"Unbelievable!"
Even though he had never lived up to any expectations, even though he had been a loser from beginning to start!
Yet, living in his idealized world, he had never seen himself clearly. Not once!
"Ah, Daddy, did you go sell flowers? Where are the flowers? Youyou loves flowers so much, I want some too!"
Held in his embrace and soaking up the warmth of paternal love, Ye Youyou blinked her large, watery eyes and asked.
"No more flowers, Daddy sold every single one of them!" Ye Chen said with a smile.
"Sold them all? Then didn't Daddy make a lot of pocket money?" Ye Youyou asked.
"Mhm, Daddy made over two thousand eight hundred, almost three thousand yuan!"
Pressing his forehead against the little girl's, Ye Chen said with a deep sense of fulfillment.
"Wow, three thousand yuan? Daddy is amazing!"
Perhaps Ye Youyou did not have a real concept of what three thousand yuan meant.
But having often heard the adults argue about money since she was little, the word "thousand" undoubtedly meant a huge amount of cash to her!
Little did he know, Chen Yinuo on the sidelines could no longer bear to watch or listen!
"Ye Chen, isn't that compulsive habit of yours of telling lies enough when used on me? Do you have to drag Youyou into it as well? Do you want Youyou to end up just like you, growing up into a shameless person full of lies and completely lacking self-awareness?"
After Chen Yinuo's icy rebuke fell, she called out to Ye Youyou, "Youyou, get down here and come back to the bedroom with Mommy to sleep!"
***
In Chen Yinuo's eyes.
Doing something as "humiliating" as selling flowers was definitely not something Ye Chen would ever lower himself to do.
And making two to three thousand yuan in just a few short hours?
That was the absolute height of brazen bragging, the kind where you wouldn't even need a second thought to make it up!
In an instant, her disgust for Ye Chen escalated exponentially!
Even though she already despised him enough as it was!
Right now, her biggest worry was that her daughter Ye Youyou would be influenced by his empty boasting!
"No, I want to stay with Daddy!"
The little girl cried out stubbornly.
"Be a good girl, Youyou, go to Mommy first! Daddy will go buy you McDonald's tomorrow morning!"
Ye Chen set Ye Youyou down on the floor.
Ye Youyou, who had originally wanted to stay put, instantly lit up the moment she heard about french fries and burgers. "Really?"
"Really! Daddy doesn't lie to Youyou!"
"Then Daddy, let's pinky swear!"
"Alright, pinky swear!"
Only then did Ye Youyou contentedly return to Chen Yinuo's side.
"Come on, back to the bedroom with Mommy!"
Pulling Ye Youyou along, Chen Yinuo couldn't even bear to look at Ye Chen.
"Yinuo, do you really not trust me at all?"
Before Chen Yinuo could take a step, Ye Chen spoke up with a conflicted expression.
Pausing in her tracks, Chen Yinuo let out a mocking, cold laugh. "If you told me you won two or three thousand gambling, I might actually believe you. But saying you made two or three thousand selling flowers? That's pure fantasy. I've been with you since I was twenty, and now I'm twenty-eight. Is there anything about what kind of person you are, Ye Chen, that I, Chen Yinuo, don't understand? You, lowering yourself to sell flowers? That's the joke of the century! And besides, you made two or three thousand selling flowers in a single evening? What kind of flowers were you even selling?"
It was hard to blame Chen Yinuo for thinking this way. Over all these years, the phrase "down-to-earth" had never once applied to Ye Chen in the slightest!
Just like that failed business venture of his—if he hadn't been so ambitious and obsessed with overnight success, things wouldn't have failed so thoroughly!
"I..." Ye Chen started.
Before he could get the words out, Chen Yinuo impatiently cut him off.
"Don't bother explaining. I'm not that foolish woman from the past anymore, the one you could spin around in circles with your lies. Don't think that just because you cleaned up the place, you're suddenly a changed man. A leopard never changes its spots—that phrase fits you better than anyone else!"
"I know I was a jerk before, I know I let you down, but can you just—"
Still, Chen Yinuo didn't want to hear him out.
"Enough! I believe you, alright? I believe you made two or three thousand selling flowers! But what does that even change? A one-week deadline—how do you plan to pay back the two hundred and seventy thousand? Never mind two or three thousand, even if you made twenty or thirty thousand a day, a week still wouldn't be enough to pay off that loan shark! Ye Chen, if you still have a shred of conscience left, if you're still a human being, just sign the divorce papers and run away to the ends of the earth! That way, not only will you have a way out, but Youyou and I can at least live out our miserable lives in peace!"
Pulling the divorce papers from her bag once more, Chen Yinuo slapped them down onto the tabletop.
Giving Ye Chen no further chance to speak, she grabbed Ye Youyou and strode quickly into the bedroom.
*Clang!* She slammed the door shut and locked it from the inside!
Standing right where he was, Ye Chen remained motionless for a long time.
After a long while, he finally let out a bitter, desolate smile.
Thinking back on his actions over the past few years, he had not a single complaint against the hatred and disgust Chen Yinuo held for him now!
On the contrary, he understood it completely!
If he were in Chen Yinuo's shoes, he probably would have grabbed a knife and dragged them both down together long ago.
*Click.*
He lit a cheap cigarette.
Sitting on the battered sofa, Ye Chen pushed all those tangled emotions of love and hate to the back of his mind.
After all, winning back Chen Yinuo's acceptance and trust wasn't something that could happen overnight.
The most pressing and immediate problem was how to make two hundred and seventy thousand yuan in a single week to pay off that usurious loan!
If he remembered correctly, tomorrow in his past life, there was going to be a concert at the Sports Center!
A few fanatical fans had missed out on tickets.
In the end, just so they could get inside and watch their idol perform, they didn't hesitate to pay ten thousand yuan per ticket for concert seats that originally cost five hundred and sixty yuan, buying them from someone else!
The most ironic part was that those very students selling the tickets had bought them from scalpers for five hundred yuan!
Because the concert had already started, the scalpers, who originally wanted to jack up the price, had to sell at a loss to avoid getting stuck with the tickets!
This happened less than ten minutes before those fanatical fans showed up!
When this incident broke out on the internet later in his past life, it even trended on the hot searches for a while!
Back then, the Ye Chen of his past life had even left comments cursing those fanatical fans as absolute morons.
***
The next day.
Ye Chen woke up early.
First, he ran out to buy a McDonald's children's breakfast for Ye Youyou.
Then, on his way back, he stopped by the market to pick up eggs, rice noodle rolls, lean pork, pork liver, scallions, and Chen Yinuo's absolute favorite brand of packaged, non-fried noodles!
These were Chen Yinuo's favorite breakfast noodles, but pressed for time and rushing to work, no matter how much she craved them, she never had the free time to hit the early morning market and buy the ingredients to cook them.
To let the mother and daughter sleep a little longer, Ye Chen made every single movement with utmost caution, terrified of waking them up!
After a round of washing, chopping, stir-frying, and boiling, it took a full half-hour before those steaming hot breakfast noodles were finally ready.
Checking the time and knowing it was about the time the mother and daughter usually woke up, Ye Chen didn't stay in the apartment any longer. He was afraid of being an eyesore to Chen Yinuo, and even more afraid that she wouldn't be willing to eat the noodles he cooked.
Just as Ye Chen's footsteps faded away, Chen Yinuo and Ye Youyou woke up.
"Wow! Mommy, it's McDonald's! Daddy bought me McDonald's!"
As soon as she stepped out of the bedroom and saw the McDonald's kids' breakfast on the dining table, Ye Youyou cried out with delight.
"Daddy!"
"Daddy!"
When several calls went unanswered by Ye Chen, the little girl trotted into her father's bedroom.
Seeing that the neatly organized room was completely devoid of her father's presence, she ran back out and said, "Mommy, where's Daddy? Where did Daddy go?"
Yet, Chen Yinuo didn't answer.
She stared at the bowl of steaming hot breakfast noodles on the table, which gave off an intensely familiar aroma.
Her delicate brows furrowed involuntarily!
That was the exact flavor profile of the breakfast noodles she had eaten for all these years, unchanged!
Except, if she remembered correctly, the last time she had them was a full year ago—not because they were some luxury, but simply because there was never the time or leisure to make them.
And if she tried to trace back the last time Ye Chen cooked these breakfast noodles for her, she had to look back several years...
And back then, he had only ever cooked them for her once...
***
Carrying his entire net worth of just over two thousand yuan on WeChat, Ye Chen didn't immediately head to the Sports Center.
After all, the concert didn't start until eight in the evening.
Those fanatical fans in his past life hadn't shelled out exorbitant fortunes for those sky-high tickets until after eight o'clock, either.
So going over there right now was completely useless.
Instead of heading to the Sports Center, Ye Chen shifted his target to the Lingnan Antique City.
It was a place very similar to Panjiayuan in Beijing.
They shared the exact same nature, filled to the brim with all sorts of antique curiosities.
Of course, calling them antiques was a stretch; the vast majority were modern replicas manufactured specifically to fleece gullible fools and hook wealthy marks.
Yet, the reason Antique City had managed to survive through decades of shifting history was clearly because it wasn't entirely made up of deceptive fakes and counterfeits. There was still no shortage of genuine treasures that people had overlooked—at least every now and then, someone managed to unearth a hidden gem there, buying something worth far more than they paid!
The old Ye Chen had visited the Antique City quite a few times, but every single visit was driven by the fantasy of striking it rich overnight through a lucky find.
Unfortunately, the result was that time and time again, he became a textbook definition of a gullible mark.
This time, however, it was different!
Armed with sixty years of prophetic memories and his sharp, detail-oriented recall, he remembered how someone in his past life had spent thirty thousand yuan at the Antique City to pick up a bargain that flipped in value sixteenfold. And that lucky bastard happened to be one of his gambling buddies!
Unlike him, that buddy had started out in much the same pathetic state—half-dead and carrying a mountain of gambling debts to loan sharks that could drop the hammer on him at any moment. But the guy's ancestors must have smoked graves, because a land requisition payout brought him several million yuan. Not only did he clear his gambling debts, but while strolling through the Antique City, he spent thirty thousand yuan and picked up a piece worth four hundred and eighty thousand!
Word had it that when he was handing over the money, everyone around him was looking at him with strange, pitying eyes. As soon as he paid and took the item, he immediately heard sellers at neighboring stalls shaking their heads and whispering jokes about a clueless, gullible sucker!
Right then and there, the guy knew he'd been scammed, but getting a refund was already out of the question.
Fuming with frustration as he left the Antique City, just as he was about to throw the string of wooden prayer beads into the trash, a middle-aged man on his way into the market suddenly stopped him. The man first asked to examine the prayer beads, and in the end, actually offered four hundred and eighty thousand yuan to buy them right out of his hands!
Although that gambling buddy of his always loved to brag and talk big, times were different back then. Having received millions in demolition money, Ye Chen firmly believed the guy wouldn't make up a story like that.
Because of this, Ye Chen—then deeply trapped under the threats of usurers—believed it implicitly, even silently cursing the heavens for being unfair. Why hadn't such good fortune fallen on him instead of benefiting that bastard?
Back then, green-eyed with envy, the curious Ye Chen had asked one extra question: what kind of prayer beads were they? Even though the other guy couldn't explain it too clearly, he had provided one crucial piece of information—the bracelet consisted of eighteen prayer beads strung together, and carved onto every single bead was an arhat. Exactly eighteen beads corresponding to the Eighteen Arhats!
Now, reborn and back in the past, Ye Chen felt this was the opportunity of a lifetime!
If he played this card right, that two-hundred-and-seventy-thousand-yuan loan shark debt would be wiped out instantly!
There was just one problem: he didn't know which exact day that gambling buddy of his had scored the find in his past life...
Still, counting the days, it shouldn't be that soon, since the guy had only started shouting about his massive score three days later.
Knowing that buddy's personality, a guy who loved to show off couldn't possibly keep a lid on news like that for long!
So, nine times out of ten, it had to be within these next two days!
Although he still faced one hurdle: back then, that buddy had picked up the bargain for thirty thousand yuan.
And right now, his own entire net worth was under three thousand, which obviously meant he couldn't afford it outright...
However, he wasn't in a rush to buy it right away. What he needed to do first was locate where that string of prayer beads was. As long as he could lock down which stall held the bracelet, the rest would be easy. After all, tonight's overpriced concert tickets would be enough to accumulate the capital he needed to buy the treasure!
Otherwise, if he waited until tomorrow to search, the opportunity would probably have long sailed!
Because the chances were very high that the buddy made his lucky find tomorrow!
"Boss, genuine Tongbao coins from the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, care to take a look?"
"Brother, a vase straight out of a Qing Dynasty prince's estate, interested? We can talk about the price!"
"Handsome, check out the goods on my stall, all top-quality stuff. See if anything catches your eye!"
"Brother, it's early in the morning. I'm not looking to make a killing today, just trying to get my opening sale. A Pixiu consecrated by an enlightened monk from the Republic era—put it in your house and it's guaranteed to bring financial fortune! Only three thousand, take a look?"
Stepping into the Antique City, since it was still early morning, there weren't many people milling about in search of bargains.
The moment Ye Chen walked in, a wave of hawking cries immediately washed over him.
The vendors weren't set up in proper storefronts; instead, they had laid out their goods across rows of open-air stalls.
Even though many stalls remained empty due to the early hour, the rising and falling shouts still made the Antique City feel bustling and lively.
Yet Ye Chen scoffed at talk of Qianlong-era copper coins, vases from imperial princes' manors, and Pixiu talismans consecrated by enlightened monks to bring wealth.
If those items were real, would the owners really be standing here yelling their heads off?
Forget about the super tycoon he would become in the later stages of his past life.
Even the early-stage, utterly despicable Ye Chen wouldn't believe a single word of it.
Mainly because having been scammed so many times, he had summarized a hard-earned lesson!
Yes, if you could pick up a genuine bargain in the Antique City, it would never be an item loudly advertised as belonging to some imperial dynasty or aristocratic estate. And as for fortune-bringing lucky charms, those were absolute hogwash.
Such tricks were only meant to reel in naive, greenhorn marks who hadn't been burned enough times yet!
Approaching every single stall, Ye Chen would stop, sweep his gaze across the displayed items without uttering a word, and move right along to the next one if he didn't find the prayer beads he was looking for!
Naturally, the stall owners transitioned from initial enthusiasm to growing annoyance, stopping just short of directly chasing him away.
After inspecting over twenty stalls in a row, Ye Chen still hadn't found the prayer beads carved with the Eighteen Arhats.
Yet this did nothing to dampen his mood.
From morning until noon, he came up empty-handed.
He hurried outside the Antique City for a quick, watery, budget-friendly lunch before returning to the market.
"Damn it, that idiot is back again!"
"Tsk tsk, look at his face—he might as well have 'I'm here to score a bargain' tattooed on his forehead!"
"With that sneaky, rat-faced look, he thinks he's gonna pick up a treasure? He can keep dreaming his spring and autumn dreams!"
"I fucking hate morons like this. If there were fewer brainless dipshits in the Antique City, our business would be a lot easier to run!"
"Don't talk like that, isn't he contributing to the Antique City's foot traffic, haha!"
Seeing Ye Chen's figure reappear, whispered murmurs and discussions broke out all around.
Ye Chen even overheard quite a few of them.
However, he couldn't be bothered to care.
He simply continued his search for that string of Eighteen Arhats prayer beads!
Little did he know, another few hours slipped by.
The setting sun looked like blood, shadows slanting toward the west.
The sultry summer evening finally ushered in a rare, cooling breeze.
After a whole day of walking, Ye Chen had practically scoured every corner of the Antique City, yet there was still no trace of the prayer beads!
"Could that guy from my past life have been full of crap?"
In the glow of the sunset, Ye Chen came to a halt.
He muttered to himself,
Then he shook his head. "The way he described it was too vivid, and he even knew the details about the Eighteen Arhats. It doesn't sound like he made it up!"
As he talked to himself, Ye Chen involuntarily recalled the expression and look in the eyes of that guy from his past life when recounting the lucky find, trying to discern whether it had all been a fabrication.
Just at that moment, however.
His peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of the vendor at a stall two or three meters away slapping his own head.
"Damn it, how did I forget about that thing!"
Right after the vendor's muttered words,
The next second.
The man unfolded a cloth sack beside him.
And pulled out a string of bronze-colored antique prayer beads!
*Swish—!*
In an instant, Ye Chen—whose peripheral vision happened to catch the movement—felt his heart tighten!
Though separated by a few meters and unable to see whether those beads were carved with the Eighteen Arhats,
It was enough to make Ye Chen surge with irrepressible excitement!
***
"Do me a favor and let me take a look at that string of prayer beads!"
Just as the vendor was setting the bracelet down onto his stall,
Ye Chen had already appeared right in front of him and said.
"Huh?"
Hearing someone inquire about the merchandise, the vendor was initially pleased, thinking a wealthy fish had just swum into his net.
But when he looked up and saw it was none other than Ye Chen—the guy who had wandered around from morning till afternoon, looking at everything and buying nothing, to the silent mockery and scorn of all the surrounding vendors—
The vendor's joy vanished in an instant!
"My stuff isn't ordinary junk. If you're not planning to buy, you'd better not look at it. Saves you from accidentally chipping something and claiming I'm trying to rip you off!" the vendor said impatiently.
"Whether I plan to buy or not, shouldn't I look at the item first?" Ye Chen said with a faint smile, brushing off the man's words.
The vendor was instantly left speechless. "Fine, take a look then!"
No matter how unwilling he felt inside, he still had to hand over the string of prayer beads.
Taking the bracelet,
Ye Chen carefully rolled the individual beads between his fingers and examined them closely.
Sure enough, it was precisely as he had imagined!
That gambling buddy from his past life hadn't lied or bragged at all!
There were precisely eighteen beads on this bracelet, neither more nor less, and carved onto every single bead was an arhat. Eighteen beads, corresponding perfectly to the Eighteen Arhats!
Although he didn't know the exact origin of this string of prayer beads, the heavy, dense feel of them in his hand proved they were definitely not some worthless, trashy knockoff!
After all, as a tycoon who sat upon four hundred billion in personal wealth in the later stages of his past life, Ye Chen had handled countless extraordinary objects. While this prayer bead bracelet still fell far, far short of those elite treasures, in this chaotic and muddy Antique City, it definitely counted as a major hidden find!
"You done looking yet? Are you buying or not? If you're not buying, hand it back to me!"
Watching Ye Chen roll the prayer beads one by one between his fingers, the vendor grew increasingly impatient and shouted.
Ye Chen asked, "How much?"