Chapter 2 — Leaving That Dinner Table, I Had 70 Million Yuan

She glanced at the receipt from the POS machine, her expression paused for a moment, but didn't ask anything more. Very professional. I like the type of person who doesn't ask that much. After payment, I held the temporary receipt, but the red book had to wait a few more days. I stood in the empty living room of the new house for a while, sunlight poured in from the large glass door, covering the floor. No furniture, no noise, clean, spacious, quiet to the point where you can clearly hear each breath. The phone rings. My mother called. I picked up the phone.

“Vien Chu, this afternoon go pack up your things in your room, your brother still has to renovate that room as an office.”

Her voice was still the same as yesterday, as if everything was obvious. Her breathing didn't even change, as if yesterday's events — four houses, 9.6 million yuan, the words "you leave this house and live in the Northwest wind" — had never happened. Or to be more precise, in her world, it was not worth thinking too much about, giving everything to her eldest son was a natural thing.

“Okay, I'll come over this afternoon.”

I hung up the phone, stood in the empty 3.8 million yuan house, letting the sunlight shine directly on my face. At three o'clock in the afternoon, I returned to my old house, my room was almost cleaned out, the bedsheets and pillows were folded into a pile and thrown in the hallway. The clothes in the closet were pulled out and stuffed into two black trash bags. The university books on the shelf were thrown into cardboard boxes, some books even had their spines bent. I squatted down and put each item into the suitcase, moving slowly but decisively. Sister-in-law Chu Le came out of the kitchen carrying a cup of yogurt, leaning against the doorframe and watching me pack up.

"Vien Chu, my brothers told me to turn this room into an office to teach Tieu Dung more. When you leave, remember to pull out the nail on the wall, and hang the photo frame."

I stuffed the last stack of books into the box, stood up, without looking at her. I reached out and pulled out a nail from the wall, my nail flipped up a bit, a thin trail of blood leaked out, I brought it up to my mouth and sucked on it before continuing to carry things. My sister-in-law watched me move things out and suddenly sighed, her voice sounding like she was advising.

"Don't blame your mother, there's a lot of pressure on your brothers, the whole family depends on him, and you're the only one who can eat enough and the whole family isn't hungry, how light."

She took a sip of yogurt, then continued speaking as if she were doing a favor.

“In a few days, I will introduce you to a girl, your conditions are like this…”

Her eyes evaluated me from top to bottom.

“Stop being picky.”

I dragged my suitcase to the door when my brother came out of the master bedroom and stood at the beginning of the hallway calling me back.

“Vien Chu.”

I stopped walking and turned to look at him. He walked over and patted me on the shoulder, with just the right amount of force, not heavy, not light.

“Go out and try to work. If anything happens, call me.”

That pat on the shoulder was so familiar that it made me laugh inside, just like every time he took my things and said "I'll buy you a new one later". But he never bought it. I nodded, pulled my suitcase out, went downstairs, caught a car, and returned to my new house. In the car, I opened the banking app and took a look. 56 million yuan, minus 3.8 million rent, still left 52.2 million yuan. I locked the screen, leaned my head against the glass door, looked at the city backward, houses, trees, street lights, billboards were all flashing. back. Only I am moving forward. Arriving at the new house, the suitcase stood in the middle of the empty living room, two black trash bags next to it, a box of books, me alone, a 3.8 million yuan house. A bank card with 52.2 million yuan, and a secret no one in the world knows. I sat on the floor for a long time, then opened my phone to place an order, a mattress, a blanket, a pillow. Delivered tomorrow, but tonight I will temporarily sleep on the floor. When I lay down, the ceiling was blindingly white, the new house did not have any smell, no smell of pickles cooked by my mother, no smell of my sister-in-law's perfume, no smell of my brother's cigarettes. Clean, empty, like a blank sheet of paper. I put my hands behind my head, suddenly wanting to laugh.

“Everyone thought I wouldn't be able to survive if I left that house.”

“But they don't know…”

“Even my floor is new.”

On the fourth day after moving, my sister-in-law Chu Le called me, her voice still friendly as if nothing had ever happened.

"Vien Chu, are you free on Saturday afternoon? I'll date you a girl so we can have dinner together."

I originally intended to refuse, but her next words made me change my mind.

"Her condition is... how to say it, it's normal, about the same as you, the two of us together are just beautiful, don't be picky anymore."

Combine enough. She never even asked me where I was living or how I was doing. As soon as she opened her mouth, she arranged everything, her tone was like giving.

“Okay, what time?”

“Noon 12 o'clock, Lao Hoi Vi restaurant, I've booked a table, remember to come.”

Hanging up the phone, I glanced at the new house that I had just bought with all the furniture. The sofa, TV shelf, refrigerator, washing machine, and air conditioner were all installed. The total cost was less than 100,000 yuan. For someone holding more than 50 million yuan, it was like spending 10 yuan. But when I go out, I still wear a worn gray t-shirt, not because I'm saving, but because I want to see how outrageous they can be. Saturday, 12:15 a.m., I went to Lao Hoi Vi restaurant. Sister-in-law Chu Le was already sitting in a private room, opposite was a girl with short hair, round face, no makeup, wearing a light blue shirt, clear eyes, sitting straight. Seeing me enter, she stood up and smiled very politely.

“Hello, I'm To Tieu.”

The voice is gentle and clear. I nodded.

“Lin Yuan Chu.”

Chu Le sat next to her, crossed her legs, and without even looking at the menu, started ordering, her mouth not stopping.

“Vien Chu, Tieu To works as a content writer at an advertising company, her monthly salary is the same as me, both of us are the type…”

She smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.

“It's just economic enough.”

To Tieu lowered his head to drink water and did not respond. I didn't say anything either. When the dish was served, Chu Le's words became even thicker, each sentence and each word was like a blunt knife cutting gradually.

“Vien Chu is honest, but he earns too little money, more than 5,000 yuan a month, and wants to buy a house in this city…”

She trailed off, shaking her head. To Tieu put down his chopsticks and looked at Chu Le.

"Sister Chu, we're eating, so please talk less."

Chu Le did not realize that this was an objection and continued.

"I'm the sister-in-law so I take care of him. Anything is fine, I just don't have the will to progress. Look at that shirt. It's frayed and won't change."

She pointed at my shirt.

"Don't criticize Tieu To, he's such a person... it's okay to be reluctant."

Reluctantly. I picked one up piece of food, chew slowly. To Tieu's face darkened a bit. She put down her chopsticks and looked straight at Chu Le.

“Sister Chu, I think he's fine, don't talk about him like that.”

Chu Le paused for a second, then smiled, smiling like she was looking at someone who didn't understand.

"I'm telling the truth, Vien Chu, let me see if what you say is true, am I wrong?"

She turned to look at me, smiled brightly, waiting for me to cooperate, waiting for me to say like before "you're right", "you're not good". I raised my head and looked straight at her.

“The food is cold, eat it.”

She choked.