Return to Daily Life

That night, after Gu Jia fell asleep, Wang Yan came out onto the balcony.

Facing the cold night wind, he looked at the Bund across the river, alive with revelry every night, and at the Huangpu River flowing eastward.

He pulled up the system panel and selected "Return."

A blue light flashed, and Wang Yan vanished from his spot.

Opening his eyes again, Wang Yan was lying on the bed in his shared apartment in Jingcheng (Beijing).

Information intertwined in his mind, but this time it was much better, with hardly any impact. It was mainly because he hadn't stayed in Nothing But Thirty for long, so the memories didn't affect him much compared to his own forty years of accumulated experience.

After lying down for a while to compose himself, Wang Yan got up and drank a glass of water.

He lit a cigarette, walked to the bedside, and pulled open the curtains, gazing at the night outside.

He pulled up the system panel.

Wang Yan

Attributes:
Strength 20
Agility 20
Constitution 20
Spirit 18
Unallocated Points: 4

Inventory Space: 2m

Skills:
Combat LV3
Computer LV2
Chinese Classics LV2
Philosophy LV2
Calligraphy LV1
Cooking LV1
... (a bunch of other skills omitted)

His attributes hadn't changed. He hadn't been gone for long, and his skills hadn't changed much either. Management, sales, and the like remained at LV3. It was only through his consistent writing and coding that his calligraphy had reached a basic level, and his computer skills had become proficient at LV2.

With his current computer skills, if he prepared specifically for it, he could probably brag his way into a job earning five to six thousand yuan. After all, many who trained for only four months could earn that much. He had studied longer, learned more, and progressed faster than them, so earning five to six thousand wouldn't be unreasonable, and might even be higher.

Besides that, to make things easier in the future, the system had given him the ability to control fertility – he could have children if he wanted and not if he didn't. To be honest, Wang Yan didn't want to casually have children in these fictional worlds. They were his own flesh and blood. If he brought a child into existence, he couldn't take care of them for long, and returning to the real world would inevitably bring him pangs of longing. What was the point of that? Was he just looking for trouble?

The system still hadn't said anything about returning to worlds he had already visited, so he figured it was unlikely. If he couldn't stay in a world for twenty to thirty years in the future, he definitely wouldn't have children.

(PS: In the previous chapter, a brother mentioned giving his property to someone else's child. The brothers all said I was writing an outline, but I don't actually have an outline. To be honest, I forgot about that. While writing yesterday, I felt something was missing, but then I thought again, it's indeed not suitable for Gu Jia to have a child here. I'll fix this now. After all, I'll be an emperor in the future, so I need to have my own lineage. As for why I'm writing this here, it's because I never read author's notes when I read novels.)

After finishing his cigarette, Wang Yan washed up, tidied himself, and went to sleep.

The next day, he woke up feeling refreshed, exercised, and ate breakfast.

Wang Yan began his day of hustling for a living, trading stocks and making nuisance calls.

Life continued for a week, and Wang Yan finally received good news.

His commission had arrived.

Wang Yan withdrew fifty thousand yuan, receiving a little over forty thousand after taxes. He didn't dare withdraw it all, mainly because the taxes were too high, and he couldn't bear it.

Besides, he still had to work for a while longer. He'd think about it later. Anyway, he couldn't escape it, so it was better to pay less if possible.

He transferred 5,000 yuan to his boss and kept 5,000 for living expenses.

He wasn't in a hurry to pay off his credit card; the priority was to earn more. He shuffled the remaining thirty thousand yuan between credit cards and then invested it all in the stock market.

During the day, his university brother notified him in the group chat that he was getting married. The date was the fifteenth of this month, which was next Friday.

There were eight of them living together in the dorm, including himself. Normally, dorms had four or six people, but it couldn't be helped. Tsinghua Peking University didn't accept him, so he ended up at this lousy school.

Of course, there were advantages to having more people; it was lively every day.

Since graduation, they had scattered all over the country and were all living like dogs. It was too difficult to meet up. They had gatherings every so often to chat. Usually, these gatherings involved drinking, reminiscing about their glorious past, and looking towards the future – honestly, they couldn't muster the energy for that anymore, and it wasn't as fun. It was mainly about bragging.

The group chat unanimously agreed that everyone would go.

It had been years since they had last seen each other, so this was a good opportunity for them all to get together.

He wasn't the first to get married; two others had already tied the knot, and they even had children.

This struck Wang Yan again.

In the following days, Wang Yan continued his work as usual. He was quite lucky; he sold another unit and earned twelve thousand yuan in commission.

Time flew by, and it was Thursday. Wang Yan boarded a flight to Bashu (Sichuan).

His brother's wedding was in a county town in Bashu (Sichuan). After transferring to a high-speed train, he reached his destination.

Wang Yan saw his waiting brother at the arrival hall.

From afar, I saw him jumping and shouting, waving at him. Anyone who wasn't blind could see him.

"Old Wang!"

"Old Zhang." Wang Yan also responded loudly. His brother called him Zhang Guang.

Disregarding the stares of those around, he rushed forward for a hug: "My goodness, I never thought you scoundrel would get married too."

"Damn it, why can't I get married? Just for saying that, you're leading the charge for drinks."

"Drinking is no problem, but first, give your brother a heads-up. Are there enough bridesmaids?"

"You scoundrel. You don't even ask about me, you just start checking out the bridesmaids." Zhang Guang cursed Wang Yan with his unique accent.

You couldn't argue with accents. Wang Yan remembered when they first started school. Zhang Guang arrived first.

At that time, he also spoke fluent Sichuan dialect. When they met, the following conversation took place.

"Hey, hello brother, my name is Wang Yan, what should I call you?"

"Ah, hello, I'm ?, Guang." The "Zhang" he spoke was a sound somewhere between Zhang and Zeng. It was impossible to hear clearly.

"What Guang? Zeng Guang?"

"Aiya, ? Guang la."

"Come, let me type it on my phone then."

Only then did Wang Yan figure out his surname.

There was another incident after military training, one evening. Wang Yan and Zhang Guang were in adjacent beds. Zhang Guang's slippers were kicked under Wang Yan's bed.

"Hey, Old Wang, give me my child la (pronounced with a rising tone) for me."

"What are you talking about? Did you bring a child? How come I didn't know? Haven't seen one?" Wang Yan was also a bit slow back then, speaking without thinking.

In the end, after much confusion, it turned out to be slippers.

(This is a true story from my younger brother. His surname is Zeng.)

Moreover, some classmates from Bashu (Sichuan) spoke Mandarin very well. It was unclear why, but he always spoke with a Sichuan dialect.

Coupled with a room full of northerners – from Inner Mongolia, Dalian, Henan, Shenyang – he was the only southerner. It was inevitable that his accent would change, but damn it, it became even stranger. Sichuan dialect mixed with Northeast dialect, the feeling was truly amazing. He's been back home for several years now, and still hasn't changed back.

"You have a wife to dote on you, why would you need this rough old man's concern?"

"Alright, alright, look at you getting all sentimental. I'm not going to chat with you anymore. Let's go, everyone's here, just waiting for you. They were going to come too, but I told them not to bother, it's too much trouble."

As he spoke, he reached out to help carry things.

"You're too kind, I can carry it myself. Let's go."

Zhang Guang drove Wang Yan to the hotel he had arranged. The brothers were all there.

Seeing Wang Yan arrive, they all teased him first, complaining that he was too late.

Wang Yan had only one thing to say about this: "Your dad always makes a grand entrance."

After some playful scolding and catching up, they noisily went to eat.

They had a lively dinner and drank a lot, chatting about their recent lives.

Wang Yan didn't show off too much. After all, emotions involve many factors.

Everyone has their own yardstick in their hearts. Even among the eight of them, their relationships had varying degrees of closeness and ranking.

It was just that they all unanimously said Wang Yan had changed the most. Wang Yan didn't dwell on it, silently changing the subject.

To be honest, the current level of these brothers was far below his. It was a subtle, imperceptible change that they couldn't detect at all.

The next day, everyone got up early to pick up the bride, going through several challenges.

It was mainly about having fun. Zhang Guang didn't go back on his word. Faced with the beer stacked from the first floor to the second floor, he unhesitatingly pushed Wang Yan forward.

Wang Yan's original drinking capacity could only be considered above average, but he wasn't that naive kid anymore.

Without a word, he drank half a floor's worth, which was about a case of beer.

Beer, as long as your stomach can hold it, you can drink it non-stop.

Originally, they were just going to make things difficult symbolically. If he couldn't drink it, that would be it. But Wang Yan had set a good precedent.

The other six brothers couldn't back down. They could all hold their liquor. In the end, they all drank about six or seven rounds each.

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