Chapter 141: House

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

It was near to 9pm at night when Lin Jie finally settled stuff.

There was a huge sum in the bank account linked to the bank card he held in his hands now. It was near to 2,000,000$—this was a figure that many would not have been able to accumulate even if they worked toiled hard through their entire lives!

From the last episode, Lin Jie managed to earn $2,400,000. Though he had strongly wanted to divide his gains between Zheng Ziliang, he was rejected.

“Jie, though we did earn a lot this time, let’s not do any more of such kind of business,” said Zheng Ziliang sternly. “If not, the organization which you have invested so much effort in might be affected! The first time, others may believe you are being maligned, but if this happens a second time…”

Lin Jie agreed with him and nodded earnestly—he did not plan to do any more of such things again.

This sum of money could be considered gains from unorthodox methods. It had violated the basic principles of businessmen as it was not an honest transaction. In fact, one had to rely on trickery to avoid the risks involved.

If not for the fact that Lin Jie had known the game system so well, this episode could ruin Brotherhood!

However, he needed the money!

Looking at his old house in the real world and thinking back to the unhappy incident that occurred at Jiangbei Restaurant and how Wu Jun unscrupulously pestered Xiaoxue just because he was rich, Lin Jie finally reached a conclusion.

In this world, if one wanted to live upright without any fear, he would need to earn his dignity!

And if he wanted others to look up to him, he would need to be… rich.

Anyone would have said the following when they were young, “One day, I shall let my family live in a big house, and they can live the rest of their lives without any worries…”

However, the truth was that life’s arduousness would often smash those dreams right in their faces.

Yet now, Lin Jie vowed that he would make this dream of his come true!

It was 8pm at night, the time when most young night owls would have just begun their fun. Lin Jie’s parents had already turned in after a hard day’s work, while Xiaoxue was diligently learning under the accompany of the small table lamp and electric fan.

Today was the 15th of August, and tomorrow would be their dad’s birthday.

Lin Jie curved up his lips, got dressed and left his room quietly. He shivered slightly when the cool fresh air outside his house brushed by him.

Taking in a deep breath, he charged forward like the Warrior in The New Age, exerting a tremendous amount of force at his legs!

Every time he got offline, Lin Jie would have to do 10 sets of workouts. His muscles were already as hard as steel, strong and ready to explode with strength at any time. Listening to the wind howling pass his ears, Lin Jie suddenly had an idea and ran towards the iron fence in front of him. Without stopping, he made a great leap and his body were lifted about three meters high up in the air, and he crossed the fence effortlessly!

Presently, due to the effects of evolution and medicine, human beings’ physiques had improved a lot. Even a normal person would be comparable to an Olympics champion’s strength of the 21st century. However, only people who had gone through specialized training like armed police would be able to achieve Lin Jie’s standards!

After the country had moved its Army to underground operations, the armed police were like the equivalent of Superman, or a human-sized weapon of the country!

Like Superman. Lin Jie charged forward for tens of kilometers without panting, and his heartbeat just got a bit faster.

…

No. 1 Senior High School, the school which his sister was enrolled in, loomed ahead in front of him.

Under the night sky, the high school seemed quaint and calm, especially since it was the holiday period. Many lotuses were blooming at No. 1 Senior High School’s signature pond, attracting the attention of many townsfolk.

The ‘Study Residences’, or better known as the ‘Teachers’ Residences’, were built all around No. 1 Senior High School. If one could move there, they would have many respectable teachers as their neighbors. That was a strategic place for many schooling families, who would want their children to live in a quality learning environment and at the same time had the chance to bribe their children’s teachers.

Naturally, the house’s prices there were higher than in other areas.

This was Lin Jie’s motive for tonight!

Following the route in his memory, Lin Jie came to Level 3 of Block 5 and knocked tentatively on the door.

“Who is it?” asked a female voice.

Lin Jie brushed his clothes to make himself look more refined, and he replied, “I am Lin Xiaoxue’s brother, looking for her teacher. Is Mr. Zhou available?”

“Yes, he’s coming. Hubby, someone’s looking for you!”

The door opened to reveal a clean-looking middle-aged man who was wearing a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles and a plaids shirt. He smiled brightly. “You are Lin Xiaoxue’s brother? Do come in and let me offer you a cup of tea.”

This person’s name was Zhou Guohong, and he was Lin Xiaoxue’s form teacher. He had high teaching standards and was greatly loved by his students. One of his most famous deeds was that once, one of the school’s stakeholders had tried to make use of his status to put his son in the school’s best students team, henceforth kicking Lin Xiaoxue off the team. Zhou Guohong had fought for Lin Xiaoxue an entire morning and even resorted to threatening the school that he would resign before the stakeholder relented in and gave up.

Thus, Lin Jie had high respect for this teacher.

“Here, have a cup of tea,” Zhou Guohong passed him a cup of green tea and smiled, “Your name is Lin Jie? Lin Xiaoxue talks about you all the time.”

Lin Jie lowered his head and smiled. “How is Xiaoxue doing nowadays?”

Zhou Guohong’s eyes brightened up as he commented about the student he had high hopes for, “She’s doing really well! Her only subject which was not so good was English, but I have tutored her secretly, and now she’s improving. At first, I had disapproved of her choice to change to study Arts since she is now in Year 3… but it seems like she has proven me wrong, she does have a talent for drawing!”

Lin Jie couldn’t help but put on a proud smile. ‘This is my sister! She has indeed given me face even though I was a lousy student!

“I have come to you to discuss about an incident,” said Lin Jie as he entered the main topic, “There’s this person called Wu Jun…”

“Wu Jun! Him again!” fumed Zhou Guohong. “I have appealed to the school to expel him many times now because he has such a bad influence on the rest of the students, but the appeals were never approved. This is so infuriating! I know he likes to pester Lin Xiaoxue, so I have always waited for Lin Xiaoxue to go home before I leave the school. But there was one time I was at a meeting and couldn’t watch over her. I hope nothing bad has happened…”

The timings matched—seemed like their gathering last time was when Zhou Guohong was at the meeting!

Then… this meant that Zhou Guohong was the one protecting Xiaoxue all this time? No wonder Xiaoxue was able to avoid much of the harassment from Wu Jun.

“Ah, I see. It’s like this, I normally work… cough, I normally am quite busy at work, coupled with the fact that our house is not too near to the school, so I have been planning to buy a house nearby. Firstly, it will be more convenient for Xiaoxue. Secondly, Xiaoxue will be able to consult you for help if she needs to. Thirdly…”

“Thirdly, to ward off those good-for-nothing young boys!” Zhou Guohong finished the sentence for him, and he wore a look of surprise n his face. “Jie, looking at your age, you seem to have just graduated? Your savings… it’s not that I look down on you, but I know your family is not doing very well. If you want to buy a house here, you will be under quite a bit of pressure. I can help you with a few ten thousand if you need, but if it’s a hundred thousand and more that you are lacking… I am afraid, considering how I never yield into my superiors, most of the time my salary is being deducted, so…”

Zhou Guohong was indeed a model teacher.

Lin Jie said, “Oh, not to worry. With my business, I have earned quite a bit of money, so I should be able to afford a unit here…”

“You are such a promising young lad!” laughed Zhou Guohong.

After all, it wasn’t an easy feat to buy a unit at the Teachers’ Residences near No. 1 Senior High School. A 100 sq. meters renovated house would cost 1,200,000$ in the city areas of Jiang City, 600,000$ in the suburbs—but it would cost 2,000,000$ here!

For such a young lad to have the ability to buy a unit here, he was indeed worthy of the praise ‘young and promising’!

“If you are looking for a house here, hmm… Well, you know how parents are like nowadays, all the houses here are almost all sold. However, I do know of a person who’s leaving here to become a university lecturer, so he’s planning to sell off his house. Let’s go take a look, shall we?” Zhou Guohong took up his coat from the coat hanger nearby and commented, “Hmm, that family doesn’t have quite the best of tempers though, please don’t be offended by them.”

Lin Jie’s eyes brightened, and he nodded earnestly.

Initially, he was just thinking of trying his luck here. After all, this was at the Teachers’ Residences near No. 1 Senior High School. Every unit here would be considered ‘gold-grade houses’, so going by logic, how would there be any left by now?

Yet, he didn’t expect that he would be so lucky!

Zhou Guohong brought Lin Jie to the unit a level above, managed his tie habitually and knocked on the door. “Old Qing, I am Zhou Guohong!”

“Old Qing, it’s your friend! Go get the door!” A loud voice boomed, followed by a series of steady footsteps.

The door opened, and a lean, tall guy dressed in a suit appeared in their vision.

His hair was a bit messy. Coupled with his lean figure which was clothed in a tidy suit and his good-looking face, he gave off the vibe of a not so well-to-do artist.

Yet this person… why did he seem so familiar?

Lin Jie couldn’t make out who he was after thinking for a long time and decided to just give up.

“This is?” The teacher who was called “Old Qing” pointed at Lin Jie and asked.

Zhou Guohong introduced, “He’s the brother of one of my students, a young entrepreneur. His sister is one of the best students in her level, and as it is inconvenient for her to go to school from their old house, he’s planning to buy a unit here. Aren’t you going to invite us in?”

The teacher threw a glance behind him and gave an embarrassed smile. “Apologies, our house’s not too convenient now. You are thinking of buying our house? Let’s go out, we’ll discuss somewhere else.”

“Why go out to discuss! Old Qing, just come in!” That loud voice bellowed again. “Why do you need to go out to discuss stuff? Are you despising me because I cannot walk?!”

“Big Brother, what are you talking about… Aish, forget it, please come in.” The teacher opened the door for them.

Lin Jie then discovered that the house was in a mess, and there with fist prints on its walls! Yes, that’s right, fist prints—that did shock Lin Jie. Nowadays, houses were built from concrete which was mixed with light alloys—what person could leave fist prints on such walls?!

Whoosh!

There was a loud noise, and one of the walls seemed to be hit by something. Another huge fist print appeared!

“Big Brother, are you at it again?” said the teacher with an exasperated expression.

“This is normal for people who learn martial arts—if we don’t practice, we will get unfamiliar with our moves!”

“You are going to a university to teach, while I am going to be bored till death in the house!”

“It’s your fault for not buying a durable sandbag for me to practice, and now you are blaming me for this?”

The voice boomed loudly around the house. So many sentences were spoken at a go, and it felt as if drums were beating around, hurting the eardrums of those in the house!

There was a conspicuous wheelchair in the room, and a stubbed, balded great man sat upon it. There was nothing left below his knees as if his legs had been cleanly cleaved off! His fists were enormous, and his knuckles were white from gripping tightly as if his bones had protruded through his skin there. In fact, his knuckles looked as hard as King Kong’s limbs!

The lean teacher took out a towel, and helped him wipe off his perspiration, then carefully cleaned his hands which had some dried blood on them.

There were two sets of gaming equipment besides them in the room…

‘Wait a second…?

‘Oh yes!’

Lin Jie finally remembered—he had indeed seen these two people before!

He only had a faint impression when he first saw the lean teacher, but now, the two figures in front of him merged with two images in the game!

‘Oh my goodness, aren’t they the Wine God Brothers?!’