Lin Fan sighed, "Thank you, netizens," and walked to Song Shi'an's room, knocking on the door. "Brother, we have to go back by tomorrow at the latest. This is a big production, Brother Yao wants to see you back."
The room was quiet. Song Shi'an pulled the blanket over his head and mumbled a vague "hmm," then turned over and remained still.
Lin Fan opened the door and shouted, "Brother! The endorsement fee has arrived!"
Song Shi'an suddenly opened his eyes and sat up in bed. "The money arrived?"
He searched the entire bed for his phone, pulling back the covers and pillows, muttering, "Where's my phone? Lin Fan, have you seen my phone?"
Lin Fan watched his brother, barefoot and with his butt sticking out, rolling around on the bed, and suppressed a laugh as he dialed a number.
A crisp ringing sound came from under the bed.
Song Shi'an scrambled to pull his phone out from under the bed, swiped the screen, and tapped on the bank notification. A message about 15 million yuan arriving in his account caught his eye.
Instantly, I felt wide awake, full of energy, and able to go back to the fields to plow another two acres.
Father Song. and Mother Song were preparing ingredients in the yard when they heard a series of heavy footsteps coming from the stairs.
A blur of motion rushed out of the house, picked up Mother Song, and spun her around with lightning speed, sending the vegetable Mother Song flying far away and scattering vegetables all over the ground.
Startled, Father Song raised the knife in his hand and shouted, "What are you doing! Let go of your mother!"
Song Shi'an quickly put his Mother Song down, then turned around and saw the gleaming knife in his Father Song's hand. Reason made him stop in his tracks.
He glanced to the side and saw Big Yellow strolling in through the doorway.
An evil thought instantly surged into his mind. He bent down, scooped up Big Yellow, and began to vigorously rub it, then hugged the dog and spun it around in the yard, waving his arms and legs excitedly.
Looking at his crazy state, Mother Song 'Father Song exchanged bewildered glances, wondering if their child hadn't slept well last night and had gotten a fever.
Hearing the commotion, Lin Fan ran downstairs and rushed into the yard, his face flushed.
Just then, he saw his brother grabbing the dog's head and about to kiss it. His expression changed, and he shouted, "Brother! Spare the dog's mouth!"
Song Shi'an couldn't hear him at all, and rubbed his forehead against Big Yellow's head vigorously. " Big Yellow, tell me what you like, and I'll buy you a big gold chain later!"
Big Yellow tilted its head and barked twice.
Song Shi'an's eyes lit up, and he turned to the three petrified men, saying, "Look! Big Yellow can understand me!"
Mother Song was the first to react, and walked over with a worried expression. "Son, what's wrong? Did you not sleep well last night?"
Song Shi'an put Big Yellow down, smiling and waving his hand, "No, don't worry, Mom."
Mother Song breathed a sigh of relief, "It's still early, go back to sleep for a while. There's breakfast in the kitchen if you want."
Song Shi'an stood at attention, giving a crisp salute with his right hand. "Yes, sir! Following orders!"
The others watched, both amused and exasperated, as he walked upstairs in his pajamas and slippers with an air of nonchalance.
After washing up and changing his clothes, Song Shi'an had breakfast downstairs with Lin Fan. Once they were full, he patted Lin Fan on the shoulder and said mysteriously, "I'm assigning you a great task!"
Lin Fan's eyes lit up, and he nodded vigorously.
Half an hour later, the sound of resentful chopping could be heard from the kitchen of Song's Tofu, with each chop resounding loudly on the cutting board.
Looking at Lin Fan's skillful knife work, Father Song couldn't help but praise, "Little Lin, your vegetable-cutting technique is quite good. No wonder Shi'an said you are his most capable assistant."
Upon hearing this, Lin Fan stopped complaining and started cutting the tofu even faster, moving with incredible speed. He smiled and said, "Uncle, is that what my brother said about me?"
Father Song asked curiously, "Why do you call him 'brother'?"
Lin Fan explained sheepishly, "That's just how it is in the industry, it sounds friendly."
The two grown men chatted about entertainment gossip while preparing the food, from which celebrity had a scandal to which variety show was good. Father Song listened with great interest and worked with great enthusiasm.
On the other side, Song Shi'an took his Mother Song straight to the gold shop in the mall.
The sales assistant greeted us with a smile, "Welcome, ma'am! We've received many new styles this season, all crafted using traditional gold techniques, resulting in higher hardness and more fashionable designs. This is the bracelet section, with our heritage series and wedding series. Please take a look and see if there's anything you like."
Mother Song glanced at the gold price tag beside her; it was over a thousand yuan per gram. She subconsciously tugged at Song Shi'an's sleeve and whispered, "Son, gold is too expensive now. I already have jewelry; there's no need to buy any more."
Song Shi'an smiled and patted his Mother Song's hand, "Money is meant to be spent, and gold retains its value somewhat, so buy with confidence."
He turned to the shop assistant and politely said, "Let's take a look ourselves first, thank you."
After showing Mother Song around the counter, Song Shi'an noticed that Mother Song eyes lingered on several styles for a few seconds, so he directly asked the shop assistant to bring them out for Mother Song to try on one by one.
Every time Mother Song put on a piece of clothing, Song Shi'an would exclaim dramatically, "Beautiful! This one is beautiful too! My mom looks good in everything!"
The shop assistant quickly agreed, "Yes, these can be used as hand molds when you wear them."
Mother Song was embarrassed by the praise, but her face beamed with joy.
As they were talking, a drawn-out voice suddenly came from the side. " Jinghui?"
When Mother Song turned around, she saw the person she least wanted to see. Her smile faded slightly, but she still greeted her politely, " Xiaomei."
Feng Xiaomei, dressed in designer clothes, walked over arm-in-arm with a young girl. She looked Song Shi'an, who was bundled up tightly, up and down and asked, "Who are you shopping with? Planning to buy jewelry? Where's your husband? Didn't he come with you today?"
Mother Song replied with a smile, "This is my son. Old Song is busy."
Feng Xiaomei pulled the girl next to her forward. "What a coincidence, my daughter is back on vacation to spend a few days with me. By the way, isn't your son still in school? Why is he on vacation so early?"
Mother Song maintained a calm demeanor. "The child came back for a short while, and will return in a few days."
Feng Xiaomei proudly touched the bracelet on her wrist. "That's good. My daughter took me to buy jewelry today. I heard your family recently opened a tofu shop? How much tofu do you have to sell to buy a bracelet like that?"
The young girl next to her blushed and tugged hard at her mother's arm, desperately trying to signal her to say less.
Feng Xiaomei rolled her eyes at her and completely ignored her.
Song Shi'an, who had been leaning over the counter looking at a large gold chain, turned around upon hearing this and said, "Mom, let's buy all those we were just looking at. They all look pretty good to me."
The shop assistant, who was eating melon seeds in the back, immediately greeted him with a professional smile upon hearing this, "Yes, sir, would you like all of these?"
Song Shi'an nodded. "We need them all, and wrap up that chain over there too."
Hearing this, Mother Song became anxious. "Let's not get rid of that. Isn't it inappropriate for a puppy to wear that?"
Upon hearing this, Feng Xiaomei stumbled and had to grab the counter to steady herself. A puppy?
She looked down at the bracelet she had just bought on her wrist, then at the intimidatingly thick gold chain on the counter, her face turning pale and then flushed.