"I'll hitch a ride too," Grandpa Zhao said with a smile on his face. "I was collecting recyclables today and ended up missing the last bus after selling the cardboard boxes I picked up at the recycling station. I thought about walking home, but it's just too cold. My house is not far from here, just about twenty minutes away."
"Well, get in, Grandpa," Chen Yiyang said. What else could he say? He let the old man get in the car.
He was now seriously suspicious that Grandpa Zhao had him call his girlfriend to pick him up.
Because he might have been too embarrassed to hitch a ride paid by Chen Yiyang but was okay with a free ride.
"Such a pretty girl," Grandpa Zhao said to Chen Yiyang after getting in the car. "If a girl this pretty showed up back in my day, she would've had flocks of people chasing after her. Be nice to her, don't always make her mad and throw things. A man should be more magnanimous."
???
Chen Yiyang thought, Grandpa, that's not what you said just now.
"Did you hear that? Grandpa said you should be nicer to me." Chang Yuning said from the driver's seat, with a hint of implication.
"You're the boss now," thought Chen Yiyang, realizing he was in her car and decided to endure it for the time being.
After dropping off Grandpa at his destination, Chang Yuning turned to Chen Yiyang, "Where are you headed now?"
"If you're free tomorrow, take me home now, and then you can head back."
"I have class tomorrow, class!"
Chang Yuning nearly cursed, "I thought you'd been caught up by a bunch of little temptresses, drained to a husk, which is why I drove over in the middle of the night to save you.
So, instead, you're up in the middle of the night, chatting with an old man collecting recyclables on the roadside? Are you not in your right mind? Do you need to see a doctor?"
"Be nice to your creditor," Chen Yiyang said, looking at the furious Chang Yuning, "We had an agreement of four classes per month, didn't we? If it's too much trouble, just take me to your place. Consider it payment for this month's classes."
"That works." Chang Yuning drove straight home.
"There are blankets and pillows in the cabinet in the guest room. My class is past seven tomorrow morning, so figure it out yourself, and go back on your own tomorrow. I'm going to bed now."
Once she opened the door, Chang Yuning began undressing and returned to her bedroom.
Chen Yiyang could only place a box of expired shopping cards casually in the living room, then walked into the guest room, took off his jacket, and fell asleep in his clothes.
When he woke up the next day.
Chen Yiyang drowsily went to the bathroom to wash his face, then saw Chang Yuning wearing minimal clothes while running on the treadmill.
"Weren't you supposed to go to class this morning?"
"Brother, it's already noon now." Chang Yuning stepped off the treadmill and looked at Chen Yiyang.
Chen Yiyang checked his phone.
It was indeed eleven in the morning.
"What is that thing of yours emitting a foul smell? I was afraid to touch it, so I covered it with a basin."
It took Chen Yiyang a moment to realize that Chang Yuning might be referring to the cardboard box he had brought back from the garbage can the previous day.
Judging by the smell alone, it's no wonder it stunk.
"Twenty grand in cash," Chen Yiyang said nonchalantly.
"Alright, alright, today I truly understand what the smell of money means,"
Not wanting to ask more questions, Chang Yuning, having just finished her exercise, stretched lazily, revealing her beautiful and toned abs.
The world is truly wonderful.
Chen Yiyang genuinely marveled.
"Help me with my muscles," Chang Yuning said, pulling out a yoga mat and laying it on the living room floor.
"Now, that's something I can do." Chen Yiyang immediately went to wash his hands in the bathroom.
Then, with anticipation, he walked out.
By then, Chang Yuning was already lying on the yoga mat, but there was also a massage gun on the living room table.
"I thought I was going to use my hands," Chen Yiyang said, disappointed.
"With your skinny arms, I bet they're not even half as effective as the massage gun," Chang Yuning said lazily while lying on the yoga mat.
"I don't agree with that," Chen Yiyang said as he picked up the massage gun, pressing it against Chang Yuning's calf.
Then, he grabbed her calf, squeezing every inch of her muscle with effort.
"Ah~ easy, easy," Chang Yuning reflexively tried to lift her leg but was pinned down by Chen Yiyang's knee.
"Are my arms skinny?"
"Not skinny, not skinny, big brother is fantastic. But could you hurry up with the massage gun?" Chang Yuning, fully pressed by Chen Yiyang, could only turn half her face to plead with him.
So Chen Yiyang used the massage gun to rub the muscles along Chang Yuning's legs once over.
"Want me to massage your butt too?"
"Get lost!" Finding an opportunity, Chang Yuning flipped herself over, facing Chen Yiyang.
What a stunning figure.
Chen Yiyang couldn't resist but had to touch Chang Yuning's taut abs lightly.
"I guess I don't need to attend class next month, consider it offset," Chang Yuning rolled her eyes at Chen Yiyang.
"I'm just curious," Chen Yiyang shrugged.
What girl doesn't want to touch and feel the texture of abs?
How to describe it, soft, not as hard as imagined. Maybe it's due to the female physiological structure?
For the sake of childbirth, the belly's flesh can't get hard no matter how it's trained.
"I always knew you weren't a decent person," said Chang Yuning, as she used her foot to push Chen Yiyang's face away from her.
Chang Yuning's lunch was a bowl of salad.
After eating, Chen Yiyang felt as if he hadn't eaten at all, so he went out and bought himself a pancake roll. While eating, he carried the box filled with gift cards and took a taxi directly back to his apartment.
He hadn't been back for several days.
The temperature inside the apartment seemed to have dropped quite a bit.
Hans was being fostered at Xu Qing's place, so when Chen Yiyang returned home, there wasn't even anyone to welcome him.
Chen Yiyang changed into clothes that were almost worn out and took a shower.
Then he sat at the computer to handle a previous bargain.
It was a game account purchased from a young girl in Hai Zhu City.
If you want to conduct inventory transactions with a Steam account, you usually need to bind it with a mobile authenticator, or else it will be on hold for fifteen days.
Fortunately, the password notebook contained the account's email and authenticator recovery codes.
On the first day of acquiring the account, Chen Yiyang updated the mobile authenticator on his phone.
He hadn't checked this account before because even with email verification, there was still a two-day cooldown period after updating the mobile authenticator.
Now that period had passed.
After logging into the account, Chen Yiyang found numerous friend messages on the Steam account.
Out of respect for the deceased, Chen Yiyang didn't peek at these private chat messages, closed the friend list, and then opened the account's game inventory.
Just as expected.
In the account's game inventory lay a dense collection of CSGO game skins, stickers, and various cases.
CSGO, as a long-running shooting game, not only retained a large steady player base but was also considered an investment product by many.
Because it's backed by Steam, the game's skins and other in-game items can be traded with real money between players.
For this reason, a multitude of related merchants, trading sites, and gamblers have emerged around this game.
Indeed, all game skins in this game are randomly opened from cases.
A few bucks for a case, and a dozen bucks for a key.
You could end up with a worthless skin worth a few cents or a valuable one worth thousands.
Just like gambling.
Chen Yiyang found a local trading site, linked the game account, and immediately transferred all skins and items from the account to the trading site to start selling them.
The total value of all in-game items was 460,000, making it even more valuable than the box of gift cards he had picked up.
Chen Yiyang calculated the total worth of the items he listed and was somewhat surprised.
Of course, he might not actually get that much money in the end.
Some items were hard to sell and needed a long time to be gradually sold off.
Plus, one needed to pay a website fee to withdraw the money obtained from sold items.
Chen Yiyang didn't bother to check the detailed rules but after waiting a few hours, he saw that he sold items worth 60,000 altogether.
He tried to withdraw it.
After the website deducted the fees, the 60,000 was deposited into his account within a few minutes. Having confirmed there's no issue with this website and that the items can indeed be converted into money,
Chen Yiyang turned off the computer and started dealing with that box of expired gift cards.
He poured all the gift cards out onto the table and placed the box that held the gift cards by the door.
Chen Yiyang counted the gift cards.
A total of one hundred cards, each with a face value of 2,000.
The issuer of the gift cards was an inter-province commercial alliance: Chenghui Commerce, which included everything from supermarket shopping, entertainment spending, retail clothing, electronic appliances, and various other sectors.
So basically, you could spend them like cash when going out, which made them particularly popular among middle-class families.
When companies exchange gifts during reciprocations, they also like to use this brand's gift cards, as they are not only practical but also have a very clear gift value.
When Chen Yiyang was still just an employee, he saw his superiors with a few of these cards in their hands.
Never did he expect that now they covered the entire table in front of him.
The usage period for these gift cards ended last April. The card face also had words like limited edition collectible card.
Chen Yiyang put all these gift cards into a plastic bag, then went downstairs and drove his 911 directly to the largest Chenghui Commercial Store in the city.
"Hello, is there anything I can help you with?" The receptionist, seeing someone approach, quickly stood to welcome him.
"I have a batch of cards that expired before I could use them. Please help me exchange them for new ones."
Chen Yiyang placed the hundred cards directly on the reception desk.
The receptionist picked up one card to glance at it, then sweetly replied.
"Sir, these cards have expired and can no longer be used."
"Please call your manager." Chen Yiyang didn't want to trouble the employee, knowing they didn't have the authority, so he directly asked for the manager.
After saying that, he moved to the sofa beside the reception desk, sat down, and began scrolling through his phone, ignoring the receptionist.
Seeing Chen Yiyang's behavior, the receptionist hurriedly called over a colleague.
The two discussed things for a while, one went to pour water for Chen Yiyang, while the other went to get the manager.
Within a few minutes, a middle-aged man first approached the reception desk, picked up the cards Chen Yiyang had left, then walked over to Chen Yiyang.