A life of financial freedom

“I don’t have any damn friends!”

Of course, Chu Fang did have friends: Rong Shunji, Wen Xiangbing, Wu Di, and Wang Wenhao. But all of them had to work overtime today because they were preparing to go back to their hometown a few days early for a wedding and needed to finish their work first.

He stood downstairs at the building, lost in thought for a moment, not wanting to go home for the time being, and not knowing where to go.

After thinking for a while, he drove to Ren Feiping's bar.

It wasn't dark yet, and the bar was particularly quiet.

“Chu-ge, what kind of covered rice are you having today?” a bar employee asked.

“Twice-cooked pork covered rice.”

“Got it.”

The bar employee then left.

Ren Feiping slowly walked out and sat next to him: “You're getting married soon, what brings you here today?”

“Bored.” Chu Fang replied casually while drinking a Wahaha beverage, “I'm alone today, so I thought of you.”

“So I’m a backup plan?”

“Not even that.”

Not even a backup plan.

Ren Feiping was used to Chu Fang's barbs and didn't react much. He sat up a bit straighter, his gaze deep: “I really didn’t expect you could actually get to this point with Zhong Tingyue.”

He vividly remembered when Chu Fang came to him as a mentor two years ago.

“What's up? You weren't optimistic back then?” Chu Fang asked while eating his twice-cooked pork covered rice.

“Yes.” Ren Feiping answered directly, “You two are well-matched in many ways, but the economic disparity is too great. I've never been optimistic about that kind of relationship.”

“In this world, the most harmonious and happy love is when the two are well-matched in social and economic status, otherwise it’s all nonsense.”

“I thought you two were destined to break up.”

“But now, I increasingly feel that you two are suitable, like a match made in heaven. Do you know why?”

Chu Fang shook his head: “Don't know, don't want to know.”

“No, I insist on saying it.” Ren Feiping stuck his neck out, “Now I understand that being together isn’t just about material things, but also about the compatibility of souls. The latter is far greater than the former, and you two are very compatible.”

“I like it, say more.”

“Not saying it.”

Chu Fang opened his mouth, silently uttering three beautiful Mandarin words:

NMB (fuck your mother)!

As night fell, the lights came on, and the bar gradually filled with people, becoming lively.

Chu Fang sat at the bar, playing games to pass the time.

Next to him were a young couple.

The boy, dressed in trendy clothes, was chattering away: “I have a Ferrari and a Lamborghini at home, want to go for a spin?”

“Really?” The girl's eyes lit up, but she was a bit shy, “Wouldn’t that be inappropriate?”

“Don’t worry, I definitely won’t touch you. I just think you look a lot like an old friend of mine.” The boy raised his palm and swore.

Chu Fang played his game and said, “When he says you look like an old friend, he means you look like his ex-girlfriends, just as easy to fool, just as stupid; when he says he definitely won’t touch you, you’re getting laid tonight; when he says he has a Ferrari and a Lamborghini, he either rented them or is full of it.”

“Can you bring your brain when you come to a bar?”

Before the trendy boy could speak, the girl became unhappy: “Why do you have to be so mean to people? We just met, why be so malicious?”

“Besides, I'm chaste. I definitely won’t have any relationship with anyone before marriage.”

The trendy boy pulled the girl back and said, “Oh well, let’s not bother with this kind of person. Playing games at a bar, he must have suffered some kind of trauma. Let’s go somewhere else.”

Then the couple left the bar.

Chu Fang continued to play his game, sighed as his crystal exploded: “How can there be so many idiots in this world?”

“Luckily, I’m also an idiot, otherwise it would be too painful to watch you idiots acting foolish.”

He put away his phone and then signaled the bar employee to show his QR code, scanning 666 yuan to the employee.

“Ah, this?” The bar employee was stunned.

Chu Fang said gloomily: “Your covered rice is really fucking awful.”

After speaking, he left the bar.

The bar employee came back to his senses, facing the 666 yuan, he asked Ren Feiping: “Ren-zong, this?”

“Keep it.” Ren Feiping didn't care.

The bar employee looked at Chu Fang's back, scratching the back of his head: “Chu-zong thinks it's awful, why does he always order covered rice?”

Chu Fang walked out of the bar and saw a middle-aged couple busy selling covered rice at the edge of the bar street. The man was cooking, and the woman was serving, the two working together.

He smiled and then left.

Chu Fang wandered around, feeling too bored, and finally decided to go home and sleep.

The night in Shanghai was like a spectacle interwoven with light and dreams.

On the way back, Chu Fang actually encountered the couple from the bar earlier, now sitting in a taxi.

While waiting for the traffic light, he stretched his neck and said to the girl: “Did you get to ride in a Ferrari and Lamborghini? Want to ride in gege's Bentley?”

“Really?” The girl was tempted.

Chu Fang had a smiling face: “Just kidding, you’re not my relative or friend, why would I take you for a ride? There are no free lunches in the world, only traps.”

Then he drove away.

The trendy boy looked at the Bentley and said, “Just showing off because he has some stinky money, how disgusting. Baby, I’ll take you for a ride in a Ferrari later.”

The girl turned her head and looked deeply at the trendy boy: “You're lying to me.”

“No, let me explain…”

But before he could finish explaining, the girl had already opened the car door and left angrily.

...

Chu Fang returned to the昙花 (昙花，TanHua) residential district and went home, where the lights were on.

Then he saw Zhong Tingyue sitting on the sofa, packing clothes and putting them in a suitcase.

“Eh? Didn’t you go to your bachelorette party? Why are you back?” Chu Fang tilted his head.

“It was boring, so I came back.” Zhong Tingyue replied.

Hearing this, Chu Fang directly lay on those soft and tender beautiful legs and said softly: “Zhong-nushi, you're so good, you're such a big shabi (傻逼, a curse word)...”

Zhong Tingyue: “…”

The room was quiet, with only the sound of Zhong Tingyue packing clothes, after a long time.

Zhong Tingyue said: “I've packed all the clothes you need to take home, remember to change and wash them. The top layer is your usual clothes, all casual wear, the bottom layer is socks, remember to wash them every day, don't wear the same pair of socks for several days…”

Zhong Tingyue's nagging voice echoed in the room, Chu Fang nodded, not taking it seriously.

Seeing her husband like that, Zhong Tingyue then closed her mouth.

Forget it, I won't say it, I'll send a message to my future mother-in-law, she will naturally do it.

“Zhong-nushi.”

“Mm.”

Chu Fang looked at that delicate face, as if carved from mutton fat jade, he said softly: “I can’t bear to leave you.”

“I also can’t bear to leave Chu-xiansheng.” Zhong Tingyue rubbed her husband's face into various funny faces.

“Why can't I stay at your house? Otherwise, you can stay at my house.”

“That’s the custom.”

“Is custom always right?”

“There used to be a custom of having three wives and four concubines, why is that gone now?”

Zhong Tingyue: “What? You want to marry a few more?”

Chu Fang was silent for a few seconds, his eyes full of expectation: “Can I?”

Zhong Tingyue: “No! You! Can’t!”