Shen Lian hadn't planned anything else. This was the final stop.
But he had clearly underestimated how much Chu Yilan would love it.
"I'll buy it," he said that afternoon. An hour later, the contract was signed.
Sun Binghe even sent a message apologizing, explaining that Cloud City was a little far away, so checking the records and contacting his connections had taken some time.
Bewildered, Shen Lian watched someone who looked like an engineer arrive to take measurements. The whole process took less than ten minutes, and then he left.
Shen Lian said, "That was..."
"Those two cabins aren't enough," Chu Yilan supplied. "I'm planning to build a villa like the one at home."
"For..."
"Retirement!" There was an extraordinary, spine-chilling tenderness in Chu Yilan's voice, as though he would nod and agree to anything Shen Lian said right now.
Wait, whose birthday was it, anyway?
That wasn't all. Chu Yilan held back, then held back some more, but still felt he owed his friends an explanation.
Never one to share much, he actually took a photo and sent it to the group chat.
Young Master Feng, online twenty-four hours a day: [Oh ho, where did you go? That's a lot of roses.]
Chu Yilan: [Shen Lian gave them to me.]
Zhou Yuanlin: [...I gave you a Porsche for your birthday back then, and you didn't look remotely moved.]
Chu Yilan automatically ignored that message.
Ning Sixian teased: [Those roses don't add up to much money, though.]
Chu Yilan: [You don't know shit.]
[...]
They didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but they could all tell that Chu Yilan was genuinely happy.
His friends' birthday gifts had arrived that morning: luxury watches, collectibles, the whole lot.
Everything went smoothly. The only deviation from Shen Lian's plans was that