Chapter 6: I Treated You Like a Brother, What's With That Expression?

Chapter 6: I Treated You Like a Brother, What's With That Expression?

Father and son stood on the balcony, puffing smoke into the air. Old Shen gazed at the traffic on the road below, slowly exhaling smoke rings. "You've all had it tough lately. If the family business hadn't collapsed, we wouldn't have had to move here."

"I recently took on a foreign trade order with some friends. It's for a batch of water cups ordered by a Japanese factory. The manufacturing plant will deliver next week. The profit margin is decent, after deducting costs, I should make about 300,000."

While smoking, Shen Heping continued, "Once the payment comes in, we'll move to a larger three-bedroom place, so you'll have your own room when you come back."

Since experiencing the bankruptcy of his travel agency, Old Shen's hair had whitened considerably. His entire demeanor had become noticeably haggard, and he no longer possessed his former vigor and confidence.

Yet he still hadn't given up on his career, continuing to work hard for his children.

Shen Yuan felt a pang in his heart. From childhood, Old Shen rarely discussed work matters with family, but today he brought it up voluntarily, clearly, the pressure was immense.

Shen Yuan knew something about the family's situation. They were currently over a million yuan in debt, so even earning 300,000 would first go toward filling that hole.

Moreover, since this was a manufacturing order, they would need to pay for the goods upfront, which meant Old Shen had likely taken out another loan.

Thinking about how his father, approaching fifty, still carried such a heavy burden and needed to continue fighting in the business world, Shen Yuan felt a growing sense of responsibility.

"In the future, I'll take on the responsibility of supporting the family," Shen Yuan said, patting Old Shen's shoulder sincerely. Now that he had the system as his "big daddy," he needed to accelerate his money-making plans to help ease his father's burden!

"You should focus on your studies for now. Supporting the family and making money aren't issues you need to worry about yet. Besides, you can't earn money right now anyway," Old Shen shook his head.

"Old Shen, you're underestimating today's college students," Shen Yuan said, somewhat dissatisfied.

Old Shen was silent for a moment before saying, "Actually, I'm not looking down on college students."

"Then what are you, "

"Come in for dinner!" Li Hongjuan's urging voice came from inside, interrupting Shen Yuan. Old Shen extinguished his cigarette and turned to leave. "Let's eat first."

Shen Yuan stood there stunned for a while before finally realizing, Old Shen meant he was looking down on him specifically!

"How could you, Old Shen? Is this how you treat your son?"

After dinner, Shen Yuan took a bus back to school, a journey of about ten minutes.

With no place for him at home, he had no choice but to live at school.

It was truly pitiful, living only a ten-minute bus ride from home, yet forced to stay in the dormitory.

Walking along, Shen Yuan kept pondering the consumption task given by the system.

Repeatedly spending money on Counselor Li Xiao wouldn't be appropriate. On one hand, they were merely teacher and student; on the other hand, she wasn't a materialistic girl like Zhou Wantin.

If he could develop their teacher-student relationship into something more...

But from the current situation, that seemed quite difficult, especially with Li Xiao's vigilant sister watching closely.

Shen Yuan felt he needed to develop relationships with more women, preferably materialistic and vain ones who would have sustained spending power.

As he walked along the road thinking about how to develop relationships with female NPCs, his phone suddenly displayed a WeChat message from someone saved as "Old Huang."

"Brother Yuan, when are you coming back?"

This message was from his roommate, Huang Haibao. Originally, Shen Yuan had given him the nickname "Ah Huang," but he complained it sounded like a dog's name, so everyone started calling him Old Huang instead.

Shen Yuan thought Old Huang and Ah Huang were pretty much the same, but since the person concerned didn't mind, he didn't say anything.

"Just spit it out," Shen Yuan replied bluntly.

Usually this guy called him "Old Three," so calling him "Brother Yuan" this time meant he definitely wanted something.

The "Old Three" nickname had also been changed once. Originally, the other two roommates called him "Old Shen," but Shen Yuan didn't like it since that's what he called his father. Being the youngest, he was renamed "Old Three."

"Bring me two orders of fried rice. One with two extra eggs and extra ham, the other without ham or green onions."

"No way," Shen Yuan promptly replied, adding, "Unless you call me daddy."

Old Huang was incredibly lazy. The cafeteria was just downstairs, only a few minutes' walk from the fifth floor, but he simply refused to go down.

"Old Three, give me a break. Today's been miserable enough."

"What's got you so miserable? Tell me so I can enjoy it," Shen Yuan replied.

"Damn! Old Three, you're really heartless! It's too painful to talk about. I'll tell you the details when you get back."

"Fine."

Next to the foreign studies campus gate was an alley where many food vendors set up stalls in the evening. Several stalls sold fried noodles and fried rice, along with jianbing (Chinese crepes), grilled cold noodles, fried skewers...

Shen Yuan went to their usual fried rice stall, ordered two portions, and carried them back to the dormitory.

As soon as Shen Yuan pushed open the door to room 503, Cao Shunjin was the first to pounce, clearly starving.

Cao Shunjin was from northern Liaoning, tall and sturdy with a simple appearance. He typically ate a lot.

"What's the rush? Nobody's fighting you for it," Shen Yuan said irritably.

Huang Haibao was from eastern Guangdong, thin and weak, wearing glasses as he sat in his chair, looking like a frost-beaten eggplant with no energy.

"Old Cao, what did you do to Old Huang?"

Old Huang's expression looked like he'd been violated, which seemed strange to Shen Yuan, Cao Shunjin was definitely straight.

Huang Haibao looked up at Shen Yuan, then at Cao Shunjin who was devouring the food like a hungry tiger, with an expression that suggested he wanted to speak but couldn't.

"I'm going to take a shower first."

Shen Yuan figured he needed some time to gather his thoughts and wouldn't be ready to talk immediately. It was hot today, and he felt sticky and uncomfortable.

Ten minutes later, Shen Yuan finished his refreshing shower and came out wearing only shorts. "Can you talk now?"

Cao Shunjin had almost finished eating, even consuming Huang Haibao's portion. He grinned foolishly, "Old Huang, do you want to tell him or should I?"

"You damn Cao Shunjin, you're still laughing!" Huang Haibao glared at him resentfully. "Actually, there's nothing much to say. I just got my heart broken, that's all."

Shen Yuan was confused. He had shared a dorm with Huang Haibao for so long, and this guy had never even dated anyone. What heartbreak was he talking about?

"Give me the details," Shen Yuan was curious to hear more.

"My goddess, Fang Minhui, went to see a movie with that bastard Li Zhanpeng today!" Old Huang said through gritted teeth.

"That's it?"

Shen Yuan suddenly felt like laughing. He knew about Old Huang's infatuation with their classmate Fang Minhui.

But Fang Minhui had never shown any interest in Old Huang. They had barely exchanged a few WeChat messages.

Besides, Fang Minhui was just going to see a movie with someone else, they weren't officially together. What was Old Huang complaining about?

Fang Minhui was the beauty queen of their International Trade Class 2, Grade 2020.

To be crowned the beauty in a school like Foreign Studies University, where beautiful girls were abundant, especially in their class known for high-quality female students, meant she truly had something special.

Shen Yuan vaguely remembered that three years ago, during military training, their instructor had been in high spirits one night and suggested that talented people in the company perform.

At first, everyone was shy and hesitant, as they didn't know each other well yet, and performing in front of so many people was intimidating.

After the instructor called several times, some male students finally came forward to sing. That attention-seeker Li Zhanpeng even ran back to the dormitory to get his guitar for a singing performance.

However, singing didn't create much atmosphere, and Shen Yuan found it boring.

Until Fang Minhui appeared.

She took off her military training jacket and tossed it in the air, coincidentally landing on Huang Haibao's head, probably intoxicating him at that moment.

It was probably then that Old Huang's heart was stirred.

Underneath her military training uniform, Fang Minhui wore a low-cut white camisole, exposing large areas of snow-white skin on her chest and back. The men in the company couldn't take their eyes off her.

As the energetic dance music played, Fang Minhui began to move with it, her supple waist and impressive bust continuously stimulating the male students' senses.

But before the men in the company could fully feast their eyes, the dance was forcibly terminated.

There was no choice, male students from the neighboring company had stopped standing at attention and were twisting their heads to watch Fang Minhui dance. Even their instructor kicking their backsides couldn't stop them.

Their company's instructor had no choice but to end the dance early.

Fang Minhui had been a sensation that night, stealing the spotlight completely.

At that time, not just Huang Haibao, but all the male freshmen of Grade 2020 remembered that incredibly seductive figure.

Coming back to the present, Shen Yuan also felt it was a pity. Fang Minhui had been single for three years, and now she was apparently getting involved with Li Zhanpeng.

"Old Three, I treated you like a brother. What's with that expression?"