A life of financial freedom

Zhou Yidan led Chu Fang, turning left and right in Chinatown, and finally entered a dark stairwell, went up the stairs, and arrived at the third floor.

Opening the door, an old atmosphere mixed with a slight damp smell rushed towards them. The room was more than fifty square meters, and the space seemed spacious, but the light was really poor.

An old lady was watching TV in the room. Zhou Yidan said, "Grandma, look who's here. This is the friend from the motherland I told you about yesterday."

"Hello, Grandma," Chu Fang nodded.

When the old lady saw Chu Fang, she was extremely surprised and held his hand tightly, not letting go: "Good, good, good."

"Where are you from?"

"I'm from Shudu(蜀都: Another name for Chengdu)."

"Ah, me too." The wrinkles on the old lady's face squeezed together.

"We are fellow villagers."

Unexpectedly, thousands of miles away, they could still meet a fellow villager from Shudu(蜀都: Another name for Chengdu).

Fellow villagers meeting fellow villagers, tears welling up in their eyes.

The old lady vividly interpreted this sentence, holding Chu Fang and asking about the changes in the motherland, with tears in her eyes.

Zhou Yidan was cooking in the kitchen, and the cramped room was filled with smoke. She repeatedly apologized, and Chu Fang smiled and said it was okay.

Soon, the meal was ready, with cured meat and sausages, and a few simple stir-fried dishes.

"The food is not good, I hope you don't mind," Zhou Yidan said.

"It's delicious," Chu Fang took a bite and praised it.

This sausage is made in the Shudu(蜀都: Another name for Chengdu) style, salty, spicy, and the lean meat is firm and chewy.

The cured meat is bright in color, and the oily luster shimmers under the light. The cured meat is cut thinly, crystal clear, and as warm as a mandarin fish.

The red meat, the white fat, paired with the tender green garlic sprouts, this stir-fried cured pork with garlic sprouts is a perfect match.

In the small room, four people were eating when suddenly there was a sound of the door opening.

Then, a sloppy middle-aged man walked in, as thin as a stick, his face bloodless, his eye sockets sunken, and his eyes empty and lifeless.

"Oh, you're eating." The middle-aged man swaggered in, stretched out his hand, and said to Zhou Yidan, "Give me money."

Zhou Yidan's face turned cold: "I have no money."

"You work in a restaurant, how can you have no money."

The middle-aged man directly ignored the existence of Chu Fang and Yu Jun, searching in the small room.

The old lady entered the kitchen, took out a kitchen knife, and faced the middle-aged man: "You spendthrift, all the money in the family has been taken by you to do drugs(吸du: do drugs), what money is left? Get out, otherwise, I will chop you to death."

The old lady pushed the middle-aged man, and the latter was so weak that he could hardly resist an old man, and was pushed out of the house.

The atmosphere at home suddenly became heavy.

Zhou Yidan took the lead to break the silence, and smiled reluctantly: "Sorry."

Chu Fang shook his head.

"That person just now is my dad. Because he became addicted to drugs(吸du: do drugs) and couldn't extricate himself, he embarked on a path of no return. My mother divorced him, and my grandfather was also angered to death by him."

Zhou Yidan spoke calmly.

Chu Fang didn't know how to comfort her, so he could only say in a cliche: "It will get better."

Zhou Yidan smiled brightly: "I believe it will."

After the meal, Chu Fang talked a lot with the old lady, all about the changes in the motherland. In a blink of an eye, it was sunset. Finally, he left here in the old lady's reluctant gaze.

Not far away, Zhou Yidan's father blocked Chu Fang and Yu Jun, staring and said: "Do you like Zhou Yidan? I am her father, give me a thousand US dollars, and I will let her marry you."

Bang!

Zhou Yidan ran over quickly, and the broom in her hand slammed mercilessly on her biological father, hitting her biological father and causing him to scurry away with his head in his hands.

Chu Fang nodded to Zhou Yidan, and then went to pick up Zhong Tingyue.

"Mr. Chu is late," Zhong Tingyue smiled.

"No way, I saw a scene of filial piety(父慈子孝: fatherly love and filial piety)."

Zhong Tingyue: "?"

Chu Fang threw the inexplicable sadness out of his mind. He took Zhong Tingyue's arm: "Ms. Zhong, did you gain anything today?"

"A lot of gains."

"How big is it?"

"Um... how to describe it?" Zhong Tingyue pondered for a few seconds and said, "The kind above E."

A concise and clear answer.

"Let's go, let's have dinner."

This time they didn't eat foreign food, but chose Chinese food. They couldn't get used to foreign food at all.

But even if they chose Chinese food, they still stepped on thunder(踩雷: had a bad experience), stir-fried dishes that were sickeningly sweet, thick sauces, and a soup that seemed rotten and sour...

Chu Fang thought that the Shanghai cuisine was sweet enough, but he didn't expect there to be even better masters.

Is this Chinese food?

This is a serious fraud.

In the end, the two didn't eat a few bites, returned to the hotel, and ate the instant noodles they brought, without even leaving the soup.

The next day, Zhong Tingyue still visited the exhibited works, and Chu Fang was still wandering around New York.

They cooperated separately.

... ...

Shudu(蜀都: Another name for Chengdu).

Chu Fang's town's middle school.

As the bell rang, Chu's father finished class and then walked into the teacher's office.

"Hey, Brother Chu, when is your son getting married?" a teacher asked.

"Soon, October 1st," Chu's father replied, "What's the matter?"

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just that he's getting married soon, why haven't I seen Chu Fang yet."

"Yueyue received an invitation for a design award and went to New York, and Chu Fang went with her."

"Tsk tsk tsk..." The female teacher next to her smacked her lips, "I also want to go to New York for a tour. I haven't been abroad in my life."

"With your and your husband's salary, it may be a little difficult to go abroad. Maybe even the visa won't pass. I think you should 'hope your son becomes a dragon' (望子成龙: hope your son becomes successful) and cultivate a child as excellent as Brother Chu's son. This is more feasible."

The teacher's office suddenly burst into laughter.

The female teacher glared at her colleague with the hurtful mouth, and then looked at Chu's father: "Now that the words have been said to this point, Brother Chu, tell me how you educated your child."

As soon as this was said, everyone in the office looked at Chu's father.

Everyone has been colleagues for many years and watched Chu Fang grow up. Chu Fang was quirky since he was a child, and gradually his studies were not bad when he grew up. When he entered society, he soared into the sky, which shocked everyone.

Everyone had said that Chu Fang was striving for success, but they didn't expect him to be so striving for success.

Chu's father smiled lightly: "I didn't educate him much, it was all Chu Fang's mother who educated him."

"Tch~~~"

"Privately hiding tips!"

"... ..."

"Teacher Chu, Teacher Chu, the principal is looking for you."

"Okay."

Chu's father responded and then came to the principal's office and said, "Principal, you are looking for me."

"Old Chu is here, sit down, sit down." The principal greeted warmly, and then went straight to the point, "I called you here today to tell you that the senior teacher title evaluation has come down, it's you."

"Okay, I know."

Seeing the principal's hesitant look, Chu's father then asked, "Is there anything else you want to say?"

"Has Chu Fang returned home?"

"He is abroad."

"Oh." Hearing this, the principal responded with disappointment.

Chu's father thought for a while: "Is there anything you need?"

"Something, nothing, something, um... nothing, something." The principal repeatedly overturned his answer, and then his face was a little embarrassed, "Our school is sixty years old and will be holding a school celebration. I hope your Chu Fang..."

Chu's father was silent for a few seconds: "How about I tell Chu Fang?"

"That's so embarrassing." Hearing this, the principal was overjoyed.

Chu's father: "... ..."