"President Chen, we were wrong!"
"We'll tell the truth. It was Luo Zhixin, the owner of Drunken Immortal Pavilion, who paid us to come here and stir up trouble."
"Yes, President Chen. We were just doing what we were paid for. Please don't lower yourself to deal with small fries like us."
The two middle-aged men dared not hide anything and quickly confessed everything to Chen Fan.
Drunken Immortal Pavilion was ranked the second-best restaurant in Jiangzhou, just behind Wangjiang Pavilion. Its owner, Luo Zhixin, saw Wangjiang Pavilion was undergoing a transition with a new owner. He figured it was a period of instability and wanted to take advantage of the situation—smearing Wangjiang Pavilion's reputation in hopes of surpassing it and claiming the title of number one.
If things went smoothly, perhaps he could even acquire Wangjiang Pavilion at a bargain.
"Luo Zhixin from Drunken Immortal Pavilion, huh?"
Chen Fan had already suspected as much.
"He really had the nerve to come after me…"
A cold smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
This time, he picked the wrong opponent.
"Manager Zhao, send them straight to the police."
"No, President Chen, please!""We were wrong… we really were…"
The two men panicked instantly.
But Chen Fan ignored them, and the Wangjiang Pavilion security team escorted the troublemakers out of the building.
Chen Fan then opened the invitation—it was indeed from Wei Jingxiong, one of Jiangzhou's top powerhouses. It even appeared to be handwritten.
"Tomorrow, huh?"He murmured.Tomorrow happened to be the weekend.I'll see what it's about when the time comes.
Just then, the system chimed in:
[Ding!][Mission Complete: Investigate the two middle-aged men at Wangjiang Pavilion][Reward: 1 Custom Rolls-Royce Phantom][Bonus: +47 Experience Points]
The mission was completed, and the luxurious car and EXP were added to his account.
Chen Fan checked his experience bar:
[Current System Level: 1 (195 / 1500)]
Only 1305 points more to level up.
"This pace isn't bad at all."
He was very satisfied.
Since he'd activated the leveling mode of the system just two or three days ago, he had already earned almost 200 EXP. That was nearly one-seventh of what was needed for a level-up.
At this rate—even under the most conservative estimate—the system would reach level 2 within a month.
Once that happened, the daily rewards would increase significantly.
And when that happens, the goal of crushing the Xus of Jinling beneath my feet will be that much closer!
"Drunken Immortal Pavilion... Luo Zhixin..."
Chen Fan murmured to himself.
He had a lot on his plate right now. But once he cleared his current tasks—
It would be Luo Zhixin's turn to suffer.
If Luo Zhixin wanted to acquire Wangjiang Pavilion, then Chen Fan would beat him at his own game—
He would acquire Drunken Immortal Pavilion instead.
"If anything like this happens again, contact me immediately."
Chen Fan instructed Manager Zhao before leaving the restaurant.
By the time Chen Fan arrived at Yongjia Shopping Center, it was around 4:00 PM.
He had arranged to meet the former owner of the center at 4:30 PM, which gave him half an hour to kill.
It was the perfect time to browse around.
Since leaving the Chen family, he had only taken a few clothes with him. He was now running low on outfits and needed new ones.
Chen Fan walked into the nearest luxury clothing store and began browsing.
Soon enough, he had picked out an entire pile of clothes.
Just as he was about to pay, a mocking voice sounded behind him:
"Well, if it isn't Chen Fan. Haven't you severed ties with the Chen family? What are you doing shopping in a luxury boutique?"
"You think you can afford this stuff?"
The speaker was a young man named Zhu Pengyu, from Jiangzhou's Zhu family. He had always had a poor relationship with Chen Fan.
"Sure, you're still technically part of the Zhu family. But what difference does that make, really? It's like being disowned already."
Chen Fan replied coldly.
That hit a sore spot.
Zhu Pengyu was an illegitimate child, and in the Zhu family, his status was extremely low—probably not much better than Chen Fan's when he was in the Chen family.
Without another glance, Chen Fan ignored him and went straight to the counter to check out.
"Hmph. A single piece here costs tens of thousands, some even over a hundred thousand. And you've grabbed so many? I doubt you can even afford one!"Zhu Pengyu sneered.
Chen Fan had selected over a dozen clothing items—conservatively estimated, that was at least several hundred thousand in total.
Zhu Pengyu didn't believe for a second that a disowned loser like Chen Fan could afford that.
"I can't wait to see the look on your face when you can't pay."He followed along, preparing to enjoy the show.
A few minutes later, the clerk totaled the items.
"Sir, your total comes to ¥1,276,000. Would you like to pay by card or mobile?"
"Over a million?!"
Zhu Pengyu's jaw dropped.
That was a massive amount. Just a few pieces of clothing totaled over a million yuan—this was true luxury.
Even he couldn't take out that much cash—not a chance.
Let's see how Chen Fan handles this.
While Zhu Pengyu was gloating, Chen Fan was as calm as ever—as if the amount wasn't a million yuan, but just a hundred.
"Here, scan this."
He opened his payment code and placed the phone on the counter.
"Right away, sir…"
The clerk scanned his code.
The next moment, a bank SMS popped up:
"Your card ending in 5169 has been charged ¥1,276,000. Remaining balance: ¥988,100,010.23."
Zhu Pengyu caught a glimpse of the message.
He was instantly paralyzed.
Holy sh*t—how many digits is that?
If it was eight digits, that was nearly 100 million yuan.
If it was nine digits…
That was nearly a billion!!!
Zhu Pengyu stood frozen as if struck by lightning.
Even ninety million would be astronomical for him. Despite being a member of the Zhu family, his bank account never had more than a few hundred thousand yuan.
Even among the most elite Zhu family heirs, the top ones maybe had twenty or thirty million—but Chen Fan? He had hundreds of millions.
How could he possibly have this much money? This is insane…
Meanwhile, Chen Fan casually carried his shopping bags and left the store.
To him, 1.27 million was not even a drop in the bucket.
After stowing the bags in his car, Chen Fan checked the time—almost 4:30.
He headed straight to the top floor of the shopping center.
Several minutes later, he arrived at the executive office.
The former owner of Yongjia Shopping Center was already there waiting.
They shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.
After a brief discussion, they officially signed the ownership transfer agreement.
From this moment on, one of Jiangzhou's top luxury shopping malls—Yongjia Shopping Center—belonged entirely to Chen Fan.
The former owner took his things and left. The spacious and lavish office now belonged to Chen Fan.
As he sat down, a sudden thought occurred to him—
A rather important one.