"Just for Youyou's sake, give me one month!" Ye Chen said.
Chen Yinuo scoffed contemptuously. "And a month from now, you'll be willing to sign the divorce papers, is that it?"
"If you still insist on a divorce!" Ye Chen replied.
"Hah!!!"
Chen Yinuo let out a bitter, self-deprecating sigh. "Fine, a month more won't kill us! Provided you even manage to survive those loan shark thugs!"
With that, Chen Yinuo whirled around, grabbed Ye Youyou, and started walking toward the door.
"I don't want to go to Grandma's house! I want Daddy! I want Daddy, wah, I want Daddy! I don't want to go to Grandma's house, wah!"
Little Youyou wailed at the top of her lungs.
Yet Chen Yinuo remained completely unmoved, dragging her away by force.
Listening to her daughter's heart-rending cries, watching Chen Yinuo's retreating figure, Ye Chen felt as though his heart were being squeezed and torn apart!
Yet he did not try to make them stay, nor did he step forward to keep Youyou here.
Leaving aside whether he even had the time to take care of Youyou right now, in his current state, he simply didn't deserve to hold onto them!
Watching silently as Chen Yinuo and Youyou vanished from sight, Ye Chen clutched his head and stumbled out of the rented apartment.
Instead of going to the hospital, he headed to a nearby neighborhood clinic.
Once the gash on his head was stitched up and the wounds on his face treated, he finally returned to the chaotic mess of the apartment.
"What a sin, truly a sin!"
Looking at the empty bottles and cigarette butts scattered all over the floor, along with discarded takeout containers and instant noodle bowls, Ye Chen ignored the pain and dealt himself a vicious slap across the face.
By the time he had cleared everything away and mopped the apartment from top to bottom three times over, three full hours had passed!
Sitting in the small living room that now looked brand new, he lit a cheap cigarette he found on the table.
He took out the hundred and seventy-eight yuan left in his pocket.
"I'll have to turn this 178 yuan into 270,000 within a week if I'm going to get through this hurdle!"
Exhaling a thick cloud of smoke, Ye Chen—who hadn't smoked in years, let alone such cheap tobacco—coughed harshly a few times.
Immediately, his mind raced, sifting through memories and filtering them for ways to make money.
For an ordinary person, turning one hundred and seventy-eight yuan into two hundred and seventy thousand within a week would undoubtedly be sheer fantasy!
But he was no ordinary person. Leaving aside the fact that he had once commanded four hundred billion in assets and sat near the top of the rich lists, and leaving aside the foresight of the next sixty years—after all, none of that was useful just yet—his identity as a reborn soul allowed his mind to recall every single detail of the past with absolute clarity!
Soon, a flash of inspiration struck him.
He glanced over at the calendar hanging on the wall.
June 19th!
In his past life, the very first mid-year light exhibition was held in the downtown area on this exact night.
Inevitably, it drew swarms of countless young couples.
During the first three days of the exhibition, a romantic theme centered around love was woven into the light displays at intervals.
Because no one knew beforehand that a romantic love theme would appear, not a single person caught onto the business opportunity on the first night.
However, on the second night, flower vendors with sharp commercial instincts appeared instantly!
Roses that cost one yuan at the wholesale market were initially hawked by vendors for five yuan each that night, and later on, they were even sold for ten yuan apiece.
At the time, Ye Chen, who had also gone to gawk at the commotion, inwardly cursed those flower vendors for being so black-hearted!
Calling it an inner curse was putting it mildly; it was pure jealousy, after all—a staggering ninefold profit!
Yet that frantic, exorbitant profit lasted for only a single day. By the second night, to exaggerate slightly, the number of people selling flowers was practically greater than the number of people watching the exhibition. This caused the price of roses, which had been ten yuan a branch the previous night, to plummet absurdly back down to two yuan each, and eventually to one yuan each, sold at cost just to avoid rotting in their hands!
Thinking of this, Ye Chen already had a plan.
He checked the wall clock; it was already four o'clock in the afternoon. The light exhibition started at eight, and the romantic love theme would unfold at ten. He didn't have much time to prepare!
Chapter 4: Little Ungrateful Wretch, Get Out!
Because of time constraints and the stock waiting to be cleared, Ye Chen managed to bargain the roses—normally priced at one yuan a branch at the wholesale market—down to fifty fen each.
He even badgered the flower shop owner into selling him wrapping paper as well.
In the end, after deducting the cost of the subway rides to and from, he used the hundred-odd yuan in his pocket to purchase a full three hundred roses and wrapping paper.
Back at the apartment, he set to work without a moment's rest, wrapping those individual roses.
It took him a solid four hours just to finish wrapping all three hundred of them.
When he arrived at the downtown light exhibition site, the romantic love light theme had already begun!
With zero competitors around, Ye Chen didn't even need to open his mouth.
The moment people saw the massive bundle of roses strapped to his back, couples swept up in the romantic atmosphere immediately came over to inquire!
In a setting like this, amid such an ambiance, haggling didn't exist.
Roses at ten yuan a branch instantly became the hottest commodity on-site!
It was enough to make the vendors selling other items stare in open-mouthed disbelief!
Something that cost at most one yuan was selling for ten, and buyers didn't even try to bargain?
That was damn highway robbery!
If they hadn't been pressed for time, they probably would have tossed aside their own goods and joined the flower-selling army!
Yet what they didn't know was that this kind of exorbitant profit was a one-time fluke born of perfect timing, geographical advantage, and harmonious human conditions.
By the following night, let alone huge profits, breaking even would be a blessing.
"Pity my capital wasn't larger; otherwise, making ten or twenty thousand wouldn't have been a problem at all!"
Before the romantic love light theme had even ended, the flower bag strapped to his chest was already completely empty.
In tandem, a full three thousand yuan now sat in his WeChat balance.
Sitting at a roadside food stall eating a ten-yuan plate of egg-fried rice, looking up at the moonlit sky densely studded with stars, a brilliance flashed in his eyes that he had never possessed even when he commanded hundreds of billions!
"Yinuo, Youyou, wait for me. Since the heavens have blessed me with a second chance at life, in this lifetime, I will surely grant you a world of supreme glory!"
After a silent, inward vow to the heavens, Ye Chen lowered his head and quickly shoveled down the egg-fried rice before him!
In a certain subsidized housing estate in Jiangzhou, inside a three-bedroom apartment with a usable floor area of less than eighty square meters:
"Did that loser sign?"
Half-century-old Liu Xueqin looked at Chen Yinuo and demanded.
"Not yet!" Chen Yinuo said, her expression grim as she clenched her teeth.
"Not yet? Why did you come back if he didn't sign? Do you intend to drag this out forever? Do you expect me to support you and your daughter for the rest of my life, huh?!"
Hearing that the divorce papers still hadn't been signed, Liu Xueqin instantly flew into a rage.
Her shrewish demeanor and tone abruptly frightened Ye Youyou into tears. "Grandma is fierce, Grandma is bad! I don't want to play with Grandma!"
"Little ungrateful wretch, then get the hell out of here! You eat my food, drink my water, and live in my house, and you still dare to curse at me?" Liu Xueqin screamed furiously.
"Mom, how can you talk like that? Youyou is only four years old, is it right for you to yell at her like that?"
Standing nearby, Chen Yinuo's younger brother Chen Yinuo—who could no longer bear to watch—hurriedly picked up the wailing Ye Youyou and glared at his mother in dissatisfaction.
"What? You're going to champion this mother and daughter now? If this blind fool hadn't insisted on marrying that good-for-nothing back then, would she have been reduced to this state? Among all the men who chased her, pick any single one—wasn't he a hundred or a thousand times better than that loser? But she stubbornly ignored her father's and my objections and insisted on marrying him anyway! Now look at her, reduced to this plight. Isn't this entirely her own doing, huh?!"
"If she had chosen those young scions back then, would she still be suffering like this now? Would our family still be in this half-dead state? If we had a wealthy son-in-law, if you had a wealthy brother-in-law, would our family still have to worry about an apartment for your wedding? You aren't getting any younger—if you still don't have a wedding apartment, will Xiaoqian marry you? Will her parents agree to let her marry you, huh?!"
"And look at you now, shouting at me instead? Do you have any idea what kind of state our family is in? These two eat and drink day after day; if we keep supporting them, your father's and my coffin money will all be eaten up by this mother and daughter, let alone buying you a wedding apartment! If she would just hurry up and divorce that loser, I could still find someone to set her up with a wealthy bachelor. But it's been half a year and they still haven't managed to get a divorce. I'm starting to wonder if she's doing it on purpose, if she really can't bear to let go of that loser!"
Liu Xueqin lashed out with merciless, ear-splitting abuse, completely ignoring the tears streaming down Chen Yinuo's face.
Originally, she had intended to mention that Ye Chen had agreed to a divorce in a month.
Now, it seemed there was no need!
"Mom, aren't your words going too far? It's true my sister married the wrong man, but how did she become a burden to our family? Does she pay less for food or utilities? Can you speak with a shred of conscience? Besides, my wedding apartment is not something you need to worry about. Whether Xiaoqian wants to marry me or not, the worst Chen Yinuo will do is stay a bachelor for the rest of my life. I don't care!"
Holding Ye Youyou, Chen Yinuo shouted back with indignation and resentment.
"You—are you trying to choke me to death, huh?!" Liu Xueqin clutched her chest in rage.
"Enough!"
At that moment, Chen Jianguo, who had been standing silently by the sofa, stubbed his cigarette out in the ashpan and stood up.
He looked at Chen Yinuo's brother. "What? Are your mother and I in the wrong for thinking about your marriage? Are you trying to threaten your mother and me by threatening to stay single?"
Faced with his father's gaze and words, Chen Yinuo's brother clenched his teeth and remained silent.
"Did your mother say anything wrong? If your sister hadn't insisted on eloping with that beast back then, she would have been living in great wealth by now, and our whole family would have been living the good life along with her! Yes, that's right, she and Youyou coming back to our house is just one more pair of chopsticks and one more bowl, and letting them stay for ten days or half a month is fine—but can we let them stay here for the rest of their lives?"
"Don't you know why Xiaoqian is reluctant to come to our house? Isn't it because your sister is here with deadweight baggage? The apartment is already small enough, and with two more people squeezed in here, what kind of mess does that make? Who would be willing to come? Even taking a ten-thousand-step back, suppose she's willing to marry you even without a wedding apartment—can she accept a whole family crammed into this dilapidated dump?"
Without even glancing at Chen Yinuo and Ye Youyou, Chen Jianguo shouted every single word at his son.
"Dad, Mom, stop talking. I'll pack my things and take Youyou right now!"
Wiping away her tears, Chen Yinuo let out a desolate laugh and turned toward the tiny bedroom, less than eight square meters in size, that she shared with Youyou.
"Sis, don't listen to what they say. You and Youyou keep living here!"
Holding Youyou, her brother chased her into the cramped room, which was too small to be any smaller, and said anxiously.
Chen Yinuo didn't speak. She busied herself rapidly packing their meager belongings.
"Sis, won't you listen to me? Where can you go if you leave this place? Back to that rented apartment? Back to being bullied and beaten by that beast?"
Setting Ye Youyou down, her brother blocked Chen Yinuo's path.
"Yinuo, I know you're looking out for your sister, and I thank you! But Dad and Mom are right—Youyou and I are a burden here, we're just causing trouble for the family! Don't worry, Youyou and I have a place to go, we won't end up sleeping on the streets!" Chen Yinuo forced a smile.
With that, she pushed her brother aside, holding her luggage in one hand and taking Ye Youyou's hand with the other.
"Mom, are we going back to find Daddy?" Little Youyou asked, her crying finally stopped.
Chen Yinuo gave a bitter smile without answering, pulling the child along as she started walking.
"Sis!"
"Sis!"
"Sis, listen to me!"
Seeing this, her brother hurried out after them.
As for Liu Xueqin and Chen Jianguo, they merely let out cold snorts as they watched the mother and daughter depart, without offering a single word to make them stay...
Chapter 5: Lies, Nothing But Lies?!
Outside the residential compound's gates, her brother caught up to Chen Yinuo and stopped her.
"Sis, can you calm down and listen to me for a second!"
"Sis, even though Mom doesn't know how to choose her words, her starting point is right!"
"With your conditions, even as a divorcee, you could find a husband a thousand or ten thousand times better than that beast!"
"Just think about how much suffering you've endured at his hands over the past few years! With a beast like that, why aren't you rushing to divorce him?"
Chen Yinuo smoothed back a stray lock of hair blown wild by the wind and shook her head. "It's not that I don't want a divorce; he's the one refusing to sign! He asked me to give him one more month. If I still insist on a divorce after a month, he'll sign!"
"Are you kidding me?! One month? Give him a hundred months, and a dog will still eat shit! He won't sign? Don't worry, Sis, leave this to me. I refuse to believe I can't fix him, I refuse to believe he won't sign!" Her brother ground his teeth in rage.
Yet upon hearing this, Chen Yinuo instantly furrowed her brows.
"What are you planning to do?" she said. "Let me tell you, no matter how much of a scumbag and a beast he is, you are not allowed to mess around, and you are not allowed to do anything stupid! It's only a month—I've endured this long, a month more won't make a difference!"
"Sis!!!"
"Are you going to listen to me or not?"
In the end, her brother nodded. "Fine, one month. I'll give him one more month! But if he still refuses to sign then, don't blame me for not being polite!"
Chen Yinuo didn't pursue the conversation any further.
She pulled Ye Youyou along, raised her hand, and hailed a taxi.
Half an hour later, Chen Yinuo—her mind and body exhausted to a degree words could hardly describe—returned to the rented apartment with Ye Youyou.
The moment the door opened, she instinctively thought she had walked into the wrong apartment.
Amidst a brand-new, orderly arrangement—to say it was spotless might be a slight exaggeration, but not a single speck of trash was visible anywhere.
The cigarette butts and wine bottles that had previously littered the floor were completely gone.
The filthy, stained floor tiles gleamed with brightness.
Every single corner was neat and tidy.
The foul, choking stench had vanished utterly, replaced by the faint lemon scent left behind by an air freshener!
This—was this cleaned up by that beast?
How was that possible!
"Mom, is this really our home? Did we go to the wrong door?" Ye Youyou raised her head and looked at Chen Yinuo.
Had it not been for the familiar furniture, Chen Yinuo would have thought she had entered the wrong apartment, too.
"We didn't go to the wrong door, Youyou. It's very, very late, Mom is taking you to your room to sleep!"
With that, Chen Yinuo prepared to take Ye Youyou into the bedroom.
Naturally, it wasn't the room where Ye Chen slept.
In this small two-bedroom, one-living-room rental apartment, she and Ye Chen had been sleeping in separate rooms for a long time.
In fact, before going to sleep every night in the past, she always had to lock her bedroom door tightly.
Because Ye Chen, returning home dead drunk in the middle of the night, was simply too terrifying—so terrifying that on many occasions she had wanted to perish together with him!
However, before she could even take a step forward, the front door of the apartment was pushed open with a clatter.
Ye Chen walked in.
"Daddy!"
The moment she saw Ye Chen, all sleepiness instantly vanished from the little girl.
She excitedly lunged toward Ye Chen.
This time, Chen Yinuo merely frowned slightly without trying to stop Ye Youyou.
After all, no matter what, Ye Chen was still her father!
"Youyou, let Daddy hold you!"
It wasn't just Youyou who was emotional.
Ye Chen was, too!
Sixty years. It had been a full sixty years!
In all those past sixty years, there wasn't a single moment he hadn't thought of his daughter.
How many times had he jolted awake from dreams in the middle of the night, curling up in tears as he tormented himself with regret over the past.
How he had longed to hold Youyou again, how he had longed to pinch Youyou's cute little cheeks once more.
Now, the heavens had granted him a chance to start over.
At this moment, as he lifted Ye Youyou into his arms, his eye rims turned red and his vision blurred with moisture!
Fighting back the tears threatening to spill, Ye Chen forced a bright smile. "Youyou, didn't you go to Grandma's house with Mom? How come you're back?"
"Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa are bad! They scolded Mom, and they scolded Youyou, and Mom cried!"
A small child didn't understand discretion and blurted the words right out.
Before Chen Yinuo could stop her, it was already too late.
Panic set in. "Youyou, don't talk nonsense!"
You can't blame Chen Yinuo for panicking; the past Ye Chen had been truly impossible to deal with.
Every time he heard that Youyou had been scolded by her maternal grandparents, he would threaten to go and slaughter her family.
Of course, Ye Chen had only been running his mouth back then, but given the kind of man he used to be, Chen Yinuo didn't dare guarantee he wouldn't do something crazy under the influence of alcohol.
"Did your parents bully you and Youyou again?"
Holding Ye Youyou, Ye Chen raised an eyebrow.
"Aside from you, no one bullies the two of us!" Chen Yinuo sneered.
"Don't go living under someone else's roof in the future. It's not like our rented apartment doesn't have extra rooms!"
As for what kind of pieces of work his father-in-law and mother-in-law were, no one knew better than Ye Chen.
So even without Chen Yinuo saying it, he knew how suffocating it must have been for her and Youyou over there.
"Let me correct you: this is *my* rented apartment, not *our* rented apartment! But don't worry, even though I rented it, Youyou and I are only back to crash for one night—tomorrow I'm taking Youyou out of here!" Chen Yinuo scoffed.
If hotels weren't so expensive, and if it weren't already too late to rent another place, she truly would never have returned to this dump, even though she was the one who paid the rent!
"Youyou doesn't want to go out! Youyou wants to stay with Daddy!"
Hearing Chen Yinuo's cold retort, Ye Youyou immediately protested.
Then she reached up to tug at Ye Chen's slightly prickly stubble, and asked in her sweet, childish voice, "Daddy, where did you go tonight? Why are you only coming home now?"
"Daddy went out to sell flowers!"
Ignoring Chen Yinuo's icy sarcasm, he knew that if he wanted Chen Yinuo to accept him again, it would take time. A single day or night wasn't enough to change her view of him.
Yet Chen Yinuo scoffed derisively at his claim of selling flowers!
No one understood Ye Chen better than she did!
He was a thoroughly impractical, high-minded idealist!
To describe him as having ambitions higher than the heavens while possessing a fate as thin as paper would be putting it mildly.
How could a man like him ever stoop to lowering his pride and selling flowers?