Half asleep, Bai Yang was jolted awake by an annoying ringing. Without even opening his eyes, he groped around beside his pillow until he found his phone, only to realize the ringing wasn't coming from it.
He tossed the phone aside and pulled the covers over his head, but the ringing continued. He flung off the covers and sat up, grumbling, "Where's that annoying sound coming from? Can't a person get any sleep around here?!"
He got out of bed and padded barefoot out of the bedroom. He was going to track down the culprit.
Only when he reached the living room did he realize someone outside the villa was pressing the doorbell. He hit the intercom's video button and said through a yawn, "Who is it? It's broad daylight! Can't you let a person sleep?!"
At the door, Liu Qingshan said to Song Guotao, "See? This is the little bastard I told you about. He thinks it's perfectly fine to sleep in broad daylight."
"He's young. They're all like that, with their days and nights turned upside down. My grandsons are the same. For them, the day only starts after dark."
Song Guotao spoke with the look of a man who'd seen it all.
What could Liu Qingshan say? The world was changing too fast; he couldn't keep up anymore. Turning back toward the intercom, he said irritably, "Kid, I'm here to bring you your money!"
Inside, Bai Yang glanced at the video feed. Well, would you look at that—the old man had actually come back. It'd been, what, two hours at most? But he didn't open the door. Instead, he asked crossly, "Hey, who's that guy next to you? You came here, fine, but what's with bringing someone along?"
"Little friend Bai Yang, Liu Qingshan's a pauper. I'm here to pay him," Song Guotao said with a laugh from outside.
Well, that was good news. From the video, Bai Yang could tell the man was rich (though, in truth, he couldn't tell anything of the sort). He opened the door and found two old men standing outside: one smiling warmly, the other looking thoroughly displeased.
"Come in. No need to take off your shoes, and don't expect me to pour you any water. I don't even have a cup," Bai Yang said as he opened the door and walked inside.
Song Guotao surveyed the spacious living room and asked in surprise, "Little friend Bai Yang, I'm curious just how lazy you are. There's a whole layer of dust in here, and you haven't thought of cleaning it? If you don't want to do it yourself, couldn't you at least call in a cleaner?"
Bai Yang casually patted the sofa, kicking up a cloud of dust. Then he plopped down in the lounging pose of Ge You and waved a hand. "I'm busy, you know. I make millions every minute. How would I have time to deal with this?"
"That's true."
Song Guotao nodded in deep agreement as he entered. He didn't seem to mind the dirty sofa and sat down, back ramrod straight, smiling at Bai Yang.
As for Liu Qingshan, he looked utterly disgusted. He didn't even sit down. Turning his head away from Bai Yang, he said, "He's paying me. I don't want to talk to you anymore."
Whoever he was, as long as he paid, that was good enough for Bai Yang. He ignored Liu Qingshan and looked toward Song Guotao. But the old man had a powerful presence. Under that smiling gaze, Bai Yang found his lazy slouch uncomfortable and unconsciously sat up straight.
This was my house, wasn't it? Why did I feel like I was the guest?
As he grumbled inwardly, a fleeting sense that the old man looked familiar crossed his mind. He cut straight to the point and asked, "So, how much do you want to buy?"
Song Guotao didn't answer. Instead, he looked at Bai Yang and asked, "You don't recognize me?"
"Are you famous or something? Oh, right. Wait here a minute..."
As he spoke, Bai Yang remembered something. He left them with that, then raced into the bedroom, grabbed his motorcycle keys, and rushed downstairs. Under the two old men's baffled gazes, he jumped on his motorcycle and roared off.
The two old men looked at each other. What was going on?
Before long, Bai Yang came roaring back on his motorcycle, carrying a big plastic bag. He put it on the coffee table, pulled out three bottles of mineral water, and set two down for the old men. Then he opened one and gulped down half of it.
At least he had some manners, the two old men thought—but they were jumping to conclusions a bit early.
"Don't throw the bottles away when you're done. I'll need them to fill with the wine later," Bai Yang said.
"..."
Liu Qingshan was used to it and had gone numb. Song Guotao's eyelid twitched. Why did he suddenly feel like beating this young man up?
I love how you clearly can't stand me but can't do anything about it, Bai Yang thought gleefully...
"Let's get started. We'll take as much of that wine as you have!"
Song Guotao didn't want to waste time talking to Bai Yang. He spoke directly, then casually pulled out an old-fashioned mobile phone and dialed. "Xiao Ma, bring a few porcelain bottles over to number thirty-four."
"Well, you look like a rich tycoon. Hang on."
Bai Yang gave him a thumbs-up and a compliment, then hurried upstairs. Before long, he came back down carrying the jar of Hundred Fruit Brew.
The moment the two old men saw the jar in Bai Yang's arms, they couldn't take their eyes off it. Their noses twitched as they caught the faint, elusive fragrance, and their eyes glowed like hungry wolves!
A few days ago, Bai Yang had given half the Hundred Fruit Brew in the jar to Bai Jianjun. The little sip Bai Yang drank each day barely counted. There were still more than ten jin left.
I'm about to get rich again!
Seeing the old men's expressions, Bai Yang grinned to himself. Heh, he could get as much of this stuff as they wanted. There were more than ten jars back in the other place; he just couldn't be bothered to lug them over.
He set the jar on the coffee table. Before he could say anything, a young man strode in through the doorway.
Wearing a suit and tie in this scorching weather—wasn't he afraid of getting heat rash? That had to be Xiao Ma. He looked like the legendary bodyguard. And he was pretty cool, too. Maybe I should get a few bodyguards to trail behind me so I can look impressive.
As Bai Yang muttered to himself, the young man set down a case, gave the two old men a slight bow, and left without saying a word from beginning to end.
"Shall we get started, then?"
Bai Yang curled his lip. From the plastic bag he'd brought back, he took out a hundred-milliliter measuring cup. He'd specifically gone out to buy it earlier...
"How do we know the wine in this jar is the same kind you had tested?"
Liu Qingshan spoke up, naturally unwilling to show Bai Yang any kindness.
"If you don't want it, just say so, you scam artist. You're wasting my time!"
Bai Yang slapped the measuring cup down on the coffee table, picked up the jar, and prepared to carry it upstairs.
"Bai Yang—little friend Bai, don't mind the old man. Come, come, let's do it your way."
Song Guotao hurriedly tried to smooth things over. As he spoke, he opened the case Xiao Ma had brought. Inside lay a dozen or so porcelain bottles, each about a foot tall. Bai Yang didn't know anything about this stuff, but they looked pretty fancy.
"I'm not minding him."
Liu Qingshan was so angry he was trembling...
Bai Yang set the jar back down, then lifted the leaves sealing its mouth. In an instant, the heart-soothing fragrance of wine filled the air.
The two old men narrowed their eyes and sniffed, their faces rapturous. They craned their necks to peer into the jar, looking ready to drool.
Seeing Bai Yang about to dip the measuring cup into the jar, Song Guotao hurriedly stopped him. "Hey, have you even washed that cup? Forget it, I'll do it myself!"
As he spoke, Song Guotao snatched the measuring cup from Bai Yang, went to the kitchen and rinsed it thoroughly, then pulled a white handkerchief from his clothes and carefully dried it. He set it on the coffee table, picked up the jar himself, and poured wine into the measuring cup.
The jade-green wine flowed down, and its heart-soothing fragrance grew even richer.
"Hey, hey, that's too much! You've poured at least half a milliliter extra!"
Bai Yang hurriedly stopped him when he saw the wine had gone a little past the mark on the measuring cup.
"You're so stingy you'd make a miser look generous!"
Song Guotao grumbled, but stopped pouring all the same. He poured the hundred milliliters of Hundred Fruit Brew into a porcelain bottle, capped it, and then poured another measure. It took five full measures to fill one bottle. He carefully placed it in the case.
"That's five hundred milliliters. Five million now."
Bai Yang reminded him from the side...
"Five million already?"
Liu Qingshan's eyes went wide as he stared at Bai Yang, looking like he wanted to eat him alive.
"Well, look at you acting like I'm ripping you off. Everyone's watching, and there's even a camera over there."
Bai Yang lied straight-faced. Who put security cameras in their living room?
"Heh, no matter."
Song Guotao chuckled as he continued measuring the wine without stopping.
They spent half an hour at it. By the time the jar was completely empty, they had filled nine porcelain bottles. The tenth held only four hundred milliliters.
"See? There are still seventy-six milliliters in this measuring cup, right? That's seven hundred and sixty thousand. The other nine bottles hold four thousand five hundred milliliters, making forty-five million seven hundred and sixty thousand altogether. Thanks for your business. Pay up."
Bai Yang pointed at the wine still left in the measuring cup and counted on his fingers. Once he finished, he held out his hand.
Song Guotao took his time finishing the bottle, capped it, set it in place, and closed the case. Then he looked at Bai Yang and said, "You're even better than a robber at taking people's money. But have you thought about what we'd do if we didn't pay?"
"That's no problem. I'll just turn around and post online that former provincial Party secretary Old Song is throwing his weight around, buying things without paying, and leaving me with nowhere to seek justice. Then I'll go cry at the municipal government. Your son, Mayor Song, works there. I don't believe you'd refuse to pay!"
Bai Yang spoke with complete confidence.
"Kid, you're really asking to be hated. You pretended not to recognize me, but even after you found out who I was, you still wouldn't give me a discount. Fine, what's your account number? I'll have my daughter, who does business overseas, transfer the money."
Song Guotao pointed at Bai Yang, utterly speechless.
Bai Yang gave him his account number. Song Guotao called on the spot to have the money transferred from abroad. He only said a few words before hanging up. When Bai Yang's phone finally showed a deposit notification, Song Guotao gave a snort and personally carried the case outside.
He didn't want to stay another second...
"Take care! Come back when you've finished it. Oh, a friendly tip: that stuff's a potent tonic. It's best not to drink more than thirty milliliters a day. If you overdo it and something happens, I'm not responsible," Bai Yang called after him with a beaming smile.
After the two old men had gone for good, Bai Yang immediately collapsed onto the sofa and rolled around. I'm rich, I'm rich! That stuff those savages in the other place drank like water had just earned him nearly fifty million!
"Wait, I nearly worked myself to death just to get fifteen million from Dad, and now I've basically given him a full fifty million worth of Hundred Fruit Brew?"
Once it dawned on him, Bai Yang thought it over and went completely blank...
Before you continue