Chapter 130: You Must Be Out of Your Mind

Zhang Yang thought for a moment and started a video call with Pei Xiaoru.

“Where are you?”

“Me? I went back home for a bit.” In the video, behind Pei Xiaoru stretched a vast farmland. She stood in the open fields, her hair blowing wildly in the wind.

“I’ve transferred the money to you. Check it when you get the chance.”

“You went back home just for this?” Zhang Yang felt somewhat guilty seeing this.

“Mm, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” Pei Xiaoru said with a gentle smile. “I know the amount I gave is just a drop in the bucket, but it might still help a little, right?”

“Of course it helps,” Zhang Yang replied with a smile.

He had just received the notification. Pei Xiaoru had transferred him 350,000. In the blink of an eye, the system returned another 35 million.

There were only 15 million left to collect from the cashback quota. Whether he got it or not would depend on chance; it wasn’t absolutely necessary.

“As long as it helps, that’s good. I’ll hang up first,” Pei Xiaoru said, seemingly busy with something, and ended the call.

After finishing the call with Pei Xiaoru, Zhang Yang casually opened a local real estate website for Pengcheng and browsed through the listings to learn about the housing market there.

He remembered Pei Xiaoru saying that the money had originally been meant for her parents to buy a house.

Now that she had taken it back, the house obviously wouldn’t be bought anymore.

But that was no problem. Zhang Yang could easily help her fulfill that wish.

In a rural area far away in Pengcheng, Pei Xiaoru put down her phone and walked toward a village house not far away.

This was her grandparents’ old house.

This time when she came back, she had to spend a lot of effort and persuasion before finally getting back the money that had been given to her parents for buying a house. As for the reason, she had just made up something casually.

Before returning to Shanghai, she made a special trip to the countryside to visit her grandparents.

“Little girl, come sit.”

Inside the old rural house, the two elderly people were sitting on small stools, busy with work in their hands.

“Okay.” Pei Xiaoru responded obediently and sat down, helping her grandparents with their work for a while.

“Little girl, your parents said you urgently needed money when you came back this time? You even took back the money that was supposed to be used for buying a house?” Pei Xiaoru’s grandmother spoke kindly, her rough hands still working.

“Huh? My parents even told you about that?” Pei Xiaoru brushed aside the hair by her ear, looking slightly embarrassed.

“If you need money, why didn’t you tell us?” the old woman said while giving Pei Xiaoru’s grandfather a look.

The old man beside her pushed himself up from his knees and soon came back with a cloth bag. “Little girl, your grandmother and I don’t have much money. Thirty thousand yuan. Take it and use it first.”

Pei Xiaoru froze and immediately stood up.

“This money… I…”

“Take it. You’ve always been a sensible child since you were little. We know that if you need money, it must be for something urgent. Just take it and use it,” her grandfather said with a smile, placing the money firmly in her hands without hesitation.

“But what about you two…” Holding the retirement money her grandparents had saved bit by bit, Pei Xiaoru felt an indescribable emotion in her heart.

“Your grandmother and I can still work in the fields. Our bodies are still strong. When we get too old to move anymore, we’ll worry about it then,” the two elderly people said, exchanging a glance and smiling as if it were nothing.

At noon, Pei Xiaoru had a good meal with her grandparents before preparing to leave in the afternoon.

“If you find a boy you like, remember to bring him back for your grandpa and grandma to see,” her grandmother reminded her repeatedly before she left.

Hearing this, Pei Xiaoru’s cheeks turned red, and her eyes drifted slightly as if lost in thought.

The two elderly people understood immediately and smiled even more kindly.

That afternoon, not long after Pei Xiaoru left, a middle-aged couple hurried to the countryside as well.

“What? You gave all your retirement money to that girl?”

“Can you two calm down? We gave money to our granddaughter. What’s the big deal?” Pei Xiaoru’s grandfather did not look nearly as kind toward his own son.

“You don’t understand,” Pei Xiaoru’s father said with furrowed brows, unease filling his heart.

“Dad, that’s not what we mean. We’re just worried that Xiaoru might be deceived out there. She’s a young girl living alone-we can’t help but worry,” the middle-aged woman stepped forward, trying to calm things down while voicing her concern.

“I know my granddaughter well enough. You’re all worrying for nothing,” Pei Xiaoru’s grandfather waved his hand and refused to say more.

The couple looked at each other and both shook their heads.

Soon, they stepped aside and spoke quietly.

“When she came back, we already felt something was off. The down payment was almost ready to be paid. What sudden emergency could make her take the money back?”

“What if she met some ill-intentioned guy out there, and she’s completely bewitched, listening to everything he says and getting both herself and the money tricked away?”

“No, we can’t just ignore this. Should we go take a look?”

“That makes sense.”

After discussing it, the couple immediately decided to take the earliest high-speed train to Shanghai that afternoon and secretly check what was going on without telling their daughter.

If the money had really been swindled away by some guy, they would absolutely not accept it.

That would be outrageous.

At three or four in the afternoon, the couple boarded the high-speed train and headed straight for Shanghai.

Early the next morning, Zhang Yang went to the ICBC private banking center and obtained the long-famous American Express Centurion Black Card that frequently appeared in various novels and pulp stories.

It was a light card, not the metal material people might imagine, but simply a PVC plastic card.

The annual fee was 18,000 yuan, and the credit limit was ten million.

All things considered, it was better than nothing. Zhang Yang mainly valued its various privileges. After all, he was now a young wealthy man with assets exceeding two billion.

Although he couldn’t compare with old-money elites and could only be considered part of the new rich class, as a wealthy person, the things one should have should still be owned-even if rarely used.

When going out in the future, flashing the Centurion Black Card would still be a symbol of status.

Showing car keys or a luxury watch directly felt somewhat crude and intentional, not natural enough.

“Mr. Zhang, are you free at noon? I’d like to invite you to lunch to thank you for supporting my work.” The elegant and beautiful private banking manager looked at the incredibly handsome Centurion cardholder before her and couldn’t help asking softly.

“Lunch? That’s not necessary,” Zhang Yang said, glancing at his phone. Pei Xiaoru had just asked to meet him.

“Looks like you already have plans at noon,” the private banking manager said with a smile. “This time, I should finally get a spot on your friends list, right? I sent you requests before but you never accepted them.”

“Alright, go ahead and add me. I’ll approve it later,” Zhang Yang said, glancing at the elegant manager and also briefly noticing her stockings.

Her enthusiasm was honestly beyond what he expected.

Lowering his head, he accepted the friend request.

“Let me see.” The manager leaned closer beside him. Only after confirming that the request had been accepted did she smile with satisfaction.

After leaving the bank, Zhang Yang glanced at the message she had sent him.

It was full of polite phrases-how honored she was to serve him, how happy she was, and that she was available twenty-four hours a day if he needed anything.

Zhang Yang blinked and casually browsed her social media posts.

As expected, she seemed to love life-travel, food, carefully composed photos. Every picture looked natural but was actually quite refined, from the background to her own appearance in the frame.

It was obvious she put considerable effort into maintaining her social media.

Zhang Yang looked through it briefly and then closed it. He didn’t have much time to examine it further because he still had to meet Pei Xiaoru.

After only a few days apart, he hadn’t expected that she would actually go back home.

Half an hour later, at the same café where they had first met:

Zhang Yang had just walked in when he saw Pei Xiaoru.

She was resting her chin on her hand, looking around idly. The coffee in front of her had already been stirred several times.

“Have you been waiting long?” Zhang Yang walked straight over, sat down, and asked with a smile.

“Oh, you’re here!” The moment she saw him, joy flashed in Pei Xiaoru’s eyes, and the smile on her face couldn’t be hidden. “I just got here too.”

Zhang Yang nodded and looked at her slender, fair hand. After thinking for a moment, he reached out and held it.

The hand felt soft and warm in his palm, and it trembled slightly.

“What are you doing? Grabbing my hand the moment you arrive,” Pei Xiaoru said softly, though she let him keep holding it. “By the way, this time I count as helping you in your time of need, right?”

Lying wasn’t something Zhang Yang was good at.

But at this moment, he could only nod awkwardly, because one lie required countless others to maintain.

“That’s good. Oh right, this is for you.” Pei Xiaoru took out a paper-wrapped bundle from her bag. “There’s thirty thousand yuan in here. I didn’t have time to deposit it and transfer it to you, so just take it directly. Don’t look down on it.”

Before Zhang Yang could react, thirty thousand yuan was already in his hands.

The system immediately responded faithfully.

Another three million cashback was credited, leaving only twelve million left in the quota.

“This money of yours…” Zhang Yang looked at the old newspaper wrapping and vaguely felt…

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Just use it,” Pei Xiaoru said with a smile. “Now you know how loyal I am, right? Hurry up and turn things around so you can pay me back soon.”

All together, it had already reached about nine hundred thousand.

Holding the money, Zhang Yang felt somewhat conflicted. How was he supposed to explain all of this later?

Originally, he had only gone along with Pei Xiaoru’s misunderstanding and casually joked about it. He hadn’t expected to trigger a system event. For the huge cashback, he had simply gone along with it and continued down the same path.

Now the quota was almost fully used, and he had made a huge profit.

The truth should finally be revealed.

“Actually, I…” Zhang Yang began to speak.

At that moment, Pei Xiaoru glanced at her phone and suddenly changed expression. “Um… Zhang Yang, I suddenly have something to deal with. I need to leave first. Let’s talk later.”

“Alright,” Zhang Yang said, confused but nodding. “Go take care of it first.”

He watched her hurriedly leave the café, having no idea what had just happened.

Pei Xiaoru quickly left the café and soon spotted her parents sitting inside a nearby fast-food restaurant, their expressions serious.

“Dad, Mom.” Pei Xiaoru sat down with a slightly guilty expression. “Why are you here?”

“If we hadn’t come, someone might have sold you already and you’d still be happily counting the money for him,” her mother said coldly. “You silly girl. We thought you needed the money urgently when you came back home, but it turns out you gave it all to some guy. I think you’ve completely lost your mind.”

“Xiaoru, tell us what’s going on,” her father asked in a deep voice.

“What do you mean what’s going on? What are you talking about?” Pei Xiaoru said softly. “My friend ran into some difficulties, so I just wanted to help him.”

“Is that how you help someone? By giving him the family’s entire savings?” Pei Xiaoru’s mother couldn’t help saying from the side.

“You don’t understand, this money… actually…” Pei Xiaoru wanted to explain and tell her parents that a considerable part of that money had been earned because of Zhang Yang, but her parents simply weren’t in the mood to listen to anything right now.

Pei Xiaoru’s mother took a deep breath and looked at the daughter in front of her-the girl she had held in her arms since she was little and who had now grown into a graceful young woman.

“When will he pay you back?”

“I don’t know.” Pei Xiaoru shook her head without hesitation. “He’ll return it when he has the money. Isn’t that fine?”

“You don’t know?” Pei Xiaoru’s mother said in disbelief. “Then did you at least write an IOU?”

“Mom, can you stop asking about that? I gave it to him voluntarily. How could I ask him to write an IOU?” Pei Xiaoru said, shaking her head.

Pei Xiaoru’s parents exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with disbelief.

“Then are you still buying the house?” her mother asked, her voice somewhat dry.

Seeing how powerless her parents looked, Pei Xiaoru ultimately felt a bit soft-hearted. “Mom, Dad, he will return the money. Please believe me.”

“That might be years from now,” her mother said despairingly. “Since you were little, we’ve always known you were independent and had your own ideas. But this time, this money is practically your life savings. How are we supposed to believe you? How are we supposed to feel at ease?”

“You know how hard it was for your grandparents to save that retirement money, and you even gave that to him,” her father said, slamming the table, his lips trembling with anger.

Pei Xiaoru truly hadn’t expected her parents to react so strongly.

“Xiaoru, how about this,” her mother said, trying to stay calm. “Since you trust that young man so much, your relationship with him must be quite special.”

Pei Xiaoru’s cheeks turned slightly red, but she said nothing.

Seeing her daughter’s reaction, Pei Xiaoru’s mother sighed inwardly, confirming her guess.

“Then can you arrange for him to meet us?”

“Your father and I promise we won’t embarrass him in person.”

Under the table, Pei Xiaoru’s mother pressed down on her husband’s hand and continued speaking to Pei Xiaoru in a calm tone.

“You know that with something this serious, leaving your parents completely in the dark like this is practically torture for us.”

Pei Xiaoru hesitated.

“Let me think about it, okay? By the way, have you eaten yet? Why don’t you come back to my place first?” Pei Xiaoru stood up as she spoke.

Her parents exchanged a glance and nodded.

“Alright, we’ll go back to your place first.”

A moment later, they arrived at Pei Xiaoru’s current residence.

Pei Xiaoru said she needed time to think about it, and her parents discussed it briefly. They knew her personality well-if they forced the matter, it might backfire.

So the two of them tacitly decided not to bring it up again for the time being.