Wei Xiaoqing reached out and touched it, and couldn't help but think of the time when Zhou Xuan's lips were pressed tightly against hers underwater. That feeling was not a kiss, not liking, not love, but she couldn't forget it. It was an unforgettable feeling, both painful and pleasurable!
But she understood even more clearly that the man she liked was sitting next to her, holding hands with another girl!
My first kiss was given to the man I loved. I have no regrets, but it hurts!
At this moment, Wei Xiaoqing suddenly felt that no matter how capable she was, no matter how powerful her grandfather was, no matter how much her parents loved her, and no matter how much everyone helped her, she still couldn't take Zhou Xuan away from Fu Ying. That was her feeling!
After leaving Beijing Airport, Wei Haihong and Wei Xiaoqing took a taxi back, while Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying took a car back to Hongcheng Garden. After this ordeal, all they wanted was to see their families, and they all understood that these things could only be buried in their hearts and could never be spoken of.
After getting off the bus at Hongcheng Garden, Zhou Xuan suddenly looked at Fu Ying timidly and asked in a low voice, "Yingying, my parents must be worried, right? They left so suddenly and haven't called to let me know they're safe for so long. What about them?"
"Don't worry!" Fu Ying suddenly smiled, took his hand and walked into the villa, saying as they walked, "I told Mom and Dad before I left that I'm going on a trip with you. You can make up the location and story yourself. I won't lie!"
"Making up a story?" Zhou Xuan was taken aback, then scratched his head.
Upon entering the living room, the nanny, Aunt Liu, and the mother, Jin Xiumei, were chatting and watching TV while munching on melon seeds. They immediately spotted Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying standing hand in hand in front of them.
Jin Xiumei tossed the melon seeds in her hand into a plate on the coffee table, stood up, pulled Fu Ying over, and looked her up and down with a grin.
Fu Ying called out with a smile, "Mom!"
Jin Xiumei was stunned for a moment, then reacted and happily replied loudly, "Yes!" She didn't even respond to Zhou Xuan calling out "Mom" from the side. She pulled Fu Ying to sit on the sofa, touching her hands and stroking her face, frowning as she said, "Did you go on vacation or to do hard labor? My wife has lost so much weight!"
Zhou Xuan waited for a while, while Jin Xiumei kept talking to Fu Ying in a muffled voice, as if she had no end in sight. He couldn't help but ask, "Mom, Dad, isn't your sister-in-law home?"
"He went to your shop, he's very busy. I heard that ** is going to Yangzhou to buy a batch of goods, and they're starting tomorrow. Your brother is going with him. It's just your dad and your sister in the shop, and they've hired two assistants. It's not officially open yet, but business is already picking up!" Jin Xiumei waved to him as she spoke, then turned to Fu Ying. She was clearly much more interested in her future wife now! (To find out what happens next, please log in to [website name] for more chapters, support the author, and support genuine reading!)
Volume 1, Chapter 116: The Shop's Treasure
It was indeed very tiring and stressful. There hadn't been a moment of relaxation these past few days. Brother Boqin and his sister-in-law, Fu Ying, were being affectionate, so they simply went to their room, took a shower, and went to sleep.
With his mind at ease, Zhou Xuan slept soundly for twenty hours.
When I woke up, I felt an itch in my ears. I reached out and touched it, but grabbed a paper stick. When I opened my eyes, I saw my younger sister, Zhou Ying, standing in front of the bed with a smile.
He rubbed his eyes and asked, "Xiaoying, you're back? Mom said you went to the shop."
"What do you mean 'back'?" Zhou Ying chuckled and tapped Zhou Xuan's forehead with her finger. She chided, "Brother, you're so lazy! You've been sleeping for almost twenty hours since you got back yesterday. Dad and Second Brother wanted to talk about the shop while you had breakfast, but you were sleeping like a log. Sister-in-law wouldn't let me wake you, saying you were too tired the past few days and wanted you to sleep in, she didn't even wake you for meals. But I couldn't take it anymore, brother. What did you and Sister-in-law do? You're exhausted."
"Why are you such a gossip, young lady?" Zhou Xuan reached out and pushed her out of the room. Zhou Ying walked out of the room somewhat reluctantly.
After washing up, he went downstairs to the living room, where Aunt Liu had already set out the heated food for him in the dining room.
Zhou Xuan ate a few simple home-style dishes—tofu, potatoes, and greens—with great relish, forgetting all about his life underground. He didn't even know what he ate for those few days. Later, he saw Li Jinlong and his group eating human flesh. Just thinking about it made Zhou Xuan spit and think, "Why think about that when I'm eating so well?" He immediately lost his appetite, but thankfully he had already eaten two bowls of rice.
Fu Ying and Zhou Ying sat to the side watching him. Zhou Ying brought up the topic again: "Brother, the way you're eating, it's like you haven't eaten in ages. I really don't understand what you two have been up to. Besides, why is your wife so different from you? She gets up early and eats so little."
Zhou Xuan put down his bowl, smiled, and said, "Do you know that your sister-in-law is a girl? Girls are expected to be diligent and refined in their husband's family."
Jian Ying spat, her face turning red.
"Xiaoying, did Dad and the others go to the shop again?" Zhou Xuan remembered Zhou Ying mentioning this when they were in the room.
Zhou Xuan nodded and said, "Yes, the shop is busy now. Dad and my second brother are busy from morning till night every day, like they're at a job. They've become quite fascinated with this line of work. I also go there for half a day, and then go to an accounting tutoring class at noon. My brother signed me up for this class; he said it's so I can learn quickly and get the hang of things. Also..."
Zhou Ying chuckled and continued, "Brother, in the shareholder and legal representative application, Brother ** gave Second Brother and me each 10% of the shares, he himself 30%, and you 50%. He said it's better this way. Second Brother and I are both shareholders, so we're practically bosses, and we'll be more attentive to the work. As for the shares, he thinks he already has enough, so he wants Big Brother to be the big boss."
Zhou Xuan chuckled. Zhang Laoda wasn't too greedy; he knew when to stop. It seemed his boss was indeed a good brother. However, he wouldn't be shortchanging him. Even with 30%, that was still over six or seven million in assets. Besides, he would definitely use the ice energy to pick up some bargains and help out. He wanted to make the shop bigger and better, making its income the most stable source of income for the family, so that his parents and siblings could live here with peace of mind.
"Is Zhang Laoda quite busy?" Zhou Xuan asked his sister with a smile.
“Of course!” Zhou Ying replied, “Brother ** said that the shop can’t be too small or shabby. It needs to have a few genuine treasures. Without a prized possession, it doesn’t look like a shop with real strength. So he’s been buying stock lately, mostly ordinary items, but not many rare ones. He mentioned that a friend in the industry he knows opened a shop in Yangzhou, and he was thinking of going there to buy some stock, but he couldn’t find you. Now that you’re back, it’s good that we can discuss it.” Zhou Ying paused and added, “Brother, Brother ** bought a second-hand apartment in Chaoyang for over two million yuan. The apartment is in good condition, and we moved in immediately. It’s 160 square meters, which is quite spacious!”
"That's good. You need to have your own house to feel at ease and secure!" Zhou Xuan was also happy for **. No matter how big the investment is, it's only when you have your own real house that you can feel at ease. ** now has a house, a car, and millions in savings. Even if the investment in the shop is huge, he doesn't have to pay for it. He was already very happy.
Zhou Xuan thought for a moment, then asked, "He wants to find the shop's prized possession? Heh, what exactly constitutes a 'shop's prized possession'?" Though he said this, he actually understood. Usually, antique shops in this business would have one or two rare items to attract collectors and certainly enhance the shop's image in the eyes of outsiders. But what kind of antique, and what level of quality, qualifies as a "shop's prized possession"?
Fu Ying suddenly stood up and said, "Zhou Xuan, wait for me!"
After saying that, he hurriedly went upstairs. Zhou Xuan asked in surprise:
"So mysterious. I wonder what they're up to!"
Zhou Ying, unsure of Fu Ying's intentions, pulled Zhou Xuan to sit down in the hall. Her mother, Jin Xiumei, was watching television, but stopped when she saw her son. Looking behind her, she asked, "Son, where's my wife? When are you going to get things done so we can have a son for the Zhou family?"
"Mom, please don't make things worse. Yingying is a young woman who came to our family all alone. We can't force her to do this or that, can we? I know what I'm doing. We have to take it slowly!" Zhou Xuan knew that Fu Ying was sensitive and would definitely feel uncomfortable if she heard this. Does that mean that girls can only be tools for having children?
"Wait for you? By then, it'll be too late!" Jin Xiumei snorted. "Look at your families, aren't they all raising children? Old Wang's family behind our house, he's six or seven years younger than your dad, and his grandson is already in elementary school."
Seeing Fu Ying coming down the stairs from the living room, Zhou Xuan quickly said, "Okay, okay. Mom, I understand, I'll handle it!"
Fu Ying walked over with a smile, holding a small brocade box in her hand, and said, "The store's prized possession has arrived!"
Zhou Xuan was taken aback, wondering what she had taken out this time. The box looked like an ordinary jewelry box. Could it be one of her ornaments?
Fu Ying placed the box on the coffee table and then opened the lid.
Inside the box was a bead slightly smaller than an egg, with a pale yellow color. Although it looked somewhat special, it didn't seem to have any particular value.
Of course, this is just the perspective of Jin Xiumei and Zhou Ying.
Zhou Xuan knew this without needing to use the ice energy test. This bead was an extremely precious gem, because he had seen it before; it was one of the treasures in the large stone coffin thousands of meters underground in Luoyang. Moreover, it was the most precious luminous pearl.
Li Jinlong distributed ten luminous pearls to ten men, one of whom was Zhou Xuan. Later, Zhou Xuan's treasure was hidden in Fu Ying's backpack. Fu Ying, knowing that the power of a flashlight would go out in the dark if the battery ran out, secretly slipped the pearl into her pocket for emergencies. Little did she know that of all the treasures, she was the only one who brought this one pearl with her; the countless other treasures had sunk back into the unfathomable depths of the earth.
This luminous pearl is the store's prized possession, truly enhancing its prestige. Seeing that his mother and sister didn't care at all and didn't appreciate the gem's value, Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Xiao Ying, go and draw all the curtains down, and close the living room door!"
"What are you doing?" Zhou Ying asked, while pulling down the curtains and pushing the front door shut.