyue.

"Mhm." Zhen Yu nodded her head.

Facing the ’siblings,’ neither person spoke much.

They just exchanged a tacit glance, then one turned to leave, and the other stood at the door to watch.

Even when the taxi, carrying the wind and snow, went far away, Zhen Yu still stood inside the glass door, gazing into the distance.

"Alright! The person has gone, and you’re still standing there watching!" Gu Qing teased in a soft voice, fearing that Xiao Gu at the counter might hear.

Zhen Yu seemed very receptive to the advice and casually dropped a "Not watching anymore," before turning to walk upstairs.

Seeing this, Gu Qing immediately followed along.

"Hey, I say! Is that the tape you gave him the one you recorded last night?"

"Yes."

"..." Gu Qing seemed to understand, "No wonder you stayed up late to record it!"

Immediately after, she asked in confusion, "He’s here, so why doesn’t he stay for a few more days?"

"It’s enough that he could come." Zhen Yu understood Han Mingyue’s difficulties; she was content just to see him.

"That’s true! His family probably doesn’t allow it, just like Aunt Cheng controls you!" Gu Qing wasn’t foolish and quickly grasped this point.

Zhen Yu gave her a glance and retorted: "Your Aunt Cheng controls everyone!"

"Hahaha... You’re right!" Gu Qing instantly found common ground with Zhen Yu, "For the next half of the semester, we’ve got no choice but to obediently follow her orders!"

——

Zhen Yu’s mood was very downcast, not wanting to talk to anyone at all. As soon as she went upstairs, she locked herself in the bedroom.

It wasn’t until dinner time that she was called downstairs by Gu Qing.

At the dinner table, before picking up their chopsticks, Mrs. Zhen and Gu’s father each announced to their own children: "After dinner, I have something to say."

"What’s going on?" The three kids were playing guessing games with each other but couldn’t figure out what was happening!

So they all sped up their eating.

"Xiaoqing, let’s talk in your room." After everyone finished eating, Gu’s father said to Xiaoqing first.

Mrs. Zhen also said, "You two come with me, let’s talk in Xiao Yu’s room."

"??? What on earth is it...such a big deal? Why so secretive!"

Despite being confused, the kids dutifully followed their parents to their respective rooms.

——

"Mom! What’s the matter?!" Zhen Yan couldn’t wait to ask as soon as he entered and closed the door.

"Sit down first!" Mrs. Zhen smiled and pulled her children to sit beside her, "You know the money from the game arcade since last September has been saved up! I was thinking,"

Before Mrs. Zhen could finish, Zhen Yan eagerly interrupted, "Is our family going to expand our business?! How many more machines can we get this time?"

"Um," Mrs. Zhen suddenly felt a twinge of embarrassment, "I wanted to buy a house first! Then with the rest, we can buy some computers!"

"Why?!" Zhen Yan was exceedingly surprised!

"We have enough space in this house! There’s room for at least another sixteen computers on the first floor! Why suddenly spend it on a house?!"

"Brother!" Zhen Yu timely interrupted her brother’s complaints.

Buying a house was indeed part of Zhen Yu’s plan, even before their mother remarried, she had brought up the idea!

But not now! Not this year!

When their mother suddenly brought up buying a house at this time, and considering Gu’s father was also talking with Xiaoqing next door, Zhen Yu had a vague guess about the intentions and plans of Mrs. Zhen and Gu’s father.

To further confirm her suspicion, Zhen Yu took the initiative to ask, "Mom! Do you want to partner with Uncle Gu to buy a house?"

"Yes!" Although Mrs. Zhen’s face spoke volumes of her mixed feelings, she chose to be honest with her children, "It was Xiao Gu’s idea, with each of us paying half, and the house will be in both our names. If you guys disagree..."

"Let’s not talk about agreeing or not for now!" Zhen Yu interrupted her mother, "Tell me first, how much cash do we have on hand now?"

"You might get a shock if I tell you!" Mrs. Zhen suddenly played coy.

——

In fact, Zhen Yu knew exactly how much money was made from the book rentals and the take-out business each day! Let alone the constantly full game arcade; by calculating the business hours and subtracting the costs like electricity and labor, she could easily figure out the monthly net profit.

It’s just that she had been busy with her studies this term and hadn’t focused her attention on this.

Now that someone knew the answer, Zhen Yu naturally couldn’t be bothered to calculate it herself and urged, "Mom, just tell us!"

"One hundred and fifty thousand!" Mrs. Zhen’s excited yet restrained voice shocked Zhen Yan so much he jumped up from the bed.

"How much?" Zhen Yan’s voice was low and trembling, "One! Hundred! Fifty! Thousand?!"

"About that." Zhen Yu was quite calm.

Of that one hundred and fifty thousand, about one hundred thousand must have come from the game arcade! Compared to the million yuan a year during the peak of the internet café business, earning one hundred thousand in half a year from the game arcade was normal.

What surprised Zhen Yu was that the book rental could compete with the take-out business!

This casual attempt turned out to be just as profitable as the painstakingly managed take-out partnership! Quite a slap in the face!

"With this one hundred and fifty thousand in liquid cash, how much do you plan to spend on buying the house?"

"Our family now has five people, plus Xiao Gu, so we need at least five rooms! Uncle Gu and I think we need to buy a big one!"

"Uh-huh, that makes sense." Zhen Yu nodded, "So you’ve already inquired about the house? What kind? How much?"

Seeing her daughter’s understanding expression, Mrs. Zhen became even more embarrassed.

But no matter how embarrassed she felt, she still had to speak up.

"Uncle Gu had someone inquire about it, 180 square meters, one hundred thousand yuan! It’s on the second floor of a residential building not far from here!"