True Brothers

Back upstairs, Zhou Qianqian's sudden appearance didn't put a damper on the father and daughter's good mood.

Su Chen was in charge of washing the vegetables and cooking in the kitchen.

Su Zihan was in charge of putting away the daily necessities they'd bought at the supermarket and packing tonight's unused ingredients into fresh-keeping bags to put in the fridge.

The father and daughter each had their own tasks. Before long, it was seven thirty in the evening.

Three dishes and a soup came steaming hot out of the kitchen.

One was stir-fried beef with chopped chili, one was Hot and Sour Pan-fried Fish, one was Egg Fried Tofu, and the last was seaweed and egg soup.

They were all home-style dishes.

Zhou Qianqian had said that Mom used to love clear fish-head soup, but the truth was, it wasn't that Mom liked eating it.

It was that Zhou Qianqian liked it.

So Mom had grown to like it too.

Mom was a native of Xiang Province, where no meal was complete without chili.

Her daughter had inherited that trait.

At lunch, her daughter had eaten barbecue that was so spicy.

So tonight, only the soup wasn't spicy. The other dishes all had pickled chili in them.

As soon as the food was set on the table, the little girl's eyes lit up with hunger.

"Daddy, these dishes look super delicious!"

"I'll go get the rice and chopsticks!"

With that, the little girl bounced off to the kitchen.

Su Chen smiled and pulled out two dining chairs.

A moment later, the little girl came out carrying two bowls of rice.

The father and daughter sat down.

Now and then, the little girl let out a satisfied sigh over something delicious. "Daddy, wow, this beef is so flavorful! It's so good!"

"The pan-fried fish is delicious too! The skin is crispy, and the inside is tender. It's just wonderful! It's every bit as good as Mom's cooking."

Seeing the little girl eating with oil all over her mouth, Su Chen affectionately took a napkin and wiped it for her.

The little girl obligingly leaned toward him. Su Chen wiped her chili-red lips clean, then asked with a smile, "What does Mom usually cook for you?"

He wanted to find out what the girls' mother liked.

"Mom usually makes home-style dishes, like spicy boiled pork, kung pao chicken, stir-fried eggs with rice noodles, and vinegar-glazed pork and wood ear mushrooms."

"Mom always finds a way to make them taste new."

"They're super delicious too."

Su Chen saved all the dish names on his phone.

Su Zihan saw her dad typing on his phone, even though she couldn't see the screen.

But she guessed there was a 99 percent chance he was writing down the names of those dishes.

Her dad was so thoughtful.

He'd heard they liked those dishes, so he'd made a point of saving them so he could cook for them in the future.

She took out her own phone, stood up, and snapped a picture of the food on the table.

Then she went back to eating.

"Daddy, this Egg Fried Tofu is incredible! The crispy outside is so good, and the tofu inside has soaked up the flavor of the chili and salt. It's delicious!"

"Daddy, I haven't had food this good since I came to the Imperial Capital for college."

"The food in the Imperial Capital's dining halls either has flour in it, or sugar, or all kinds of sauces."

"I've been eating so much bland food my mouth's practically gone numb."

"Hehe, I can't believe I got to eat delicious barbecue at lunch and satisfy my craving, and then have such authentic southern food made by Daddy for dinner. I'm so happy!"

If Fifth Sister, that little foodie, were here, she'd probably be calling "Daddy" nonstop with her mouth full.

She'd work hard to bring all four of her younger sisters over to her side.

Heh heh.

After dinner, Su Zihan went to take a shower, while Su Chen smoked on the balcony.

Leaning against the balcony, he looked into the brightly lit home, everything in its place, the dinner table still scattered with leftovers.

He took a deep drag of his cigarette.

This was what a home was supposed to be.

Full of life.

Not one person, all alone.

Even the smallest house felt lonely when you were by yourself.

But with a daughter, even the biggest house felt lively and warm.

"Ring, ring..." His phone rang.

It was a call from his old classmate, Chen Peng.

He picked up.

"Old Su, I've thought of a great way to make easy money with your bookstore, haha."

"What way?" Su Chen asked with a smile.

Now that he had the system, making money was as easy as doing one plus one.

Chen Peng immediately excitedly told Su Chen about his easy-money idea.

Since Su Chen now had a bookstore, Chen Peng suggested he hire an employee to use a computer to record the information of people who came in to buy study materials.

They could sort them into categories.

For instance, anyone buying accounting books was probably preparing to take an accounting certification exam.

Anyone buying finance books was probably preparing to take a finance certification exam.

Anyone buying graduate school exam books was probably preparing for graduate school.

And anyone buying IELTS or TOEFL books was probably preparing to take the IELTS or TOEFL, and so on.

They could ask the students for their contact information and offer them a one-time discount. Plenty of students would be willing to sign up.

Then they could sell the students' information to the relevant training centers.

For example, information about accounting students could be sold to accounting training centers.

And they could take a commission for the referrals.

After listening, Su Chen smiled and said, "Old Chen, thanks."

He'd recently thought of the same idea, with one small improvement.

He'd change the original business model from selling books to renting them out.

After their exams, students wouldn't need those study books anymore.

In the end, they could only sell them as scrap, which was a waste for the students.

Renting books would attract more students.

And there'd be other ways to make money besides commissions from training centers, such as the cash deposits students paid when renting books.

They could also start an official WeChat account to attract followers, and so on.

He'd spent the whole month preparing for this.

But since he hadn't finished getting everything ready, he hadn't mentioned it to anyone.

After all, there was competition in everything these days.

The first to eat the crab could make the most money.

Old Chen was a decent friend. He wasn't even in the bookstore business, but he was always thinking about Su Chen's work.

He really was Su Chen's close friend of more than ten years.

"Why are you thanking me? Just remember to treat me when you start making money," Chen Peng said with a laugh.

Su Chen laughed heartily. "Haha, no problem! You can count on it!"

"How's your new novel doing?"

Chen Peng was a fantasy web novelist.

He'd made over ten million yuan writing novels and bought a small two-bedroom apartment in the Imperial Capital.

But he'd divorced five years ago.

The reason was that Chen Peng's wife had cheated on him. Chen Peng stayed home writing every day, which left him with kidney deficiency.

Chen Peng's wife was thirty, an age when her passions burned like a wolf or a tiger.

She'd landed a big client at the bank, then openly cheated on Chen Peng and divorced him.

To make matters worse, Chen Peng's new book flopped. His love life and career both sank to rock bottom.

After the divorce, it was as if Chen Peng had used up all his luck as a writer. His new books kept flopping.

He'd been flopping for five years straight.

Luckily, royalties from his old books still supported him. Otherwise, the bank would have repossessed the small two-bedroom apartment he'd bought with a mortgage.

"This new book's doing all right. It's not as popular as my old ones, but it's decent. If I put in the hours, I can still make twenty thousand a month," Chen Peng said with a laugh.

"It's just that I keep losing money in the stock market lately. Luckily, I didn't buy much—only fifty thousand yuan—and I'm already down ten percent. I want to cut my losses and get out, but I can't bring myself to. It's frustrating."

Su Chen said, "I'll recommend a stock to you. You can buy it and hold on for half a year. Don't trade it—just keep it steady. You should be able to make thirty percent in six months."

Chen Peng had been thinking of ways to help Su Chen make more money. Now that Su Chen had a money-making project, there was no way he'd leave his brother out.

That was what a true brother was.

Not a "brother" who hoped the other guy was doing just a little worse than he was.