The next morning, Chen Yansen woke up naturally.
When he opened his door and saw a stack of bills on the dining table, he couldn't help but break into a wide grin.
That Lao Chen had a sharp tongue but a soft heart. He'd come home last night, waving his belt and threatening to give him a taste of it.
But Chen Yansen had shut him down with a single line: "If Mom were still alive, would you dare hit me?"
Chen Yansen was totally taking advantage of an honest man, hitting Lao Chen right where it hurt.
In the end, Chen Guobin dropped the belt and retreated to his room, looking dejected.
'Sigh, all I did was try to find him a wife. Was I really so wrong?'
Chen Yansen clicked his tongue, a little exasperated with Lao Chen for being such a pushover.
"♫She's just my sister, and my sister says purple has a certain charm...♫"
The phone in his pocket suddenly rang. Chen Yansen unhurriedly pulled it out. The moment he hit 'accept,' Wang Zihao's furious voice erupted from the other end.
"Chen Yansen, you son of a bitch! Are you still in bed?"
Chen Yansen picked at his ear and glanced at the wall clock. It was exactly nine-thirty.
"So?"
Chen Yansen's tone was flat, his composure unshakable.
"I've been waiting for you at Crossroads Street for half an hour."
Wang Zihao bit out each word.
"Oh. So?"
Chen Yansen's tone remained flat as he pocketed the driving school tuition Lao Chen had left for him.
"Didn't you say yesterday we'd meet at the usual place, at the usual time?"
Wang Zihao was so mad he had to laugh. He could only patiently explain.
"I did say the usual place, but I never said the usual time, did I? I was going to call you at ten. I didn't expect you to head to Crossroads Street at nine," Chen Yansen said slowly.
"Huh? Was that it?"
Wang Zihao froze, wracking his brain to recall their conversation. 'Probably... maybe... it seemed...' Chen Yansen really hadn't specified a time.
'So, had he blamed Chen Yansen for nothing?'
Wang Zihao felt like something was off, but he wasn't a stubborn mule who couldn't admit when he was wrong. He apologized readily, "Brother Sen, my bad! So, when will you get here? I'll go grab you some breakfast."
"Ten o'clock."
Chen Yansen gave a sly laugh and hung up.
With his master-level time management skills, there was no way he'd forgotten. The whole maneuver was just to teach Wang Zihao a lesson: whether in business, your career, or your love life, the only person you can truly trust is yourself.
Whether or not the other guy got the message, Chen Yansen couldn't care less. With his abilities, it wouldn't be hard to slowly mold him into a cunning little fox.
In his past life, a woman had also taught him, step by painstaking step, forging him into the Chen Yansen who could charm any woman with a smile and a song.
By the time he leisurely strolled up to Crossroads Street, he could see Wang Zihao from a distance, squatting at the intersection. He was leaning against a bicycle, his expression a strange mix of excitement and anguish, and he looked incredibly shifty.
"Haozi, what's with the face? Did you rob a bank or sleep with someone's wife?" Chen Yansen squeezed his brakes, teasing him playfully.
"Here. This is three thousand."
Wang Zihao's face flooded with relief the moment he saw Chen Yansen. He furtively pulled out a wad of cash and stuffed it into his friend's hand.
"What did you tell Uncle Wang?" Chen Yansen took the money, pocketed it directly, and asked casually.
"I told him I was getting my driver's license," Wang Zihao shrugged, confessing honestly.
"Maybe this is what it means to grow up. When we were kids, we'd never have dared to lie about so much money. If you can't produce a driver's license before school starts, is Uncle Wang going to beat you to death?" Chen Yansen scoffed, teasing Wang Zihao.
Wang Zihao's father had been a soldier and had seen battle. His philosophy on raising his son was basically "spare the rod, spoil the child"—as long as you don't kill him, beat him half to death.
"Holy shit! Don't scare me like that! Any more of that and I'll really go pay the driving school tuition myself." Wang Zihao shuddered and insisted through gritted teeth.
"Don't worry. When it comes to business, I've never made a profit in my life," Chen Yansen clapped his best friend on the back and told him to get on his bike, spouting nonsense as he went.
"Oh, as long as you haven't lost money, that's good... good my ass! Brother Sen, did you mean to say you've 'never *lost* money in your life'?" Wang Zihao pedaled furiously to catch up and ask.
"We grew up together. Have you ever seen me do business before?" Chen Yansen shot him a look and retorted with a grin.
"Holy shit!"
Wang Zihao was completely dumbfounded. Chen Yansen was giving him emotional whiplash. The image of his dad holding a wooden club flashed through his mind again and again.
'Bro, you can't mess with a guy like that!'
Wang Zihao stared intently at Chen Yansen, trying to read him, but came up with nothing. With a long sigh, he resigned himself to his fate and followed along.
On their way past a Construction Bank, Chen Yansen stopped in to set up online banking and deposit one hundred thousand Hua Yuan.
Seeing this from behind, the heavy stone in Wang Zihao's heart finally fell. If Chen Yansen was willing to bet a hundred grand, what the hell did he have to be afraid of?
His anxiety vanished in an instant, replaced by a goofy, non-stop grin.
"Just to get you up to speed, I've talked with three potential suppliers. I'm only going to pick one in the end, though. It'll depend on the quality of the samples," Chen Yansen said as he walked out of the bank.
"When do we start selling?" Wang Zihao had an impatient streak. He immediately fired back the question.
"No rush. Three to five days at the earliest, maybe seven or eight at the latest. First, let's go sign up for driving school."
Chen Yansen casually tossed the USB security key into his bag and hopped on his bike.
"But I don't have the money for that!" Wang Zihao, still processing, replied blankly.
"I'll cover it. It's the least I can do, since you call me Brother Sen!"
Chen Yansen didn't say anything more. He just sped off in the direction of Tongfei Gate, heading straight for Da Xiang Driving School on the outskirts of the city.
"Brother Sen, you're my real father!" Wang Zihao scrambled to keep up, shamelessly yelling after him.
He still hadn't figured out why Chen Yansen was making things so complicated—he could have just taken the three thousand as his investment share instead of this roundabout scheme—but he could feel it with absolute certainty: ever since the day before yesterday, his best friend was a completely different person.
Right now, he was convinced that Chen Yansen was really going to lead him to a huge payday.
Fifteen minutes later, the two walked into the registration lobby of Da Xiang Driving School. The air conditioning was blasting, and a few middle-aged women were sitting around, chatting idly.
"Excuse me, who do we talk to about signing up?" Chen Yansen knocked on the counter and called out.
"C1 manual is 2,500. C2 automatic is 2,800. Fill out a form, then head out and turn right to the finance office to pay." One of the women, a bit on the heavier side, looked the two of them up and down before expertly sliding two forms across the desk, rattling off the prices as she did.
"Excuse me, miss, could I trouble you for a pen?" Chen Yansen leaned in, his smile exceptionally warm and his voice several shades gentler.
"You called me 'miss'?" The woman paused, then broke into a wide, delighted smile. "I like the sound of that. You're a smooth talker, handsome. You boys want some water?"
Chen Yansen was clean-cut and looked to be about twenty. He had a roguish smirk and a direct gaze that she found hard to meet.
"Would that be too much trouble?" Chen Yansen smiled as he took the pen, putting on an embarrassed act.
"No trouble at all." The woman giggled, covering her mouth. She rushed to a mini-fridge, pulled out two bottles of ice-cold water, and enthusiastically pressed them into their hands.
Through a quick back-and-forth, Chen Yansen soon had a good grasp of the situation at Da Xiang Driving School—like which instructor had the highest pass rate, who was the most good-natured, and who had the fewest students.
"Sister Zhang, we're going to go pay now. We'll treat you to milk tea sometime!" Chen Yansen quickly filled out the form and waved goodbye.
"Chen Yansen, you're so smooth. It's hard to believe this is your first time," Wang Zihao grumbled from behind him.
"Heh, who said it was my first time?" Chen Yansen grinned, slinging an arm around his best friend's neck as they headed for the finance office.