A heart-to-heart

Once someone took the lead, quite a few others gradually left too. Lin Li hadn't driven there. She said goodbye to Ye Huan and Xiaoshuai and headed home as well. She lived over in Hexi, quite a distance away.

"Okay, stay safe, and send us a message when you get home," Ye Huan told Lin Li.

"Okay."

"Ye Huan, you're not in a hurry to leave, are you? Come chat for a bit," Chen Xixi said. Ye Huan nodded. The car Xiaoshuai had called arrived too, and he said goodbye to Ye Huan and the others and headed home. Zhenjiang wasn't far either, just over an hour away.

In the end, only Ye Huan, Chen Xixi, Li Zifei, and a female classmate named Ding Yan remained. Like Chen Xixi, she rented a place in Xianlin. She was originally from Northeast China.

After graduating from university, she had come to Jinling with a friend and had worked at an internet company in Xianlin ever since. She was very pretty, with the easygoing, forthright personality of a typical northeastern girl.

Apart from his ex-girlfriend, Ye Huan had only had a handful of female classmates he was close to at university, and he had seen almost all of them today.

These two, along with Lin Li from earlier, were among the few female classmates he had been able to hit it off with during university.

They ordered a pot of flower tea and sat there chatting.

Ding Yan had only just gotten a chance to talk to Ye Huan. She was outgoing and had lots of friends, while Ye Huan hadn't taken the initiative to seek her out, so they hadn't gotten to talk until now.

"Huanzi, you look more handsome than you used to!" Ding Yan said, looking at Ye Huan.

They hadn't noticed until she mentioned it. Chen Xixi and Li Zifei studied Ye Huan for a while and realized that he did seem a little more handsome now. He used to be clean-cut, but now his features seemed more chiseled, with a masculine air.

"Maybe it's because I've been working back home?" Ye Huan said with a smile. He couldn't exactly say, I'm cultivating immortality now, could he?

"You really went home to farm?" Ding Yan asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Why would I fake that? I'm not an internet celebrity playing those games," Ye Huan said, at a loss.

"I never asked you-what were you thinking? I'll be going to Magic City later to head a department. Want to come with me? I need a technical supervisor for the networking department," Chen Xixi spoke up.

"No, please. I really went back to lie flat. There's nothing wrong with farming. I've got plenty to eat and drink, I sleep until I wake up naturally every day, and I count money until my hands cramp. Life couldn't be better. Why would I go to Magic City to put myself through that?" Ye Huan said with a smile.

"Don't put on a brave face. I'm serious. I'm going to Magic City to build a team I can trust. When I heard from them that you'd resigned, I thought of you," Chen Xixi said earnestly.

"I really can't help you. Thank you, but I'm honestly doing pretty well at home now. I don't want to leave again," Ye Huan told her just as earnestly. He appreciated the favor. He was grateful that she had thought of him.

"Ah, all right, then. I know what you're like. You probably wouldn't lie to us about something like this. Are you really making good money now? What are you doing?" Chen Xixi nodded and asked.

They had always been on good terms, so she wasn't worried that Ye Huan would get angry at her for asking too directly.

Ye Huan really didn't mind. He got along fairly well with all of them. At most, Li Zifei had a bit of a rich kid's arrogance, but otherwise they were all fine, without any nasty habits or the like.

"I developed a kind of all-natural organic vegetable, and I've already got regular customers. For now, I'm delivering it to them at thirty yuan a jin. We'll renegotiate next year. The price is too low."

"What kind of vegetables are these? Thirty yuan a jin, and that's still too low?" Ding Yan exclaimed.

"A lot of organic vegetables are very expensive these days. If you've really managed that, then the price really isn't high," Li Zifei said. As a second-generation rich kid, he knew about these things.

"Yeah, of course they had to test them. They said my vegetables were three or four grades above the organic vegetables supplied by others. That's why they agreed to renegotiate and set a price next year," Ye Huan said with a nod and a smile.

"You really are something..." Ding Yan was speechless. All she could offer was a "666."

"I work myself to death every month and only make a little over ten thousand. Meanwhile, you make money just lying around at home. Ah, when I first heard you'd quit and gone back to your hometown, I even felt sorry for you for a while."

"Heh, it was just a lucky coincidence. With this stuff, if you can grow it, it's worth money. If you can't, you can only eat it yourself or leave it to rot in the fields," Ye Huan offered as an excuse.

"Mostly, the environment where we live is pretty good too. We're deep in a million mountains, with hardly any pollution and pure mountain spring water. It's only natural for the quality to be a little better. I work hard too, okay? Growing vegetables, raising chickens, and all that every day." Ye Huan sounded distinctly unconvincing as he said that last sentence.

Chen Xixi and the others knew him too well. One look at him like this told them he wasn't being honest. "I bet you're worn out from playing all day! I don't believe your parents would let you grow vegetables!"

"Hehe, it's a partnership. I provide the technology," Ye Huan said with a chuckle.

Then Chen Xixi took his phone, found the videos, and they scrolled through them together.

"It really is a lovely place. It's underdeveloped, but you can't fault the surroundings. When I get tired someday, I'll go stay with you for a rest. You'll be responsible for keeping me fed and watered," Chen Xixi said wistfully.

"Absolutely. That goes without saying. I'd welcome you with both hands raised," Ye Huan said with a smile.

As they chatted, they noticed it was getting late. Lu Huan called a designated driver. Li Zifei had a chauffeur and offered to take Chen Xixi and Ding Yan home, but after seeing Ye Huan's car, they got into his instead.

Ye Huan spread his hands at Li Zifei. "Maybe President Li's A8 is too flashy. Hahaha." They said their goodbyes, and Ye Huan had the designated driver take the two beauties to Xianlin first.

While they were chatting, Ye Huan had also received messages from Lin Li and Wang Hui saying they were home. He wished them good night.

With nothing else to do himself, he had the designated driver take him straight to the hotel, took a shower, and fell fast asleep.

He had a wonderfully restful sleep, and it was already ten in the morning when he woke up. He got up, washed, checked out, then said goodbye to several local classmates in their group chat and got into his car. He would look around Jinling today rather than go anywhere far.

He had originally thought about taking a self-driving tour on the way back, but the moment he got into the car, he lost all interest in that. All he wanted was to go home, to drive his beloved car and speed toward home.

But he was already in Jinling, and it really wouldn't be right to simply brush past it. It was quite far from home, and who knew what year of the monkey or month of the horse it would be before he came again? So he suppressed his desire to go home and went sightseeing.

Not forgetting his fondness for buying gold, Ye Huan searched the navigation app for well-known gold shops nearby. Fortunately, there were shops both back in Xianlin and up ahead in Yaohuamen, not far away. The ones up ahead were closer.

So Ye Huan drove over and followed the same routine. After visiting several shops and buying ten jin of gold, he found a duck blood vermicelli shop for lunch.

"One bowl of duck blood vermicelli, one basket of fresh pork soup dumplings, and two shaobing." After placing his order, Ye Huan took his receipt to collect his food. He hadn't known how it worked, but he saw the customer ahead of him go over after paying, so he followed.

"Honestly, this is pretty decent, isn't it? It's not nearly as bad as people online say!" Ye Huan filmed a short video and uploaded it.