A celebratory dinner

It was around five thirty in the afternoon.

Because of the "wild beast sightings" a few days earlier, Star City No. 3 High School had moved dismissal a little earlier. By five thirty, students were already streaming out through the school gates.

"Freeze. This is a robbery."

The fierce voice behind Tang Youxin brought her to a stop.

"I recognized your voice."

Tang Youxin turned around and spoke softly.

"What a disappointment. I think you're even cuter when you're shy and scared."

Grinning, Xia Xu emerged from behind her and fell into step beside her. "Come on. Let's get dinner."

"Dinner? I... I'm going home to eat."

Tang Youxin lowered her head and twisted her fingers together, lightly biting her lower lip.

"Oh, come on. Old Yang and his wife and kid will be there too. I'm not inviting just you."

Xia Xu knew she was simply shy and nervous, so he gave her no chance to refuse. Her hesitant manner was already the best answer he could have asked for.

With two choices reduced to one, Tang Youxin no longer had room to hesitate and stopped agonizing over it. She followed close behind Xia Xu and asked curiously, "Is it your birthday today, or Uncle Yang's?"

As they had grown closer over the past few days, she had become less withdrawn and timid around Xia Xu. In fact, unless someone was genuinely autistic, most people could still communicate normally with those they knew well.

Her normal speaking voice was soft and gentle, with an unhurried warmth that complemented her looks and made her seem especially sweet and endearing.

"Nope. It's a celebration. We landed our first business today and made a fortune."

Xia Xu couldn't stop grinning. "Guess how much we made?"

"A hundred thousand?"

After a moment's hesitation, Tang Youxin ventured the largest figure she could reasonably imagine.

Normally, earning a hundred thousand in a day was unthinkable for a high school student. Even earning ten thousand in a month would have been an incredible achievement. Plenty of adults struggled to make that much.

"You're seriously underestimating me. Multiply that by ten, and you'll be closer."

Xia Xu spoke with a grin.

Having become a millionaire in one leap, even he genuinely felt as though he were walking on air.

He hadn't done badly in his previous life, but he had never reached the point of having over a million in cash sitting in his bank account.

Yet now, starting from nothing, he had earned it in just two weeks!

"A... a million?"

Tang Youxin's sparkling eyes widened.

"That's right. A million. So eat all you want tonight. Really go for it."

Xia Xu laughed, thoroughly satisfied with how well his little display had landed.

Everyone needed to share their achievements and show off a little, and he was no exception. As long as he wasn't forcing some awkward, contrived performance, taking the chance to boast to someone he knew was only natural.

It was rather sad, really. After thinking it over, he realized Little White Flower seemed to be the only person he could show off to.

After all, he had no family or close connections here. Once he excluded the classmates he wasn't particularly close to, the only people he really knew were Tang Youxin and Yang Bowen. The latter already knew, leaving only Tang Youxin to share his excitement with-or, to put it another way, to let him show off.

Still, what his audience lacked in numbers, she more than made up for in quality. Little White Flower's stunned, disbelieving expression gave him an immense sense of satisfaction.

"How did you earn it?"

Between Xia Xu's confirmation and his smug expression, Tang Youxin felt positively dizzy.

The last time Xia Xu had told her he had earned sixty thousand, she had already found it hard to imagine. This was more than ten times that amount.

She didn't even know whether she would ever see that much money in her entire life.

Waaah, money. So much lovely money! When would I be able to earn money like Xia Xu? No, I'd be happy with even one percent of his ability to make money.

"Haha, I'll tell you in a bit. Old Yang and his family should already be there waiting. Let's get going first."

Xia Xu smiled and led her toward the intersection at a quicker pace, then hailed a taxi to the restaurant he had booked.

Unlike their previous humble meal, this time they were going to a genuinely upscale restaurant, one of Star City's top private-kitchen establishments.

"Boss, this is my son, Yang Xiaoyong."

Yang Bowen had arrived early with his son and was already in the reserved private room. As soon as Xia Xu and Tang Youxin entered, he stood to greet them and introduced his son.

"Your wife didn't come?"

Xia Xu and Tang Youxin played with Yang Bowen's five- or six-year-old son for a moment. Meanwhile, Xia Xu glanced around but saw no one else.

"She's here, she's here. She just went to the restroom."

Just as Yang Bowen spoke, his wife pushed open the door and came in.

She looked like a fairly ordinary middle-aged woman and seemed a little ill at ease. She merely gave Xia Xu and Tang Youxin a seemingly surprised glance, then greeted them at Yang Bowen's prompting and quietly sat down. There was no trace of the "nagging" Yang Bowen often complained about.

With people who didn't know one another at the table, the atmosphere was a little subdued at first. But as the servers brought out one exquisite dish after another, along with drinks, things gradually warmed up.

After a few bites of food and sips of alcohol, the naturally sociable Yang Bowen easily got the conversation flowing. When Tang Youxin happened to ask about the day's events, he launched straight into a glowing account of how Xia Xu had conducted a meticulous investigation, exposed a swindler, snapped up an undervalued antique, and bravely caught a fugitive.

Naturally, some artistic embellishment was involved. On the surface, he was praising Xia Xu, but he was also subtly highlighting his own "contributions" and involvement. Each time he finished part of the story, he would cast a seemingly casual glance at his wife and son.

No wonder he wanted his wife and kid here. He wanted to show off too.

Xia Xu didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Still, he probably had no right to criticize. What he had done earlier was really no different from Yang Bowen's behavior.

"And you earned a million just like that?"

After Yang Bowen's "artistic embellishment," the day's events were clearly much more exciting. Little White Flower listened with shining eyes and flushed cheeks, seemingly thrilled by the almost legendary tale.

Yang Bowen's son likewise looked at Xia Xu with both admiration and curiosity. Upon learning that his dad was now a "detective" too, he spent quite a while pestering Yang Bowen, clamoring that he wanted to become the Detective Elementary Schoolboy himself.

Unfortunately, parents of that era were remarkably consistent in how they handled such situations: they coaxed their children into studying hard first, promising that afterward they could do this or that.

Unable to resist Yang Xiaoyong's pitiful expression, Xia Xu pulled him aside and whispered a few persuasive words to him.

"Dad, I want to go to the amusement park!"

Yang Xiaoyong immediately changed his tune and made a different request.

"Sure. I'll take you tomorrow."

As Zhou Shuren had put it so well, once someone refused your request to tear down a house, they usually wouldn't refuse your request to open a window. Yang Bowen and his wife agreed readily.

But Yang Xiaoyong clung to Yang Bowen's arm and kept pleading. "Nooo, I want to go right now."

Yang Bowen's wife scolded him. "Honestly, it's almost six already. What amusement park would still be open? Even if one is, it'll be closing soon."

"If I remember right, Star City Amusement Park isn't far from here. It's only six. We could play for a few dozen minutes, and it might not even be dark yet. Besides, they're open at night too, though fewer attractions are available."

Xia Xu stepped in to smooth things over, while Yang Xiaoyong cleverly gave him a wink.