A Large Pile of Money Part II

“Wait a moment.” Xi Lua stopped the boy. He put his password into his desk drawer, pulled out a cheque, and wrote on it before handing it to Bai Zhe.

“This is…” The boy alternated looking at Xi Lua and the cheque in the old man’s hand. From the memories of the body’s owner, he realized that this thing could be exchanged for cash at a bank.

“I want to buy this painting,” said Xi Lua.

“But this amount is too much,” Bai Zhe said when he saw the seven-figure number on the cheque. He kept his considerate face, though inside, he was excited because of this big pile of money that had been dumped on him without warning.

When Xi Lua saw the boy refute this offer, he turned to look at Bai Zhe’s painting. He thought that it would be improper of him to keep it without giving something to this boy in return.

“I don’t feel good if I don’t give anything to you,” he said.

In the end, Xi Lua was able to convince the boy to accept his money. Even though Bai Zhe acted like he did not want it, inside, he was thrilled. At least with this money, he could help the parents of this body’s owner live more comfortably.

“Thank you so much, sir,” said Bai Zhe.

“Don’t thank me. This painting will definitely make you famous in the future. I will have the accounting department help you with the taxes. Can I have your address and contact number?”

“Yes, sir.” Bai Zhe placed his bag on the floor and ripped a small piece of paper from his notebook before writing his address and number and handing it over to Xi Lua.

“Hmmm. Can you tell me how you will use this money?” Xi Lua asked. He wanted to know if smart kids like Bai Zhe would want to spend the money on things he wanted like other teenagers did. If that was the case, he would not want to give such a large amount of money to the boy again.

“I will likely use it for my tuition fees and my household expenses, sir. These days, my parents and I take on odd jobs each day. We are living paycheck to paycheck and don’t have any savings. I think this amount of money is enough for me to graduate from university,” Bai Zhe answered.

“Good, good. Education is necessary,” nodded Xi Lua. But he thought that he would send someone to investigate later, so he would know for sure that Bai Zhe was not lying. If the boy did not know how to use money, it would lose its value immediately.

“Oh. And I think I will write a martial arts novel as well. I saw a lot of people who make money from writing online novels,” Bai Zhe said.

“Well, try writing it and give it to me to read. I love martial arts fiction, too. This is my contact information. If your novel is truly good, I will fully support you.” He then handed his business card to the boy; of course, it was his secretary’s number.

‘Seems like he doesn’t completely trust me.’ Bai Zhe looked into Xi Lua’s eyes. He could not see any trust in Xi Lua’s eyes and guessed that he would send someone to investigate how he used this money later.

“Thank you so much, sir. I will go now.” He took the card and left.

Xi Lua took his smartphone out and called someone to keep an eye on how Bai Zhe spent the money immediately after the boy left his office. He then called another number after he was done giving orders to his employee. It was the number of his best friend who was in the construction and interior design business.

“The reason why you are calling me is that you have a new painting, right?” the voice at the other end of the line teased.

“Aha, you are correct. I got 2 of them. One of them is very special. So, I want you to come here and design the interior of a room that suits it. I also want you to see it as well,” said Xi Lua.

“Sure. You wait there. I will go see you at your office,” the person at the other end of the line said and then hung up.

A shopping mall

Bai Zhe knew that someone had been following him since he had left the Xi Lua Real Estate Company, but he acted like he did not notice and went straight to the bank where the original owner of this body had an account.

He waited until his turn before going to the counter. He handed the cheque and his bankbook to the clerk. She paused when she saw the cheque, her eyes shifting from her computer monitor to Bai Zhe, then quickly shifting back to the monitor again.

She yearned to ask him how he had gotten the 1-million-yuan cheque from the country’s number one real estate company. But she should not ask that question, as that was her customer’s private business.  The details on the cheque were all correct.

Bai Zhe withdrew an amount of money, part of which would be used for his rent and part of which would be his tuition fees for this semester because he had not paid them to the school yet. The last portion would be used for buying things like meat to nourish his parents and for some of his small personal expenses.

He went to the Nightfall Antique Shop to deliver the proof of delivery receipt to Mr. Fu after leaving the bank. Then, he headed to the market to buy some food to be used to cook meals.

‘I have been eating morning glory since I came to this world. I thought I would turn into a morning glory-eating turtle,’ he thought while walking back to his apartment with bags filled with meat and vegetables. Of course, Xi Lua’s spy was still following him.

The Bai family’s apartment

Bai Zhe unlocked the door and used his qi to push it open gently before entering the apartment. He started to organize the fresh ingredients he had bought. Part of it went into the refrigerator for his parents. The rest, he put on the kitchen counter to prepare something that he had eaten instead of food when he was in Da Xian.

“Let’s get started.” He used his qi to clean the pollution and dirt from some of the ingredients and pulled out a knife.

Swish! Whoosh! Slash!

With several movements of the knife, the ingredients were cut, chopped, and sliced. They were ready for what he had planned. Bai Zhe wiped the sweat from his forehead. Swordplay was still a great burden for his body at the moment.

He lit the gas stove and placed a frying pan on it. He turned off the gas stove immediately after the fire was lit, but it remained lit because he was using his qi as fuel instead of the gas. It was new knowledge that he had gotten from this world.

‘I could not use the qi elements because I haven’t reached the sky level of qi yet. The knowledge of this world has helped me quite well,’ he thought while making qi food.

Qi food was gathering normal ingredients that people ate and passing them through qi fire, the way medicine blended. It helped to distill the useful nutrients and qi from the food and compress them into a ball.

Good qi food was balls that were symmetrical, colourless, and odourless. It showed that there was nothing but qi power and nutrients.

Bai Zhe brought out a ceramic jar that he had bought from an herbalist’s shop to hold the qi food. There were 90 balls. It was enough for one month’s consumption.

After he cleaned the kitchen, Bai Zhe immediately threw one ball into his mouth. He sat down and started to meditate so he could absorb the qi power and the nutrients. Then, he continued practicing his qi.

One hour later, there was the sound of a key unlocking the door before it swung open. It was Bai Lian Hua who entered the apartment, followed by Bai Qing Yun.

“Hey, son. What’s gotten into you that you’re meditating?” Bai Qing Yun teased. Even though his voice sounded relaxed, his eyes showed a little bit of anxiety.

“Why are you disturbing him? He is probably meditating before studying. You go take a shower.” Bai Lian Hua lightly hit her husband’s arm.

“Yessss, dear.” He hugged his wife and kissed her cheek before taking a towel and shorts to the bathroom.

Bai Lian Hua went to the kitchen to prepare food. Bai Zhe stopped practicing his qi and followed her.

“Why are you in here, son? Go do your homework or review your lessons.” She patted his head, noticing that he had gotten quite a bit taller.

“Mum, go have a seat. I will cook. From now on, I will take care of breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” he said with his puppy dog eyes. He had used this trick when he was the same age as the original Bai Zhe. It had a 100% success rate.

“No. I don’t want you to be tired.” She pinched his cheek. Why did her son look as cute as when he was a baby?

“Don’t worry. Let me do something for you,” said Bai Zhe.

“Find us a daughter-in-law and make us a grandchild. That would be enough,” Bai Qing Yun, who had just finished showering, said. His torso was bare. He was wearing shorts and had the towel around his neck. Bai Lian Hua lowered her face. Her ears turned red, showing signs of shyness.

“All right. I will find you a nice daughter-in-law and make you a grandchild,” he replied to his dad after thinking things over for a moment.

“Good. I will wait. What are you making for dinner today, honey?” Bai Qing Yun peeked at the kitchen counter and directed a question at his wife.

“Chicken stir-fried in a sweet and sour sauce,” Bai Zhe answered instead of Bai Lian Hua.

“Chicken? I didn’t buy chicken,” she told her son because she had only bought morning glory to stir fry today.

“Here.” Bai Zhe walked over to open the refrigerator and pulled out chicken thighs.

“Oh my, why are there a lot of things in the refrigerator?” Bai Lian Hua was surprised when she saw that the refrigerator was packed with fresh ingredients.

“Boy, use your money more frugally.” Bai Qing Yun warned when he saw that his son had packed the refrigerator with fresh ingredients.

“I want you two to eat good food. Not some rock boiled with salt or just stir-fried vegetables. How can your bodies be strong eating just those things?” said Bai Zhe.

“But we don’t have enough money to….” Before Bai Lian Hua could finish her sentence, Bai Zhe showed her his updated bankbook which was open to the latest page.

“One…two…three…f…four…five…six...” She was both excited and panicked when she saw the multi-digit number in her son's bankbook. It was enough to make her dizzy to the point of fainting. Luckily, Bai Zhe Yun caught her in time.