Chapter 37

Pei Yizhou's efficiency was remarkably high. By the following afternoon, he had arranged the house and completed Zimo's kindergarten enrollment procedures.

He had work and could not come over, so he sent his special assistant to accompany them the entire time.

The neighborhood An Xiang would be living in was called Lijing Jiangshan—the very place she had originally taken a liking to.

The special assistant led the two inside, helped carry in their luggage, then set down the keys. "Everything has more or less been prepared. If you need anything else, just let me know, and I'll arrange it right away."

This high-rise duplex covered over four hundred square meters. Its decor was elegant, and it was fully furnished.

An Xiang took a casual look around. The only thing she was dissatisfied with was the bed in the bedroom. Scratching her head awkwardly, she said to the special assistant, "Could you replace the beds in the master bedroom and children's room with coffins? I'll pay for them."

The special assistant froze for a moment, then slowly nodded. "All right, I'll handle it immediately. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, no. Please thank Mr. Pei for me."

The special assistant nodded and turned to leave.

The second he was gone, someone cautiously pushed open the not-quite-closed door from outside.

Those pitch-black eyes darted around twice before their owner quietly slipped in while no one was paying attention.

"Sister Xiangxiang, it really is you?!"

The voice was full of surprise, but even more delight.

An Xiang turned around and froze at the sight of the young man's face. After a long moment, she said in astonishment, "Pei Chen? You live here too?"

"Yeah, I live across the hall. This place is ours too."

Pei Chen was not shy around strangers. After answering, he swaggered in and looked around before dropping onto the sofa. "Not bad. Pretty nice." Then he grinned at An Xiang. "Did my great-grandfather sell the place to you?"

Their family was the only one living in the entire building. Pei Chen had found it strange when he saw someone moving into the unit across from his, and sure enough, it was An Xiang.

His gaze was innocent, and An Xiang could neither say yes nor no.

"I never realized my great-grandfather was such a good person. But I'm happy you changed your mind too, Sister Xiangxiang." Pei Chen was broad-minded and did not think anything was amiss. "It's so hard to find a place these days. A girl like you could easily get scammed. Now that you live here, I'll look out for you." With that, he lifted his chin, looking utterly arrogant.

An Xiang guiltily looked away without saying anything.

"Momo, come play with your big brother." Pei Chen beckoned to An Zimo.

That form of address caught in An Xiang's chest.

She suddenly remembered that if Pei Chen called Pei Yizhou his great-grandfather, then by seniority, he should call An Zimo... grandfather.

Her expression shifted again and again, her feelings impossibly complicated.

"Sister Xiangxiang, I'm hungry. Can I eat here tonight?"

An Xiang nodded, then thought of the other two children. "Sure. Call Nuo Nuo and the others over too."

"My little brother and sister went to an event. They won't be back for a couple of days." After a pause, he added, "Why don't we invite my great-grandfather too? Otherwise, he definitely won't eat dinner again tonight."

Pei Chen was a filial grandson.

Pei Yizhou had helped the girl he liked find a stable place to live, so whether out of gratitude or propriety, they should treat him to a meal. Besides, Pei Yizhou treated work like food and had always been casual about his three daily meals. Even with a vampire's sturdy body, he could not keep abusing himself like that.

And besides...

Pei Chen looked at An Xiang with reddened ears. He wanted his great-grandfather to know that she was different from those gaudy women outside. An Xiang was completely different—she was pretty and kind, more than worthy of the Pei Family!

A fierce storm raged in Pei Chen's mind.

In less than a minute, he had gone from dinner to marriage, then to children's names and the gender of their second child.

An Zimo had listened to everything. It was so funny that even his tooth did not hurt as much anymore.

"An Zimo, what are you laughing at?"

An Zimo's lips habitually curved into a mocking smile. "I wasn't laughing."

"You were."

"I wasn't."

"Bullshit. You were obviously laughing at me just now. Why were you laughing at me?" Pei Chen had sharp eyes and had clearly seen An Zimo mocking him. He knew he was not as smart as this little brat, but that did not mean he had to get laughed at every time he spoke.

"My tooth just hurts."

Seeing Pei Chen's suspicious expression, An Zimo turned his head, opened his mouth, and wiggled the loose tooth in front of him. "Look," he said indistinctly. It had been fine when he did not touch it, but the moment he did, it started itching terribly again.

An Zimo jumped off the sofa, grabbed his backpack, and took out the leftover beef bone he had been gnawing on yesterday, continuing to bite it while holding it in his hands.

Pei Chen frowned at the sight. "How old are you?"

An Zimo said, "Not even four."

Pei Chen pondered for a moment. "Then that's not right. Who starts losing teeth before they're four?"

"..."

Fuck!

At last, there was someone with eyes in this damn world!!

An Zimo was so excited that he cursed internally. He set down the bone, looked seriously at Pei Chen, and finally patted his shoulder. "Right? I think I should go to the hospital and get checked out."

The next second, Pei Chen said:

"Humans don't, but other things might. Hard to say."

"...??"

Hard to say my ass!

Could there really be intelligent life other than humans in this world?

Being reborn in the wrong time period was strange enough. An Zimo did not want to find out in the end that he was not even human.

"Sister Xiangxiang, shouldn't you take Zimo to have his teeth checked? It's not normal for him to lose teeth at his age!" Even if that was what he said, they still ought to get it checked.

Seeing Pei Chen speak up for him, An Zimo nodded approvingly. His grandfather had not spoiled this grandson for nothing.

"No need, no need." An Xiang took the bone from Zimo's hands and replaced it with another one for him to keep gnawing on. "He's just losing baby teeth. It's not like you never did."

Pei Chen froze, successfully persuaded.

That was right, it was just losing baby teeth. He had done it too. Back then, he had even chewed up Pei Yizhou's favorite antique furniture. Luckily, the family had a large wolfhound, which successfully took the blame for him.

"Weren't you going to invite your grandfather over? Call him now and ask whether he has time. Then I'll go prepare dinner."

"Got it."

Without another word, Pei Chen started a WeChat call, only for it to be rejected the next second.

Pei Chen had expected that outcome, so he pretended to type out a message instead: [I'm at Sister Xiangxiang's place. Great-grandfather, do you want to come over for dinner? If you're busy, just ignore this message.]

[Pei Yizhou: Okay]

An instant reply.

There was not even any punctuation.

Pei Chen stared blankly. [You're not busy?]

[Pei Yizhou: Have you finished your homework?]

"..."

[Pei Chen: Don't talk about homework. It hurts the relationship between us grandpa and grandson.]

But it reminded Pei Chen of something.

While An Xiang was out buying groceries, he anxiously held out his hand to An Zimo. "Homework."

An Zimo held out his hand as well. "Money."

Pei Chen: "..." This little brat was way too practical!

Gritting his teeth, he pulled out a card and slapped it into An Zimo's hand.

Without hesitation, An Zimo took a workbook from his backpack and tossed it over.

Pei Chen eagerly opened the homework and clicked his tongue at the contents. "Fuck! You can really imitate handwriting?!" If he had not known beforehand, he would have thought he had written it in his sleep just from looking at the handwriting. On top of that, Pei Chen discovered that An Zimo had deliberately gotten many questions wrong—mistakes Pei Chen himself often made.

"You're amazing, kid." Pei Chen stared at him with wide eyes. "Does your mom know you're this amazing?"

An Zimo irritably gnawed on his bone. "Don't tell her."

"I won't, I won't." Pei Chen vaguely sensed that An Zimo and An Xiang did not have the best relationship. After all, he was an outsider, so it would not be appropriate to pry into someone else's family matters.

Pei Chen happily stuffed the homework into his backpack and sighed in satisfaction. This way, he could account for it to Pei Yizhou.

"How much money is on this card?"

After thinking about it, Pei Chen said, "Five or six thousand, probably."

Five or six thousand?

Nowhere near enough.

An Zimo pondered for a few seconds, then asked, "Do you have a computer at home?"

"Yeah. You want to use it?"

"Mm."

"When your mom gets back, I'll tell her. I'll say you're playing at my place. Sister Xiangxiang will definitely agree."

An Zimo was very pleased.

As long as Pei Chen covered for him, anything he did next would be perfectly justified.

An Xiang returned with the groceries soon after. When she learned that An Zimo wanted to go to Pei Chen's place, she did not stop him. After giving him a few reminders, she went into the kitchen to cook.

Holding the bone in his little hands, An Zimo followed Pei Chen into the unit across the hall.

This house was a temporary residence for the three siblings so they could conveniently attend school. Pei Yizhou occasionally stayed over as well.

Pei Chen returned to his bedroom and turned on the computer. Considering An Zimo's height, he deliberately raised the gaming chair. Once An Zimo sat down, he asked curiously, "Do you want to play games? Want my Steam account? Or a PS4, or a Switch? I've got everything here!"

An Zimo said nothing. His ten chubby little fingers flew over the keyboard.

His expression was calm as he stared fixedly at the screen.

The websites An Zimo opened were all in foreign languages Pei Chen could not understand, along with things that looked like code.

Pei Chen's expression changed. He finally realized something was off and was deeply shocked. "Y-you aren't one of those hackers from novels, are you? Some genius baby with an IQ of 500 or something?"

Reading the Four Books and Five Classics at one, building a business empire at two, and becoming a legend in the hacker world at three.

The more Pei Chen thought about it, the more possible it seemed!

An Zimo rolled his eyes at him. "You're overthinking it."

"Then what are you doing...?"

"Making money."

"?"

Just as real life had competitions, the underground internet also held many computer contests involving codebreaking. There were no restrictions on the events, time, or participants. They were free, quick, and paid fast, but the risks were naturally high as well.

An Zimo registered an account. To enter a competition, participants first had to place a wager. The site would automatically transfer the wagered funds to the winner's account, and a twenty-percent fee would be deducted upon withdrawal.

Considering that his current body might not be able to keep up with his mind, An Zimo decided to enter a challenge match.

The challenge match had one hundred rounds. The higher one went, the harder it became, and naturally, the more money one could win. Participants could freely withdraw before the thirtieth round; after that, anyone who wished to withdraw had to pay back all the money they had won.

An Zimo was not greedy. He decided to stop once he had saved thirty thousand.

He was smart and learned everything quickly. In his previous life, his mother had severely suppressed him, so he secretly learned coding in hopes of earning money and escaping her. In the end, however, his mother still found out.

As An Zimo recalled the past, he focused on cracking the opposing program.

The English flashing across the computer screen made Pei Chen's head ache. "And you still say you're not a genius baby? What even is this?"

An Zimo did not answer. In the blink of an eye, he won through the fifth round, turning the five thousand he had initially invested into twenty-five thousand.

An Zimo stopped in time and clicked to withdraw.

He looked up at Pei Chen and threatened him expressionlessly. "You can't tell my mom. Otherwise, I'll tell her you want to be my stepdad. I'll also tell your great-grandfather that you forced me to do your homework."

"Holy shit?!" Pei Chen leaped to his feet. "Why are you so devious, kid?"

An Zimo sneered. "If you listen to me, I can help you make a case for it."

He did not say what exactly he would help make a case for.

Pei Chen naturally thought in that direction. Smiling foolishly, he stepped forward, picked An Zimo up, and roughly rubbed his pretty little face. "Fine, fine, I won't tell. But first, tell me—how are you so smart?"

An Zimo pointed upward and said casually, with a hint of matter-of-factness, "You'll have to ask heaven about that."

"..."

So arrogant.

He really wanted to punch someone.